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<p>Tests conducted on the brain of former football star Aaron Hernandez showed severe signs of the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and his attorney said Thursday that the player’s daughter is suing the NFL and the New England Patriots for leading Hernandez to believe the sport was safe.</p>
<p>In a news conference at his offices, Hernandez’s attorney Jose Baez said the testing showed one of the most severe cases ever diagnosed.</p>
<p>“We’re told it was the most severe case they had ever seen for someone of Aaron’s age,” Baez said.</p>
<p>Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the CTE Center at Boston University, concluded that the New England Patriots tight end had stage 3 of 4 of the disease, and also had early brain atrophy and large perforations in a central membrane.</p>
<p>The lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston on Thursday claims that the team and league deprived Avielle Hernandez of the companionship of her father. It is separate from a $1 billion settlement in which the league agreed to pay families of players who suffered brain damage because of repeated head trauma while playing football.</p>
<p>CTE can be caused by repeated head trauma and leads to symptoms like violent mood swings, depression and other cognitive difficulties. Hernandez killed himself in April in the jail cell where he was serving a life-without-parole sentence for a 2013 murder. His death came just hours before the Patriots visited the White House to celebrate their latest Super Bowl victory.</p>
<p>CTE can only be diagnosed in an autopsy. A recent study found evidence of the disease in 110 of 111 former NFL players whose brains were examined.</p>
<p>CTE has been linked with repeated concussions and involves brain damage particularly in the frontal region that controls many functions including judgment, emotion, impulse control, social behavior and memory.</p>
<p>A star for the University of Florida when it won the 2008 title, Hernandez dropped to the fourth round of the NFL draft because of trouble in college that included a failed drug test and a bar fight. His name had also come up in an investigation into a shooting.</p>
<p>In three seasons with the Patriots, Hernandez joined Rob Gronkowski to form one of the most potent tight end duos in NFL history. In 2011, his second season, Hernandez caught 79 passes for 910 yards and seven touchdowns to help the team reach the Super Bowl, and he was rewarded with a $40 million contract.</p>
<p>But the Patriots released him in 2013, shortly after he was arrested in the killing of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to life in prison; the conviction was voided because he died before his appeals were exhausted, though that decision is itself being appealed.</p>
<p>A week before his suicide, Hernandez was acquitted in the 2012 drive-by shootings of two men in Boston. Prosecutors had argued that Hernandez gunned the two men down after one accidentally spilled a drink on him in a nightclub, and then got a tattoo of a handgun and the words “God Forgives” to commemorate the crime.</p>
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Aaron Hernandez Had Severe CTE; Daughter Sues NFL, Pats
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https://newsline.com/aaron-hernandez-had-severe-cte-daughter-sues-nfl-pats/
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2017-09-21
| 1right-center
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Aaron Hernandez Had Severe CTE; Daughter Sues NFL, Pats
<p>Tests conducted on the brain of former football star Aaron Hernandez showed severe signs of the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, and his attorney said Thursday that the player’s daughter is suing the NFL and the New England Patriots for leading Hernandez to believe the sport was safe.</p>
<p>In a news conference at his offices, Hernandez’s attorney Jose Baez said the testing showed one of the most severe cases ever diagnosed.</p>
<p>“We’re told it was the most severe case they had ever seen for someone of Aaron’s age,” Baez said.</p>
<p>Dr. Ann McKee, the director of the CTE Center at Boston University, concluded that the New England Patriots tight end had stage 3 of 4 of the disease, and also had early brain atrophy and large perforations in a central membrane.</p>
<p>The lawsuit filed in federal court in Boston on Thursday claims that the team and league deprived Avielle Hernandez of the companionship of her father. It is separate from a $1 billion settlement in which the league agreed to pay families of players who suffered brain damage because of repeated head trauma while playing football.</p>
<p>CTE can be caused by repeated head trauma and leads to symptoms like violent mood swings, depression and other cognitive difficulties. Hernandez killed himself in April in the jail cell where he was serving a life-without-parole sentence for a 2013 murder. His death came just hours before the Patriots visited the White House to celebrate their latest Super Bowl victory.</p>
<p>CTE can only be diagnosed in an autopsy. A recent study found evidence of the disease in 110 of 111 former NFL players whose brains were examined.</p>
<p>CTE has been linked with repeated concussions and involves brain damage particularly in the frontal region that controls many functions including judgment, emotion, impulse control, social behavior and memory.</p>
<p>A star for the University of Florida when it won the 2008 title, Hernandez dropped to the fourth round of the NFL draft because of trouble in college that included a failed drug test and a bar fight. His name had also come up in an investigation into a shooting.</p>
<p>In three seasons with the Patriots, Hernandez joined Rob Gronkowski to form one of the most potent tight end duos in NFL history. In 2011, his second season, Hernandez caught 79 passes for 910 yards and seven touchdowns to help the team reach the Super Bowl, and he was rewarded with a $40 million contract.</p>
<p>But the Patriots released him in 2013, shortly after he was arrested in the killing of semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd, who was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancee. Hernandez was convicted and sentenced to life in prison; the conviction was voided because he died before his appeals were exhausted, though that decision is itself being appealed.</p>
<p>A week before his suicide, Hernandez was acquitted in the 2012 drive-by shootings of two men in Boston. Prosecutors had argued that Hernandez gunned the two men down after one accidentally spilled a drink on him in a nightclub, and then got a tattoo of a handgun and the words “God Forgives” to commemorate the crime.</p>
| 5,800 |
<p>Global stocks fall on further North Korea rhetoric</p>
<p>-- Wall Street recovered slightly in Friday morning trade</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>-- Haven assets rise</p>
<p>U.S. stocks were on track for their biggest weekly loss in months, shaken by disappointing earnings results and an escalation of threats between the U.S. and North Korea.</p>
<p>On Friday, stocks recovered slightly, with the S&amp;P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2%. The S&amp;P 500 is set to end the week down 1.4%, its biggest weekly loss since March.</p>
<p>The Dow closed down 205 points Thursday, in its biggest decline since May 17, after a string of retailers reported weak earnings and President Donald Trump rejected criticism that his threats to release "fire and fury" had been too inflammatory. Instead, he said his statement "maybe wasn't tough enough."</p>
<p>On Friday, the president appeared to double down on his earlier threat, warning on Twitter that military solutions are in place and "locked and loaded."</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"As a portfolio manager, you say, 'Do I think we'll get a war out of this?'," said Torsten Slok, chief international economist at Deutsche Bank. "If the answer is yes, then you better get defensive. If you think this is just rattling sabers, and it's just words, then you could view this as a buying opportunity."</p>
<p>Investors said the rhetoric may have sparked some selling, but it wasn't solely to blame for the sharp fall. Instead, it provided an excuse for a selloff many investors consider overdue.</p>
<p>On average, the S&amp;P 500 falls 5% or more every 10 weeks and the index falls 10% every 33 weeks, according to data analyzed by AllianceBernstein going back to 1928. It has been more than a year since the last 5% downdraft in stocks and more than 76 weeks since the stock market suffered a 10% loss.</p>
<p>"Given the great run we've had, seems like some sort of pullback wouldn't be surprising," said Michael Baele, managing director of investments at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management.</p>
<p>Earnings results also weighed on stocks. Large retailers Macy's and Kohl's tumbled on Thursday after they reported disappointing second-quarter results. On Friday, fellow retailer J.C. Penney dropped 16% after its second-quarter loss exceeded expectations.</p>
<p>In other corporate news, shares of Snapchat parent Snap fell 13% after it reported earnings late Thursday that missed analyst forecasts. Nvidia's shares shed more than 5% after the chip maker's revenue rose only 2% from the first quarter.</p>
<p>The CBOE Volatility Index -- a measure of investors' expectations for swings in the S&amp;P 500 over the next 30 days -- surged 44% to 16.04 Thursday -- its highest level since U.S. Election Day. It slipped a bit Friday, but was still on track to end the week up more than 50%.</p>
<p>The selling in the U.S. extended to global markets Friday. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1%, while benchmarks in Hong Kong and South Korea -- which had been one of the best performers of 2017 -- closed down 2% and 1.7% respectively, Friday, putting the week's drop at 2.5% and 3.2%.</p>
<p>Korea's Samsung Electronics fell 2.8% Friday. China's Tencent Holdings, whose surge in 2017 was key to the Hang Seng's gains, fell 4.9% Friday.</p>
<p>Kenan Machado contributed to this article.</p>
<p>Write to Corrie Driebusch at [email protected]</p>
<p>-- U.S. stocks recover slightly Friday</p>
<p>-- Major indexes around the world set for weekly declines</p>
<p>U.S. stocks rose Friday but were still on track for their biggest weekly loss in months, shaken by disappointing earnings results and an escalation of threats between the U.S. and North Korea.</p>
<p>The rhetoric, which began late Tuesday and continued into Friday, cracked the calm that has enveloped the market for months and interrupted stocks' march higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had been steadily hitting records, posted its biggest decline since May on Thursday, while the CBOE Volatility Index, known as Wall Street's "fear gauge," rose to its highest level of the year.</p>
<p>Markets recovered slightly Friday. Investors dipped back into stocks and retreated from assets they consider to be safer stores of value, such as gold.</p>
<p>"As a portfolio manager, you say, 'Do I think we'll get a war out of this?'" said Torsten Slok, chief international economist at Deutsche Bank, referring to the back and forth between North Korea and President Donald Trump. "If the answer is 'yes,' then you better get defensive. If you think this is just rattling sabers, and it's just words, then you could view this as a buying opportunity."</p>
<p>The Dow industrials rose 42 points, or 0.2%, to 21885 on Friday. The S&amp;P 500 added 0.3%, though it was on course to end the week down 1.3%, its biggest loss since March.</p>
<p>The escalation provided an excuse for a selloff many investors consider overdue, some investors and analysts said.</p>
<p>On average, the S&amp;P 500 falls 5% or more every 10 weeks and the index falls 10% every 33 weeks, according to data analyzed by AllianceBernstein going back to 1928. It has been more than a year since the last 5% downdraft in stocks and more than 76 weeks since the stock market suffered a 10% loss.</p>
<p>"Given the great run we've had, seems like some sort of pullback wouldn't be surprising," said Michael Baele, managing director of investments at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management.</p>
<p>The CBOE Volatility Index -- a measure of investors' expectations for swings in the S&amp;P 500 over the next 30 days -- surged Thursday to its highest level since U.S. Election Day. It slipped Friday but was still on track to end the week up around 50%.</p>
<p>Investors said the week's swings were as much a result of earnings as geopolitics.</p>
<p>Large retailers Macy's and Kohl's tumbled on Thursday after they reported another quarter of shrinking sales. Shares of fellow department store J.C. Penney dropped 15% Friday after the company's second-quarter loss exceeded expectations.</p>
<p>Shares of Snapchat parent Snap fell 12% after it reported earnings late Thursday that missed analyst forecasts.</p>
<p>Thursday's selling in the U.S. extended to global markets Friday. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 2% Friday and lost 2.5% for the week -- its biggest weekly decline of the year. South Korea's Kospi declined 1.7% Friday, putting its weekly drop at 3.2% -- its largest since June 2016.</p>
<p>Korea's Samsung Electronics fell 2.8% Friday. China's Tencent Holdings, whose surge in 2017 has been key to the Hang Seng's gains, fell 4.9% Friday.</p>
<p>Write to Corrie Driebusch at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 11, 2017 14:50 ET (18:50 GMT)</p>
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U.S. Stocks Poised for Weekly Decline
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http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/11/u-s-stocks-poised-for-weekly-decline0.html
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2017-08-11
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U.S. Stocks Poised for Weekly Decline
<p>Global stocks fall on further North Korea rhetoric</p>
<p>-- Wall Street recovered slightly in Friday morning trade</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>-- Haven assets rise</p>
<p>U.S. stocks were on track for their biggest weekly loss in months, shaken by disappointing earnings results and an escalation of threats between the U.S. and North Korea.</p>
<p>On Friday, stocks recovered slightly, with the S&amp;P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2%. The S&amp;P 500 is set to end the week down 1.4%, its biggest weekly loss since March.</p>
<p>The Dow closed down 205 points Thursday, in its biggest decline since May 17, after a string of retailers reported weak earnings and President Donald Trump rejected criticism that his threats to release "fire and fury" had been too inflammatory. Instead, he said his statement "maybe wasn't tough enough."</p>
<p>On Friday, the president appeared to double down on his earlier threat, warning on Twitter that military solutions are in place and "locked and loaded."</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"As a portfolio manager, you say, 'Do I think we'll get a war out of this?'," said Torsten Slok, chief international economist at Deutsche Bank. "If the answer is yes, then you better get defensive. If you think this is just rattling sabers, and it's just words, then you could view this as a buying opportunity."</p>
<p>Investors said the rhetoric may have sparked some selling, but it wasn't solely to blame for the sharp fall. Instead, it provided an excuse for a selloff many investors consider overdue.</p>
<p>On average, the S&amp;P 500 falls 5% or more every 10 weeks and the index falls 10% every 33 weeks, according to data analyzed by AllianceBernstein going back to 1928. It has been more than a year since the last 5% downdraft in stocks and more than 76 weeks since the stock market suffered a 10% loss.</p>
<p>"Given the great run we've had, seems like some sort of pullback wouldn't be surprising," said Michael Baele, managing director of investments at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management.</p>
<p>Earnings results also weighed on stocks. Large retailers Macy's and Kohl's tumbled on Thursday after they reported disappointing second-quarter results. On Friday, fellow retailer J.C. Penney dropped 16% after its second-quarter loss exceeded expectations.</p>
<p>In other corporate news, shares of Snapchat parent Snap fell 13% after it reported earnings late Thursday that missed analyst forecasts. Nvidia's shares shed more than 5% after the chip maker's revenue rose only 2% from the first quarter.</p>
<p>The CBOE Volatility Index -- a measure of investors' expectations for swings in the S&amp;P 500 over the next 30 days -- surged 44% to 16.04 Thursday -- its highest level since U.S. Election Day. It slipped a bit Friday, but was still on track to end the week up more than 50%.</p>
<p>The selling in the U.S. extended to global markets Friday. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1%, while benchmarks in Hong Kong and South Korea -- which had been one of the best performers of 2017 -- closed down 2% and 1.7% respectively, Friday, putting the week's drop at 2.5% and 3.2%.</p>
<p>Korea's Samsung Electronics fell 2.8% Friday. China's Tencent Holdings, whose surge in 2017 was key to the Hang Seng's gains, fell 4.9% Friday.</p>
<p>Kenan Machado contributed to this article.</p>
<p>Write to Corrie Driebusch at [email protected]</p>
<p>-- U.S. stocks recover slightly Friday</p>
<p>-- Major indexes around the world set for weekly declines</p>
<p>U.S. stocks rose Friday but were still on track for their biggest weekly loss in months, shaken by disappointing earnings results and an escalation of threats between the U.S. and North Korea.</p>
<p>The rhetoric, which began late Tuesday and continued into Friday, cracked the calm that has enveloped the market for months and interrupted stocks' march higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had been steadily hitting records, posted its biggest decline since May on Thursday, while the CBOE Volatility Index, known as Wall Street's "fear gauge," rose to its highest level of the year.</p>
<p>Markets recovered slightly Friday. Investors dipped back into stocks and retreated from assets they consider to be safer stores of value, such as gold.</p>
<p>"As a portfolio manager, you say, 'Do I think we'll get a war out of this?'" said Torsten Slok, chief international economist at Deutsche Bank, referring to the back and forth between North Korea and President Donald Trump. "If the answer is 'yes,' then you better get defensive. If you think this is just rattling sabers, and it's just words, then you could view this as a buying opportunity."</p>
<p>The Dow industrials rose 42 points, or 0.2%, to 21885 on Friday. The S&amp;P 500 added 0.3%, though it was on course to end the week down 1.3%, its biggest loss since March.</p>
<p>The escalation provided an excuse for a selloff many investors consider overdue, some investors and analysts said.</p>
<p>On average, the S&amp;P 500 falls 5% or more every 10 weeks and the index falls 10% every 33 weeks, according to data analyzed by AllianceBernstein going back to 1928. It has been more than a year since the last 5% downdraft in stocks and more than 76 weeks since the stock market suffered a 10% loss.</p>
<p>"Given the great run we've had, seems like some sort of pullback wouldn't be surprising," said Michael Baele, managing director of investments at U.S. Bank Private Wealth Management.</p>
<p>The CBOE Volatility Index -- a measure of investors' expectations for swings in the S&amp;P 500 over the next 30 days -- surged Thursday to its highest level since U.S. Election Day. It slipped Friday but was still on track to end the week up around 50%.</p>
<p>Investors said the week's swings were as much a result of earnings as geopolitics.</p>
<p>Large retailers Macy's and Kohl's tumbled on Thursday after they reported another quarter of shrinking sales. Shares of fellow department store J.C. Penney dropped 15% Friday after the company's second-quarter loss exceeded expectations.</p>
<p>Shares of Snapchat parent Snap fell 12% after it reported earnings late Thursday that missed analyst forecasts.</p>
<p>Thursday's selling in the U.S. extended to global markets Friday. The Stoxx Europe 600 fell 1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 2% Friday and lost 2.5% for the week -- its biggest weekly decline of the year. South Korea's Kospi declined 1.7% Friday, putting its weekly drop at 3.2% -- its largest since June 2016.</p>
<p>Korea's Samsung Electronics fell 2.8% Friday. China's Tencent Holdings, whose surge in 2017 has been key to the Hang Seng's gains, fell 4.9% Friday.</p>
<p>Write to Corrie Driebusch at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 11, 2017 14:50 ET (18:50 GMT)</p>
| 5,801 |
<p>LONDON (Reuters) – Global supply and demand for crude oil will be largely balanced next year, as growth in consumption helps erode a three-year-old overhang of unused fuel and should mostly offset a steep rise in output, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.</p>
<p>In its monthly oil market report, the Paris-based IEA said it continues to see global demand for crude growing by 1.6 million barrels per day in 2017, before moderating to 1.4 million bpd in 2018.</p>
<p>“Looking into 2018, we see that three quarters out of four will be roughly balanced — again using an assumption of unchanged OPEC production, and based on normal weather conditions,” the agency said.</p>
<p>“Taking 2018 as a whole, oil demand and non-OPEC production will grow by roughly the same volume and it is this current outlook that might act as the ceiling for aspirations of higher oil prices.”</p>
<p>Commercial oil stocks likely fell in the third quarter of this year, only the second draw since the crude price crashed in 2014, thanks to a drop in the amount of oil held in floating storage or in transit, the IEA said.</p>
<p>OECD commercial stocks fell in August by 14.2 million barrels to 3.015 billion barrels, leaving a surplus of 170 million barrels above the five-year average, the IEA said.</p>
<p>The IEA said it sees non-OPEC crude supply rising by 700,000 bpd in 2017, and by 1.5 million in 2018 to reach 59.6 million bpd, with the United States being the largest contributor.</p>
<p>The IEA said output is forecast to grow by 470,000 bpd in 2017 and 1.1 million bpd in 2018.</p>
<p>OPEC supply was little changed in September at 32.65 million bpd, but down 400,000 bpd from a year earlier, meaning the group’s compliance with its self-imposed 1.2-million-bpd output cut stood at 88 percent last month and 86 percent for the year to date, the IEA said.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p>
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Global oil market seen balanced in 2018, even with rising output: IEA
| false |
https://newsline.com/global-oil-market-seen-balanced-in-2018-even-with-rising-output-iea/
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2017-10-12
| 1right-center
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Global oil market seen balanced in 2018, even with rising output: IEA
<p>LONDON (Reuters) – Global supply and demand for crude oil will be largely balanced next year, as growth in consumption helps erode a three-year-old overhang of unused fuel and should mostly offset a steep rise in output, the International Energy Agency said on Thursday.</p>
<p>In its monthly oil market report, the Paris-based IEA said it continues to see global demand for crude growing by 1.6 million barrels per day in 2017, before moderating to 1.4 million bpd in 2018.</p>
<p>“Looking into 2018, we see that three quarters out of four will be roughly balanced — again using an assumption of unchanged OPEC production, and based on normal weather conditions,” the agency said.</p>
<p>“Taking 2018 as a whole, oil demand and non-OPEC production will grow by roughly the same volume and it is this current outlook that might act as the ceiling for aspirations of higher oil prices.”</p>
<p>Commercial oil stocks likely fell in the third quarter of this year, only the second draw since the crude price crashed in 2014, thanks to a drop in the amount of oil held in floating storage or in transit, the IEA said.</p>
<p>OECD commercial stocks fell in August by 14.2 million barrels to 3.015 billion barrels, leaving a surplus of 170 million barrels above the five-year average, the IEA said.</p>
<p>The IEA said it sees non-OPEC crude supply rising by 700,000 bpd in 2017, and by 1.5 million in 2018 to reach 59.6 million bpd, with the United States being the largest contributor.</p>
<p>The IEA said output is forecast to grow by 470,000 bpd in 2017 and 1.1 million bpd in 2018.</p>
<p>OPEC supply was little changed in September at 32.65 million bpd, but down 400,000 bpd from a year earlier, meaning the group’s compliance with its self-imposed 1.2-million-bpd output cut stood at 88 percent last month and 86 percent for the year to date, the IEA said.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p>
| 5,802 |
<p>While the White House has been tight-lipped on how the President is spending his working vacation in Bedminster, New Jersey, online photos and a new report show he's spent a decent amount of time playing golf.</p>
<p>A purchase order, obtained by super PAC American Bridge and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/08/08/trumps-bedminster-trip-costs-secret-service-13-500-golf-cart-rentals/549401001/" type="external">USA Today</a>, show the Secret Service signed a $13,500 contract with a golf cart rental company just a day before President Donald Trump left for his 17-day trip to the Trump National Golf Club.</p>
<p>The Secret Service signed two similar contracts with the same New York-based golf cart vendor in June, at the cost of $5,400 each.</p>
<p>The agency spent $35,185 on cart rentals earlier this year at Mar-a-Lago, when Trump was making regular weekend visits there, according to USA Today. That puts the total cost of golf cart rentals for the Secret Service at $59,585, just a fraction of the $60 million in additional funding the agency requested in March to fund protecting the President.</p>
<p>The White House has been reluctant to say whether Trump is spending time golfing while he is away from Washington, but the President has been photographed playing throughout the week.</p>
<p />
<p />
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Report: Secret Service Spent $13,500 On Golf Cart Rentals For Trump Trip
| true |
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/report-secret-service-spent-13500-golf-cart-rentals
| 4left
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Report: Secret Service Spent $13,500 On Golf Cart Rentals For Trump Trip
<p>While the White House has been tight-lipped on how the President is spending his working vacation in Bedminster, New Jersey, online photos and a new report show he's spent a decent amount of time playing golf.</p>
<p>A purchase order, obtained by super PAC American Bridge and <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/08/08/trumps-bedminster-trip-costs-secret-service-13-500-golf-cart-rentals/549401001/" type="external">USA Today</a>, show the Secret Service signed a $13,500 contract with a golf cart rental company just a day before President Donald Trump left for his 17-day trip to the Trump National Golf Club.</p>
<p>The Secret Service signed two similar contracts with the same New York-based golf cart vendor in June, at the cost of $5,400 each.</p>
<p>The agency spent $35,185 on cart rentals earlier this year at Mar-a-Lago, when Trump was making regular weekend visits there, according to USA Today. That puts the total cost of golf cart rentals for the Secret Service at $59,585, just a fraction of the $60 million in additional funding the agency requested in March to fund protecting the President.</p>
<p>The White House has been reluctant to say whether Trump is spending time golfing while he is away from Washington, but the President has been photographed playing throughout the week.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 5,803 |
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<p>If you’ve defaulted on student loans, your monthly payment is about to go up, thanks to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.</p>
<p>Secretary DeVos’s agency on Thursday killed an Obama-era rule that was put in place to stop financers of student loans from gouging students who owe past due loans. A “Dear Colleague Letter” (DCL) from Acting Assistant Secretary of Education Lynn Mahaffie told student loan providers to <a href="https://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/GEN1702.pdf" type="external">disregard a 2015 DCL</a> issued by the Obama administration instructing student loan companies to cease charging defaulted borrowers fees as high as 16 percent of a loan’s principal and accrued interest.</p>
<p>“The Department thinks that the position set forth in the [Obama letter] would have benefitted from public input on the issues discussed in the DCL,” Acting Assistant Secretary Mahaffie’s <a href="https://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/GEN1702.pdf" type="external">letter</a> states.&#160;“The department will not require compliance with the interpretations set forth in the DCL without providing prior notice and an opportunity for public comment on the issues.”</p>
<p>The new rule will affect approximately <a href="https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/" type="external">4 million students and graduates</a> whose loans are in default, collectively owing more than $67 billion. The affected students make up about 11 percent of the estimated 44 million Americans who have student debt, according to data from the Federal Reserve. And unlike credit card debt, student debt <a href="https://consumerist.com/2015/03/17/you-cant-discharge-your-student-loans-in-bankruptcy-because-of-panicked-1970s-legislation/" type="external">can’t be discharged through bankruptcy</a>, thanks to laws passed in the 1970s.</p>
<p>Navient, one of the largest services of student loans in the country, is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/business/dealbook/student-loans-navient-lawsuit.html?_r=0" type="external">currently being sued</a> in a class action lawsuit filed by two state Attorneys General and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for misleading and overcharging borrowers.</p>
<p>The New York Times reported that Attorneys General Lisa Madigan of Illinois and Bob Ferguson of Washington state are suing on behalf of millions of students whose loans are being serviced by Navient, and the plaintiffs are seeking billions of dollars in damages based on allegations that the company was purposefully burying critical information in the fine print of lengthy loan documents, and intentionally making it difficult for co-signers to be released from loan agreements.</p>
<p>According to the Wall Street Journal, the total amount of lingering student debt <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/americas-growing-student-loan-debt-crisis-2016-01-15" type="external">has surpassed $1.2 trillion</a>, which is greater than the total amount of credit card debt currently held by American debtors.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Tom Cahill is a writer for the Resistance Report based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email at [email protected], or <a href="http://facebook.com/tom.v.cahill" type="external">follow him on Facebook</a>.</p>
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If you have student loans in default, Betsy DeVos just screwed you big time
| true |
http://resistancereport.com/class-war/betsy-devos-student-loans-screwed/
|
2017-03-17
| 4left
|
If you have student loans in default, Betsy DeVos just screwed you big time
<p>If you’ve defaulted on student loans, your monthly payment is about to go up, thanks to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos.</p>
<p>Secretary DeVos’s agency on Thursday killed an Obama-era rule that was put in place to stop financers of student loans from gouging students who owe past due loans. A “Dear Colleague Letter” (DCL) from Acting Assistant Secretary of Education Lynn Mahaffie told student loan providers to <a href="https://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/GEN1702.pdf" type="external">disregard a 2015 DCL</a> issued by the Obama administration instructing student loan companies to cease charging defaulted borrowers fees as high as 16 percent of a loan’s principal and accrued interest.</p>
<p>“The Department thinks that the position set forth in the [Obama letter] would have benefitted from public input on the issues discussed in the DCL,” Acting Assistant Secretary Mahaffie’s <a href="https://ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/attachments/GEN1702.pdf" type="external">letter</a> states.&#160;“The department will not require compliance with the interpretations set forth in the DCL without providing prior notice and an opportunity for public comment on the issues.”</p>
<p>The new rule will affect approximately <a href="https://studentloanhero.com/student-loan-debt-statistics/" type="external">4 million students and graduates</a> whose loans are in default, collectively owing more than $67 billion. The affected students make up about 11 percent of the estimated 44 million Americans who have student debt, according to data from the Federal Reserve. And unlike credit card debt, student debt <a href="https://consumerist.com/2015/03/17/you-cant-discharge-your-student-loans-in-bankruptcy-because-of-panicked-1970s-legislation/" type="external">can’t be discharged through bankruptcy</a>, thanks to laws passed in the 1970s.</p>
<p>Navient, one of the largest services of student loans in the country, is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/business/dealbook/student-loans-navient-lawsuit.html?_r=0" type="external">currently being sued</a> in a class action lawsuit filed by two state Attorneys General and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for misleading and overcharging borrowers.</p>
<p>The New York Times reported that Attorneys General Lisa Madigan of Illinois and Bob Ferguson of Washington state are suing on behalf of millions of students whose loans are being serviced by Navient, and the plaintiffs are seeking billions of dollars in damages based on allegations that the company was purposefully burying critical information in the fine print of lengthy loan documents, and intentionally making it difficult for co-signers to be released from loan agreements.</p>
<p>According to the Wall Street Journal, the total amount of lingering student debt <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/americas-growing-student-loan-debt-crisis-2016-01-15" type="external">has surpassed $1.2 trillion</a>, which is greater than the total amount of credit card debt currently held by American debtors.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Tom Cahill is a writer for the Resistance Report based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him via email at [email protected], or <a href="http://facebook.com/tom.v.cahill" type="external">follow him on Facebook</a>.</p>
| 5,804 |
<p>(Photo via Wikimedia Commons.)</p>
<p>Richard Simmons has filed a lawsuit against American Media, owner of the National Enquirer and Radar Online, for libel and invasion of privacy, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/richard-simmons-sues-national-enquirer-over-sex-change-report-n756641" type="external">NBC</a>reports.</p>
<p>Simmons retreated from the public eye without explanation in 2014. According to the lawsuit, Simmons is accusing the National Enquirer and Radar Online of publishing false “cruel and malicious” articles that claim Simmons’ public disappearance was due to “transition from male to female” surgeries.</p>
<p>“This case is about a particularly egregious and hurtful campaign of defamations and privacy invasions, falsely asserting that Mr. Simmons is transitioning from a male to a female, including ‘shocking sex surgery,’ breast implants, hormone treatments and consultations on medical castration,” the lawsuit states.</p>
<p>“Mr. Simmons, like every person in this nation, has a legal right to insist that he not be portrayed as someone he is not. Even the most ardent supporter of sexual autonomy and LGBTQ rights is entitled to be portrayed in a manner that is truthful,” the lawsuit continues.</p>
<p>The lawsuit also alleges Simmons’ former assistant Mauro Oliveira had been blackmailing the fitness guru and selling stories to the tabloids. Allegedly, Oliveira told the publications Simmons was “frail, weak and spiritually broken” and that he was “being held hostage by his housekeeper who was controlling Mr. Simmons, taking advantage of his weak mental state and engaging in witchcraft.” The lawsuit states that these stories were meant to &#160;“destroy” Simmons’ “career and reputation.”</p>
<p>A spokesperson for American Media told <a href="http://people.com/bodies/richard-simmons-lawsuit-not-transitioning-five-things/" type="external">PEOPLE</a>both publications used accurate reporting when publishing the stories and the publisher plans to “vigorously” defend itself against the allegations.</p>
<p>“While we have not seen Mr. Simmons’ complaint we stand by our reporting about him, all of which was based on solid sourcing and material evidence. Should he choose to proceed with his lawsuit, we will defend it vigorously, and we look forward to the public vindication of our reports,” American Media said in a statement.</p>
<p>Media speculation over Simmons’ disappearance has been rampant since his 2014 disappearance, including in the popular podcast “Missing Richard Simmons.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">American Media</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mauro Oliveira</a> <a href="" type="internal">National Enquirer</a> <a href="" type="internal">NBC</a> <a href="" type="internal">people</a> <a href="" type="internal">Radar Online</a> <a href="" type="internal">Richard Simmons</a></p>
|
Richard Simmons sues tabloids for ‘cruel and malicious’ sex-change rumors
| false |
http://washingtonblade.com/2017/05/09/richard-simmons-sues-tabloids-for-cruel-and-malicious-sex-change-rumors/
| 3left-center
|
Richard Simmons sues tabloids for ‘cruel and malicious’ sex-change rumors
<p>(Photo via Wikimedia Commons.)</p>
<p>Richard Simmons has filed a lawsuit against American Media, owner of the National Enquirer and Radar Online, for libel and invasion of privacy, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/richard-simmons-sues-national-enquirer-over-sex-change-report-n756641" type="external">NBC</a>reports.</p>
<p>Simmons retreated from the public eye without explanation in 2014. According to the lawsuit, Simmons is accusing the National Enquirer and Radar Online of publishing false “cruel and malicious” articles that claim Simmons’ public disappearance was due to “transition from male to female” surgeries.</p>
<p>“This case is about a particularly egregious and hurtful campaign of defamations and privacy invasions, falsely asserting that Mr. Simmons is transitioning from a male to a female, including ‘shocking sex surgery,’ breast implants, hormone treatments and consultations on medical castration,” the lawsuit states.</p>
<p>“Mr. Simmons, like every person in this nation, has a legal right to insist that he not be portrayed as someone he is not. Even the most ardent supporter of sexual autonomy and LGBTQ rights is entitled to be portrayed in a manner that is truthful,” the lawsuit continues.</p>
<p>The lawsuit also alleges Simmons’ former assistant Mauro Oliveira had been blackmailing the fitness guru and selling stories to the tabloids. Allegedly, Oliveira told the publications Simmons was “frail, weak and spiritually broken” and that he was “being held hostage by his housekeeper who was controlling Mr. Simmons, taking advantage of his weak mental state and engaging in witchcraft.” The lawsuit states that these stories were meant to &#160;“destroy” Simmons’ “career and reputation.”</p>
<p>A spokesperson for American Media told <a href="http://people.com/bodies/richard-simmons-lawsuit-not-transitioning-five-things/" type="external">PEOPLE</a>both publications used accurate reporting when publishing the stories and the publisher plans to “vigorously” defend itself against the allegations.</p>
<p>“While we have not seen Mr. Simmons’ complaint we stand by our reporting about him, all of which was based on solid sourcing and material evidence. Should he choose to proceed with his lawsuit, we will defend it vigorously, and we look forward to the public vindication of our reports,” American Media said in a statement.</p>
<p>Media speculation over Simmons’ disappearance has been rampant since his 2014 disappearance, including in the popular podcast “Missing Richard Simmons.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">American Media</a> <a href="" type="internal">Mauro Oliveira</a> <a href="" type="internal">National Enquirer</a> <a href="" type="internal">NBC</a> <a href="" type="internal">people</a> <a href="" type="internal">Radar Online</a> <a href="" type="internal">Richard Simmons</a></p>
| 5,805 |
|
<p>In an&#160; <a href="http://smdp.com/celebrating-50-years-medicare-medicaid/149214" type="external">op-ed</a>&#160;today, David Sayen, Medicare’s regional administrator for Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Territories, gushes on about how wildly successful the program (which pays him and countless other administrators) has been. &#160;“Fifty years later, no other program has changed the lives of Americans more than Medicare and Medicaid”. &#160;He goes on to list nothing but benefits to the program, and how it has changed people’s lives. &#160;That is one perspective — that it’s all been a no-brainer upside choice. &#160;But as we watch Greece continue to careen in ditch-after-ditch, doesn’t it make one wonder? &#160;Is there a free lunch?</p>
<p>Debt is way up</p>
<p>Our current national Debt is $18.3 Trillion dollars, while our annual GDP is estimated at $17.1 Trillion (GDP includes all government spending). &#160;Medicare spending is the most rapidly growing item in our spending profile, and as the population continues to age, our unfunded liabilities to future medicare recipients is pegged as high as &#160; <a href="http://www.usdebtclock.org/" type="external">$27.5 Trillion</a>, depending upon whose assumptions one is to believe.&#160;&#160;At what number does the spending scare us enough? &#160;And while current interest rates on that debt aren’t as problematic as in the past, as they rise, interest on the rising debt continues to crowd out other potential spending. &#160;This is the story of Greece and other countries. &#160;Who will bail out the US?</p>
<p>Costs are way up</p>
<p>There should be no question that government interference with the production and consumption of health care has distorted the prices for those goods and services. &#160;According to the&#160; <a href="http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2009/health_care/" type="external">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a>, “In 59 of the 73 years from 1936 to 2008, including an unbroken period from 1981 to 2007, the inflation rate for medical care, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, increased more than the rate for all items.” &#160;Why would that be, since we health reform has fixed so much?</p>
<p>The answer is that it’s pitifully easy to spend other people’s money. Where prices are transparent, people make choices with their own money about what is valuable and what is not. &#160;The first question you ask when your mechanic wants to order you a repair is “how much”? &#160;The first question at a doctor’s office is “does insurance cover this”? &#160;And whether your insurance covers or doesn’t is largely dominated by Medicare and Medicaid politics in the last 50 years. &#160; If Medicare covers it, you can get it. &#160;Should you? &#160;Medicare obscures the choices one makes over what to buy. &#160;The results reward those who can supply goods the government thinks one should have, rather than those thinks one would otherwise choose.</p>
<p>So while Sayen wants to applaud how many less uninsured there are, and the increase in peace of mind, has the program helped improved the poverty situation, or has it predominantly delivered more income to the providers?</p>
<p>Innovation is stifled</p>
<p>The price of normal goods goes down when demand for them increases, as innovation takes over. &#160;In unregulated industries, as demand increases, new competitors rush in and drive down prices and increase options. &#160;In computing we continue to get more and more services at lower and lower prices, as innovators shake up the universe of what is possible.</p>
<p>But the price of healthcare is dominated by rules and regulations about what can and cannot be managed. &#160;Every few years, as things continue to break, we get cries for “reform”. &#160;Which lead to how many pages in the federal register? &#160;While people love to complain about big pharma and big insurance, the more regulations we have, the more they are shaped by the major players in the industry, and the less small upstarts can disrupt incumbents. &#160;The incumbents want it that way.</p>
<p>As Thomas Sowell has said: “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.” &#160;We all want to believe that politicians can make everything easier simply by legislating away all the problems. &#160;The real story takes a bit more analysis.</p>
<p />
|
Medicare and Medicaid at 50 — cause for celebration, or concern?
| false |
http://natmonitor.com/2015/07/11/50-years-of-medicare-and-medicaid-not-that-much-to-celebrate/
|
2015-07-11
| 3left-center
|
Medicare and Medicaid at 50 — cause for celebration, or concern?
<p>In an&#160; <a href="http://smdp.com/celebrating-50-years-medicare-medicaid/149214" type="external">op-ed</a>&#160;today, David Sayen, Medicare’s regional administrator for Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Territories, gushes on about how wildly successful the program (which pays him and countless other administrators) has been. &#160;“Fifty years later, no other program has changed the lives of Americans more than Medicare and Medicaid”. &#160;He goes on to list nothing but benefits to the program, and how it has changed people’s lives. &#160;That is one perspective — that it’s all been a no-brainer upside choice. &#160;But as we watch Greece continue to careen in ditch-after-ditch, doesn’t it make one wonder? &#160;Is there a free lunch?</p>
<p>Debt is way up</p>
<p>Our current national Debt is $18.3 Trillion dollars, while our annual GDP is estimated at $17.1 Trillion (GDP includes all government spending). &#160;Medicare spending is the most rapidly growing item in our spending profile, and as the population continues to age, our unfunded liabilities to future medicare recipients is pegged as high as &#160; <a href="http://www.usdebtclock.org/" type="external">$27.5 Trillion</a>, depending upon whose assumptions one is to believe.&#160;&#160;At what number does the spending scare us enough? &#160;And while current interest rates on that debt aren’t as problematic as in the past, as they rise, interest on the rising debt continues to crowd out other potential spending. &#160;This is the story of Greece and other countries. &#160;Who will bail out the US?</p>
<p>Costs are way up</p>
<p>There should be no question that government interference with the production and consumption of health care has distorted the prices for those goods and services. &#160;According to the&#160; <a href="http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2009/health_care/" type="external">Bureau of Labor Statistics</a>, “In 59 of the 73 years from 1936 to 2008, including an unbroken period from 1981 to 2007, the inflation rate for medical care, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, increased more than the rate for all items.” &#160;Why would that be, since we health reform has fixed so much?</p>
<p>The answer is that it’s pitifully easy to spend other people’s money. Where prices are transparent, people make choices with their own money about what is valuable and what is not. &#160;The first question you ask when your mechanic wants to order you a repair is “how much”? &#160;The first question at a doctor’s office is “does insurance cover this”? &#160;And whether your insurance covers or doesn’t is largely dominated by Medicare and Medicaid politics in the last 50 years. &#160; If Medicare covers it, you can get it. &#160;Should you? &#160;Medicare obscures the choices one makes over what to buy. &#160;The results reward those who can supply goods the government thinks one should have, rather than those thinks one would otherwise choose.</p>
<p>So while Sayen wants to applaud how many less uninsured there are, and the increase in peace of mind, has the program helped improved the poverty situation, or has it predominantly delivered more income to the providers?</p>
<p>Innovation is stifled</p>
<p>The price of normal goods goes down when demand for them increases, as innovation takes over. &#160;In unregulated industries, as demand increases, new competitors rush in and drive down prices and increase options. &#160;In computing we continue to get more and more services at lower and lower prices, as innovators shake up the universe of what is possible.</p>
<p>But the price of healthcare is dominated by rules and regulations about what can and cannot be managed. &#160;Every few years, as things continue to break, we get cries for “reform”. &#160;Which lead to how many pages in the federal register? &#160;While people love to complain about big pharma and big insurance, the more regulations we have, the more they are shaped by the major players in the industry, and the less small upstarts can disrupt incumbents. &#160;The incumbents want it that way.</p>
<p>As Thomas Sowell has said: “The first lesson of economics is scarcity: there is never enough of anything to fully satisfy all those who want it. The first lesson of politics is to disregard the first lesson of economics.” &#160;We all want to believe that politicians can make everything easier simply by legislating away all the problems. &#160;The real story takes a bit more analysis.</p>
<p />
| 5,806 |
<p>Mr. Fish / Truthdig</p>
<p>The idiots take over in the final days of crumbling civilizations. Idiot generals wage endless, unwinnable wars that bankrupt the nation. Idiot economists call for reducing taxes for the rich and cutting social service programs for the poor, and project economic growth on the basis of myth. Idiot industrialists poison the water, the soil and the air, slash jobs and depress wages. Idiot bankers gamble on self-created financial bubbles and impose crippling debt peonage on the citizens. Idiot journalists and public intellectuals pretend despotism is democracy. Idiot intelligence operatives orchestrate the overthrow of foreign governments to create lawless enclaves that give rise to enraged fanatics. Idiot professors, “experts” and “specialists” busy themselves with unintelligible jargon and arcane theory that buttresses the policies of the rulers. Idiot entertainers and producers create lurid spectacles of sex, gore and fantasy.</p>
<p>There is a familiar checklist for extinction. We are ticking off every item on it.</p>
<p>The idiots know only one word—“more.” They are unencumbered by common sense. They hoard wealth and resources until workers cannot make a living and the infrastructure collapses. They live in privileged compounds where they eat chocolate cake and order missile strikes. They see the state as a projection of their vanity. The Roman, Mayan, French, Habsburg, Ottoman, Romanov, <a href="https://www.revolvy.com/topic/Wilhelminism&amp;item_type=topic%20" type="external">Wilhelmine</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pahlavi_dynasty%20" type="external">Pahlavi</a> and Soviet dynasties crumbled because the whims and obsessions of ruling idiots were law.</p>
<p />
<p>Donald Trump is the face of our collective idiocy. He is what lies behind the mask of our professed civility and rationality—a sputtering, narcissistic, bloodthirsty megalomaniac. He wields armies and fleets against the wretched of the earth, blithely ignores the catastrophic human misery caused by global warming, pillages on behalf of global oligarchs and at night sits slack-jawed in front of a television set before opening his “beautiful” Twitter account. He is our version of the Roman emperor Nero, who allocated vast state expenditures to attain magical powers, the Chinese emperor <a href="http://launchistory.blogspot.com/2013/03/qin-shi-huangs-quest-for-immortality.html%20" type="external">Qin Shi Huang</a>, who funded repeated expeditions to a mythical island of immortals to bring back the potion that would give him eternal life, and a decayed Russian royalty that sat around reading tarot cards and attending séances as their nation was decimated by war and revolution brewed in the streets.</p>
<p>This moment in history marks the end of a long, sad tale of greed and murder by the white races. It is inevitable that for the final show we vomited a grotesque figure like Trump. Europeans and Americans have spent five centuries conquering, plundering, exploiting and polluting the earth in the name of human progress. They used their technological superiority to create the most efficient killing machines on the planet, directed against anyone and anything, especially indigenous cultures, that stood in their way. They stole and hoarded the planet’s wealth and resources. They believed that this orgy of blood and gold would never end, and they still believe it. They do not understand that the dark ethic of ceaseless capitalist and imperialist expansion is dooming the exploiters as well as the exploited. But even as we stand on the cusp of extinction we lack the intelligence and imagination to break free from our evolutionary past. The more the warning signs are palpable—rising temperatures, global financial meltdowns, mass human migrations, endless wars, poisoned ecosystems, rampant corruption among the ruling class—the more we turn to those who chant, either through idiocy or cynicism, the mantra that what worked in the past will work in the future, that progress is inevitable. Factual evidence, since it is an impediment to what we desire, is banished. The taxes of corporations and the rich, who have <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/deindustrialization.html" type="external">deindustrialized</a> the country and turned many of our cities into wastelands, are cut, and regulations are slashed to bring back the supposed golden era of the 1950s for white American workers. Public lands are opened up to the oil and gas industry as rising carbon emissions doom our species. Declining crop yields stemming from heat waves and droughts are ignored. War is the principal business of the kleptocratic state.</p>
<p><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/benjamin/%20" type="external">Walter Benjamin</a> wrote in 1940 amid the rise of European fascism and looming world war:</p>
<p>A Klee painting named <a href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Klee%252C_paul%252C_angelus_novus%252C_1920.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Novus&amp;h=400&amp;w=321&amp;tbnid=pXecmQFJAgk7rM:&amp;tbnh=186&amp;tbnw=149&amp;usg=__iStlP1DhuCboWQ6kxj6DtGLBFOE=&amp;vet=10ahUKEwjNgK67kc3TAhUN_WMKHVJ-CK0Q_B0IggEwCg..i&amp;docid=P4w54is3_SbRfM&amp;itg=1&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjNgK67kc3TAhUN_WMKHVJ-CK0Q_B0IggEwCg&amp;ei=u1gGWY03jfqPA9L8oegK#h=400&amp;imgdii=Trjr1WMKZ5ug_M:&amp;tbnh=186&amp;tbnw=149&amp;vet=10ahUKEwjNgK67kc3TAhUN_WMKHVJ-CK0Q_B0IggEwCg..i&amp;w=321%20" type="external">Angelus Novus</a> shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned towards the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe, which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.</p>
<p>Magical thinking is not limited to the beliefs and practices of pre-modern cultures. It defines the ideology of capitalism. Quotas and projected sales can always be met. Profits can always be raised. Growth is inevitable. The impossible is always possible. Human societies, if they bow before the dictates of the marketplace, will be ushered into capitalist paradise. It is only a question of having the right attitude and the right technique. When capitalism thrives, we are assured, we thrive. The merging of the self with the capitalist collective has robbed us of our agency, creativity, capacity for self-reflection and moral autonomy. We define our worth not by our independence or our character but by the material standards set by capitalism—personal wealth, brands, status and career advancement. We are molded into a compliant and repressed collective. This mass conformity is characteristic of totalitarian and authoritarian states. It is the Disneyfication of America, the land of eternally happy thoughts and positive attitudes. And when magical thinking does not work, we are told, and often accept, that we are the problem. We must have more faith. We must envision what we want. We must try harder. The system is never to blame. We failed it. It did not fail us.</p>
<p>All of our systems of information, from self-help gurus and Hollywood to political monstrosities such as Trump, sell us this snake oil. We blind ourselves to impending collapse. Our retreat into self-delusion is a career opportunity for charlatans who tell us what we want to hear. The magical thinking they espouse is a form of infantilism. It discredits facts and realities that defy the glowing cant of slogans such as “Make America great again.” Reality is banished for relentless and baseless optimism.</p>
<p>Half the country may live in poverty, our civil liberties may be taken from us, militarized police may murder unarmed citizens in the streets and we may run the world’s largest prison system and murderous war machine, but all these truths are studiously ignored. Trump embodies the essence of this decayed, intellectually bankrupt and immoral world. He is its natural expression. He is the king of the idiots. We are his victims.</p>
|
Reign of Idiots
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/reign-of-idiots/
|
2017-05-01
| 4left
|
Reign of Idiots
<p>Mr. Fish / Truthdig</p>
<p>The idiots take over in the final days of crumbling civilizations. Idiot generals wage endless, unwinnable wars that bankrupt the nation. Idiot economists call for reducing taxes for the rich and cutting social service programs for the poor, and project economic growth on the basis of myth. Idiot industrialists poison the water, the soil and the air, slash jobs and depress wages. Idiot bankers gamble on self-created financial bubbles and impose crippling debt peonage on the citizens. Idiot journalists and public intellectuals pretend despotism is democracy. Idiot intelligence operatives orchestrate the overthrow of foreign governments to create lawless enclaves that give rise to enraged fanatics. Idiot professors, “experts” and “specialists” busy themselves with unintelligible jargon and arcane theory that buttresses the policies of the rulers. Idiot entertainers and producers create lurid spectacles of sex, gore and fantasy.</p>
<p>There is a familiar checklist for extinction. We are ticking off every item on it.</p>
<p>The idiots know only one word—“more.” They are unencumbered by common sense. They hoard wealth and resources until workers cannot make a living and the infrastructure collapses. They live in privileged compounds where they eat chocolate cake and order missile strikes. They see the state as a projection of their vanity. The Roman, Mayan, French, Habsburg, Ottoman, Romanov, <a href="https://www.revolvy.com/topic/Wilhelminism&amp;item_type=topic%20" type="external">Wilhelmine</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pahlavi_dynasty%20" type="external">Pahlavi</a> and Soviet dynasties crumbled because the whims and obsessions of ruling idiots were law.</p>
<p />
<p>Donald Trump is the face of our collective idiocy. He is what lies behind the mask of our professed civility and rationality—a sputtering, narcissistic, bloodthirsty megalomaniac. He wields armies and fleets against the wretched of the earth, blithely ignores the catastrophic human misery caused by global warming, pillages on behalf of global oligarchs and at night sits slack-jawed in front of a television set before opening his “beautiful” Twitter account. He is our version of the Roman emperor Nero, who allocated vast state expenditures to attain magical powers, the Chinese emperor <a href="http://launchistory.blogspot.com/2013/03/qin-shi-huangs-quest-for-immortality.html%20" type="external">Qin Shi Huang</a>, who funded repeated expeditions to a mythical island of immortals to bring back the potion that would give him eternal life, and a decayed Russian royalty that sat around reading tarot cards and attending séances as their nation was decimated by war and revolution brewed in the streets.</p>
<p>This moment in history marks the end of a long, sad tale of greed and murder by the white races. It is inevitable that for the final show we vomited a grotesque figure like Trump. Europeans and Americans have spent five centuries conquering, plundering, exploiting and polluting the earth in the name of human progress. They used their technological superiority to create the most efficient killing machines on the planet, directed against anyone and anything, especially indigenous cultures, that stood in their way. They stole and hoarded the planet’s wealth and resources. They believed that this orgy of blood and gold would never end, and they still believe it. They do not understand that the dark ethic of ceaseless capitalist and imperialist expansion is dooming the exploiters as well as the exploited. But even as we stand on the cusp of extinction we lack the intelligence and imagination to break free from our evolutionary past. The more the warning signs are palpable—rising temperatures, global financial meltdowns, mass human migrations, endless wars, poisoned ecosystems, rampant corruption among the ruling class—the more we turn to those who chant, either through idiocy or cynicism, the mantra that what worked in the past will work in the future, that progress is inevitable. Factual evidence, since it is an impediment to what we desire, is banished. The taxes of corporations and the rich, who have <a href="http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/deindustrialization.html" type="external">deindustrialized</a> the country and turned many of our cities into wastelands, are cut, and regulations are slashed to bring back the supposed golden era of the 1950s for white American workers. Public lands are opened up to the oil and gas industry as rising carbon emissions doom our species. Declining crop yields stemming from heat waves and droughts are ignored. War is the principal business of the kleptocratic state.</p>
<p><a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/benjamin/%20" type="external">Walter Benjamin</a> wrote in 1940 amid the rise of European fascism and looming world war:</p>
<p>A Klee painting named <a href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Klee%252C_paul%252C_angelus_novus%252C_1920.jpg&amp;imgrefurl=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelus_Novus&amp;h=400&amp;w=321&amp;tbnid=pXecmQFJAgk7rM:&amp;tbnh=186&amp;tbnw=149&amp;usg=__iStlP1DhuCboWQ6kxj6DtGLBFOE=&amp;vet=10ahUKEwjNgK67kc3TAhUN_WMKHVJ-CK0Q_B0IggEwCg..i&amp;docid=P4w54is3_SbRfM&amp;itg=1&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjNgK67kc3TAhUN_WMKHVJ-CK0Q_B0IggEwCg&amp;ei=u1gGWY03jfqPA9L8oegK#h=400&amp;imgdii=Trjr1WMKZ5ug_M:&amp;tbnh=186&amp;tbnw=149&amp;vet=10ahUKEwjNgK67kc3TAhUN_WMKHVJ-CK0Q_B0IggEwCg..i&amp;w=321%20" type="external">Angelus Novus</a> shows an angel looking as though he is about to move away from something he is fixedly contemplating. His eyes are staring, his mouth is open, his wings are spread. This is how one pictures the angel of history. His face is turned towards the past. Where we perceive a chain of events, he sees one single catastrophe, which keeps piling wreckage upon wreckage and hurls it in front of his feet. The angel would like to stay, awaken the dead, and make whole what has been smashed. But a storm is blowing from Paradise; it has got caught in his wings with such violence that the angel can no longer close them. The storm irresistibly propels him into the future to which his back is turned, while the pile of debris before him grows skyward. This storm is what we call progress.</p>
<p>Magical thinking is not limited to the beliefs and practices of pre-modern cultures. It defines the ideology of capitalism. Quotas and projected sales can always be met. Profits can always be raised. Growth is inevitable. The impossible is always possible. Human societies, if they bow before the dictates of the marketplace, will be ushered into capitalist paradise. It is only a question of having the right attitude and the right technique. When capitalism thrives, we are assured, we thrive. The merging of the self with the capitalist collective has robbed us of our agency, creativity, capacity for self-reflection and moral autonomy. We define our worth not by our independence or our character but by the material standards set by capitalism—personal wealth, brands, status and career advancement. We are molded into a compliant and repressed collective. This mass conformity is characteristic of totalitarian and authoritarian states. It is the Disneyfication of America, the land of eternally happy thoughts and positive attitudes. And when magical thinking does not work, we are told, and often accept, that we are the problem. We must have more faith. We must envision what we want. We must try harder. The system is never to blame. We failed it. It did not fail us.</p>
<p>All of our systems of information, from self-help gurus and Hollywood to political monstrosities such as Trump, sell us this snake oil. We blind ourselves to impending collapse. Our retreat into self-delusion is a career opportunity for charlatans who tell us what we want to hear. The magical thinking they espouse is a form of infantilism. It discredits facts and realities that defy the glowing cant of slogans such as “Make America great again.” Reality is banished for relentless and baseless optimism.</p>
<p>Half the country may live in poverty, our civil liberties may be taken from us, militarized police may murder unarmed citizens in the streets and we may run the world’s largest prison system and murderous war machine, but all these truths are studiously ignored. Trump embodies the essence of this decayed, intellectually bankrupt and immoral world. He is its natural expression. He is the king of the idiots. We are his victims.</p>
| 5,807 |
<p>Billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced Monday that he has bought nearly $11 billion worth of IBM stock over the last eight months, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/14/us-buffett-ibm-idUSTRE7AD0V720111114" type="external">Reuters reported</a>. Buffett made the announcement on the cable television network CNBC.&#160;</p>
<p>According to Reuters, the move potentially makes Buffett IBM's largest shareholder, with a 5.5 percent stake.&#160;</p>
<p>Buffett has in the past stayed away from investing in technology companies, but the BBC reported that he was impressed with IBM's planning, global reach and&#160;continuity.&#160;</p>
<p>"If you're in some country around the world and you're developing your IT department you're probably going to feel more comfortable with IBM than with many companies," Buffett said.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/macro/warren-buffett-invest-5-billion-bank-america" type="external">Warren Buffett to invest $5 billion in Bank of America</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15728306" type="external">According to the BBC</a>, Buffett started buying IBM stock after reading the company's 2010 annual report and speaking with technology professionals who work for companies he already is invested in.&#160;</p>
<p>"It is a big deal for a big company to change auditors, change law firms, or change IT support," Buffett said.&#160;"There's a fair amount of presumption in many places that if you're with IBM, you stay with them."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-14/buffett-bets-ibm-to-avoid-wild-swings-that-burned-technology-investors.html" type="external">Bloomberg reported</a> that IBM's stock has gained 19 percent this year, despite the turmoil in global markets.</p>
<p>Buffett also had some words of praise for IBM's new CEO, Virginia Rometty.</p>
<p>"She's explained these plans they have for the next five years. I have no reason to be anything other than positive," he said, according to Bloomberg. "And they're batting 1,000 in the last two CEO's they've come up with."</p>
|
Warren Buffett makes big IBM investment
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2011-11-14/warren-buffett-makes-big-ibm-investment
|
2011-11-14
| 3left-center
|
Warren Buffett makes big IBM investment
<p>Billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced Monday that he has bought nearly $11 billion worth of IBM stock over the last eight months, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/14/us-buffett-ibm-idUSTRE7AD0V720111114" type="external">Reuters reported</a>. Buffett made the announcement on the cable television network CNBC.&#160;</p>
<p>According to Reuters, the move potentially makes Buffett IBM's largest shareholder, with a 5.5 percent stake.&#160;</p>
<p>Buffett has in the past stayed away from investing in technology companies, but the BBC reported that he was impressed with IBM's planning, global reach and&#160;continuity.&#160;</p>
<p>"If you're in some country around the world and you're developing your IT department you're probably going to feel more comfortable with IBM than with many companies," Buffett said.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/macro/warren-buffett-invest-5-billion-bank-america" type="external">Warren Buffett to invest $5 billion in Bank of America</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15728306" type="external">According to the BBC</a>, Buffett started buying IBM stock after reading the company's 2010 annual report and speaking with technology professionals who work for companies he already is invested in.&#160;</p>
<p>"It is a big deal for a big company to change auditors, change law firms, or change IT support," Buffett said.&#160;"There's a fair amount of presumption in many places that if you're with IBM, you stay with them."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-14/buffett-bets-ibm-to-avoid-wild-swings-that-burned-technology-investors.html" type="external">Bloomberg reported</a> that IBM's stock has gained 19 percent this year, despite the turmoil in global markets.</p>
<p>Buffett also had some words of praise for IBM's new CEO, Virginia Rometty.</p>
<p>"She's explained these plans they have for the next five years. I have no reason to be anything other than positive," he said, according to Bloomberg. "And they're batting 1,000 in the last two CEO's they've come up with."</p>
| 5,808 |
<p>Boston, MA — A former head of a major Irish bank has been extradited from the U.S. and brought before Dublin District Court to face several charges stemming from the bank’s role in the 2008 financial crisis.</p>
<p>David Drumm, former chief executive of Irish Anglo Bank from 2005 until 2008, had been arrested in Boston in October 2015, and originally attempted to fight extradition — but he recently withdrew the objection and was returned to Ireland early on Monday.</p>
<p>Drumm faces 33 charges in Ireland, which echoes Iceland’s unprecedented move to hold its bankers criminally accountable for their role in that country’s economic meltdown. Though Drumm predictably denied wrongdoing, his charges include “fraud, forgery, misleading management reporting, unlawful lending, falsifying documents, and false accounting, linked to financial transactions prior to the collapse of Anglo,” <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/david-drumm-to-be-granted-bail-if-surety-conditions-met-1.2572335" type="external">according to the Irish Times</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>Though prosecutors consider Drumm a flight risk — after all, he seemed to be seeking <a href="" type="internal">safe haven inside the United States</a> — the court allowed the ex-banker to post bail under several conditions. Drumm’s passport is currently being held by the Gardaí (Garda Síochána, or Irish Police), and under the bail arrangement, he assured the court he would not apply for another and does not possess a U.S. passport.</p>
<p>Seven of Drumm’s relatives offered to put their houses on the line as ‘security’ for his bail, though the judge only required four names.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/335516-drumm-anglo-irish-bank/" type="external">RT reported</a>, Drumm is alleged to have participated in transactions totaling around €7 billion between Anglo and a second lending institution, Irish Life and Permanent. Anglo “posted the worst corporate results in Irish history with losses of €17.5 billion for 2010.”</p>
<p>However, his solicitor argued that in order to better prepare his defense — including sorting through the “millions of documents” and nearly 400 hours of phone conversations — Drumm needed to remain out of prison. As the Times noted, two “books” of evidence will need to be heard by the court — one of which entails bringing 120 witnesses to testify.</p>
<p>The former banking executive has not yet entered a formal plea. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if found guilty.</p>
<p>Iceland, and now Ireland, have taken action to hold criminal bankers accountable for their direct role in the economic devastation which enveloped most of the world beginning in 2008 — the exact opposite of what the US does.</p>
<p>As of October, Iceland’s criminal bankers had been <a href="http://thefreethoughtproject.com/icelands-banksters-sentenced-74-years-prison-prosecution-u-s/" type="external">sentenced</a> to <a href="" type="internal">a combined 74 years in prison</a> — with others awaiting trial. Then, the <a href="http://theantimedia.org/first-they-jailed-the-bankers-now-every-icelander-to-get-paid-in-bank-sale/" type="external">sale</a> of one of its national banks meant <a href="" type="internal">a payout</a>, albeit small, for every Icelandic citizen.</p>
<p>The U.S. notoriously and controversially bailed out its banks — essentially rewarding them, or at least, excusing them for the crisis they created.</p>
<p>Drumm was ordered by the judge to remain in Ireland.</p>
<p>Notably, according to RT, the Irish ex-banker has appealed a U.S. court’s refusal to grant him bankruptcy on over €10 million of debt.</p>
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://thefreethoughtproject.com/irish-banker-facing-charges-extradition-us/" type="external">The Free Thought Project</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Ireland to Prosecute Top Banker Who Destroyed Their Economy — Guess Where He Was Hiding?
| true |
http://dcclothesline.com/2016/03/16/ireland-to-prosecute-top-banker-who-destroyed-their-economy-guess-where-he-was-hiding/
|
2016-03-16
| 0right
|
Ireland to Prosecute Top Banker Who Destroyed Their Economy — Guess Where He Was Hiding?
<p>Boston, MA — A former head of a major Irish bank has been extradited from the U.S. and brought before Dublin District Court to face several charges stemming from the bank’s role in the 2008 financial crisis.</p>
<p>David Drumm, former chief executive of Irish Anglo Bank from 2005 until 2008, had been arrested in Boston in October 2015, and originally attempted to fight extradition — but he recently withdrew the objection and was returned to Ireland early on Monday.</p>
<p>Drumm faces 33 charges in Ireland, which echoes Iceland’s unprecedented move to hold its bankers criminally accountable for their role in that country’s economic meltdown. Though Drumm predictably denied wrongdoing, his charges include “fraud, forgery, misleading management reporting, unlawful lending, falsifying documents, and false accounting, linked to financial transactions prior to the collapse of Anglo,” <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/david-drumm-to-be-granted-bail-if-surety-conditions-met-1.2572335" type="external">according to the Irish Times</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>Though prosecutors consider Drumm a flight risk — after all, he seemed to be seeking <a href="" type="internal">safe haven inside the United States</a> — the court allowed the ex-banker to post bail under several conditions. Drumm’s passport is currently being held by the Gardaí (Garda Síochána, or Irish Police), and under the bail arrangement, he assured the court he would not apply for another and does not possess a U.S. passport.</p>
<p>Seven of Drumm’s relatives offered to put their houses on the line as ‘security’ for his bail, though the judge only required four names.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.rt.com/news/335516-drumm-anglo-irish-bank/" type="external">RT reported</a>, Drumm is alleged to have participated in transactions totaling around €7 billion between Anglo and a second lending institution, Irish Life and Permanent. Anglo “posted the worst corporate results in Irish history with losses of €17.5 billion for 2010.”</p>
<p>However, his solicitor argued that in order to better prepare his defense — including sorting through the “millions of documents” and nearly 400 hours of phone conversations — Drumm needed to remain out of prison. As the Times noted, two “books” of evidence will need to be heard by the court — one of which entails bringing 120 witnesses to testify.</p>
<p>The former banking executive has not yet entered a formal plea. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if found guilty.</p>
<p>Iceland, and now Ireland, have taken action to hold criminal bankers accountable for their direct role in the economic devastation which enveloped most of the world beginning in 2008 — the exact opposite of what the US does.</p>
<p>As of October, Iceland’s criminal bankers had been <a href="http://thefreethoughtproject.com/icelands-banksters-sentenced-74-years-prison-prosecution-u-s/" type="external">sentenced</a> to <a href="" type="internal">a combined 74 years in prison</a> — with others awaiting trial. Then, the <a href="http://theantimedia.org/first-they-jailed-the-bankers-now-every-icelander-to-get-paid-in-bank-sale/" type="external">sale</a> of one of its national banks meant <a href="" type="internal">a payout</a>, albeit small, for every Icelandic citizen.</p>
<p>The U.S. notoriously and controversially bailed out its banks — essentially rewarding them, or at least, excusing them for the crisis they created.</p>
<p>Drumm was ordered by the judge to remain in Ireland.</p>
<p>Notably, according to RT, the Irish ex-banker has appealed a U.S. court’s refusal to grant him bankruptcy on over €10 million of debt.</p>
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://thefreethoughtproject.com/irish-banker-facing-charges-extradition-us/" type="external">The Free Thought Project</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 5,809 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">Newt Gingrich</a> explains that discrimination against blacks may be wrong — “you have to decide whether you’re going to tolerate discrimination based on race,” — &#160;but against gays is perfectly acceptable, suggesting that there actually is no discrimination against gays because gay people can drink from the same water fountains as straight people. Note that Gingrich doesn’t actually come out against discrimination against blacks, stating that “you have to decide whether you’re going to tolerate” it.</p>
<p>But Gingrich also states he would sign an order re-instating Don’t Ask, Don’t tell, and believes that marriage for 3000 years has always been between a man and a woman and cannot change.</p>
<p>Gingrich attributes his stance that discrimination against gays is good on the false concept that being gay is a choice, suggesting gay people should just marry people of the opposite sex.</p>
<p>Marriage is a “value proposition,” Gingrich says, and an acceptance of “that lifestyle” cannot be “normalized.” Gingrich calls equating the African-American civil rights movement with the LGBT civil rights movement “offensive.”</p>
<p>Gingrich, twice divorced, thrice married, is a serial adulterer, and much has been written about the details of his infidelity, including <a href="" type="internal">specific stories on where and when and how he cheated on his wives</a>.</p>
<p>Igor Volsky at <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/12/15/390393/newt-gingrich-gay-people-choose-to-be-gay-like-priests-choose-celibacy/" type="external">Think Progress</a> — who published the video and related transcript, below — today wrote:</p>
<p>Newt Gingrich told the Des Moines Register’s editorial board this morning that gay people have a “significant range of choice within a genetic pattern” and can choose to be straight just like someone can “choose to be celibate.” The former House speaker, who opposes same-sex marriage, explained that there is a “big difference between saying that you’re to have an acceptance of people’s lifestyles and saying that you’re now going to normalize that as a standard for the whole country”:</p>
<p>Q: Do you believe that people choose to be gay?</p>
<p>GINGRICH:&#160;I believe it’s a combination of genetics and environment. I think both are involved. I think people have many ranges of choices.&#160;Part of the question is, do you want a society which has a bias in one direction or another?</p>
<p>Q: So people can then choose one way or another?</p>
<p>GINGRICH: I think people have a significant range of choice within a genetic pattern. I don’t believe in genetic determinism and I don’t think there is any great evidence of genetic determinism.&#160;There are propensities. Are you more likely to do this or more likely to do that?&#160;But that doesn’t mean it’s definitional.</p>
<p>Q: So a person can then choose to be straight?</p>
<p>GINGRICH:&#160;Look, people choose to be celibate. People choose many things in life. You know, there is a bias in favor of non-celibacy. It’s part of how the species recreates. And yet there is a substantial amount of people who choose celibacy as a religious vocation or for other reasons.</p>
<p />
<p>Tagged as: <a href="" type="internal">2012</a>, <a href="" type="internal">discrimination against gays</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay Marriage</a>, <a href="" type="internal">gay people</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Homosexuality</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Newt Gingrich</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Republican</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Same-Sex Marriage</a></p>
<p>Friends:</p>
<p>We invite you to <a href="http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001whLQo73KzGhEjdskYG07rHNy_XoDDkSBBO4INZHx6oD9kfp2yeeQAJeMQUu9oTviZa0VEl5k0rNiLifxlZsOFScMz8rVGmIaN-FFOO3GTKc%3D" type="external">sign up for our new mailing list</a>, and&#160; <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheNewCivilRightsMovement&amp;amp;loc=en_US" type="external">subscribe to The New Civil Rights Movement via email</a> or <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/thenewcivilrightsmovement" type="external">RSS</a>.</p>
<p>Also, please&#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-Civil-Rights-Movement/358168880614" type="external">like us on Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/gaycivilrights" type="external">follow us on Twitter</a>!</p>
|
Gingrich: Discrimination Against Blacks May Be Wrong But Against Gays Is Right
| true |
http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/gingrich-discrimination-against-blacks-is-wrong-but-against-gays-is-right/news/2011/12/15/31909
|
2011-12-15
| 4left
|
Gingrich: Discrimination Against Blacks May Be Wrong But Against Gays Is Right
<p><a href="" type="internal">Newt Gingrich</a> explains that discrimination against blacks may be wrong — “you have to decide whether you’re going to tolerate discrimination based on race,” — &#160;but against gays is perfectly acceptable, suggesting that there actually is no discrimination against gays because gay people can drink from the same water fountains as straight people. Note that Gingrich doesn’t actually come out against discrimination against blacks, stating that “you have to decide whether you’re going to tolerate” it.</p>
<p>But Gingrich also states he would sign an order re-instating Don’t Ask, Don’t tell, and believes that marriage for 3000 years has always been between a man and a woman and cannot change.</p>
<p>Gingrich attributes his stance that discrimination against gays is good on the false concept that being gay is a choice, suggesting gay people should just marry people of the opposite sex.</p>
<p>Marriage is a “value proposition,” Gingrich says, and an acceptance of “that lifestyle” cannot be “normalized.” Gingrich calls equating the African-American civil rights movement with the LGBT civil rights movement “offensive.”</p>
<p>Gingrich, twice divorced, thrice married, is a serial adulterer, and much has been written about the details of his infidelity, including <a href="" type="internal">specific stories on where and when and how he cheated on his wives</a>.</p>
<p>Igor Volsky at <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2011/12/15/390393/newt-gingrich-gay-people-choose-to-be-gay-like-priests-choose-celibacy/" type="external">Think Progress</a> — who published the video and related transcript, below — today wrote:</p>
<p>Newt Gingrich told the Des Moines Register’s editorial board this morning that gay people have a “significant range of choice within a genetic pattern” and can choose to be straight just like someone can “choose to be celibate.” The former House speaker, who opposes same-sex marriage, explained that there is a “big difference between saying that you’re to have an acceptance of people’s lifestyles and saying that you’re now going to normalize that as a standard for the whole country”:</p>
<p>Q: Do you believe that people choose to be gay?</p>
<p>GINGRICH:&#160;I believe it’s a combination of genetics and environment. I think both are involved. I think people have many ranges of choices.&#160;Part of the question is, do you want a society which has a bias in one direction or another?</p>
<p>Q: So people can then choose one way or another?</p>
<p>GINGRICH: I think people have a significant range of choice within a genetic pattern. I don’t believe in genetic determinism and I don’t think there is any great evidence of genetic determinism.&#160;There are propensities. Are you more likely to do this or more likely to do that?&#160;But that doesn’t mean it’s definitional.</p>
<p>Q: So a person can then choose to be straight?</p>
<p>GINGRICH:&#160;Look, people choose to be celibate. People choose many things in life. You know, there is a bias in favor of non-celibacy. It’s part of how the species recreates. And yet there is a substantial amount of people who choose celibacy as a religious vocation or for other reasons.</p>
<p />
<p>Tagged as: <a href="" type="internal">2012</a>, <a href="" type="internal">discrimination against gays</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay Marriage</a>, <a href="" type="internal">gay people</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Homosexuality</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Newt Gingrich</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Republican</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Same-Sex Marriage</a></p>
<p>Friends:</p>
<p>We invite you to <a href="http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001whLQo73KzGhEjdskYG07rHNy_XoDDkSBBO4INZHx6oD9kfp2yeeQAJeMQUu9oTviZa0VEl5k0rNiLifxlZsOFScMz8rVGmIaN-FFOO3GTKc%3D" type="external">sign up for our new mailing list</a>, and&#160; <a href="http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=TheNewCivilRightsMovement&amp;amp;loc=en_US" type="external">subscribe to The New Civil Rights Movement via email</a> or <a href="http://feeds2.feedburner.com/thenewcivilrightsmovement" type="external">RSS</a>.</p>
<p>Also, please&#160; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-New-Civil-Rights-Movement/358168880614" type="external">like us on Facebook</a>, and <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/gaycivilrights" type="external">follow us on Twitter</a>!</p>
| 5,810 |
<p>ONS staff and fellows on a visit to Mexico.Office of Neighborhood Safety</p>
<p />
<p>Last year I told you about a radical new approach to reducing gun violence in Richmond, California, a city that had suffered for years under the toll of one of the nation’s highest homicide rates. The city threw money and police at the problem, but the rate of fatal (and non-fatal) shootings remained. The human toll was <a href="" type="internal">staggering</a>. In 2007, the low point, there were 45&#160; homicides involving a firearm in the city of 106,000. Finally, <a href="" type="internal">it decided to try something entirely new</a>:</p>
<p>Richmond hired consultants to come up with ideas, and in turn, the consultants approached [Devone] Boggan. It was obvious that heavy-handed tactics like police sweeps weren’t the solution. More than anything, Boggan, who’d been working to keep teen offenders out of prison, was struck by the pettiness of it all. The things that could get someone shot in Richmond were as trivial as stepping out to buy a bag of chips at the wrong time or in the wrong place. Boggan wondered: What if we identified the most likely perpetrators and paid them to stay out of trouble?</p>
<p>In late 2007, Boggan launched the Office of Neighborhood Safety, an experimental public-private partnership that’s introduced the “Richmond model” for rolling back street violence. It has done it with a mix of data mining and mentoring, and by crossing lines that other anti-crime initiatives have only tiptoed around. Four times a year, the program’s street team sifts through police records and its own intelligence to determine, with actuarial detachment, the 50 people in Richmond most likely to shoot someone and to be shot themselves. ONS tracks them and approaches the most lethal (and vulnerable) on the list, offering them a spot in a program that includes a stipend to turn their lives around. While ONS is city-funded and has the blessing of the chief of police, it resolutely does not share information with the cops. “It’s the only agency where you’re required to have a criminal background to be an employee,” Boggan jokes.</p>
<p>It was a crazy idea. But since ONS was established, the city’s murder rate has plunged steadily. In 2013, it dropped to 15 homicides per 100,000 residents—a 33 year low. In 2014, it dropped again. Boggan and his staff maintained that their program was responsible for a lot of that drop-off by keeping the highest-risk young men alive—and out of prison. Now they have a study to back them up.</p>
<p />
<p>On Monday, researchers from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, a non-profit, published a process evaluation of ONS, studying its impact seven years in. The conclusion was positive: “While a number of factors including policy changes, policing efforts, an improving economic climate, and an overall decline in crime may have helped to facilitate this shift, many individuals interviewed for this evaluation cite the work of the ONS, which began in late 2007, as a strong contributing factor in a collaborative effort to decrease violence in Richmond.”</p>
<p>As evidence, the study cites the life-changing effect on fellows. Ninety-four percent of fellows are still alive. And perhaps just as remarkable, 79 percent have not been arrested or charged with gun-related offenses during that time period.</p>
<p>“While replication of the Fellowship itself may be more arduous because of the dynamic leadership associated with the current model, the framework of the Fellowship could be used to improve outcomes for communities across the country,” the study’s authors wrote. “The steps taken to craft programming developed with clients in mind, and being responsive to their needs and the needs of the community, can serve as a model.”</p>
<p>Read the full report <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2178945-nccd-richmond-report.html" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p />
|
One City Tried Something Radical to Stop Gun Violence. This Report Suggests It’s Working.
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/07/richmond-office-neighborhood-safety-report/
|
2015-07-27
| 4left
|
One City Tried Something Radical to Stop Gun Violence. This Report Suggests It’s Working.
<p>ONS staff and fellows on a visit to Mexico.Office of Neighborhood Safety</p>
<p />
<p>Last year I told you about a radical new approach to reducing gun violence in Richmond, California, a city that had suffered for years under the toll of one of the nation’s highest homicide rates. The city threw money and police at the problem, but the rate of fatal (and non-fatal) shootings remained. The human toll was <a href="" type="internal">staggering</a>. In 2007, the low point, there were 45&#160; homicides involving a firearm in the city of 106,000. Finally, <a href="" type="internal">it decided to try something entirely new</a>:</p>
<p>Richmond hired consultants to come up with ideas, and in turn, the consultants approached [Devone] Boggan. It was obvious that heavy-handed tactics like police sweeps weren’t the solution. More than anything, Boggan, who’d been working to keep teen offenders out of prison, was struck by the pettiness of it all. The things that could get someone shot in Richmond were as trivial as stepping out to buy a bag of chips at the wrong time or in the wrong place. Boggan wondered: What if we identified the most likely perpetrators and paid them to stay out of trouble?</p>
<p>In late 2007, Boggan launched the Office of Neighborhood Safety, an experimental public-private partnership that’s introduced the “Richmond model” for rolling back street violence. It has done it with a mix of data mining and mentoring, and by crossing lines that other anti-crime initiatives have only tiptoed around. Four times a year, the program’s street team sifts through police records and its own intelligence to determine, with actuarial detachment, the 50 people in Richmond most likely to shoot someone and to be shot themselves. ONS tracks them and approaches the most lethal (and vulnerable) on the list, offering them a spot in a program that includes a stipend to turn their lives around. While ONS is city-funded and has the blessing of the chief of police, it resolutely does not share information with the cops. “It’s the only agency where you’re required to have a criminal background to be an employee,” Boggan jokes.</p>
<p>It was a crazy idea. But since ONS was established, the city’s murder rate has plunged steadily. In 2013, it dropped to 15 homicides per 100,000 residents—a 33 year low. In 2014, it dropped again. Boggan and his staff maintained that their program was responsible for a lot of that drop-off by keeping the highest-risk young men alive—and out of prison. Now they have a study to back them up.</p>
<p />
<p>On Monday, researchers from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, a non-profit, published a process evaluation of ONS, studying its impact seven years in. The conclusion was positive: “While a number of factors including policy changes, policing efforts, an improving economic climate, and an overall decline in crime may have helped to facilitate this shift, many individuals interviewed for this evaluation cite the work of the ONS, which began in late 2007, as a strong contributing factor in a collaborative effort to decrease violence in Richmond.”</p>
<p>As evidence, the study cites the life-changing effect on fellows. Ninety-four percent of fellows are still alive. And perhaps just as remarkable, 79 percent have not been arrested or charged with gun-related offenses during that time period.</p>
<p>“While replication of the Fellowship itself may be more arduous because of the dynamic leadership associated with the current model, the framework of the Fellowship could be used to improve outcomes for communities across the country,” the study’s authors wrote. “The steps taken to craft programming developed with clients in mind, and being responsive to their needs and the needs of the community, can serve as a model.”</p>
<p>Read the full report <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2178945-nccd-richmond-report.html" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p />
| 5,811 |
<p>For weeks, the elites of the pro sports world have been in a tailspin of bad press, and while the ongoing fan revolt still hasn’t been enough to get them to meaningfully crack down on the behavior that provoked America’s ire, ESPN just threw the non-leftists in their audience a small bone.</p>
<p>The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/10/09/espn-suspends-jemele-hill-for-social-media-violation/amp/" type="external">reports</a> that the sports network has given host Jemele Hill a two-week suspension for an unspecified “second violation of our social media guidelines.”</p>
<p>Advertisement - story continues below</p>
<p>As TFPP <a href="" type="internal">covered</a> at the time, Hill is the one who went on a Twitter rant calling President Donald Trump a “white supremacist” who “surrounded himself” with other white supremacists, whose election was a “direct result of white supremacy,” and who only got elected because he was white (I forget: what was Hillary Clinton’s skin color again?). Hill <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/13/media/jemele-hill-espn-white-house/index.html" type="external">apologized</a> for generating bad press for her employers, but didn’t apologize for the fact that her comments were vile, idiotic, premeditated lies.</p>
<p>“In the aftermath” of those tweets, ESPN explained, “all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences. Hence this decision.”</p>
<p>Breaking news updates and daily headlines from a news source you can trust.</p>
<p>Hill has not tweeted since 11 a.m. Eastern on Monday. However, on Sunday she suggested fans boycott Cowboys advertisers if they were upset Jerry Jones told his players they would stand for the national anthem or be benched.</p>
<p>“This play always work,” she wrote. “Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about JJ’s statement, boycott his advertisers.”</p>
<p>On Monday, her last tweet read: “Just so we’re clear: I’m not advocating a NFL boycott. But an unfair burden has been put on players in Dallas &amp; Miami w/ anthem directives.”</p>
<p>For context, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2017/10/09/jerry-jones-gives-cowboys-players-ultimatum-stand-for-anthem-or-sit-for-game.html" type="external">here are the exact comments</a> from Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, that set Hill off:</p>
<p>Advertisement - story continues below</p>
<p>“We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag. So we’re clear” […]</p>
<p>Jones said he wasn’t aware of whether any of his players had raised a fist at the end of the anthem before the Green Bay game.</p>
<p>“I don’t know about that,” Jones said. “But if there’s anything that is disrespectful to the flag, then we will not play. OK? Understand? If we are disrespecting the flag, then we won’t play. Period” […]</p>
<p>“The league in mind should absolutely take the rules we’ve got on the books and make sure that we do not give the perception that we’re disrespecting the flag,” Jones said.</p>
<p>Note well that part at the end. You wouldn’t know it from all the blather about free speech and expression, but the NFL’s own rulebook <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markmeckler/2017/09/oops-look-whats-nfl-official-rule-book/" type="external">already states</a> that player do not have a right to kneel on the field during the National Anthem:</p>
<p>During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.</p>
<p>Advertisement - story continues below</p>
<p>Did Hill ever object to this rule before kneeling was made the vehicle for <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/452058/nfl-protest-controversy-blame-league-not-trump" type="external">perpetuating a vicious lie</a> about America’s police? Did anyone?</p>
<p>In the final analysis, the story should not bee that Jemele Hill is getting suspended from ESPN. The story should be why ESPEN — and the NFL, for that matter — aren’t getting cleaned out top to bottom.</p>
<p>What do you think? Scroll down to comment below.</p>
|
ESPN Host Jemele Hill FINALLY Gets What She Deserves
| true |
http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/espn-host-jemele-hill-finally-gets-deserves
| 0right
|
ESPN Host Jemele Hill FINALLY Gets What She Deserves
<p>For weeks, the elites of the pro sports world have been in a tailspin of bad press, and while the ongoing fan revolt still hasn’t been enough to get them to meaningfully crack down on the behavior that provoked America’s ire, ESPN just threw the non-leftists in their audience a small bone.</p>
<p>The New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2017/10/09/espn-suspends-jemele-hill-for-social-media-violation/amp/" type="external">reports</a> that the sports network has given host Jemele Hill a two-week suspension for an unspecified “second violation of our social media guidelines.”</p>
<p>Advertisement - story continues below</p>
<p>As TFPP <a href="" type="internal">covered</a> at the time, Hill is the one who went on a Twitter rant calling President Donald Trump a “white supremacist” who “surrounded himself” with other white supremacists, whose election was a “direct result of white supremacy,” and who only got elected because he was white (I forget: what was Hillary Clinton’s skin color again?). Hill <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/13/media/jemele-hill-espn-white-house/index.html" type="external">apologized</a> for generating bad press for her employers, but didn’t apologize for the fact that her comments were vile, idiotic, premeditated lies.</p>
<p>“In the aftermath” of those tweets, ESPN explained, “all employees were reminded of how individual tweets may reflect negatively on ESPN and that such actions would have consequences. Hence this decision.”</p>
<p>Breaking news updates and daily headlines from a news source you can trust.</p>
<p>Hill has not tweeted since 11 a.m. Eastern on Monday. However, on Sunday she suggested fans boycott Cowboys advertisers if they were upset Jerry Jones told his players they would stand for the national anthem or be benched.</p>
<p>“This play always work,” she wrote. “Change happens when advertisers are impacted. If you feel strongly about JJ’s statement, boycott his advertisers.”</p>
<p>On Monday, her last tweet read: “Just so we’re clear: I’m not advocating a NFL boycott. But an unfair burden has been put on players in Dallas &amp; Miami w/ anthem directives.”</p>
<p>For context, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2017/10/09/jerry-jones-gives-cowboys-players-ultimatum-stand-for-anthem-or-sit-for-game.html" type="external">here are the exact comments</a> from Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, that set Hill off:</p>
<p>Advertisement - story continues below</p>
<p>“We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag. So we’re clear” […]</p>
<p>Jones said he wasn’t aware of whether any of his players had raised a fist at the end of the anthem before the Green Bay game.</p>
<p>“I don’t know about that,” Jones said. “But if there’s anything that is disrespectful to the flag, then we will not play. OK? Understand? If we are disrespecting the flag, then we won’t play. Period” […]</p>
<p>“The league in mind should absolutely take the rules we’ve got on the books and make sure that we do not give the perception that we’re disrespecting the flag,” Jones said.</p>
<p>Note well that part at the end. You wouldn’t know it from all the blather about free speech and expression, but the NFL’s own rulebook <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markmeckler/2017/09/oops-look-whats-nfl-official-rule-book/" type="external">already states</a> that player do not have a right to kneel on the field during the National Anthem:</p>
<p>During the National Anthem, players on the field and bench area should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their left hand, and refrain from talking. The home team should ensure that the American flag is in good condition. It should be pointed out to players and coaches that we continue to be judged by the public in this area of respect for the flag and our country. Failure to be on the field by the start of the National Anthem may result in discipline, such as fines, suspensions, and/or the forfeiture of draft choice(s) for violations of the above, including first offenses.</p>
<p>Advertisement - story continues below</p>
<p>Did Hill ever object to this rule before kneeling was made the vehicle for <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/452058/nfl-protest-controversy-blame-league-not-trump" type="external">perpetuating a vicious lie</a> about America’s police? Did anyone?</p>
<p>In the final analysis, the story should not bee that Jemele Hill is getting suspended from ESPN. The story should be why ESPEN — and the NFL, for that matter — aren’t getting cleaned out top to bottom.</p>
<p>What do you think? Scroll down to comment below.</p>
| 5,812 |
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<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The lawmaker wrote the letters in December 2009 and in July of this year, in a case that began with her DWI arrest in San Juan County on Nov. 28, 2009, and just wrapped up last week.</p>
<p>An advisory opinion issued by a legislative panel in 1996 said the use of official legislative stationery by New Mexico lawmakers “should be limited only to matters that reasonably relate to official legislative business.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Begaye apologized on Monday for what he said was a mistake.</p>
<p>“I realize I am an elected official and have a duty to the public,” he told the Journal in a statement. “But I am also a father and a grandfather. I was very concerned for my daughter and grandchildren’s welfare. I made a mistake. I apologize.”</p>
<p>The existence of the letters, which are part of Tisharae Benallie’s file in Aztec Magistrate Court, was first reported by KOB-TV.</p>
<p>The letters were written on official House of Representatives stationery, which identifies Begaye as a state representative from San Juan County and lists his membership on the Appropriations and Finance Committee. The influential panel recommends spending on state agencies, including the judiciary.</p>
<p>In his Dec. 14, 2009, letter to Magistrate Wilma R. Charley, who was initially assigned to the case, Begaye said his daughter – whose cases are filed under her previous name of Begaye – would be appearing before the magistrate on a DWI charge.</p>
<p>Calling it an “unfortunate event,” Begaye described the family circumstances that led Benallie to drive to Shiprock from her cousin’s apartment in Farmington the day she was arrested.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He said she was just a couple of weeks into a new, temporary job, which he didn’t want her to lose because she was a single parent supporting two young children.</p>
<p>“I request clemency, and that she finishes off her temporary work assignment” at the job, Begaye wrote.</p>
<p>Four months later, Benallie pleaded guilty to DWI and was sentenced. But online court records indicate she had an alleged probation violation. She was jailed on June 23 of this year for driving on a revoked license and a traffic violation and remained in jail until July 12 on those charges and for the probation violation, according to the San Juan County Adult Detention Center.</p>
<p>On July 7, Begaye wrote to Magistrate Barry Sharer, asking him to release Benallie on her own recognizance at a coming probation violation hearing, again citing her young children. The lawmaker said he would be responsible for ensuring his daughter showed up at future hearings.</p>
<p>Sharer found she was in violation of her probation, sentenced her, and reinstated her probation. Her public defender appealed, and a state district judge ordered Benallie released.</p>
<p>Last week, the District Court ordered her discharged from probation, closing the case.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Stationery advice</p>
<p>The 1996 advisory opinion on limiting legislative stationery stemmed from a question involving using it for campaign purposes, which the interim Legislative Ethics Committee said was not appropriate.</p>
<p>The opinion cited the Governmental Conduct Act, which says a legislator must treat that position as a “public trust,” and “shall use the powers and resources of public office only to advance the public interest and not to obtain personal benefits or pursue private interests.”</p>
<p>Begaye is under investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office for expense reimbursements for a trip he made to Phoenix in December 2010 for a meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Documents show he was reimbursed twice, by the NCSL and also by the state.</p>
<p>A member of the House since 1999, Begaye faces a Republican opponent in the Nov. 6 election, Sharon Clahchischilliage of Shiprock.</p>
<p>The state Republican Party responded to the televised report about Begaye’s letters to the magistrates by saying he was trying “to bend the law further” and “has continually proven that he cannot be trusted.” — This article appeared on page 23 of the Albuquerque Journal</p>
|
Lawmaker to Judge: Give Daughter a Break
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/140697/official-stationery-used-in-dwi-case.html
|
2012-10-23
| 2least
|
Lawmaker to Judge: Give Daughter a Break
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The lawmaker wrote the letters in December 2009 and in July of this year, in a case that began with her DWI arrest in San Juan County on Nov. 28, 2009, and just wrapped up last week.</p>
<p>An advisory opinion issued by a legislative panel in 1996 said the use of official legislative stationery by New Mexico lawmakers “should be limited only to matters that reasonably relate to official legislative business.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Begaye apologized on Monday for what he said was a mistake.</p>
<p>“I realize I am an elected official and have a duty to the public,” he told the Journal in a statement. “But I am also a father and a grandfather. I was very concerned for my daughter and grandchildren’s welfare. I made a mistake. I apologize.”</p>
<p>The existence of the letters, which are part of Tisharae Benallie’s file in Aztec Magistrate Court, was first reported by KOB-TV.</p>
<p>The letters were written on official House of Representatives stationery, which identifies Begaye as a state representative from San Juan County and lists his membership on the Appropriations and Finance Committee. The influential panel recommends spending on state agencies, including the judiciary.</p>
<p>In his Dec. 14, 2009, letter to Magistrate Wilma R. Charley, who was initially assigned to the case, Begaye said his daughter – whose cases are filed under her previous name of Begaye – would be appearing before the magistrate on a DWI charge.</p>
<p>Calling it an “unfortunate event,” Begaye described the family circumstances that led Benallie to drive to Shiprock from her cousin’s apartment in Farmington the day she was arrested.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He said she was just a couple of weeks into a new, temporary job, which he didn’t want her to lose because she was a single parent supporting two young children.</p>
<p>“I request clemency, and that she finishes off her temporary work assignment” at the job, Begaye wrote.</p>
<p>Four months later, Benallie pleaded guilty to DWI and was sentenced. But online court records indicate she had an alleged probation violation. She was jailed on June 23 of this year for driving on a revoked license and a traffic violation and remained in jail until July 12 on those charges and for the probation violation, according to the San Juan County Adult Detention Center.</p>
<p>On July 7, Begaye wrote to Magistrate Barry Sharer, asking him to release Benallie on her own recognizance at a coming probation violation hearing, again citing her young children. The lawmaker said he would be responsible for ensuring his daughter showed up at future hearings.</p>
<p>Sharer found she was in violation of her probation, sentenced her, and reinstated her probation. Her public defender appealed, and a state district judge ordered Benallie released.</p>
<p>Last week, the District Court ordered her discharged from probation, closing the case.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Stationery advice</p>
<p>The 1996 advisory opinion on limiting legislative stationery stemmed from a question involving using it for campaign purposes, which the interim Legislative Ethics Committee said was not appropriate.</p>
<p>The opinion cited the Governmental Conduct Act, which says a legislator must treat that position as a “public trust,” and “shall use the powers and resources of public office only to advance the public interest and not to obtain personal benefits or pursue private interests.”</p>
<p>Begaye is under investigation by the state Attorney General’s Office for expense reimbursements for a trip he made to Phoenix in December 2010 for a meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures. Documents show he was reimbursed twice, by the NCSL and also by the state.</p>
<p>A member of the House since 1999, Begaye faces a Republican opponent in the Nov. 6 election, Sharon Clahchischilliage of Shiprock.</p>
<p>The state Republican Party responded to the televised report about Begaye’s letters to the magistrates by saying he was trying “to bend the law further” and “has continually proven that he cannot be trusted.” — This article appeared on page 23 of the Albuquerque Journal</p>
| 5,813 |
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<p />
<p>At Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeast New Mexico, employees were alerted yesterday to the possibility of the park being reopened, park superintendent John Benjamin said.</p>
<p>Some workers came in early this mofning to clear debris from the road leading to the popular caverns, he said.</p>
<p>“We made a smooth opening this morning,” Benjamin said. “Everyone was very happy to be back at work.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, at Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos, facilities were opened to the public at noon and visitor soon began pouring in.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We’ve only been open for an hour and we’re very, very busy,” Bandelier spokeswoman Chris Judson said.</p>
<p>Shuttle buses to Bandelier National Monument are not running today but will resume tomorrow, she added.</p>
<p>Including Carlsbad Caverns and Bandelier, New Mexico has 11 national parks and monuments, all of which were closed during the government shutdown.</p>
<p>Check back later for more updates.</p>
|
NM national parks, monuments open to visitors after shutdown ends
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/283480/nm-national-parks-monuments-open-to-visitors-after-shutdown-ends.html
| 2least
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NM national parks, monuments open to visitors after shutdown ends
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>At Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southeast New Mexico, employees were alerted yesterday to the possibility of the park being reopened, park superintendent John Benjamin said.</p>
<p>Some workers came in early this mofning to clear debris from the road leading to the popular caverns, he said.</p>
<p>“We made a smooth opening this morning,” Benjamin said. “Everyone was very happy to be back at work.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, at Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos, facilities were opened to the public at noon and visitor soon began pouring in.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We’ve only been open for an hour and we’re very, very busy,” Bandelier spokeswoman Chris Judson said.</p>
<p>Shuttle buses to Bandelier National Monument are not running today but will resume tomorrow, she added.</p>
<p>Including Carlsbad Caverns and Bandelier, New Mexico has 11 national parks and monuments, all of which were closed during the government shutdown.</p>
<p>Check back later for more updates.</p>
| 5,814 |
|
<p><a href="" type="internal" />May 1, 2012</p>
<p>By John Seiler</p>
<p>Greece is leading the way for California — off a cliff. The two polities are similar: beautiful mediterranean climate, creative people, massively powerful government-worker unions, busted budgets, impending bankruptcy. Greece is just a little ahead of California.&#160;The <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/greeks-old-young-united-disdain-ruling-parties-100913469--business.html" type="external">latest report</a>: Greeks are abandoning the unworkable, corrupt two-party system:</p>
<p>MARATHON, Greece (Reuters) — Georgios Pasayannis was a Greek civil servant for 40 years, and the 73-year-old pensioner voted faithfully for New Democracy throughout, confident his future was safe in the hands of the conservative party.</p>
<p>Now he says he will never cast his ballot again for “those crooks” or their coalition partners, the centre-left PASOK party, since they cut his 1,500 euro per month pension by a third while pushing through tax increases.</p>
<p>Their mismanagement of Greece has turned the twilight of his life into a grinding struggle. Pasayannis, who worked for the defence ministry, says he plans to get revenge at the May 6 national elections.</p>
<p>“We pay and pay, but we have nothing for it,” said the man who had hoped for a carefree retirement in the seaside village of Marathon, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Athens. “They cheated us and lied to us for years. They’re a bunch of crooks.”</p>
<p>Greeks are in a fractious mood ahead of the election, and much of their anger is directed at the two parties that have long dominated the political landscape.</p>
<p>In a similar way, Californians have been abandoing “those crooks” in the Democratic and Republican parties to re-register as “decline to state voters”:</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://ivn.us/2012/02/06/independents-on-the-rise-in-california/" type="external">a recent report</a>:</p>
<p>California continues to witness a steady rise in the number of voters who choose not to affiliate with any political party. According to the most recent numbers released by the Secretary of State, 21.2% of California voters are now registered as having no party preference, a new high.</p>
<p>Back to Reuters on Greece:</p>
<p>At the other end of the spectrum, legions of young voters are also turning their back on the two parties that have taken turns ruling Greece for the last four decades. About 15 percent of the electorate — 1.4 million — is 18 to 29.</p>
<p>The unemployment rate for Greeks under the age of 25 tops 50 percent. Hordes of young Greeks who have seen their career hopes destroyed by the economic implosion are also expected to turn their backs on ND and PASOK, pollsters say.</p>
<p>Opinion polls show gains for small parties that oppose the steep wage and pension cuts imposed on Greece by the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in return for aid….</p>
<p>“Young people are suffering the most because of these clowns,” she said. “For young people in Greece now there is no job, no hope, no nothing.”</p>
<p>In California, young people also are restless. As has happened across the country, young people <a href="http://www.ronpaul2012podcast.com/2012/04/06/youth-for-ron-paul-rally-at-u-of-california-berkeley-452012/" type="external">are rallying</a>behind the only independent presidential candidate this year, Ron Paul:</p>
<p>Ron Paul attracted a peculiar 8,500-plus voters to the third of three town hall meetings he held in California this week, this time at UC-Berkeley. In drawing such a huge crowd to Berkeley, the 12-term Congressman from Texas shattered his unrivaled town hall meeting attendance record. The meeting took place at UC-Berkeley’s Memorial Glade, where he addressed the crowd from atop the steps of Doe Library in Berkeley, CA. Dr. Paul spoke about his platform of constitutionally-limited government, the enduring bonds between economic and civil liberties, and his fiscal blueprint that cuts Washington spending, shrinks the national debt, and reverses the federal government’s harmful growth and intrusiveness. Full video of the event posted at UStream, by <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21623000" type="external">msl209</a>.</p>
<p>As in Greece, young folks know that there’s no future for them because of the immense debt piled up by their governments, and the inflation-low interest rate trap sprung by central banks. In Greece, the banks are the European Central Bank, which controls the inflationist Euro, and the IMF, mentioned above. In America, it’s the inflationist Federal Reserve Board that Ron Paul wants <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_The_Fed" type="external">to get rid of</a>.</p>
<p>Amercan kids also have it worse than Greek kids in one crucial way: American students owe an incredible <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2012/0425/Student-loans-As-debts-hit-1-trillion-mark-protesters-plan-Occupy-type-events" type="external">$1 trillion in student-loan debt</a>, which they’re finding impossible to pay back without decent jobs in the Bush-Obama-Greenspan-Bernanke-Republican-Democrat Great Recession-weak recovery.</p>
<p>The U.S. and California (and other states’) political regimes have strung this albatross of debt around youngsters’ necks at the time young folks should be building families and careers. The two politcal parties want to continue the status quo of the bank ripoffs. President Obama and Mitt Romney both have endorsed <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/26/opinion/kamenetz-obama-higher-education/index.html" type="external">keeping interest rates low</a>on the student debts. But how can that help when most of those holding the debts don’t have jobs, or have low-paying jobs?</p>
<p>What they should do is call for canceling the debts. Just as Greece’s government should simply cancel the country’s debts, much as Iceland did recently and Argentina did a decade ago. If bankers are stupid enough to loan trillions to bad risks, it’s the bankers who should suffer from their usurious greed, not the borrower-victims.</p>
<p>After Iceland dumped its loans, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-20/icelandic-anger-brings-record-debt-relief-in-best-crisis-recovery-story.html" type="external">the economy recovered</a>. The same thing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_economic_crisis_(1999%E2%80%932002)" type="external">happened in Argentina</a>a decade ago.</p>
<p>Dumping student debt would benefit California’s kids, and America’s kids. But as in Greece, the politicians are beholden to the banks, not the people.</p>
|
Greece suffers California’s future
| false |
https://calwatchdog.com/2012/05/01/greece-shows-californias-future/
|
2018-05-20
| 3left-center
|
Greece suffers California’s future
<p><a href="" type="internal" />May 1, 2012</p>
<p>By John Seiler</p>
<p>Greece is leading the way for California — off a cliff. The two polities are similar: beautiful mediterranean climate, creative people, massively powerful government-worker unions, busted budgets, impending bankruptcy. Greece is just a little ahead of California.&#160;The <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/greeks-old-young-united-disdain-ruling-parties-100913469--business.html" type="external">latest report</a>: Greeks are abandoning the unworkable, corrupt two-party system:</p>
<p>MARATHON, Greece (Reuters) — Georgios Pasayannis was a Greek civil servant for 40 years, and the 73-year-old pensioner voted faithfully for New Democracy throughout, confident his future was safe in the hands of the conservative party.</p>
<p>Now he says he will never cast his ballot again for “those crooks” or their coalition partners, the centre-left PASOK party, since they cut his 1,500 euro per month pension by a third while pushing through tax increases.</p>
<p>Their mismanagement of Greece has turned the twilight of his life into a grinding struggle. Pasayannis, who worked for the defence ministry, says he plans to get revenge at the May 6 national elections.</p>
<p>“We pay and pay, but we have nothing for it,” said the man who had hoped for a carefree retirement in the seaside village of Marathon, 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Athens. “They cheated us and lied to us for years. They’re a bunch of crooks.”</p>
<p>Greeks are in a fractious mood ahead of the election, and much of their anger is directed at the two parties that have long dominated the political landscape.</p>
<p>In a similar way, Californians have been abandoing “those crooks” in the Democratic and Republican parties to re-register as “decline to state voters”:</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://ivn.us/2012/02/06/independents-on-the-rise-in-california/" type="external">a recent report</a>:</p>
<p>California continues to witness a steady rise in the number of voters who choose not to affiliate with any political party. According to the most recent numbers released by the Secretary of State, 21.2% of California voters are now registered as having no party preference, a new high.</p>
<p>Back to Reuters on Greece:</p>
<p>At the other end of the spectrum, legions of young voters are also turning their back on the two parties that have taken turns ruling Greece for the last four decades. About 15 percent of the electorate — 1.4 million — is 18 to 29.</p>
<p>The unemployment rate for Greeks under the age of 25 tops 50 percent. Hordes of young Greeks who have seen their career hopes destroyed by the economic implosion are also expected to turn their backs on ND and PASOK, pollsters say.</p>
<p>Opinion polls show gains for small parties that oppose the steep wage and pension cuts imposed on Greece by the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in return for aid….</p>
<p>“Young people are suffering the most because of these clowns,” she said. “For young people in Greece now there is no job, no hope, no nothing.”</p>
<p>In California, young people also are restless. As has happened across the country, young people <a href="http://www.ronpaul2012podcast.com/2012/04/06/youth-for-ron-paul-rally-at-u-of-california-berkeley-452012/" type="external">are rallying</a>behind the only independent presidential candidate this year, Ron Paul:</p>
<p>Ron Paul attracted a peculiar 8,500-plus voters to the third of three town hall meetings he held in California this week, this time at UC-Berkeley. In drawing such a huge crowd to Berkeley, the 12-term Congressman from Texas shattered his unrivaled town hall meeting attendance record. The meeting took place at UC-Berkeley’s Memorial Glade, where he addressed the crowd from atop the steps of Doe Library in Berkeley, CA. Dr. Paul spoke about his platform of constitutionally-limited government, the enduring bonds between economic and civil liberties, and his fiscal blueprint that cuts Washington spending, shrinks the national debt, and reverses the federal government’s harmful growth and intrusiveness. Full video of the event posted at UStream, by <a href="http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21623000" type="external">msl209</a>.</p>
<p>As in Greece, young folks know that there’s no future for them because of the immense debt piled up by their governments, and the inflation-low interest rate trap sprung by central banks. In Greece, the banks are the European Central Bank, which controls the inflationist Euro, and the IMF, mentioned above. In America, it’s the inflationist Federal Reserve Board that Ron Paul wants <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End_The_Fed" type="external">to get rid of</a>.</p>
<p>Amercan kids also have it worse than Greek kids in one crucial way: American students owe an incredible <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2012/0425/Student-loans-As-debts-hit-1-trillion-mark-protesters-plan-Occupy-type-events" type="external">$1 trillion in student-loan debt</a>, which they’re finding impossible to pay back without decent jobs in the Bush-Obama-Greenspan-Bernanke-Republican-Democrat Great Recession-weak recovery.</p>
<p>The U.S. and California (and other states’) political regimes have strung this albatross of debt around youngsters’ necks at the time young folks should be building families and careers. The two politcal parties want to continue the status quo of the bank ripoffs. President Obama and Mitt Romney both have endorsed <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/26/opinion/kamenetz-obama-higher-education/index.html" type="external">keeping interest rates low</a>on the student debts. But how can that help when most of those holding the debts don’t have jobs, or have low-paying jobs?</p>
<p>What they should do is call for canceling the debts. Just as Greece’s government should simply cancel the country’s debts, much as Iceland did recently and Argentina did a decade ago. If bankers are stupid enough to loan trillions to bad risks, it’s the bankers who should suffer from their usurious greed, not the borrower-victims.</p>
<p>After Iceland dumped its loans, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-20/icelandic-anger-brings-record-debt-relief-in-best-crisis-recovery-story.html" type="external">the economy recovered</a>. The same thing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentine_economic_crisis_(1999%E2%80%932002)" type="external">happened in Argentina</a>a decade ago.</p>
<p>Dumping student debt would benefit California’s kids, and America’s kids. But as in Greece, the politicians are beholden to the banks, not the people.</p>
| 5,815 |
<p />
<p>President Donald Trump wants to <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/12/4-things-president-trump-said-about-defense.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">rebuild the U.S. military Opens a New Window.</a> -- and says he'll increase defense spending by $54 billion next year to do so. But Trump also wants to save taxpayers billions of dollarson government contracts-- buying vastly more hardware, but increasing overall defense spending by only 10%.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>How is that possible?</p>
<p>Maybe by buying cheaper weapons systems that get the same job done for lower costs.</p>
<p>Lockheed Martin's F-35 is a wonderful plane -- with a very high price tag. But is there a way to do defense acquisitions cheaper? Image source: Lockheed Martin.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Take the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), for example. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), each new LCS bought from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) or Australia's Austal costs U.S. taxpayers approximately $655 million. Yet critics have blasted the vessel's design as " <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/03/16/why-would-the-pentagon-waste-14-billion-on-this-in.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">not ... survivablein high-intensity combat Opens a New Window.</a>." For that matter, before even entering into combat, roughly half the LCSes delivered to the Navy have already suffered engine-related failures, and had to <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/27/littoral-combat-ship-failures-multiply-but-wont-si.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">return to port for repairs Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Or consider the case of the F-35 fighter jet. Lockheed Martin's new stealth fighter has arguably attracted even more negative press than the LCS. The Pentagon's own weapons tester has called the F-35 " <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/02/04/is-lockheed-martins-f-35-just-a-dud.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">overall ineffective Opens a New Window.</a>." In 2010,a scathing report from the Rand Corporation derided the F-35 as the plane that " <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/18/lockheed-has-an-f-35-stealth-fighter-but-can-it-sh.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">can't turn, can't climb, can't [even] run Opens a New Window.</a>" away. Yet it costs nearly $95 millionto buy even the cheapest, F-35A variant.</p>
<p>"Winning" funding for weapons programs like these, the Pentagon may soon lose the war against runaway defense costs. But that doesn't mean there aren't alternatives -- cheaper, less technologically advanced weapons systems that can nonetheless be used to augment higher-end hardware from major defense contractors like Lockheed Martin.</p>
<p>Here are three such alternatives.</p>
<p>RQ-23 TigerShark -- a nice drone. But can we stuff a Hellfire in here? Image source: Navmar Applied Sciences.</p>
<p>General Atomics' Predator drone was <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/08/23/us-air-force-is-getting-rid-of-its-predator-drones.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">a marvel of engineering Opens a New Window.</a>, capable of flying at speeds of 135 mph, remaining aloft for 24 hours without refueling, and carrying two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles for ground attack. At a price tag of roughly $4 million per unit, it was also a pretty affordable combat drone.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Predator production has ceased, and the new drones that replaced it -- the Army's MQ-1C Gray Eagle and the Air Force's MQ-9 Reaper -- cost roughly 50% more, and four times more, respectively,than the Predator itself. What the Pentagon really needs is something that can perform the Predator's mission for it, but that costs less rather than more.</p>
<p>Enter privately held Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation, which in 2008 responded to the Air Force's call for a "lightweight, low cost UAV with an endurance of at least 18 hours with a payload" similar to Predator's by building the RQ-23 TigerShark.</p>
<p>Smaller than the Predatorand with a slower speed and shorter range, TigerShark is not as powerful a plane as Predator -- much less General Atomics' more advanced Gray Eagle and Reaper upgrades. But TigerShark's "XP Long Range" variant is capable of flying unrefueled for 15 hours at a stretch, and can carry a payload up to 150 pounds -- enough for one Hellfire missile. Best of all, TigerShark costs only $50,000per drone, a tiny fraction of what General Atomics has been charging.</p>
<p>Even at half the Predator's capability, that's a bargain price.</p>
<p>Juliet's Ghost is a very pretty machine. Image source: Juliet Marine.</p>
<p>Speaking of bargain prices, remember how I told you the Navy's LCS warships cost $655 million a pop? Turns out, that's kind of a bargain. According to GAO figures, the Navy has spent an average of $3.5 billion per ship on its Arleigh Burke-class destroyers over the lifetime of that program, while the new Zumwaltclass of destroyers is expected to cost taxpayers more than $23 billion -- to acquire just three ships.</p>
<p>In contrast, privately held Juliet Marinehas offered to sell the Navy a new concept of wave-skimming warboat it developed, dubbed " <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/10/25/stealthy-superfast-robotic-ghost-boats-is-this-the.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">the Ghost Opens a New Window.</a>," for as little as $10 million each.</p>
<p>Again, Ghost is not nearly as powerful a platform as a Zumwalt warship, an Arleigh Burke, or even, probably, a Littoral Combat Ship. But its innovative 38-foot-long frame is big enough to carry as many as 90 short-range Nemesis surface-to-surface missiles aboard. And at a top speed of 50 knots, Ghost would be even faster than the Navy's fastest LCS -- darn near the fastest ship on the ocean.</p>
<p>All that for a bargain $10 million price tag, which would permit President Trump to build himself an all-Ghost, 350-ship Navy -- for less than half the cost of just one Zumwalt.</p>
<p>How cheap is Howe &amp; Howe's robo-tank, exactly? Image source: Howe &amp; Howe Technologies.</p>
<p>We've covered cheap airplanes and cheap naval warships so far. Now how about a little something for G.I. Joe?</p>
<p>Currently, the mainstay of the U.S. Army is General Dynamics' (NYSE: GD) M1A2 main battle tank -- a 62.5-tonarmored beast that can cost $7.8 million just to refurbish, much less build all-new. That's an awful lot of money to pay for a piece of hardware that can be disabledby something as cheap as a $30 improvised explosive device, -- but privately held Howe &amp; Howe Technologies may have the solution.</p>
<p>A few years ago, Howe &amp; Howe offered to sell the U.S. Army a fleet of its internally developed "Ripsaw MS-1" remotely operated tanks. Unarmored (because it has no crew to protect), but well-armed with a top-mounted chaingun, Ripsaw is built from lightweight steel alloy tubes, weighs less than five tons, and can hit ground speeds as fast as 65 mph -- accelerating from zero to 65 in <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/12/07/pentagon-to-defense-contractors-youre-doing-it-wro.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">three seconds flat Opens a New Window.</a>. Its price:Just $200,000 per unit.</p>
<p>The U.S. Army sometimes spends that much <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/19/lockheed-loses-and-raytheon-could-gain-as-navy-dis.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">on a single bullet Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/12/07/pentagon-to-defense-contractors-youre-doing-it-wro.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">If President Trump is serious Opens a New Window.</a> about wanting the Pentagon to spend its defense dollars more wisely, he should ask Congress to fund purchases of these (and similar) cut-rate weapons systems -- maybe not instead of higher-priced, more advanced weapons from Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and their peers, but in addition to them.</p>
<p>Because here's the thing: The weapons cited above are so much cheaper than traditional weapons systems that you can buy a lot of cheap, attritable hardware without necessarily taking away much funding from traditional defense giants like LockMart and General D.</p>
<p>So maybe Trump shouldn't curtail General Atomics' Reaper program entirely, but instead reduce purchases of Reapers by just one unit, and use that money to buy 295 of Navmar's TigerShark drones. Don't cancel the Littoral Combat Ship program, but skip the purchase of just one LCS, and use the funds to acquire 65 (and a half) Ghost warships to augment the power of the LCS fleet. And so on and so forth.</p>
<p>Funding innovation among private companies need not pose a threat to large, publicly traded defense companies. Rather, it can encourage small, privately owned defense start-ups to continue innovating and developing efficient, cheap weapons systems, without starving the major defense contractors of the money they need to develop higher-end stuff.</p>
<p>The result would be a win-win-win scenario -- for traditional defense contractors, for the start-ups, and for taxpayers, too.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Lockheed MartinWhen 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=52283ee0-8488-468f-a18a-c899d99fe00c&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 Lockheed Martin 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=52283ee0-8488-468f-a18a-c899d99fe00c&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/TMFDitty/info.aspx" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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3 Cheap Weapons Systems President Trump (and the Pentagon) Would Love
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/19/3-cheap-weapons-systems-president-trump-and-pentagon-would-love.html
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2017-03-19
| 0right
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3 Cheap Weapons Systems President Trump (and the Pentagon) Would Love
<p />
<p>President Donald Trump wants to <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/03/12/4-things-president-trump-said-about-defense.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">rebuild the U.S. military Opens a New Window.</a> -- and says he'll increase defense spending by $54 billion next year to do so. But Trump also wants to save taxpayers billions of dollarson government contracts-- buying vastly more hardware, but increasing overall defense spending by only 10%.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>How is that possible?</p>
<p>Maybe by buying cheaper weapons systems that get the same job done for lower costs.</p>
<p>Lockheed Martin's F-35 is a wonderful plane -- with a very high price tag. But is there a way to do defense acquisitions cheaper? Image source: Lockheed Martin.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Take the Navy's new Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), for example. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), each new LCS bought from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) or Australia's Austal costs U.S. taxpayers approximately $655 million. Yet critics have blasted the vessel's design as " <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/03/16/why-would-the-pentagon-waste-14-billion-on-this-in.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">not ... survivablein high-intensity combat Opens a New Window.</a>." For that matter, before even entering into combat, roughly half the LCSes delivered to the Navy have already suffered engine-related failures, and had to <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/27/littoral-combat-ship-failures-multiply-but-wont-si.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">return to port for repairs Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Or consider the case of the F-35 fighter jet. Lockheed Martin's new stealth fighter has arguably attracted even more negative press than the LCS. The Pentagon's own weapons tester has called the F-35 " <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/02/04/is-lockheed-martins-f-35-just-a-dud.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">overall ineffective Opens a New Window.</a>." In 2010,a scathing report from the Rand Corporation derided the F-35 as the plane that " <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/01/18/lockheed-has-an-f-35-stealth-fighter-but-can-it-sh.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">can't turn, can't climb, can't [even] run Opens a New Window.</a>" away. Yet it costs nearly $95 millionto buy even the cheapest, F-35A variant.</p>
<p>"Winning" funding for weapons programs like these, the Pentagon may soon lose the war against runaway defense costs. But that doesn't mean there aren't alternatives -- cheaper, less technologically advanced weapons systems that can nonetheless be used to augment higher-end hardware from major defense contractors like Lockheed Martin.</p>
<p>Here are three such alternatives.</p>
<p>RQ-23 TigerShark -- a nice drone. But can we stuff a Hellfire in here? Image source: Navmar Applied Sciences.</p>
<p>General Atomics' Predator drone was <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/08/23/us-air-force-is-getting-rid-of-its-predator-drones.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">a marvel of engineering Opens a New Window.</a>, capable of flying at speeds of 135 mph, remaining aloft for 24 hours without refueling, and carrying two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles for ground attack. At a price tag of roughly $4 million per unit, it was also a pretty affordable combat drone.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Predator production has ceased, and the new drones that replaced it -- the Army's MQ-1C Gray Eagle and the Air Force's MQ-9 Reaper -- cost roughly 50% more, and four times more, respectively,than the Predator itself. What the Pentagon really needs is something that can perform the Predator's mission for it, but that costs less rather than more.</p>
<p>Enter privately held Navmar Applied Sciences Corporation, which in 2008 responded to the Air Force's call for a "lightweight, low cost UAV with an endurance of at least 18 hours with a payload" similar to Predator's by building the RQ-23 TigerShark.</p>
<p>Smaller than the Predatorand with a slower speed and shorter range, TigerShark is not as powerful a plane as Predator -- much less General Atomics' more advanced Gray Eagle and Reaper upgrades. But TigerShark's "XP Long Range" variant is capable of flying unrefueled for 15 hours at a stretch, and can carry a payload up to 150 pounds -- enough for one Hellfire missile. Best of all, TigerShark costs only $50,000per drone, a tiny fraction of what General Atomics has been charging.</p>
<p>Even at half the Predator's capability, that's a bargain price.</p>
<p>Juliet's Ghost is a very pretty machine. Image source: Juliet Marine.</p>
<p>Speaking of bargain prices, remember how I told you the Navy's LCS warships cost $655 million a pop? Turns out, that's kind of a bargain. According to GAO figures, the Navy has spent an average of $3.5 billion per ship on its Arleigh Burke-class destroyers over the lifetime of that program, while the new Zumwaltclass of destroyers is expected to cost taxpayers more than $23 billion -- to acquire just three ships.</p>
<p>In contrast, privately held Juliet Marinehas offered to sell the Navy a new concept of wave-skimming warboat it developed, dubbed " <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/10/25/stealthy-superfast-robotic-ghost-boats-is-this-the.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">the Ghost Opens a New Window.</a>," for as little as $10 million each.</p>
<p>Again, Ghost is not nearly as powerful a platform as a Zumwalt warship, an Arleigh Burke, or even, probably, a Littoral Combat Ship. But its innovative 38-foot-long frame is big enough to carry as many as 90 short-range Nemesis surface-to-surface missiles aboard. And at a top speed of 50 knots, Ghost would be even faster than the Navy's fastest LCS -- darn near the fastest ship on the ocean.</p>
<p>All that for a bargain $10 million price tag, which would permit President Trump to build himself an all-Ghost, 350-ship Navy -- for less than half the cost of just one Zumwalt.</p>
<p>How cheap is Howe &amp; Howe's robo-tank, exactly? Image source: Howe &amp; Howe Technologies.</p>
<p>We've covered cheap airplanes and cheap naval warships so far. Now how about a little something for G.I. Joe?</p>
<p>Currently, the mainstay of the U.S. Army is General Dynamics' (NYSE: GD) M1A2 main battle tank -- a 62.5-tonarmored beast that can cost $7.8 million just to refurbish, much less build all-new. That's an awful lot of money to pay for a piece of hardware that can be disabledby something as cheap as a $30 improvised explosive device, -- but privately held Howe &amp; Howe Technologies may have the solution.</p>
<p>A few years ago, Howe &amp; Howe offered to sell the U.S. Army a fleet of its internally developed "Ripsaw MS-1" remotely operated tanks. Unarmored (because it has no crew to protect), but well-armed with a top-mounted chaingun, Ripsaw is built from lightweight steel alloy tubes, weighs less than five tons, and can hit ground speeds as fast as 65 mph -- accelerating from zero to 65 in <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/12/07/pentagon-to-defense-contractors-youre-doing-it-wro.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">three seconds flat Opens a New Window.</a>. Its price:Just $200,000 per unit.</p>
<p>The U.S. Army sometimes spends that much <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/19/lockheed-loses-and-raytheon-could-gain-as-navy-dis.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">on a single bullet Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/general/2014/12/07/pentagon-to-defense-contractors-youre-doing-it-wro.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">If President Trump is serious Opens a New Window.</a> about wanting the Pentagon to spend its defense dollars more wisely, he should ask Congress to fund purchases of these (and similar) cut-rate weapons systems -- maybe not instead of higher-priced, more advanced weapons from Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and their peers, but in addition to them.</p>
<p>Because here's the thing: The weapons cited above are so much cheaper than traditional weapons systems that you can buy a lot of cheap, attritable hardware without necessarily taking away much funding from traditional defense giants like LockMart and General D.</p>
<p>So maybe Trump shouldn't curtail General Atomics' Reaper program entirely, but instead reduce purchases of Reapers by just one unit, and use that money to buy 295 of Navmar's TigerShark drones. Don't cancel the Littoral Combat Ship program, but skip the purchase of just one LCS, and use the funds to acquire 65 (and a half) Ghost warships to augment the power of the LCS fleet. And so on and so forth.</p>
<p>Funding innovation among private companies need not pose a threat to large, publicly traded defense companies. Rather, it can encourage small, privately owned defense start-ups to continue innovating and developing efficient, cheap weapons systems, without starving the major defense contractors of the money they need to develop higher-end stuff.</p>
<p>The result would be a win-win-win scenario -- for traditional defense contractors, for the start-ups, and for taxpayers, too.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Lockheed MartinWhen 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=52283ee0-8488-468f-a18a-c899d99fe00c&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 Lockheed Martin 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=52283ee0-8488-468f-a18a-c899d99fe00c&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/TMFDitty/info.aspx" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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<p />
<p>Toyota'sMiyataplant builds several Lexus modelsthat are exported to the U.S. and other markets, including the Lexus NX (pictured). Production lines at the plant were halted on Monday due to parts shortages. Last week's earthquakes have disrupted production at key Toyota suppliers, bringing most of the company's Japanese factories to a halt. Image source: Toyota</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Toyota said on Sunday that it will suspend production this week at nearly all of its factories in Japan, after a series of deadly earthquakes disrupted production at key suppliers.</p>
<p>What Toyota said: The company said in a statement that production lines at nearly all Toyota plants in Japan will suspend operations this week "due to parts shortages resulting from the severe earthquakes that struck Japan's island of Kyushu on April 14 and after."</p>
<p>Toyota didn't give a timetable for resuming production at the affected factories. "Decisions regarding recommencements of operation at plants in Japan will be made on the basis of the availability of parts."</p>
<p>In a separate statement, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda pledged that the company will do "anything we can" to assist recovery efforts in the region hit by the earthquakes.</p>
<p>What it means for Toyota: Unlike rivals such as Honda , which has worked to "localize" production by building more factories in and near its overseas markets, Toyota is still heavily dependent on exports from Japan.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>To some extent, that has worked in Toyota's favor over the last couple of years. The devaluation of the yen versus the dollar and euro has given Toyota's exports a <a href="http://rosevear%20fool.com%20toyota%20yen?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">big profit boost Opens a New Window.</a>. But it left the company more vulnerable than some of its domestic rivals to the disruptive effects of the series of earthquakes that struck Japan last week.</p>
<p>The shutdowns will affect nearly all of the Toyota, Scion, and Lexus models that are exported from Japan to the United States, including all Lexus models, the Scion tC and xB, the Prius, and several crossovers and SUVs.</p>
<p>The latter could hurt: The affected assembly lines produce some of Toyota's hottest products, including the RAV4, 4Runner, and Land Cruiser SUVs, as well as the Lexus RX and NX crossovers and the bigger Lexus GX and NX SUVs.</p>
<p>Toyota has already been struggling to meet booming demand for SUVs. Its global production footprint has long been oriented toward sedans like the Corolla, Prius, and Camry, traditionally among the company's top sellers. A recent market shift away from sedans has left Toyota looking for ways to increase its light-truck production -- an effort that may now be hampered for weeks or months while suppliers race to recover from the effects of the earthquake.</p>
<p>What it means for Toyota investors: Right now, it's not clear how long these shutdowns are likely to last. The production disruptions that followed a <a href="http://rosevear%20fool.com%20toyota%20tsunami?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 Opens a New Window.</a> limited the Japanese automakers' production for months, hurting sales totals and profits for several quarters.</p>
<p>As of right now, this disruption doesn't look likely to be nearly as severe. It's probable that Toyota will be able to make up any lost production before the end of the secondquarter. But until Toyota's suppliers are able to come up with a timetable for resuming production, investors won't have a clear gauge as to its likely effects on Toyota's bottom line.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/18/toyota-shuts-down-its-japan-factories-what-it-mean.aspx" type="external">Toyota Shuts Down its Japanese Factories: What it Means Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFMarlowe/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">John Rosevear Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>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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Toyota Shuts Down its Japanese Factories: What it Means
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http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/18/toyota-shuts-down-its-japanese-factories-what-it-means.html
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2016-04-18
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Toyota Shuts Down its Japanese Factories: What it Means
<p />
<p>Toyota'sMiyataplant builds several Lexus modelsthat are exported to the U.S. and other markets, including the Lexus NX (pictured). Production lines at the plant were halted on Monday due to parts shortages. Last week's earthquakes have disrupted production at key Toyota suppliers, bringing most of the company's Japanese factories to a halt. Image source: Toyota</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Toyota said on Sunday that it will suspend production this week at nearly all of its factories in Japan, after a series of deadly earthquakes disrupted production at key suppliers.</p>
<p>What Toyota said: The company said in a statement that production lines at nearly all Toyota plants in Japan will suspend operations this week "due to parts shortages resulting from the severe earthquakes that struck Japan's island of Kyushu on April 14 and after."</p>
<p>Toyota didn't give a timetable for resuming production at the affected factories. "Decisions regarding recommencements of operation at plants in Japan will be made on the basis of the availability of parts."</p>
<p>In a separate statement, Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda pledged that the company will do "anything we can" to assist recovery efforts in the region hit by the earthquakes.</p>
<p>What it means for Toyota: Unlike rivals such as Honda , which has worked to "localize" production by building more factories in and near its overseas markets, Toyota is still heavily dependent on exports from Japan.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>To some extent, that has worked in Toyota's favor over the last couple of years. The devaluation of the yen versus the dollar and euro has given Toyota's exports a <a href="http://rosevear%20fool.com%20toyota%20yen?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">big profit boost Opens a New Window.</a>. But it left the company more vulnerable than some of its domestic rivals to the disruptive effects of the series of earthquakes that struck Japan last week.</p>
<p>The shutdowns will affect nearly all of the Toyota, Scion, and Lexus models that are exported from Japan to the United States, including all Lexus models, the Scion tC and xB, the Prius, and several crossovers and SUVs.</p>
<p>The latter could hurt: The affected assembly lines produce some of Toyota's hottest products, including the RAV4, 4Runner, and Land Cruiser SUVs, as well as the Lexus RX and NX crossovers and the bigger Lexus GX and NX SUVs.</p>
<p>Toyota has already been struggling to meet booming demand for SUVs. Its global production footprint has long been oriented toward sedans like the Corolla, Prius, and Camry, traditionally among the company's top sellers. A recent market shift away from sedans has left Toyota looking for ways to increase its light-truck production -- an effort that may now be hampered for weeks or months while suppliers race to recover from the effects of the earthquake.</p>
<p>What it means for Toyota investors: Right now, it's not clear how long these shutdowns are likely to last. The production disruptions that followed a <a href="http://rosevear%20fool.com%20toyota%20tsunami?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 Opens a New Window.</a> limited the Japanese automakers' production for months, hurting sales totals and profits for several quarters.</p>
<p>As of right now, this disruption doesn't look likely to be nearly as severe. It's probable that Toyota will be able to make up any lost production before the end of the secondquarter. But until Toyota's suppliers are able to come up with a timetable for resuming production, investors won't have a clear gauge as to its likely effects on Toyota's bottom line.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/18/toyota-shuts-down-its-japan-factories-what-it-mean.aspx" type="external">Toyota Shuts Down its Japanese Factories: What it Means Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFMarlowe/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">John Rosevear Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>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>So, which was better – Curtis Beach’s day or Sharon Day? You be the judge.</p>
<p>Beach, the former Albuquerque Academy star, established two personal bests Friday on the first day of the heptathlon at the USA Track &amp; Field Indoor Championships. It was his first performance in his hometown since he left for Duke University in 2009.</p>
<p>“It was just so easy to get motivated with my whole family here,” Beach said after compiling a first-day total of 3,318 points at the Albuquerque Convention Center – placing him third entering today’s final three events.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The case can be made, however, that Day’s day was even better – because her event is over. The two-time Olympian defended her U.S. indoor pentathlon title in comfortable fashion, finishing with a points total of 4,478 – 145 better than runner-up Bettie Wade.</p>
<p>Lindsay Lettow was third, another 32 points back.</p>
<p>Pleased but not satisfied describes Day’s reaction afterward.</p>
<p>“Our goal at the beginning of the season was trying to go after the American record (shared by DeDee Nathan and Hyleas Fountain), which is 4,753,” she said. “With a little better hurdles, a little better high jump, it would have been a lot easier to achieve that.</p>
<p>“But the score is still OK, and I’m happy with the win, definitely, coming back and winning two years in a row.”</p>
<p>Day also is entered in Sunday’s high jump, the event in which she represented the U.S. at Beijing in 2008. She competed in the outdoor heptathlon in London.</p>
<p>Pleased and delighted described Beach’s outlook after the first four of seven.</p>
<p>After a so-so start in the 60-meter dash, a clocking of 7.13 seconds that left him in eighth place, he just missed a personal best in the long jump with a leap of 24-2 1/2.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In the shot put, by far his weakest event, the slender 6-footer easily surpassed his previous best with an effort of 42-10 1/4.</p>
<p>Then came the high jump, in which he faced elimination at three different heights with two misses before clearing the bar on his third attempt. One of his flirtations with disaster came at 6-2 3/4.</p>
<p>Yet, Beach wound up finishing second in the high jump with a clearance of 6-11 – surpassing his previous best, set four years ago as a senior at Academy, by an inch-and-a-half.</p>
<p>“Almost everything I do, I don’t do it until I have to do it,” he said. “… Third attempts, I have to do it.</p>
<p>“For some reason my mindset changes, and I make it happen. … Being here in Albuquerque, it was easy to get motivated. I was just able to get over each bar.”</p>
<p>Had Beach not been successful on that third jump at 6-2 3/4, it would have cost him almost 200 points.</p>
<p>As it stands, he trails leader Gunnar Nixon by 209 points and second-place Trey Hardee, the 2012 decathlon silver medalist, by 87. Beach typically has a strong second day: the 60-meter hurdles, the pole vault and the 1,000 meters, his best event.</p>
<p>The effort he expended during the high jump – 18 attempts – he believes, won’t affect him today.</p>
<p>“I think with everyone here (family and friends), I’ll find the energy,” he said.</p>
<p>Daniel Gooris, the former Cibola star and Beach’s close friend, is 10th in the heptathlon after the first day with a score of 2,876. His marks were 7.43 in the 60-meter dash, 21-8 3/4 in the long jump, 44-6 in the shot put and 6-2 3/4 in the high jump. The Northern Iowa senior’s best event, the pole vault, is yet to come. It was truly a great Day and a BeachEx-Charger has two personal bests</p>
<p>USA TRACK &amp; FIELD — This article appeared on page D3 of the Albuquerque Journal</p>
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It was truly a great Day and a Beach
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https://abqjournal.com/239012/it-was-truly-a-great-day-and-a-beach.html
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It was truly a great Day and a Beach
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>So, which was better – Curtis Beach’s day or Sharon Day? You be the judge.</p>
<p>Beach, the former Albuquerque Academy star, established two personal bests Friday on the first day of the heptathlon at the USA Track &amp; Field Indoor Championships. It was his first performance in his hometown since he left for Duke University in 2009.</p>
<p>“It was just so easy to get motivated with my whole family here,” Beach said after compiling a first-day total of 3,318 points at the Albuquerque Convention Center – placing him third entering today’s final three events.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The case can be made, however, that Day’s day was even better – because her event is over. The two-time Olympian defended her U.S. indoor pentathlon title in comfortable fashion, finishing with a points total of 4,478 – 145 better than runner-up Bettie Wade.</p>
<p>Lindsay Lettow was third, another 32 points back.</p>
<p>Pleased but not satisfied describes Day’s reaction afterward.</p>
<p>“Our goal at the beginning of the season was trying to go after the American record (shared by DeDee Nathan and Hyleas Fountain), which is 4,753,” she said. “With a little better hurdles, a little better high jump, it would have been a lot easier to achieve that.</p>
<p>“But the score is still OK, and I’m happy with the win, definitely, coming back and winning two years in a row.”</p>
<p>Day also is entered in Sunday’s high jump, the event in which she represented the U.S. at Beijing in 2008. She competed in the outdoor heptathlon in London.</p>
<p>Pleased and delighted described Beach’s outlook after the first four of seven.</p>
<p>After a so-so start in the 60-meter dash, a clocking of 7.13 seconds that left him in eighth place, he just missed a personal best in the long jump with a leap of 24-2 1/2.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In the shot put, by far his weakest event, the slender 6-footer easily surpassed his previous best with an effort of 42-10 1/4.</p>
<p>Then came the high jump, in which he faced elimination at three different heights with two misses before clearing the bar on his third attempt. One of his flirtations with disaster came at 6-2 3/4.</p>
<p>Yet, Beach wound up finishing second in the high jump with a clearance of 6-11 – surpassing his previous best, set four years ago as a senior at Academy, by an inch-and-a-half.</p>
<p>“Almost everything I do, I don’t do it until I have to do it,” he said. “… Third attempts, I have to do it.</p>
<p>“For some reason my mindset changes, and I make it happen. … Being here in Albuquerque, it was easy to get motivated. I was just able to get over each bar.”</p>
<p>Had Beach not been successful on that third jump at 6-2 3/4, it would have cost him almost 200 points.</p>
<p>As it stands, he trails leader Gunnar Nixon by 209 points and second-place Trey Hardee, the 2012 decathlon silver medalist, by 87. Beach typically has a strong second day: the 60-meter hurdles, the pole vault and the 1,000 meters, his best event.</p>
<p>The effort he expended during the high jump – 18 attempts – he believes, won’t affect him today.</p>
<p>“I think with everyone here (family and friends), I’ll find the energy,” he said.</p>
<p>Daniel Gooris, the former Cibola star and Beach’s close friend, is 10th in the heptathlon after the first day with a score of 2,876. His marks were 7.43 in the 60-meter dash, 21-8 3/4 in the long jump, 44-6 in the shot put and 6-2 3/4 in the high jump. The Northern Iowa senior’s best event, the pole vault, is yet to come. It was truly a great Day and a BeachEx-Charger has two personal bests</p>
<p>USA TRACK &amp; FIELD — This article appeared on page D3 of the Albuquerque Journal</p>
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<p>LONDON — The shock came late on a summer evening: After an idyllic Mediterranean holiday, Princess Diana had been in a car crash in Paris. Her boyfriend was dead; she was hospitalized, condition unclear.</p>
<p>She died a few hours later on Aug. 31, 1997, plunging Britain into grief that lingers to this day. Twenty years later, the memory of Diana — a youthful mother cut down, leaving two children behind — remains vital, her influence still felt.</p>
<p>Time has blurred the memories, but people around the world still remember Diana as a young bride, so taken with Prince Charles, and as a glamorous trendsetter dancing at the White House with John Travolta. She was the fun-loving mom taking her two boys on amusement park rides, and the tireless charity worker who reached out to AIDS patients when they were shunned by much of society.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The sons Diana left behind — Prince William, now 35, and Prince Harry, 32 — are playing increasingly important roles in Britain’s national life as the public focuses on the next generation of royals, sometimes at the expense of William and Harry’s father, Prince Charles.</p>
<p>“Her essential legacy is her children and the fact is that they have become known more as her children than as his, in the sense that the charity work they are doing resonates with what she was doing — difficult issues like mental health, just like she took on AIDS,” Diana biographer Andrew Morton said. “So she has a living legacy.”</p>
<p>Morton’s 1992 book about Diana revealed the depth of her despair: her struggle with a serious eating disorder, attempts at self-harm, and what he calls the “deep unhappiness” of her union with Charles, which ended in a bitter divorce in 1996.</p>
<p>It was supposed to be so different. Charles was heir to the throne, and Diana’s entry into the royal family meant she was likely to become queen one day.</p>
<p>Theirs was perhaps a common story of infidelity and broken vows, but played out on an uncommonly public stage. Each used TV interviews and books by favored authors as megaphones in their bids for public sympathy.</p>
<p>Charles, with his somewhat stiff demeanor and unapproachable public persona, could never compete with Diana’s doe-eyed appeal, especially when she famously complained there had always been “three people in this marriage” — an arch reference to Camilla Parker Bowles, who would marry Charles eight years after Diana’s sudden death.</p>
<p>Many saw Diana as a young mother wronged by a privileged older husband’s refusal to give up his lifelong mistress — even though the princess admitted to affairs of her own.</p>
<p>Refusing to fit the Windsor mold, she sought new ways to cope with fabulous wealth, worldwide fame, and sky-high expectations. She reached out and actually touched AIDS patients — a taboo at the time — and travelled to former combat zones to highlight the dangers land mines posed to civilians.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Many felt they could relate to her when she recounted her own battles with bulimia and talked openly of her disappointment and loneliness.</p>
<p>Some remember her for bringing a refreshing informality to the royal family — for example, taking young William and Harry in 1993 to Thorpe Park, a popular amusement center near London where they squealed and screamed along with everyone else on the water rides.</p>
<p>Carol Meredith, a nurse who recently visited the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park with her husband, said that in the past senior royals would have had the amusement park cleared so they could enjoy it without mingling with the public.</p>
<p>Today, she said, the royals aren’t like that.</p>
<p>“Diana changed that,” she said. “When she used to take her kids to Thorpe Park, she enjoyed being with everybody else and doing the same as everybody else. She changed what you think of the royal family.”</p>
<p>Meredith’s husband, Andrew, said Diana was different from other royals.</p>
<p>“They were a little bit staid,” he said. “They were a little bit, you know, ‘We are the royalty, here to be seen but not to be spoken to or touched.’ At least with Diana, you felt as if she was touchable. She was within reach.”</p>
<p>The difference between the two approaches — and the depth of the public’s affection for Diana — crystallized in the days after her death, when tens of thousands of mourners paid tribute to Diana by placing flowers outside London’s Kensington Palace, where she had lived.</p>
<p>Queen Elizabeth II was on vacation in Scotland at the time of the accident, and she remained there for several days. She declined to lower the flag atop Buckingham Palace to half-staff, citing protocol, as rare public anger mounted against the monarch.</p>
<p>Elizabeth seemed, publicly at least, unmoved by Diana’s death, even as the prime minister — media-savvy Tony Blair — coined a memorable phrase in describing Diana as “the people’s princess.”</p>
<p>The queen eventually relented and came to London to pay her respects. The royal family then took steps to regain public favor, in part by adopting the more people-friendly approach Diana had used.</p>
<p>Chloe Dyson, a secondary school teacher also visiting Hyde Park, said Diana remains an “inspirational figure” two decades after her death.</p>
<p>“She still obviously has a strong image in the British psyche,” Dyson said, adding that Diana’s accessible approach brought her closer to the British people than other royals.</p>
<p>“People felt they could identify with her,” Dyson said, remembering the impact of Diana’s charitable endeavors, including visits to hospitals and homeless shelters. “She was doing good work.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Leonore Schick contributed to this report.</p>
|
Princess Diana’s influence endures 20 years after her death
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1053964/princess-dianas-impact-endures-20-years-after-her-death.html
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2017-08-26
| 2least
|
Princess Diana’s influence endures 20 years after her death
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>LONDON — The shock came late on a summer evening: After an idyllic Mediterranean holiday, Princess Diana had been in a car crash in Paris. Her boyfriend was dead; she was hospitalized, condition unclear.</p>
<p>She died a few hours later on Aug. 31, 1997, plunging Britain into grief that lingers to this day. Twenty years later, the memory of Diana — a youthful mother cut down, leaving two children behind — remains vital, her influence still felt.</p>
<p>Time has blurred the memories, but people around the world still remember Diana as a young bride, so taken with Prince Charles, and as a glamorous trendsetter dancing at the White House with John Travolta. She was the fun-loving mom taking her two boys on amusement park rides, and the tireless charity worker who reached out to AIDS patients when they were shunned by much of society.</p>
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<p>The sons Diana left behind — Prince William, now 35, and Prince Harry, 32 — are playing increasingly important roles in Britain’s national life as the public focuses on the next generation of royals, sometimes at the expense of William and Harry’s father, Prince Charles.</p>
<p>“Her essential legacy is her children and the fact is that they have become known more as her children than as his, in the sense that the charity work they are doing resonates with what she was doing — difficult issues like mental health, just like she took on AIDS,” Diana biographer Andrew Morton said. “So she has a living legacy.”</p>
<p>Morton’s 1992 book about Diana revealed the depth of her despair: her struggle with a serious eating disorder, attempts at self-harm, and what he calls the “deep unhappiness” of her union with Charles, which ended in a bitter divorce in 1996.</p>
<p>It was supposed to be so different. Charles was heir to the throne, and Diana’s entry into the royal family meant she was likely to become queen one day.</p>
<p>Theirs was perhaps a common story of infidelity and broken vows, but played out on an uncommonly public stage. Each used TV interviews and books by favored authors as megaphones in their bids for public sympathy.</p>
<p>Charles, with his somewhat stiff demeanor and unapproachable public persona, could never compete with Diana’s doe-eyed appeal, especially when she famously complained there had always been “three people in this marriage” — an arch reference to Camilla Parker Bowles, who would marry Charles eight years after Diana’s sudden death.</p>
<p>Many saw Diana as a young mother wronged by a privileged older husband’s refusal to give up his lifelong mistress — even though the princess admitted to affairs of her own.</p>
<p>Refusing to fit the Windsor mold, she sought new ways to cope with fabulous wealth, worldwide fame, and sky-high expectations. She reached out and actually touched AIDS patients — a taboo at the time — and travelled to former combat zones to highlight the dangers land mines posed to civilians.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Many felt they could relate to her when she recounted her own battles with bulimia and talked openly of her disappointment and loneliness.</p>
<p>Some remember her for bringing a refreshing informality to the royal family — for example, taking young William and Harry in 1993 to Thorpe Park, a popular amusement center near London where they squealed and screamed along with everyone else on the water rides.</p>
<p>Carol Meredith, a nurse who recently visited the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park with her husband, said that in the past senior royals would have had the amusement park cleared so they could enjoy it without mingling with the public.</p>
<p>Today, she said, the royals aren’t like that.</p>
<p>“Diana changed that,” she said. “When she used to take her kids to Thorpe Park, she enjoyed being with everybody else and doing the same as everybody else. She changed what you think of the royal family.”</p>
<p>Meredith’s husband, Andrew, said Diana was different from other royals.</p>
<p>“They were a little bit staid,” he said. “They were a little bit, you know, ‘We are the royalty, here to be seen but not to be spoken to or touched.’ At least with Diana, you felt as if she was touchable. She was within reach.”</p>
<p>The difference between the two approaches — and the depth of the public’s affection for Diana — crystallized in the days after her death, when tens of thousands of mourners paid tribute to Diana by placing flowers outside London’s Kensington Palace, where she had lived.</p>
<p>Queen Elizabeth II was on vacation in Scotland at the time of the accident, and she remained there for several days. She declined to lower the flag atop Buckingham Palace to half-staff, citing protocol, as rare public anger mounted against the monarch.</p>
<p>Elizabeth seemed, publicly at least, unmoved by Diana’s death, even as the prime minister — media-savvy Tony Blair — coined a memorable phrase in describing Diana as “the people’s princess.”</p>
<p>The queen eventually relented and came to London to pay her respects. The royal family then took steps to regain public favor, in part by adopting the more people-friendly approach Diana had used.</p>
<p>Chloe Dyson, a secondary school teacher also visiting Hyde Park, said Diana remains an “inspirational figure” two decades after her death.</p>
<p>“She still obviously has a strong image in the British psyche,” Dyson said, adding that Diana’s accessible approach brought her closer to the British people than other royals.</p>
<p>“People felt they could identify with her,” Dyson said, remembering the impact of Diana’s charitable endeavors, including visits to hospitals and homeless shelters. “She was doing good work.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Leonore Schick contributed to this report.</p>
| 5,819 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>There's more than one way to skin a cat, and more than one path a company can follow to double an investor's money in the course of a year. These three companies, have managed to do just that, despite blazing different paths to the same end. Going their own way in helping shareholders enjoy returns in excess of 100%.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/MUX" type="external">MUX</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Midcap cancer-biotech Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL) has more than doubled over the last 12 months -- it's up 108% -- as the handful of therapies it has on the market are catching on. Its treatment for second-line advanced renal cell carcinoma Cabometyx, which was just <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/26/fda-approves-cabometyx-exelixis-exel.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">launched in April Opens a New Window.</a>, is already generating more than $17 million in revenue, while Cometriq, a treatment for advanced medullary thyroid cancer, generated $14 million in the second quarter. In all, the biotech registered $36 million in revenues for the period, compared to just $8 million a year ago.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>There's potential for Cabometyx to get approved for additional indications, and trials it is currently enrolled in are going well. With the potential for becoming cash-flow positive next year and a growing cash balance, Exelixis could soon begin making acquisitions, or take on licensing opportunities that will further expand its portfolio.</p>
<p>The rebound in precious metals has benefited metals miner McEwen Mining (NYSE: MUX) and silver streamer Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW), which have risen by 347% and 131%, respectively, over the past year. In that same time span, gold has jumped 20% in value, while silver has surged more than 30%. Certainly, the higher prices for the yellow and gray metals helped spur the companies higher, but there's also obviously more at play than just that.</p>
<p>For McEwen, much of the <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/15/an-fomc-stalemate-sends-mcewen-mining-inc-soaring.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">gains it generated Opens a New Window.</a> were predicated on having produced more gold earlier in the year as a result of improvements made at its San Jose site in Argentina, while also significantly reducing its all-in sustaining costs (AISC) there and at its El Gallo project in Mexico. Second-quarter results weren't quite as dramatic as they were in the first, and McEwen's stock has lost a quarter of its value since its 52-week high last month. However, with AISC continuing to fall, no debt on its balance sheet, and higher gold prices leading to an early payback on its advanced-stage Gold Bar project in Nevada, McEwen Mining may yet test new highs.</p>
<p>Because Silver Wheaton doesn't have its own mines, instead buying streams of production from other miners, the same type of forces that pushed McEwen higher don't come into play here, at least not directly. That doesn't mean, however, that it can't also go higher still.</p>
<p>In the second quarter, attributable production silver and gold outpaced last year's effort. Silver Wheaton reported 7.6 million ounces of silver and 70,200 ounces of gold, respectively, were produced compared with 7.2 million ounces of silver and 50,100 ounces of gold a year ago. Sales were up 28% and 16%, respectively, from last year, too.</p>
<p>Yet the company is also investing in its future, taking on more financing of mining operations in exchange for future streams. For example, it recently negotiated an additional 25% of life-of-mine gold production from Vale's (NYSE: VALE) Salobo mine, Silver Wheaton's strongest asset. It already owns 50% of the mine's gold output, but for an <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/08/12/investors-should-fear-vales-rumored-iron-ore-strea.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">upfront payment Opens a New Window.</a>of $800 million, which Vale is using to help lower its massive debt load, the streamer is preparing for future increases in gold's price.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2691&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFCop/info.aspx" type="external">Rich Duprey Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Exelixis. The Motley Fool owns shares of Companhia Vale and Silver Wheaton. 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>
|
These 3 Stocks Have Doubled Their Investors' Money
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/17/these-3-stocks-have-doubled-their-investors-money.html
|
2016-09-17
| 0right
|
These 3 Stocks Have Doubled Their Investors' Money
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>There's more than one way to skin a cat, and more than one path a company can follow to double an investor's money in the course of a year. These three companies, have managed to do just that, despite blazing different paths to the same end. Going their own way in helping shareholders enjoy returns in excess of 100%.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/MUX" type="external">MUX</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Midcap cancer-biotech Exelixis (NASDAQ: EXEL) has more than doubled over the last 12 months -- it's up 108% -- as the handful of therapies it has on the market are catching on. Its treatment for second-line advanced renal cell carcinoma Cabometyx, which was just <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/26/fda-approves-cabometyx-exelixis-exel.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">launched in April Opens a New Window.</a>, is already generating more than $17 million in revenue, while Cometriq, a treatment for advanced medullary thyroid cancer, generated $14 million in the second quarter. In all, the biotech registered $36 million in revenues for the period, compared to just $8 million a year ago.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>There's potential for Cabometyx to get approved for additional indications, and trials it is currently enrolled in are going well. With the potential for becoming cash-flow positive next year and a growing cash balance, Exelixis could soon begin making acquisitions, or take on licensing opportunities that will further expand its portfolio.</p>
<p>The rebound in precious metals has benefited metals miner McEwen Mining (NYSE: MUX) and silver streamer Silver Wheaton (NYSE: SLW), which have risen by 347% and 131%, respectively, over the past year. In that same time span, gold has jumped 20% in value, while silver has surged more than 30%. Certainly, the higher prices for the yellow and gray metals helped spur the companies higher, but there's also obviously more at play than just that.</p>
<p>For McEwen, much of the <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/15/an-fomc-stalemate-sends-mcewen-mining-inc-soaring.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">gains it generated Opens a New Window.</a> were predicated on having produced more gold earlier in the year as a result of improvements made at its San Jose site in Argentina, while also significantly reducing its all-in sustaining costs (AISC) there and at its El Gallo project in Mexico. Second-quarter results weren't quite as dramatic as they were in the first, and McEwen's stock has lost a quarter of its value since its 52-week high last month. However, with AISC continuing to fall, no debt on its balance sheet, and higher gold prices leading to an early payback on its advanced-stage Gold Bar project in Nevada, McEwen Mining may yet test new highs.</p>
<p>Because Silver Wheaton doesn't have its own mines, instead buying streams of production from other miners, the same type of forces that pushed McEwen higher don't come into play here, at least not directly. That doesn't mean, however, that it can't also go higher still.</p>
<p>In the second quarter, attributable production silver and gold outpaced last year's effort. Silver Wheaton reported 7.6 million ounces of silver and 70,200 ounces of gold, respectively, were produced compared with 7.2 million ounces of silver and 50,100 ounces of gold a year ago. Sales were up 28% and 16%, respectively, from last year, too.</p>
<p>Yet the company is also investing in its future, taking on more financing of mining operations in exchange for future streams. For example, it recently negotiated an additional 25% of life-of-mine gold production from Vale's (NYSE: VALE) Salobo mine, Silver Wheaton's strongest asset. It already owns 50% of the mine's gold output, but for an <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/08/12/investors-should-fear-vales-rumored-iron-ore-strea.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">upfront payment Opens a New Window.</a>of $800 million, which Vale is using to help lower its massive debt load, the streamer is preparing for future increases in gold's price.</p>
<p>A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-apple-wearable?aid=6965&amp;source=irbeditxt0000017&amp;ftm_cam=rb-wearable-d&amp;ftm_pit=2691&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">just click here Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFCop/info.aspx" type="external">Rich Duprey Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Exelixis. The Motley Fool owns shares of Companhia Vale and Silver Wheaton. 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>
| 5,820 |
<p>It’s easy to hang a banner and to say that you’re doing progressive things.</p>
<p>SOMERVILLE, MASS.—Most of Rand Wilson’s knocks went unanswered, but seeds were planted. At one house, a 30-year-old registered Democrat, Caitlin, lit up when he mentioned Bernie Sanders.</p>
<p>“So is this what he meant by the political revolution?” she asks.</p>
<p>She didn’t join Our Revolution Somerville (ORS), but did say she would take a closer look at its slate.</p>
<p>In Somerville, the battle for the future of the Democratic Party is waged street by street. Wilson and other ORS members plan to overthrow the political establishment in a city where Democrats have long controlled the levers of power. It’ll be one step, they hope, toward transforming the party.</p>
<p>Wilson, a union organizer with SEIU Local 888, was one of a dozen ORS members who canvassed that day. The goal is to knock on 3,000 doors by Election Day on November 7, turn out new voters for ORS’ endorsed candidates, sign up new members, and get signatures on a petition to put an initiative for paid family and medical leave on the Massachusetts ballot in 2018.</p>
<p>Somerville, a city of 80,000 north of Boston, was once a working-class community. The city’s character began to change in the 1980s, when housing costs skyrocketed. The median home price is now $600,000. In 2016, Somerville’s city council passed a law that requires at least 20 percent of units in new developments be affordable. That’s the root of the conflict that sparked a progressive insurrection.</p>
<p>Federal Realty Investment Trust, a Maryland-based developer valued at more than $9 billion, is completing a 500-unit luxury housing project in Somerville. It began the project before the 20 percent standard took effect, so it asked the city for a waiver to meet the old, 12.5 percent standard. In May, Joseph Curtatone, Somerville’s mayor, floated a compromise that would let Federal Realty meet a 6.25 percent affordable unit standard in return for a $10.3 million cash payment to the city’s community development corporation to purchase affordable housing. The planning board, appointed by the mayor, approved the deal 4 to 1 without taking public comment.</p>
<p>The community development corporation has only purchased 20 homes over the past&#160;three years. That move galvanized ORS, which maintains that Curtatone shortchanged Somerville.</p>
<p>Curtatone is widely regarded as an outspoken progressive. He’s been a high-profile defender of same-sex marriage since 2004, defends the Black Lives Matter banner hanging above the entrance to Somerville City Hall (despite pressure from the city’s police union to remove it), and he’s proud to proclaim Somerville a sanctuary city. Yet in 2014, the Village Voice named him one of its 53 worst politicians in America, dinging him as a media darling “who masquerades as a handsome young progressive,” but allows an “elite and privileged cadre of attorneys and real estate slugs” to run the show.</p>
<p>Matt McLaughlin, a Somerville native who represents Ward 1 on the city’s Board of Aldermen and helped found ORS, says the Federal Realty deal has separated genuine progressives from poseurs. “It’s easy to hang a banner and to say that you’re doing progressive things,” he says.</p>
<p>ORS is running a slate of nine candidates for the 11-seat city Board of Aldermen. On Election Day, ORS campaigners will hand out palm cards that read: “We envision a Somerville where people have the resources to thrive. Where working class families are stable. Where immigrants are welcome. And where the community always comes before profit.”&#160;</p>
<p>Like what you’ve read? <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/itt-subscription-offer?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">Subscribe to In These Times magazine</a>, or <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/support-in-these-times?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">make a tax-deductible donation to fund this reporting</a>.</p>
<p>Theo Anderson, an In These Times writing fellow, has contributed to the magazine since 2010. He has a Ph.D. in modern U.S. history from Yale and writes on the intellectual and religious history of conservatism and progressivism in the United States. Follow him on Twitter @Theoanderson7 and contact him at [email protected].</p>
|
Our Revolution Somerville’s Campaign to Separate the Progressives from the Poseurs
| true |
http://inthesetimes.com/article/20580/separating-progressives-from-the-poseurs
|
2017-10-16
| 4left
|
Our Revolution Somerville’s Campaign to Separate the Progressives from the Poseurs
<p>It’s easy to hang a banner and to say that you’re doing progressive things.</p>
<p>SOMERVILLE, MASS.—Most of Rand Wilson’s knocks went unanswered, but seeds were planted. At one house, a 30-year-old registered Democrat, Caitlin, lit up when he mentioned Bernie Sanders.</p>
<p>“So is this what he meant by the political revolution?” she asks.</p>
<p>She didn’t join Our Revolution Somerville (ORS), but did say she would take a closer look at its slate.</p>
<p>In Somerville, the battle for the future of the Democratic Party is waged street by street. Wilson and other ORS members plan to overthrow the political establishment in a city where Democrats have long controlled the levers of power. It’ll be one step, they hope, toward transforming the party.</p>
<p>Wilson, a union organizer with SEIU Local 888, was one of a dozen ORS members who canvassed that day. The goal is to knock on 3,000 doors by Election Day on November 7, turn out new voters for ORS’ endorsed candidates, sign up new members, and get signatures on a petition to put an initiative for paid family and medical leave on the Massachusetts ballot in 2018.</p>
<p>Somerville, a city of 80,000 north of Boston, was once a working-class community. The city’s character began to change in the 1980s, when housing costs skyrocketed. The median home price is now $600,000. In 2016, Somerville’s city council passed a law that requires at least 20 percent of units in new developments be affordable. That’s the root of the conflict that sparked a progressive insurrection.</p>
<p>Federal Realty Investment Trust, a Maryland-based developer valued at more than $9 billion, is completing a 500-unit luxury housing project in Somerville. It began the project before the 20 percent standard took effect, so it asked the city for a waiver to meet the old, 12.5 percent standard. In May, Joseph Curtatone, Somerville’s mayor, floated a compromise that would let Federal Realty meet a 6.25 percent affordable unit standard in return for a $10.3 million cash payment to the city’s community development corporation to purchase affordable housing. The planning board, appointed by the mayor, approved the deal 4 to 1 without taking public comment.</p>
<p>The community development corporation has only purchased 20 homes over the past&#160;three years. That move galvanized ORS, which maintains that Curtatone shortchanged Somerville.</p>
<p>Curtatone is widely regarded as an outspoken progressive. He’s been a high-profile defender of same-sex marriage since 2004, defends the Black Lives Matter banner hanging above the entrance to Somerville City Hall (despite pressure from the city’s police union to remove it), and he’s proud to proclaim Somerville a sanctuary city. Yet in 2014, the Village Voice named him one of its 53 worst politicians in America, dinging him as a media darling “who masquerades as a handsome young progressive,” but allows an “elite and privileged cadre of attorneys and real estate slugs” to run the show.</p>
<p>Matt McLaughlin, a Somerville native who represents Ward 1 on the city’s Board of Aldermen and helped found ORS, says the Federal Realty deal has separated genuine progressives from poseurs. “It’s easy to hang a banner and to say that you’re doing progressive things,” he says.</p>
<p>ORS is running a slate of nine candidates for the 11-seat city Board of Aldermen. On Election Day, ORS campaigners will hand out palm cards that read: “We envision a Somerville where people have the resources to thrive. Where working class families are stable. Where immigrants are welcome. And where the community always comes before profit.”&#160;</p>
<p>Like what you’ve read? <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/itt-subscription-offer?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">Subscribe to In These Times magazine</a>, or <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/support-in-these-times?refcode=WS_ITT_Article_Footer&amp;noskip=true" type="external">make a tax-deductible donation to fund this reporting</a>.</p>
<p>Theo Anderson, an In These Times writing fellow, has contributed to the magazine since 2010. He has a Ph.D. in modern U.S. history from Yale and writes on the intellectual and religious history of conservatism and progressivism in the United States. Follow him on Twitter @Theoanderson7 and contact him at [email protected].</p>
| 5,821 |
<p>I’m used to politicians showing a preference for certain media at various times but the exclusive access given to VICE to cover what is a historic visit by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a native reserve, is something I’ve never seen before.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Shoal Lake 40 Reserve located on the Ontario-Manitoba border, is a community that doesn’t have a lot going for them. They’ve been under a boil water advisory for 17 years and must have water trucked in.</p>
<p>In all my years covering politics, I’ve never seen a Prime Minister, a Premier or any politician go on an official visit like this and only allow one media outlet to come along for the trip.</p>
<p>A lot of other media are throwing questions at VICE about this but they maintain there’s nothing unusual here. But like all other reserves, this one receives a good deal of taxpayer money so many in the media would likely have some questions too about what’s happening there.</p>
<p>But now, we’re all going to be left with whatever VICE decides to share with us and have no way to verify or check the facts.</p>
<p>It’s highly unusual and does raise questions about what was offered and what might have been taken by VICE.</p>
<p>Justin Trudeau already has a far too cozy relationship with the media party because he shares their values and progressive views but I think this may even be a bridge too far for many others in the media besides me.</p>
<p>It just isn’t something we’re used to seeing in an open society like Canada.</p>
|
Justin Trudeau’s historic visit to Shoal Lake 40 Reserve excludes all media except... VICE?
| true |
http://therebel.media/justin_trudeau_s_historic_visit_to_shoal_lake_40_reserve_excludes_all_media_except_vice
|
2016-04-28
| 0right
|
Justin Trudeau’s historic visit to Shoal Lake 40 Reserve excludes all media except... VICE?
<p>I’m used to politicians showing a preference for certain media at various times but the exclusive access given to VICE to cover what is a historic visit by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a native reserve, is something I’ve never seen before.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Shoal Lake 40 Reserve located on the Ontario-Manitoba border, is a community that doesn’t have a lot going for them. They’ve been under a boil water advisory for 17 years and must have water trucked in.</p>
<p>In all my years covering politics, I’ve never seen a Prime Minister, a Premier or any politician go on an official visit like this and only allow one media outlet to come along for the trip.</p>
<p>A lot of other media are throwing questions at VICE about this but they maintain there’s nothing unusual here. But like all other reserves, this one receives a good deal of taxpayer money so many in the media would likely have some questions too about what’s happening there.</p>
<p>But now, we’re all going to be left with whatever VICE decides to share with us and have no way to verify or check the facts.</p>
<p>It’s highly unusual and does raise questions about what was offered and what might have been taken by VICE.</p>
<p>Justin Trudeau already has a far too cozy relationship with the media party because he shares their values and progressive views but I think this may even be a bridge too far for many others in the media besides me.</p>
<p>It just isn’t something we’re used to seeing in an open society like Canada.</p>
| 5,822 |
<p>Discrete facts, to say nothing of truth, have a rough time in presidential campaigns. When Senator John Kerry called President Bush supporters “the most crooked lying group I’ve ever seen,” his campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Kerry didn’t regret his words and then accused the “Republican attack machine” for smearing the Democrats. Such exchanges may be par for the course in a hotly contested presidential race, but overheated rhetoric may not be Kerry’s most grievous fault.</p>
<p>Attentive Americans are aware of Kerry’s courage under fire in Vietnam, that his Senate voting record is more liberal than Teddy Kennedy’s, and that he has voted on both sides of key foreign policy and domestic issues.</p>
<p>Jaded observers may say that such behavior is par for the course — all politicians are shifty and easy with the truth. This view is too cynical for my taste, but certainly we Americans grant a wide berth to aspirants for high office. We don’t expect them to be totally honest.</p>
<p>Yet, there is a significant difference between small lies, big lies, and damned lies that impugn the patriotism of American leaders.</p>
<p>One such damned lie, revealed early in the Democrat primaries, was Kerry’s 1971 charge that U.S. troops committed widespread war crimes in Vietnam with the complicity of their officers. The story received momentary press attention, but was soon lost in his triumphal march in the primaries.</p>
<p>Neither Kerry’s laudable military service in Vietnam nor his subsequent opposition to that war entitles him to malign his comrades in arms or falsely accuse the United States of widespread war crimes.</p>
<p>On April 22, 1971, speaking for himself and other angry Vietnam veterans, Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that they all condemned widespread “war crimes” committed in Vietnam “on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.” Including the Commander-in-Chief?</p>
<p>He asserted that our soldiers “raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, … cut off limbs, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages … reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside.” When confronted with his words, Kerry tried to weasel out of his appallingly false accusations by saying he was merely quoting cohorts. He blamed his anti-war comrades.</p>
<p>When Judy Woodruff of CNN asked Kerry whether he had accused “American troops of war crimes,” he said: “No, I was accusing American leaders of abandoning the troops. … I always fought for the soldiers.” His answer was devious and downright false.</p>
<p>Indeed, the Vietnam War was a quagmire, but the United States hardly behaved like Genghis Khan. Our military troops are pledged to observe the Geneva Conventions that prohibit intentional harm to civilians or POWs.</p>
<p>These rules were observed overwhelmingly in Vietnam, but in the heat of battle, men occasionally snap and commit atrocities. One such was Lt. William Calley whose unit in 1968 killed several hundred civilians in My Lai. This was a tragic exception and a violation of the U.S. military code. In 1971, Calley was court-martialed, found guilty, and sentenced to life at hard labor. Later, out of misplaced sympathy, his sentence was reduced.</p>
<p>Chafing under charges of lying about U.S. war crimes in Vietnam, Kerry in an unusual open letter admonished President Bush to stop questioning his “commitment to the defense of our country.” Then, incomprehensibly, he added: What do “Republicans who didn’t serve in Vietnam have against those of us who did?”</p>
<p>Even if Kerry hadn’t lied about U.S. behavior in Vietnam and then denied it, he must be held to account for maligning his comrades and their officers at “all levels of command.” Can a genuine American patriot impugn the integrity of the entire U.S. military establishment?</p>
<p>Senator Kerry or any other candidate for president should be judged not only on his understanding of current threats to the United States, but by his character and his capacity to tell the truth, especially about the America he aspires to lead.</p>
<p>Statesmanship, especially in a democratic society, requires both truth and courage. Courage and truth-telling are the two virtues that make all other virtues possible. But courage without truth can be dangerous. John Kerry’s service in Vietnam attests to his courage. But his subsequent public life has been scarred by his cavalier dance with the truth.</p>
<p>– Ernest Lefever is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author, most recently, of <a href="" type="internal">America’s Imperial Burden</a>.</p>
|
America is not Genghis Khan
| false |
https://eppc.org/publications/america-is-not-genghis-khan/
| 1right-center
|
America is not Genghis Khan
<p>Discrete facts, to say nothing of truth, have a rough time in presidential campaigns. When Senator John Kerry called President Bush supporters “the most crooked lying group I’ve ever seen,” his campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Kerry didn’t regret his words and then accused the “Republican attack machine” for smearing the Democrats. Such exchanges may be par for the course in a hotly contested presidential race, but overheated rhetoric may not be Kerry’s most grievous fault.</p>
<p>Attentive Americans are aware of Kerry’s courage under fire in Vietnam, that his Senate voting record is more liberal than Teddy Kennedy’s, and that he has voted on both sides of key foreign policy and domestic issues.</p>
<p>Jaded observers may say that such behavior is par for the course — all politicians are shifty and easy with the truth. This view is too cynical for my taste, but certainly we Americans grant a wide berth to aspirants for high office. We don’t expect them to be totally honest.</p>
<p>Yet, there is a significant difference between small lies, big lies, and damned lies that impugn the patriotism of American leaders.</p>
<p>One such damned lie, revealed early in the Democrat primaries, was Kerry’s 1971 charge that U.S. troops committed widespread war crimes in Vietnam with the complicity of their officers. The story received momentary press attention, but was soon lost in his triumphal march in the primaries.</p>
<p>Neither Kerry’s laudable military service in Vietnam nor his subsequent opposition to that war entitles him to malign his comrades in arms or falsely accuse the United States of widespread war crimes.</p>
<p>On April 22, 1971, speaking for himself and other angry Vietnam veterans, Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that they all condemned widespread “war crimes” committed in Vietnam “on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command.” Including the Commander-in-Chief?</p>
<p>He asserted that our soldiers “raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, … cut off limbs, randomly shot at civilians, razed villages … reminiscent of Genghis Khan, shot cattle and dogs for fun, poisoned food stocks, and generally ravaged the countryside.” When confronted with his words, Kerry tried to weasel out of his appallingly false accusations by saying he was merely quoting cohorts. He blamed his anti-war comrades.</p>
<p>When Judy Woodruff of CNN asked Kerry whether he had accused “American troops of war crimes,” he said: “No, I was accusing American leaders of abandoning the troops. … I always fought for the soldiers.” His answer was devious and downright false.</p>
<p>Indeed, the Vietnam War was a quagmire, but the United States hardly behaved like Genghis Khan. Our military troops are pledged to observe the Geneva Conventions that prohibit intentional harm to civilians or POWs.</p>
<p>These rules were observed overwhelmingly in Vietnam, but in the heat of battle, men occasionally snap and commit atrocities. One such was Lt. William Calley whose unit in 1968 killed several hundred civilians in My Lai. This was a tragic exception and a violation of the U.S. military code. In 1971, Calley was court-martialed, found guilty, and sentenced to life at hard labor. Later, out of misplaced sympathy, his sentence was reduced.</p>
<p>Chafing under charges of lying about U.S. war crimes in Vietnam, Kerry in an unusual open letter admonished President Bush to stop questioning his “commitment to the defense of our country.” Then, incomprehensibly, he added: What do “Republicans who didn’t serve in Vietnam have against those of us who did?”</p>
<p>Even if Kerry hadn’t lied about U.S. behavior in Vietnam and then denied it, he must be held to account for maligning his comrades and their officers at “all levels of command.” Can a genuine American patriot impugn the integrity of the entire U.S. military establishment?</p>
<p>Senator Kerry or any other candidate for president should be judged not only on his understanding of current threats to the United States, but by his character and his capacity to tell the truth, especially about the America he aspires to lead.</p>
<p>Statesmanship, especially in a democratic society, requires both truth and courage. Courage and truth-telling are the two virtues that make all other virtues possible. But courage without truth can be dangerous. John Kerry’s service in Vietnam attests to his courage. But his subsequent public life has been scarred by his cavalier dance with the truth.</p>
<p>– Ernest Lefever is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and author, most recently, of <a href="" type="internal">America’s Imperial Burden</a>.</p>
| 5,823 |
|
<p>Aug. 4 (UPI) — Baltimore Cyber Range LLC and Elbit subsidiary Cyberbit Ltd., have opened a cyber-security training and simulation center in Maryland.</p>
<p>The center is powered by the Cyberbit Range Platform and provides simulation training in protecting national assets and infrastructure.</p>
<p>“I am very pleased to celebrate the opening of Baltimore Cyber Range,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan <a href="http://elbitsystems.com/pr-new/baltimore-cyber-range-cyberbit-open-new-cybersecurity-training-simulation-center/?pagei" type="external">said in a news release</a>. “With our skilled workforce, world-class academic community, and proximity to the federal government, Maryland has truly become the cyber capital of the world.</p>
<p>“This state-of-art center will help ensure that even more Marylanders are fully trained and prepared to meet the demands of 21st century jobs,” Hogan added.</p>
<p>Israel’s Elbit Ltd, in announcing the opening of the center, referenced U.S. labor statistics that highlight a critical shortage of capable IT and cybersecurity professionals in the country — 200,000 unfilled cyber-security jobs, a number that will increase to 1.5 million by 2019.</p>
<p>The Baltimore Cyber Center will help provide the cyber-security skills needed for employment in the sector, the company said.</p>
<p>The facility allows cyber-security practitioners the opportunity to experience the latest real-world cyber threats in a controlled and sequestered environment to improve their hands-on skills. It can simulate large-scale virtual networks and attacks based on real-world incidents, pinpoint system vulnerabilities and help users develop counter-measures.</p>
|
Cyber-security training center opens in Maryland
| false |
https://newsline.com/cyber-security-training-center-opens-in-maryland/
|
2017-08-04
| 1right-center
|
Cyber-security training center opens in Maryland
<p>Aug. 4 (UPI) — Baltimore Cyber Range LLC and Elbit subsidiary Cyberbit Ltd., have opened a cyber-security training and simulation center in Maryland.</p>
<p>The center is powered by the Cyberbit Range Platform and provides simulation training in protecting national assets and infrastructure.</p>
<p>“I am very pleased to celebrate the opening of Baltimore Cyber Range,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan <a href="http://elbitsystems.com/pr-new/baltimore-cyber-range-cyberbit-open-new-cybersecurity-training-simulation-center/?pagei" type="external">said in a news release</a>. “With our skilled workforce, world-class academic community, and proximity to the federal government, Maryland has truly become the cyber capital of the world.</p>
<p>“This state-of-art center will help ensure that even more Marylanders are fully trained and prepared to meet the demands of 21st century jobs,” Hogan added.</p>
<p>Israel’s Elbit Ltd, in announcing the opening of the center, referenced U.S. labor statistics that highlight a critical shortage of capable IT and cybersecurity professionals in the country — 200,000 unfilled cyber-security jobs, a number that will increase to 1.5 million by 2019.</p>
<p>The Baltimore Cyber Center will help provide the cyber-security skills needed for employment in the sector, the company said.</p>
<p>The facility allows cyber-security practitioners the opportunity to experience the latest real-world cyber threats in a controlled and sequestered environment to improve their hands-on skills. It can simulate large-scale virtual networks and attacks based on real-world incidents, pinpoint system vulnerabilities and help users develop counter-measures.</p>
| 5,824 |
<p>This time, James Comey isn’t the one saying it: There’s a new investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4624540/Hillary-Clinton-investigation-emails.html" type="external">Daily Mail</a>, the State Department has commenced a formal inquiry into whether Clinton and her aides violated the law with her use of a private email server. If the State Department deems it appropriate, the security clearances of Clinton and her aides could be revoked.</p>
<p>Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/20/state-department-probes-clinton-handling-government-emails-could-pull-her-security-clearance.html" type="external">Fox News</a> that the investigation was proceeding; Grassley has already started an investigation into whether Clinton intervened in a Bangladeshi investigation in order to help a Clinton Foundation donor. Of that investigation, Grassley stated, “This new evidence of pay-to-play and special treatment reinforces the appearance that donations to the Clinton Foundation resulted in favorable treatment by Secretary Clinton's State Department.”</p>
<p>Clinton's spokesman, Nick Merrill, responded to the news of a new investigation, saying, “Nothing's been more thoroughly dissected. It's over. Case closed. Literally.”</p>
<p>As Fox News reported:</p>
<p>During the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s use of top-secret and classified information on her private server, Comey said there were seven email chains on Clinton’s computer that were classified at the “Top Secret/Special Access Program level.” Another 2,000 emails on her private server were found to have contained information deemed classified now, though not marked classified when sent. In addition, the server also contained 22 top-secret emails deemed too damaging to national security to be released.</p>
|
State Department Opens NEW Investigation Into Hillary’s Emails
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/17777/state-department-opens-new-investigation-hillarys-hank-berrien
|
2017-06-21
| 0right
|
State Department Opens NEW Investigation Into Hillary’s Emails
<p>This time, James Comey isn’t the one saying it: There’s a new investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4624540/Hillary-Clinton-investigation-emails.html" type="external">Daily Mail</a>, the State Department has commenced a formal inquiry into whether Clinton and her aides violated the law with her use of a private email server. If the State Department deems it appropriate, the security clearances of Clinton and her aides could be revoked.</p>
<p>Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA) told <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/06/20/state-department-probes-clinton-handling-government-emails-could-pull-her-security-clearance.html" type="external">Fox News</a> that the investigation was proceeding; Grassley has already started an investigation into whether Clinton intervened in a Bangladeshi investigation in order to help a Clinton Foundation donor. Of that investigation, Grassley stated, “This new evidence of pay-to-play and special treatment reinforces the appearance that donations to the Clinton Foundation resulted in favorable treatment by Secretary Clinton's State Department.”</p>
<p>Clinton's spokesman, Nick Merrill, responded to the news of a new investigation, saying, “Nothing's been more thoroughly dissected. It's over. Case closed. Literally.”</p>
<p>As Fox News reported:</p>
<p>During the FBI’s investigation of Clinton’s use of top-secret and classified information on her private server, Comey said there were seven email chains on Clinton’s computer that were classified at the “Top Secret/Special Access Program level.” Another 2,000 emails on her private server were found to have contained information deemed classified now, though not marked classified when sent. In addition, the server also contained 22 top-secret emails deemed too damaging to national security to be released.</p>
| 5,825 |
<p>Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm discusses Hillary Clinton's energy plan.</p>
<p>The topic of energy policy did come up during the first presidential debate between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump but energy policy and U.S. energy independence was not a major focus of the debate.&#160; Continental Resources (NYSE:CLR) CEO Harold Hamm weighed in what was discussed and his concerns over Hillary Clinton’s energy plan.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“Let’s talk about her [Hillary Clinton] energy plan.&#160; This is no surprise to anybody.&#160; She wants to come out with a solar energy plan that’s 500 million solar panels, okay?&#160; Let’s look first of all [at] where those are made.&#160; They’re not made here in the U.S.&#160; So all these jobs she is going to create is going somewhere else.&#160; And the primary place they are going is to China who builds 56% of them, 75% of them is made outside the U.S.&#160;The cost of this is $205 billion,” Hamm told the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney.</p>
<p>Hamm had a theory for what is driving solar panel production overseas.</p>
<p>“The reason they are located somewhere else, they don’t have the largest gas field in the world, Marcellus and Utica Shale, they don’t have that.&#160; That’s being developed in America.”</p>
<p>When Varney asked, “Are you saying that Hillary Clinton has a totally un-workable energy plan?”</p>
<p>“Yes, in fact I’m calling it silly.&#160; You know, it’s the silliest thing you’ve ever heard of.&#160;That we’re gonna, we’re trading good American jobs here in the U.S., high-paid jobs, for those in China, Japan and around the world cause we’re not creating those solar panels here.&#160; We’ve been outbid by all these foreign countries for all the solar panels, okay, because they need them.”</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>According to Hamm fossil fuels will continue to be a part of U.S. energy policy for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>“We’re going to be as part of transportation fuels.&#160; I don’t see solar panels on her new airplane that she’s flying around, I don’t see solar panels on these 18-wheelers going down the road.&#160; We’re going to be for transportation fuels for the next 50 years."</p>
|
Harold Hamm on Clinton's Energy Plan: Silliest Thing You've Ever Heard of
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/09/27/harold-hamm-on-clintons-energy-plan-silliest-thing-youve-ever-heard.html
|
2016-09-27
| 0right
|
Harold Hamm on Clinton's Energy Plan: Silliest Thing You've Ever Heard of
<p>Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm discusses Hillary Clinton's energy plan.</p>
<p>The topic of energy policy did come up during the first presidential debate between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump but energy policy and U.S. energy independence was not a major focus of the debate.&#160; Continental Resources (NYSE:CLR) CEO Harold Hamm weighed in what was discussed and his concerns over Hillary Clinton’s energy plan.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“Let’s talk about her [Hillary Clinton] energy plan.&#160; This is no surprise to anybody.&#160; She wants to come out with a solar energy plan that’s 500 million solar panels, okay?&#160; Let’s look first of all [at] where those are made.&#160; They’re not made here in the U.S.&#160; So all these jobs she is going to create is going somewhere else.&#160; And the primary place they are going is to China who builds 56% of them, 75% of them is made outside the U.S.&#160;The cost of this is $205 billion,” Hamm told the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney.</p>
<p>Hamm had a theory for what is driving solar panel production overseas.</p>
<p>“The reason they are located somewhere else, they don’t have the largest gas field in the world, Marcellus and Utica Shale, they don’t have that.&#160; That’s being developed in America.”</p>
<p>When Varney asked, “Are you saying that Hillary Clinton has a totally un-workable energy plan?”</p>
<p>“Yes, in fact I’m calling it silly.&#160; You know, it’s the silliest thing you’ve ever heard of.&#160;That we’re gonna, we’re trading good American jobs here in the U.S., high-paid jobs, for those in China, Japan and around the world cause we’re not creating those solar panels here.&#160; We’ve been outbid by all these foreign countries for all the solar panels, okay, because they need them.”</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>According to Hamm fossil fuels will continue to be a part of U.S. energy policy for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>“We’re going to be as part of transportation fuels.&#160; I don’t see solar panels on her new airplane that she’s flying around, I don’t see solar panels on these 18-wheelers going down the road.&#160; We’re going to be for transportation fuels for the next 50 years."</p>
| 5,826 |
<p>Four weeks into its life, Occupy Wall Street has already confounded both critics and well-wishers. Far from twittering away its energies after an initial burst of enthusiasm as predicted (or feared), it appears to have touched something in average Americans in every corner of the country.&#160; Nor does the lack of visible leaders seem to affect its durability; a long list of visible issues no doubt more than making up for the absence of prominent names.</p>
<p>This by itself is one huge achievement.&#160; Too long have American politics been muddied by the insistence on glitter, the distraction of television charisma extinguishing fundamental political debate.</p>
<p>More significant by far is its other contribution. Packing a wallop the size of Texas, the Occupy movement’s “99% versus 1%“, has hit home as no other phrase in recent times.&#160; Like Gandhi’s brilliant 1942 slogan, Quit India, it says it all.&#160; That it is here to stay needs no more proof than Dean Baker’s smart heading to his article this morning, “ <a href="" type="internal">David Brooks, Bard of the 1%</a>“.&#160; Like the term, “Catch-22”, 99%-1% is now an indelible piece of the national lexicon.&#160; And just as worthy are its authors of this famous praise of the novel’s author, “if Mr. Heller never writes another word, his reputation is (still) high and secure.”</p>
<p>In a sense, then, a great battle has already been won.&#160; The usual presidential year network-ballyhooed emptiness of non-issues and side-issues is ready to be replaced by a simple and stunningly obvious statement of fact; one that underlies so many familiar problems – jobs, education, housing, health…even the Patriot Act and the wars real and virtual. Imagine a campaign speech that starts with, &#160; “Does the Declaration of Independence begin with, ‘We the 1%’?”&#160; Capable (but hopefully, untainted) hands could run that single statement all the way to the end zone, whether the uprights lie in a state legislature, a Governor’s mansion, the Capitol, or the White House.</p>
<p>To many, a disquieting aspect of the Occupy movement is the myriad of slogans that animate its throngs.&#160; Even in a relatively small city, an Occupy rally may boast of several dozen unrelated themes, each expressing some issue dear to its proponent.&#160; Recently there have been several articles&#160; suggesting that these disparate strands be streamlined into two or three succinct demands. One such <a href="" type="internal">article</a> by Rand Clifford outlined three focused demands:</p>
<p>1)&#160; End corporate personhood</p>
<p>2)&#160; End the Fed</p>
<p>3)&#160; End military adventurism</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with these, or other equally logical, demands.&#160; But I have an even more basic problem, with the entire notion of ‘demanding’.&#160; Let me explain.</p>
<p>More than three decades ago in New Delhi, India, I was attending a protest seminar.&#160; Speaker after speaker denounced the double dealing and mendacity of the government. At the end of two days of such berating the assembly was set to pass a resolution making demands — of the same government!&#160; It was left to one of the last speakers, the writer and thinker Arun Shourie, to gently touch upon the incongruity here.&#160; Instead of asking such a supposedly terrible government to do something, he suggested, why don’t you say what you will do?&#160; His words have always remained with me.</p>
<p>Similarly, here you are, assembling on the streets because the politicians have sold you out, the higher judiciary has judges who sup with the Koch’s, and the 1% who own all three branches of government don’t care a hoot about you, your jobs, or your lives.&#160; To paraphrase what Arundhati Roy once wrote of the Indian elite, they have seceded from their own country and fellow citizens to form a virtual republic.&#160; You have recognized what is happening and denounced this 1% as conniving, ruthless, greedy, rapacious, self-serving, even traitorous (what else is profiting by sending jobs overseas, or making fortunes out of national calamities).&#160; At the end of it all, you want to make demands… of…these same people and their hirelings?</p>
<p>Instead the Occupy movement needs to have simple things that its supporters can do.&#160; What we demand of ourselves makes the difference, not what we demand of the other side [see <a href="" type="internal">The Banality of Hype</a>].</p>
<p>When the British Raj, on behalf of the English textile tycoons, decimated the native spinning and weaving cottage industry in India (globalization ain’t all that novel), Gandhi did not run for the Viceroy pleading for increased Indian production quotas.&#160; Instead, he went to the Indian people asking them to boycott foreign cloth and wear Indian homespun, even though it was costlier and coarser.&#160; It sparked a revolution all its own.</p>
<p>Many years ago in 2004, I wrote an article called <a href="" type="internal">American Swadeshi</a>, suggesting that John Kerry or any other American politician could start a prairie fire by doing something similar in America.&#160; Kerry, and Obama after him, were never serious about the hemorrhaging of American jobs.&#160; The Republicans, of course, actually think outsourcing&#160; and Free Trade are all part of Divine Purpose. This is therefore something neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will do.&#160; It has to be done by us.</p>
<p>A very simple idea, then.&#160; Each time you go to the store, whatever you are buying, note where it is made.&#160; If it is made outside the USA (as it is 99% of the time – another 99%-1% issue!), ask the store if they have a made in the USA substitute.&#160; If not, either leave saying that you will look for another store where an American-made equivalent is available, or tell them that you will stop buying this non-American-made product after six months. And do.&#160; Thousands and thousands of customers insisting on American-made products will make for a groundswell of consciousness, besides sending word up the chain to the 1%, where dollars and cents light up attention as no demand can.</p>
<p>As another well-known slogan goes, Just do it.</p>
<p>NIRANJAN RAMAKRISHNAN lives on the West Coast. He can be reached at <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Beyond A Demanding Occupation
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2011/10/13/beyond-a-demanding-occupation/
|
2011-10-13
| 4left
|
Beyond A Demanding Occupation
<p>Four weeks into its life, Occupy Wall Street has already confounded both critics and well-wishers. Far from twittering away its energies after an initial burst of enthusiasm as predicted (or feared), it appears to have touched something in average Americans in every corner of the country.&#160; Nor does the lack of visible leaders seem to affect its durability; a long list of visible issues no doubt more than making up for the absence of prominent names.</p>
<p>This by itself is one huge achievement.&#160; Too long have American politics been muddied by the insistence on glitter, the distraction of television charisma extinguishing fundamental political debate.</p>
<p>More significant by far is its other contribution. Packing a wallop the size of Texas, the Occupy movement’s “99% versus 1%“, has hit home as no other phrase in recent times.&#160; Like Gandhi’s brilliant 1942 slogan, Quit India, it says it all.&#160; That it is here to stay needs no more proof than Dean Baker’s smart heading to his article this morning, “ <a href="" type="internal">David Brooks, Bard of the 1%</a>“.&#160; Like the term, “Catch-22”, 99%-1% is now an indelible piece of the national lexicon.&#160; And just as worthy are its authors of this famous praise of the novel’s author, “if Mr. Heller never writes another word, his reputation is (still) high and secure.”</p>
<p>In a sense, then, a great battle has already been won.&#160; The usual presidential year network-ballyhooed emptiness of non-issues and side-issues is ready to be replaced by a simple and stunningly obvious statement of fact; one that underlies so many familiar problems – jobs, education, housing, health…even the Patriot Act and the wars real and virtual. Imagine a campaign speech that starts with, &#160; “Does the Declaration of Independence begin with, ‘We the 1%’?”&#160; Capable (but hopefully, untainted) hands could run that single statement all the way to the end zone, whether the uprights lie in a state legislature, a Governor’s mansion, the Capitol, or the White House.</p>
<p>To many, a disquieting aspect of the Occupy movement is the myriad of slogans that animate its throngs.&#160; Even in a relatively small city, an Occupy rally may boast of several dozen unrelated themes, each expressing some issue dear to its proponent.&#160; Recently there have been several articles&#160; suggesting that these disparate strands be streamlined into two or three succinct demands. One such <a href="" type="internal">article</a> by Rand Clifford outlined three focused demands:</p>
<p>1)&#160; End corporate personhood</p>
<p>2)&#160; End the Fed</p>
<p>3)&#160; End military adventurism</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with these, or other equally logical, demands.&#160; But I have an even more basic problem, with the entire notion of ‘demanding’.&#160; Let me explain.</p>
<p>More than three decades ago in New Delhi, India, I was attending a protest seminar.&#160; Speaker after speaker denounced the double dealing and mendacity of the government. At the end of two days of such berating the assembly was set to pass a resolution making demands — of the same government!&#160; It was left to one of the last speakers, the writer and thinker Arun Shourie, to gently touch upon the incongruity here.&#160; Instead of asking such a supposedly terrible government to do something, he suggested, why don’t you say what you will do?&#160; His words have always remained with me.</p>
<p>Similarly, here you are, assembling on the streets because the politicians have sold you out, the higher judiciary has judges who sup with the Koch’s, and the 1% who own all three branches of government don’t care a hoot about you, your jobs, or your lives.&#160; To paraphrase what Arundhati Roy once wrote of the Indian elite, they have seceded from their own country and fellow citizens to form a virtual republic.&#160; You have recognized what is happening and denounced this 1% as conniving, ruthless, greedy, rapacious, self-serving, even traitorous (what else is profiting by sending jobs overseas, or making fortunes out of national calamities).&#160; At the end of it all, you want to make demands… of…these same people and their hirelings?</p>
<p>Instead the Occupy movement needs to have simple things that its supporters can do.&#160; What we demand of ourselves makes the difference, not what we demand of the other side [see <a href="" type="internal">The Banality of Hype</a>].</p>
<p>When the British Raj, on behalf of the English textile tycoons, decimated the native spinning and weaving cottage industry in India (globalization ain’t all that novel), Gandhi did not run for the Viceroy pleading for increased Indian production quotas.&#160; Instead, he went to the Indian people asking them to boycott foreign cloth and wear Indian homespun, even though it was costlier and coarser.&#160; It sparked a revolution all its own.</p>
<p>Many years ago in 2004, I wrote an article called <a href="" type="internal">American Swadeshi</a>, suggesting that John Kerry or any other American politician could start a prairie fire by doing something similar in America.&#160; Kerry, and Obama after him, were never serious about the hemorrhaging of American jobs.&#160; The Republicans, of course, actually think outsourcing&#160; and Free Trade are all part of Divine Purpose. This is therefore something neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will do.&#160; It has to be done by us.</p>
<p>A very simple idea, then.&#160; Each time you go to the store, whatever you are buying, note where it is made.&#160; If it is made outside the USA (as it is 99% of the time – another 99%-1% issue!), ask the store if they have a made in the USA substitute.&#160; If not, either leave saying that you will look for another store where an American-made equivalent is available, or tell them that you will stop buying this non-American-made product after six months. And do.&#160; Thousands and thousands of customers insisting on American-made products will make for a groundswell of consciousness, besides sending word up the chain to the 1%, where dollars and cents light up attention as no demand can.</p>
<p>As another well-known slogan goes, Just do it.</p>
<p>NIRANJAN RAMAKRISHNAN lives on the West Coast. He can be reached at <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 5,827 |
<p />
<p>RUSH: On Tuesday afternoon, I interviewed the author and moviemaker, Dinesh D’Souza. He has a new book coming out called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621573486?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=theofficiw0c2-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1621573486" type="external">The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left.</a>&#160;Provocative, obviously: “Exposing the Nazi roots of the American left.” So I chatted with him for the upcoming issue of <a href="" type="internal">The Limbaugh Letter.</a> What he said… He gave three examples of how his book is true, the allegation here that the Nazis were able to take cues from the American left.</p>
<p>I wanted to share them with you as a prelude to getting into all the rest of the content on today’s program. There are three bites here. They run just about a minute each, and we’ve edited this for time. You’ll have to read the entire interview when it comes out in the <a href="" type="internal">next issue of The Limbaugh Letter</a>. But the first claim that D’Souza makes — and by the way, to back this up, we need to point out that militant Islam has also deep ties to Hitler and Nazism.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Hitler had an appreciation and an understanding for Islam, and there are numerous bits of evidence that recount meetings between the Grand Mufti and mullahs and Hitler during World War II. These are things not said in polite society. It’s not alleged. What D’Souza is doing — and he’s in the process of making a movie about this as well. He said it will be ready next summer, into next September, as a prelude to the election. His first contention is there are basically three examples of the Nazis, the German Nazis adopting leftist ideas from the American Democrat Party.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you why he decided to do this. He’s like everybody else in the right-wing: Fed up with the allegation that racism and all this has its home in the Republican Party. It’s the exact opposite. Racism, segregation, all of this, these were all Democrats back in the 1960s that were trying to violate civil rights and keep blacks out of universities.</p>
<p>All those governors and Bull Connor, the fire chief, turning the firehoses on African-American protesters and Martin Luther King? They’re all Democrats. D’Souza is, like many people in the right, frustrated with this history revisionism. So he decided to write the book and do a movie about how it’s even worse than that, and his first example here is how Hitler stole from the Jacksonian Democrats of the 19th century.</p>
<p>D’SOUZA: Hitler remembered that in the 19th century the Jacksonian Democrats — despite the existence of all these treaties with the American Indians — essentially decided to violate the treaties, throw the Indians off their land, drive them further west. So displace them, resettle that land — and if any of the Indians remained, either kill them or attempt to enslave them. Hitler goes: “This is a fantastic idea!</p>
<p>“I don’t need to go to India like the British. I’ll just conquer in Europe; I’ll throw the Poles off their land, the Slavs, the Eastern Europeans, the Russians. We’ll resettle that land with German families — and if any of the natives stay back, we’ll enslave them.” So this notion — the historians call it Lebensraum, which means “living space.” But it’s basically German expansion in Europe. Hitler got the idea to do that from the Jacksonian Democrats of the 19th century.</p>
<p>RUSH: As I talked to him about it, I said, “Wait, is this just your interpretation? Are you looking at events that happened in America in the 19th century and then comparing events that happened in Europe in the 1940s? Are you drawing a connection?” “No, no, the Nazis acknowledged this,” he said. The historical record is clear.” The Nazis acknowledged where they, quote/unquote, learned this stuff. His point here was that when he saw how the Jacksonian Democrats dealt with Indians, Native Americans, throwing them on the reservation, throwing them off — basically getting them out of mainstream circulation; saying, “Hey, this is a good idea.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Now, this is going to offend I can’t tell you how many people. It’s going to light up I can’t tell you how many people — if his book isn’t ignored and if his movie isn’t. But I guarantee you, these are just things you don’t say. You just don’t say them — and, of course, D’Souza is saying these things after having been imprisoned by the Obama administration for this bogus campaign finance charge. The second example of the Nazis adopting leftist Democrat ideas was that Hitler stole the whole idea of segregation from Southern Democrats. See what do you think of this.</p>
<p>D’SOUZA: The Nuremberg Laws were the laws that turned Jews into second-class citizens. The senior officials of the Nazi Party get together to draft these laws. There was a transcript made of their meeting, ’cause they felt it was a momentous occasion: They were founding the world’s first racist state.</p>
<p>RUSH: (chuckles) Huh!</p>
<p>D’SOUZA: And then one of the Nazis in the justice department, who happened to have studied in America, basically told the Nazis: “Not so fast. You can’t start the world’s first racist state because the Democrats in the American South have already done it.</p>
<p>RUSH: (laughing)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621573486?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=theofficiw0c2-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1621573486" type="external" />D’SOUZA: Because all the things we’re talking about — outlawing intermarriage, segregation, discrimination — they already have these laws; they exist. So what we have to do,” he said, “is take the Democratic laws, cross out the word ‘black’ and write in the word ‘Jew’ and we’re home free.” So the Nazis then began a detailed examination of the Democratic Party laws.</p>
<p>RUSH: So here’s a second example, that Hitler and the Nazis studied the way Democrats segregated, discriminated against Native Americans and then African-Americans — and the third example he cites is eugenicists and Margaret Sanger.</p>
<p>D’SOUZA: The Nazis, in the 1930s, based both their forced-sterilization laws as well as their euthanasia laws on the models that had been created by Margaret Sanger. As Margaret Sanger said, “More children from the fit and less from the unfit,” and that’s how she viewed birth control. And not as a matter of giving every woman a choice, but as a matter of convincing the sort of, the successful and the fit to have more kids and the unsuccessful — the sick, the “imbeciles” and what she considered to be the disposable people — essentially to prevent them from “breeding” altogether.</p>
<p>The other idea that a California eugenicist named Paul Popenoe had proposed. He said, “We have…” He said, “We have all these useless people who are already born, and so it’s not enough to have sterilization. We have to have euthanasia. We have to kill these people off. The first people that they killed were not the Jews. They were the sick, the disabled, the group that was called “imbeciles.” And later, the Nazi euthanasia program was expanded into Hitler’s Final Solution.</p>
<p>RUSH: There you have it. That’s the crux of the book The Big Lie from Dinesh D’Souza, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621573486?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=theofficiw0c2-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1621573486" type="external">The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left</a>.&#160;Of course, everything he says here is accurate. Whether people want to acknowledge and agree with the connections made, that’s going to be another thing. But it’s not going to sit well with people on the American left who, of course, are portraying themselves as the exact opposite of all of this. Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood are perhaps best. There are two great examples of historical revisionism.</p>
<p>That is the Democrat Party — the original racists, the original segregationists — somehow have rewritten history and have ended up seeing themselves portrayed as saviors and rescuers. And the Republican Party, which did not let the Democrats get away with segregation… LBJ’s Civil Rights Act, ’64, would not have passed were it not for Republican votes. Major history revision. So is Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood. D’Souza…</p>
<p>For those of you who are Millennials and may be hearing this for the first time, I want you to not doubt me. Everything you’ve heard D’Souza say here is accurate, and particularly about Margaret Sanger. Margaret Sanger/Planned Parenthood was not about “choice” and it was not about allowing women to have control over their bodies. Margaret Sanger was the original eugenicist in this country.</p>
<p>She was from Australia. Many Americans joined her in this effort to create a master race. Margaret Sanger believed in getting rid of the sick, preventing them from “breeding,” as it’s said here. History has revised the original intent and objectives of Margaret Sanger as well, so as to prevent the Democrat Party from being harmed by the actual truth of any of these assertions.</p>
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Dinesh D’Souza on How the Nazis Borrowed Ideas from American Democrats
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https://rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2017/08/10/dinesh-dsouza-on-how-the-nazis-borrowed-ideas-from-american-democrats/
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2017-08-10
| 0right
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Dinesh D’Souza on How the Nazis Borrowed Ideas from American Democrats
<p />
<p>RUSH: On Tuesday afternoon, I interviewed the author and moviemaker, Dinesh D’Souza. He has a new book coming out called <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621573486?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=theofficiw0c2-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1621573486" type="external">The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left.</a>&#160;Provocative, obviously: “Exposing the Nazi roots of the American left.” So I chatted with him for the upcoming issue of <a href="" type="internal">The Limbaugh Letter.</a> What he said… He gave three examples of how his book is true, the allegation here that the Nazis were able to take cues from the American left.</p>
<p>I wanted to share them with you as a prelude to getting into all the rest of the content on today’s program. There are three bites here. They run just about a minute each, and we’ve edited this for time. You’ll have to read the entire interview when it comes out in the <a href="" type="internal">next issue of The Limbaugh Letter</a>. But the first claim that D’Souza makes — and by the way, to back this up, we need to point out that militant Islam has also deep ties to Hitler and Nazism.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Hitler had an appreciation and an understanding for Islam, and there are numerous bits of evidence that recount meetings between the Grand Mufti and mullahs and Hitler during World War II. These are things not said in polite society. It’s not alleged. What D’Souza is doing — and he’s in the process of making a movie about this as well. He said it will be ready next summer, into next September, as a prelude to the election. His first contention is there are basically three examples of the Nazis, the German Nazis adopting leftist ideas from the American Democrat Party.</p>
<p>I’ll tell you why he decided to do this. He’s like everybody else in the right-wing: Fed up with the allegation that racism and all this has its home in the Republican Party. It’s the exact opposite. Racism, segregation, all of this, these were all Democrats back in the 1960s that were trying to violate civil rights and keep blacks out of universities.</p>
<p>All those governors and Bull Connor, the fire chief, turning the firehoses on African-American protesters and Martin Luther King? They’re all Democrats. D’Souza is, like many people in the right, frustrated with this history revisionism. So he decided to write the book and do a movie about how it’s even worse than that, and his first example here is how Hitler stole from the Jacksonian Democrats of the 19th century.</p>
<p>D’SOUZA: Hitler remembered that in the 19th century the Jacksonian Democrats — despite the existence of all these treaties with the American Indians — essentially decided to violate the treaties, throw the Indians off their land, drive them further west. So displace them, resettle that land — and if any of the Indians remained, either kill them or attempt to enslave them. Hitler goes: “This is a fantastic idea!</p>
<p>“I don’t need to go to India like the British. I’ll just conquer in Europe; I’ll throw the Poles off their land, the Slavs, the Eastern Europeans, the Russians. We’ll resettle that land with German families — and if any of the natives stay back, we’ll enslave them.” So this notion — the historians call it Lebensraum, which means “living space.” But it’s basically German expansion in Europe. Hitler got the idea to do that from the Jacksonian Democrats of the 19th century.</p>
<p>RUSH: As I talked to him about it, I said, “Wait, is this just your interpretation? Are you looking at events that happened in America in the 19th century and then comparing events that happened in Europe in the 1940s? Are you drawing a connection?” “No, no, the Nazis acknowledged this,” he said. The historical record is clear.” The Nazis acknowledged where they, quote/unquote, learned this stuff. His point here was that when he saw how the Jacksonian Democrats dealt with Indians, Native Americans, throwing them on the reservation, throwing them off — basically getting them out of mainstream circulation; saying, “Hey, this is a good idea.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Now, this is going to offend I can’t tell you how many people. It’s going to light up I can’t tell you how many people — if his book isn’t ignored and if his movie isn’t. But I guarantee you, these are just things you don’t say. You just don’t say them — and, of course, D’Souza is saying these things after having been imprisoned by the Obama administration for this bogus campaign finance charge. The second example of the Nazis adopting leftist Democrat ideas was that Hitler stole the whole idea of segregation from Southern Democrats. See what do you think of this.</p>
<p>D’SOUZA: The Nuremberg Laws were the laws that turned Jews into second-class citizens. The senior officials of the Nazi Party get together to draft these laws. There was a transcript made of their meeting, ’cause they felt it was a momentous occasion: They were founding the world’s first racist state.</p>
<p>RUSH: (chuckles) Huh!</p>
<p>D’SOUZA: And then one of the Nazis in the justice department, who happened to have studied in America, basically told the Nazis: “Not so fast. You can’t start the world’s first racist state because the Democrats in the American South have already done it.</p>
<p>RUSH: (laughing)</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621573486?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=theofficiw0c2-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1621573486" type="external" />D’SOUZA: Because all the things we’re talking about — outlawing intermarriage, segregation, discrimination — they already have these laws; they exist. So what we have to do,” he said, “is take the Democratic laws, cross out the word ‘black’ and write in the word ‘Jew’ and we’re home free.” So the Nazis then began a detailed examination of the Democratic Party laws.</p>
<p>RUSH: So here’s a second example, that Hitler and the Nazis studied the way Democrats segregated, discriminated against Native Americans and then African-Americans — and the third example he cites is eugenicists and Margaret Sanger.</p>
<p>D’SOUZA: The Nazis, in the 1930s, based both their forced-sterilization laws as well as their euthanasia laws on the models that had been created by Margaret Sanger. As Margaret Sanger said, “More children from the fit and less from the unfit,” and that’s how she viewed birth control. And not as a matter of giving every woman a choice, but as a matter of convincing the sort of, the successful and the fit to have more kids and the unsuccessful — the sick, the “imbeciles” and what she considered to be the disposable people — essentially to prevent them from “breeding” altogether.</p>
<p>The other idea that a California eugenicist named Paul Popenoe had proposed. He said, “We have…” He said, “We have all these useless people who are already born, and so it’s not enough to have sterilization. We have to have euthanasia. We have to kill these people off. The first people that they killed were not the Jews. They were the sick, the disabled, the group that was called “imbeciles.” And later, the Nazi euthanasia program was expanded into Hitler’s Final Solution.</p>
<p>RUSH: There you have it. That’s the crux of the book The Big Lie from Dinesh D’Souza, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1621573486?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=theofficiw0c2-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=1621573486" type="external">The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left</a>.&#160;Of course, everything he says here is accurate. Whether people want to acknowledge and agree with the connections made, that’s going to be another thing. But it’s not going to sit well with people on the American left who, of course, are portraying themselves as the exact opposite of all of this. Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood are perhaps best. There are two great examples of historical revisionism.</p>
<p>That is the Democrat Party — the original racists, the original segregationists — somehow have rewritten history and have ended up seeing themselves portrayed as saviors and rescuers. And the Republican Party, which did not let the Democrats get away with segregation… LBJ’s Civil Rights Act, ’64, would not have passed were it not for Republican votes. Major history revision. So is Margaret Sanger and Planned Parenthood. D’Souza…</p>
<p>For those of you who are Millennials and may be hearing this for the first time, I want you to not doubt me. Everything you’ve heard D’Souza say here is accurate, and particularly about Margaret Sanger. Margaret Sanger/Planned Parenthood was not about “choice” and it was not about allowing women to have control over their bodies. Margaret Sanger was the original eugenicist in this country.</p>
<p>She was from Australia. Many Americans joined her in this effort to create a master race. Margaret Sanger believed in getting rid of the sick, preventing them from “breeding,” as it’s said here. History has revised the original intent and objectives of Margaret Sanger as well, so as to prevent the Democrat Party from being harmed by the actual truth of any of these assertions.</p>
| 5,828 |
<p>Following the release of the report by the Obama-appointed State Department Inspector General that even liberal pundits have admitted is " <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nbcs-andrea-mitchell-clinton-email-controversy-devastating/article/2592351" type="external">devastating</a>" for Hillary Clinton, President Obama was asked by a reporter to comment on the escalating Clinton email scandal. He clearly wasn't happy about it, shutting down the question and rebuking the reporter for bringing it up while he was touring Japan.</p>
<p>The uncomfortable moment came during a press conference during Obama's diplomatic visit to Japan on Thursday. Obama graciously offered to answer one more question from reporters, but when that question turned out to be about Clinton's overt and deliberate violation of State Department policy (and federal law), the One's benevolence ran out.</p>
<p>"You know I take it back. I’m not taking another question," <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/26/obama-snaps-reporter-asking-about-clintons-emails/" type="external">said</a> the president, clearly annoyed.</p>
<p>"You know I take it back. I’m not taking another question."</p>
<p>President Barack Obama</p>
<p>"We’re in Japan, don’t you have something to do with Asia that we want to talk about? I’ll be talking about this in Washington the whole time," he said, adding, "I've already said a lot on those issues. I think these are better directed to the campaign."</p>
<p>During his Japan tour, Obama made a " <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/05/27/obama-visit-hiroshima-bomb-site-pledges-no-apology/85022938/" type="external">historic</a>" visit to Hiroshima, where he was sure to express his great sympathy for those killed by "the terrible forces unleashed in the not so distant past" by the United States. (Here's Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief <a href="" type="internal">Ben Shapiro's take on the "repulsive" speech</a>.)</p>
<p>The damning report on Clinton's email issued by the inspector general Wednesday outlines a number of the former secretary of state's clear violations of State Department policy and exposes <a href="" type="internal">six of Clinton's lies</a> about the server, including her claims that her server was secure, she'd been cleared by the State Department to use it, and that she was being as transparent as possible in the process.</p>
<p>Here's NBC's left-leaning Andrea Mitchell admitting the report is "devastating" for the Democratic frontrunner:</p>
|
Obama's Asked About Hillary's Emails After 'Devastating' IG Report. Here's His Response.
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/6099/obama-asked-about-hillarys-emails-after-james-barrett
|
2016-05-27
| 0right
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Obama's Asked About Hillary's Emails After 'Devastating' IG Report. Here's His Response.
<p>Following the release of the report by the Obama-appointed State Department Inspector General that even liberal pundits have admitted is " <a href="http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/nbcs-andrea-mitchell-clinton-email-controversy-devastating/article/2592351" type="external">devastating</a>" for Hillary Clinton, President Obama was asked by a reporter to comment on the escalating Clinton email scandal. He clearly wasn't happy about it, shutting down the question and rebuking the reporter for bringing it up while he was touring Japan.</p>
<p>The uncomfortable moment came during a press conference during Obama's diplomatic visit to Japan on Thursday. Obama graciously offered to answer one more question from reporters, but when that question turned out to be about Clinton's overt and deliberate violation of State Department policy (and federal law), the One's benevolence ran out.</p>
<p>"You know I take it back. I’m not taking another question," <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/may/26/obama-snaps-reporter-asking-about-clintons-emails/" type="external">said</a> the president, clearly annoyed.</p>
<p>"You know I take it back. I’m not taking another question."</p>
<p>President Barack Obama</p>
<p>"We’re in Japan, don’t you have something to do with Asia that we want to talk about? I’ll be talking about this in Washington the whole time," he said, adding, "I've already said a lot on those issues. I think these are better directed to the campaign."</p>
<p>During his Japan tour, Obama made a " <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/05/27/obama-visit-hiroshima-bomb-site-pledges-no-apology/85022938/" type="external">historic</a>" visit to Hiroshima, where he was sure to express his great sympathy for those killed by "the terrible forces unleashed in the not so distant past" by the United States. (Here's Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief <a href="" type="internal">Ben Shapiro's take on the "repulsive" speech</a>.)</p>
<p>The damning report on Clinton's email issued by the inspector general Wednesday outlines a number of the former secretary of state's clear violations of State Department policy and exposes <a href="" type="internal">six of Clinton's lies</a> about the server, including her claims that her server was secure, she'd been cleared by the State Department to use it, and that she was being as transparent as possible in the process.</p>
<p>Here's NBC's left-leaning Andrea Mitchell admitting the report is "devastating" for the Democratic frontrunner:</p>
| 5,829 |
<p>AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The University of Texas has announced a fund-raising website for Longhorns basketball player Andrew Jones as he undergoes treatment for leukemia.</p>
<p>The site’s donation tracker showed more than $32,000 pledged within the first few hours after it was launched.</p>
<p>Texas announced Wednesday the 20-year-old sophomore had started treatments for leukemia, but disclosed no more details on his condition or diagnosis. Jones had returned to the Longhorns after considering a move to the NBA after his freshman season.</p>
<p>Texas says donations to the website will be given directly to the Jones family to help with medical and necessary family expenses as permitted within NCAA rules. It is the only donation website approved by the Jones family.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Jones family fund-raiser website is: <a href="https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014" type="external" /> <a href="https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014" type="external">https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more AP college basketball coverage: <a href="http://collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="http://collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external">http://collegebasketball.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external">http://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a></p>
<p>AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The University of Texas has announced a fund-raising website for Longhorns basketball player Andrew Jones as he undergoes treatment for leukemia.</p>
<p>The site’s donation tracker showed more than $32,000 pledged within the first few hours after it was launched.</p>
<p>Texas announced Wednesday the 20-year-old sophomore had started treatments for leukemia, but disclosed no more details on his condition or diagnosis. Jones had returned to the Longhorns after considering a move to the NBA after his freshman season.</p>
<p>Texas says donations to the website will be given directly to the Jones family to help with medical and necessary family expenses as permitted within NCAA rules. It is the only donation website approved by the Jones family.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Jones family fund-raiser website is: <a href="https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014" type="external" /> <a href="https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014" type="external">https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more AP college basketball coverage: <a href="http://collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="http://collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external">http://collegebasketball.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external">http://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a></p>
|
Fund-raiser website started for Texas guard with leukemia
| false |
https://apnews.com/704d170e66d94f548bc22bb042701abd
|
2018-01-12
| 2least
|
Fund-raiser website started for Texas guard with leukemia
<p>AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The University of Texas has announced a fund-raising website for Longhorns basketball player Andrew Jones as he undergoes treatment for leukemia.</p>
<p>The site’s donation tracker showed more than $32,000 pledged within the first few hours after it was launched.</p>
<p>Texas announced Wednesday the 20-year-old sophomore had started treatments for leukemia, but disclosed no more details on his condition or diagnosis. Jones had returned to the Longhorns after considering a move to the NBA after his freshman season.</p>
<p>Texas says donations to the website will be given directly to the Jones family to help with medical and necessary family expenses as permitted within NCAA rules. It is the only donation website approved by the Jones family.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Jones family fund-raiser website is: <a href="https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014" type="external" /> <a href="https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014" type="external">https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more AP college basketball coverage: <a href="http://collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="http://collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external">http://collegebasketball.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external">http://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a></p>
<p>AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The University of Texas has announced a fund-raising website for Longhorns basketball player Andrew Jones as he undergoes treatment for leukemia.</p>
<p>The site’s donation tracker showed more than $32,000 pledged within the first few hours after it was launched.</p>
<p>Texas announced Wednesday the 20-year-old sophomore had started treatments for leukemia, but disclosed no more details on his condition or diagnosis. Jones had returned to the Longhorns after considering a move to the NBA after his freshman season.</p>
<p>Texas says donations to the website will be given directly to the Jones family to help with medical and necessary family expenses as permitted within NCAA rules. It is the only donation website approved by the Jones family.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Jones family fund-raiser website is: <a href="https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014" type="external" /> <a href="https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014" type="external">https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/9014</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more AP college basketball coverage: <a href="http://collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external" /> <a href="http://collegebasketball.ap.org" type="external">http://collegebasketball.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external" /> <a href="http://twitter.com/AP_Top25" type="external">http://twitter.com/AP_Top25</a></p>
| 5,830 |
<p />
<p>Gov. Jerry Brown sees a budget deficit and an urgent need for spending cuts.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Legislative leaders see a surplus with room to comfortably increase expenditures.</p>
<p>Always at odds when it comes to the budget, the Democratic governor and the Democratic Legislature are particularly far apart this year as they embark on six months of spending negotiations amid uncertainty about federal funding under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Brown staked out a conservative opening position Tuesday, warning of a potential $1.6 billion budget deficit and proposing a spending plan that keeps general fund expenditures flat at $122.5 billion. Since costs rise every year, his plan would require cuts to keep pace, and he suggested eliminating billions of dollars allocated to education, state building construction, subsidized housing, college scholarships and child care providers.</p>
<p>He seeks to boost the state's reserve fund to $7.9 billion — up from $6.7 billion in the current budget year — to help soften what he warned is an inevitable recession after 10 years of economic recovery.</p>
<p>"You've got to save your money or you're going to lose the farm," Brown said, acknowledging that he expected "some shoving back and forth" with lawmakers as a final budget compromise is negotiated by June.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Democratic legislative leaders gave Brown's budget a tepid reception. Acknowledging the need for caution in the face of federal uncertainty, they nonetheless rejected Brown's proposed cuts to college scholarships and child care while insisting they will still push to increase spending on social welfare programs.</p>
<p>"This is not a time to eliminate important programs that lift up the middle class," Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, said in a statement.</p>
<p>Brown said months of lower-than-expected revenue, combined with the likelihood of a recession and the potential for drastic cuts in federal spending, demand restraint.</p>
<p>His projection for a deficit was a stark contrast with the forecast released in November by the Legislature's nonpartisan budget expert, Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, who projected a surplus as high as $2.8 billion.</p>
<p>Drawing on that forecast, Assembly Democrats in December called for $1 billion in new spending for things such as expanding the state earned-income tax credit, mandatory full-day kindergarten and reducing college costs.</p>
<p>To maintain current spending, Brown proposes cutting $3.2 billion from future commitments, about half by giving schools and community colleges less than expected. He wants to stop enrolling new college students in the Middle Class Scholarships program, saving more than $30 million, cancel $300 million in upgrades to state buildings and drop a $400 million proposal for affordable housing that the Legislature rejected last year.</p>
<p>Brown also proposed canceling higher payments for state-funded child care providers.</p>
<p>The governor's budget includes $800 million more to cover people who joined Medi-Cal under Obamacare. He also revisited his previous proposal, which has stalled in the Legislature, to increase gas and vehicle taxes to raise $4.2 billion per year for road construction and maintenance. In all, California's spending plan would reach $179.5 billion when restricted "special funds" and bonds are included.</p>
<p>Brown also proposed eliminating driver's license suspensions for people who fail to pay court fines — a move sought by social justice activists who say the practice traps people in poverty.</p>
<p>Many Republicans, who are more often aligned with Brown than legislative Democrats on spending, offered qualified support for the governor's approach but said he should look to fix roads with existing funds rather than new taxes.</p>
<p>Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, the ranking Republican on the Senate budget committee, called the budget "perilously balanced" and urged Brown to continue holding the line on spending.</p>
<p>"We cannot be getting loose with the purse in California," he said.</p>
<p>Trump and the Republican-led U.S. Congress have vowed to repeal or alter many programs that affect California, from immigration to President Barack Obama's health care law. California has embraced the program and has enrolled about 5 million people in private health insurance or publicly funded Medi-Cal coverage.</p>
<p>The proposed budget assumes federal policies remain the same, but Brown noted the uncertainty is another reason to maintain the fiscal prudence for which he consistently advocates.</p>
<p>"If they do go down that road, it will be extremely painful for California," Brown said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Don Thompson contributed to this report.</p>
|
Brown, Legislature differ sharply on California budget
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/10/brown-legislature-differ-sharply-on-california-budget.html
|
2017-01-11
| 0right
|
Brown, Legislature differ sharply on California budget
<p />
<p>Gov. Jerry Brown sees a budget deficit and an urgent need for spending cuts.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Legislative leaders see a surplus with room to comfortably increase expenditures.</p>
<p>Always at odds when it comes to the budget, the Democratic governor and the Democratic Legislature are particularly far apart this year as they embark on six months of spending negotiations amid uncertainty about federal funding under the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Brown staked out a conservative opening position Tuesday, warning of a potential $1.6 billion budget deficit and proposing a spending plan that keeps general fund expenditures flat at $122.5 billion. Since costs rise every year, his plan would require cuts to keep pace, and he suggested eliminating billions of dollars allocated to education, state building construction, subsidized housing, college scholarships and child care providers.</p>
<p>He seeks to boost the state's reserve fund to $7.9 billion — up from $6.7 billion in the current budget year — to help soften what he warned is an inevitable recession after 10 years of economic recovery.</p>
<p>"You've got to save your money or you're going to lose the farm," Brown said, acknowledging that he expected "some shoving back and forth" with lawmakers as a final budget compromise is negotiated by June.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Democratic legislative leaders gave Brown's budget a tepid reception. Acknowledging the need for caution in the face of federal uncertainty, they nonetheless rejected Brown's proposed cuts to college scholarships and child care while insisting they will still push to increase spending on social welfare programs.</p>
<p>"This is not a time to eliminate important programs that lift up the middle class," Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, said in a statement.</p>
<p>Brown said months of lower-than-expected revenue, combined with the likelihood of a recession and the potential for drastic cuts in federal spending, demand restraint.</p>
<p>His projection for a deficit was a stark contrast with the forecast released in November by the Legislature's nonpartisan budget expert, Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor, who projected a surplus as high as $2.8 billion.</p>
<p>Drawing on that forecast, Assembly Democrats in December called for $1 billion in new spending for things such as expanding the state earned-income tax credit, mandatory full-day kindergarten and reducing college costs.</p>
<p>To maintain current spending, Brown proposes cutting $3.2 billion from future commitments, about half by giving schools and community colleges less than expected. He wants to stop enrolling new college students in the Middle Class Scholarships program, saving more than $30 million, cancel $300 million in upgrades to state buildings and drop a $400 million proposal for affordable housing that the Legislature rejected last year.</p>
<p>Brown also proposed canceling higher payments for state-funded child care providers.</p>
<p>The governor's budget includes $800 million more to cover people who joined Medi-Cal under Obamacare. He also revisited his previous proposal, which has stalled in the Legislature, to increase gas and vehicle taxes to raise $4.2 billion per year for road construction and maintenance. In all, California's spending plan would reach $179.5 billion when restricted "special funds" and bonds are included.</p>
<p>Brown also proposed eliminating driver's license suspensions for people who fail to pay court fines — a move sought by social justice activists who say the practice traps people in poverty.</p>
<p>Many Republicans, who are more often aligned with Brown than legislative Democrats on spending, offered qualified support for the governor's approach but said he should look to fix roads with existing funds rather than new taxes.</p>
<p>Sen. Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, the ranking Republican on the Senate budget committee, called the budget "perilously balanced" and urged Brown to continue holding the line on spending.</p>
<p>"We cannot be getting loose with the purse in California," he said.</p>
<p>Trump and the Republican-led U.S. Congress have vowed to repeal or alter many programs that affect California, from immigration to President Barack Obama's health care law. California has embraced the program and has enrolled about 5 million people in private health insurance or publicly funded Medi-Cal coverage.</p>
<p>The proposed budget assumes federal policies remain the same, but Brown noted the uncertainty is another reason to maintain the fiscal prudence for which he consistently advocates.</p>
<p>"If they do go down that road, it will be extremely painful for California," Brown said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Don Thompson contributed to this report.</p>
| 5,831 |
<p>Trump’s latest move in his campaign of white supremacy is to double down on his <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/15/politics/trump-charlottesville-delay/index.html" type="external">controversial “both sides” comments</a> after the white nationalist terror attack in Charlottesville.</p>
<p>While traveling on Air Force One, Trump told reporters, “We had a great talk yesterday,” referencing a private discussion with Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), who criticized Trump after his statement in relation to Charlottesville. Trump continued, “I think especially in light of the advent of antifa, if you look at what’s going on there, you have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also and essentially that’s what I said.”</p>
<p>That’s right, folks. Trump is again re-asserting that “both sides” are responsible for a white nationalist terror attack because antifa has some “pretty bad dudes.”</p>
<p>Not only is Trump <a href="http://www.salon.com/2017/08/28/pro-russian-bots-take-up-the-right-wing-cause-after-charlottesville_partner/" type="external">pushing Russian propaganda</a>&#160;with that assertion, it’s also demonstrably false. There is no “both sides.” There are people who are Nazis and white nationalists, and people who are not. Some of the people who are not have chosen to respond to Nazi speech and demonstrations, which they claim are a <a href="https://qz.com/1053957/charlottesville-neo-nazis-and-the-case-against-free-speech-for-fascists/" type="external">form of violence</a>, with violence of their own. There is no broad organization among United States antifa, the way there is with white nationalists. The only centralized ideology seems to be “anti-fascism,” which is not so much an ideology as a default state of mind for most decent human beings.</p>
<p>In short, as many have said at length and in far better words, there is simply <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/opinion/antifa-trump-charlottesville.html?mcubz=1" type="external">no equivalency</a> between antifa and the far-right nationalists who perpetrated the violence in Charlottesville — and who remain the single <a href="https://apps.revealnews.org/homegrown-terror/" type="external">most dangerous source of terror</a> in the United States.</p>
<p>From&#160; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/14/trump-says-recent-antifa-violence-justifies-his-condemnation-of-both-sides-in-charlottesville/?utm_term=.31b32b836416" type="external">The Washington Post</a>:</p>
<p>‘The president added that “because of what’s happened since then with antifa, when you look at really what’s happened since Charlottesville, a lot of people are saying, and people have actually written, ‘Gee, Trump may have a point.’ I said there’s some very bad people on the other side also.”‘</p>
<p>At this point, Trump has said that antifa has some “very bad dudes” and that the white nationalists had some “very fine people” among them. It’s pretty clear which side he stands on.</p>
<p>And really, does he have any other options? Trump is a man who desperately needs people to like him. As his “popularity,” if it can be called that, continues to diminish, it seems unlikely that he’ll risk offending his core constituency, the people who signed up on day one when he opened his campaign with a speech claiming Mexicans are rapists. Democrats might use him for legislative victories, but they’re never going to like him.</p>
<p>On the other hand, when white supremacists attack him, he feels the sting deeply. For instance, within the last couple of days it was announced that Trump <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/politics/chuck-schumer-nancy-pelosi-donald-trump/index.html" type="external">may have reached a deal</a> to sign the legislative equivalent of DACA with Democrats. When the news broke, Trump’s core fans promptly <a href="/2017/09/14/republicans-in-all-out-freak-out-after-trump-deals-with-democrats-its-hilarious/" type="external">lost their minds</a>. His response? <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-no-deal-was-reached-democrats-extend-daca-n801236" type="external">Immediately walking it back</a>.</p>
<p>The line between white nationalists and “people who aren’t pure evil,” is pretty clear. So is which side you should be standing on. Trump is on the wrong side of that line.</p>
<p>Featured image via&#160; <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/844252444" type="external">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></p>
|
Trump Doubles-Down On Nazi Sympathizing Rhetoric & America Is Beyond Angry
| true |
http://bipartisanreport.com/2017/09/14/trump-doubles-down-on-nazi-sympathizing-rhetoric-america-is-beyond-angry/
|
2017-09-14
| 4left
|
Trump Doubles-Down On Nazi Sympathizing Rhetoric & America Is Beyond Angry
<p>Trump’s latest move in his campaign of white supremacy is to double down on his <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/15/politics/trump-charlottesville-delay/index.html" type="external">controversial “both sides” comments</a> after the white nationalist terror attack in Charlottesville.</p>
<p>While traveling on Air Force One, Trump told reporters, “We had a great talk yesterday,” referencing a private discussion with Senator Tim Scott (R-SC), who criticized Trump after his statement in relation to Charlottesville. Trump continued, “I think especially in light of the advent of antifa, if you look at what’s going on there, you have some pretty bad dudes on the other side also and essentially that’s what I said.”</p>
<p>That’s right, folks. Trump is again re-asserting that “both sides” are responsible for a white nationalist terror attack because antifa has some “pretty bad dudes.”</p>
<p>Not only is Trump <a href="http://www.salon.com/2017/08/28/pro-russian-bots-take-up-the-right-wing-cause-after-charlottesville_partner/" type="external">pushing Russian propaganda</a>&#160;with that assertion, it’s also demonstrably false. There is no “both sides.” There are people who are Nazis and white nationalists, and people who are not. Some of the people who are not have chosen to respond to Nazi speech and demonstrations, which they claim are a <a href="https://qz.com/1053957/charlottesville-neo-nazis-and-the-case-against-free-speech-for-fascists/" type="external">form of violence</a>, with violence of their own. There is no broad organization among United States antifa, the way there is with white nationalists. The only centralized ideology seems to be “anti-fascism,” which is not so much an ideology as a default state of mind for most decent human beings.</p>
<p>In short, as many have said at length and in far better words, there is simply <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/28/opinion/antifa-trump-charlottesville.html?mcubz=1" type="external">no equivalency</a> between antifa and the far-right nationalists who perpetrated the violence in Charlottesville — and who remain the single <a href="https://apps.revealnews.org/homegrown-terror/" type="external">most dangerous source of terror</a> in the United States.</p>
<p>From&#160; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/09/14/trump-says-recent-antifa-violence-justifies-his-condemnation-of-both-sides-in-charlottesville/?utm_term=.31b32b836416" type="external">The Washington Post</a>:</p>
<p>‘The president added that “because of what’s happened since then with antifa, when you look at really what’s happened since Charlottesville, a lot of people are saying, and people have actually written, ‘Gee, Trump may have a point.’ I said there’s some very bad people on the other side also.”‘</p>
<p>At this point, Trump has said that antifa has some “very bad dudes” and that the white nationalists had some “very fine people” among them. It’s pretty clear which side he stands on.</p>
<p>And really, does he have any other options? Trump is a man who desperately needs people to like him. As his “popularity,” if it can be called that, continues to diminish, it seems unlikely that he’ll risk offending his core constituency, the people who signed up on day one when he opened his campaign with a speech claiming Mexicans are rapists. Democrats might use him for legislative victories, but they’re never going to like him.</p>
<p>On the other hand, when white supremacists attack him, he feels the sting deeply. For instance, within the last couple of days it was announced that Trump <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/13/politics/chuck-schumer-nancy-pelosi-donald-trump/index.html" type="external">may have reached a deal</a> to sign the legislative equivalent of DACA with Democrats. When the news broke, Trump’s core fans promptly <a href="/2017/09/14/republicans-in-all-out-freak-out-after-trump-deals-with-democrats-its-hilarious/" type="external">lost their minds</a>. His response? <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-says-no-deal-was-reached-democrats-extend-daca-n801236" type="external">Immediately walking it back</a>.</p>
<p>The line between white nationalists and “people who aren’t pure evil,” is pretty clear. So is which side you should be standing on. Trump is on the wrong side of that line.</p>
<p>Featured image via&#160; <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/844252444" type="external">Win McNamee/Getty Images</a></p>
| 5,832 |
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average enjoyed a triple-digit rise, with the bulk of the advance coming from the top four of its 30 components. Shares of Caterpillar Inc. were contributing about 45 points, McDonald's Corp's rise added about 45 points, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares of DuPont Inc. were each adding roughly 20 points to the blue-chip benchmark. The gains from that quartet make up more than half of the price-weighted Dow's 230-point rise in Tuesday action, and follow healthy quarterly reports from most of those names. Caterpillar DuPont {s: DD] and McDonald's reported quarterly results on Tuesday that topped Wall Street estimates. Goldman, meanwhile, reported results last week that disappointed investors' expectations, but the investment bank is benefiting from the anticipation of higher interest-rates ahead as improving economic sentiment bolsters expectations that the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates--a boon for bank shares. The S&amp;P 500 index also was climbing, up 0.6%, at 2,388 and the Nasdaq Composite Index marked a milestone: surpassing the psychologically important level of 6,000 for the first time.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
|
Caterpillar, McDonald's, Goldman Contribute More Than Half Of Dow's 230-point Rally
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/04/25/caterpillar-mcdonalds-goldman-contribute-more-than-half-dow-230-point-rally.html
|
2017-04-25
| 0right
|
Caterpillar, McDonald's, Goldman Contribute More Than Half Of Dow's 230-point Rally
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average enjoyed a triple-digit rise, with the bulk of the advance coming from the top four of its 30 components. Shares of Caterpillar Inc. were contributing about 45 points, McDonald's Corp's rise added about 45 points, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares of DuPont Inc. were each adding roughly 20 points to the blue-chip benchmark. The gains from that quartet make up more than half of the price-weighted Dow's 230-point rise in Tuesday action, and follow healthy quarterly reports from most of those names. Caterpillar DuPont {s: DD] and McDonald's reported quarterly results on Tuesday that topped Wall Street estimates. Goldman, meanwhile, reported results last week that disappointed investors' expectations, but the investment bank is benefiting from the anticipation of higher interest-rates ahead as improving economic sentiment bolsters expectations that the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates--a boon for bank shares. The S&amp;P 500 index also was climbing, up 0.6%, at 2,388 and the Nasdaq Composite Index marked a milestone: surpassing the psychologically important level of 6,000 for the first time.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
| 5,833 |
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<p />
<p />
<p>For the second night in a row, the backs-against-the-wall 'Topes came out blasting, scoring eight runs in the first three innings on the way to a 10-4 romp of first-place Oklahoma City in front of a paid crowd of 12,250.</p>
<p>The win – Albuquerque's third in this crucial five-game series – moved the Isotopes within three games of the RedHawks in the Pacific Coast League American Southern division with only 10 to play. The teams finish the set tonight.</p>
<p>"It's fun. This team loves playing together," said Albuquerque catcher A.J. Ellis, who was 2-for-3 with a solo home run. "We want to keep it going as long as we can. We know that's a good team across the way, but at the same time we know we can hit with anyone and if we keep getting good performances on the mound, we're going to be in a lot of ballgames."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Pitching wasn't a problem Saturday, although it started a tad shaky. Francisco Felix – who had spent his career as a reliever until this season, and still pitches out of the stretch with nobody on base – arrived in Albuquerque on Friday night and got the Saturday start for the Isotopes.</p>
<p>The 27-year-old Felix, summoned from the Mexican Summer League, was rocked on the game's first pitch when Esteban German hit the 428-foot mark on the center-field fence for a triple.</p>
<p>Willy Taveras followed with a long sacrifice fly and Chris Davis added a broken-bat single.</p>
<p>After that, however, Felix – who was 1-0 for the Topes last year and 1-3 with a 6.28 ERA in Mexico this season – retired eight straight. That streak ended when the RedHawks had three hits in the fourth, including a pair of solo homers. But even then, Albuquerque still held an 8-3 lead.</p>
<p>"He definitely delivered," catcher Ellis said of Felix. "He gave us six quality innings, and did a good job of limiting the damage."</p>
<p>Felix didn't allow another hit after the fourth, giving up five for the night without walking a batter and striking out six.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Albuquerque bats – which hammered 18 hits in a 12-3 win Friday – got right back at it Saturday. Ivan De Jesus and John Lindsey crushed solo homers in the bottom of the first, and the 'Topes added four more runs in the second for a 6-1 lead. Ellis, Justin Sellers and De Jesus all doubled in the second.</p>
<p>Michael Restovich added a solo shot in the third followed by a three singles to make it 8-1. Russ Mitchell hit the Isotopes' fourth solo home run of the night in the sixth.</p>
<p>"We're obviously swinging it pretty good," said Albuquerque manager Tim Wallach, "and Felix did a great job. To get us six innings, that was huge."</p>
|
'Topes Within Three
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/232571/topes-within-three.html
| 2least
|
'Topes Within Three
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>For the second night in a row, the backs-against-the-wall 'Topes came out blasting, scoring eight runs in the first three innings on the way to a 10-4 romp of first-place Oklahoma City in front of a paid crowd of 12,250.</p>
<p>The win – Albuquerque's third in this crucial five-game series – moved the Isotopes within three games of the RedHawks in the Pacific Coast League American Southern division with only 10 to play. The teams finish the set tonight.</p>
<p>"It's fun. This team loves playing together," said Albuquerque catcher A.J. Ellis, who was 2-for-3 with a solo home run. "We want to keep it going as long as we can. We know that's a good team across the way, but at the same time we know we can hit with anyone and if we keep getting good performances on the mound, we're going to be in a lot of ballgames."</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Pitching wasn't a problem Saturday, although it started a tad shaky. Francisco Felix – who had spent his career as a reliever until this season, and still pitches out of the stretch with nobody on base – arrived in Albuquerque on Friday night and got the Saturday start for the Isotopes.</p>
<p>The 27-year-old Felix, summoned from the Mexican Summer League, was rocked on the game's first pitch when Esteban German hit the 428-foot mark on the center-field fence for a triple.</p>
<p>Willy Taveras followed with a long sacrifice fly and Chris Davis added a broken-bat single.</p>
<p>After that, however, Felix – who was 1-0 for the Topes last year and 1-3 with a 6.28 ERA in Mexico this season – retired eight straight. That streak ended when the RedHawks had three hits in the fourth, including a pair of solo homers. But even then, Albuquerque still held an 8-3 lead.</p>
<p>"He definitely delivered," catcher Ellis said of Felix. "He gave us six quality innings, and did a good job of limiting the damage."</p>
<p>Felix didn't allow another hit after the fourth, giving up five for the night without walking a batter and striking out six.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Albuquerque bats – which hammered 18 hits in a 12-3 win Friday – got right back at it Saturday. Ivan De Jesus and John Lindsey crushed solo homers in the bottom of the first, and the 'Topes added four more runs in the second for a 6-1 lead. Ellis, Justin Sellers and De Jesus all doubled in the second.</p>
<p>Michael Restovich added a solo shot in the third followed by a three singles to make it 8-1. Russ Mitchell hit the Isotopes' fourth solo home run of the night in the sixth.</p>
<p>"We're obviously swinging it pretty good," said Albuquerque manager Tim Wallach, "and Felix did a great job. To get us six innings, that was huge."</p>
| 5,834 |
|
<p>The Sunday New York Times ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/us/17immig.html" type="external">4/17/11</a>) ran a big front-page piece on John Tanton, founder of the anti-immigration organizations Federation for American Immigration Reform and Center for Immigration Studies. I guess it’s positive that someone in corporate media is finally paying attention to Tanton’s racism (long documented here at FAIR– <a href="" type="internal">1/1/93</a>–and by groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center– <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2008/winter/the-tanton-files" type="external">Winter/08</a>), and reporter Jason DeParle does include a good deal of damning information about Tanton and some of his own racist words.</p>
<p>But he also manages to interview almost exclusively people currently or formerly affiliated with Tanton’s groups (six of these people in all) plus a few GOP officials–none of whom have anything bad to say about the Federation, CIS or Numbers USA (another Tanton-connected group), even if they’re mildly critical of Tanton himself. A single critic is quoted, Frank Sharry of the progressive immigration reform group America’s Voice. The result is that the piece essentially portrays Tanton as the only problem with these anti-immigrant groups, and though they won’t kick him off their boards, THEY’RE not actually racist themselves–they just roll their eyes at their racist founder and tolerate his eccentricities.</p>
<p>DeParle explained the trouble with critics of the groups:</p>
<p>Accusations of bigotry could alienate moderates the immigrant rights groups need. Allies of Dr. Tanton say their accusers are discrediting themselves with a guilt-by-association campaign that twists his ideas and projects them onto groups where, they say, his influence long ago waned.</p>
<p>The idea is attributed to allies of Tanton, but that’s the basic framing of the entire piece. If critics were given more space, they might have been able to point out that it’s not just a Tanton problem–although the fact that he remains on the board of the Federation ought to be plenty damning in itself. As the SPLC documents ( <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/03/16/answering-our-critics-splc-smear-dissected/" type="external">3/16/10</a>), the racism at the Federation and CIS extends far beyond Tanton, permeating the board, staff and programming. Mark Krikorian, executive director of CIS, wrote in the National Review Online ( <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/193111/what-do-about-haiti/mark-krikorian" type="external">1/21/10</a>) that</p>
<p>Haiti’s so screwed up because it wasn’t colonized long enough…. Unlike Jamaicans and Bajans and Guadeloupeans, et al., after experiencing the worst of tropical colonial slavery, the Haitians didn’t stick around long enough to benefit from it. (Haiti became <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution" type="external">independent</a> in 1804.). And by benefit I mean develop a local culture significantly shaped by the more-advanced civilization of the colonizers.</p>
<p>Dan Stein, president of the Federation, was asked by Tucker Carlson (Wall Street Journal, <a href="http://americasvoiceonline.org/pages/the_intellectual_roots_of_nativism/" type="external">10/2/97</a>) to respond to a quote from another Federation board member, eugenicist Garrett Hardin, who had warned that “breeders” were reproducing uncontrollably “in Third World countries,” and that the “less intelligent” should be discouraged from “breeding.” Stein’s response: “Yeah, so what? What is your problem with that? Should we be subsidizing people with low IQs to have as many children as possible, and not subsidizing those with high ones?”</p>
<p>Rachel Maddow (MSNBC, <a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/04/29/4222854-post-show-factcheck-dan-stein-of-fair" type="external">4/29/10</a>) recently confronted Stein with this quote and other evidence of racism at the Federation compiled by the SPLC. Stein claimed that all of the SPLC’s factual allegations about his group were wrong. The next night ( <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/36881928#36881928" type="external">4/30/10</a>), Maddow factchecked Stein’s claims, demonstrating that he, in Maddow’s words, “was flat-out, totally shamelessly uncomplicatedly lying.”</p>
<p>That’s the kind of reporting that needs to be done on Stein and his colleagues.</p>
|
NYT Critical Spotlight on Tanton Gives His Anti-Immigrant Groups a Pass
| true |
http://fair.org/blog/2011/04/18/nyt-critical-spotlight-on-tanton-gives-his-anti-immigrant-groups-a-pass/
|
2011-04-18
| 4left
|
NYT Critical Spotlight on Tanton Gives His Anti-Immigrant Groups a Pass
<p>The Sunday New York Times ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/us/17immig.html" type="external">4/17/11</a>) ran a big front-page piece on John Tanton, founder of the anti-immigration organizations Federation for American Immigration Reform and Center for Immigration Studies. I guess it’s positive that someone in corporate media is finally paying attention to Tanton’s racism (long documented here at FAIR– <a href="" type="internal">1/1/93</a>–and by groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center– <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2008/winter/the-tanton-files" type="external">Winter/08</a>), and reporter Jason DeParle does include a good deal of damning information about Tanton and some of his own racist words.</p>
<p>But he also manages to interview almost exclusively people currently or formerly affiliated with Tanton’s groups (six of these people in all) plus a few GOP officials–none of whom have anything bad to say about the Federation, CIS or Numbers USA (another Tanton-connected group), even if they’re mildly critical of Tanton himself. A single critic is quoted, Frank Sharry of the progressive immigration reform group America’s Voice. The result is that the piece essentially portrays Tanton as the only problem with these anti-immigrant groups, and though they won’t kick him off their boards, THEY’RE not actually racist themselves–they just roll their eyes at their racist founder and tolerate his eccentricities.</p>
<p>DeParle explained the trouble with critics of the groups:</p>
<p>Accusations of bigotry could alienate moderates the immigrant rights groups need. Allies of Dr. Tanton say their accusers are discrediting themselves with a guilt-by-association campaign that twists his ideas and projects them onto groups where, they say, his influence long ago waned.</p>
<p>The idea is attributed to allies of Tanton, but that’s the basic framing of the entire piece. If critics were given more space, they might have been able to point out that it’s not just a Tanton problem–although the fact that he remains on the board of the Federation ought to be plenty damning in itself. As the SPLC documents ( <a href="http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2010/03/16/answering-our-critics-splc-smear-dissected/" type="external">3/16/10</a>), the racism at the Federation and CIS extends far beyond Tanton, permeating the board, staff and programming. Mark Krikorian, executive director of CIS, wrote in the National Review Online ( <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/193111/what-do-about-haiti/mark-krikorian" type="external">1/21/10</a>) that</p>
<p>Haiti’s so screwed up because it wasn’t colonized long enough…. Unlike Jamaicans and Bajans and Guadeloupeans, et al., after experiencing the worst of tropical colonial slavery, the Haitians didn’t stick around long enough to benefit from it. (Haiti became <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Revolution" type="external">independent</a> in 1804.). And by benefit I mean develop a local culture significantly shaped by the more-advanced civilization of the colonizers.</p>
<p>Dan Stein, president of the Federation, was asked by Tucker Carlson (Wall Street Journal, <a href="http://americasvoiceonline.org/pages/the_intellectual_roots_of_nativism/" type="external">10/2/97</a>) to respond to a quote from another Federation board member, eugenicist Garrett Hardin, who had warned that “breeders” were reproducing uncontrollably “in Third World countries,” and that the “less intelligent” should be discouraged from “breeding.” Stein’s response: “Yeah, so what? What is your problem with that? Should we be subsidizing people with low IQs to have as many children as possible, and not subsidizing those with high ones?”</p>
<p>Rachel Maddow (MSNBC, <a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/04/29/4222854-post-show-factcheck-dan-stein-of-fair" type="external">4/29/10</a>) recently confronted Stein with this quote and other evidence of racism at the Federation compiled by the SPLC. Stein claimed that all of the SPLC’s factual allegations about his group were wrong. The next night ( <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/vp/36881928#36881928" type="external">4/30/10</a>), Maddow factchecked Stein’s claims, demonstrating that he, in Maddow’s words, “was flat-out, totally shamelessly uncomplicatedly lying.”</p>
<p>That’s the kind of reporting that needs to be done on Stein and his colleagues.</p>
| 5,835 |
<p>The French presidential election can be variously construed.</p>
<p>One could argue that fragmentation on the Left caused Lionel Jospin, the Socialist prime minister, to miss the run-off, leaving France to choose between Jacques Chirac, an incumbent already rejected by over 80% of voters, and Far Right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, a sort of French David Duke without the phony polish.</p>
<p>Others will argue that the fact that all the candidates on the Left together carried less than 44% of the vote suggests that Jospin himself is to blame for the situation. His personality is uninspiring, he ran a dreadful campaign, etc.</p>
<p>However, the most significant fact of the French election is that with sixteen candidates to choose from, almost a quarter of the votes cast were for what you and I would call right-wing nut candidates (including Le Pen).</p>
<p>So here are the important totals: Left, 44%, Right 32%, Extreme Right, 24%.</p>
<p>The Right, led by incumbent President Jacques Chirac, will distance itself nobly from the Far Right in the run-off election, in the interests of preserving national “honor.” But the fact is that Chirac will owe his presidency to the Far Right no less than does George W. Bush. Take the extreme Right out of the equation and the Left outnumbers the Right.</p>
<p>As for the French Left, is there another democracy in which three different Trotskyist candidates for president could combine to pull 11% of the vote, as they did in France? Two of them outpolled the Communist candidate, Robert Hue, who got 3.5%.</p>
<p>The French Greens significantly bettered all previous performances in French presidential elections. They had never broken 4% before, and Noel Mamere, the Green standard bearer, got 5.4%.</p>
<p>On the one hand, that’s great. On the other, it was only good enough for a sixth place finish, behind Arlette Laguiller, one of the Trotskyists. Not particularly encouraging in an election in which everyone made the Greens’ case for them by complaining about the blandness and lack of differentiation between the two top candidates, Chirac and Jospin, an election in which 64% of the voters clearly wanted someone else, not to say anyone else.</p>
<p>Chirac will win the run-off in a landslide. The Greens and other Left-leaning parties have thrown their support to him to “stop” Le Pen. The only suspense lies in whether Le Pen will pick up or lose support. Only if he draws more than 25% of the vote can it be argued that the Far Right is really on the rise in France. Best guesses put him at around 22%.</p>
<p>Following the run-off election France will enjoy seven more years of being governed by a man 4 out of 5 voters did not want, a candidate seen as the lesser of sixteen evils, a man whose re-election only serves to postpone the indictment on corruption charges widely regarded as inevitable when he leaves office, assuming he ever does (if Le Pen is the French David Duke, Jacques Chirac may be the French Edwin Edwards).</p>
<p>Suppose Jospin and not Chirac had been the survivor? Few people in France would feel significantly happier about the outcome. The two men’s policies were indistinguishable for the most part.</p>
<p>From an American perspective all this may look like nothing more than the predictable perils of a multi-party system. Or so we may tell ourselves from time to time. Yet our two-party system offered George W. Bush and Al Gore, if anything an even more boring pair than Chirac and Jospin.</p>
<p>I shall sit under the wych elm and ponder three questions tonight:</p>
<p>Is the chief virtue of our “two-party” system the fact that it obscures the extent to which our own political life is dominated by the Far Right?</p>
<p>Is the French election emblematic of things to come in American elections?</p>
<p>What is there about the current state of democracy, in whatever form, with however many parties, that continues to render significant change unlikely, when such large majorities clearly want it?</p>
<p>David Vest writes the Rebel Angel column for CounterPunch. He is a poet and piano-player for the Pacific Northwest’s hottest blues band, <a href="http://www.thecannonballs.com/" type="external">The Cannonballs</a>.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>Visit his website at <a href="http://www.rebelangel.com/" type="external">http://www.rebelangel.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Code Bleu, The French Election
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2002/04/24/code-bleu-the-french-election/
|
2002-04-24
| 4left
|
Code Bleu, The French Election
<p>The French presidential election can be variously construed.</p>
<p>One could argue that fragmentation on the Left caused Lionel Jospin, the Socialist prime minister, to miss the run-off, leaving France to choose between Jacques Chirac, an incumbent already rejected by over 80% of voters, and Far Right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen, a sort of French David Duke without the phony polish.</p>
<p>Others will argue that the fact that all the candidates on the Left together carried less than 44% of the vote suggests that Jospin himself is to blame for the situation. His personality is uninspiring, he ran a dreadful campaign, etc.</p>
<p>However, the most significant fact of the French election is that with sixteen candidates to choose from, almost a quarter of the votes cast were for what you and I would call right-wing nut candidates (including Le Pen).</p>
<p>So here are the important totals: Left, 44%, Right 32%, Extreme Right, 24%.</p>
<p>The Right, led by incumbent President Jacques Chirac, will distance itself nobly from the Far Right in the run-off election, in the interests of preserving national “honor.” But the fact is that Chirac will owe his presidency to the Far Right no less than does George W. Bush. Take the extreme Right out of the equation and the Left outnumbers the Right.</p>
<p>As for the French Left, is there another democracy in which three different Trotskyist candidates for president could combine to pull 11% of the vote, as they did in France? Two of them outpolled the Communist candidate, Robert Hue, who got 3.5%.</p>
<p>The French Greens significantly bettered all previous performances in French presidential elections. They had never broken 4% before, and Noel Mamere, the Green standard bearer, got 5.4%.</p>
<p>On the one hand, that’s great. On the other, it was only good enough for a sixth place finish, behind Arlette Laguiller, one of the Trotskyists. Not particularly encouraging in an election in which everyone made the Greens’ case for them by complaining about the blandness and lack of differentiation between the two top candidates, Chirac and Jospin, an election in which 64% of the voters clearly wanted someone else, not to say anyone else.</p>
<p>Chirac will win the run-off in a landslide. The Greens and other Left-leaning parties have thrown their support to him to “stop” Le Pen. The only suspense lies in whether Le Pen will pick up or lose support. Only if he draws more than 25% of the vote can it be argued that the Far Right is really on the rise in France. Best guesses put him at around 22%.</p>
<p>Following the run-off election France will enjoy seven more years of being governed by a man 4 out of 5 voters did not want, a candidate seen as the lesser of sixteen evils, a man whose re-election only serves to postpone the indictment on corruption charges widely regarded as inevitable when he leaves office, assuming he ever does (if Le Pen is the French David Duke, Jacques Chirac may be the French Edwin Edwards).</p>
<p>Suppose Jospin and not Chirac had been the survivor? Few people in France would feel significantly happier about the outcome. The two men’s policies were indistinguishable for the most part.</p>
<p>From an American perspective all this may look like nothing more than the predictable perils of a multi-party system. Or so we may tell ourselves from time to time. Yet our two-party system offered George W. Bush and Al Gore, if anything an even more boring pair than Chirac and Jospin.</p>
<p>I shall sit under the wych elm and ponder three questions tonight:</p>
<p>Is the chief virtue of our “two-party” system the fact that it obscures the extent to which our own political life is dominated by the Far Right?</p>
<p>Is the French election emblematic of things to come in American elections?</p>
<p>What is there about the current state of democracy, in whatever form, with however many parties, that continues to render significant change unlikely, when such large majorities clearly want it?</p>
<p>David Vest writes the Rebel Angel column for CounterPunch. He is a poet and piano-player for the Pacific Northwest’s hottest blues band, <a href="http://www.thecannonballs.com/" type="external">The Cannonballs</a>.</p>
<p>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>Visit his website at <a href="http://www.rebelangel.com/" type="external">http://www.rebelangel.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 5,836 |
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<p />
<p>At least that’s the sarcastic spin from some Iranians who believe that the uproar over President Donald Trump’s travel ban helped give some extra Oscar buzz to “The Salesman,” which took home the award in the best foreign language category on Sunday.</p>
<p>Iran doesn’t really need an added boost with the Academy. Iranian films have pulled in prizes around the world for decades, including an Oscar in 2012 for Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation.”</p>
<p>But this year, it was hard to separate the nomination for Farhadi’s “The Salesman” and Trump’s clampdown on travel to the United States by citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations, including Iran. Farhadi stayed away from the Academy Awards ceremony in protest. So did the cast.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The snubs, some contend, might have resonated well with the Oscar-awarding judges opposed to Trump’s executive order, which is locked in a court challenge.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight,” said a statement from Farhadi read by Iranian American astronaut Anousheh Ansari, who has taken part in a mission on the International Space Station.</p>
<p>“My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S.,” the statement continued.</p>
<p>Before the ceremony, Farhadi joined the four other directors of films nominated in the foreign language category in issuing a statement decrying a rising tide of “fanaticism” in the United States. The directors – whose films’ cast and crew span the globe – agreed that this year’s award would be dedicated to “unity and understanding” regardless of who won.</p>
<p>Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted congratulations to the cast and crew of “The Salesman” and their “stance against #MuslimBan.”</p>
<p>The film itself has nothing to do with international politics. The story is about a Tehran couple performing Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and their struggles with social stigmas after the wife is assaulted in their apartment.</p>
<p>Yet many Iranian movie fans and others rallied around the belief that the Oscar win was something of Hollywood referendum against the White House.</p>
<p>Banifilm, a leading Iranian film industry newspaper and website, posted an opinion piece saying Trump “probably never imagined what contribution the travel ban would have for Farhadi’s film.”</p>
<p>Across Iranian social media, a popular cartoon depicted Farhadi playing chess and using an Oscar to take out his opponent’s piece. It looks a lot like Trump.</p>
|
Iranians celebrate Oscar-winning film with sarcastic thanks to Trump’s travel ban
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/958193/iranians-celebrate-oscar-winning-film-with-sarcastic-thanks-to-trumps-travel-ban.html
| 2least
|
Iranians celebrate Oscar-winning film with sarcastic thanks to Trump’s travel ban
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>At least that’s the sarcastic spin from some Iranians who believe that the uproar over President Donald Trump’s travel ban helped give some extra Oscar buzz to “The Salesman,” which took home the award in the best foreign language category on Sunday.</p>
<p>Iran doesn’t really need an added boost with the Academy. Iranian films have pulled in prizes around the world for decades, including an Oscar in 2012 for Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation.”</p>
<p>But this year, it was hard to separate the nomination for Farhadi’s “The Salesman” and Trump’s clampdown on travel to the United States by citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations, including Iran. Farhadi stayed away from the Academy Awards ceremony in protest. So did the cast.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The snubs, some contend, might have resonated well with the Oscar-awarding judges opposed to Trump’s executive order, which is locked in a court challenge.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry I’m not with you tonight,” said a statement from Farhadi read by Iranian American astronaut Anousheh Ansari, who has taken part in a mission on the International Space Station.</p>
<p>“My absence is out of respect for the people of my country and those of other six nations who have been disrespected by the inhumane law that bans entry of immigrants to the U.S.,” the statement continued.</p>
<p>Before the ceremony, Farhadi joined the four other directors of films nominated in the foreign language category in issuing a statement decrying a rising tide of “fanaticism” in the United States. The directors – whose films’ cast and crew span the globe – agreed that this year’s award would be dedicated to “unity and understanding” regardless of who won.</p>
<p>Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted congratulations to the cast and crew of “The Salesman” and their “stance against #MuslimBan.”</p>
<p>The film itself has nothing to do with international politics. The story is about a Tehran couple performing Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and their struggles with social stigmas after the wife is assaulted in their apartment.</p>
<p>Yet many Iranian movie fans and others rallied around the belief that the Oscar win was something of Hollywood referendum against the White House.</p>
<p>Banifilm, a leading Iranian film industry newspaper and website, posted an opinion piece saying Trump “probably never imagined what contribution the travel ban would have for Farhadi’s film.”</p>
<p>Across Iranian social media, a popular cartoon depicted Farhadi playing chess and using an Oscar to take out his opponent’s piece. It looks a lot like Trump.</p>
| 5,837 |
|
<p>BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Desonta Bradford scored 18 points and East Tennessee State rolled to a 90-72 victory over Samford on Thursday night for its fifth straight win.</p>
<p>Devontavius Payne closed the first half with a 3-pointer and Peter Jurkin opened the second with a dunk as ETSU (11-4, 2-0 Southern Conference) used a 20-5 run for a 59-39 lead with 15 minutes left and cruised from there. Jermaine Long hit back-to-back 3s during the stretch.</p>
<p>Bradford was 6 of 9 from the floor and made all four free-throw attempts. Jurkin added 15 points, Bo Hodges had 13 and David Burrell chipped in 11. Long had nine assists and finished with six points.</p>
<p>Alex Thompson scored 19 points to lead Samford (5-10, 1-1). Josh Sharkey had 11 points, and Justin Coleman and Triston Chambers added 10 apiece.</p>
<p>BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Desonta Bradford scored 18 points and East Tennessee State rolled to a 90-72 victory over Samford on Thursday night for its fifth straight win.</p>
<p>Devontavius Payne closed the first half with a 3-pointer and Peter Jurkin opened the second with a dunk as ETSU (11-4, 2-0 Southern Conference) used a 20-5 run for a 59-39 lead with 15 minutes left and cruised from there. Jermaine Long hit back-to-back 3s during the stretch.</p>
<p>Bradford was 6 of 9 from the floor and made all four free-throw attempts. Jurkin added 15 points, Bo Hodges had 13 and David Burrell chipped in 11. Long had nine assists and finished with six points.</p>
<p>Alex Thompson scored 19 points to lead Samford (5-10, 1-1). Josh Sharkey had 11 points, and Justin Coleman and Triston Chambers added 10 apiece.</p>
|
East Tennessee State wins 5th straight, beats Samford 90-72
| false |
https://apnews.com/7503e745eece4c00988fd78bdadfcfa2
|
2018-01-05
| 2least
|
East Tennessee State wins 5th straight, beats Samford 90-72
<p>BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Desonta Bradford scored 18 points and East Tennessee State rolled to a 90-72 victory over Samford on Thursday night for its fifth straight win.</p>
<p>Devontavius Payne closed the first half with a 3-pointer and Peter Jurkin opened the second with a dunk as ETSU (11-4, 2-0 Southern Conference) used a 20-5 run for a 59-39 lead with 15 minutes left and cruised from there. Jermaine Long hit back-to-back 3s during the stretch.</p>
<p>Bradford was 6 of 9 from the floor and made all four free-throw attempts. Jurkin added 15 points, Bo Hodges had 13 and David Burrell chipped in 11. Long had nine assists and finished with six points.</p>
<p>Alex Thompson scored 19 points to lead Samford (5-10, 1-1). Josh Sharkey had 11 points, and Justin Coleman and Triston Chambers added 10 apiece.</p>
<p>BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - Desonta Bradford scored 18 points and East Tennessee State rolled to a 90-72 victory over Samford on Thursday night for its fifth straight win.</p>
<p>Devontavius Payne closed the first half with a 3-pointer and Peter Jurkin opened the second with a dunk as ETSU (11-4, 2-0 Southern Conference) used a 20-5 run for a 59-39 lead with 15 minutes left and cruised from there. Jermaine Long hit back-to-back 3s during the stretch.</p>
<p>Bradford was 6 of 9 from the floor and made all four free-throw attempts. Jurkin added 15 points, Bo Hodges had 13 and David Burrell chipped in 11. Long had nine assists and finished with six points.</p>
<p>Alex Thompson scored 19 points to lead Samford (5-10, 1-1). Josh Sharkey had 11 points, and Justin Coleman and Triston Chambers added 10 apiece.</p>
| 5,838 |
<p>LONDON (AP) — Angel Di Maria led the way in the Associated Press Global Football 10 on Tuesday after scoring twice to propel Paris Saint-Germain past Angers 5-1 at the weekend.</p>
<p>Juventus striker Paulo Dybala, who was also runner-up last week, was beaten to the summit of the player vote by Di Maria's stunning performance for the runaway leader in Ligue 1.</p>
<p>"Angers had only conceded 13 goals in 21 league matches (before facing PSG)," Jonathan Johnson of beIN Sports USA in France said. "However, after 90 minutes in Paris, they had shipped five to an Angel Di Maria-inspired PSG."</p>
<p>Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski was third after a double helped his team beat Hamburg 2-1.</p>
<p>Roberto Firmino was fourth, after also notching two goals in Liverpool's entertaining 5-4 victory against Norwich in the Premier League in Saturday.</p>
<p>"For the unexpected, nothing may have topped Liverpool's wild win over Norwich, in which Roberto Firmino had two goals and an assist," Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the United States said.</p>
<p>Diego Costa was fifth after scoring the only goal in Chelsea's win against Arsenal.</p>
<p>Sergio Aguero, Aritz Aduriz, Alexander Meier, Antonio Sanabria, and Lionel Messi rounded out the top 10 players of the week.</p>
<p>Chelsea topped the team vote after beating London rival Arsenal 1-0 in the Premier League, with Costa's strike the difference.</p>
<p>PSG was second for its emphatic weekend triumph.</p>
<p>Juventus polled third for winning its 11th straight match in Serie A against Roma, having also defeated Lazio to reach the Italian Cup semifinals last week.</p>
<p>"Juventus maintained their push for a fifth successive Scudetto with victory against Roma, having beaten Lazio, in midweek to reach the Coppa Italia semifinal," Umaid Wasim of Dawn newspaper in Pakistan said.</p>
<p>Napoli was fourth after defeating Sampdoria 4-2 kept it at the top of the Italian league.</p>
<p>Leicester ranked fifth after beating Stoke 3-0 to move three points clear atop the Premier League.</p>
<p>Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Liverpool, Southampton, Tottenham rounded out the top 10 teams.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Global Football 10</p>
<p>Players:</p>
<p>1. Angel Di Maria, 85 points.</p>
<p>2. Paulo Dybala, 68.</p>
<p>3. Robert Lewandowski, 64.</p>
<p>4. Roberto Firmino, 63.</p>
<p>5. Diego Costa, 56.</p>
<p>6. Sergio Aguero, 50.</p>
<p>7. Aritz Aduriz, 41.</p>
<p>8. Alexander Meier, 40.</p>
<p>9. Antonio Sanabria, 39.</p>
<p>10. Lionel Messi, 32.</p>
<p>Teams:</p>
<p>1. Chelsea, 94.</p>
<p>2. Paris Saint-Germain, 82.</p>
<p>3. Juventus, 64.</p>
<p>4. Napoli, 63.</p>
<p>5. Leicester, 62.</p>
<p>6. Borussia Dortmund, 59.</p>
<p>7. Barcelona, 48.</p>
<p>8. Liverpool, 44.</p>
<p>9. Southampton, 32.</p>
<p>10. Tottenham, 29.</p>
<p>LONDON (AP) — Angel Di Maria led the way in the Associated Press Global Football 10 on Tuesday after scoring twice to propel Paris Saint-Germain past Angers 5-1 at the weekend.</p>
<p>Juventus striker Paulo Dybala, who was also runner-up last week, was beaten to the summit of the player vote by Di Maria's stunning performance for the runaway leader in Ligue 1.</p>
<p>"Angers had only conceded 13 goals in 21 league matches (before facing PSG)," Jonathan Johnson of beIN Sports USA in France said. "However, after 90 minutes in Paris, they had shipped five to an Angel Di Maria-inspired PSG."</p>
<p>Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski was third after a double helped his team beat Hamburg 2-1.</p>
<p>Roberto Firmino was fourth, after also notching two goals in Liverpool's entertaining 5-4 victory against Norwich in the Premier League in Saturday.</p>
<p>"For the unexpected, nothing may have topped Liverpool's wild win over Norwich, in which Roberto Firmino had two goals and an assist," Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the United States said.</p>
<p>Diego Costa was fifth after scoring the only goal in Chelsea's win against Arsenal.</p>
<p>Sergio Aguero, Aritz Aduriz, Alexander Meier, Antonio Sanabria, and Lionel Messi rounded out the top 10 players of the week.</p>
<p>Chelsea topped the team vote after beating London rival Arsenal 1-0 in the Premier League, with Costa's strike the difference.</p>
<p>PSG was second for its emphatic weekend triumph.</p>
<p>Juventus polled third for winning its 11th straight match in Serie A against Roma, having also defeated Lazio to reach the Italian Cup semifinals last week.</p>
<p>"Juventus maintained their push for a fifth successive Scudetto with victory against Roma, having beaten Lazio, in midweek to reach the Coppa Italia semifinal," Umaid Wasim of Dawn newspaper in Pakistan said.</p>
<p>Napoli was fourth after defeating Sampdoria 4-2 kept it at the top of the Italian league.</p>
<p>Leicester ranked fifth after beating Stoke 3-0 to move three points clear atop the Premier League.</p>
<p>Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Liverpool, Southampton, Tottenham rounded out the top 10 teams.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Global Football 10</p>
<p>Players:</p>
<p>1. Angel Di Maria, 85 points.</p>
<p>2. Paulo Dybala, 68.</p>
<p>3. Robert Lewandowski, 64.</p>
<p>4. Roberto Firmino, 63.</p>
<p>5. Diego Costa, 56.</p>
<p>6. Sergio Aguero, 50.</p>
<p>7. Aritz Aduriz, 41.</p>
<p>8. Alexander Meier, 40.</p>
<p>9. Antonio Sanabria, 39.</p>
<p>10. Lionel Messi, 32.</p>
<p>Teams:</p>
<p>1. Chelsea, 94.</p>
<p>2. Paris Saint-Germain, 82.</p>
<p>3. Juventus, 64.</p>
<p>4. Napoli, 63.</p>
<p>5. Leicester, 62.</p>
<p>6. Borussia Dortmund, 59.</p>
<p>7. Barcelona, 48.</p>
<p>8. Liverpool, 44.</p>
<p>9. Southampton, 32.</p>
<p>10. Tottenham, 29.</p>
|
Angel Di Maria and Chelsea lead the AP Global Football 10
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2016-01-26
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Angel Di Maria and Chelsea lead the AP Global Football 10
<p>LONDON (AP) — Angel Di Maria led the way in the Associated Press Global Football 10 on Tuesday after scoring twice to propel Paris Saint-Germain past Angers 5-1 at the weekend.</p>
<p>Juventus striker Paulo Dybala, who was also runner-up last week, was beaten to the summit of the player vote by Di Maria's stunning performance for the runaway leader in Ligue 1.</p>
<p>"Angers had only conceded 13 goals in 21 league matches (before facing PSG)," Jonathan Johnson of beIN Sports USA in France said. "However, after 90 minutes in Paris, they had shipped five to an Angel Di Maria-inspired PSG."</p>
<p>Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski was third after a double helped his team beat Hamburg 2-1.</p>
<p>Roberto Firmino was fourth, after also notching two goals in Liverpool's entertaining 5-4 victory against Norwich in the Premier League in Saturday.</p>
<p>"For the unexpected, nothing may have topped Liverpool's wild win over Norwich, in which Roberto Firmino had two goals and an assist," Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the United States said.</p>
<p>Diego Costa was fifth after scoring the only goal in Chelsea's win against Arsenal.</p>
<p>Sergio Aguero, Aritz Aduriz, Alexander Meier, Antonio Sanabria, and Lionel Messi rounded out the top 10 players of the week.</p>
<p>Chelsea topped the team vote after beating London rival Arsenal 1-0 in the Premier League, with Costa's strike the difference.</p>
<p>PSG was second for its emphatic weekend triumph.</p>
<p>Juventus polled third for winning its 11th straight match in Serie A against Roma, having also defeated Lazio to reach the Italian Cup semifinals last week.</p>
<p>"Juventus maintained their push for a fifth successive Scudetto with victory against Roma, having beaten Lazio, in midweek to reach the Coppa Italia semifinal," Umaid Wasim of Dawn newspaper in Pakistan said.</p>
<p>Napoli was fourth after defeating Sampdoria 4-2 kept it at the top of the Italian league.</p>
<p>Leicester ranked fifth after beating Stoke 3-0 to move three points clear atop the Premier League.</p>
<p>Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Liverpool, Southampton, Tottenham rounded out the top 10 teams.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Global Football 10</p>
<p>Players:</p>
<p>1. Angel Di Maria, 85 points.</p>
<p>2. Paulo Dybala, 68.</p>
<p>3. Robert Lewandowski, 64.</p>
<p>4. Roberto Firmino, 63.</p>
<p>5. Diego Costa, 56.</p>
<p>6. Sergio Aguero, 50.</p>
<p>7. Aritz Aduriz, 41.</p>
<p>8. Alexander Meier, 40.</p>
<p>9. Antonio Sanabria, 39.</p>
<p>10. Lionel Messi, 32.</p>
<p>Teams:</p>
<p>1. Chelsea, 94.</p>
<p>2. Paris Saint-Germain, 82.</p>
<p>3. Juventus, 64.</p>
<p>4. Napoli, 63.</p>
<p>5. Leicester, 62.</p>
<p>6. Borussia Dortmund, 59.</p>
<p>7. Barcelona, 48.</p>
<p>8. Liverpool, 44.</p>
<p>9. Southampton, 32.</p>
<p>10. Tottenham, 29.</p>
<p>LONDON (AP) — Angel Di Maria led the way in the Associated Press Global Football 10 on Tuesday after scoring twice to propel Paris Saint-Germain past Angers 5-1 at the weekend.</p>
<p>Juventus striker Paulo Dybala, who was also runner-up last week, was beaten to the summit of the player vote by Di Maria's stunning performance for the runaway leader in Ligue 1.</p>
<p>"Angers had only conceded 13 goals in 21 league matches (before facing PSG)," Jonathan Johnson of beIN Sports USA in France said. "However, after 90 minutes in Paris, they had shipped five to an Angel Di Maria-inspired PSG."</p>
<p>Bayern Munich striker Robert Lewandowski was third after a double helped his team beat Hamburg 2-1.</p>
<p>Roberto Firmino was fourth, after also notching two goals in Liverpool's entertaining 5-4 victory against Norwich in the Premier League in Saturday.</p>
<p>"For the unexpected, nothing may have topped Liverpool's wild win over Norwich, in which Roberto Firmino had two goals and an assist," Tom Timmermann of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in the United States said.</p>
<p>Diego Costa was fifth after scoring the only goal in Chelsea's win against Arsenal.</p>
<p>Sergio Aguero, Aritz Aduriz, Alexander Meier, Antonio Sanabria, and Lionel Messi rounded out the top 10 players of the week.</p>
<p>Chelsea topped the team vote after beating London rival Arsenal 1-0 in the Premier League, with Costa's strike the difference.</p>
<p>PSG was second for its emphatic weekend triumph.</p>
<p>Juventus polled third for winning its 11th straight match in Serie A against Roma, having also defeated Lazio to reach the Italian Cup semifinals last week.</p>
<p>"Juventus maintained their push for a fifth successive Scudetto with victory against Roma, having beaten Lazio, in midweek to reach the Coppa Italia semifinal," Umaid Wasim of Dawn newspaper in Pakistan said.</p>
<p>Napoli was fourth after defeating Sampdoria 4-2 kept it at the top of the Italian league.</p>
<p>Leicester ranked fifth after beating Stoke 3-0 to move three points clear atop the Premier League.</p>
<p>Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona, Liverpool, Southampton, Tottenham rounded out the top 10 teams.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Global Football 10</p>
<p>Players:</p>
<p>1. Angel Di Maria, 85 points.</p>
<p>2. Paulo Dybala, 68.</p>
<p>3. Robert Lewandowski, 64.</p>
<p>4. Roberto Firmino, 63.</p>
<p>5. Diego Costa, 56.</p>
<p>6. Sergio Aguero, 50.</p>
<p>7. Aritz Aduriz, 41.</p>
<p>8. Alexander Meier, 40.</p>
<p>9. Antonio Sanabria, 39.</p>
<p>10. Lionel Messi, 32.</p>
<p>Teams:</p>
<p>1. Chelsea, 94.</p>
<p>2. Paris Saint-Germain, 82.</p>
<p>3. Juventus, 64.</p>
<p>4. Napoli, 63.</p>
<p>5. Leicester, 62.</p>
<p>6. Borussia Dortmund, 59.</p>
<p>7. Barcelona, 48.</p>
<p>8. Liverpool, 44.</p>
<p>9. Southampton, 32.</p>
<p>10. Tottenham, 29.</p>
| 5,839 |
<p>Staff changes</p>
<p>Ben Laird, to Trinity Church, Martinsville, as pastor.</p>
<p>Chris and Karen Harbin, to Central Church, Lowesville, as co-pastors.</p>
<p>Ronnie Campbell, to Bethany Church, Baskersville, as pastor.</p>
<p>Gregory Todd Randall, to Clarksville Church, Clarksville, as senior pastor.</p>
<p>Richard L. Clore, to Orange Church, Orange, as pastor, effective Oct. 1.</p>
<p>Robert T. Jones, to First Church, Gate City, as pastor.</p>
<p>Jim Ensor, to First Church, Honaker, as pastor.</p>
<p>David Simmons, resigning as pastor of Temple Church, Newport News, to accept a pastorate in New Jersey.</p>
<p>Bryan Ferrell, resigning as pastor of Cornerstone Church, Monroe.</p>
<p>Donald Stine, resigning as pastor of West View Church, Monroe.</p>
<p>Don Williams, to Calvary Church, Lynchburg, as intentional interim pastor.</p>
<p>Jim Riddell, to Cambridge Church, Richmond, as interim pastor.</p>
<p>Robert Carter, to Heritage Church, Farmville, as interim pastor.</p>
<p>John Graybill, to Crystal Spring Church, Roanoke, as interim pastor.</p>
<p>Natalie Kline, to First Church, Waynesboro, as associate pastor, minister to families and children.</p>
<p>Joshua Colden, to Palestine Church, Huddleston, as youth pastor.</p>
<p>Louise Daniel, resigning as minister of music at First Church, Petersburg.</p>
<p>Sheri Castle, to New Highland Church, Mechanicsville, as interim worship leader.</p>
<p>Cardell C. Patillo Jr., to East End Church, Suffolk, as youth pastor.</p>
<p>Erika Deem, to Goochland Church, Goochland, as minister of youth.</p>
<p>Eric Haney, to Red Lane Church, Powhatan, as youth minister.</p>
<p>Shawn Allen, to Gayton Church, Richmond, as pastor of worship arts and outreach.</p>
<p>Clint Jackson, to Pine Street Church, Richmond, as ministry associate of children and senior adults.</p>
<p>Renee Kenley, to Tabernacle Church, Richmond, as family ministries intern.</p>
<p>Lindsay Comstock is now serving as mission mobilization intern.</p>
<p>Dave Cyphert, resigning as minister of music, children and youth at Rustburg Church, Rustburg, to accept a position in North Carolina.</p>
<p>Ron Thompson, to Providence Church, Henry, as part-time youth minister.</p>
<p>Retirements</p>
<p>Jim Anderson has retired as pastor of Faith Church, Hampton.</p>
<p>Lawrence Bierman has announced plans to retire as pastor of Parkview Church, Newport News, in October.</p>
<p>Ordinations</p>
<p>Glinda Ford, community missionary at the Church Hill Wellness Center in Richmond, was ordained to the gospel ministry on Aug. 4.</p>
<p>Eddie Urbine was ordained to the gospel ministry on Sept. 10 by Old Powhatan Church, Powhatan.</p>
<p>Revivals &amp; Homecomings</p>
<p>Ash Avenue Church, South Boston; revival Oct. 1-4; Steve Freeman, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Calvary Church, Danville; 88th homecoming Sept. 24; Clive Johnston, guest speaker; revival Sept. 25-27.</p>
<p>Community Fellowship Church, Gate City; revival Sept. 24-27; Kevin Helms, Guy Tilley, Adam Janes, Steve Brown and William Palmer, guest evangelists.</p>
<p>Dan River Church, Halifax; revival Sept. 24-27; Rob Roberts, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Emmanuel Church, Amherst; 100th anniversary; homecoming Oct. 1; covered-dish dinner after service; revival Oct. 2-5; Roger Roller, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>First Church, Galax; revival Oct. 1-4; Charles Fuller, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Gladstone Memorial Church, Gladstone; homecoming Oct. 1; revival Oct. 2-4 with Don Carty, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Jahnke Road Church, Richmond; 56th anniversary; celebration service Oct. 1 at 10:15 a.m.; lunch following service.</p>
<p>Madison Heights Church, Madison Heights; 115th anniversary; homecoming Sept. 24; Margaret Tyree Harding, guest speaker.</p>
<p>Mt. Tirzah Church, Charlotte Court House; revival Sept. 29-Oct. 2; Carl Burger, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>New Salem Church, Culpeper; revival Sept. 24-27; Lanny Horton, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Norwood Church, Goode; homecoming Sept. 24; former pastor Hunter Hale, guest speaker; covered-dish luncheon.</p>
<p>Reed Island Springs Church, Ararat; 75th anniversary; homecoming Oct. 1; Wayne Hannah, guest speaker; dinner following service.</p>
<p>Round Oak Church, Corbin; homecoming Oct. 1; Joe Applewhite, guest speaker.</p>
<p>Schoolfield Church, Danville; revival Oct. 1-4; Cliff Hudgins, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Shermont Church, Danville; homecoming Sept. 24; special music by Jamelle Shields; lunch to follow service.</p>
<p>Trinity Church, Martinsville; homecoming Sept. 24; former pastor Lynwood Lavinder, guest speaker; lunch to follow service.</p>
<p>Washington Church, Washington; revival Sept. 21-24; Dee Whitten, Walt Childress, David Clanagan and David Small, guest evangelists; 124th homecoming Sept. 24; David Small, guest speaker.</p>
<p>Woodberry Hills Church, Danville; revival Sept. 27-Oct. 1; Robert Marsh, guest evangelist.</p>
|
News about Virginia Baptists and their ministries for September 21, 2006
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News about Virginia Baptists and their ministries for September 21, 2006
<p>Staff changes</p>
<p>Ben Laird, to Trinity Church, Martinsville, as pastor.</p>
<p>Chris and Karen Harbin, to Central Church, Lowesville, as co-pastors.</p>
<p>Ronnie Campbell, to Bethany Church, Baskersville, as pastor.</p>
<p>Gregory Todd Randall, to Clarksville Church, Clarksville, as senior pastor.</p>
<p>Richard L. Clore, to Orange Church, Orange, as pastor, effective Oct. 1.</p>
<p>Robert T. Jones, to First Church, Gate City, as pastor.</p>
<p>Jim Ensor, to First Church, Honaker, as pastor.</p>
<p>David Simmons, resigning as pastor of Temple Church, Newport News, to accept a pastorate in New Jersey.</p>
<p>Bryan Ferrell, resigning as pastor of Cornerstone Church, Monroe.</p>
<p>Donald Stine, resigning as pastor of West View Church, Monroe.</p>
<p>Don Williams, to Calvary Church, Lynchburg, as intentional interim pastor.</p>
<p>Jim Riddell, to Cambridge Church, Richmond, as interim pastor.</p>
<p>Robert Carter, to Heritage Church, Farmville, as interim pastor.</p>
<p>John Graybill, to Crystal Spring Church, Roanoke, as interim pastor.</p>
<p>Natalie Kline, to First Church, Waynesboro, as associate pastor, minister to families and children.</p>
<p>Joshua Colden, to Palestine Church, Huddleston, as youth pastor.</p>
<p>Louise Daniel, resigning as minister of music at First Church, Petersburg.</p>
<p>Sheri Castle, to New Highland Church, Mechanicsville, as interim worship leader.</p>
<p>Cardell C. Patillo Jr., to East End Church, Suffolk, as youth pastor.</p>
<p>Erika Deem, to Goochland Church, Goochland, as minister of youth.</p>
<p>Eric Haney, to Red Lane Church, Powhatan, as youth minister.</p>
<p>Shawn Allen, to Gayton Church, Richmond, as pastor of worship arts and outreach.</p>
<p>Clint Jackson, to Pine Street Church, Richmond, as ministry associate of children and senior adults.</p>
<p>Renee Kenley, to Tabernacle Church, Richmond, as family ministries intern.</p>
<p>Lindsay Comstock is now serving as mission mobilization intern.</p>
<p>Dave Cyphert, resigning as minister of music, children and youth at Rustburg Church, Rustburg, to accept a position in North Carolina.</p>
<p>Ron Thompson, to Providence Church, Henry, as part-time youth minister.</p>
<p>Retirements</p>
<p>Jim Anderson has retired as pastor of Faith Church, Hampton.</p>
<p>Lawrence Bierman has announced plans to retire as pastor of Parkview Church, Newport News, in October.</p>
<p>Ordinations</p>
<p>Glinda Ford, community missionary at the Church Hill Wellness Center in Richmond, was ordained to the gospel ministry on Aug. 4.</p>
<p>Eddie Urbine was ordained to the gospel ministry on Sept. 10 by Old Powhatan Church, Powhatan.</p>
<p>Revivals &amp; Homecomings</p>
<p>Ash Avenue Church, South Boston; revival Oct. 1-4; Steve Freeman, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Calvary Church, Danville; 88th homecoming Sept. 24; Clive Johnston, guest speaker; revival Sept. 25-27.</p>
<p>Community Fellowship Church, Gate City; revival Sept. 24-27; Kevin Helms, Guy Tilley, Adam Janes, Steve Brown and William Palmer, guest evangelists.</p>
<p>Dan River Church, Halifax; revival Sept. 24-27; Rob Roberts, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Emmanuel Church, Amherst; 100th anniversary; homecoming Oct. 1; covered-dish dinner after service; revival Oct. 2-5; Roger Roller, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>First Church, Galax; revival Oct. 1-4; Charles Fuller, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Gladstone Memorial Church, Gladstone; homecoming Oct. 1; revival Oct. 2-4 with Don Carty, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Jahnke Road Church, Richmond; 56th anniversary; celebration service Oct. 1 at 10:15 a.m.; lunch following service.</p>
<p>Madison Heights Church, Madison Heights; 115th anniversary; homecoming Sept. 24; Margaret Tyree Harding, guest speaker.</p>
<p>Mt. Tirzah Church, Charlotte Court House; revival Sept. 29-Oct. 2; Carl Burger, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>New Salem Church, Culpeper; revival Sept. 24-27; Lanny Horton, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Norwood Church, Goode; homecoming Sept. 24; former pastor Hunter Hale, guest speaker; covered-dish luncheon.</p>
<p>Reed Island Springs Church, Ararat; 75th anniversary; homecoming Oct. 1; Wayne Hannah, guest speaker; dinner following service.</p>
<p>Round Oak Church, Corbin; homecoming Oct. 1; Joe Applewhite, guest speaker.</p>
<p>Schoolfield Church, Danville; revival Oct. 1-4; Cliff Hudgins, guest evangelist.</p>
<p>Shermont Church, Danville; homecoming Sept. 24; special music by Jamelle Shields; lunch to follow service.</p>
<p>Trinity Church, Martinsville; homecoming Sept. 24; former pastor Lynwood Lavinder, guest speaker; lunch to follow service.</p>
<p>Washington Church, Washington; revival Sept. 21-24; Dee Whitten, Walt Childress, David Clanagan and David Small, guest evangelists; 124th homecoming Sept. 24; David Small, guest speaker.</p>
<p>Woodberry Hills Church, Danville; revival Sept. 27-Oct. 1; Robert Marsh, guest evangelist.</p>
| 5,840 |
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<p>WASHINGTON — Having lost patience with China, the Trump administration is studying new steps to starve North Korea of cash for its nuclear program, including an option that would infuriate Beijing: sanctions on Chinese companies that help keep the North’s economy afloat.</p>
<p>It’s an approach that’s paid off for the U.S. in the past, especially with Iran, where American economic penalties helped drive Tehran to the nuclear negotiating table. Yet there are significant risks, too, including the possibility of opening a new rift with Beijing that could complicate U.S. diplomatic efforts on other critical issues.</p>
<p>The renewed look at “secondary sanctions” comes as Washington seeks a forceful response to North Korea’s test this week of an intercontinental ballistic missile that could strike the United States. Few are advocating a military intervention that could endanger millions of lives in allied South Korea across the border. But options for turning the screws on the North financially also are imperfect.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I don’t like to talk about what I have planned, but I have some pretty severe things that we’re thinking about,” President Donald Trump said Thursday during an appearance at a news conference in Poland. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to do them.”</p>
<p>He said the U.S. would be watching what happens in the coming weeks and months but chided North Korea for “behaving in a very, very dangerous manner” and added: “Something will have to be done about it.”</p>
<p>Already, a wide array of U.S. and international sanctions target North Korean entities and officials, making it illegal for Americans to do business with them. The U.S. also has pursued companies outside North Korea accused of surreptitiously helping the communist country, such as a small Chinese bank the U.S. penalized last week for allegedly laundering money for North Korea.</p>
<p>But the U.S. thus far has avoided what sanctions experts describe as a logical escalation: secondary sanctions targeting banks and companies that do any business with North Korea — even legitimate transactions that aren’t explicitly prohibited by U.N. Security Council resolutions.</p>
<p>Nikki Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador, told an emergency session of the council Wednesday that the world must do more to “cut off the major sources of hard currency to the North Korean regime.”</p>
<p>“We will look at any country that chooses to do business with this outlaw regime,” Haley said.</p>
<p>On the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, South Korean jets and navy ships fired a barrage of guided-missiles into the ocean during drills, a display of military power two days after North Korea test-launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile. The live-fire drills off South Korea’s east coast were previously scheduled.</p>
<p>In a show of force, South Korea and the United States also staged “deep strike” precision missile firing drills on Wednesday as a warning to the North. Thursday’s drills were aimed at boosting readiness against possible maritime North Korean aggression. They involved 15 warships including a 3,200-ton-class destroyer, as well as helicopters and fighter jets, South Korea’s navy said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Our military is maintaining the highest-level of readiness to make a swift response even if a war breaks out today,” said Rear Adm. Kwon Jeong Seob, who directed the drills, according to the statement.</p>
<p>Potential sanctions targets previously identified by the Treasury Department include companies based in China, U.S. officials have said. Some may have no business with Americans or U.S. firms, making it harder for the U.S. to limit their operations or freeze assets. But secondary sanctions would still force such companies to stop doing business with North Korea or risk losing their access to the U.S. financial system, and with it, the dollar — the world’s main currency for global trade and finance.</p>
<p>Beijing steadfastly opposes such measures. It says sanctions would hurt China’s interests and criticizes the approach for being one-sided, as opposed to international penalties that are globally agreed.</p>
<p>“The U.S. needs to understand the Chinese will never allow Chinese companies and individuals to be designated (for sanctions) at the U.N., and the U.S. dollar is still pre-eminent. So the U.S. has leverage,” said Anthony Ruggiero at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which advocates for a tough approach to North Korea’s nuclear program.</p>
<p>Trump, in recent days, appears to have concluded that his early efforts to enlist China’s cooperation on North Korea haven’t paid off. On Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter to chastise China for allowing its trade with the North to grow in recent months even as the U.S. urged a reduction.</p>
<p>“So much for China working with us — but we had to give it a try!” Trump wrote.</p>
<p>Senior U.S. officials said imposing sanctions on companies dealing with the North was among several steps considered after the ICBM launch, as U.S. intelligence, military and diplomatic officials reviewed different possibilities.</p>
<p>The Trump administration hasn’t given up hope China will change course and step up pressure on North Korea, officials said.</p>
<p>In Congress, lawmakers have proposed new sanctions on North Korea’s shipping industry and alleged use of slave labor. The House passed a bill in May, but the Senate has yet to approve it.</p>
<p>Secondary sanctions on North Korea would borrow from President Barack Obama’s Iran approach before the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. After Congress authorized such penalties, the Obama administration worked with nations around the world to get them to reduce their oil imports from Tehran, while negotiating secretly with Iranian officials. The sanctions effectively deterred European firms from doing business with Iran and commercial powers such as China and India were encouraged to buy less Iranian petroleum.</p>
<p>North Korea’s isolation, which is far greater than Iran’s was, could make it even more susceptible to such pressure. China accounts for about 90 percent of North Korea’s trade.</p>
<p>But China has leverage, too, which is why previous U.S. administrations have held back. China is now the world’s second-largest economy, it holds trillions of dollars in U.S. debt and its companies are increasingly tied financially with the West. And angering Beijing could lead to unpredictable responses in places like the South China Sea, where Beijing has various territorial disputes with America’s allies and partners in Southeast Asia.</p>
<p>“It will put a magnifying glass on Chinese businesses that the Chinese government may not want,” said Doreen Edelman, an attorney at Baker Donelson who specializes in sanctions compliance.</p>
|
US weighs sanctions on Chinese companies to punish NKorea
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1028841/to-punish-nkorea-us-weighs-sanctions-on-chinese-companies.html
|
2017-07-06
| 2least
|
US weighs sanctions on Chinese companies to punish NKorea
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>WASHINGTON — Having lost patience with China, the Trump administration is studying new steps to starve North Korea of cash for its nuclear program, including an option that would infuriate Beijing: sanctions on Chinese companies that help keep the North’s economy afloat.</p>
<p>It’s an approach that’s paid off for the U.S. in the past, especially with Iran, where American economic penalties helped drive Tehran to the nuclear negotiating table. Yet there are significant risks, too, including the possibility of opening a new rift with Beijing that could complicate U.S. diplomatic efforts on other critical issues.</p>
<p>The renewed look at “secondary sanctions” comes as Washington seeks a forceful response to North Korea’s test this week of an intercontinental ballistic missile that could strike the United States. Few are advocating a military intervention that could endanger millions of lives in allied South Korea across the border. But options for turning the screws on the North financially also are imperfect.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I don’t like to talk about what I have planned, but I have some pretty severe things that we’re thinking about,” President Donald Trump said Thursday during an appearance at a news conference in Poland. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to do them.”</p>
<p>He said the U.S. would be watching what happens in the coming weeks and months but chided North Korea for “behaving in a very, very dangerous manner” and added: “Something will have to be done about it.”</p>
<p>Already, a wide array of U.S. and international sanctions target North Korean entities and officials, making it illegal for Americans to do business with them. The U.S. also has pursued companies outside North Korea accused of surreptitiously helping the communist country, such as a small Chinese bank the U.S. penalized last week for allegedly laundering money for North Korea.</p>
<p>But the U.S. thus far has avoided what sanctions experts describe as a logical escalation: secondary sanctions targeting banks and companies that do any business with North Korea — even legitimate transactions that aren’t explicitly prohibited by U.N. Security Council resolutions.</p>
<p>Nikki Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador, told an emergency session of the council Wednesday that the world must do more to “cut off the major sources of hard currency to the North Korean regime.”</p>
<p>“We will look at any country that chooses to do business with this outlaw regime,” Haley said.</p>
<p>On the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, South Korean jets and navy ships fired a barrage of guided-missiles into the ocean during drills, a display of military power two days after North Korea test-launched its first intercontinental ballistic missile. The live-fire drills off South Korea’s east coast were previously scheduled.</p>
<p>In a show of force, South Korea and the United States also staged “deep strike” precision missile firing drills on Wednesday as a warning to the North. Thursday’s drills were aimed at boosting readiness against possible maritime North Korean aggression. They involved 15 warships including a 3,200-ton-class destroyer, as well as helicopters and fighter jets, South Korea’s navy said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Our military is maintaining the highest-level of readiness to make a swift response even if a war breaks out today,” said Rear Adm. Kwon Jeong Seob, who directed the drills, according to the statement.</p>
<p>Potential sanctions targets previously identified by the Treasury Department include companies based in China, U.S. officials have said. Some may have no business with Americans or U.S. firms, making it harder for the U.S. to limit their operations or freeze assets. But secondary sanctions would still force such companies to stop doing business with North Korea or risk losing their access to the U.S. financial system, and with it, the dollar — the world’s main currency for global trade and finance.</p>
<p>Beijing steadfastly opposes such measures. It says sanctions would hurt China’s interests and criticizes the approach for being one-sided, as opposed to international penalties that are globally agreed.</p>
<p>“The U.S. needs to understand the Chinese will never allow Chinese companies and individuals to be designated (for sanctions) at the U.N., and the U.S. dollar is still pre-eminent. So the U.S. has leverage,” said Anthony Ruggiero at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, which advocates for a tough approach to North Korea’s nuclear program.</p>
<p>Trump, in recent days, appears to have concluded that his early efforts to enlist China’s cooperation on North Korea haven’t paid off. On Wednesday, Trump took to Twitter to chastise China for allowing its trade with the North to grow in recent months even as the U.S. urged a reduction.</p>
<p>“So much for China working with us — but we had to give it a try!” Trump wrote.</p>
<p>Senior U.S. officials said imposing sanctions on companies dealing with the North was among several steps considered after the ICBM launch, as U.S. intelligence, military and diplomatic officials reviewed different possibilities.</p>
<p>The Trump administration hasn’t given up hope China will change course and step up pressure on North Korea, officials said.</p>
<p>In Congress, lawmakers have proposed new sanctions on North Korea’s shipping industry and alleged use of slave labor. The House passed a bill in May, but the Senate has yet to approve it.</p>
<p>Secondary sanctions on North Korea would borrow from President Barack Obama’s Iran approach before the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran. After Congress authorized such penalties, the Obama administration worked with nations around the world to get them to reduce their oil imports from Tehran, while negotiating secretly with Iranian officials. The sanctions effectively deterred European firms from doing business with Iran and commercial powers such as China and India were encouraged to buy less Iranian petroleum.</p>
<p>North Korea’s isolation, which is far greater than Iran’s was, could make it even more susceptible to such pressure. China accounts for about 90 percent of North Korea’s trade.</p>
<p>But China has leverage, too, which is why previous U.S. administrations have held back. China is now the world’s second-largest economy, it holds trillions of dollars in U.S. debt and its companies are increasingly tied financially with the West. And angering Beijing could lead to unpredictable responses in places like the South China Sea, where Beijing has various territorial disputes with America’s allies and partners in Southeast Asia.</p>
<p>“It will put a magnifying glass on Chinese businesses that the Chinese government may not want,” said Doreen Edelman, an attorney at Baker Donelson who specializes in sanctions compliance.</p>
| 5,841 |
<p>By <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">BOB WATSON</a> News Tribune Jefferson City, MO</p>
<p>Some routines will have to change in Missouri if the nation invokes "red alert" status, Gov. Bob Holden told reporters this week.</p>
<p>In addition, area school officials are reviewing their building crisis plans to be ready for an emergency.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>What those changes and actions might be depends on the nature of the specific threat, Homeland Security Director Tim Daniel said this morning.</p>
<p>The state's plans are "not releasable to the public at this time," Daniel said.</p>
<p>"The real meat of it is, the governor will have something to say (depending) upon the situation that we find ourselves in at that moment."</p>
|
Officials, schools ready for possible 'red' alert
| false |
https://poynter.org/news/officials-schools-ready-possible-red-alert
|
2003-03-20
| 2least
|
Officials, schools ready for possible 'red' alert
<p>By <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">BOB WATSON</a> News Tribune Jefferson City, MO</p>
<p>Some routines will have to change in Missouri if the nation invokes "red alert" status, Gov. Bob Holden told reporters this week.</p>
<p>In addition, area school officials are reviewing their building crisis plans to be ready for an emergency.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>What those changes and actions might be depends on the nature of the specific threat, Homeland Security Director Tim Daniel said this morning.</p>
<p>The state's plans are "not releasable to the public at this time," Daniel said.</p>
<p>"The real meat of it is, the governor will have something to say (depending) upon the situation that we find ourselves in at that moment."</p>
| 5,842 |
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/23608339@N08/" type="external">Dan Wright</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" type="external">CC-BY-2.0</a></p>
<p>A digital system for tracking people as they traverse European borders threatens privacy, civil liberties and the safety and dignity of migrants fleeing their embattled homelands, critics say.</p>
<p>Considering the program are the European Commission and a number of security and control companies, <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37067-surveillance-of-everyone-europe-s-proposed-smart-borders-would-automatically-monitor-individuals" type="external">write</a> Aline Fontaine and Morgane Remy at Basta! via Truthout:</p>
<p>Once they are interconnected, these information systems would constitute many links in a single web of control and surveillance of individuals. It would be a web instead of walls that nonetheless seeks to fulfill the same function: to remedy Europe’s problems in the face of its two major [purported] crises, the terrorist and migration threats. “Data-sharing links the two,” explained Dimitris Avramopoulos, European commissioner for migration, internal affairs and citizenship, when he unveiled the text of the Smart Borders law in April. “Our border guards, customs agents, police and judicial authorities must have access to the necessary data.”</p>
<p />
<p>The Commission keeps promoting this “Smart Borders” idea in spite of the aversion of certain members of Parliament. “We have already voted ‘no’ once against the PNR [passenger name record] and Smart Borders since we were skeptical of these megalomaniac projects — as much for their fiscal implications as for those resulting from a massive collection of data,” retorts Sophia in ‘t Veld, the Dutch Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and vice-chair of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. “However, these texts come back for consideration, with pressure from certain member states to vote them in.”</p>
<p>Private companies stand to make a lot of money by selling states the infrastructure:</p>
<p>The amounts at stake and manufacturers’ interests behind Smart Borders are even more hotly debated than the PNR since these new borders would necessitate the erection of special kiosks equipped with biometric tools (e-gates), which all the states included in the free circulation area would have to purchase. In France, 133 Schengen border points could be involved, including 86 airports, 37 ports and 10 train stations. Considering that the cost of each e-gate is estimated to be between 40,000 and 150,000 euros, the investment is not negligible! …</p>
<p>Although this system is still in the proposal phase, the appeal to defense industry giants has already been launched. “To improve European security, we need to stimulate our manufacturers!” trumpeted Armand Nachef, from the French base for the European research program Horizon 2020, on November 17 at Le Bourget. This public service representative was addressing the businessmen present for the domestic security trade show Milipol, where weapons, drones, cameras, equipment for the maintenance of order and bullet-proof vests were displayed.</p>
<p>Critics demand evidence that the systems would do what their proponents say they would, and point out that the mass collection of personal data threatens private life:</p>
<p>Are these investments drawing the contours of a safer Europe? Many doubt it. “We were presented with the PNR as a miracle cure, but it’s nothing of the kind,” declares Emmanuel Maurel, a French Socialist MEP. “Since everyone is worried, people cling to these measures of questionable effectiveness. So while murderers go by car, we create a data base on airline traffic. To know what a passenger eats, with whom he travels, serves no purpose. It would be better to invest in human intelligence than in such an outsized system.”</p>
<p>With respect to Smart Borders, the Member of Parliament and Vice-President of the Greens-European Free Alliance, Ska Keller, is even more trenchant: “I am waiting to know what problem this Smart Borders idea is supposed to solve. The European Commission is incapable of telling us. Moreover, we cannot suspect every European citizen of being a terrorist, but we allow ourselves to do so with others? It’s not okay. Besides, staying longer in a place [i.e. within the Schengen area] does not necessarily point to criminal motives.” …</p>
<p>Another concern: respect for the numerous data on citizens collected this way. How will the data be used? Where is the data stored? For how long? When it opposed the PNR and Smart Borders proposals the first time, the European Parliament made clear to the Commission that it would not vote in those texts as long as there were no precise answers to these questions.</p>
<p>“Above all,” write Fontaine and Remy, “a larger question remains:”</p>
<p>Aren’t “smart borders” a step toward a “pan-European system of surveillance,” as Chris Jones, a member of the NGO Statewatch fears? The database on travelers will be huge, including everything from their movements in the Schengen area to their biometric data, all — depending on the vote of European MPs — possibly accessible by national police forces, Europol and Frontex! This comes at the risk of establishing a “not very appealing society,” warns Socialist MEP Maurel. When the Smart Borders text is voted on between now and the end of the year, will the European Parliament oppose it again?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37067-surveillance-of-everyone-europe-s-proposed-smart-borders-would-automatically-monitor-individuals" type="external">Read more</a>.</p>
<p>—Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p>
|
'Smart Borders' Would Be a Step Toward a 'Pan-European System of Surveillance'
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/smart-borders-would-be-a-step-toward-a-pan-european-system-of-surveillance/
|
2016-08-03
| 4left
|
'Smart Borders' Would Be a Step Toward a 'Pan-European System of Surveillance'
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/23608339@N08/" type="external">Dan Wright</a> / <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" type="external">CC-BY-2.0</a></p>
<p>A digital system for tracking people as they traverse European borders threatens privacy, civil liberties and the safety and dignity of migrants fleeing their embattled homelands, critics say.</p>
<p>Considering the program are the European Commission and a number of security and control companies, <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37067-surveillance-of-everyone-europe-s-proposed-smart-borders-would-automatically-monitor-individuals" type="external">write</a> Aline Fontaine and Morgane Remy at Basta! via Truthout:</p>
<p>Once they are interconnected, these information systems would constitute many links in a single web of control and surveillance of individuals. It would be a web instead of walls that nonetheless seeks to fulfill the same function: to remedy Europe’s problems in the face of its two major [purported] crises, the terrorist and migration threats. “Data-sharing links the two,” explained Dimitris Avramopoulos, European commissioner for migration, internal affairs and citizenship, when he unveiled the text of the Smart Borders law in April. “Our border guards, customs agents, police and judicial authorities must have access to the necessary data.”</p>
<p />
<p>The Commission keeps promoting this “Smart Borders” idea in spite of the aversion of certain members of Parliament. “We have already voted ‘no’ once against the PNR [passenger name record] and Smart Borders since we were skeptical of these megalomaniac projects — as much for their fiscal implications as for those resulting from a massive collection of data,” retorts Sophia in ‘t Veld, the Dutch Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and vice-chair of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. “However, these texts come back for consideration, with pressure from certain member states to vote them in.”</p>
<p>Private companies stand to make a lot of money by selling states the infrastructure:</p>
<p>The amounts at stake and manufacturers’ interests behind Smart Borders are even more hotly debated than the PNR since these new borders would necessitate the erection of special kiosks equipped with biometric tools (e-gates), which all the states included in the free circulation area would have to purchase. In France, 133 Schengen border points could be involved, including 86 airports, 37 ports and 10 train stations. Considering that the cost of each e-gate is estimated to be between 40,000 and 150,000 euros, the investment is not negligible! …</p>
<p>Although this system is still in the proposal phase, the appeal to defense industry giants has already been launched. “To improve European security, we need to stimulate our manufacturers!” trumpeted Armand Nachef, from the French base for the European research program Horizon 2020, on November 17 at Le Bourget. This public service representative was addressing the businessmen present for the domestic security trade show Milipol, where weapons, drones, cameras, equipment for the maintenance of order and bullet-proof vests were displayed.</p>
<p>Critics demand evidence that the systems would do what their proponents say they would, and point out that the mass collection of personal data threatens private life:</p>
<p>Are these investments drawing the contours of a safer Europe? Many doubt it. “We were presented with the PNR as a miracle cure, but it’s nothing of the kind,” declares Emmanuel Maurel, a French Socialist MEP. “Since everyone is worried, people cling to these measures of questionable effectiveness. So while murderers go by car, we create a data base on airline traffic. To know what a passenger eats, with whom he travels, serves no purpose. It would be better to invest in human intelligence than in such an outsized system.”</p>
<p>With respect to Smart Borders, the Member of Parliament and Vice-President of the Greens-European Free Alliance, Ska Keller, is even more trenchant: “I am waiting to know what problem this Smart Borders idea is supposed to solve. The European Commission is incapable of telling us. Moreover, we cannot suspect every European citizen of being a terrorist, but we allow ourselves to do so with others? It’s not okay. Besides, staying longer in a place [i.e. within the Schengen area] does not necessarily point to criminal motives.” …</p>
<p>Another concern: respect for the numerous data on citizens collected this way. How will the data be used? Where is the data stored? For how long? When it opposed the PNR and Smart Borders proposals the first time, the European Parliament made clear to the Commission that it would not vote in those texts as long as there were no precise answers to these questions.</p>
<p>“Above all,” write Fontaine and Remy, “a larger question remains:”</p>
<p>Aren’t “smart borders” a step toward a “pan-European system of surveillance,” as Chris Jones, a member of the NGO Statewatch fears? The database on travelers will be huge, including everything from their movements in the Schengen area to their biometric data, all — depending on the vote of European MPs — possibly accessible by national police forces, Europol and Frontex! This comes at the risk of establishing a “not very appealing society,” warns Socialist MEP Maurel. When the Smart Borders text is voted on between now and the end of the year, will the European Parliament oppose it again?</p>
<p><a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/37067-surveillance-of-everyone-europe-s-proposed-smart-borders-would-automatically-monitor-individuals" type="external">Read more</a>.</p>
<p>—Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p>
| 5,843 |
<p>The Supreme Court has placed a temporary <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2202665,00.html" type="external">moratorium</a> on the death penalty while it considers the legality of lethal injection, which should take months. Justices Scalia and Alito dissented from the opinion, which spared prisoner Earl Wesley Berry only minutes before he was to be killed.</p>
<p>Guardian:</p>
<p>The moratorium follows a decision by the supreme court last night to block the execution of a Mississippi inmate minutes before he was to be put to death.</p>
<p>Earl Wesley Berry, who has been on death row for 19 years for the murder of a woman, had been served his last supper and was 15 minutes away from execution when the court intervened.</p>
<p />
<p>The order for a delay marked the third time in just over a month that the supreme court has overruled state courts and the US court of appeals to block an execution.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2202665,00.html" type="external">Read more</a></p>
|
Supreme Court Puts Executions on Hold
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/supreme-court-puts-executions-on-hold/
|
2007-11-01
| 4left
|
Supreme Court Puts Executions on Hold
<p>The Supreme Court has placed a temporary <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2202665,00.html" type="external">moratorium</a> on the death penalty while it considers the legality of lethal injection, which should take months. Justices Scalia and Alito dissented from the opinion, which spared prisoner Earl Wesley Berry only minutes before he was to be killed.</p>
<p>Guardian:</p>
<p>The moratorium follows a decision by the supreme court last night to block the execution of a Mississippi inmate minutes before he was to be put to death.</p>
<p>Earl Wesley Berry, who has been on death row for 19 years for the murder of a woman, had been served his last supper and was 15 minutes away from execution when the court intervened.</p>
<p />
<p>The order for a delay marked the third time in just over a month that the supreme court has overruled state courts and the US court of appeals to block an execution.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2202665,00.html" type="external">Read more</a></p>
| 5,844 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>LONDON — Charlie Gard, the terminally ill British baby at the center of a legal and ethical battle that attracted the attention of Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump, died Friday. He was one week shy of his first birthday.</p>
<p>Charlie’s parents fought for the right to take him to the United States for an experimental medical treatment for his rare genetic disease, mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which left him brain damaged and unable to breathe unaided. His case ended up in the courts when doctors opposed the plan, saying the untested therapy wouldn’t help Charlie and might cause him to suffer.</p>
<p>A family spokeswoman, Alison Smith-Squire, confirmed Charlie’s death on Friday, a day after a judge ordered that he be taken off a ventilator at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and moved to an undisclosed hospice for his final hours.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Our beautiful little boy has gone, we’re so proud of him,” his mother, Connie Yates, said in a statement.</p>
<p>Charlie was seemingly healthy at birth but soon began to weaken. He was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital, Britain’s premier children’s hospital, when he was two months old and remained there until almost the end of his life.</p>
<p>His legal case became a flashpoint for debates on the rights of children and parents, on health-care funding, medical interventions, the responsibilities of hospitals and medical workers and the role of the state. It gained international attention last month when Pope Francis and President Trump expressed their support for Charlie and his family.</p>
<p>The intervention of two of the world’s most powerful men made the case a worldwide talking point. Images of Charlie hooked to a tube while dozing peacefully in a star-flecked navy blue onesie graced websites, newspapers and television news programs.</p>
<p>The pope reacted quickly to the news of Charlie’s death, tweeting late Friday “I entrust little Charlie to the Father and pray for his parents and all those who loved him.”</p>
<p>U.S. Vice President Mike Pence tweeted “Saddened to hear of the passing of Charlie Gard. Karen &amp; I offer our prayers &amp; condolences to his loving parents during this difficult time.”</p>
<p>Charlie’s parents raised more than 1.3 million pounds ($1.7 million) to pay for the experimental treatment they believed could prolong his life. But British courts consistently accepted the hospital’s position, ruling that it was in Charlie’s best interests that he be allowed to die.</p>
<p>After months of legal battles, High Court judge Nicholas Francis ruled Thursday that Charlie should be transferred to a hospice and taken off life support after his parents and the hospital failed to agree on an end-of-life care plan.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Under British law, it is common for courts to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the treatment of a child. In such cases, the rights of the child take primacy over the parents’ right to decide what’s best for their offspring. The principle applies even in cases where parents have an alternative point of view, such as when religious beliefs prohibit blood transfusions.</p>
<p>The case made it all the way to Britain’s Supreme Court as Charlie’s parents refused to accept earlier rulings.</p>
<p>Offers of help for Charlie came from Dr. Michio Hirano, a neurology expert at New York’s Columbia Medical Center, and from the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu pediatric hospital. Both said an experimental treatment known as nucleoside therapy had a chance of helping Charlie.</p>
<p>Great Ormond Street Hospital disagreed. It said the proposed treatment had never been tried on someone with Charlie’s condition and no tests had even been done on mice to see whether it would work on a patient like Charlie.</p>
<p>The case caught the attention of Trump and the pope in late June after the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene. Their intervention triggered a surge of grassroots action, including a number of U.S. right-to-life activists who flew to London to support Charlie’s parents.</p>
<p>Great Ormond Street soon reported that its doctors and nurses were receiving serious threats over the case. London police were called in to investigate.</p>
<p>On Friday night, the hospital offered its condolences to Charlie’s family.</p>
<p>“Everyone at Great Ormond Street Hospital sends their heartfelt condolences to Charlie’s parents and loved ones at this very sad time,” the hospital said.</p>
<p>Medical ethicist Arthur Caplan said the Charlie Gard case shows how the medical profession is struggling to adjust to the age of social media, which puts the general public in the middle of decisions that in the past would have been private issues for doctors and the family.</p>
<p>“I do think that in an era of social media, it is possible to rally huge numbers of people to your cause,” said Caplan, of New York University’s Langone Medical Center. “The medical ethics have not caught up.”</p>
<p>The heated commentary over Charlie prompted Judge Francis to criticize the effects of social media and those “who know almost nothing about this case but who feel entitled to express opinions.”</p>
<p>In the end, the increased attention did little for Charlie.</p>
<p>His parents gave up their legal battle on Monday after scans showed that Charlie’s muscles had deteriorated so much that the damage was irreversible.</p>
<p>“Mummy and Daddy love you so much Charlie, we always have and we always will and we are so sorry that we couldn’t save you,” his parents wrote when they announced their decision. “We had the chance but we weren’t allowed to give you that chance.</p>
<p>“Sweet dreams baby. Sleep tight, our beautiful little boy.”</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>Associated Press Writer Leonore Schick contributed to this story</p>
|
British baby Charlie Gard at center of legal battle dies
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1039999/family-spokeswoman-british-baby-charlie-gard-has-died.html
|
2017-07-28
| 2least
|
British baby Charlie Gard at center of legal battle dies
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>LONDON — Charlie Gard, the terminally ill British baby at the center of a legal and ethical battle that attracted the attention of Pope Francis and U.S. President Donald Trump, died Friday. He was one week shy of his first birthday.</p>
<p>Charlie’s parents fought for the right to take him to the United States for an experimental medical treatment for his rare genetic disease, mitochondrial depletion syndrome, which left him brain damaged and unable to breathe unaided. His case ended up in the courts when doctors opposed the plan, saying the untested therapy wouldn’t help Charlie and might cause him to suffer.</p>
<p>A family spokeswoman, Alison Smith-Squire, confirmed Charlie’s death on Friday, a day after a judge ordered that he be taken off a ventilator at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and moved to an undisclosed hospice for his final hours.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Our beautiful little boy has gone, we’re so proud of him,” his mother, Connie Yates, said in a statement.</p>
<p>Charlie was seemingly healthy at birth but soon began to weaken. He was admitted to Great Ormond Street Hospital, Britain’s premier children’s hospital, when he was two months old and remained there until almost the end of his life.</p>
<p>His legal case became a flashpoint for debates on the rights of children and parents, on health-care funding, medical interventions, the responsibilities of hospitals and medical workers and the role of the state. It gained international attention last month when Pope Francis and President Trump expressed their support for Charlie and his family.</p>
<p>The intervention of two of the world’s most powerful men made the case a worldwide talking point. Images of Charlie hooked to a tube while dozing peacefully in a star-flecked navy blue onesie graced websites, newspapers and television news programs.</p>
<p>The pope reacted quickly to the news of Charlie’s death, tweeting late Friday “I entrust little Charlie to the Father and pray for his parents and all those who loved him.”</p>
<p>U.S. Vice President Mike Pence tweeted “Saddened to hear of the passing of Charlie Gard. Karen &amp; I offer our prayers &amp; condolences to his loving parents during this difficult time.”</p>
<p>Charlie’s parents raised more than 1.3 million pounds ($1.7 million) to pay for the experimental treatment they believed could prolong his life. But British courts consistently accepted the hospital’s position, ruling that it was in Charlie’s best interests that he be allowed to die.</p>
<p>After months of legal battles, High Court judge Nicholas Francis ruled Thursday that Charlie should be transferred to a hospice and taken off life support after his parents and the hospital failed to agree on an end-of-life care plan.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Under British law, it is common for courts to intervene when parents and doctors disagree on the treatment of a child. In such cases, the rights of the child take primacy over the parents’ right to decide what’s best for their offspring. The principle applies even in cases where parents have an alternative point of view, such as when religious beliefs prohibit blood transfusions.</p>
<p>The case made it all the way to Britain’s Supreme Court as Charlie’s parents refused to accept earlier rulings.</p>
<p>Offers of help for Charlie came from Dr. Michio Hirano, a neurology expert at New York’s Columbia Medical Center, and from the Vatican’s Bambino Gesu pediatric hospital. Both said an experimental treatment known as nucleoside therapy had a chance of helping Charlie.</p>
<p>Great Ormond Street Hospital disagreed. It said the proposed treatment had never been tried on someone with Charlie’s condition and no tests had even been done on mice to see whether it would work on a patient like Charlie.</p>
<p>The case caught the attention of Trump and the pope in late June after the European Court of Human Rights refused to intervene. Their intervention triggered a surge of grassroots action, including a number of U.S. right-to-life activists who flew to London to support Charlie’s parents.</p>
<p>Great Ormond Street soon reported that its doctors and nurses were receiving serious threats over the case. London police were called in to investigate.</p>
<p>On Friday night, the hospital offered its condolences to Charlie’s family.</p>
<p>“Everyone at Great Ormond Street Hospital sends their heartfelt condolences to Charlie’s parents and loved ones at this very sad time,” the hospital said.</p>
<p>Medical ethicist Arthur Caplan said the Charlie Gard case shows how the medical profession is struggling to adjust to the age of social media, which puts the general public in the middle of decisions that in the past would have been private issues for doctors and the family.</p>
<p>“I do think that in an era of social media, it is possible to rally huge numbers of people to your cause,” said Caplan, of New York University’s Langone Medical Center. “The medical ethics have not caught up.”</p>
<p>The heated commentary over Charlie prompted Judge Francis to criticize the effects of social media and those “who know almost nothing about this case but who feel entitled to express opinions.”</p>
<p>In the end, the increased attention did little for Charlie.</p>
<p>His parents gave up their legal battle on Monday after scans showed that Charlie’s muscles had deteriorated so much that the damage was irreversible.</p>
<p>“Mummy and Daddy love you so much Charlie, we always have and we always will and we are so sorry that we couldn’t save you,” his parents wrote when they announced their decision. “We had the chance but we weren’t allowed to give you that chance.</p>
<p>“Sweet dreams baby. Sleep tight, our beautiful little boy.”</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>Associated Press Writer Leonore Schick contributed to this story</p>
| 5,845 |
<p>Banks do pretty well under the tax bill unveiled Thursday: it puts them on track for big tax cuts yet lets the firms avoid some of the biggest potential downsides of the overhaul.</p>
<p>At a 20% corporate tax rate, banks stand to be the among the biggest winners from tax reform, according to S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence. The five biggest diversified U.S. banks alone might have had tax savings of $11.5 billion in 2016 at that rate, the biggest sum for any sub-industry group tracked by S&amp;P.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>That is because those big banks, such as Wells Fargo &amp; Co., typically pay higher effective tax rates than companies that are much more profitable, such as Apple Inc. Banks in the S&amp;P 500 pay an effective 25% rate, versus an 18% rate for information technology firms, the data provider said.</p>
<p>Aside from the overall corporate tax rate, bank investors were also concerned with how legislators would limit the deductibility of interest costs. On the face of it, that could upend the banking model since financial firms are highly leveraged, deploying huge amounts of debt to themselves, make loans or buy instruments like bonds. Given that, interest expense for banks is akin to nonfinancial companies' cost of goods sold.</p>
<p>The legislation proposed by the House Ways and Means Committee appears to let banks sidestep that issue, though. It does so by limiting the deductibility for companies that spend more money on interest than they take in, said Mark Roe, a professor at Harvard Law School. Banks by and large bring in far more in interest than they pay out.</p>
<p>The upshot is that the change shouldn't affect banks or result in them paying more for debt that ranges from deposits to long-term bonds.</p>
<p>The bill's clampdown on interest expense deductibility also spares some of banks' important borrowers -- commercial real-estate firms. They were excluded from the provision, a relief for banks and the companies themselves since they are already under pressure as their retail tenants get squeezed by online competitors.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Still, the tax plan does strike a few sour notes for banks, especially the biggest. Banks with assets exceeding $50 billion would no longer get a deduction for certain payments to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.</p>
<p>The FDIC collected $10 billion in such payments from banks in 2016 and big banks paid a large share of that. Citigroup Inc., for instance, paid $936 million in deposit insurance fees and charges in the first nine months of this year, according to the bank.</p>
<p>As well, diminished tax incentives around some loan products like mortgages or business loans could also lessen borrowers' demand at a time when broader loan growth is flagging.</p>
<p>A number of banks, notably Citigroup, will also take a short-term hit on what are called "deferred tax assets." These are created by losses, in many cases huge ones racked up during the financial crisis, and act as IOUs that can be used to offset future tax bills. Those will lose value.</p>
<p>Write to Rachel Louise Ensign at [email protected] and Telis Demos at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 02, 2017 15:59 ET (19:59 GMT)</p>
|
Banks Sidestep a Big Tax-Plan Pitfall
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/02/banks-sidestep-big-tax-plan-pitfall.html
|
2017-11-02
| 0right
|
Banks Sidestep a Big Tax-Plan Pitfall
<p>Banks do pretty well under the tax bill unveiled Thursday: it puts them on track for big tax cuts yet lets the firms avoid some of the biggest potential downsides of the overhaul.</p>
<p>At a 20% corporate tax rate, banks stand to be the among the biggest winners from tax reform, according to S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence. The five biggest diversified U.S. banks alone might have had tax savings of $11.5 billion in 2016 at that rate, the biggest sum for any sub-industry group tracked by S&amp;P.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>That is because those big banks, such as Wells Fargo &amp; Co., typically pay higher effective tax rates than companies that are much more profitable, such as Apple Inc. Banks in the S&amp;P 500 pay an effective 25% rate, versus an 18% rate for information technology firms, the data provider said.</p>
<p>Aside from the overall corporate tax rate, bank investors were also concerned with how legislators would limit the deductibility of interest costs. On the face of it, that could upend the banking model since financial firms are highly leveraged, deploying huge amounts of debt to themselves, make loans or buy instruments like bonds. Given that, interest expense for banks is akin to nonfinancial companies' cost of goods sold.</p>
<p>The legislation proposed by the House Ways and Means Committee appears to let banks sidestep that issue, though. It does so by limiting the deductibility for companies that spend more money on interest than they take in, said Mark Roe, a professor at Harvard Law School. Banks by and large bring in far more in interest than they pay out.</p>
<p>The upshot is that the change shouldn't affect banks or result in them paying more for debt that ranges from deposits to long-term bonds.</p>
<p>The bill's clampdown on interest expense deductibility also spares some of banks' important borrowers -- commercial real-estate firms. They were excluded from the provision, a relief for banks and the companies themselves since they are already under pressure as their retail tenants get squeezed by online competitors.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Still, the tax plan does strike a few sour notes for banks, especially the biggest. Banks with assets exceeding $50 billion would no longer get a deduction for certain payments to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.</p>
<p>The FDIC collected $10 billion in such payments from banks in 2016 and big banks paid a large share of that. Citigroup Inc., for instance, paid $936 million in deposit insurance fees and charges in the first nine months of this year, according to the bank.</p>
<p>As well, diminished tax incentives around some loan products like mortgages or business loans could also lessen borrowers' demand at a time when broader loan growth is flagging.</p>
<p>A number of banks, notably Citigroup, will also take a short-term hit on what are called "deferred tax assets." These are created by losses, in many cases huge ones racked up during the financial crisis, and act as IOUs that can be used to offset future tax bills. Those will lose value.</p>
<p>Write to Rachel Louise Ensign at [email protected] and Telis Demos at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 02, 2017 15:59 ET (19:59 GMT)</p>
| 5,846 |
<p>WARWICK, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island lawmaker thinks the T.F. Green Airport should change its name.</p>
<p>House Majority Leader Joseph Shekarchi <a href="http://wpri.com/2018/01/08/lawmaker-mulls-t-f-green-airport-name-change/" type="external">tells</a> WPRI-TV he is introducing a bill to change the name of the Warwick airport. The Democrat says he'd like the name to reflect the airport's international status.</p>
<p>The airport was originally called Hillsgrove State Airport. Officials later named it after Gov. Theodore Francis Green. Green was governor from 1933 to 1937 before he served as a U.S. senator.</p>
<p>Shekarchi says Green's contributions to the state will still be memorialized if the name change moves forward.</p>
<p>An airport spokesperson says officials have discussed a name change.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: WPRI-TV, <a href="http://www.wpri.com" type="external">http://www.wpri.com</a></p>
<p>WARWICK, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island lawmaker thinks the T.F. Green Airport should change its name.</p>
<p>House Majority Leader Joseph Shekarchi <a href="http://wpri.com/2018/01/08/lawmaker-mulls-t-f-green-airport-name-change/" type="external">tells</a> WPRI-TV he is introducing a bill to change the name of the Warwick airport. The Democrat says he'd like the name to reflect the airport's international status.</p>
<p>The airport was originally called Hillsgrove State Airport. Officials later named it after Gov. Theodore Francis Green. Green was governor from 1933 to 1937 before he served as a U.S. senator.</p>
<p>Shekarchi says Green's contributions to the state will still be memorialized if the name change moves forward.</p>
<p>An airport spokesperson says officials have discussed a name change.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: WPRI-TV, <a href="http://www.wpri.com" type="external">http://www.wpri.com</a></p>
|
Legislator thinks T.F. Green Airport should change its name
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/4137e7fb8d1247f0bd488147c7a080b2
|
2018-01-09
| 2least
|
Legislator thinks T.F. Green Airport should change its name
<p>WARWICK, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island lawmaker thinks the T.F. Green Airport should change its name.</p>
<p>House Majority Leader Joseph Shekarchi <a href="http://wpri.com/2018/01/08/lawmaker-mulls-t-f-green-airport-name-change/" type="external">tells</a> WPRI-TV he is introducing a bill to change the name of the Warwick airport. The Democrat says he'd like the name to reflect the airport's international status.</p>
<p>The airport was originally called Hillsgrove State Airport. Officials later named it after Gov. Theodore Francis Green. Green was governor from 1933 to 1937 before he served as a U.S. senator.</p>
<p>Shekarchi says Green's contributions to the state will still be memorialized if the name change moves forward.</p>
<p>An airport spokesperson says officials have discussed a name change.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: WPRI-TV, <a href="http://www.wpri.com" type="external">http://www.wpri.com</a></p>
<p>WARWICK, R.I. (AP) — A Rhode Island lawmaker thinks the T.F. Green Airport should change its name.</p>
<p>House Majority Leader Joseph Shekarchi <a href="http://wpri.com/2018/01/08/lawmaker-mulls-t-f-green-airport-name-change/" type="external">tells</a> WPRI-TV he is introducing a bill to change the name of the Warwick airport. The Democrat says he'd like the name to reflect the airport's international status.</p>
<p>The airport was originally called Hillsgrove State Airport. Officials later named it after Gov. Theodore Francis Green. Green was governor from 1933 to 1937 before he served as a U.S. senator.</p>
<p>Shekarchi says Green's contributions to the state will still be memorialized if the name change moves forward.</p>
<p>An airport spokesperson says officials have discussed a name change.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: WPRI-TV, <a href="http://www.wpri.com" type="external">http://www.wpri.com</a></p>
| 5,847 |
<p>Strange but true: Even after leaving office this summer well before her term as Alaska’s governor was over, Sarah Palin’s “executive experience” still strikes Mike Huckabee as valid evidence of leadership that would put her above Barack Obama in the former Arkansas governor’s estimation, were he to be faced with those two choices at the polls. Here, Huckabee sits down with Palin’s onetime newsy nemesis, Katie Couric, for a chat about Palin’s political future. –KA</p>
<p>CBS via YouTube:</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Palin Still Gets Huckabee's Vote (Against Obama)
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/palin-still-gets-huckabees-vote-against-obama/
|
2009-11-25
| 4left
|
Palin Still Gets Huckabee's Vote (Against Obama)
<p>Strange but true: Even after leaving office this summer well before her term as Alaska’s governor was over, Sarah Palin’s “executive experience” still strikes Mike Huckabee as valid evidence of leadership that would put her above Barack Obama in the former Arkansas governor’s estimation, were he to be faced with those two choices at the polls. Here, Huckabee sits down with Palin’s onetime newsy nemesis, Katie Couric, for a chat about Palin’s political future. –KA</p>
<p>CBS via YouTube:</p>
<p />
<p />
| 5,848 |
<p>Although it’s been over five years since the United States invaded Iraq, a few non-patriots among us refuse to understand or endorse our wartime zeitgeist. I have, therefore, persuaded our noble, statuesque Icon of America to gas up her torch and shed some light on a few selfish queries posed by our huddled, recalcitrant masses.</p>
<p>Dear Green Lady:</p>
<p>Remember that guy on the bike who set off a small bomb at the Armed Forces Career Center in Times Square? The explosion busted in the door and a window of the Center just before 4:00 a.m. on March 6. This story was big in the news for a few days, then dropped out of sight. Since it happened around the fifth anniversary of our war on Iraq, I have to assume this “Bicycle Bomber” was making a protest. So, with 66% of the American public against the war, how come nobody is talking about him?</p>
<p>Dear Possible Al Qaeda Operative:</p>
<p>No one is talking about this man because he is an irresponsible, depraved, sniveling, whacked-out monster.</p>
<p>The American public, on the other hand, is made up of mature adults who accept and live daily with countless daunting facts, including: (a) the needless killing, since 2003, of more than one million Iraqis; (b) over 4.7 million Iraqis displaced from their homes; (c) the increasing destabilization of the Middle East; and (d) the deaths of 4,000 (and counting) U.S. troops, as well as the miserable existence of those now living with war-incurred disabilities.</p>
<p>The American public is bearing up quite well under these facts, thank you. But how can we possibly endure the catastrophic loss of one window and one door–shattered beyond recognition–of an unsuspecting military recruitment office that never did anybody any harm? O, THE HUMANITY!</p>
<p>Mayor Bloomberg spoke for all of us when he said, “Whoever the coward was that committed this disgraceful act on our city will be found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” Right on! If this sicko wanted to wreak serious damage, he should have gone to work for some branch of government.</p>
<p>As a soldier or a police officer, this vile reprobate would have been scientifically trained, not to bomb government property, but to make “tragic mistakes.” That’s why you’ll never hear Mayor Bloomberg talk about prosecuting “to the full extent of the law” the NYPD officers who shot and killed Sean Bell. Conversely, the Bicycle Bomber, because he was not on active duty, was not wearing a uniform, and did not hurt or kill anyone, is a certified terrorist.</p>
<p>I hope you can perceive this distinction, dear. It’s crucial if you want to avoid serious jail time. This bomb-throwing incident brings up many difficult, post-9/11 issues that we must deal with before we can achieve lasting peace and justice. Now, let’s never speak of it again.</p>
<p>Dear Green Lady:</p>
<p>Who was that pervert who said, “Nothing Human Disgusts Me”?</p>
<p>I’m just back from my anti-war affinity group. Depressed, alienated. We were supposed to discuss why there weren’t enough people to span the length of 14th Street in Manhattan last Saturday to protest the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Instead, our group spent the entire meeting arguing about whether we should write up an agenda–for THAT meeting.</p>
<p>At one point, I suggested that, since we all seemed to have a hidden agenda, we might as well relax and take turns guessing what each of us was NOT saying. You know–sort of a nonviolent way to build trust? Some pacifist threw an iPod at me and as I ducked, I remembered how, after the World Trade Center attack, some very bright people said, “Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War.”</p>
<p>Several years and a couple of invasions later, I now have to ask: What happened to our grief?</p>
<p>Dear Peace Monger:</p>
<p>Wake up and smell the patchouli, dear. You have succeeded in turning your grief into productive rage and contempt–not at Congress and our President, who are out of reach and with whom you have almost nothing in common–but at your fellow activists, where it will do the most good!</p>
<p>Simply sitting in a room and weeping or beating a pillow with a tennis racket can become dangerously narcissistic. Hating people just like you, on the other hand, is Nature’s way of re-channeling your despair, even as you provide hours of mirth and derision for FBI informants monitoring your anti-war efforts.</p>
<p>Cheer up, honey. I’ve heard that your local Barnes &amp; Noble has just hired an aging hippie to staff the Information Desk. Now, why don’t you take your Weltschmerz over there and go accuse him of being a shill for globalization? It’s so much more gratifying than hanging out nonviolently on 14th Street, waiting for the war to end.</p>
<p>P.S. Please get back to me if you suspect this man could be the Bicycle Bomber.</p>
<p>SUSIE DAY can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>© SUSIE DAY, 2008</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Advice for the War-Torn
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2008/04/04/advice-for-the-war-torn/
|
2008-04-04
| 4left
|
Advice for the War-Torn
<p>Although it’s been over five years since the United States invaded Iraq, a few non-patriots among us refuse to understand or endorse our wartime zeitgeist. I have, therefore, persuaded our noble, statuesque Icon of America to gas up her torch and shed some light on a few selfish queries posed by our huddled, recalcitrant masses.</p>
<p>Dear Green Lady:</p>
<p>Remember that guy on the bike who set off a small bomb at the Armed Forces Career Center in Times Square? The explosion busted in the door and a window of the Center just before 4:00 a.m. on March 6. This story was big in the news for a few days, then dropped out of sight. Since it happened around the fifth anniversary of our war on Iraq, I have to assume this “Bicycle Bomber” was making a protest. So, with 66% of the American public against the war, how come nobody is talking about him?</p>
<p>Dear Possible Al Qaeda Operative:</p>
<p>No one is talking about this man because he is an irresponsible, depraved, sniveling, whacked-out monster.</p>
<p>The American public, on the other hand, is made up of mature adults who accept and live daily with countless daunting facts, including: (a) the needless killing, since 2003, of more than one million Iraqis; (b) over 4.7 million Iraqis displaced from their homes; (c) the increasing destabilization of the Middle East; and (d) the deaths of 4,000 (and counting) U.S. troops, as well as the miserable existence of those now living with war-incurred disabilities.</p>
<p>The American public is bearing up quite well under these facts, thank you. But how can we possibly endure the catastrophic loss of one window and one door–shattered beyond recognition–of an unsuspecting military recruitment office that never did anybody any harm? O, THE HUMANITY!</p>
<p>Mayor Bloomberg spoke for all of us when he said, “Whoever the coward was that committed this disgraceful act on our city will be found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” Right on! If this sicko wanted to wreak serious damage, he should have gone to work for some branch of government.</p>
<p>As a soldier or a police officer, this vile reprobate would have been scientifically trained, not to bomb government property, but to make “tragic mistakes.” That’s why you’ll never hear Mayor Bloomberg talk about prosecuting “to the full extent of the law” the NYPD officers who shot and killed Sean Bell. Conversely, the Bicycle Bomber, because he was not on active duty, was not wearing a uniform, and did not hurt or kill anyone, is a certified terrorist.</p>
<p>I hope you can perceive this distinction, dear. It’s crucial if you want to avoid serious jail time. This bomb-throwing incident brings up many difficult, post-9/11 issues that we must deal with before we can achieve lasting peace and justice. Now, let’s never speak of it again.</p>
<p>Dear Green Lady:</p>
<p>Who was that pervert who said, “Nothing Human Disgusts Me”?</p>
<p>I’m just back from my anti-war affinity group. Depressed, alienated. We were supposed to discuss why there weren’t enough people to span the length of 14th Street in Manhattan last Saturday to protest the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Instead, our group spent the entire meeting arguing about whether we should write up an agenda–for THAT meeting.</p>
<p>At one point, I suggested that, since we all seemed to have a hidden agenda, we might as well relax and take turns guessing what each of us was NOT saying. You know–sort of a nonviolent way to build trust? Some pacifist threw an iPod at me and as I ducked, I remembered how, after the World Trade Center attack, some very bright people said, “Our Grief Is Not a Cry for War.”</p>
<p>Several years and a couple of invasions later, I now have to ask: What happened to our grief?</p>
<p>Dear Peace Monger:</p>
<p>Wake up and smell the patchouli, dear. You have succeeded in turning your grief into productive rage and contempt–not at Congress and our President, who are out of reach and with whom you have almost nothing in common–but at your fellow activists, where it will do the most good!</p>
<p>Simply sitting in a room and weeping or beating a pillow with a tennis racket can become dangerously narcissistic. Hating people just like you, on the other hand, is Nature’s way of re-channeling your despair, even as you provide hours of mirth and derision for FBI informants monitoring your anti-war efforts.</p>
<p>Cheer up, honey. I’ve heard that your local Barnes &amp; Noble has just hired an aging hippie to staff the Information Desk. Now, why don’t you take your Weltschmerz over there and go accuse him of being a shill for globalization? It’s so much more gratifying than hanging out nonviolently on 14th Street, waiting for the war to end.</p>
<p>P.S. Please get back to me if you suspect this man could be the Bicycle Bomber.</p>
<p>SUSIE DAY can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>© SUSIE DAY, 2008</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 5,849 |
<p>Law Professor, Washburn University School of Law</p>
<p>If to dispute well is law’s chiefest end, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has honed this ability to a stunning craft. In high-profile cases, such as O. J. Simpson, Doctor Dershowitz, a seasoned criminal law jurist, serves as a media-savvy lawyer determined to defend “the guilty.” Less well known, however, is that this advocacy Mephistopheles thrives on inventing unpopular, counter-intuitive, and even unjust exceptions to international law–a subject he normally does not teach. These exceptions–mutually folded in each other’s orb—allow the torturing of terrorists, the assassinations of their leaders, and the demolition of their family homes. What is most intriguing is the contempt that Dershowitz has for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and its current President (the Chinese judge) whom he calls a thug, discarding the language of professional courtesy.</p>
<p>Somewhat intrigued by his incendiary views daringly, and sometimes crudely, expressed in books and newspaper columns, I requested to interview Dershowitz, an interview he granted promptly and generously. We both taped the interview, I for no other reason but to save as a souvenir. I came out of the interview with the clear impression that–setting aside the civil liberties concerns that inform his criminal defense rhetoric–Dershowitz concocts these exceptions not merely to embellish his ivory tower but to proactively defend, and sometimes shape, Israeli policies in occupied Palestine.</p>
<p>For example, Dershowitz’s contempt for the ICJ has deepened ever since the Court decided to rule on the legality of Israel’s separation wall. Comparing the ICJ to a Mississippi court in the 1930s, Dershowitz contends that the ICJ is a credible court for the rest of the world but not for Israel, just as the Mississippi court was a just tribunal for whites but not for blacks. This argument, in its analogical enormity, paints the ICJ as an exceptionally anti-Israel body. Furthermore, Dershowitz challenges the neutrality of ICJ judges, arguing that they are shameless mouthpieces of their governments. When asked to comment on whether he holds the same view about British and American judges on the Court, Dershowitz stepped back to distinguish between the Court and its judges, now saying that the ICJ is bigoted but many of its judges are not. This distinction made no sense to me, since all judges on the Court, except one, held the separation wall to be illegal.</p>
<p>Dershowitz’s exceptional defense of Israel is not confined to academic criticisms of the ICJ (or the International Red Cross or the United Nations). In the interview, Dershowitz, who opposes the death penalty, revealed that he had sat on the Israeli assassination committee that reviews evidence before terrorists are targeted and killed. This “due process” hearing is designed to reduce the raw charge that state-sponsored assassinations are blatantly unlawful. &#160;Dershowitz favors targeted assassination of terrorist leaders “involved in planning or approving on-going murderous activities.” Under this protean standard, it is unclear whether spiritual and political leaders who favor terrorist violence but do not materially participate in specific terrorist acts may also be assassinated. These niceties aside, the idea of a Harvard law professor sitting on an occupying state’s assassination committee would be, to many in the legal academy, a trifle perplexing.</p>
<p>What rattles his many critics the most, however, is the innovative exception Dershowitz draws for the Convention against Torture (1987). The Convention prohibits all forms of torture and provides for no exception. In fact, the prohibition against torture has attained the status of jus cogens–the peremptory norms of international law that cannot be abandoned or altered. Dershowitz confesses to know all this. Yet he makes an empirical argument to carve out an exception. Since torture cannot be eliminated in the real world, he argues: “Ay, think so still, ’til experience change thy mind.” Dershowitz proposes that the legal system regulate torture by requiring state officials to obtain a judicial warrant before torturing. &#160;Despite Dershowitz’s connections and influence, Israel refused to launch the proposed torture warrant, although it embraced the idea of exception to the Convention it had signed. However, when more than 90 percent of the Palestinian security detainees began to be tortured, the Israeli Supreme Court put an end to the fledgling exception.</p>
<p>Undeterred by such judicial rebuffs, Dershowitz continues to manufacture legal exceptions to shore up the universally condemned Israeli practices, such as bulldozing the family homes of terror suspects. Calling it property damage, he apparently dismisses the sanctity, the intimacy, and the memories attached to a family home, anybody’s family home. As if demolition of family homes is a minor punishment, Dershowitz is willing to pull down even the entire “villages of suicide bombers.” He thinks perhaps that it takes a village to raise a suicide bomber. It does. When her entire village has been grabbed by the neck and choked, some kid (a “terrorist”) is surely going to be mad as hell.</p>
<p>Despite his legalistic jihad for Israel’s security and despite his employment of the Harvard Law School stature to propose questionable exceptions to international law, Dershowitz does not completely throw away the sense of limits. For example, he opposes Nathan Lewin, a prominent Washington lawyer and a federal judge hopeful, who blatantly argues, contrary to popular feelings of the Jewish community, that family members of suicide bombers be executed.</p>
<p>By no means is Dershowitz an incorrigible ideologue nor is he morally sightless. His reading of international law is most certainly flawed and he needs “to settle in his studies.” His intellectual honesty is nonetheless beyond doubt. He is what he thinks. He does not duck hard questions. And he does all this with an inexhaustible capacity to swallow contradictions. At the end of the play, however, when all arguments have been made, when all exceptions have been put to rest, and when the nation that launched a thousand missiles has been defended, Dershowitz relaxes his grip with a disarming sense of humor expressed through borrowed jokes. In his book Why Terrorism Works (2002), for example, he tells readers how he, as a boy, pondered over difficult hypothetical scenarios such as this: “If you were up to your neck in a vat of cat vomit and somebody threw a pile of dog poop on your face, would you duck?”</p>
<p>One may relish Dershowtiz’s for his wits, but only to wonder at the unlawful things he permits.</p>
<p>Ali Khan is a professor at Washburn University School of Law in Kansas. His book A Theory of International Terrorism will be published in 2005. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
The Jihad of Alan Dershowitz
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2004/09/30/the-jihad-of-alan-dershowitz/
|
2004-09-30
| 4left
|
The Jihad of Alan Dershowitz
<p>Law Professor, Washburn University School of Law</p>
<p>If to dispute well is law’s chiefest end, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz has honed this ability to a stunning craft. In high-profile cases, such as O. J. Simpson, Doctor Dershowitz, a seasoned criminal law jurist, serves as a media-savvy lawyer determined to defend “the guilty.” Less well known, however, is that this advocacy Mephistopheles thrives on inventing unpopular, counter-intuitive, and even unjust exceptions to international law–a subject he normally does not teach. These exceptions–mutually folded in each other’s orb—allow the torturing of terrorists, the assassinations of their leaders, and the demolition of their family homes. What is most intriguing is the contempt that Dershowitz has for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and its current President (the Chinese judge) whom he calls a thug, discarding the language of professional courtesy.</p>
<p>Somewhat intrigued by his incendiary views daringly, and sometimes crudely, expressed in books and newspaper columns, I requested to interview Dershowitz, an interview he granted promptly and generously. We both taped the interview, I for no other reason but to save as a souvenir. I came out of the interview with the clear impression that–setting aside the civil liberties concerns that inform his criminal defense rhetoric–Dershowitz concocts these exceptions not merely to embellish his ivory tower but to proactively defend, and sometimes shape, Israeli policies in occupied Palestine.</p>
<p>For example, Dershowitz’s contempt for the ICJ has deepened ever since the Court decided to rule on the legality of Israel’s separation wall. Comparing the ICJ to a Mississippi court in the 1930s, Dershowitz contends that the ICJ is a credible court for the rest of the world but not for Israel, just as the Mississippi court was a just tribunal for whites but not for blacks. This argument, in its analogical enormity, paints the ICJ as an exceptionally anti-Israel body. Furthermore, Dershowitz challenges the neutrality of ICJ judges, arguing that they are shameless mouthpieces of their governments. When asked to comment on whether he holds the same view about British and American judges on the Court, Dershowitz stepped back to distinguish between the Court and its judges, now saying that the ICJ is bigoted but many of its judges are not. This distinction made no sense to me, since all judges on the Court, except one, held the separation wall to be illegal.</p>
<p>Dershowitz’s exceptional defense of Israel is not confined to academic criticisms of the ICJ (or the International Red Cross or the United Nations). In the interview, Dershowitz, who opposes the death penalty, revealed that he had sat on the Israeli assassination committee that reviews evidence before terrorists are targeted and killed. This “due process” hearing is designed to reduce the raw charge that state-sponsored assassinations are blatantly unlawful. &#160;Dershowitz favors targeted assassination of terrorist leaders “involved in planning or approving on-going murderous activities.” Under this protean standard, it is unclear whether spiritual and political leaders who favor terrorist violence but do not materially participate in specific terrorist acts may also be assassinated. These niceties aside, the idea of a Harvard law professor sitting on an occupying state’s assassination committee would be, to many in the legal academy, a trifle perplexing.</p>
<p>What rattles his many critics the most, however, is the innovative exception Dershowitz draws for the Convention against Torture (1987). The Convention prohibits all forms of torture and provides for no exception. In fact, the prohibition against torture has attained the status of jus cogens–the peremptory norms of international law that cannot be abandoned or altered. Dershowitz confesses to know all this. Yet he makes an empirical argument to carve out an exception. Since torture cannot be eliminated in the real world, he argues: “Ay, think so still, ’til experience change thy mind.” Dershowitz proposes that the legal system regulate torture by requiring state officials to obtain a judicial warrant before torturing. &#160;Despite Dershowitz’s connections and influence, Israel refused to launch the proposed torture warrant, although it embraced the idea of exception to the Convention it had signed. However, when more than 90 percent of the Palestinian security detainees began to be tortured, the Israeli Supreme Court put an end to the fledgling exception.</p>
<p>Undeterred by such judicial rebuffs, Dershowitz continues to manufacture legal exceptions to shore up the universally condemned Israeli practices, such as bulldozing the family homes of terror suspects. Calling it property damage, he apparently dismisses the sanctity, the intimacy, and the memories attached to a family home, anybody’s family home. As if demolition of family homes is a minor punishment, Dershowitz is willing to pull down even the entire “villages of suicide bombers.” He thinks perhaps that it takes a village to raise a suicide bomber. It does. When her entire village has been grabbed by the neck and choked, some kid (a “terrorist”) is surely going to be mad as hell.</p>
<p>Despite his legalistic jihad for Israel’s security and despite his employment of the Harvard Law School stature to propose questionable exceptions to international law, Dershowitz does not completely throw away the sense of limits. For example, he opposes Nathan Lewin, a prominent Washington lawyer and a federal judge hopeful, who blatantly argues, contrary to popular feelings of the Jewish community, that family members of suicide bombers be executed.</p>
<p>By no means is Dershowitz an incorrigible ideologue nor is he morally sightless. His reading of international law is most certainly flawed and he needs “to settle in his studies.” His intellectual honesty is nonetheless beyond doubt. He is what he thinks. He does not duck hard questions. And he does all this with an inexhaustible capacity to swallow contradictions. At the end of the play, however, when all arguments have been made, when all exceptions have been put to rest, and when the nation that launched a thousand missiles has been defended, Dershowitz relaxes his grip with a disarming sense of humor expressed through borrowed jokes. In his book Why Terrorism Works (2002), for example, he tells readers how he, as a boy, pondered over difficult hypothetical scenarios such as this: “If you were up to your neck in a vat of cat vomit and somebody threw a pile of dog poop on your face, would you duck?”</p>
<p>One may relish Dershowtiz’s for his wits, but only to wonder at the unlawful things he permits.</p>
<p>Ali Khan is a professor at Washburn University School of Law in Kansas. His book A Theory of International Terrorism will be published in 2005. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 5,850 |
<p>Close to one-third of drugs approved by the <a href="" type="internal">FDA</a> are found to have safety problems, according to a research report from The Journal of the American Medical Association.</p>
<p>JAMA’s report <a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2625319" type="external">stated</a> that these safety issues, known as “postmarket safety events,” are “common after FDA approval, highlighting the importance of continuous monitoring of the safety of novel therapeutics throughout their life cycle.”</p>
<p>The study sought to identify the “frequency of postmarket safety events” of FDA-approved drugs. It revealed that 222 “novel therapeutics” were approved by the FDA between 2001 and 2010. Out of those 222 FDA-approved products, there were 123 safety issues later found in 71, or 32 per cent, of the approved drugs. Actions taken for the 71 drugs included withdrawal of the substance, new safety announcements highlighting discovered risks, and issuing “black box” warnings.</p>
<p>These safety problems “were more frequent among biologics, therapeutics indicated for the treatment of psychiatric disease, those receiving accelerated approval, and those with near–regulatory deadline approval,” according to the report.</p>
<p>Products that completed speedy reviews were not necessarily as likely to see safety complications down the road. However, drugs that were approved by <a href="" type="internal">the FDA</a> near the review deadline were more likely to reveal future problems.</p>
<p>“The authors interpreted this as suggesting that if drugs have strong pre-market safety data and can sail through their reviews, it may be a good indicator of their overall safety. Whereas, when drugs get hung up in their reviews, possibly because regulators are trying to parse weak or questionable pre-market safety data, it may be a red flag that there are post-market safety problems to come,” noted Ars Technica.</p>
<p>Another problem highlighted in the study was drugs approved by the FDA via “accelerated” reviews also ending up with safety issues.</p>
<p>The public would likely and see tremendous benefit, and a decline in detrimental complications, with more thorough and consistent follow-up reviews of approved drugs. Legislators have continuously pressed the FDA to speed up their drug approval process while paying far less attention to the long-term safety of these drugs once available to the public.</p>
<p>In investigative journalist Ben Swann’s 2016 Truth In Media <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6iZs6gwXHU&amp;t=29s" type="external">episode</a> examining the relationship between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry, Swann spoke with Emory University Professor Doug Bremner about the issues with the FDA’s follow-up on approved drugs. Bremner told Swann that Congress limited the budget of the FDA in past years, “but they’ve also demanded that they increase the speed of which they approve drugs.</p>
<p>So the number of people working on new drug approval has been increasing at the expense of those who are supposed to be watching the drugs coming onto the market.”</p>
<p>The 21st Century Cures Act, passed by former President Barack Obama in December 2016, aimed in part to further speed up the drug approval process. The Act allows the FDA to include “real world” evidence to approve drugs, “the kind provided by patients using the medication in a real-world setting as opposed to carefully designed and controlled trials,” according to a report published by the <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/science-medicine/2017/05/08/21st-century-cures-act-bad-health" type="external">Dallas Morning News</a>.</p>
<p>This could potentially lead drug companies to move away from opting for long-established clinical trials. Dr. Giuseppe Giaccone, the associate director for clinical research at Georgetown University, told the paper that this is “pretty bad for the FDA and very bad for patients, but it’s good for drug companies” and that it allows drug companies “more freedom to do whatever they like.”</p>
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://thefreethoughtproject.com/fda-approved-drugs-dangerous/" type="external">The Free Thought Project</a></p>
<p>New Hampshire-based writer Annabelle Bamforth is focused on breaking the left/right paradigm through new media and local politics. Annabelle is the editor-in-chief of Emmy-winning journalist Ben Swann’s Truth In Media Project and a producer for Mr. Swann’s Truth In Media episodes.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
JAMA Admits 30% of Drugs Approved by FDA Are Seriously Dangerous
| true |
http://dcclothesline.com/2017/05/14/jama-admits-30-of-drugs-approved-by-fda-are-seriously-dangerous/
|
2017-05-14
| 0right
|
JAMA Admits 30% of Drugs Approved by FDA Are Seriously Dangerous
<p>Close to one-third of drugs approved by the <a href="" type="internal">FDA</a> are found to have safety problems, according to a research report from The Journal of the American Medical Association.</p>
<p>JAMA’s report <a href="http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2625319" type="external">stated</a> that these safety issues, known as “postmarket safety events,” are “common after FDA approval, highlighting the importance of continuous monitoring of the safety of novel therapeutics throughout their life cycle.”</p>
<p>The study sought to identify the “frequency of postmarket safety events” of FDA-approved drugs. It revealed that 222 “novel therapeutics” were approved by the FDA between 2001 and 2010. Out of those 222 FDA-approved products, there were 123 safety issues later found in 71, or 32 per cent, of the approved drugs. Actions taken for the 71 drugs included withdrawal of the substance, new safety announcements highlighting discovered risks, and issuing “black box” warnings.</p>
<p>These safety problems “were more frequent among biologics, therapeutics indicated for the treatment of psychiatric disease, those receiving accelerated approval, and those with near–regulatory deadline approval,” according to the report.</p>
<p>Products that completed speedy reviews were not necessarily as likely to see safety complications down the road. However, drugs that were approved by <a href="" type="internal">the FDA</a> near the review deadline were more likely to reveal future problems.</p>
<p>“The authors interpreted this as suggesting that if drugs have strong pre-market safety data and can sail through their reviews, it may be a good indicator of their overall safety. Whereas, when drugs get hung up in their reviews, possibly because regulators are trying to parse weak or questionable pre-market safety data, it may be a red flag that there are post-market safety problems to come,” noted Ars Technica.</p>
<p>Another problem highlighted in the study was drugs approved by the FDA via “accelerated” reviews also ending up with safety issues.</p>
<p>The public would likely and see tremendous benefit, and a decline in detrimental complications, with more thorough and consistent follow-up reviews of approved drugs. Legislators have continuously pressed the FDA to speed up their drug approval process while paying far less attention to the long-term safety of these drugs once available to the public.</p>
<p>In investigative journalist Ben Swann’s 2016 Truth In Media <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6iZs6gwXHU&amp;t=29s" type="external">episode</a> examining the relationship between the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry, Swann spoke with Emory University Professor Doug Bremner about the issues with the FDA’s follow-up on approved drugs. Bremner told Swann that Congress limited the budget of the FDA in past years, “but they’ve also demanded that they increase the speed of which they approve drugs.</p>
<p>So the number of people working on new drug approval has been increasing at the expense of those who are supposed to be watching the drugs coming onto the market.”</p>
<p>The 21st Century Cures Act, passed by former President Barack Obama in December 2016, aimed in part to further speed up the drug approval process. The Act allows the FDA to include “real world” evidence to approve drugs, “the kind provided by patients using the medication in a real-world setting as opposed to carefully designed and controlled trials,” according to a report published by the <a href="https://www.dallasnews.com/news/science-medicine/2017/05/08/21st-century-cures-act-bad-health" type="external">Dallas Morning News</a>.</p>
<p>This could potentially lead drug companies to move away from opting for long-established clinical trials. Dr. Giuseppe Giaccone, the associate director for clinical research at Georgetown University, told the paper that this is “pretty bad for the FDA and very bad for patients, but it’s good for drug companies” and that it allows drug companies “more freedom to do whatever they like.”</p>
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://thefreethoughtproject.com/fda-approved-drugs-dangerous/" type="external">The Free Thought Project</a></p>
<p>New Hampshire-based writer Annabelle Bamforth is focused on breaking the left/right paradigm through new media and local politics. Annabelle is the editor-in-chief of Emmy-winning journalist Ben Swann’s Truth In Media Project and a producer for Mr. Swann’s Truth In Media episodes.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 5,851 |
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<p>With the defeat, the Lobos settled for a split of their four-game series with the Highlanders and fell to 6-8 on the season.</p>
<p>For the sixth straight game, UNM’s starting pitcher failed to make it out of the fourth inning. Sam Wolff (1-2) gave up nine runs, seven earned, on seven hits before departing with two out in the third.</p>
<p>Three relievers gave up another five runs. All told, the Highlanders banged out 18 hits.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“(The pitching) has been kind of hit or miss,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “We can’t (expect to) score 15 runs a game. You just can’t.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the usually potent Lobo bats were silent early – managing just two hits through five innings against UC Riverside starter Matt Patito (1-0).</p>
<p>The Lobos finally scored in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by D.J. Peterson and Mitch Garver, then pushed across four runs, all unearned, on three hits in the seventh.</p>
<p>In the New Mexico ninth, Peterson tripled in a run, then scored on a Garver single.</p>
<p>The Lobos, aided by a Highlanders error, scored twice more before the inning was over. But UC Riverside right-hander Trevor Frank struck out shortstop Jared Holley, ending the inning and the game.</p>
<p>Garver and Peterson led the Lobos with two hits apiece.</p>
<p>The Lobos haven’t played thus far like the 21st-ranked team in the nation, which is where they began.</p>
<p>“We don’t have that feeling of panic at all,” Garver said. “We know we’re good. We were ranked in the preseason for a reason, and we’re just going to let it ride out.” Highlanders jump on New Mexico early&lt;reefer_hed&gt;WednesdayUNM at Arizona State, 5:30 p.m.</p>
<p>— This article appeared on page B3 of the Albuquerque Journal</p>
|
Highlanders jump on New Mexico early
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/239099/highlanders-jump-on-new-mexico-early.html
| 2least
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Highlanders jump on New Mexico early
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>With the defeat, the Lobos settled for a split of their four-game series with the Highlanders and fell to 6-8 on the season.</p>
<p>For the sixth straight game, UNM’s starting pitcher failed to make it out of the fourth inning. Sam Wolff (1-2) gave up nine runs, seven earned, on seven hits before departing with two out in the third.</p>
<p>Three relievers gave up another five runs. All told, the Highlanders banged out 18 hits.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“(The pitching) has been kind of hit or miss,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “We can’t (expect to) score 15 runs a game. You just can’t.”</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the usually potent Lobo bats were silent early – managing just two hits through five innings against UC Riverside starter Matt Patito (1-0).</p>
<p>The Lobos finally scored in the sixth on back-to-back doubles by D.J. Peterson and Mitch Garver, then pushed across four runs, all unearned, on three hits in the seventh.</p>
<p>In the New Mexico ninth, Peterson tripled in a run, then scored on a Garver single.</p>
<p>The Lobos, aided by a Highlanders error, scored twice more before the inning was over. But UC Riverside right-hander Trevor Frank struck out shortstop Jared Holley, ending the inning and the game.</p>
<p>Garver and Peterson led the Lobos with two hits apiece.</p>
<p>The Lobos haven’t played thus far like the 21st-ranked team in the nation, which is where they began.</p>
<p>“We don’t have that feeling of panic at all,” Garver said. “We know we’re good. We were ranked in the preseason for a reason, and we’re just going to let it ride out.” Highlanders jump on New Mexico early&lt;reefer_hed&gt;WednesdayUNM at Arizona State, 5:30 p.m.</p>
<p>— This article appeared on page B3 of the Albuquerque Journal</p>
| 5,852 |
|
<p />
<p>A former Edwards supporter, Francine Torge, <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/civilrights/" type="external">introducing Hillary Clinton</a> yesterday in Dover, NH:</p>
<p>“Some people compare one of the other candidates to John F. Kennedy. But he was assassinated.”</p>
<p>The expected Clinton campaign disavowal came from Phil Singer, a spokesman:</p>
<p>“We were not aware that this person was going to make those comments and disapprove of them completely. They were totally inappropriate.”</p>
<p>Whoops.</p>
<p />
|
The Danger of Having ‘Civilians’ Speak at Campaign Events
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/01/danger-having-civilians-speak-campaign-events/
|
2008-01-08
| 4left
|
The Danger of Having ‘Civilians’ Speak at Campaign Events
<p />
<p>A former Edwards supporter, Francine Torge, <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/07/civilrights/" type="external">introducing Hillary Clinton</a> yesterday in Dover, NH:</p>
<p>“Some people compare one of the other candidates to John F. Kennedy. But he was assassinated.”</p>
<p>The expected Clinton campaign disavowal came from Phil Singer, a spokesman:</p>
<p>“We were not aware that this person was going to make those comments and disapprove of them completely. They were totally inappropriate.”</p>
<p>Whoops.</p>
<p />
| 5,853 |
<p />
<p>Gold is on pace for its best year since 2010. Already the yellow metal has seen a run-up of 21.6% year-to-date, as tracked by our partners at the WSJ Market Data Group, closing at&#160;$1289.20. That may continue as global equity and currency investors head for the hills.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“Everywhere the investor looks these days there is political and macro-economic uncertainty,” said George Gero, managing director, RBC Wealth Management during an interview with FOXBusiness.com. Gero notes, there was no shortage of confusing signals this week. The Bank of Japan decided against more stimulus, while the Federal Reserve sent a fresh round of mixed signals to the market after leaving rates unchanged. Add in the fact that the U.S. economy grew just 0.5% in the 1Q. Now investors are wondering whether or not Fed Chair Janet Yellen will be able to raise interest rates at all this year.</p>
<p>As central banks bungle monetary policy, currencies are getting whipsawed. The dollar is down 10% vs. the Japanese yen, which is also helping goose gold. The dollar saw its biggest slide since 2010 on Thursday.</p>
<p>The safe-haven metal, which is portable and can be converted into any currency, is also benefiting from political uncertainty around the globe. The U.K. is threatening to leave the European Union in a move that has been dubbed “Brexit.” That vote is set to take place on June 23. Meanwhile Europe as a whole is struggling with a massive migrant crisis. And in the U.S., the race for the White House has also left investors feeling confused, notes Gero.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>That confusion is being complicated by a perfect storm of fiscal and economic issues. Speaking on FOX Business Network’s Mornings With Maria, Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, said, “Whether you look at Japan or the United States, there are four common areas. One is we need to invest in real growth engine; that’s tax reform, infrastructure, labor market training. Secondly, we need to better match the willingness and ability to spend, that speaks to fiscal policy. Third, we need to deal with excessive indebtedness in Greece, student loans here. And finally, we need better policy coordination. Maria, it is not an engineering problem, this is an implementation problem.”</p>
<p>The S&amp;P 500 (NYSE:SPY) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) are little changed this year, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ:QQQ) is down 4%.</p>
|
Political & Economic Craziness Gives Gold Best Year Since 2010
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/29/political-economic-craziness-gives-gold-best-year-since-2010.html
|
2016-04-29
| 0right
|
Political & Economic Craziness Gives Gold Best Year Since 2010
<p />
<p>Gold is on pace for its best year since 2010. Already the yellow metal has seen a run-up of 21.6% year-to-date, as tracked by our partners at the WSJ Market Data Group, closing at&#160;$1289.20. That may continue as global equity and currency investors head for the hills.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“Everywhere the investor looks these days there is political and macro-economic uncertainty,” said George Gero, managing director, RBC Wealth Management during an interview with FOXBusiness.com. Gero notes, there was no shortage of confusing signals this week. The Bank of Japan decided against more stimulus, while the Federal Reserve sent a fresh round of mixed signals to the market after leaving rates unchanged. Add in the fact that the U.S. economy grew just 0.5% in the 1Q. Now investors are wondering whether or not Fed Chair Janet Yellen will be able to raise interest rates at all this year.</p>
<p>As central banks bungle monetary policy, currencies are getting whipsawed. The dollar is down 10% vs. the Japanese yen, which is also helping goose gold. The dollar saw its biggest slide since 2010 on Thursday.</p>
<p>The safe-haven metal, which is portable and can be converted into any currency, is also benefiting from political uncertainty around the globe. The U.K. is threatening to leave the European Union in a move that has been dubbed “Brexit.” That vote is set to take place on June 23. Meanwhile Europe as a whole is struggling with a massive migrant crisis. And in the U.S., the race for the White House has also left investors feeling confused, notes Gero.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>That confusion is being complicated by a perfect storm of fiscal and economic issues. Speaking on FOX Business Network’s Mornings With Maria, Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic adviser at Allianz, said, “Whether you look at Japan or the United States, there are four common areas. One is we need to invest in real growth engine; that’s tax reform, infrastructure, labor market training. Secondly, we need to better match the willingness and ability to spend, that speaks to fiscal policy. Third, we need to deal with excessive indebtedness in Greece, student loans here. And finally, we need better policy coordination. Maria, it is not an engineering problem, this is an implementation problem.”</p>
<p>The S&amp;P 500 (NYSE:SPY) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) are little changed this year, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQ:QQQ) is down 4%.</p>
| 5,854 |
<p>Rove vs. the Tea Party:</p>
<p>Karl Rove wants the GOP establishment to take back the Republican Party from the tea party, and he’s launching an initiative to do so. Rove and other organizers behind his super PAC American Crossroads are supporting a new super PAC called the Conservative Victory Project. The group’s goal is to defeat unelectable tea party candidates—such as Christine O’Donnell, Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock–in GOP primaries and have more electable Republicans as the party’s candidates against Democrats. “There is a broad concern about having blown a significant number of races because the wrong candidates were selected,” American Crossroads President Steven Law, who will run the new super PAC, said. “We don’t view ourselves as being in the incumbent protection business, but we want to pick the most conservative candidate who can win.” ( <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/03/karl-rove-launches-initiative-to-keep-tea-party-candidates-out-of-elections/" type="external">Read more</a>)</p>
<p>Krugman vs. the NRA: New York Times columnist Paul Krugman excoriated the National Rifle Association during a discussion on ABC’s “This Week,” calling the powerful gun lobby group “an insane organization.” The Nobel Prize-winning economist argued that the NRA’s “bizarre” approach to gun control is ultimately working against it. “Now the craziness of the extreme pro-gun lobby has been revealed, and that has got to move the debate and got to move the legislation at least to some degree,” Krugman said. ( <a href="http://www.politicususa.com/bulletproof-left-paul-krugman-guts-nras-shred-intimidation.html" type="external">Read more</a>)</p>
<p>Perry vs. the Boy Scouts: Unpopular Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he is not OK with the news that the Boy Scouts of America may be getting ready to end its bigoted and discriminatory policy of banning gays from joining the organization. Perry, an Eagle Scout, spoke at the Texas Scouts’ 64th annual Report to State, where he stated that the organization should not soften its policy of barring members because of their sexuality. “Hopefully the board will follow their historic position of keeping the Scouts strongly supportive of the values that make scouting this very important and impactful organization,” Perry said. ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/us/rick-perry-opposes-opening-boy-scouts-to-gays.html?smid=tw-share&amp;_r=0" type="external">Read more</a>)</p>
<p />
<p>McDonnell vs. Hybrid Owners: Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell evidently doesn’t understand that the point of owning a hybrid or electric vehicle is to save money on gas. To wit: The GOP governor has proposed a $100 fee for alternative fuel vehicles to make up for losses on the federal gas tax. As one person protesting the plan noted, “We should be rewarding people for trying to do their part to stop the climate crisis and to lower pollution. We shouldn’t be punishing them with taxes.” ( <a href="http://wtop.com/120/3214136/Hybrid-owners-protest-100-fee" type="external">Read more</a>)</p>
<p>Texas vs. Obama: Given that Texans already launched an effort on the White House’s We the People site to succeed from the U.S., the results of a new Public Policy Polling survey should come as no surprise—the number of people who support secession efforts has increased since President Obama’s re-election in November. According to the poll, 20 percent of Texas voters said they’d like the Lone Star State to leave the union, up from 14 percent in September 2011. Unfortunately for the secession supporters, most Texans don’t share those beliefs. Two-thirds of voters in the state support Texas staying in the U.S., according to the poll. ( <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/01/clinton-could-win-texas.html" type="external">Read more</a>)</p>
<p>Video of the Day: On the latest edition of “Real Time,” host Bill Maher said the left shouldn’t be gloating about Sarah Palin’s getting dropped by Fox News. Why? Because it frees her to go the way of influential conservative pundits and “con men” like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. “Con men, like Rush and Beck, are one reason the Republicans are in such dire straits today because they don’t care about winning elections; they care about separating rubes from their money,” Maher explained. “They’ve discovered there is a fortune to be made by keeping a small portion of America under the illusion that they are always under attack from Mexicans, ACORN, or Planned Parenthood, or gays, or takers, global warming hoaxers. It doesn’t matter. They don’t want a majority; they want a mailing list.”</p>
<p />
|
Rove Takes on the Tea Party, Maher Rips ‘Con Men’ Limbaugh and Beck, and More
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/rove-takes-on-the-tea-party-maher-rips-con-men-limbaugh-and-beck-and-more/
|
2013-02-04
| 4left
|
Rove Takes on the Tea Party, Maher Rips ‘Con Men’ Limbaugh and Beck, and More
<p>Rove vs. the Tea Party:</p>
<p>Karl Rove wants the GOP establishment to take back the Republican Party from the tea party, and he’s launching an initiative to do so. Rove and other organizers behind his super PAC American Crossroads are supporting a new super PAC called the Conservative Victory Project. The group’s goal is to defeat unelectable tea party candidates—such as Christine O’Donnell, Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock–in GOP primaries and have more electable Republicans as the party’s candidates against Democrats. “There is a broad concern about having blown a significant number of races because the wrong candidates were selected,” American Crossroads President Steven Law, who will run the new super PAC, said. “We don’t view ourselves as being in the incumbent protection business, but we want to pick the most conservative candidate who can win.” ( <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/03/karl-rove-launches-initiative-to-keep-tea-party-candidates-out-of-elections/" type="external">Read more</a>)</p>
<p>Krugman vs. the NRA: New York Times columnist Paul Krugman excoriated the National Rifle Association during a discussion on ABC’s “This Week,” calling the powerful gun lobby group “an insane organization.” The Nobel Prize-winning economist argued that the NRA’s “bizarre” approach to gun control is ultimately working against it. “Now the craziness of the extreme pro-gun lobby has been revealed, and that has got to move the debate and got to move the legislation at least to some degree,” Krugman said. ( <a href="http://www.politicususa.com/bulletproof-left-paul-krugman-guts-nras-shred-intimidation.html" type="external">Read more</a>)</p>
<p>Perry vs. the Boy Scouts: Unpopular Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he is not OK with the news that the Boy Scouts of America may be getting ready to end its bigoted and discriminatory policy of banning gays from joining the organization. Perry, an Eagle Scout, spoke at the Texas Scouts’ 64th annual Report to State, where he stated that the organization should not soften its policy of barring members because of their sexuality. “Hopefully the board will follow their historic position of keeping the Scouts strongly supportive of the values that make scouting this very important and impactful organization,” Perry said. ( <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/03/us/rick-perry-opposes-opening-boy-scouts-to-gays.html?smid=tw-share&amp;_r=0" type="external">Read more</a>)</p>
<p />
<p>McDonnell vs. Hybrid Owners: Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell evidently doesn’t understand that the point of owning a hybrid or electric vehicle is to save money on gas. To wit: The GOP governor has proposed a $100 fee for alternative fuel vehicles to make up for losses on the federal gas tax. As one person protesting the plan noted, “We should be rewarding people for trying to do their part to stop the climate crisis and to lower pollution. We shouldn’t be punishing them with taxes.” ( <a href="http://wtop.com/120/3214136/Hybrid-owners-protest-100-fee" type="external">Read more</a>)</p>
<p>Texas vs. Obama: Given that Texans already launched an effort on the White House’s We the People site to succeed from the U.S., the results of a new Public Policy Polling survey should come as no surprise—the number of people who support secession efforts has increased since President Obama’s re-election in November. According to the poll, 20 percent of Texas voters said they’d like the Lone Star State to leave the union, up from 14 percent in September 2011. Unfortunately for the secession supporters, most Texans don’t share those beliefs. Two-thirds of voters in the state support Texas staying in the U.S., according to the poll. ( <a href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2013/01/clinton-could-win-texas.html" type="external">Read more</a>)</p>
<p>Video of the Day: On the latest edition of “Real Time,” host Bill Maher said the left shouldn’t be gloating about Sarah Palin’s getting dropped by Fox News. Why? Because it frees her to go the way of influential conservative pundits and “con men” like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. “Con men, like Rush and Beck, are one reason the Republicans are in such dire straits today because they don’t care about winning elections; they care about separating rubes from their money,” Maher explained. “They’ve discovered there is a fortune to be made by keeping a small portion of America under the illusion that they are always under attack from Mexicans, ACORN, or Planned Parenthood, or gays, or takers, global warming hoaxers. It doesn’t matter. They don’t want a majority; they want a mailing list.”</p>
<p />
| 5,855 |
<p>Every now and then, journalists who have shown excellence in their work are rewarded. A prize that recognises their investigative skills and critical thinking is a worthy achievement; a prize that rewards them for using their profession to “conspicuously” support a foreign state in conflict, is not. Rather, it raises questions about their impartiality, good judgment and integrity. Their professionalism can no longer be trusted.</p>
<p>It happened in Australia this past week. Greg Sheridan, billed as “the most influential foreign affairs analyst in Australian journalism” by his newspaper “The Australian” was awarded the annual Jerusalem Prize by the State Zionist Council of NSW. According to its president Frank Levy, “The prize is awarded to someone who fosters and supports the state of Israel and its ideologies, the concept of the Jewish homeland and the Jewish community, particularly in Australia.”</p>
<p>Sheridan saw nothing wrong in accepting the prize, but many Australians did. In fact, Sheridan wrote a loose article “Rare support for democracy in a sea of misunderstanding” (The Australian 3/5) in response to the mail he received urging him not to accept the prize and was at great pains to explain that he had not compromised his independence as a commentator because he believed Israel–quoting the former pro-Israel president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid–“is a democracy in a sea of misunderstanding”.</p>
<p>Anxious to justify his position, Sheridan referred to the illustrious recipients of the prize worldwide including our own Liberal Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and a former Labor lord mayor of Sydney and current NSW minister, Frank Sartor. Sheridan wanted to make sure that bipartisan support for Israel in Australia was really understood and he pointed to both Liberal Prime Minister Howard and Labor Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd as avid supporters of Israel’s democracy.</p>
<p>After all the names Sheridan dropped to validate his own selection for the prize, Israel’s democracy emerged as the prime reason for Sheridan’s unquestioning support, not because it is perfect, but because being anti-Israel is “fundamentally irrational and evidence of psychological and ideological dysfunction rather than genuine analysis.”</p>
<p>There is no room in Sheridan’s argument for an irrational and dysfunctional Israel and the ideology in which it is rooted. If any of its actions are mistakes that should be understood because “any democratic nation makes plenty of mistakes and sometimes it makes moral mistakes.” But, he does not allow for other forms of government and leaders to make mistakes. Sheridan raises Saddam’s responsibility for the killing of 300,000 to 400,000 of his own citizens: he does not mention that Israel slipped through the legal and moral net without condemnation when it deliberately killed hundreds of Palestinians and terrorised some 750,000 others to flee their homes and homeland in 1948.</p>
<p>Sheridan’s snapshot look at history gives an out-of-context account of Israel’s birth, ignoring the well-documented massacres and complete razing of Palestinian villages and towns that Israel executed to gain a permanent foothold in all of Palestine. None of that is in the least justified by Sheridan’s statement that “there have always been Jews in Palestine.” Indeed, it would have been helpful for him to point out that most of those Jews who lived in Palestine over the centuries were in fact Palestinians. Just like there are Palestinians who are Christians, and of course, Muslims. The European Jews filtered in when they fled persecution in Christian Spain in the Middle Ages, but it was not until modern times that the European Jewish population in Palestine swelled in number after Zionists forced their mass exodus to Palestine in the aftermath of the European holocaust. This was the realisation of the great Zionist colonialist experiment that had no predilection for democracy.</p>
<p>There was nothing fair about the Partition that created Israel, giving the minority European Jewish population a greater portion of the land belonging to the majority Palestinian population. And there has been no fairness for the Palestinians since, despite Sheridan raising the old canard of Barak’s “generous” offer. The 95 per cent of the West Bank and Gaza that Sheridan says was offered to the Palestinians was once again not put in context.</p>
<p>For years, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) had called for a two-state solution agreeing to Israel keeping 78 per cent of the former British-mandated Palestine while the Palestinians would form their state on the remaining 22 per cent that Israel has occupied since the 1967 war. At Camp David 2000, Barak’s offer actually amounted to only a bare 8.3 per cent of the original Palestinian homeland from which they had been driven in 1948. In exchange for withdrawing completely from Gaza as well as the offer of a small piece of land in the Negev Desert that Israel had used as a toxic waste dump, Israel would annex the most fertile and strategically important areas of the West Bank while maintaining control over the Palestinian state’s borders, air space and the land’s scarce water resources–and with Israel’s military free to intervene at any time. Effectively, what was offered were four non-contiguous parcels of land which would force Palestinians to cross Israeli territory every time they travelled or shipped their goods between each other and with no free access to their own international borders with Jordan and Egypt. Had Arafat agreed to this, he would have effectively waived any further Palestinian claims against Israel. That would have been political suicide for the Palestinians already being subjected to these Orwellian restrictions.</p>
<p>Moving on, Sheridan says that Israel made this “generous” offer in exchange for a peace that would accept Israel’s legitimacy. Because Arafat refused, Sheridan then makes the quantum leap to deduce that Arafat “had never accepted that Israel had a right to exist at all.” Nowhere does Sheridan explain that all the while these negotiations were taking place, Israel’s illegal settlement expansionism was still going on. In fact, the Israeli bureau of statistics reported that settlement building had increased 81 per cent in the first quarter of 2000. (Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories, 11-12/00) Nowhere does Sheridan describe the nightly military raids into Palestinian cities, towns and villages, the killings, home demolitions, arrests, humiliations and indignities suffered by the Palestinian population. Nowhere does he mention the frenzied attacks by the Israeli settlers, who have no moral qualms about allowing their children to hurl stones and abuse at Palestinian women and children as they try to make their way to school or home. Instead, he asks the reader to empathise with the Israelis who he says are forced to defend themselves from the constant threats and attacks driven by “hate-filled and anti-Semitic propaganda designed to make schoolchildren despise the Jews”. Israel’s democracy, therefore, has an excuse for war; Palestinians under occupation have none.</p>
<p>For an experienced foreign affairs journalist, Sheridan shows an amazing reluctance to examine the realities of Israel’s “democracy” at work. His article relies on the same old and now-debunked myths and arguments that no self-respecting journalist ought to employ. Even if Sheridan is convinced that “Israel is a democracy in good standing” he ought to be asking for whom? Israel has made no secret of its intention to be a Jewish state only, so it is no wonder that Israel’s 1.2 million Palestinian citizens ­ the survivors and descendants of the 1948 Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestine–see themselves increasingly isolated and alienated from Israeli society. It won’t be long before Israel will have to declare its hand: is it “a state of the Jewish people throughout the world” as it defines itself, or a state of all its citizens, both Jewish and non-Jewish? Perhaps Sheridan sees this as yet another issue that must be left for Israel’s “vibrant, genuine problem-solving democracy” to solve. In the meantime, Sheridan should indeed congratulate himself on the “great honour” of being awarded the Jerusalem Prize for no other reason than having supported Israel so “conspicuously”.</p>
<p>SONJA KARKAR is the founder and president of Women for Palestine in Melbourne, Australia. See <a href="http://www.womenforpalestine.com/" type="external">www.womenforpalestine.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Prizes for Supporting Israel?
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2007/05/07/prizes-for-supporting-israel/
|
2007-05-07
| 4left
|
Prizes for Supporting Israel?
<p>Every now and then, journalists who have shown excellence in their work are rewarded. A prize that recognises their investigative skills and critical thinking is a worthy achievement; a prize that rewards them for using their profession to “conspicuously” support a foreign state in conflict, is not. Rather, it raises questions about their impartiality, good judgment and integrity. Their professionalism can no longer be trusted.</p>
<p>It happened in Australia this past week. Greg Sheridan, billed as “the most influential foreign affairs analyst in Australian journalism” by his newspaper “The Australian” was awarded the annual Jerusalem Prize by the State Zionist Council of NSW. According to its president Frank Levy, “The prize is awarded to someone who fosters and supports the state of Israel and its ideologies, the concept of the Jewish homeland and the Jewish community, particularly in Australia.”</p>
<p>Sheridan saw nothing wrong in accepting the prize, but many Australians did. In fact, Sheridan wrote a loose article “Rare support for democracy in a sea of misunderstanding” (The Australian 3/5) in response to the mail he received urging him not to accept the prize and was at great pains to explain that he had not compromised his independence as a commentator because he believed Israel–quoting the former pro-Israel president of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid–“is a democracy in a sea of misunderstanding”.</p>
<p>Anxious to justify his position, Sheridan referred to the illustrious recipients of the prize worldwide including our own Liberal Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and a former Labor lord mayor of Sydney and current NSW minister, Frank Sartor. Sheridan wanted to make sure that bipartisan support for Israel in Australia was really understood and he pointed to both Liberal Prime Minister Howard and Labor Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd as avid supporters of Israel’s democracy.</p>
<p>After all the names Sheridan dropped to validate his own selection for the prize, Israel’s democracy emerged as the prime reason for Sheridan’s unquestioning support, not because it is perfect, but because being anti-Israel is “fundamentally irrational and evidence of psychological and ideological dysfunction rather than genuine analysis.”</p>
<p>There is no room in Sheridan’s argument for an irrational and dysfunctional Israel and the ideology in which it is rooted. If any of its actions are mistakes that should be understood because “any democratic nation makes plenty of mistakes and sometimes it makes moral mistakes.” But, he does not allow for other forms of government and leaders to make mistakes. Sheridan raises Saddam’s responsibility for the killing of 300,000 to 400,000 of his own citizens: he does not mention that Israel slipped through the legal and moral net without condemnation when it deliberately killed hundreds of Palestinians and terrorised some 750,000 others to flee their homes and homeland in 1948.</p>
<p>Sheridan’s snapshot look at history gives an out-of-context account of Israel’s birth, ignoring the well-documented massacres and complete razing of Palestinian villages and towns that Israel executed to gain a permanent foothold in all of Palestine. None of that is in the least justified by Sheridan’s statement that “there have always been Jews in Palestine.” Indeed, it would have been helpful for him to point out that most of those Jews who lived in Palestine over the centuries were in fact Palestinians. Just like there are Palestinians who are Christians, and of course, Muslims. The European Jews filtered in when they fled persecution in Christian Spain in the Middle Ages, but it was not until modern times that the European Jewish population in Palestine swelled in number after Zionists forced their mass exodus to Palestine in the aftermath of the European holocaust. This was the realisation of the great Zionist colonialist experiment that had no predilection for democracy.</p>
<p>There was nothing fair about the Partition that created Israel, giving the minority European Jewish population a greater portion of the land belonging to the majority Palestinian population. And there has been no fairness for the Palestinians since, despite Sheridan raising the old canard of Barak’s “generous” offer. The 95 per cent of the West Bank and Gaza that Sheridan says was offered to the Palestinians was once again not put in context.</p>
<p>For years, the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) had called for a two-state solution agreeing to Israel keeping 78 per cent of the former British-mandated Palestine while the Palestinians would form their state on the remaining 22 per cent that Israel has occupied since the 1967 war. At Camp David 2000, Barak’s offer actually amounted to only a bare 8.3 per cent of the original Palestinian homeland from which they had been driven in 1948. In exchange for withdrawing completely from Gaza as well as the offer of a small piece of land in the Negev Desert that Israel had used as a toxic waste dump, Israel would annex the most fertile and strategically important areas of the West Bank while maintaining control over the Palestinian state’s borders, air space and the land’s scarce water resources–and with Israel’s military free to intervene at any time. Effectively, what was offered were four non-contiguous parcels of land which would force Palestinians to cross Israeli territory every time they travelled or shipped their goods between each other and with no free access to their own international borders with Jordan and Egypt. Had Arafat agreed to this, he would have effectively waived any further Palestinian claims against Israel. That would have been political suicide for the Palestinians already being subjected to these Orwellian restrictions.</p>
<p>Moving on, Sheridan says that Israel made this “generous” offer in exchange for a peace that would accept Israel’s legitimacy. Because Arafat refused, Sheridan then makes the quantum leap to deduce that Arafat “had never accepted that Israel had a right to exist at all.” Nowhere does Sheridan explain that all the while these negotiations were taking place, Israel’s illegal settlement expansionism was still going on. In fact, the Israeli bureau of statistics reported that settlement building had increased 81 per cent in the first quarter of 2000. (Report on Israeli Settlement in the Occupied Territories, 11-12/00) Nowhere does Sheridan describe the nightly military raids into Palestinian cities, towns and villages, the killings, home demolitions, arrests, humiliations and indignities suffered by the Palestinian population. Nowhere does he mention the frenzied attacks by the Israeli settlers, who have no moral qualms about allowing their children to hurl stones and abuse at Palestinian women and children as they try to make their way to school or home. Instead, he asks the reader to empathise with the Israelis who he says are forced to defend themselves from the constant threats and attacks driven by “hate-filled and anti-Semitic propaganda designed to make schoolchildren despise the Jews”. Israel’s democracy, therefore, has an excuse for war; Palestinians under occupation have none.</p>
<p>For an experienced foreign affairs journalist, Sheridan shows an amazing reluctance to examine the realities of Israel’s “democracy” at work. His article relies on the same old and now-debunked myths and arguments that no self-respecting journalist ought to employ. Even if Sheridan is convinced that “Israel is a democracy in good standing” he ought to be asking for whom? Israel has made no secret of its intention to be a Jewish state only, so it is no wonder that Israel’s 1.2 million Palestinian citizens ­ the survivors and descendants of the 1948 Zionist ethnic cleansing of Palestine–see themselves increasingly isolated and alienated from Israeli society. It won’t be long before Israel will have to declare its hand: is it “a state of the Jewish people throughout the world” as it defines itself, or a state of all its citizens, both Jewish and non-Jewish? Perhaps Sheridan sees this as yet another issue that must be left for Israel’s “vibrant, genuine problem-solving democracy” to solve. In the meantime, Sheridan should indeed congratulate himself on the “great honour” of being awarded the Jerusalem Prize for no other reason than having supported Israel so “conspicuously”.</p>
<p>SONJA KARKAR is the founder and president of Women for Palestine in Melbourne, Australia. See <a href="http://www.womenforpalestine.com/" type="external">www.womenforpalestine.com</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 5,856 |
<p />
<p>Verizon Wireless has decided to scrap the $2 fee it planned to institute for online and telephone single payments less than 24 hours after a wave of backlash and criticism hit the mobile carrier.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company, a joint venture between Verizon Wireless (VZ: 40.24, +0.19, +0.47%) and Vodafone (VOD: 28.07, +0.33, +1.19%), unveiled plans late Thursday to start charging a fee for those payments on January 15.</p>
<p>The original announcement was immediately met with criticism from customers that were already fuming over service outages from earlier in the week. One customer, identified on Verizon’s forum under the username bkcnic, called the fee “ridiculous and [a] robbery.”</p>
<p>“The only thing this did is instill my assertion that corporate management is intellectually and creatively bankrupt.”</p>
<p>“We are busy people, so to call in and pay over the phone or online is the ONLY way we pay, and it's highway robbery that we should be CHARGED to pay our bill in a timely fashion,” bkcnic wrote on a forum on Verizon’s web site. “Verizon should be eating the fees for credit and debit card charges and cough it up to good business and keeping customers happy!”</p>
<p>The pullback also comes amid criticism from industry watchers, including the Federal Communications Commission, which said earlier on Friday it was "concerned" about the charge and was looking into the matter.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Verizon said it made the decision to scrap the plan in response to customer feedback.</p>
<p>“At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers,” Verizon CEO Dan Mead said in a statement. “Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time.”</p>
<p>The plan was intended to improve the efficiency of those transactions, and Verizon continues to encourage customers to take advantage of its various payment options.</p>
<p>Investors seemed to yawn the news, keeping Verizon shares virtually flat around the time of the mid-afternoon announcement. Still, the fee was a blow to customers that had already been reeling from the company's third 4G outage since the start of December.</p>
<p>Customers earlier this week criticized Verizon’s lack of acknowledgement and response to the nationwide complaints of outages on its 4G service, which is supposed to be its fastest and most advanced offering.</p>
<p>Verizon did finally admit there were issues on Thursday and it was working to fix them, however it simultaneously unveiled the plan to charge $2 for bill pay, which only shifted the direction of outrage on its forums.</p>
<p>The customer backlash bears a liking to that seen when Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) raised prices this summer and said it planned to separate its DVD-by-mail service into a separate company called Qwikster, a move that caused its shares to fall more than 70% and nearly a million subscribers to quit.</p>
<p>It is also similar to Bank of America’s (NYSE:BAC) plan to start charging a $5 monthly fee to customers in 2012 that used debit cards to make purchases. In both cases, the companies ended up going back on their announcement, citing the negative reaction from customers.</p>
<p>“This is yet another perfect illustration of the cluelessness of American corporate management that is running rampant across industry,” branding expert Rob Frankel said. “Who is making these decisions?”</p>
<p>Frankel said he was not surprised Verizon ended up scrapping the fee.</p>
<p>“There’s absolutely no upside to this move and its subsequent retraction, none,” he said. “The only thing this did is instill my assertion that corporate management is intellectually and creatively bankrupt.”</p>
|
Verizon Pulls Plug on $2 Bill-Pay Fee
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/12/30/fcc-examining-verizons-2-bill-pay-fee.html
|
2016-03-04
| 0right
|
Verizon Pulls Plug on $2 Bill-Pay Fee
<p />
<p>Verizon Wireless has decided to scrap the $2 fee it planned to institute for online and telephone single payments less than 24 hours after a wave of backlash and criticism hit the mobile carrier.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company, a joint venture between Verizon Wireless (VZ: 40.24, +0.19, +0.47%) and Vodafone (VOD: 28.07, +0.33, +1.19%), unveiled plans late Thursday to start charging a fee for those payments on January 15.</p>
<p>The original announcement was immediately met with criticism from customers that were already fuming over service outages from earlier in the week. One customer, identified on Verizon’s forum under the username bkcnic, called the fee “ridiculous and [a] robbery.”</p>
<p>“The only thing this did is instill my assertion that corporate management is intellectually and creatively bankrupt.”</p>
<p>“We are busy people, so to call in and pay over the phone or online is the ONLY way we pay, and it's highway robbery that we should be CHARGED to pay our bill in a timely fashion,” bkcnic wrote on a forum on Verizon’s web site. “Verizon should be eating the fees for credit and debit card charges and cough it up to good business and keeping customers happy!”</p>
<p>The pullback also comes amid criticism from industry watchers, including the Federal Communications Commission, which said earlier on Friday it was "concerned" about the charge and was looking into the matter.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Verizon said it made the decision to scrap the plan in response to customer feedback.</p>
<p>“At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers,” Verizon CEO Dan Mead said in a statement. “Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time.”</p>
<p>The plan was intended to improve the efficiency of those transactions, and Verizon continues to encourage customers to take advantage of its various payment options.</p>
<p>Investors seemed to yawn the news, keeping Verizon shares virtually flat around the time of the mid-afternoon announcement. Still, the fee was a blow to customers that had already been reeling from the company's third 4G outage since the start of December.</p>
<p>Customers earlier this week criticized Verizon’s lack of acknowledgement and response to the nationwide complaints of outages on its 4G service, which is supposed to be its fastest and most advanced offering.</p>
<p>Verizon did finally admit there were issues on Thursday and it was working to fix them, however it simultaneously unveiled the plan to charge $2 for bill pay, which only shifted the direction of outrage on its forums.</p>
<p>The customer backlash bears a liking to that seen when Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) raised prices this summer and said it planned to separate its DVD-by-mail service into a separate company called Qwikster, a move that caused its shares to fall more than 70% and nearly a million subscribers to quit.</p>
<p>It is also similar to Bank of America’s (NYSE:BAC) plan to start charging a $5 monthly fee to customers in 2012 that used debit cards to make purchases. In both cases, the companies ended up going back on their announcement, citing the negative reaction from customers.</p>
<p>“This is yet another perfect illustration of the cluelessness of American corporate management that is running rampant across industry,” branding expert Rob Frankel said. “Who is making these decisions?”</p>
<p>Frankel said he was not surprised Verizon ended up scrapping the fee.</p>
<p>“There’s absolutely no upside to this move and its subsequent retraction, none,” he said. “The only thing this did is instill my assertion that corporate management is intellectually and creatively bankrupt.”</p>
| 5,857 |
<p />
<p>It was another great week on the <a href="http://youtu.be/2PznmfL1BWI?list=PLY_tRVFFAzBJtSw_JtXb-6Jh2Z_07hDMq" type="external">3TechGuys Opens a New Window.</a> -show! The guys – Ramon Ray, Gene Marks and Brent Leary – discussed this week’s top news, which included an announcement from Google on website security and rankings, Facebook's new messenger app that is raising questions about privacy and then, just for fun, a review of tech gadgets that you might want to stay away from. It was an informative week, and you won’t want to miss a moment, so check out the video below to watch the full show.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Google Announces That Encrypted Websites Will Get a Boost in Rankings</p>
<p>In an effort to create a safer Internet, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) announced this week that they will take things one step further and boost rankings for sites that are encrypted and sporting HTTPS. This decision came after months of testing performed using encrypted connections as ranking signals, which yielded positive results.</p>
<p>For now, the ranking is being considered very light weight and will affect less than 1% of global queries. It is anticipated, though, that as Google moves towards their goal of keeping everyone safe on the internet, the weight of this signal will increase and those that have made the switch from HTTP to HTTPS will benefit.</p>
<p>“Listen, if you are serious about your website, you can do what needs to be done to make it secure.” commented Ray.&#160; His advice for small businesses that aren’t sure what they need to do to secure their site is to work with your web hosting provider and have them help you. “I just bought a secure socket layer (SSL) certificate from my hosting provider to secure my site and protect information my visitors give to me and my hosting provider helped me to make sure it was set up and working. Let them help you – this is what they do.” he added.</p>
<p>While there is some concern over what the implications will be to those that do not move to HTTPS in the future Leary notes, “The overriding theme should be that Google is dedicated to making it harder for hackers to get peoples information and they are making the internet safer for all of us”.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Facebook Messenger App Raises Privacy Concerns</p>
<p>For some time now, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has had two apps on the market: The general app that allowed you to use the Facebook application on your mobile devices and the messenger app that allowed you to direct message people in your network. While in the past you were able send direct messages through the general app, and weren’t required to use the messenger app, Facebook recently announced that its users will now be required to add this new app to use the service and certain other functions of the platform.</p>
<p>“There are certainly some privacy issues that are of concern,” notes Leary. What he sees as the real issue are the fundamental changes that Facebook is making and then requiring it’s users to accept. “When you started using Facebook the policies and user guidelines were set up a certain way. Now that they are trying to monetize things, they are forcing things that weren’t there to begin with. So the product that we were fine to use one way is now changed and we are forced to use the product the new way, which benefits Facebook – not the user.”</p>
<p>“What if Facebook starts charging $1 per month for use?” asks Marks. “How many people, from both a personal and business standpoint, could say ‘NO’ and then move away from it and stop using it? It’s a definite concern and really any cloud based vendor could do the same thing.”</p>
<p>“Facebook wants to know who you are, where you shop, where you eat and what you want so they can better market to you.” says Ray. “What can we do about it? Can we just go out and create a new Facebook because we are sick of the changes? If we did that, I’m pretty sure our circle would just be Gene, Brent and myself!”</p>
<p>It’s a Gadget Kind of World</p>
<p>On a much lighter note this week, Marks talked about a recent article on Yahoo Tech by Daniel Howley called “ <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/tech/7-gadgets-you-absolutely-should-not-buy-right-now-94186949969.html" type="external">7 Gadgets You Should Absolutely Not Buy Right Now Opens a New Window.</a>”. Leading the list are the Amazon Fire Phone, Google Glass and Android Wear Watches simply for the fact that they are new or beta technologies that haven’t had all the bugs worked out. Some other gadgets to avoid are those like the iPhone 5s, Microsoft Surface Pro 2 and Samsung Galaxy Note 3 because each of these is about to be replaced by the newer versions that have increased functionality and cool new features.</p>
<p>Marks posed the question to the guys, “Is there a gadget you wouldn’t buy or one that you would because you really want it?” He answered first noting that the one gadget her really wants to have and play with is the <a href="http://gopro.com/" type="external">GoPro Opens a New Window.</a> (NASDAQ:GPRO) video camera. “I think it could be an interesting way to make videos and I could strap it to the dog!”</p>
<p>Ray, the one tech guy who openly admits to owning every tech gadget that comes along, offered a little advice to those out there that love to buy gadgets for the gadget sake: “Let the geeks like us pay for the gadget and then see what we have to say about it! It could save you some money!”</p>
|
The Gadgets Your Small Business Needs (and the Ones it Doesn’t)
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/08/19/gadgets-your-small-business-needs-and-ones-it-doesnt.html
|
2016-04-07
| 0right
|
The Gadgets Your Small Business Needs (and the Ones it Doesn’t)
<p />
<p>It was another great week on the <a href="http://youtu.be/2PznmfL1BWI?list=PLY_tRVFFAzBJtSw_JtXb-6Jh2Z_07hDMq" type="external">3TechGuys Opens a New Window.</a> -show! The guys – Ramon Ray, Gene Marks and Brent Leary – discussed this week’s top news, which included an announcement from Google on website security and rankings, Facebook's new messenger app that is raising questions about privacy and then, just for fun, a review of tech gadgets that you might want to stay away from. It was an informative week, and you won’t want to miss a moment, so check out the video below to watch the full show.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Google Announces That Encrypted Websites Will Get a Boost in Rankings</p>
<p>In an effort to create a safer Internet, Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) announced this week that they will take things one step further and boost rankings for sites that are encrypted and sporting HTTPS. This decision came after months of testing performed using encrypted connections as ranking signals, which yielded positive results.</p>
<p>For now, the ranking is being considered very light weight and will affect less than 1% of global queries. It is anticipated, though, that as Google moves towards their goal of keeping everyone safe on the internet, the weight of this signal will increase and those that have made the switch from HTTP to HTTPS will benefit.</p>
<p>“Listen, if you are serious about your website, you can do what needs to be done to make it secure.” commented Ray.&#160; His advice for small businesses that aren’t sure what they need to do to secure their site is to work with your web hosting provider and have them help you. “I just bought a secure socket layer (SSL) certificate from my hosting provider to secure my site and protect information my visitors give to me and my hosting provider helped me to make sure it was set up and working. Let them help you – this is what they do.” he added.</p>
<p>While there is some concern over what the implications will be to those that do not move to HTTPS in the future Leary notes, “The overriding theme should be that Google is dedicated to making it harder for hackers to get peoples information and they are making the internet safer for all of us”.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Facebook Messenger App Raises Privacy Concerns</p>
<p>For some time now, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) has had two apps on the market: The general app that allowed you to use the Facebook application on your mobile devices and the messenger app that allowed you to direct message people in your network. While in the past you were able send direct messages through the general app, and weren’t required to use the messenger app, Facebook recently announced that its users will now be required to add this new app to use the service and certain other functions of the platform.</p>
<p>“There are certainly some privacy issues that are of concern,” notes Leary. What he sees as the real issue are the fundamental changes that Facebook is making and then requiring it’s users to accept. “When you started using Facebook the policies and user guidelines were set up a certain way. Now that they are trying to monetize things, they are forcing things that weren’t there to begin with. So the product that we were fine to use one way is now changed and we are forced to use the product the new way, which benefits Facebook – not the user.”</p>
<p>“What if Facebook starts charging $1 per month for use?” asks Marks. “How many people, from both a personal and business standpoint, could say ‘NO’ and then move away from it and stop using it? It’s a definite concern and really any cloud based vendor could do the same thing.”</p>
<p>“Facebook wants to know who you are, where you shop, where you eat and what you want so they can better market to you.” says Ray. “What can we do about it? Can we just go out and create a new Facebook because we are sick of the changes? If we did that, I’m pretty sure our circle would just be Gene, Brent and myself!”</p>
<p>It’s a Gadget Kind of World</p>
<p>On a much lighter note this week, Marks talked about a recent article on Yahoo Tech by Daniel Howley called “ <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/tech/7-gadgets-you-absolutely-should-not-buy-right-now-94186949969.html" type="external">7 Gadgets You Should Absolutely Not Buy Right Now Opens a New Window.</a>”. Leading the list are the Amazon Fire Phone, Google Glass and Android Wear Watches simply for the fact that they are new or beta technologies that haven’t had all the bugs worked out. Some other gadgets to avoid are those like the iPhone 5s, Microsoft Surface Pro 2 and Samsung Galaxy Note 3 because each of these is about to be replaced by the newer versions that have increased functionality and cool new features.</p>
<p>Marks posed the question to the guys, “Is there a gadget you wouldn’t buy or one that you would because you really want it?” He answered first noting that the one gadget her really wants to have and play with is the <a href="http://gopro.com/" type="external">GoPro Opens a New Window.</a> (NASDAQ:GPRO) video camera. “I think it could be an interesting way to make videos and I could strap it to the dog!”</p>
<p>Ray, the one tech guy who openly admits to owning every tech gadget that comes along, offered a little advice to those out there that love to buy gadgets for the gadget sake: “Let the geeks like us pay for the gadget and then see what we have to say about it! It could save you some money!”</p>
| 5,858 |
<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jonathan Stark scored 25 points, including four 3-pointers, and Ja Morant finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to help Murray State beat Tennessee State 76-57 on Saturday night.</p>
<p>Terrell Miller Jr. had 12 points, including 10 in the second half, and Byron Hawkins scored 11 points for Murray State (14-5, 6-2 Ohio Valley).</p>
<p>Stark hit 3-pointers to spark and cap a 15-2 run to close the first half and the Racers took a 38-26 lead into the break. Delano Spencer hit a 3 that pulled Tennessee State (8-11, 3-5) within six points with nearly seven minutes to play, but the Tigers hit just 1 of 5 from the field, and committed five turnovers, from there as Murray State scored 21 of the final 29 points.</p>
<p>Spencer led Tennessee State with 13 points and Christian Mekowulu scored 10. The Tigers shot just 37 percent (19 of 52) from the field, including 4-of-20 3-pointers.</p>
<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jonathan Stark scored 25 points, including four 3-pointers, and Ja Morant finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to help Murray State beat Tennessee State 76-57 on Saturday night.</p>
<p>Terrell Miller Jr. had 12 points, including 10 in the second half, and Byron Hawkins scored 11 points for Murray State (14-5, 6-2 Ohio Valley).</p>
<p>Stark hit 3-pointers to spark and cap a 15-2 run to close the first half and the Racers took a 38-26 lead into the break. Delano Spencer hit a 3 that pulled Tennessee State (8-11, 3-5) within six points with nearly seven minutes to play, but the Tigers hit just 1 of 5 from the field, and committed five turnovers, from there as Murray State scored 21 of the final 29 points.</p>
<p>Spencer led Tennessee State with 13 points and Christian Mekowulu scored 10. The Tigers shot just 37 percent (19 of 52) from the field, including 4-of-20 3-pointers.</p>
|
Stark hits 4 3s, scores 25; Murray St. beats Tennessee St.
| false |
https://apnews.com/7af5b1ec59c4450f9cf8b5092caad707
|
2018-01-21
| 2least
|
Stark hits 4 3s, scores 25; Murray St. beats Tennessee St.
<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jonathan Stark scored 25 points, including four 3-pointers, and Ja Morant finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to help Murray State beat Tennessee State 76-57 on Saturday night.</p>
<p>Terrell Miller Jr. had 12 points, including 10 in the second half, and Byron Hawkins scored 11 points for Murray State (14-5, 6-2 Ohio Valley).</p>
<p>Stark hit 3-pointers to spark and cap a 15-2 run to close the first half and the Racers took a 38-26 lead into the break. Delano Spencer hit a 3 that pulled Tennessee State (8-11, 3-5) within six points with nearly seven minutes to play, but the Tigers hit just 1 of 5 from the field, and committed five turnovers, from there as Murray State scored 21 of the final 29 points.</p>
<p>Spencer led Tennessee State with 13 points and Christian Mekowulu scored 10. The Tigers shot just 37 percent (19 of 52) from the field, including 4-of-20 3-pointers.</p>
<p>NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Jonathan Stark scored 25 points, including four 3-pointers, and Ja Morant finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to help Murray State beat Tennessee State 76-57 on Saturday night.</p>
<p>Terrell Miller Jr. had 12 points, including 10 in the second half, and Byron Hawkins scored 11 points for Murray State (14-5, 6-2 Ohio Valley).</p>
<p>Stark hit 3-pointers to spark and cap a 15-2 run to close the first half and the Racers took a 38-26 lead into the break. Delano Spencer hit a 3 that pulled Tennessee State (8-11, 3-5) within six points with nearly seven minutes to play, but the Tigers hit just 1 of 5 from the field, and committed five turnovers, from there as Murray State scored 21 of the final 29 points.</p>
<p>Spencer led Tennessee State with 13 points and Christian Mekowulu scored 10. The Tigers shot just 37 percent (19 of 52) from the field, including 4-of-20 3-pointers.</p>
| 5,859 |
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Electronics" type="external">Samsung Electronics</a> today scored a legal victory over <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc" type="external">Apple</a> as the tech giants continue to wage a global battle over patents relating to their smartphones and tablet computers.</p>
<p>A Japanese court ruled Samsung had not breached an Apple patent involved in syncing of mobile devices and computers, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/apple-samsung-japan-idUSL2E8JU0Y620120831" type="external">Reuters reported.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/apple-loses-japan-patent-suit-against-samsung-on-syncing-content/2012/08/31/2569b0ca-f3http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/apple-loses-japan-patent-suit-against-samsung-on-syncing-content/2012/08/31/2569b0ca-f34c-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html4c-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html" type="external">Bloomberg said</a> Apple has been ordered to pay the costs of the legal action.</p>
<p>"We welcome the court's decision, which confirmed our long-held position that our products do not infringe Apple's intellectual property," Samsung said in a statement.</p>
<p>The latest ruling comes a week after a US jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for "willfully" breaching six of seven patents for mobile devices.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120824/samsung-apple-patents-us-jury" type="external">Samsung violated Apple patents, US jury finds</a></p>
<p>A hearing has been set down for December 6, when the judge presiding over the case will hear Apple's arguments for an injunction against the sale of Samsung mobile phones in the United States, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19433019" type="external">the BBC reported.</a></p>
<p>The judge could also decide to triple the damages to more than $3 billion because the jury found the infringements were "willful."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120827/samsung-ban-apple-seeks-stop-us-sales-8-samsung-" type="external">Apple filed paperwork</a> on Monday to ban US sales of eight Samsung mobile phones.</p>
<p>A South Korean court ruled last Friday that Samsung and Apple had infringed on each other's patents and awarded damages to both companies.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120827/samsung-electronics-Apple-damages" type="external">Apple becomes most valuable publicly-traded company of all time</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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|
Samsung Electronics triumphs over Apple in Japan patents case
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2012-08-31/samsung-electronics-triumphs-over-apple-japan-patents-case
|
2012-08-31
| 3left-center
|
Samsung Electronics triumphs over Apple in Japan patents case
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Electronics" type="external">Samsung Electronics</a> today scored a legal victory over <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc" type="external">Apple</a> as the tech giants continue to wage a global battle over patents relating to their smartphones and tablet computers.</p>
<p>A Japanese court ruled Samsung had not breached an Apple patent involved in syncing of mobile devices and computers, <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/31/apple-samsung-japan-idUSL2E8JU0Y620120831" type="external">Reuters reported.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/apple-loses-japan-patent-suit-against-samsung-on-syncing-content/2012/08/31/2569b0ca-f3http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/apple-loses-japan-patent-suit-against-samsung-on-syncing-content/2012/08/31/2569b0ca-f34c-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html4c-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html" type="external">Bloomberg said</a> Apple has been ordered to pay the costs of the legal action.</p>
<p>"We welcome the court's decision, which confirmed our long-held position that our products do not infringe Apple's intellectual property," Samsung said in a statement.</p>
<p>The latest ruling comes a week after a US jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion in damages for "willfully" breaching six of seven patents for mobile devices.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120824/samsung-apple-patents-us-jury" type="external">Samsung violated Apple patents, US jury finds</a></p>
<p>A hearing has been set down for December 6, when the judge presiding over the case will hear Apple's arguments for an injunction against the sale of Samsung mobile phones in the United States, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19433019" type="external">the BBC reported.</a></p>
<p>The judge could also decide to triple the damages to more than $3 billion because the jury found the infringements were "willful."</p>
<p><a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120827/samsung-ban-apple-seeks-stop-us-sales-8-samsung-" type="external">Apple filed paperwork</a> on Monday to ban US sales of eight Samsung mobile phones.</p>
<p>A South Korean court ruled last Friday that Samsung and Apple had infringed on each other's patents and awarded damages to both companies.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120827/samsung-electronics-Apple-damages" type="external">Apple becomes most valuable publicly-traded company of all time</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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| 5,860 |
<p>ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jeff Fisher broke the news in person to Austin Davis, alone and immersed in study at Rams Park preparing for this week's game against the Denver Broncos.</p>
<p>Then the St. Louis Rams coach telephoned Shaun Hill to tell the veteran quarterback he'd changed his mind about sticking with Davis for the long haul. And that he'd be starting this week for an offense that'll try to keep up with Peyton Manning's high-powered attack.</p>
<p>"It's never an easy decision when you make a change in the middle part of the season," Fisher said after Hill got the snaps at Wednesday's indoor practice. "We just felt the best thing to do at this point moving forward was to lean on the experienced quarterback."</p>
<p>Aside from the fact Fisher had given Davis another vote of confidence on Monday, it wasn't a shocking move given how much the offense has been scuffling.</p>
<p>"Not a whole lot surprises me anymore, to be honest with you," Hill said with a chuckle. "I guess a little bit."</p>
<p>Fisher's first call to the 34-year-old Hill went to voice mail with a text message to call back, "so I kind of figured something was up."</p>
<p>This time around, Fisher isn't making a long-term commitment about the replacement for the injured Sam Bradford.</p>
<p>"I'm not going to do that," the coach said. "We're going to give Shaun an opportunity to do what we brought him here to do, and that was to be a backup to Sam."</p>
<p>Hill was diplomatic when he lost the job and Davis followed Wednesday.</p>
<p>"Obviously disappointed and would love to play through it, but that's not the way this game works," Davis said. "I wish we could have won a few more games, but we didn't."</p>
<p>The team confirmed the switch before practice. The story was first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.</p>
<p>Hill began the season as the replacement for Bradford, who was sidelined for the second straight year with a knee injury. However, Hill injured his thigh in the opener and missed the next two games.</p>
<p>When he was ready again, Davis had seized the job. He threw for three TDs in both Week 3 and 4 and averaged more than 300 yards passing in his first three starts.</p>
<p>But mistakes had been mounting in recent games and talk Davis could be another rags-to-riches story for a franchise that rode unknown Kurt Warner to a Super Bowl title in the 1999 season abruptly ceased. The Rams are 30th in the league in scoring, putting a lot of pressure on the defense.</p>
<p>Davis' task has been tougher lately because he's faced some of the NFL's top defenses.</p>
<p>In the fourth quarter Sunday at Arizona, he threw two interceptions, one of them returned for a TD, and a fumble that was returned for another score. The Rams had led 14-10 entering the quarter and lost 31-14.</p>
<p>"Just inconsistent," Davis said. "Just up and down. Got to find a way to play more consistent and not turn the ball over in critical situations."</p>
<p>Hill has had just one snap since the opener, a handoff last week when Davis had to have a knee brace adjusted.</p>
<p>"Austin was doing a great job, so I understood why they did it," Hill said. "You've got to swallow your pride, that's what you've got to do, and accept my role."</p>
<p>Defensive end Chris Long returned to practice on a limited basis coming off ankle surgery. Fisher anticipates Long, who was placed on injured reserve-designated for return, will return before the end of the three-week window.</p>
<p>"It was a good start," Long said. "It was great to get back out there with my teammates. It was just really exciting to have a jersey on."</p>
<p>Two starters, middle linebacker James Laurinaitis (foot) and defensive end William Hayes (fibula), were among a group of seven players who did not practice. Both are expected to play.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p>
<p>ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jeff Fisher broke the news in person to Austin Davis, alone and immersed in study at Rams Park preparing for this week's game against the Denver Broncos.</p>
<p>Then the St. Louis Rams coach telephoned Shaun Hill to tell the veteran quarterback he'd changed his mind about sticking with Davis for the long haul. And that he'd be starting this week for an offense that'll try to keep up with Peyton Manning's high-powered attack.</p>
<p>"It's never an easy decision when you make a change in the middle part of the season," Fisher said after Hill got the snaps at Wednesday's indoor practice. "We just felt the best thing to do at this point moving forward was to lean on the experienced quarterback."</p>
<p>Aside from the fact Fisher had given Davis another vote of confidence on Monday, it wasn't a shocking move given how much the offense has been scuffling.</p>
<p>"Not a whole lot surprises me anymore, to be honest with you," Hill said with a chuckle. "I guess a little bit."</p>
<p>Fisher's first call to the 34-year-old Hill went to voice mail with a text message to call back, "so I kind of figured something was up."</p>
<p>This time around, Fisher isn't making a long-term commitment about the replacement for the injured Sam Bradford.</p>
<p>"I'm not going to do that," the coach said. "We're going to give Shaun an opportunity to do what we brought him here to do, and that was to be a backup to Sam."</p>
<p>Hill was diplomatic when he lost the job and Davis followed Wednesday.</p>
<p>"Obviously disappointed and would love to play through it, but that's not the way this game works," Davis said. "I wish we could have won a few more games, but we didn't."</p>
<p>The team confirmed the switch before practice. The story was first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.</p>
<p>Hill began the season as the replacement for Bradford, who was sidelined for the second straight year with a knee injury. However, Hill injured his thigh in the opener and missed the next two games.</p>
<p>When he was ready again, Davis had seized the job. He threw for three TDs in both Week 3 and 4 and averaged more than 300 yards passing in his first three starts.</p>
<p>But mistakes had been mounting in recent games and talk Davis could be another rags-to-riches story for a franchise that rode unknown Kurt Warner to a Super Bowl title in the 1999 season abruptly ceased. The Rams are 30th in the league in scoring, putting a lot of pressure on the defense.</p>
<p>Davis' task has been tougher lately because he's faced some of the NFL's top defenses.</p>
<p>In the fourth quarter Sunday at Arizona, he threw two interceptions, one of them returned for a TD, and a fumble that was returned for another score. The Rams had led 14-10 entering the quarter and lost 31-14.</p>
<p>"Just inconsistent," Davis said. "Just up and down. Got to find a way to play more consistent and not turn the ball over in critical situations."</p>
<p>Hill has had just one snap since the opener, a handoff last week when Davis had to have a knee brace adjusted.</p>
<p>"Austin was doing a great job, so I understood why they did it," Hill said. "You've got to swallow your pride, that's what you've got to do, and accept my role."</p>
<p>Defensive end Chris Long returned to practice on a limited basis coming off ankle surgery. Fisher anticipates Long, who was placed on injured reserve-designated for return, will return before the end of the three-week window.</p>
<p>"It was a good start," Long said. "It was great to get back out there with my teammates. It was just really exciting to have a jersey on."</p>
<p>Two starters, middle linebacker James Laurinaitis (foot) and defensive end William Hayes (fibula), were among a group of seven players who did not practice. Both are expected to play.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p>
|
Fisher switches QBs; Hill to start against Broncos
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/e1d15011ae7b4343bfae6e6791f2bd1a
|
2014-11-13
| 2least
|
Fisher switches QBs; Hill to start against Broncos
<p>ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jeff Fisher broke the news in person to Austin Davis, alone and immersed in study at Rams Park preparing for this week's game against the Denver Broncos.</p>
<p>Then the St. Louis Rams coach telephoned Shaun Hill to tell the veteran quarterback he'd changed his mind about sticking with Davis for the long haul. And that he'd be starting this week for an offense that'll try to keep up with Peyton Manning's high-powered attack.</p>
<p>"It's never an easy decision when you make a change in the middle part of the season," Fisher said after Hill got the snaps at Wednesday's indoor practice. "We just felt the best thing to do at this point moving forward was to lean on the experienced quarterback."</p>
<p>Aside from the fact Fisher had given Davis another vote of confidence on Monday, it wasn't a shocking move given how much the offense has been scuffling.</p>
<p>"Not a whole lot surprises me anymore, to be honest with you," Hill said with a chuckle. "I guess a little bit."</p>
<p>Fisher's first call to the 34-year-old Hill went to voice mail with a text message to call back, "so I kind of figured something was up."</p>
<p>This time around, Fisher isn't making a long-term commitment about the replacement for the injured Sam Bradford.</p>
<p>"I'm not going to do that," the coach said. "We're going to give Shaun an opportunity to do what we brought him here to do, and that was to be a backup to Sam."</p>
<p>Hill was diplomatic when he lost the job and Davis followed Wednesday.</p>
<p>"Obviously disappointed and would love to play through it, but that's not the way this game works," Davis said. "I wish we could have won a few more games, but we didn't."</p>
<p>The team confirmed the switch before practice. The story was first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.</p>
<p>Hill began the season as the replacement for Bradford, who was sidelined for the second straight year with a knee injury. However, Hill injured his thigh in the opener and missed the next two games.</p>
<p>When he was ready again, Davis had seized the job. He threw for three TDs in both Week 3 and 4 and averaged more than 300 yards passing in his first three starts.</p>
<p>But mistakes had been mounting in recent games and talk Davis could be another rags-to-riches story for a franchise that rode unknown Kurt Warner to a Super Bowl title in the 1999 season abruptly ceased. The Rams are 30th in the league in scoring, putting a lot of pressure on the defense.</p>
<p>Davis' task has been tougher lately because he's faced some of the NFL's top defenses.</p>
<p>In the fourth quarter Sunday at Arizona, he threw two interceptions, one of them returned for a TD, and a fumble that was returned for another score. The Rams had led 14-10 entering the quarter and lost 31-14.</p>
<p>"Just inconsistent," Davis said. "Just up and down. Got to find a way to play more consistent and not turn the ball over in critical situations."</p>
<p>Hill has had just one snap since the opener, a handoff last week when Davis had to have a knee brace adjusted.</p>
<p>"Austin was doing a great job, so I understood why they did it," Hill said. "You've got to swallow your pride, that's what you've got to do, and accept my role."</p>
<p>Defensive end Chris Long returned to practice on a limited basis coming off ankle surgery. Fisher anticipates Long, who was placed on injured reserve-designated for return, will return before the end of the three-week window.</p>
<p>"It was a good start," Long said. "It was great to get back out there with my teammates. It was just really exciting to have a jersey on."</p>
<p>Two starters, middle linebacker James Laurinaitis (foot) and defensive end William Hayes (fibula), were among a group of seven players who did not practice. Both are expected to play.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p>
<p>ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jeff Fisher broke the news in person to Austin Davis, alone and immersed in study at Rams Park preparing for this week's game against the Denver Broncos.</p>
<p>Then the St. Louis Rams coach telephoned Shaun Hill to tell the veteran quarterback he'd changed his mind about sticking with Davis for the long haul. And that he'd be starting this week for an offense that'll try to keep up with Peyton Manning's high-powered attack.</p>
<p>"It's never an easy decision when you make a change in the middle part of the season," Fisher said after Hill got the snaps at Wednesday's indoor practice. "We just felt the best thing to do at this point moving forward was to lean on the experienced quarterback."</p>
<p>Aside from the fact Fisher had given Davis another vote of confidence on Monday, it wasn't a shocking move given how much the offense has been scuffling.</p>
<p>"Not a whole lot surprises me anymore, to be honest with you," Hill said with a chuckle. "I guess a little bit."</p>
<p>Fisher's first call to the 34-year-old Hill went to voice mail with a text message to call back, "so I kind of figured something was up."</p>
<p>This time around, Fisher isn't making a long-term commitment about the replacement for the injured Sam Bradford.</p>
<p>"I'm not going to do that," the coach said. "We're going to give Shaun an opportunity to do what we brought him here to do, and that was to be a backup to Sam."</p>
<p>Hill was diplomatic when he lost the job and Davis followed Wednesday.</p>
<p>"Obviously disappointed and would love to play through it, but that's not the way this game works," Davis said. "I wish we could have won a few more games, but we didn't."</p>
<p>The team confirmed the switch before practice. The story was first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.</p>
<p>Hill began the season as the replacement for Bradford, who was sidelined for the second straight year with a knee injury. However, Hill injured his thigh in the opener and missed the next two games.</p>
<p>When he was ready again, Davis had seized the job. He threw for three TDs in both Week 3 and 4 and averaged more than 300 yards passing in his first three starts.</p>
<p>But mistakes had been mounting in recent games and talk Davis could be another rags-to-riches story for a franchise that rode unknown Kurt Warner to a Super Bowl title in the 1999 season abruptly ceased. The Rams are 30th in the league in scoring, putting a lot of pressure on the defense.</p>
<p>Davis' task has been tougher lately because he's faced some of the NFL's top defenses.</p>
<p>In the fourth quarter Sunday at Arizona, he threw two interceptions, one of them returned for a TD, and a fumble that was returned for another score. The Rams had led 14-10 entering the quarter and lost 31-14.</p>
<p>"Just inconsistent," Davis said. "Just up and down. Got to find a way to play more consistent and not turn the ball over in critical situations."</p>
<p>Hill has had just one snap since the opener, a handoff last week when Davis had to have a knee brace adjusted.</p>
<p>"Austin was doing a great job, so I understood why they did it," Hill said. "You've got to swallow your pride, that's what you've got to do, and accept my role."</p>
<p>Defensive end Chris Long returned to practice on a limited basis coming off ankle surgery. Fisher anticipates Long, who was placed on injured reserve-designated for return, will return before the end of the three-week window.</p>
<p>"It was a good start," Long said. "It was great to get back out there with my teammates. It was just really exciting to have a jersey on."</p>
<p>Two starters, middle linebacker James Laurinaitis (foot) and defensive end William Hayes (fibula), were among a group of seven players who did not practice. Both are expected to play.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</p>
| 5,861 |
<p>On Monday, just days ahead of Virginia’s hotly contested gubernatorial election, the Latino Victory Fund released an ad opposing Republican Ed Gillespie. The ad is uniquely horrifying. It features four minority children — Latino, Asian, Muslim, African-American — running for their lives from a white man driving a pick-up truck. The truck is festooned with a giant Confederate Flag, a “Don’t Tread on Me” license plate, and a prominent “Gillespie for Governor” bumper sticker. It runs the children into a dead end, its lights washing out their terrified faces. The children wake up in their beds. We then flash to video of the Charlottesville white-supremacist march, as a voice asks, “Is this what Donald Trump and Ed Gillespie mean by the American dream?”</p>
<p>This sort of thing is insane, and it divides the country beyond any reconciliation. Alexander Hamilton recognized the danger of impugning the motives of political opponents in Federalist No. 1: “In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution. . . . And yet . . . a torrent of angry and malignant passions will be let loose.”</p>
<p>The founding generation was able to stifle those passions long enough to unify over the creation of the Constitution. We have no such moderate tendencies. Reactionary politics is driven by the knowledge that, as Hamilton also recognized, demagoguery provides an easier ascent to power than reason. The Left has known this for decades, which is why they labeled conservatives bigots in the 1960s, even as the Democratic party provided the base of support for segregation. But Americans quickly tired of the slander, and moved beyond it — until the Obama era, when it seemed to rise anew, in more virulent form. Hillary Clinton wasn’t speaking in the heat of passion when she declared half of her opponents’ supporters “deplorables” — she was drawing on a deep recent history of such nasty falsehoods. The Gillespie ad — the worst in political history — is merely the apotheosis of the trend.</p>
<p>Conservatives will respond in kind. Both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush went out of their way to attribute kind motives to their political enemies; Donald Trump does no such thing. And why should he? After all, Reagan and Bush both met with left-wing opponents who excoriated them for their supposed “lies,” calling them war criminals and maniacs. So did candidates the Left pretended to tolerate, from John McCain to Mitt Romney. Trump has no moral opposition to trashing his opponents — in fact, he’s made a career out of it. His knee-jerk tendency to demonize his adversaries fits perfectly with the conservative desire to strike back at the Left.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/453299/virginia-governors-race-democrats-despicable-attacks-divide-nation" type="external">Read the rest here</a>.</p>
|
Shapiro At 'National Review': How Democrats Are Polarizing The Country Beyond Fixing
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/23034/shapiro-national-review-how-democrats-are-ben-shapiro
|
2017-11-01
| 0right
|
Shapiro At 'National Review': How Democrats Are Polarizing The Country Beyond Fixing
<p>On Monday, just days ahead of Virginia’s hotly contested gubernatorial election, the Latino Victory Fund released an ad opposing Republican Ed Gillespie. The ad is uniquely horrifying. It features four minority children — Latino, Asian, Muslim, African-American — running for their lives from a white man driving a pick-up truck. The truck is festooned with a giant Confederate Flag, a “Don’t Tread on Me” license plate, and a prominent “Gillespie for Governor” bumper sticker. It runs the children into a dead end, its lights washing out their terrified faces. The children wake up in their beds. We then flash to video of the Charlottesville white-supremacist march, as a voice asks, “Is this what Donald Trump and Ed Gillespie mean by the American dream?”</p>
<p>This sort of thing is insane, and it divides the country beyond any reconciliation. Alexander Hamilton recognized the danger of impugning the motives of political opponents in Federalist No. 1: “In politics, as in religion, it is equally absurd to aim at making proselytes by fire and sword. Heresies in either can rarely be cured by persecution. . . . And yet . . . a torrent of angry and malignant passions will be let loose.”</p>
<p>The founding generation was able to stifle those passions long enough to unify over the creation of the Constitution. We have no such moderate tendencies. Reactionary politics is driven by the knowledge that, as Hamilton also recognized, demagoguery provides an easier ascent to power than reason. The Left has known this for decades, which is why they labeled conservatives bigots in the 1960s, even as the Democratic party provided the base of support for segregation. But Americans quickly tired of the slander, and moved beyond it — until the Obama era, when it seemed to rise anew, in more virulent form. Hillary Clinton wasn’t speaking in the heat of passion when she declared half of her opponents’ supporters “deplorables” — she was drawing on a deep recent history of such nasty falsehoods. The Gillespie ad — the worst in political history — is merely the apotheosis of the trend.</p>
<p>Conservatives will respond in kind. Both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush went out of their way to attribute kind motives to their political enemies; Donald Trump does no such thing. And why should he? After all, Reagan and Bush both met with left-wing opponents who excoriated them for their supposed “lies,” calling them war criminals and maniacs. So did candidates the Left pretended to tolerate, from John McCain to Mitt Romney. Trump has no moral opposition to trashing his opponents — in fact, he’s made a career out of it. His knee-jerk tendency to demonize his adversaries fits perfectly with the conservative desire to strike back at the Left.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/453299/virginia-governors-race-democrats-despicable-attacks-divide-nation" type="external">Read the rest here</a>.</p>
| 5,862 |
<p>Hillary Clinton is now leading her opponent, Donald Trump, by double digits, according to a Monmouth University poll published Monday. Clinton currently sits at a comfortable 50% in the national poll, while Trump trails by a stunning 12 points, only managing 38% support.</p>
<p>"Clinton has increased her lead among all registered voters, but the main difference between this month and last month is that her supporters have become more enthusiastic, and thus more likely to turn out while Trump backers have become less likely to vote," <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/301352-poll-clinton-leads-by-double-digits-nationally" type="external">suggests</a> Monmouth pollster Patrick Murray.</p>
<p>The latest polls indicate a huge boost for Clinton in the last few weeks. "Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, led by only 4 points in the same poll last month, edging Trump 46 percent to 42 percent," <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/301352-poll-clinton-leads-by-double-digits-nationally" type="external">notes</a> The Hill.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton_vs_johnson_vs_stein-5952.html" type="external">Real Clear Politics average</a>, however, shows a more modest lead for Clinton. She leads Trump by 6.9 points in a four-way race (that includes Jill Stein and Gary Johnson), according to RCP.</p>
<p>Trump's relationship with the Republican party has also deteriorated. Just 52% of Trump's own supporters believe that their candidate is doing enough to support the GOP. Another 30% believe he is doing too little to support the party he nominally leads.</p>
<p>Republican operatives have drawn distance from the real estate mogul since the <a href="" type="internal">lewd video</a> featuring Trump and Access Hollywood correspondent Billy Bush emerged The video showed Trump and his media counterpart speaking about women in a degrading and misogynistic manner.</p>
<p>Shortly after the video's release, GOP Speaker of the House Paul Ryan along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned Trump's behavior. Angered by the apparent betrayal, Trump has turned on the GOP, unleashing a litany of insults against elected officials.</p>
|
Hillary Takes Huge Lead In Latest Nationwide Poll
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/10020/hillary-scores-massive-lead-latest-nationwide-poll-joshua-yasmeh
|
2016-10-17
| 0right
|
Hillary Takes Huge Lead In Latest Nationwide Poll
<p>Hillary Clinton is now leading her opponent, Donald Trump, by double digits, according to a Monmouth University poll published Monday. Clinton currently sits at a comfortable 50% in the national poll, while Trump trails by a stunning 12 points, only managing 38% support.</p>
<p>"Clinton has increased her lead among all registered voters, but the main difference between this month and last month is that her supporters have become more enthusiastic, and thus more likely to turn out while Trump backers have become less likely to vote," <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/301352-poll-clinton-leads-by-double-digits-nationally" type="external">suggests</a> Monmouth pollster Patrick Murray.</p>
<p>The latest polls indicate a huge boost for Clinton in the last few weeks. "Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, led by only 4 points in the same poll last month, edging Trump 46 percent to 42 percent," <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/301352-poll-clinton-leads-by-double-digits-nationally" type="external">notes</a> The Hill.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_clinton_vs_johnson_vs_stein-5952.html" type="external">Real Clear Politics average</a>, however, shows a more modest lead for Clinton. She leads Trump by 6.9 points in a four-way race (that includes Jill Stein and Gary Johnson), according to RCP.</p>
<p>Trump's relationship with the Republican party has also deteriorated. Just 52% of Trump's own supporters believe that their candidate is doing enough to support the GOP. Another 30% believe he is doing too little to support the party he nominally leads.</p>
<p>Republican operatives have drawn distance from the real estate mogul since the <a href="" type="internal">lewd video</a> featuring Trump and Access Hollywood correspondent Billy Bush emerged The video showed Trump and his media counterpart speaking about women in a degrading and misogynistic manner.</p>
<p>Shortly after the video's release, GOP Speaker of the House Paul Ryan along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned Trump's behavior. Angered by the apparent betrayal, Trump has turned on the GOP, unleashing a litany of insults against elected officials.</p>
| 5,863 |
<p />
<p><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=IZSqXUSwHRI&amp;search=gore%20and%20penguin" type="external" />Really, we should have blogged about this a week ago. Still, it bears repeating that Antonio Regalado and Dionee Searcey of the Wall Street Journal reported that <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=IZSqXUSwHRI&amp;search=gore%20and%20penguin" type="external">the popular YouTube video</a> portraying Al Gore boring a few penguins with his talk on global warming appears to be the product of “DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm whose clients include oil company Exxon Mobil Corp.”</p>
<p>Ok, so this is insidious on a couple of levels. First, as Chris Mooney, author of <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-0465046762-0" type="external">The Republican War on Science</a>, reported in <a href="/news/feature/2005/05/some_like_it_hot.html" type="external">a great investigative piece</a> in Mother Jones, ExxonMobil has funded a vast array of think tanks and opinion makers (including FoxNews.com columnist Stephen Milloy) who—call it coincidence—are all major players in the debunking global warming movement. Really, it’s hard to call it a movement, since as Mooney’s article so clearly proves, all the major climate change debunkers receive funding from ExxonMobil.</p>
<p>The Gore video is just the latest example of the carefully crafted distance between those Exxon funds, and the convenient message they then spew out. To wit:</p>
<p>Dave Gardner, an Exxon spokesman, confirms that Exxon is a client of DCI. But he says Exxon had no role in creating the “Inconvenient Truth” spoof. “We, like everyone else on the planet, have seen it, but did not fund it, did not approve it, and did not know what its source was,” Mr. Gardner says.</p>
<p>But as the Journal also points out:</p>
<p>The anti-Gore video represents a less well-known side of YouTube. As its popularity has exploded, the public video-sharing site has drawn marketers looking to build buzz for new music releases and summer blockbusters. Now, it’s being tapped by political operatives, public relations experts and ad agencies to sway opinions.</p>
<p>Hipsters beware. (And, also, haven’t t <a href="http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/08/four_penguins_d.html" type="external">he penguins been through enough</a> lately? And in Texas, already.)</p>
<p>Full WSJ story after the jump.</p>
<p>Where Did That Video Spoofing Gore’s Film Come From? By ANTONIO REGALADO and DIONNE SEARCEY August 3, 2006; Page B1</p>
<p>Everyone knows Al Gore stars in the global warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” But who created “Al Gore’s Penguin Army,” a two-minute video now playing on YouTube.com?</p>
<p>In the video, Mr. Gore appears as a sinister figure who brainwashes penguins and bores movie audiences by blaming the Mideast crisis and starlet Lindsay Lohan’s shrinking waist size on global warming. Like other videos on the popular YouTube site, it has a home-made, humorous quality. The video’s maker is listed as “Toutsmith,” a 29-year-old who identifies himself as being from Beverly Hills in an Internet profile.</p>
<p>In an email exchange with The Wall Street Journal, Toutsmith didn’t answer when asked who he was or why he made the video, which has just over 59,000 views on YouTube. However, computer routing information contained in an email sent from Toutsmith’s Yahoo account indicate it didn’t come from an amateur working out of his basement.</p>
<p>Instead, the email originated from a computer registered to DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm whose clients include oil company Exxon Mobil Corp.</p>
<p>A DCI Group spokesman declines to say whether or not DCI made the anti-Gore penguin video, or to explain why Toutsmith appeared to be sending email from DCI’s computers. “DCI Group does not disclose the names of its clients, nor do we discuss the work that we do on our clients’ behalf,” says Matt Triaca, who heads DCI’s media relations shop.</p>
<p>Dave Gardner, an Exxon spokesman, confirms that Exxon is a client of DCI. But he says Exxon had no role in creating the “Inconvenient Truth” spoof. “We, like everyone else on the planet, have seen it, but did not fund it, did not approve it, and did not know what its source was,” Mr. Gardner says.</p>
<p>The anti-Gore video represents a less well-known side of YouTube. As its popularity has exploded, the public video-sharing site has drawn marketers looking to build buzz for new music releases and summer blockbusters. Now, it’s being tapped by political operatives, public relations experts and ad agencies to sway opinions.</p>
<p>Ogilvy &amp; Mather, for example, says it plans to post amateur-looking videos on Web sites to spark word-of-mouth buzz about Foster’s beer.</p>
<p>For marketers and pranksters of all sorts, online video is the latest venue for tactics “they’ve been doing for years,” says Fred Wertheimer, president of the watchdog group Democracy 21. “What we don’t know is will this have any impact. In the political arena it’s the great experiment right now.”</p>
<p>Politicians and marketers already make wide use of email lists and blogs, and it has long been possible to distribute information over the Internet while disguising its origins. But Web video operates on a different level, stimulating viewers’ emotions powerfully and directly. And because amusing animations with a homespun feel can be created just as easily by highly paid professionals to promote agendas as by talented amateurs, caveat emptor is more relevant than ever.</p>
<p>One politically charged issue has drawn dueling YouTube videos recently: whether phone giants should be able to charge Internet companies for speedier delivery of their content. One of the videos features a slide show and tinny voiceover, and takes the side of phone companies. At the end, it directs viewers to go to www.netcompetition.org, a Web site backed by AT&amp;T Inc. and other phone and cable companies with a stake in the issue. On the other side are consumer groups, one of whose YouTube videos features musician Moby warning of the dangers of a two-tier Internet.</p>
<p>Mr. Wertheimer thinks videos like the Gore spoof, whose sponsorship is vague, can be disingenuous. “They’re coming in under false pretenses — under the guise of being a clever video you might be interested in,” he says. For its part, AT&amp;T says its affiliation with the group is clearly listed on netcompetition.org, just a few clicks away.</p>
<p>DCI is no stranger to the debate over global warming. Partly through Tech Central Station, an opinion Web site it operates, DCI has sought to raise doubts about the science of global warming and about Mr. Gore’s film, placing skeptical scientists on talk-radio shows and paying them to write editorials.</p>
<p>Of course, Mr. Gore and his allies have also used the Internet to great advantage. To stoke interest in his film, the distributor of “An Inconvenient Truth,” Paramount Classics, created its own YouTube video by cartoonist Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons.” Called “Al Gore’s Terrifying Message,” the video, which features a cartoon version of Mr. Gore arguing with a robot, has had more than a million views. Paramount is identified as the source next to the video.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, critics of Mr. Gore have frequently sought to get their message out through conservative bloggers, talk radio and Internet news services. Marc Morano, communications chief for Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who has led opposition to climate legislation on Capitol Hill, says an Internet strategy is both effective and necessary because mainstream news organizations are “promoting the message of Gore uncritically.”</p>
<p>Internet videos could prove particularly potent, because they may influence watchers in ways they don’t realize. Nancy Snow, a communications professor at California State University, Fullerton, viewed the penguin video and calls it a lesson in “Propaganda 101.” It contains no factual information, but presents a highly negative image of the former vice president, she says. The purpose of such images is to harden the views of those who already view Mr. Gore negatively, Dr. Snow says.</p>
<p>YouTube has an estimated 20 million viewers daily, but with thousands of videos on the site, it can be difficult for marketers to reach their audience, says Brian Reich, a consultant for Mindshare Interactive Campaigns, who helps nonprofits and political candidates learn to use YouTube and other video sites effectively. “You still have to micro-target your information and make it compelling and relevant and timely to get people to pay attention,” he says.</p>
<p>Traffic to the penguin video, first posted on YouTube.com in May, got a boost from prominently placed sponsored links that appeared on the Google search engine when users typed in “Al Gore” or “Global Warming.” The ads, which didn’t indicate who had paid for them, were removed shortly after The Wall Street Journal contacted DCI Group on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Diana Adair, a spokeswoman for Google, says the search giant doesn’t allow advertising text that “advocates against any individual, group or organization.” However, the policy doesn’t apply to the Web sites or videos that such ads point to. Although most advertisers want their identities known, Ms. Adair says Google will protect the identity of advertisers who want to remain anonymous, only releasing that information under a subpoena or court order.</p>
<p>–Jeffrey Ball contributed to this article.</p>
<p />
|
Al Gore, Penguins, Global Warming, ExxonMobil, YouTube
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/08/al-gore-penguins-global-warming-exxonmobil-youtube/
|
2006-08-10
| 4left
|
Al Gore, Penguins, Global Warming, ExxonMobil, YouTube
<p />
<p><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=IZSqXUSwHRI&amp;search=gore%20and%20penguin" type="external" />Really, we should have blogged about this a week ago. Still, it bears repeating that Antonio Regalado and Dionee Searcey of the Wall Street Journal reported that <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=IZSqXUSwHRI&amp;search=gore%20and%20penguin" type="external">the popular YouTube video</a> portraying Al Gore boring a few penguins with his talk on global warming appears to be the product of “DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm whose clients include oil company Exxon Mobil Corp.”</p>
<p>Ok, so this is insidious on a couple of levels. First, as Chris Mooney, author of <a href="http://www.powells.com/biblio/62-0465046762-0" type="external">The Republican War on Science</a>, reported in <a href="/news/feature/2005/05/some_like_it_hot.html" type="external">a great investigative piece</a> in Mother Jones, ExxonMobil has funded a vast array of think tanks and opinion makers (including FoxNews.com columnist Stephen Milloy) who—call it coincidence—are all major players in the debunking global warming movement. Really, it’s hard to call it a movement, since as Mooney’s article so clearly proves, all the major climate change debunkers receive funding from ExxonMobil.</p>
<p>The Gore video is just the latest example of the carefully crafted distance between those Exxon funds, and the convenient message they then spew out. To wit:</p>
<p>Dave Gardner, an Exxon spokesman, confirms that Exxon is a client of DCI. But he says Exxon had no role in creating the “Inconvenient Truth” spoof. “We, like everyone else on the planet, have seen it, but did not fund it, did not approve it, and did not know what its source was,” Mr. Gardner says.</p>
<p>But as the Journal also points out:</p>
<p>The anti-Gore video represents a less well-known side of YouTube. As its popularity has exploded, the public video-sharing site has drawn marketers looking to build buzz for new music releases and summer blockbusters. Now, it’s being tapped by political operatives, public relations experts and ad agencies to sway opinions.</p>
<p>Hipsters beware. (And, also, haven’t t <a href="http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/08/four_penguins_d.html" type="external">he penguins been through enough</a> lately? And in Texas, already.)</p>
<p>Full WSJ story after the jump.</p>
<p>Where Did That Video Spoofing Gore’s Film Come From? By ANTONIO REGALADO and DIONNE SEARCEY August 3, 2006; Page B1</p>
<p>Everyone knows Al Gore stars in the global warming documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” But who created “Al Gore’s Penguin Army,” a two-minute video now playing on YouTube.com?</p>
<p>In the video, Mr. Gore appears as a sinister figure who brainwashes penguins and bores movie audiences by blaming the Mideast crisis and starlet Lindsay Lohan’s shrinking waist size on global warming. Like other videos on the popular YouTube site, it has a home-made, humorous quality. The video’s maker is listed as “Toutsmith,” a 29-year-old who identifies himself as being from Beverly Hills in an Internet profile.</p>
<p>In an email exchange with The Wall Street Journal, Toutsmith didn’t answer when asked who he was or why he made the video, which has just over 59,000 views on YouTube. However, computer routing information contained in an email sent from Toutsmith’s Yahoo account indicate it didn’t come from an amateur working out of his basement.</p>
<p>Instead, the email originated from a computer registered to DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm whose clients include oil company Exxon Mobil Corp.</p>
<p>A DCI Group spokesman declines to say whether or not DCI made the anti-Gore penguin video, or to explain why Toutsmith appeared to be sending email from DCI’s computers. “DCI Group does not disclose the names of its clients, nor do we discuss the work that we do on our clients’ behalf,” says Matt Triaca, who heads DCI’s media relations shop.</p>
<p>Dave Gardner, an Exxon spokesman, confirms that Exxon is a client of DCI. But he says Exxon had no role in creating the “Inconvenient Truth” spoof. “We, like everyone else on the planet, have seen it, but did not fund it, did not approve it, and did not know what its source was,” Mr. Gardner says.</p>
<p>The anti-Gore video represents a less well-known side of YouTube. As its popularity has exploded, the public video-sharing site has drawn marketers looking to build buzz for new music releases and summer blockbusters. Now, it’s being tapped by political operatives, public relations experts and ad agencies to sway opinions.</p>
<p>Ogilvy &amp; Mather, for example, says it plans to post amateur-looking videos on Web sites to spark word-of-mouth buzz about Foster’s beer.</p>
<p>For marketers and pranksters of all sorts, online video is the latest venue for tactics “they’ve been doing for years,” says Fred Wertheimer, president of the watchdog group Democracy 21. “What we don’t know is will this have any impact. In the political arena it’s the great experiment right now.”</p>
<p>Politicians and marketers already make wide use of email lists and blogs, and it has long been possible to distribute information over the Internet while disguising its origins. But Web video operates on a different level, stimulating viewers’ emotions powerfully and directly. And because amusing animations with a homespun feel can be created just as easily by highly paid professionals to promote agendas as by talented amateurs, caveat emptor is more relevant than ever.</p>
<p>One politically charged issue has drawn dueling YouTube videos recently: whether phone giants should be able to charge Internet companies for speedier delivery of their content. One of the videos features a slide show and tinny voiceover, and takes the side of phone companies. At the end, it directs viewers to go to www.netcompetition.org, a Web site backed by AT&amp;T Inc. and other phone and cable companies with a stake in the issue. On the other side are consumer groups, one of whose YouTube videos features musician Moby warning of the dangers of a two-tier Internet.</p>
<p>Mr. Wertheimer thinks videos like the Gore spoof, whose sponsorship is vague, can be disingenuous. “They’re coming in under false pretenses — under the guise of being a clever video you might be interested in,” he says. For its part, AT&amp;T says its affiliation with the group is clearly listed on netcompetition.org, just a few clicks away.</p>
<p>DCI is no stranger to the debate over global warming. Partly through Tech Central Station, an opinion Web site it operates, DCI has sought to raise doubts about the science of global warming and about Mr. Gore’s film, placing skeptical scientists on talk-radio shows and paying them to write editorials.</p>
<p>Of course, Mr. Gore and his allies have also used the Internet to great advantage. To stoke interest in his film, the distributor of “An Inconvenient Truth,” Paramount Classics, created its own YouTube video by cartoonist Matt Groening, creator of “The Simpsons.” Called “Al Gore’s Terrifying Message,” the video, which features a cartoon version of Mr. Gore arguing with a robot, has had more than a million views. Paramount is identified as the source next to the video.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, critics of Mr. Gore have frequently sought to get their message out through conservative bloggers, talk radio and Internet news services. Marc Morano, communications chief for Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who has led opposition to climate legislation on Capitol Hill, says an Internet strategy is both effective and necessary because mainstream news organizations are “promoting the message of Gore uncritically.”</p>
<p>Internet videos could prove particularly potent, because they may influence watchers in ways they don’t realize. Nancy Snow, a communications professor at California State University, Fullerton, viewed the penguin video and calls it a lesson in “Propaganda 101.” It contains no factual information, but presents a highly negative image of the former vice president, she says. The purpose of such images is to harden the views of those who already view Mr. Gore negatively, Dr. Snow says.</p>
<p>YouTube has an estimated 20 million viewers daily, but with thousands of videos on the site, it can be difficult for marketers to reach their audience, says Brian Reich, a consultant for Mindshare Interactive Campaigns, who helps nonprofits and political candidates learn to use YouTube and other video sites effectively. “You still have to micro-target your information and make it compelling and relevant and timely to get people to pay attention,” he says.</p>
<p>Traffic to the penguin video, first posted on YouTube.com in May, got a boost from prominently placed sponsored links that appeared on the Google search engine when users typed in “Al Gore” or “Global Warming.” The ads, which didn’t indicate who had paid for them, were removed shortly after The Wall Street Journal contacted DCI Group on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Diana Adair, a spokeswoman for Google, says the search giant doesn’t allow advertising text that “advocates against any individual, group or organization.” However, the policy doesn’t apply to the Web sites or videos that such ads point to. Although most advertisers want their identities known, Ms. Adair says Google will protect the identity of advertisers who want to remain anonymous, only releasing that information under a subpoena or court order.</p>
<p>–Jeffrey Ball contributed to this article.</p>
<p />
| 5,864 |
<p>A new report from the State Department shows that the overwhelming majority of heroin consumption can be traced to Mexican drug cartels.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/mexican-drug-cartels-driving-heroin-opioid-consumption-u-s/" type="external">Washington Free Beacon</a>, the report stated that 90-94 percent of the heroin consumed is from Mexico. One of the main reasons for this is because the drug cartels have focused on producing heroin in Mexico instead of South America, which lowers costs and causes heroin to be sold at a cheaper value.</p>
<p>Additionally, the increase of fentanyl is also enabling the drug cartels, as not only is fentanyl cheap and easy to hide from law enforcement, it's an incredibly potent drug that is a significant factor in the rise in opioid deaths. Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield told reporters "fentanyl is 10-50 times as potent as heroin and when the user does not realize that he or she is consuming fentanyl and not consuming heroin the likelihood of overdose and death is extremely increased."</p>
<p>"In certain cities, Chicago comes to mind, where in a single evening, due to a poorly advertised batch of fentanyl, we lost more than 30 people in a single night," Brownfield said.</p>
<p>Indeed, the Mexican drug cartels have only grown since Mexico has been unable to quash them; largely due to the fact that local law enforcement in the country refuses go after the cartels, leaving Mexico's military in the uncomfortable position of focusing on the cartels. The Mexican drug cartels have now become the country's biggest crime syndicate when it comes to drugs.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the economic hardship has increased demand for heroin and opioids, and between the demand and burgeoning supply from the drug cartels the country now faces a serious heroin and opioids crisis. The number of deaths stemming from heroin overdose has increased six-fold from 2002 to 2015, with 2015 being the first year where there were more heroin deaths than gun deaths.</p>
<p>For more on the heroin and opioid epidemic and how it relates to the drug war, read the Daily Wire's primers on them <a href="" type="internal">here</a> and <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p>
<p>Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter" type="external">@bandlersbanter.</a></p>
|
Report: Most Heroin Use In The U.S. Stems From Mexican Drug Cartels
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/14055/report-most-heroin-use-us-stems-mexican-drug-aaron-bandler
|
2017-03-02
| 0right
|
Report: Most Heroin Use In The U.S. Stems From Mexican Drug Cartels
<p>A new report from the State Department shows that the overwhelming majority of heroin consumption can be traced to Mexican drug cartels.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://freebeacon.com/national-security/mexican-drug-cartels-driving-heroin-opioid-consumption-u-s/" type="external">Washington Free Beacon</a>, the report stated that 90-94 percent of the heroin consumed is from Mexico. One of the main reasons for this is because the drug cartels have focused on producing heroin in Mexico instead of South America, which lowers costs and causes heroin to be sold at a cheaper value.</p>
<p>Additionally, the increase of fentanyl is also enabling the drug cartels, as not only is fentanyl cheap and easy to hide from law enforcement, it's an incredibly potent drug that is a significant factor in the rise in opioid deaths. Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield told reporters "fentanyl is 10-50 times as potent as heroin and when the user does not realize that he or she is consuming fentanyl and not consuming heroin the likelihood of overdose and death is extremely increased."</p>
<p>"In certain cities, Chicago comes to mind, where in a single evening, due to a poorly advertised batch of fentanyl, we lost more than 30 people in a single night," Brownfield said.</p>
<p>Indeed, the Mexican drug cartels have only grown since Mexico has been unable to quash them; largely due to the fact that local law enforcement in the country refuses go after the cartels, leaving Mexico's military in the uncomfortable position of focusing on the cartels. The Mexican drug cartels have now become the country's biggest crime syndicate when it comes to drugs.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the economic hardship has increased demand for heroin and opioids, and between the demand and burgeoning supply from the drug cartels the country now faces a serious heroin and opioids crisis. The number of deaths stemming from heroin overdose has increased six-fold from 2002 to 2015, with 2015 being the first year where there were more heroin deaths than gun deaths.</p>
<p>For more on the heroin and opioid epidemic and how it relates to the drug war, read the Daily Wire's primers on them <a href="" type="internal">here</a> and <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p>
<p>Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter" type="external">@bandlersbanter.</a></p>
| 5,865 |
<p>PayPal will now <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060415/tc_nm/paypal_dc;_ylt=AgGw6dJT_DHNTFeeP9OzZ38jtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--" type="external">allow users</a> to buy goods and exchange money using their cell phones.</p>
<p>Sweet! It's been getting far too hard to blow money on impulse items in recent years.</p>
<p>AP:</p>
<p>Cell phones ready to start dialing for dollars</p>
<p />
<p>By Brian Garrity, Sat Apr 15, 12:05 AM ET</p>
<p>Forget about cash and credit cards. There's a new payment alternative for buying CDs, DVDs and other such entertainment pleasures - your cell phone.</p>
<p>Online payment specialist PayPal, a unit of Internet auction giant eBay, has introduced PayPal Mobile to North America. The wireless version of its service enables users to buy goods and exchange money using their phones. Transactions are conducted by secure text message.</p>
<p>Music heavyweights Universal Music Group and MTV already are supporting the technology.</p>
<p>UMG will use PayPal Mobile to sell CDs by the Pussycat Dolls, Mary J. Blige and Daddy Yankee in direct-marketing initiatives. Rollout is imminent. And MTV plans to use it to sell basic merchandise from its Web store, including T-shirts and DVDs.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060415/tc_nm/paypal_dc;_ylt=AgGw6dJT_DHNTFeeP9OzZ38jtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--" type="external">Link</a></p>
|
Cell Phones Set to Dial For Dollars
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/cell-phones-set-to-dial-for-dollars/
|
2006-04-17
| 4left
|
Cell Phones Set to Dial For Dollars
<p>PayPal will now <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060415/tc_nm/paypal_dc;_ylt=AgGw6dJT_DHNTFeeP9OzZ38jtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--" type="external">allow users</a> to buy goods and exchange money using their cell phones.</p>
<p>Sweet! It's been getting far too hard to blow money on impulse items in recent years.</p>
<p>AP:</p>
<p>Cell phones ready to start dialing for dollars</p>
<p />
<p>By Brian Garrity, Sat Apr 15, 12:05 AM ET</p>
<p>Forget about cash and credit cards. There's a new payment alternative for buying CDs, DVDs and other such entertainment pleasures - your cell phone.</p>
<p>Online payment specialist PayPal, a unit of Internet auction giant eBay, has introduced PayPal Mobile to North America. The wireless version of its service enables users to buy goods and exchange money using their phones. Transactions are conducted by secure text message.</p>
<p>Music heavyweights Universal Music Group and MTV already are supporting the technology.</p>
<p>UMG will use PayPal Mobile to sell CDs by the Pussycat Dolls, Mary J. Blige and Daddy Yankee in direct-marketing initiatives. Rollout is imminent. And MTV plans to use it to sell basic merchandise from its Web store, including T-shirts and DVDs.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060415/tc_nm/paypal_dc;_ylt=AgGw6dJT_DHNTFeeP9OzZ38jtBAF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--" type="external">Link</a></p>
| 5,866 |
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<p />
<p>At Santa Fe Community College, strategic planning is under way. It is providing a framework to focus on our strengths and challenges, look at the future needs of our students and the community, and consider changes to improve our educational mission.</p>
<p>We are fortunate that previous governing boards, presidents, faculty and staff have taken strategic planning seriously since 1998, with strong, clear, documented plans to guide SFCC. In the strategic planning process now begun at Santa Fe Community College, we are studying how best to build upon the work of the past while reflecting the complexities we face as a community college today.</p>
<p>Our core mission will not deviate from the one our founders put in place 30 years ago. We must provide the best possible education and training for our students, arming them with the useful skills they need in order to achieve future success in their chosen professions and avocations. We want our college to be and always remain the first choice for lifelong learning in Santa Fe.</p>
<p>In today’s fast-paced, performance-driven world, however, we as educators have an obligation to prepare our students with the tools they need to succeed. There are many challenges ahead: our uneven economy, large numbers of unprepared students, too few graduates, and the struggle for funding to keep up with technology and innovation.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>With the support of the board, I have made our priorities for the near term clear: First, more students must succeed in their SFCC experience by achieving a diploma, certificate, or admission to a bachelor’s degree-granting institution. We also will be revising our developmental course offerings so that students can achieve college-ready status more quickly, especially in reading and mathematics. SFCC will also be using the strategic planning process to identify areas of education that have not been adequately addressed in the past, or may hold future opportunities. In this category I would include veterans of our military who want to enter the workforce, providing training in the health and sciences area as our population’s needs change, and exploring growth and development potential in the area of early childhood education.</p>
<p>These areas of emphasis are the result of input that we have been hearing since I became president of SFCC, and they will complement and strengthen our core mission and responsibility to the taxpayers, patrons, students and all of our employees.</p>
<p>As the strategic planning process unfolds, we will be asking all of our constituents and supporters to help us develop the community college of today and the future. We have launched surveys for residents and business owners to give us their ideas about ways we can support community and workforce needs. We urge everyone to give us your input. You can take our community survey right on our homepage: <a href="http://www.sfcc.edu" type="external">www.sfcc.edu</a>.</p>
<p>When our latest strategic plan is finalized and we put the recommendations into action, SFCC will grow and change in some ways. But we will always continue to be strengthened by the commitment of our faculty, by the students who put their trust in us and by all of you. I thank you for welcoming me to the college and the community, and I look forward to many years of service ahead.</p>
|
SFCC’s plans strengthen core mission
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/203462/sfccs-plans-strengthen-core-mission.html
|
2013-05-26
| 2least
|
SFCC’s plans strengthen core mission
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>At Santa Fe Community College, strategic planning is under way. It is providing a framework to focus on our strengths and challenges, look at the future needs of our students and the community, and consider changes to improve our educational mission.</p>
<p>We are fortunate that previous governing boards, presidents, faculty and staff have taken strategic planning seriously since 1998, with strong, clear, documented plans to guide SFCC. In the strategic planning process now begun at Santa Fe Community College, we are studying how best to build upon the work of the past while reflecting the complexities we face as a community college today.</p>
<p>Our core mission will not deviate from the one our founders put in place 30 years ago. We must provide the best possible education and training for our students, arming them with the useful skills they need in order to achieve future success in their chosen professions and avocations. We want our college to be and always remain the first choice for lifelong learning in Santa Fe.</p>
<p>In today’s fast-paced, performance-driven world, however, we as educators have an obligation to prepare our students with the tools they need to succeed. There are many challenges ahead: our uneven economy, large numbers of unprepared students, too few graduates, and the struggle for funding to keep up with technology and innovation.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>With the support of the board, I have made our priorities for the near term clear: First, more students must succeed in their SFCC experience by achieving a diploma, certificate, or admission to a bachelor’s degree-granting institution. We also will be revising our developmental course offerings so that students can achieve college-ready status more quickly, especially in reading and mathematics. SFCC will also be using the strategic planning process to identify areas of education that have not been adequately addressed in the past, or may hold future opportunities. In this category I would include veterans of our military who want to enter the workforce, providing training in the health and sciences area as our population’s needs change, and exploring growth and development potential in the area of early childhood education.</p>
<p>These areas of emphasis are the result of input that we have been hearing since I became president of SFCC, and they will complement and strengthen our core mission and responsibility to the taxpayers, patrons, students and all of our employees.</p>
<p>As the strategic planning process unfolds, we will be asking all of our constituents and supporters to help us develop the community college of today and the future. We have launched surveys for residents and business owners to give us their ideas about ways we can support community and workforce needs. We urge everyone to give us your input. You can take our community survey right on our homepage: <a href="http://www.sfcc.edu" type="external">www.sfcc.edu</a>.</p>
<p>When our latest strategic plan is finalized and we put the recommendations into action, SFCC will grow and change in some ways. But we will always continue to be strengthened by the commitment of our faculty, by the students who put their trust in us and by all of you. I thank you for welcoming me to the college and the community, and I look forward to many years of service ahead.</p>
| 5,867 |
<p>Published time: 25 Jul, 2017 13:50Edited time: 25 Jul, 2017 14:24</p>
<p>A US patrol ship fired several warning shots from a heavy machine gun at an Iranian craft that approached within 150 yards and ignored other warnings, Pentagon officials told reporters on Tuesday.</p>
<p>USS Thunderbolt opened fire only after it tried to warn off the Iranians over the radio, by firing flares, and blowing five short blasts from its whistle, the officials said. The warning shots were fired into the water, out of concerns of a possible collision.</p>
<p />
<p>USS Thunderbolt fired warning shots from .50 cal machine gun at Iran boat when came within 150 yards, also ignored radio calls and flares</p>
<p>— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/LucasFoxNews/status/889842862577381376" type="external">July 25, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>The Iranian ship had approached to within 150 yards (137 meters), but “ceased its provocative actions” after the warning shots, US officials added. The vessel stayed in the area, which was described as being in “international waters in the northern Arabian Gulf,” the Pentagon’s preferred term for the Persian Gulf.</p>
<p>The Thunderbolt is a Cyclone-class patrol ship, operating out of the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain.&#160;It has a crew of four officers and 24 sailors. US officials did not specify the size or type of the Iranian vessel, only speculated that it may have been operated by the naval branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).</p>
<p>In January 2016, IRGC vessels intercepted and captured two US fast-assault boats that had strayed into Iranian waters near Farsi Island. The two crews, nine men and a woman, were briefly detained on Farsi Island. The boats and the crews were released unharmed after about 15 hours.</p>
<p>The boats had been on their way from Kuwait to Bahrain and experienced engine trouble, according to the US Navy. The Iranian inquiry later concluded that the boats’ trespass was “not the result of a purposeful act.”</p>
<p>Hostility between the US and Iran date back to the 1979 Islamic revolution, which overthrew the US-backed monarchy in Tehran.</p>
|
US ship fires warning shots at Iranians in Persian Gulf
| false |
https://newsline.com/us-ship-fires-warning-shots-at-iranians-in-persian-gulf/
|
2017-07-25
| 1right-center
|
US ship fires warning shots at Iranians in Persian Gulf
<p>Published time: 25 Jul, 2017 13:50Edited time: 25 Jul, 2017 14:24</p>
<p>A US patrol ship fired several warning shots from a heavy machine gun at an Iranian craft that approached within 150 yards and ignored other warnings, Pentagon officials told reporters on Tuesday.</p>
<p>USS Thunderbolt opened fire only after it tried to warn off the Iranians over the radio, by firing flares, and blowing five short blasts from its whistle, the officials said. The warning shots were fired into the water, out of concerns of a possible collision.</p>
<p />
<p>USS Thunderbolt fired warning shots from .50 cal machine gun at Iran boat when came within 150 yards, also ignored radio calls and flares</p>
<p>— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/LucasFoxNews/status/889842862577381376" type="external">July 25, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>The Iranian ship had approached to within 150 yards (137 meters), but “ceased its provocative actions” after the warning shots, US officials added. The vessel stayed in the area, which was described as being in “international waters in the northern Arabian Gulf,” the Pentagon’s preferred term for the Persian Gulf.</p>
<p>The Thunderbolt is a Cyclone-class patrol ship, operating out of the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain.&#160;It has a crew of four officers and 24 sailors. US officials did not specify the size or type of the Iranian vessel, only speculated that it may have been operated by the naval branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).</p>
<p>In January 2016, IRGC vessels intercepted and captured two US fast-assault boats that had strayed into Iranian waters near Farsi Island. The two crews, nine men and a woman, were briefly detained on Farsi Island. The boats and the crews were released unharmed after about 15 hours.</p>
<p>The boats had been on their way from Kuwait to Bahrain and experienced engine trouble, according to the US Navy. The Iranian inquiry later concluded that the boats’ trespass was “not the result of a purposeful act.”</p>
<p>Hostility between the US and Iran date back to the 1979 Islamic revolution, which overthrew the US-backed monarchy in Tehran.</p>
| 5,868 |
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<p>THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Royal Dutch Shell says a refinery in Rotterdam that it largely shut down over the weekend following a fire at an electricity station will remain closed until at least mid-August.</p>
<p>The energy multinational said in a statement Tuesday that it expects to restart operations at the Pernis refinery “at the earliest in the second half of August.”</p>
<p>The Pernis refinery in Rotterdam’s sprawling port is Europe’s largest. It has the capacity to refine just over 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.</p>
<p>The company has not released details of the financial impact of the closure.</p>
<p>In a statement, Shell says: “we are doing everything we can to minimize impact to our customers.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
|
Shell refinery to remain closed until at least mid-August
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1041444/shell-refinery-to-remain-closed-until-at-least-mid-august.html
| 2least
|
Shell refinery to remain closed until at least mid-August
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Royal Dutch Shell says a refinery in Rotterdam that it largely shut down over the weekend following a fire at an electricity station will remain closed until at least mid-August.</p>
<p>The energy multinational said in a statement Tuesday that it expects to restart operations at the Pernis refinery “at the earliest in the second half of August.”</p>
<p>The Pernis refinery in Rotterdam’s sprawling port is Europe’s largest. It has the capacity to refine just over 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day.</p>
<p>The company has not released details of the financial impact of the closure.</p>
<p>In a statement, Shell says: “we are doing everything we can to minimize impact to our customers.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
| 5,869 |
|
<p>Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Tuesday explained to a group of children that atheists in the United States were working to take away their religious freedoms.</p>
<p>Speaking at the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators, Cruz <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20140318-ted-cruz-talks-religious-liberty-with-iowa-home-schoolers-demurs-on-2016-plans1.ece" type="external">told parents and children</a> as young as 3 that "school choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century."</p>
<p>Cruz repeated a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/michael-farris-un-control-children-glasses" type="external">conspiracy theory</a> that the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx" type="external">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a> would allow the United Nations to take parenting decisions away from Americans.</p>
<p>"Nothing in international law, nothing in any treaty should be used as a backdoor vehicle to undermine the rights of every parent here to raise your children consistent with your faith, with your good judgement and the love you have for your children," he said.</p>
<p>The possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate went on to cite a series of cases to assert that atheists were trying to destroy religious freedom in the United States.</p>
<p>"We have never seen an administration with such hostility to religious faith," Cruz opined. "You know, last year, there was a chaplain in the Air Force up in Alaska who wrote in a blog post the phrase 'There are no atheists in fox holes.' He was ordered by his supervising officer to take it down."</p>
<p>"I guess it was deemed insensitive to atheists. I kind of thought it was the job of a chaplain to be insensitive to atheists."</p>
<p>After a round of applause, the senator added: "To welcome them into the forgiving arms of a loving god."</p>
|
Cruz Informs Home-schooled Kids: 'Job Of A Chaplain Is To Be Insensitive To Atheists'
| true |
http://crooksandliars.com/2014/03/cruz-informs-home-schooled-kids-job
|
2014-03-19
| 4left
|
Cruz Informs Home-schooled Kids: 'Job Of A Chaplain Is To Be Insensitive To Atheists'
<p>Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Tuesday explained to a group of children that atheists in the United States were working to take away their religious freedoms.</p>
<p>Speaking at the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators, Cruz <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/headlines/20140318-ted-cruz-talks-religious-liberty-with-iowa-home-schoolers-demurs-on-2016-plans1.ece" type="external">told parents and children</a> as young as 3 that "school choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century."</p>
<p>Cruz repeated a <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/michael-farris-un-control-children-glasses" type="external">conspiracy theory</a> that the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx" type="external">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a> would allow the United Nations to take parenting decisions away from Americans.</p>
<p>"Nothing in international law, nothing in any treaty should be used as a backdoor vehicle to undermine the rights of every parent here to raise your children consistent with your faith, with your good judgement and the love you have for your children," he said.</p>
<p>The possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate went on to cite a series of cases to assert that atheists were trying to destroy religious freedom in the United States.</p>
<p>"We have never seen an administration with such hostility to religious faith," Cruz opined. "You know, last year, there was a chaplain in the Air Force up in Alaska who wrote in a blog post the phrase 'There are no atheists in fox holes.' He was ordered by his supervising officer to take it down."</p>
<p>"I guess it was deemed insensitive to atheists. I kind of thought it was the job of a chaplain to be insensitive to atheists."</p>
<p>After a round of applause, the senator added: "To welcome them into the forgiving arms of a loving god."</p>
| 5,870 |
<p>Don’t believe Donald Trump when he tells you that he’s not being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation because according to court filings, there is an active investigation into his call for Russian hacking and espionage.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.sparrowmedia.net/2017/05/james-comey-trump-investigation/" type="external">Sparrow Media</a>:</p>
<p>“A&#160; <a href="https://www.sparrowmedia.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joint-status-report-4-6-17.pdf" type="external">recent court filing</a> by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FBI in an ongoing FOIA lawsuit plainly indicates the FBI has an active investigation pertaining to&#160;Donald Trump’s actions related to actual or potential election-related hacking and espionage by Russia.”</p>
<p>via sparrowmedia</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sparrowmedia.net/2017/05/james-comey-trump-investigation/" type="external">Further</a>:</p>
<p>“The lawsuit is filed by <a href="https://twitter.com/_rshapiro" type="external">Ryan Shapiro</a>, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) PhD candidate/Berkman Klein Center for Internet &amp; Society at Harvard University research affiliate, and <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonLeopold" type="external">Jason Leopold</a>, Senior Investigative Journalist at BuzzFeed News.</p>
<p>On August 18, 2016, Shapiro and Leopold submitted a FOIA request to the FBI seeking “disclosure of any and all records, including investigative records, mentioning or referring to Donald J. Trump’s statement on 27 July, 2016 [regarding Secretary Hillary Clinton’s State Department emails], ‘Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,’ and ‘I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.’”</p>
<p>When the FBI did not respond in a timely manner to the FOIA request, Shapiro and Leopold sued. During the lawsuit, the FBI initially asserted that it could neither confirm nor deny the existence of documents responsive to this FOIA request.”</p>
<p>via sparrowmedia</p>
<p>via sparrowmedia</p>
<p>So, when Trump said to Comey:</p>
<p>“I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation..”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>That’s clearly not the case AT ALL. There is an ongoing investigation into Trump’s call for Russian interference.</p>
<p>This is all about to get VERY interesting.</p>
<p>Featured Photo by Getty Images</p>
|
BREAKING: FBI Actively Investigating Donald Trump (IMAGES)
| true |
http://bluetribune.com/2017/05/10/breaking-fbi-actively-investigating-donald-trump-images/
|
2017-05-10
| 4left
|
BREAKING: FBI Actively Investigating Donald Trump (IMAGES)
<p>Don’t believe Donald Trump when he tells you that he’s not being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation because according to court filings, there is an active investigation into his call for Russian hacking and espionage.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.sparrowmedia.net/2017/05/james-comey-trump-investigation/" type="external">Sparrow Media</a>:</p>
<p>“A&#160; <a href="https://www.sparrowmedia.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Joint-status-report-4-6-17.pdf" type="external">recent court filing</a> by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FBI in an ongoing FOIA lawsuit plainly indicates the FBI has an active investigation pertaining to&#160;Donald Trump’s actions related to actual or potential election-related hacking and espionage by Russia.”</p>
<p>via sparrowmedia</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sparrowmedia.net/2017/05/james-comey-trump-investigation/" type="external">Further</a>:</p>
<p>“The lawsuit is filed by <a href="https://twitter.com/_rshapiro" type="external">Ryan Shapiro</a>, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) PhD candidate/Berkman Klein Center for Internet &amp; Society at Harvard University research affiliate, and <a href="https://twitter.com/JasonLeopold" type="external">Jason Leopold</a>, Senior Investigative Journalist at BuzzFeed News.</p>
<p>On August 18, 2016, Shapiro and Leopold submitted a FOIA request to the FBI seeking “disclosure of any and all records, including investigative records, mentioning or referring to Donald J. Trump’s statement on 27 July, 2016 [regarding Secretary Hillary Clinton’s State Department emails], ‘Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,’ and ‘I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.’”</p>
<p>When the FBI did not respond in a timely manner to the FOIA request, Shapiro and Leopold sued. During the lawsuit, the FBI initially asserted that it could neither confirm nor deny the existence of documents responsive to this FOIA request.”</p>
<p>via sparrowmedia</p>
<p>via sparrowmedia</p>
<p>So, when Trump said to Comey:</p>
<p>“I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation..”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>That’s clearly not the case AT ALL. There is an ongoing investigation into Trump’s call for Russian interference.</p>
<p>This is all about to get VERY interesting.</p>
<p>Featured Photo by Getty Images</p>
| 5,871 |
<p>The temporary end to the bombing of Gaza has enabled Palestinian residents to slowly return to normal. But “normal” is defined by a seven-year-long blockade, endlessly frustrating checkpoints, the threat of beatings and arrest by Israeli police, and of course recovering from the loss of nearly 2,000 people and <a href="http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=718079" type="external">thousands of homes</a>. Today 8-year-olds in Gaza have survived four brutal military operations and know only what it is like to live under siege.</p>
<p>Many have drawn comparisons between Israeli occupation and South African apartheid. Such comparisons are instructive, not only as a moral gauge but in terms of offering solutions to the current crisis.</p>
<p>As part of its negotiations with Palestinian factions in Egypt, Israel wants a complete disarmament of Hamas, the militant political organization that has become the lynchpin of Israeli claims about self-defense. (While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently repeated the knee-jerk <a href="http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php/sid/223948551" type="external">statement</a> that Hamas “call[s] for the destruction of Israel and they call for the killing of every Jew,” he and others ignore that Hamas has for years publicly <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/hamas-parliamentarian-we-accept-existence-israel-within-1967-borders/8656" type="external">accepted the right of Israel to exist</a> within its 1967 borders.) But, for many Palestinians, Hamas’ actions amount to self-defense. If an elephant is trampling on a bee, is it not the right of the bee to sting?</p>
<p>In his struggle against apartheid, South African leader Nelson Mandela said in 1980, “Between the anvil of united mass action and the hammer of the armed struggle we shall crush apartheid and white minority racist rule.” I am no fan of Hamas, primarily because I am turned off by religious ideology as a basis for nationalism. Nor am I a fan of today’s African National Congress, which Mandela once led but today is post-apartheid South Africa’s ruling party, wracked by charges of corruption. But is it not up to the oppressed to decide what form of resistance to take against their oppressor? Blaming only Hamas for starting the war, sustaining it, tossing largely ineffective rockets at Israel, breaking cease-fire agreements, bringing about the deaths of Palestinians by Israeli forces, using human shields, and any other accusation that sticks, is akin to blaming the ANC for daring to resist apartheid. Would we blame the bee for doing its absolute best to cripple the trampling elephant with its tiny sting?</p>
<p />
<p>The belligerence of American comic Joan Rivers, as seen in <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2719688/Youre-dead-deserve-dead-started-Joan-Rivers-astonishing-attack-stupid-Palestinians.html" type="external">this video</a> in which she talks to a reporter, expresses some of the absurdity of pro-Israeli logic. When asked to comment on the Palestinian death toll, Rivers blames Palestinians for electing Hamas to represent them, saying, “You can’t get rid of Hamas. You have to say you do not recognize them, they are terrorists. They were re-elected by a lot of stupid people who don’t even own a pencil. … At least the ones that were killed were the ones with very low IQs.”</p>
<p>In fact, the ANC was on the U.S.’ list of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations until as recently as 2008. Hamas was added to that <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm" type="external">list</a> in 1997.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://uprisingradio.org/home/2014/08/11/latest-israel-palestinian-ceasefire-holds-as-gazans-return-to-rubble/" type="external">an interview</a> Monday on <a href="http://www.uprisingradio.org" type="external">Uprising</a>, Noura Erakat, a human rights attorney, activist and assistant professor at George Mason University, said it was “a ridiculous idea” that “if you vote [in] an irresponsible party … you are all legitimate targets.” Erakat reminded us that Americans “voted for George W. Bush twice. He waged an illegal war in Iraq and deluded the entire international community. Would anybody therefore accept that Americans become legitimate targets? This is nonsensical. It’s racist. It’s dehumanizing. Joan Rivers should be shamed.”</p>
<p>Rivers also echoes the naked racism being openly embraced by certain supporters of Israel in recent weeks (read my earlier column about Israeli racism <a href="" type="internal">here</a>). She tells the reporter in response to a question about Palestinian deaths, “You’re dead. You deserve to be dead. You started it. You started it. Don’t you dare make me feel sad about that.” Anyone who might use such invective against Jews would instantaneously and universally be denounced as anti-Semitic and racist, and rightly so. But when Arabs are the ones who are cast as collectively deserving of death there is far less danger of being blacklisted or shunned by American society.</p>
<p>Residents of Gaza have been so thoroughly devastated over the past month that any lull in bombing is obviously a relief. But Israeli negotiators and their U.S. benefactors want to completely disarm Hamas and demilitarize Gaza. In return, Gaza could go back to simply living under a brutal occupation. Compare this to the prospect of the white South African leadership insisting on disarming the ANC in exchange for maintaining the system of apartheid.</p>
<p>According to Erakat, the cease-fire negotiations obfuscate the fact that Israel is a long-term occupier of Gaza. She asserted, “We should really be talking about what are Israel’s long-term violations that need to be addressed. … Instead the way that it is framed is that Israel is protecting itself … and attempting to use international law to justify its colonial domination, where such rights do not exist for colonial powers.”</p>
<p>Just as it was the right of black South Africans to demand an end to apartheid while maintaining their right to resist as they saw fit, it is the right of Palestinians to demand an end to Israeli occupation. Erakat confirmed this, saying, “International laws give a people under occupation the right to use armed resistance to shake off foreign colonization.”</p>
<p>As Gaza’s residents return to the rubble of what was once their homes and villages, they may have a strong legal case to take Israel to the International Criminal Court for possible human rights violations and war crimes. The United Nations has already <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/11/us-mideast-gaza-un-inquiry-idUSKBN0GB1QR20140811" type="external">convened a panel</a> to investigate allegations of war crimes in Gaza by Israel (and also by Hamas), especially given that several U.N. shelters and facilities housing refugees were hit during Operation Protective Edge. The question is, will such an investigation make a difference? A 2009 U.N. report in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead, known as the <a href="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/09/15/UNFFMGCReport.pdf" type="external">Goldstone Report</a>, was dismissed outright by Israel and its supporters. The lead author of that report, Richard Goldstone, is a South African judge who had used legal rulings to weaken apartheid when he served on that country’s Supreme Court, and he also served as the chief U.N. prosecutor over crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Despite his highly respected status, Israeli authorities refused to cooperate with the investigation and then rejected his conclusions that Palestinian civilians were targeted. Nothing has come of the Goldstone Report, and Israel’s recent dismissal of the U.N. Human Rights Council as a “kangaroo court,” even before the investigation of Operation Protective Edge has begun, underscores Israeli impunity for international law.</p>
<p>Erakat surmised that Israel “has boycotted mechanisms that are meant to hold states to account. It chooses to be above the law. No other state could get away with this but Israel can because it has the superpower United States as its primary patron.” Historian David Schmitz, <a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/02/05/ronald_reagan_apartheid_south_africa/" type="external">in a 2011 interview with Salon</a>, explained how President Reagan’s support for South Africa’s apartheid regime in the 1980s prolonged that system of oppression, saying, “It gave it life. It gave it hope that the United States would continue to stick with it. It gave it continued flow of aid as well as ideological support. It delayed the changes that were going to come.” Similarly, it is U.S. support that bolsters Israeli impunity and prolongs the occupation.</p>
<p>If international law is impotent to hold Israel accountable, and if U.S. officials continue to unequivocally support Israel, what will end the suffering of Palestinians? The court of public opinion seems to provide perhaps the only glimmer of hope. Tens of thousands of supporters of Palestinian rights <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/09/gaza-protest-march-london-raise-funds-victims-conflict-israel-palestine" type="external">marched</a> in Britain and South Africa last weekend to draw attention to Israeli brutality. Drawing inspiration from the international movement to end apartheid, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to financially affect Israel over its occupation is also gaining steam. The Soros Fund just recently quietly <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-04/soros-fund-no-longer-holds-shares-of-sodastream.html" type="external">divested</a> its shares of the Israeli company SodaStream. Hundreds of thousands of shoppers all over the world have signed up for a campaign to avoid buying Israeli products through a smartphone app called <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/08/06/shoppers-use-app-to-boycott-israel-in-grocery-store-aisles/" type="external">Buycott</a>. In California and Washington, activists are <a href="http://uprisingradio.org/home/2014/08/12/california-activists-confront-israeli-ship-at-ports/" type="external">planning</a> to gather at West Coast ports this week to confront an Israeli ship in the hopes of blocking it from unloading its goods. And a Turkish aid group is <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/new-turkish-humanitarian-flotilla-set-defy-gaza-blockade-263825" type="external">setting sail for Gaza</a> to try once more to break the Israeli blockade by sea.</p>
<p>Just as the South African resistance to apartheid and the global solidarity movement were initially resisted by establishment forces, today powerful elites vilify oppressed Palestinians and their allies. But as apartheid fell, so too will Israeli occupation crumble. Mandela reminded us of the importance of solidarity, saying, “I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.”</p>
<p>It is only a matter of time.</p>
|
Like South Africa's Apartheid, Israeli Occupation Will End -- It Is Only a Matter of Time
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/like-south-africas-apartheid-israeli-occupation-will-end-it-is-only-a-matter-of-time/
|
2014-08-15
| 4left
|
Like South Africa's Apartheid, Israeli Occupation Will End -- It Is Only a Matter of Time
<p>The temporary end to the bombing of Gaza has enabled Palestinian residents to slowly return to normal. But “normal” is defined by a seven-year-long blockade, endlessly frustrating checkpoints, the threat of beatings and arrest by Israeli police, and of course recovering from the loss of nearly 2,000 people and <a href="http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=718079" type="external">thousands of homes</a>. Today 8-year-olds in Gaza have survived four brutal military operations and know only what it is like to live under siege.</p>
<p>Many have drawn comparisons between Israeli occupation and South African apartheid. Such comparisons are instructive, not only as a moral gauge but in terms of offering solutions to the current crisis.</p>
<p>As part of its negotiations with Palestinian factions in Egypt, Israel wants a complete disarmament of Hamas, the militant political organization that has become the lynchpin of Israeli claims about self-defense. (While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently repeated the knee-jerk <a href="http://www.bignewsnetwork.com/index.php/sid/223948551" type="external">statement</a> that Hamas “call[s] for the destruction of Israel and they call for the killing of every Jew,” he and others ignore that Hamas has for years publicly <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/hamas-parliamentarian-we-accept-existence-israel-within-1967-borders/8656" type="external">accepted the right of Israel to exist</a> within its 1967 borders.) But, for many Palestinians, Hamas’ actions amount to self-defense. If an elephant is trampling on a bee, is it not the right of the bee to sting?</p>
<p>In his struggle against apartheid, South African leader Nelson Mandela said in 1980, “Between the anvil of united mass action and the hammer of the armed struggle we shall crush apartheid and white minority racist rule.” I am no fan of Hamas, primarily because I am turned off by religious ideology as a basis for nationalism. Nor am I a fan of today’s African National Congress, which Mandela once led but today is post-apartheid South Africa’s ruling party, wracked by charges of corruption. But is it not up to the oppressed to decide what form of resistance to take against their oppressor? Blaming only Hamas for starting the war, sustaining it, tossing largely ineffective rockets at Israel, breaking cease-fire agreements, bringing about the deaths of Palestinians by Israeli forces, using human shields, and any other accusation that sticks, is akin to blaming the ANC for daring to resist apartheid. Would we blame the bee for doing its absolute best to cripple the trampling elephant with its tiny sting?</p>
<p />
<p>The belligerence of American comic Joan Rivers, as seen in <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2719688/Youre-dead-deserve-dead-started-Joan-Rivers-astonishing-attack-stupid-Palestinians.html" type="external">this video</a> in which she talks to a reporter, expresses some of the absurdity of pro-Israeli logic. When asked to comment on the Palestinian death toll, Rivers blames Palestinians for electing Hamas to represent them, saying, “You can’t get rid of Hamas. You have to say you do not recognize them, they are terrorists. They were re-elected by a lot of stupid people who don’t even own a pencil. … At least the ones that were killed were the ones with very low IQs.”</p>
<p>In fact, the ANC was on the U.S.’ list of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations until as recently as 2008. Hamas was added to that <a href="http://www.state.gov/j/ct/rls/other/des/123085.htm" type="external">list</a> in 1997.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://uprisingradio.org/home/2014/08/11/latest-israel-palestinian-ceasefire-holds-as-gazans-return-to-rubble/" type="external">an interview</a> Monday on <a href="http://www.uprisingradio.org" type="external">Uprising</a>, Noura Erakat, a human rights attorney, activist and assistant professor at George Mason University, said it was “a ridiculous idea” that “if you vote [in] an irresponsible party … you are all legitimate targets.” Erakat reminded us that Americans “voted for George W. Bush twice. He waged an illegal war in Iraq and deluded the entire international community. Would anybody therefore accept that Americans become legitimate targets? This is nonsensical. It’s racist. It’s dehumanizing. Joan Rivers should be shamed.”</p>
<p>Rivers also echoes the naked racism being openly embraced by certain supporters of Israel in recent weeks (read my earlier column about Israeli racism <a href="" type="internal">here</a>). She tells the reporter in response to a question about Palestinian deaths, “You’re dead. You deserve to be dead. You started it. You started it. Don’t you dare make me feel sad about that.” Anyone who might use such invective against Jews would instantaneously and universally be denounced as anti-Semitic and racist, and rightly so. But when Arabs are the ones who are cast as collectively deserving of death there is far less danger of being blacklisted or shunned by American society.</p>
<p>Residents of Gaza have been so thoroughly devastated over the past month that any lull in bombing is obviously a relief. But Israeli negotiators and their U.S. benefactors want to completely disarm Hamas and demilitarize Gaza. In return, Gaza could go back to simply living under a brutal occupation. Compare this to the prospect of the white South African leadership insisting on disarming the ANC in exchange for maintaining the system of apartheid.</p>
<p>According to Erakat, the cease-fire negotiations obfuscate the fact that Israel is a long-term occupier of Gaza. She asserted, “We should really be talking about what are Israel’s long-term violations that need to be addressed. … Instead the way that it is framed is that Israel is protecting itself … and attempting to use international law to justify its colonial domination, where such rights do not exist for colonial powers.”</p>
<p>Just as it was the right of black South Africans to demand an end to apartheid while maintaining their right to resist as they saw fit, it is the right of Palestinians to demand an end to Israeli occupation. Erakat confirmed this, saying, “International laws give a people under occupation the right to use armed resistance to shake off foreign colonization.”</p>
<p>As Gaza’s residents return to the rubble of what was once their homes and villages, they may have a strong legal case to take Israel to the International Criminal Court for possible human rights violations and war crimes. The United Nations has already <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/08/11/us-mideast-gaza-un-inquiry-idUSKBN0GB1QR20140811" type="external">convened a panel</a> to investigate allegations of war crimes in Gaza by Israel (and also by Hamas), especially given that several U.N. shelters and facilities housing refugees were hit during Operation Protective Edge. The question is, will such an investigation make a difference? A 2009 U.N. report in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead, known as the <a href="http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2009/09/15/UNFFMGCReport.pdf" type="external">Goldstone Report</a>, was dismissed outright by Israel and its supporters. The lead author of that report, Richard Goldstone, is a South African judge who had used legal rulings to weaken apartheid when he served on that country’s Supreme Court, and he also served as the chief U.N. prosecutor over crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. Despite his highly respected status, Israeli authorities refused to cooperate with the investigation and then rejected his conclusions that Palestinian civilians were targeted. Nothing has come of the Goldstone Report, and Israel’s recent dismissal of the U.N. Human Rights Council as a “kangaroo court,” even before the investigation of Operation Protective Edge has begun, underscores Israeli impunity for international law.</p>
<p>Erakat surmised that Israel “has boycotted mechanisms that are meant to hold states to account. It chooses to be above the law. No other state could get away with this but Israel can because it has the superpower United States as its primary patron.” Historian David Schmitz, <a href="http://www.salon.com/2011/02/05/ronald_reagan_apartheid_south_africa/" type="external">in a 2011 interview with Salon</a>, explained how President Reagan’s support for South Africa’s apartheid regime in the 1980s prolonged that system of oppression, saying, “It gave it life. It gave it hope that the United States would continue to stick with it. It gave it continued flow of aid as well as ideological support. It delayed the changes that were going to come.” Similarly, it is U.S. support that bolsters Israeli impunity and prolongs the occupation.</p>
<p>If international law is impotent to hold Israel accountable, and if U.S. officials continue to unequivocally support Israel, what will end the suffering of Palestinians? The court of public opinion seems to provide perhaps the only glimmer of hope. Tens of thousands of supporters of Palestinian rights <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/09/gaza-protest-march-london-raise-funds-victims-conflict-israel-palestine" type="external">marched</a> in Britain and South Africa last weekend to draw attention to Israeli brutality. Drawing inspiration from the international movement to end apartheid, the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement to financially affect Israel over its occupation is also gaining steam. The Soros Fund just recently quietly <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-04/soros-fund-no-longer-holds-shares-of-sodastream.html" type="external">divested</a> its shares of the Israeli company SodaStream. Hundreds of thousands of shoppers all over the world have signed up for a campaign to avoid buying Israeli products through a smartphone app called <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2014/08/06/shoppers-use-app-to-boycott-israel-in-grocery-store-aisles/" type="external">Buycott</a>. In California and Washington, activists are <a href="http://uprisingradio.org/home/2014/08/12/california-activists-confront-israeli-ship-at-ports/" type="external">planning</a> to gather at West Coast ports this week to confront an Israeli ship in the hopes of blocking it from unloading its goods. And a Turkish aid group is <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/new-turkish-humanitarian-flotilla-set-defy-gaza-blockade-263825" type="external">setting sail for Gaza</a> to try once more to break the Israeli blockade by sea.</p>
<p>Just as the South African resistance to apartheid and the global solidarity movement were initially resisted by establishment forces, today powerful elites vilify oppressed Palestinians and their allies. But as apartheid fell, so too will Israeli occupation crumble. Mandela reminded us of the importance of solidarity, saying, “I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated.”</p>
<p>It is only a matter of time.</p>
| 5,872 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The demand for a la carte television is continually growing as consumers tire of big bundles of channels. Several networks, including CBS (NYSE: CBS) and Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) HBO, already offer their channels a la carte through over-the-top streaming services. And while we may never see an a la carte menu of channels from big cable companies like Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), providers are trying to put together skinny bundles of the most popular networks.</p>
<p>Some insight into which channels consumers most want to buy and how much they'd pay for each channel can be helpful in determining which media companies stand to survive the shift to more skinny bundles. TiVo's Digitalsmiths recently conducted a <a href="http://www.fiercecable.com/broadcasting/abc-cbs-nbc-most-desirable-a-la-carte-channels-report" type="external">survey Opens a New Window.</a> to find out exactly that.</p>
<p>Five of the top 10 channels people want a la carte are available for free. Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ABC, CBS, NBC, 21st-Century Fox's (NASDAQ: FOXA) Fox, and PBS can all be picked up using a simple antenna, but customers seem to prefer the convenience of a cable delivering the feed.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In fact, consumers said they are willing to pay around $1.50 per month for each channel, while PBS viewers are willing to pay $1.74 per month on average in this survey. Interestingly, PBS could be a big value-add for skinny bundles without any additional cost as cable operators don't pay to retransmit it.</p>
<p>The other networks may have room to increase their retransmission fees based on these survey results. That's something both CBS and NBCUniversal have been aggressively pursuing. CBS is such a tough negotiator that its channel was blacked out on multiple occasions, but never for long.</p>
<p>And the prices consumers say they'd pay may underestimate how much networks will be able to charge for value added services. For example, CBS charges $6 per month for CBS All Access, which includes access to its entire back catalog of content as well as a live-stream of its broadcasts (except NFL football). HBO, which Digitalsmiths' survey respondents said they'd pay $3.13 per month for, on average, charges $15 per month for HBO Now. Both services have over 1 million subscribers.</p>
<p>The fourth most popular network in Digitalsmiths' survey was the Discovery Channel. Discovery Networks (NASDAQ: DISCA) has faced trouble with declining ad revenue due to cord-cutting and cord-shaving. While Discovery Channel made the top 10, none of its other networks (TLC, Animal Planet, OWN, Science, etc.) cracked the top 20. While Discovery's flagship network might be popular enough to survive a la carte, the company benefits much more from the big bundle with all of its channels.</p>
<p>The History Channel and A&amp;E give Disney at least part ownership in three of the most in-demand television networks. However, Disney has seen income from A&amp;E (the company behind A&amp;E and History Channel) decline thanks to lower advertising in recent quarters.</p>
<p>While Disney has a lot of channels in the top 10 and top 20, it's important to note that its most valuable networks -- ESPN's family of networks and the Disney Channel itself -- are much lower on the list. What's more, people say they aren't willing to pay much of a premium for those channels. Today, pay-TV distributors pay Disney about $7.21 per ESPN subscriber. The 44% of Digitalsmiths' survey respondents that wanted ESPN said they'd pay an average of $1.95 per month. As a result, Disney has a strong interest in masking the price of ESPN with a bundle from cable companies.</p>
<p>Lastly, Time Warner's TNT and TBS also made the top 10. Time Warner's Turner segment continues to see revenue from both subscriptions and advertising climb, up 9% year over year last quarter and 7% year to date. It has thus far had success getting its networks into skinny bundles. Turner CEO John Martin, though, sees a day when <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/19/turner-wants-to-sell-cnn-tnt-and-tbs-directly-to-c.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">it may sell its networks directly to consumers Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Not every media company would benefit from an a la carte distribution model -- not even those with the most in-demand networks. Even Time Warner is hesitant to go over the top with channels like TNT and TBS because it could impact the number of subscribers for its other channels. That's the problem Disney and Discovery face, while other big broadcasters featured in the top 10 have less to worry about.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, as people shift to more skinny bundles, this survey indicates these are the companies with the most leverage with distributors to maintain their subscription and advertising revenue streams.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Comcast 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=6b056bf7-96d9-4492-a5c8-551ba55471fe&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now...and Comcast 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=6b056bf7-96d9-4492-a5c8-551ba55471fe&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 7, 2016.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/adamlevy/info.aspx" type="external">Adam Levy Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Time Warner. 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>
|
Top 10 Channels People Want to Buy a la Carte
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/27/top-10-channels-people-want-to-buy-la-carte.html
|
2016-11-27
| 0right
|
Top 10 Channels People Want to Buy a la Carte
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The demand for a la carte television is continually growing as consumers tire of big bundles of channels. Several networks, including CBS (NYSE: CBS) and Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) HBO, already offer their channels a la carte through over-the-top streaming services. And while we may never see an a la carte menu of channels from big cable companies like Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), providers are trying to put together skinny bundles of the most popular networks.</p>
<p>Some insight into which channels consumers most want to buy and how much they'd pay for each channel can be helpful in determining which media companies stand to survive the shift to more skinny bundles. TiVo's Digitalsmiths recently conducted a <a href="http://www.fiercecable.com/broadcasting/abc-cbs-nbc-most-desirable-a-la-carte-channels-report" type="external">survey Opens a New Window.</a> to find out exactly that.</p>
<p>Five of the top 10 channels people want a la carte are available for free. Disney's (NYSE: DIS) ABC, CBS, NBC, 21st-Century Fox's (NASDAQ: FOXA) Fox, and PBS can all be picked up using a simple antenna, but customers seem to prefer the convenience of a cable delivering the feed.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In fact, consumers said they are willing to pay around $1.50 per month for each channel, while PBS viewers are willing to pay $1.74 per month on average in this survey. Interestingly, PBS could be a big value-add for skinny bundles without any additional cost as cable operators don't pay to retransmit it.</p>
<p>The other networks may have room to increase their retransmission fees based on these survey results. That's something both CBS and NBCUniversal have been aggressively pursuing. CBS is such a tough negotiator that its channel was blacked out on multiple occasions, but never for long.</p>
<p>And the prices consumers say they'd pay may underestimate how much networks will be able to charge for value added services. For example, CBS charges $6 per month for CBS All Access, which includes access to its entire back catalog of content as well as a live-stream of its broadcasts (except NFL football). HBO, which Digitalsmiths' survey respondents said they'd pay $3.13 per month for, on average, charges $15 per month for HBO Now. Both services have over 1 million subscribers.</p>
<p>The fourth most popular network in Digitalsmiths' survey was the Discovery Channel. Discovery Networks (NASDAQ: DISCA) has faced trouble with declining ad revenue due to cord-cutting and cord-shaving. While Discovery Channel made the top 10, none of its other networks (TLC, Animal Planet, OWN, Science, etc.) cracked the top 20. While Discovery's flagship network might be popular enough to survive a la carte, the company benefits much more from the big bundle with all of its channels.</p>
<p>The History Channel and A&amp;E give Disney at least part ownership in three of the most in-demand television networks. However, Disney has seen income from A&amp;E (the company behind A&amp;E and History Channel) decline thanks to lower advertising in recent quarters.</p>
<p>While Disney has a lot of channels in the top 10 and top 20, it's important to note that its most valuable networks -- ESPN's family of networks and the Disney Channel itself -- are much lower on the list. What's more, people say they aren't willing to pay much of a premium for those channels. Today, pay-TV distributors pay Disney about $7.21 per ESPN subscriber. The 44% of Digitalsmiths' survey respondents that wanted ESPN said they'd pay an average of $1.95 per month. As a result, Disney has a strong interest in masking the price of ESPN with a bundle from cable companies.</p>
<p>Lastly, Time Warner's TNT and TBS also made the top 10. Time Warner's Turner segment continues to see revenue from both subscriptions and advertising climb, up 9% year over year last quarter and 7% year to date. It has thus far had success getting its networks into skinny bundles. Turner CEO John Martin, though, sees a day when <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/19/turner-wants-to-sell-cnn-tnt-and-tbs-directly-to-c.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">it may sell its networks directly to consumers Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Not every media company would benefit from an a la carte distribution model -- not even those with the most in-demand networks. Even Time Warner is hesitant to go over the top with channels like TNT and TBS because it could impact the number of subscribers for its other channels. That's the problem Disney and Discovery face, while other big broadcasters featured in the top 10 have less to worry about.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, as people shift to more skinny bundles, this survey indicates these are the companies with the most leverage with distributors to maintain their subscription and advertising revenue streams.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Comcast 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=6b056bf7-96d9-4492-a5c8-551ba55471fe&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now...and Comcast 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=6b056bf7-96d9-4492-a5c8-551ba55471fe&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 7, 2016.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/adamlevy/info.aspx" type="external">Adam Levy Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. The Motley Fool recommends Time Warner. 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>
| 5,873 |
<p>Wells Fargo is being ordered to reinstate a branch manager it fired in 2011 after the employee tried to blow the whistle on the bank’s growing sales practices scandal.</p>
<p>The Department of Labor on Friday also ordered Wells Fargo to pay $577,500 in back wages.</p>
<p>Wells Fargo fired a California-based branch manager in September 2011 when the manager raised concerns that employees were opening accounts without customers’ knowledge or consent.</p>
<p>What the manager saw and reported eventually became an all-consuming scandal for the San Francisco-based bank, which admitted last year that its employees opened up to 2 million accounts without getting customers’ permission.</p>
<p>Wells Fargo paid $185 million to federal and local authorities over the scandal and recently reached a $142 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit involving the accounts.</p>
|
Wells Fargo Ordered to Reinstate Whistleblower, Pay $578K
| false |
https://newsline.com/wells-fargo-ordered-to-reinstate-whistleblower-pay-578k/
|
2017-07-22
| 1right-center
|
Wells Fargo Ordered to Reinstate Whistleblower, Pay $578K
<p>Wells Fargo is being ordered to reinstate a branch manager it fired in 2011 after the employee tried to blow the whistle on the bank’s growing sales practices scandal.</p>
<p>The Department of Labor on Friday also ordered Wells Fargo to pay $577,500 in back wages.</p>
<p>Wells Fargo fired a California-based branch manager in September 2011 when the manager raised concerns that employees were opening accounts without customers’ knowledge or consent.</p>
<p>What the manager saw and reported eventually became an all-consuming scandal for the San Francisco-based bank, which admitted last year that its employees opened up to 2 million accounts without getting customers’ permission.</p>
<p>Wells Fargo paid $185 million to federal and local authorities over the scandal and recently reached a $142 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit involving the accounts.</p>
| 5,874 |
<p />
<p>Just over two years ago, Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) spent $350 million to acquire fast-growing personalized clothing service Trunk Club. At the time, it seemed like a savvy move to combat the rising threat from Amazon.com's (NASDAQ: AMZN) fashion business. (Wall Street analysts expect Amazon to become the top apparel retailer in the U.S. next year.)</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Trunk Club is one piece of Nordstrom's broader plan to fend off Amazon.com. Image source: Nordstrom.</p>
<p>However, earlier this month, Nordstrom wrote down the value of Trunk Club by more than half, taking a $197 million goodwill impairment charge. What went wrong with this once-promising acquisition?</p>
<p>The key idea behind Trunk Club is to bring the personal stylist concept into the e-commerce age. Trunk Club primarily targets men who don't like to shop but need to look good. A personal stylist sends a "trunk" of clothing to the customer's home, where he can try on all of the items, keep the ones he likes, and send the rest back. Over time, Trunk Club stylists can get to know their customers' tastes, leading to better recommendations.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Amazon can't offer the same kind of personalized service as Nordstrom and Trunk Club. Image source: The Motley Fool.</p>
<p>Buying Trunk Club seemed like a good way for Nordstrom to go on the offensive against Amazon.com. Nordstrom stores are known for their legendary service, and Trunk Club offers the same kind of personalized service in an e-commerce format. This is a big differentiator from Amazon, which doesn't provide personalized advice in a meaningful way.</p>
<p>Trunk Club also offered Nordstrom an opportunity to grow its full-price business, rather than relying solely on off-price channels for growth.</p>
<p>Lastly, Trunk Club was growing very quickly. When Nordstrom bought the company, Trunk Club was on pace to more than double its revenue to $100 million in 2014. In early 2015, Nordstrom projected that Trunk Club would double its revenue again in that year. Moreover, it was already nearing breakeven on an operating basis in 2014.</p>
<p>Trunk Club is still growing quickly, helped by Nordstrom's decision to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/07/22/nordstrom-inc-brings-in-home-shopping-to-women.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">extend the concept to women's clothing Opens a New Window.</a> last year. However, it may not be growing quite as fast as Nordstrom had previously expected. Most importantly, Trunk Club still isn't making money.</p>
<p>Nordstrom had warned investors that investments to grow the business would dampen Trunk Club's profitability in 2015, followed by improvement thereafter. But during the course of 2016, there have been some red flags indicating that Trunk Club's profitability still wasn't meeting expectations.</p>
<p>In late June, Nordstrom announced that it will close Trunk Club's dedicated fulfillment center in Chicago next year. Going forward, Trunk Club orders will be shipped from Nordstrom's existing e-commerce fulfillment centers in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and California. Nordstrom spun this as a move to support Trunk Club's growth, but it was also clearly a cost-cutting measure.</p>
<p>Last month, Trunk Club made an even more visible move to cut costs, implementing a <a href="https://www.internetretailer.com/2016/10/03/trunk-club-tacks-25-try-fee" type="external">$25 try-on fee Opens a New Window.</a>. It also shortened the try-on period from 10 days to five days. The $25 fee can be applied to any items a customer decides to buy from a given trunk. The fee is presumably meant to reduce costs by weeding out customers who aren't serious and might just return all of the items in their trunk.</p>
<p>Nordstrom didn't fully write down the value of its Trunk Club acquisition. This implies that it still expects this business to be profitable, which would be an improvement from its performance over the past two years. The recent changes to the try-on policy and the fulfillment center integration should have a big positive impact by this time next year.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it appears that Nordstrom overpaid for this acquisition. Nevertheless, it was a risk worth taking. Management's willingness to make big long-term bets like buying Trunk Club has helped Nordstrom weather the growth of Amazon.com and other e-commerce outlets much better than other department stores. Investors should applaud this type of long-term thinking, which is all too rare among public companies.</p>
<p>Forget the 2016 Election: 10 stocks we like better than Nordstrom Donald Trump was just elected president, and volatility is up. But here's why you should ignore the election:</p>
<p>Investing geniuses Tom and David Gardner have spent a long time beating the market no matter who's in the White House. In fact, 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%2Fecap-foolcom-bbn-election%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000468%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6454%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=393233a2-f4ed-4d0a-bbc6-a7abbc29411b&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Nordstrom 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%2Fecap-foolcom-bbn-election%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000468%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6454%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=393233a2-f4ed-4d0a-bbc6-a7abbc29411b&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGemHunter/info.aspx" type="external">Adam Levine-Weinberg Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Nordstrom. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool recommends Nordstrom. 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>
|
Nordstrom Takes a Big Writedown on Trunk Club
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/19/nordstrom-takes-big-writedown-on-trunk-club.html
|
2016-11-20
| 0right
|
Nordstrom Takes a Big Writedown on Trunk Club
<p />
<p>Just over two years ago, Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) spent $350 million to acquire fast-growing personalized clothing service Trunk Club. At the time, it seemed like a savvy move to combat the rising threat from Amazon.com's (NASDAQ: AMZN) fashion business. (Wall Street analysts expect Amazon to become the top apparel retailer in the U.S. next year.)</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Trunk Club is one piece of Nordstrom's broader plan to fend off Amazon.com. Image source: Nordstrom.</p>
<p>However, earlier this month, Nordstrom wrote down the value of Trunk Club by more than half, taking a $197 million goodwill impairment charge. What went wrong with this once-promising acquisition?</p>
<p>The key idea behind Trunk Club is to bring the personal stylist concept into the e-commerce age. Trunk Club primarily targets men who don't like to shop but need to look good. A personal stylist sends a "trunk" of clothing to the customer's home, where he can try on all of the items, keep the ones he likes, and send the rest back. Over time, Trunk Club stylists can get to know their customers' tastes, leading to better recommendations.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Amazon can't offer the same kind of personalized service as Nordstrom and Trunk Club. Image source: The Motley Fool.</p>
<p>Buying Trunk Club seemed like a good way for Nordstrom to go on the offensive against Amazon.com. Nordstrom stores are known for their legendary service, and Trunk Club offers the same kind of personalized service in an e-commerce format. This is a big differentiator from Amazon, which doesn't provide personalized advice in a meaningful way.</p>
<p>Trunk Club also offered Nordstrom an opportunity to grow its full-price business, rather than relying solely on off-price channels for growth.</p>
<p>Lastly, Trunk Club was growing very quickly. When Nordstrom bought the company, Trunk Club was on pace to more than double its revenue to $100 million in 2014. In early 2015, Nordstrom projected that Trunk Club would double its revenue again in that year. Moreover, it was already nearing breakeven on an operating basis in 2014.</p>
<p>Trunk Club is still growing quickly, helped by Nordstrom's decision to <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/07/22/nordstrom-inc-brings-in-home-shopping-to-women.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">extend the concept to women's clothing Opens a New Window.</a> last year. However, it may not be growing quite as fast as Nordstrom had previously expected. Most importantly, Trunk Club still isn't making money.</p>
<p>Nordstrom had warned investors that investments to grow the business would dampen Trunk Club's profitability in 2015, followed by improvement thereafter. But during the course of 2016, there have been some red flags indicating that Trunk Club's profitability still wasn't meeting expectations.</p>
<p>In late June, Nordstrom announced that it will close Trunk Club's dedicated fulfillment center in Chicago next year. Going forward, Trunk Club orders will be shipped from Nordstrom's existing e-commerce fulfillment centers in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and California. Nordstrom spun this as a move to support Trunk Club's growth, but it was also clearly a cost-cutting measure.</p>
<p>Last month, Trunk Club made an even more visible move to cut costs, implementing a <a href="https://www.internetretailer.com/2016/10/03/trunk-club-tacks-25-try-fee" type="external">$25 try-on fee Opens a New Window.</a>. It also shortened the try-on period from 10 days to five days. The $25 fee can be applied to any items a customer decides to buy from a given trunk. The fee is presumably meant to reduce costs by weeding out customers who aren't serious and might just return all of the items in their trunk.</p>
<p>Nordstrom didn't fully write down the value of its Trunk Club acquisition. This implies that it still expects this business to be profitable, which would be an improvement from its performance over the past two years. The recent changes to the try-on policy and the fulfillment center integration should have a big positive impact by this time next year.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it appears that Nordstrom overpaid for this acquisition. Nevertheless, it was a risk worth taking. Management's willingness to make big long-term bets like buying Trunk Club has helped Nordstrom weather the growth of Amazon.com and other e-commerce outlets much better than other department stores. Investors should applaud this type of long-term thinking, which is all too rare among public companies.</p>
<p>Forget the 2016 Election: 10 stocks we like better than Nordstrom Donald Trump was just elected president, and volatility is up. But here's why you should ignore the election:</p>
<p>Investing geniuses Tom and David Gardner have spent a long time beating the market no matter who's in the White House. In fact, 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%2Fecap-foolcom-bbn-election%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000468%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6454%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=393233a2-f4ed-4d0a-bbc6-a7abbc29411b&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Nordstrom 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%2Fecap-foolcom-bbn-election%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0000468%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6454%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=393233a2-f4ed-4d0a-bbc6-a7abbc29411b&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFGemHunter/info.aspx" type="external">Adam Levine-Weinberg Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Nordstrom. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool recommends Nordstrom. 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>
| 5,875 |
<p>Now that the election is over, our hope is that we can finally move beyond the vacuous invocations of an imaginary middle class where everyone is in the same boat. It’s time to get real about the concrete policies needed to take on the multiple inequalities that run deep through the U.S. labor market. And we’re not talking about the “skills mismatch,” another red herring routinely flung into this debate by both sides (including by President Obama as recently as <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/170950/talkpoverty-obama-campaign-responds" type="external">the last week</a> of the campaign).</p>
<p>What we’re talking about is a broad, multi-year agenda to give America’s workers a living wage and voice on the job and to take on the continuing exclusion of workers of color, immigrants, and women from good jobs. The media may have discovered inequality last year with the surprise emergence of Occupy Wall Street, but in truth, there is a 30-year backlog of policies to fix the extreme maldistribution of wages and opportunity in the labor market.</p>
<p>First, we have to make our core workplace standards much stronger – whether it’s in terms of wages, health and safety, or voice on the job. That means raising the minimum wage so that it’s a meaningful floor again ( <a href="http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Press%20Releases/2012/PR-Albuquerque-San-Jose-Long-Beach-Min-Wage-Approved.pdf?nocdn=1" type="external">some good news</a>: voters in Albuquerque, San Jose, and Long Beach raised theirs last week). It means updating health and safety regulations written in the 1970s. And it means restoring the right to organize, because at this point, virulent employer opposition and retaliation has rendered U.S. labor law obsolete. Fifty-eight percent of U.S. workers say they would like to be represented by a union, but only 11.8 percent actually are. This is what happens when one out of four workers is fired illegally for attempting to organize a union while employers face minimal penalties.</p>
<p>Second, we have to take on the profound reorganization of the American workplace. The poster child for precarious work is temp jobs – but subcontracting has had a much broader impact, as janitors, laundry workers, warehouse workers, security guards, food service workers, and millions of others have been outsourced to low-wage firms. A good model for a solution is <a href="http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/senate_votes_to_extend_protections_to_tens_of_thousands_of_warehouse_worker" type="external">California’s recent law</a> making companies liable for minimum wage and overtime violations by their subcontractors, recognizing that end-user firms such as Walmart exert considerable control over working conditions down their supply chains.</p>
<p>Third, we have to double down on enforcement. <a href="http://www.unprotectedworkers.org/" type="external">A 2008 study</a> of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York found that 26 percent of low-wage workers were paid less than the minimum wage and 76 percent were underpaid or not paid at all for their overtime hours. Yet the number of federal wage and hour inspectors is still below 1980 levels, and it would take 131 years for OSHA investigators to inspect each workplace just once. Until employers face substantial costs to their bottom line (as is true in other bodies of law, such as environmental regulation and employment discrimination law), practices like wage theft, retaliation against workers trying to organize a union, and independent contractor misclassification will continue unabated.</p>
<p>Fourth, we have to do a better job of leveraging the government’s capital. Public money touches millions of private-sector jobs, whether by purchasing goods and services for the government or by funding everything from schools and bridges to health care and social services. There are <a href="http://nelp.3cdn.net/985daceb6c3e450a10_pzm6brsaa.pdf" type="external">plenty of innovative models</a> to ensure that this money results in good jobs, whether it’s responsible contracting policies (in California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Illinois), living wage laws (in more than 140 cities and counties), or accountable economic development policies (in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and New York City, among others).</p>
<p>Fifth, we have to explicitly break down systemic labor market exclusions of people of color, immigrants, women, the unemployed, and people with criminal records. For example, advocates are pushing the U.S. Department of Labor to finally end the exemption of home care workers from minimum wage and overtime protection, and cities across the country are passing “ban the box” policies to reduce hiring barriers for people with arrest or conviction records.</p>
<p>But we also have to challenge de facto exclusions. A good example is targeted hiring and training programs on publicly funded projects, which in our mind will be crucial to solving the escalating (and chronically under-reported) economic crisis in communities of color. A great example is Portland’s <a href="http://www.cleanenergyworksoregon.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HighRoad_Short_2012.pdf" type="external">2009 residential retrofitting program</a>, which mandated living wages and local hiring from designated training programs. As of last year, the program’s workers earned median wages of $18 per hour; fully 84 percent were local residents, nearly half of them people of color. While unemployment is still at Depression-era levels in many black communities, we know what works to employ those still excluded from access to the labor market.</p>
<p>A final word on why we think these policies (and many others; see <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/10/yes-we-can-fight-inequality-3-ways-washington-can-create-living-wage-jobs/263367/" type="external">the long-form version here</a>) are politically viable. In communities across the country, there is an undeniable thirst for justice on the job and investment in local communities. This is true not just for raising the minimum wage, which <a href="http://nelp.3cdn.net/0be1c6315f2430afa6_arm6bq9wu.pdf" type="external">consistently polls</a> in the 70 to 80 percent range, but also policies such as paid sick days, increased funding for elder care and child care, cracking down on wage theft, using taxpayer money to create living wage jobs, and restoring the right to organize.</p>
<p>(If you doubt support for organizing, consider the recent <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/171299/walmart-strike-spreads-texas-organizers-promise-massive-black-friday-protest" type="external">wave of strikes by Walmart workers</a>, or New York’s taxi workers organizing for better pay even though they are independent contractors, or <a href="http://www.vdlf.org/articles/index.php?article_id=219" type="external">Palermo’s pizza workers</a> in Wisconsin staying out on strike for three months and now pressuring Costco to boycott their employer.)</p>
<p>The real question is whether President Obama and Democrats in Congress understand that raising taxes on the top 2 percent is only the first step on a long road toward building a sustainable living wage economy in the U.S. Our hope lies in the growing recognition among progressives that it will take the pressure and power of social movements to convince him to walk that road with us.</p>
<p>Annette Bernhardt and Dorian Warren are Fellows at the Roosevelt Institute.</p>
|
The Missing Living Wage Agenda
| true |
http://occupy.com/article/missing-living-wage-agenda
| 4left
|
The Missing Living Wage Agenda
<p>Now that the election is over, our hope is that we can finally move beyond the vacuous invocations of an imaginary middle class where everyone is in the same boat. It’s time to get real about the concrete policies needed to take on the multiple inequalities that run deep through the U.S. labor market. And we’re not talking about the “skills mismatch,” another red herring routinely flung into this debate by both sides (including by President Obama as recently as <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/170950/talkpoverty-obama-campaign-responds" type="external">the last week</a> of the campaign).</p>
<p>What we’re talking about is a broad, multi-year agenda to give America’s workers a living wage and voice on the job and to take on the continuing exclusion of workers of color, immigrants, and women from good jobs. The media may have discovered inequality last year with the surprise emergence of Occupy Wall Street, but in truth, there is a 30-year backlog of policies to fix the extreme maldistribution of wages and opportunity in the labor market.</p>
<p>First, we have to make our core workplace standards much stronger – whether it’s in terms of wages, health and safety, or voice on the job. That means raising the minimum wage so that it’s a meaningful floor again ( <a href="http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Press%20Releases/2012/PR-Albuquerque-San-Jose-Long-Beach-Min-Wage-Approved.pdf?nocdn=1" type="external">some good news</a>: voters in Albuquerque, San Jose, and Long Beach raised theirs last week). It means updating health and safety regulations written in the 1970s. And it means restoring the right to organize, because at this point, virulent employer opposition and retaliation has rendered U.S. labor law obsolete. Fifty-eight percent of U.S. workers say they would like to be represented by a union, but only 11.8 percent actually are. This is what happens when one out of four workers is fired illegally for attempting to organize a union while employers face minimal penalties.</p>
<p>Second, we have to take on the profound reorganization of the American workplace. The poster child for precarious work is temp jobs – but subcontracting has had a much broader impact, as janitors, laundry workers, warehouse workers, security guards, food service workers, and millions of others have been outsourced to low-wage firms. A good model for a solution is <a href="http://www.calaborfed.org/index.php/site/page/senate_votes_to_extend_protections_to_tens_of_thousands_of_warehouse_worker" type="external">California’s recent law</a> making companies liable for minimum wage and overtime violations by their subcontractors, recognizing that end-user firms such as Walmart exert considerable control over working conditions down their supply chains.</p>
<p>Third, we have to double down on enforcement. <a href="http://www.unprotectedworkers.org/" type="external">A 2008 study</a> of Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York found that 26 percent of low-wage workers were paid less than the minimum wage and 76 percent were underpaid or not paid at all for their overtime hours. Yet the number of federal wage and hour inspectors is still below 1980 levels, and it would take 131 years for OSHA investigators to inspect each workplace just once. Until employers face substantial costs to their bottom line (as is true in other bodies of law, such as environmental regulation and employment discrimination law), practices like wage theft, retaliation against workers trying to organize a union, and independent contractor misclassification will continue unabated.</p>
<p>Fourth, we have to do a better job of leveraging the government’s capital. Public money touches millions of private-sector jobs, whether by purchasing goods and services for the government or by funding everything from schools and bridges to health care and social services. There are <a href="http://nelp.3cdn.net/985daceb6c3e450a10_pzm6brsaa.pdf" type="external">plenty of innovative models</a> to ensure that this money results in good jobs, whether it’s responsible contracting policies (in California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Illinois), living wage laws (in more than 140 cities and counties), or accountable economic development policies (in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and New York City, among others).</p>
<p>Fifth, we have to explicitly break down systemic labor market exclusions of people of color, immigrants, women, the unemployed, and people with criminal records. For example, advocates are pushing the U.S. Department of Labor to finally end the exemption of home care workers from minimum wage and overtime protection, and cities across the country are passing “ban the box” policies to reduce hiring barriers for people with arrest or conviction records.</p>
<p>But we also have to challenge de facto exclusions. A good example is targeted hiring and training programs on publicly funded projects, which in our mind will be crucial to solving the escalating (and chronically under-reported) economic crisis in communities of color. A great example is Portland’s <a href="http://www.cleanenergyworksoregon.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HighRoad_Short_2012.pdf" type="external">2009 residential retrofitting program</a>, which mandated living wages and local hiring from designated training programs. As of last year, the program’s workers earned median wages of $18 per hour; fully 84 percent were local residents, nearly half of them people of color. While unemployment is still at Depression-era levels in many black communities, we know what works to employ those still excluded from access to the labor market.</p>
<p>A final word on why we think these policies (and many others; see <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/10/yes-we-can-fight-inequality-3-ways-washington-can-create-living-wage-jobs/263367/" type="external">the long-form version here</a>) are politically viable. In communities across the country, there is an undeniable thirst for justice on the job and investment in local communities. This is true not just for raising the minimum wage, which <a href="http://nelp.3cdn.net/0be1c6315f2430afa6_arm6bq9wu.pdf" type="external">consistently polls</a> in the 70 to 80 percent range, but also policies such as paid sick days, increased funding for elder care and child care, cracking down on wage theft, using taxpayer money to create living wage jobs, and restoring the right to organize.</p>
<p>(If you doubt support for organizing, consider the recent <a href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/171299/walmart-strike-spreads-texas-organizers-promise-massive-black-friday-protest" type="external">wave of strikes by Walmart workers</a>, or New York’s taxi workers organizing for better pay even though they are independent contractors, or <a href="http://www.vdlf.org/articles/index.php?article_id=219" type="external">Palermo’s pizza workers</a> in Wisconsin staying out on strike for three months and now pressuring Costco to boycott their employer.)</p>
<p>The real question is whether President Obama and Democrats in Congress understand that raising taxes on the top 2 percent is only the first step on a long road toward building a sustainable living wage economy in the U.S. Our hope lies in the growing recognition among progressives that it will take the pressure and power of social movements to convince him to walk that road with us.</p>
<p>Annette Bernhardt and Dorian Warren are Fellows at the Roosevelt Institute.</p>
| 5,876 |
|
<p>Last week Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) declared a state of emergency over the level of lead being found in Flint’s tap water, and this week he <a href="" type="internal">activated the state National Guard</a> to help provide residents with bottled water, filters, and lead testing kits.</p>
<p>But even in the midst of this crisis, city residents aren’t just being charged for their poisoned tap water — they’re being threatened with shutoffs if they don’t quickly pay their bills.</p>
<p>In 2011, Flint lawmakers imposed <a href="" type="internal">a rapid 35 percent increase</a> in water rates, against a city law that requires utility hikes to be implemented gradually, and started issuing shutoff notices to those who were past due. A judge halted the shutoffs last summer, ordering the city to undo the increase and revise customers’ bills. But the shutoff notices resumed in November based on the prior rates, going out to about 1,800 past due households.</p>
<p>And while they were paused for the December holiday season, they have <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2016/01/city_to_restart_water_shutoff.html" type="external">once again resumed this week</a>. Finance Director Jody Lundquist could not tell Michigan Live how many notices are expected to be sent out in this round.</p>
<p>Even residents who aren’t behind, though, are frustrated that they’re still being billed for water they can’t even drink. “The city is still billing residents for the contaminated water being pumped to their homes and expecting immediate payment,” Sylvia Orduno of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization explained in an email to ThinkProgress.</p>
<p>And the amounts demanded are quite high. In 2014, the Flint Journal reported that the average water and sewer bill in Flint was <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/01/11/should-flint-residents-pay-lead-poisoned-water/78643368/" type="external">$140 a month</a>. For anyone of limited means, that couldn’t come at a harder time. “The pace at which help is getting to residents is causing them further health consequences, suffering, and debt,” Orduno said. “Bottled water is an expensive alternative and requires constant, large supplies to meet the need.”</p>
<p>Kary Moss, executive director of the ALCU of Michigan, thinks that given the emergency over lead contamination, residents shouldn’t be charged, particularly for all of the time the Flint River — believed to be a source of the lead — was the source. “All arrears should be cleared,” she <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/01/11/should-flint-residents-pay-lead-poisoned-water/78643368/" type="external">told the Detroit Free Press</a>. “Nobody should have to pay for any of this.” Another advocate, Leon El-Alamin of the M.A.D.E. Institute that has been distributing clean water, said bills should at least be reduced by half until the water is drinkable again.</p>
<p>Residents similarly told the Press they feel they shouldn’t be paying. Alamado Saldana Sr. says his water has been shut off twice, and each time he has had to find hundreds of dollars to get service restored. “I would pay the bill, and it wasn’t even 30 days after I paid it that I got another shut-off notice in the mail,” he said. He thinks he deserves a refund for that money spent.</p>
<p>Officials in the mayor’s office couldn’t be reached for comment.</p>
<p>Concerns about the safety of the city’s drinking water began nearly as soon as it switched the source form Detroit to the Flint River, with <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/01/14/flint-water-resident-complaints/21743465/" type="external">residents</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/25/us/a-water-dilemma-in-michigan-cheaper-or-clearer.html?_r=0" type="external">complaining</a> that it was cloudy, foul smelling, and bad tasting while potentially causing health problems. Officials kept insisting it was safe, however, despite a whistleblower’s claims that they knew of problems <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/flint-michigan-water-lead_56784055e4b0b958f657595c" type="external">as early as July</a> and may have <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/01/11/state_of_michigan_flint_broke_law_and_covered_up_lead_levels_in_water_expert.html" type="external">rigged water tests</a> to cover things up. In September, <a href="" type="internal">public research came out</a> that linked the water switch to a significant increase in the levels of lead found in children’s bloodstreams.</p>
<p>Even as the crisis became clear, government was slow to react. Weeks after city officials <a href="" type="internal">declared a state of emergency</a>, the state government did the same, and even then it took <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-fails-hand-out-bottled-water-lead-poisoned-flint-n493001" type="external">several days</a> for bottled water to start getting handed out.</p>
<p>Now, <a href="" type="internal">10 people have died</a> from Legionnaires’ disease, potentially related to the water crisis. And the <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/" type="external">consequences</a> of lead poisoning, particularly for children, are life long and irreversible.</p>
|
Residents Of Flint Are Being Billed For Poisoned Water And Threatened With Shutoffs If They Don’t Pay
| true |
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2016/01/14/3739622/flint-water-crisis-bills/
|
2016-01-14
| 4left
|
Residents Of Flint Are Being Billed For Poisoned Water And Threatened With Shutoffs If They Don’t Pay
<p>Last week Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) declared a state of emergency over the level of lead being found in Flint’s tap water, and this week he <a href="" type="internal">activated the state National Guard</a> to help provide residents with bottled water, filters, and lead testing kits.</p>
<p>But even in the midst of this crisis, city residents aren’t just being charged for their poisoned tap water — they’re being threatened with shutoffs if they don’t quickly pay their bills.</p>
<p>In 2011, Flint lawmakers imposed <a href="" type="internal">a rapid 35 percent increase</a> in water rates, against a city law that requires utility hikes to be implemented gradually, and started issuing shutoff notices to those who were past due. A judge halted the shutoffs last summer, ordering the city to undo the increase and revise customers’ bills. But the shutoff notices resumed in November based on the prior rates, going out to about 1,800 past due households.</p>
<p>And while they were paused for the December holiday season, they have <a href="http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2016/01/city_to_restart_water_shutoff.html" type="external">once again resumed this week</a>. Finance Director Jody Lundquist could not tell Michigan Live how many notices are expected to be sent out in this round.</p>
<p>Even residents who aren’t behind, though, are frustrated that they’re still being billed for water they can’t even drink. “The city is still billing residents for the contaminated water being pumped to their homes and expecting immediate payment,” Sylvia Orduno of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization explained in an email to ThinkProgress.</p>
<p>And the amounts demanded are quite high. In 2014, the Flint Journal reported that the average water and sewer bill in Flint was <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/01/11/should-flint-residents-pay-lead-poisoned-water/78643368/" type="external">$140 a month</a>. For anyone of limited means, that couldn’t come at a harder time. “The pace at which help is getting to residents is causing them further health consequences, suffering, and debt,” Orduno said. “Bottled water is an expensive alternative and requires constant, large supplies to meet the need.”</p>
<p>Kary Moss, executive director of the ALCU of Michigan, thinks that given the emergency over lead contamination, residents shouldn’t be charged, particularly for all of the time the Flint River — believed to be a source of the lead — was the source. “All arrears should be cleared,” she <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2016/01/11/should-flint-residents-pay-lead-poisoned-water/78643368/" type="external">told the Detroit Free Press</a>. “Nobody should have to pay for any of this.” Another advocate, Leon El-Alamin of the M.A.D.E. Institute that has been distributing clean water, said bills should at least be reduced by half until the water is drinkable again.</p>
<p>Residents similarly told the Press they feel they shouldn’t be paying. Alamado Saldana Sr. says his water has been shut off twice, and each time he has had to find hundreds of dollars to get service restored. “I would pay the bill, and it wasn’t even 30 days after I paid it that I got another shut-off notice in the mail,” he said. He thinks he deserves a refund for that money spent.</p>
<p>Officials in the mayor’s office couldn’t be reached for comment.</p>
<p>Concerns about the safety of the city’s drinking water began nearly as soon as it switched the source form Detroit to the Flint River, with <a href="http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2015/01/14/flint-water-resident-complaints/21743465/" type="external">residents</a> <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/25/us/a-water-dilemma-in-michigan-cheaper-or-clearer.html?_r=0" type="external">complaining</a> that it was cloudy, foul smelling, and bad tasting while potentially causing health problems. Officials kept insisting it was safe, however, despite a whistleblower’s claims that they knew of problems <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/flint-michigan-water-lead_56784055e4b0b958f657595c" type="external">as early as July</a> and may have <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/01/11/state_of_michigan_flint_broke_law_and_covered_up_lead_levels_in_water_expert.html" type="external">rigged water tests</a> to cover things up. In September, <a href="" type="internal">public research came out</a> that linked the water switch to a significant increase in the levels of lead found in children’s bloodstreams.</p>
<p>Even as the crisis became clear, government was slow to react. Weeks after city officials <a href="" type="internal">declared a state of emergency</a>, the state government did the same, and even then it took <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/michigan-fails-hand-out-bottled-water-lead-poisoned-flint-n493001" type="external">several days</a> for bottled water to start getting handed out.</p>
<p>Now, <a href="" type="internal">10 people have died</a> from Legionnaires’ disease, potentially related to the water crisis. And the <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs379/en/" type="external">consequences</a> of lead poisoning, particularly for children, are life long and irreversible.</p>
| 5,877 |
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Joel Hernandez had 18 points and seven rebounds and Julian Batts made a layup with 1.8 seconds left to help LIU Brooklyn beat Wagner 69-67 on Saturday.</p>
<p>Batts made 3 of 4 from 3-point range and finished with 13 points, and Raiquan Clark and Zach Coleman scored 11 apiece, for LIU Brooklyn (8-11, 3-3 Northeast Conference).</p>
<p>Zach Coleman hit a 3-pointer that gave the Blackbirds a 54-53 lead with eight minutes to go and they never again trailed.</p>
<p>After JoJo Cooper missed the second of two free throws, Wagner’s Nigel Jackson grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled with 13.7 seconds left. He hit both foul shots to make it 67-all before Batts’ winner.</p>
<p>Romone Saunders led Wagner (11-6, 4-2) with 18 points, Cooper added 15 and Blake Francis scored 11.</p>
<p>The Seahawks missed half of their 20 free-throw attempts.</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Joel Hernandez had 18 points and seven rebounds and Julian Batts made a layup with 1.8 seconds left to help LIU Brooklyn beat Wagner 69-67 on Saturday.</p>
<p>Batts made 3 of 4 from 3-point range and finished with 13 points, and Raiquan Clark and Zach Coleman scored 11 apiece, for LIU Brooklyn (8-11, 3-3 Northeast Conference).</p>
<p>Zach Coleman hit a 3-pointer that gave the Blackbirds a 54-53 lead with eight minutes to go and they never again trailed.</p>
<p>After JoJo Cooper missed the second of two free throws, Wagner’s Nigel Jackson grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled with 13.7 seconds left. He hit both foul shots to make it 67-all before Batts’ winner.</p>
<p>Romone Saunders led Wagner (11-6, 4-2) with 18 points, Cooper added 15 and Blake Francis scored 11.</p>
<p>The Seahawks missed half of their 20 free-throw attempts.</p>
|
Batts’s layup lifts LIU Brooklyn to 69-67 win over Wagner
| false |
https://apnews.com/5bf7034b043c42abb01d837748c8ce28
|
2018-01-14
| 2least
|
Batts’s layup lifts LIU Brooklyn to 69-67 win over Wagner
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Joel Hernandez had 18 points and seven rebounds and Julian Batts made a layup with 1.8 seconds left to help LIU Brooklyn beat Wagner 69-67 on Saturday.</p>
<p>Batts made 3 of 4 from 3-point range and finished with 13 points, and Raiquan Clark and Zach Coleman scored 11 apiece, for LIU Brooklyn (8-11, 3-3 Northeast Conference).</p>
<p>Zach Coleman hit a 3-pointer that gave the Blackbirds a 54-53 lead with eight minutes to go and they never again trailed.</p>
<p>After JoJo Cooper missed the second of two free throws, Wagner’s Nigel Jackson grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled with 13.7 seconds left. He hit both foul shots to make it 67-all before Batts’ winner.</p>
<p>Romone Saunders led Wagner (11-6, 4-2) with 18 points, Cooper added 15 and Blake Francis scored 11.</p>
<p>The Seahawks missed half of their 20 free-throw attempts.</p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — Joel Hernandez had 18 points and seven rebounds and Julian Batts made a layup with 1.8 seconds left to help LIU Brooklyn beat Wagner 69-67 on Saturday.</p>
<p>Batts made 3 of 4 from 3-point range and finished with 13 points, and Raiquan Clark and Zach Coleman scored 11 apiece, for LIU Brooklyn (8-11, 3-3 Northeast Conference).</p>
<p>Zach Coleman hit a 3-pointer that gave the Blackbirds a 54-53 lead with eight minutes to go and they never again trailed.</p>
<p>After JoJo Cooper missed the second of two free throws, Wagner’s Nigel Jackson grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled with 13.7 seconds left. He hit both foul shots to make it 67-all before Batts’ winner.</p>
<p>Romone Saunders led Wagner (11-6, 4-2) with 18 points, Cooper added 15 and Blake Francis scored 11.</p>
<p>The Seahawks missed half of their 20 free-throw attempts.</p>
| 5,878 |
<p>Just how corrupt was the State Department under Hillary Clinton?</p>
<p>This corrupt: Cheryl Mills, while serving as chief of staff for Clinton when Clinton was Secretary of State, interviewed candidates for a top job at the Clinton Foundation, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/11/politics/hillary-clinton-cgi-cheryl-mills/index.html" type="external">according</a> to CNN.</p>
<p>Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation agreed at the time of her inauguration as Secretary of State that the foundation would not "create conflicts or the appearance of conflicts for Senator Clinton as Secretary of State." Clinton <a href="http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/cheryl-mills-helped-clinton-foundation-while-serving-as-state-dept-chief-of-staff/" type="external">stated</a> she would “not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which The William J. Clinton Foundation (or the Clinton Global Initiative) is a party or represents a party….”</p>
<p>Yet on June 20, 2012, Mills traveled to a New York based executive search firm to interview two high-level business executives who had worked at Pfizer and WalMart. Both companies have heavily donated to the Clinton Foundation.</p>
<p>Mills' attorney has protested that her work for the Clinton Foundation was unpaid and no government funds were used to finance her visit to New York. Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon added, "Cheryl volunteered her personal time to a charitable organization, as she has to other charities. Cheryl paid for her travel to New York City personally, and it was crystal clear to all involved that this had nothing to do with her official duties. The idea that this poses a conflict of interest is absurd."</p>
<p>The State Department has not responded to an inquiry from the Senate Judiciary Committee about the issue.</p>
<p>When CNN asked the US State Department about Mills’ actions, a State Department spokesperson responded: “Federal employees are permitted to engage in outside personal activities, within the scope of the federal ethics rules. All federal employees are subject to federal ethics laws and regulations, including rules pertaining to conflicts of interest."</p>
<p>Mills <a href="https://www.clintonfoundation.org/about/board-directors" type="external">returned</a> to the Clinton Foundation in 2013, where she sits on the board. She had worked at the foundation from 2004-09.</p>
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SCAM: Hillary’s State Department Aide Did The Hiring At The Clinton Foundation
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/8336/scam-hillarys-state-department-aide-did-hiring-hank-berrien
|
2016-08-12
| 0right
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SCAM: Hillary’s State Department Aide Did The Hiring At The Clinton Foundation
<p>Just how corrupt was the State Department under Hillary Clinton?</p>
<p>This corrupt: Cheryl Mills, while serving as chief of staff for Clinton when Clinton was Secretary of State, interviewed candidates for a top job at the Clinton Foundation, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/11/politics/hillary-clinton-cgi-cheryl-mills/index.html" type="external">according</a> to CNN.</p>
<p>Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation agreed at the time of her inauguration as Secretary of State that the foundation would not "create conflicts or the appearance of conflicts for Senator Clinton as Secretary of State." Clinton <a href="http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/cheryl-mills-helped-clinton-foundation-while-serving-as-state-dept-chief-of-staff/" type="external">stated</a> she would “not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter involving specific parties in which The William J. Clinton Foundation (or the Clinton Global Initiative) is a party or represents a party….”</p>
<p>Yet on June 20, 2012, Mills traveled to a New York based executive search firm to interview two high-level business executives who had worked at Pfizer and WalMart. Both companies have heavily donated to the Clinton Foundation.</p>
<p>Mills' attorney has protested that her work for the Clinton Foundation was unpaid and no government funds were used to finance her visit to New York. Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon added, "Cheryl volunteered her personal time to a charitable organization, as she has to other charities. Cheryl paid for her travel to New York City personally, and it was crystal clear to all involved that this had nothing to do with her official duties. The idea that this poses a conflict of interest is absurd."</p>
<p>The State Department has not responded to an inquiry from the Senate Judiciary Committee about the issue.</p>
<p>When CNN asked the US State Department about Mills’ actions, a State Department spokesperson responded: “Federal employees are permitted to engage in outside personal activities, within the scope of the federal ethics rules. All federal employees are subject to federal ethics laws and regulations, including rules pertaining to conflicts of interest."</p>
<p>Mills <a href="https://www.clintonfoundation.org/about/board-directors" type="external">returned</a> to the Clinton Foundation in 2013, where she sits on the board. She had worked at the foundation from 2004-09.</p>
| 5,879 |
<p>Jan. 26 (UPI) -- <a href="" type="internal">Joanne Whalley</a> is to play a "strong-willed nun" in Season 3 of Marvel's Daredevil, which is to premiere later this year.</p>
<p>The British actress is best known for her work in Willow, Scarlett and Edge of Darkness.</p>
<p />
<p>"We are big fans of Joanne's work and are fortunate that someone of her caliber will be joining our already talented family," Jeph Loeb, the superhero show's executive producer and Marvel's head of television, said in a statement.</p>
<p>"Joanne is a rare talent and a terrific creative collaborator," added Erik Oleson, showrunner and executive producer. "Watching her bring her role to life has the writers all pinching ourselves."</p>
<p>Marvel described Whalley's character Sister Maggie as "a strong-willed nun who speaks her mind and cares deeply about Matt's safety."</p>
<p>Charlie Cox plays Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Deborah Ann Woll plays Karen Page and Elden Henson plays Foggy Nelson on the show. Also returning for Season 3 on a recurring basis is Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk.</p>
<p>The first two seasons of Marvel's Daredevil are now streaming on Netflix.</p>
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Joanne Whalley joins Season 3 cast of 'Marvel's Daredevil'
| false |
https://upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2018/01/26/Joanne-Whalley-joins-Season-3-cast-of-Marvels-Daredevil/9801516973238/
| 2least
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Joanne Whalley joins Season 3 cast of 'Marvel's Daredevil'
<p>Jan. 26 (UPI) -- <a href="" type="internal">Joanne Whalley</a> is to play a "strong-willed nun" in Season 3 of Marvel's Daredevil, which is to premiere later this year.</p>
<p>The British actress is best known for her work in Willow, Scarlett and Edge of Darkness.</p>
<p />
<p>"We are big fans of Joanne's work and are fortunate that someone of her caliber will be joining our already talented family," Jeph Loeb, the superhero show's executive producer and Marvel's head of television, said in a statement.</p>
<p>"Joanne is a rare talent and a terrific creative collaborator," added Erik Oleson, showrunner and executive producer. "Watching her bring her role to life has the writers all pinching ourselves."</p>
<p>Marvel described Whalley's character Sister Maggie as "a strong-willed nun who speaks her mind and cares deeply about Matt's safety."</p>
<p>Charlie Cox plays Matt Murdock/Daredevil, Deborah Ann Woll plays Karen Page and Elden Henson plays Foggy Nelson on the show. Also returning for Season 3 on a recurring basis is Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk.</p>
<p>The first two seasons of Marvel's Daredevil are now streaming on Netflix.</p>
| 5,880 |
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<p>Wall Street Journal associate editor John Bussey explains what Senate Republicans may have done to their tax reform legislation in order to get reluctant senators – namely Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Steve Daines (R-Mo.) -- on board.</p>
<p>Divorcing couples and their advisers are scrambling to cope with the possibility that alimony won't be tax deductible for divorce agreements signed after Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Under current law, alimony payments are deductible by the payer and count as income to the recipient. This is different from the treatment of property settlements and child support, as those are neither deductible nor count as income.</p>
<p>In its version of the tax-overhaul bill, the House of Representatives included a provision repealing the current treatment of alimony for divorce agreements signed after 2017. The change is projected to raise $8.3 billion over 10 years.</p>
<p>It is unclear whether the provision will be enacted, as the Senate's tax bill doesn't have a similar provision.</p>
<p>In 2014, more than 814,000 couples divorced in the U.S., according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2015, according to the latest Internal Revenue Service data, about 600,000 filers deducted alimony payments.</p>
<p>If the alimony deduction is scrapped, "it would change the economics of many divorces," says Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, a New Jersey-based lawyer and national head of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. The group has declared its opposition to the provision.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Here is the difference repeal would make: Alimony, also called maintenance, is typically used when one spouse of a divorcing couple earns far more than the other. Alimony payments continue for a period of years and help defray the expense of splitting one household into two.</p>
<p>The tax code often provides a benefit to such couples, because the partner who deducts payments is typically in a higher tax bracket than the recipient.</p>
<p>For example, say high-earning Spouse A agrees to make alimony payments of $100,000 annually for 10 years to Spouse B. Spouse A might save $40,000 a year through the deduction, while Spouse B -- who is in a lower tax bracket -- could owe $15,000 on the $100,000.</p>
<p>In justifying its repeal of the alimony deduction, the House Ways and Means Committee said the change "prevents divorced couples from reducing income tax through a specific form of payments unavailable to married couples."</p>
<p>Elena Karabatos, a matrimonial lawyer in New York, disagrees with this reasoning, because the tax code provides favorable treatment to married couples in which one spouse earns far more than the other.</p>
<p>She argues that the alimony deduction offsets the loss of this favorable treatment for a few years after divorce, when the lower-earning spouse is adjusting to a different status.</p>
<p>The alimony deduction especially is important when the paying spouse doesn't have liquid assets to fund a settlement or pay support. "The deduction helps with cash flow," says Ms. Karabatos.</p>
<p>Ms. Marzano-Lesnevich says the write-off is also an important bargaining chip if couples are considering a lump-sum settlement. The recipient may want such a settlement to receive money sooner, and the payer may be willing to make it because the forgone tax deduction helps to shrink the lump sum.</p>
<p>Thus $1 million of alimony due over 10 years could turn into a lump-sum payment of about $500,000 because of various discounts, including the one for the forgone alimony deduction.</p>
<p>Without the alimony deduction and tax benefit, maintenance payments to the lower-earning spouses will be smaller, says Ms. Marzano-Lesnivich. And higher-earning spouses may be less willing to agree to lump-sum settlements because there is not a discount for the tax deduction.</p>
<p>As a result of the proposed change, some couples who have hammered out agreements are pushing to finish them by year-end, says Ms. Karabatos, who had a client ask her to work over Thanksgiving to ready documents for signing.</p>
<p>Careful attorneys also are writing in language to address the potential change in the law.</p>
<p>If the alimony deduction is repealed, one beneficiary would be the IRS. It will no longer have to police a large tax gap between what is deducted by alimony payers and what is reported by alimony recipients.</p>
<p>A 2014 study by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, an official watchdog, found that nearly half of returns with alimony payments or income had discrepancies, estimating the loss of revenue to be more than $380 million a year.</p>
<p>Write to Laura Saunders at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>December 01, 2017 12:53 ET (17:53 GMT)</p>
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One loser in the House tax plan: divorcing couples
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/12/01/one-loser-in-house-tax-plan-divorcing-couples.html
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2017-12-01
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One loser in the House tax plan: divorcing couples
<p>Wall Street Journal associate editor John Bussey explains what Senate Republicans may have done to their tax reform legislation in order to get reluctant senators – namely Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Steve Daines (R-Mo.) -- on board.</p>
<p>Divorcing couples and their advisers are scrambling to cope with the possibility that alimony won't be tax deductible for divorce agreements signed after Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Under current law, alimony payments are deductible by the payer and count as income to the recipient. This is different from the treatment of property settlements and child support, as those are neither deductible nor count as income.</p>
<p>In its version of the tax-overhaul bill, the House of Representatives included a provision repealing the current treatment of alimony for divorce agreements signed after 2017. The change is projected to raise $8.3 billion over 10 years.</p>
<p>It is unclear whether the provision will be enacted, as the Senate's tax bill doesn't have a similar provision.</p>
<p>In 2014, more than 814,000 couples divorced in the U.S., according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2015, according to the latest Internal Revenue Service data, about 600,000 filers deducted alimony payments.</p>
<p>If the alimony deduction is scrapped, "it would change the economics of many divorces," says Madeline Marzano-Lesnevich, a New Jersey-based lawyer and national head of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. The group has declared its opposition to the provision.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Here is the difference repeal would make: Alimony, also called maintenance, is typically used when one spouse of a divorcing couple earns far more than the other. Alimony payments continue for a period of years and help defray the expense of splitting one household into two.</p>
<p>The tax code often provides a benefit to such couples, because the partner who deducts payments is typically in a higher tax bracket than the recipient.</p>
<p>For example, say high-earning Spouse A agrees to make alimony payments of $100,000 annually for 10 years to Spouse B. Spouse A might save $40,000 a year through the deduction, while Spouse B -- who is in a lower tax bracket -- could owe $15,000 on the $100,000.</p>
<p>In justifying its repeal of the alimony deduction, the House Ways and Means Committee said the change "prevents divorced couples from reducing income tax through a specific form of payments unavailable to married couples."</p>
<p>Elena Karabatos, a matrimonial lawyer in New York, disagrees with this reasoning, because the tax code provides favorable treatment to married couples in which one spouse earns far more than the other.</p>
<p>She argues that the alimony deduction offsets the loss of this favorable treatment for a few years after divorce, when the lower-earning spouse is adjusting to a different status.</p>
<p>The alimony deduction especially is important when the paying spouse doesn't have liquid assets to fund a settlement or pay support. "The deduction helps with cash flow," says Ms. Karabatos.</p>
<p>Ms. Marzano-Lesnevich says the write-off is also an important bargaining chip if couples are considering a lump-sum settlement. The recipient may want such a settlement to receive money sooner, and the payer may be willing to make it because the forgone tax deduction helps to shrink the lump sum.</p>
<p>Thus $1 million of alimony due over 10 years could turn into a lump-sum payment of about $500,000 because of various discounts, including the one for the forgone alimony deduction.</p>
<p>Without the alimony deduction and tax benefit, maintenance payments to the lower-earning spouses will be smaller, says Ms. Marzano-Lesnivich. And higher-earning spouses may be less willing to agree to lump-sum settlements because there is not a discount for the tax deduction.</p>
<p>As a result of the proposed change, some couples who have hammered out agreements are pushing to finish them by year-end, says Ms. Karabatos, who had a client ask her to work over Thanksgiving to ready documents for signing.</p>
<p>Careful attorneys also are writing in language to address the potential change in the law.</p>
<p>If the alimony deduction is repealed, one beneficiary would be the IRS. It will no longer have to police a large tax gap between what is deducted by alimony payers and what is reported by alimony recipients.</p>
<p>A 2014 study by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, an official watchdog, found that nearly half of returns with alimony payments or income had discrepancies, estimating the loss of revenue to be more than $380 million a year.</p>
<p>Write to Laura Saunders at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>December 01, 2017 12:53 ET (17:53 GMT)</p>
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<p />
<p>I began the series with profiles of three gun users, including a woman who had killed her would-be rapist, the owner of a sport shooting club and a convicted murderer on death row at the Florida State Prison.</p>
<p>Most dramatic was the woman, who was attacked as she entered her apartment after work one evening. She had just moved in and boxes were stacked floor-to-ceiling, nary a broom nor a pot to use in self-defense.</p>
<p>In her panic, she suddenly remembered the small derringer in her purse, which still hung over her shoulder. Already, the man had her pinned against the wall. Reaching into her bag, she grabbed the gun, pressed it to his side and, boom! He died instantly. To my question, she replied: “Hell, yes, I’d do it again in a New York minute.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Or words to that effect.</p>
<p>Most chilling was the murderer, whose name I no longer recall. I do remember that his fingertips were oddly flared and he pressed them together, expanding and contracting his hands like a bellows. No doubt aware that I was nervous, he seemed amused by my questions.</p>
<p>“Sure,” he chuckled. “I’m all for gun control. Because that means you won’t have a gun. And I will always have a gun.”</p>
<p>All of which is to say, the conversation we’re having today about how to avert the next act of gun violence is nothing new. Yet, we seem always to fall into the same pro-con template when a fresh shooting occurs.</p>
<p>Before we knew the name of the shooter who killed 12 civilians at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, social media were atwitter with the usual exclamations:</p>
<p>More gun control!</p>
<p>Guns don’t kill, people do!</p>
<p>It is easy to become cynical when there’s nothing new to say and when, we know, nothing new will come of it. Gun control activists will push harder for tighter restrictions; Second Amendment champions will push back. The National Rifle Association will prevail.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Hit repeat.</p>
<p>Despite the redundancy of our renditions, there are some differences in gun violence between today and more than three decades ago. Even though firearm deaths have decreased, the recent rash of spree killings – five incidents this year alone – justifies a heightened level of concern.</p>
<p>Nearly 70 mass shootings have occurred since 1982, according to Mother Jones, 28 of them in just the past seven years. Half of the 12 deadliest mass shootings have occurred since 2007.</p>
<p>Even so, for the sake of perspective, these represent a tiny fraction of total gun deaths. They’re more horrific, so we take greater notice. But they represent less than 1 percent of all gun deaths between 1980 and 2008, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Indeed, nearly two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides (19,392 of a total of 31,672 in the U.S. in 2010).</p>
<p>In other words, the reflex to make tougher laws may be missing more important points. This isn’t to say we shouldn’t consider imposing restrictions on who owns guns, but as my guy on death row suggested, there’s little comfort in forcing law-abiding citizens to submit to tighter controls knowing that criminals will not.</p>
<p>As for the crazies who go on killing sprees, rules rarely apply.</p>
<p>Thus, what we’re really fighting about in our national debate about guns is how to stop mentally ill people from wreaking havoc on society. And what are the causes that lead to the breakdowns that lead to the slaughter?</p>
<p>No wonder we’d rather limit magazine sizes.</p>
<p>Much more difficult to process and “fix” are the multitude of factors that lead a sick person to seek company in death. What we know about such people is that they tend to be loners and narcissists (low self-esteem, lacking in empathy, quick to take offense and blame others) who act impulsively and seek attention (and revenge) in dramatic and public ways.</p>
<p>That we have more such characters than we used to – or that they seem more inclined to act on their impulses – may have less to do with guns than with underlying cultural causes. No, I’m not singling out video games or family dissolution or any other single factor, though none should be excluded.</p>
<p>If we don’t take a serious look at the environment that spawns these individuals, we’ll likely be having this same conversation another 30 years from now.</p>
<p>Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group; e-mail to <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Search for causes of mass killings
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https://abqjournal.com/266131/search-for-causes-of-mass-killings.html
| 2least
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Search for causes of mass killings
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>I began the series with profiles of three gun users, including a woman who had killed her would-be rapist, the owner of a sport shooting club and a convicted murderer on death row at the Florida State Prison.</p>
<p>Most dramatic was the woman, who was attacked as she entered her apartment after work one evening. She had just moved in and boxes were stacked floor-to-ceiling, nary a broom nor a pot to use in self-defense.</p>
<p>In her panic, she suddenly remembered the small derringer in her purse, which still hung over her shoulder. Already, the man had her pinned against the wall. Reaching into her bag, she grabbed the gun, pressed it to his side and, boom! He died instantly. To my question, she replied: “Hell, yes, I’d do it again in a New York minute.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Or words to that effect.</p>
<p>Most chilling was the murderer, whose name I no longer recall. I do remember that his fingertips were oddly flared and he pressed them together, expanding and contracting his hands like a bellows. No doubt aware that I was nervous, he seemed amused by my questions.</p>
<p>“Sure,” he chuckled. “I’m all for gun control. Because that means you won’t have a gun. And I will always have a gun.”</p>
<p>All of which is to say, the conversation we’re having today about how to avert the next act of gun violence is nothing new. Yet, we seem always to fall into the same pro-con template when a fresh shooting occurs.</p>
<p>Before we knew the name of the shooter who killed 12 civilians at the Washington Navy Yard on Monday, social media were atwitter with the usual exclamations:</p>
<p>More gun control!</p>
<p>Guns don’t kill, people do!</p>
<p>It is easy to become cynical when there’s nothing new to say and when, we know, nothing new will come of it. Gun control activists will push harder for tighter restrictions; Second Amendment champions will push back. The National Rifle Association will prevail.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Hit repeat.</p>
<p>Despite the redundancy of our renditions, there are some differences in gun violence between today and more than three decades ago. Even though firearm deaths have decreased, the recent rash of spree killings – five incidents this year alone – justifies a heightened level of concern.</p>
<p>Nearly 70 mass shootings have occurred since 1982, according to Mother Jones, 28 of them in just the past seven years. Half of the 12 deadliest mass shootings have occurred since 2007.</p>
<p>Even so, for the sake of perspective, these represent a tiny fraction of total gun deaths. They’re more horrific, so we take greater notice. But they represent less than 1 percent of all gun deaths between 1980 and 2008, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Indeed, nearly two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides (19,392 of a total of 31,672 in the U.S. in 2010).</p>
<p>In other words, the reflex to make tougher laws may be missing more important points. This isn’t to say we shouldn’t consider imposing restrictions on who owns guns, but as my guy on death row suggested, there’s little comfort in forcing law-abiding citizens to submit to tighter controls knowing that criminals will not.</p>
<p>As for the crazies who go on killing sprees, rules rarely apply.</p>
<p>Thus, what we’re really fighting about in our national debate about guns is how to stop mentally ill people from wreaking havoc on society. And what are the causes that lead to the breakdowns that lead to the slaughter?</p>
<p>No wonder we’d rather limit magazine sizes.</p>
<p>Much more difficult to process and “fix” are the multitude of factors that lead a sick person to seek company in death. What we know about such people is that they tend to be loners and narcissists (low self-esteem, lacking in empathy, quick to take offense and blame others) who act impulsively and seek attention (and revenge) in dramatic and public ways.</p>
<p>That we have more such characters than we used to – or that they seem more inclined to act on their impulses – may have less to do with guns than with underlying cultural causes. No, I’m not singling out video games or family dissolution or any other single factor, though none should be excluded.</p>
<p>If we don’t take a serious look at the environment that spawns these individuals, we’ll likely be having this same conversation another 30 years from now.</p>
<p>Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group; e-mail to <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 5,882 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal">Jimmy Kimmel</a> has anointed himself the arbiter of all that is good, caring, noble and moral. Be it <a href="" type="internal">healthcare</a>, <a href="" type="internal">guns</a>, Donald Trump grabbing women by the p*ssy, or poor <a href="" type="internal">Cecil the Lion</a>, Jimmy always has wise words for us little people.</p>
<p>Here’s Jimmy telling women to touch his junk&#160;and put their mouths on it.</p>
<p />
<p>Now, I want to be clear here: these women consented. I’m not&#160;going all&#160;“OMG, OUTRAGE” over what Kimmel did in this segment. Was it icky? To me, a woman, yes (note that byline). But the women are going along with it no problem. It’s possible a few women didn’t want to play and skipped the game. They’re not on camera.</p>
<p>What Kimmel is doing here is “all in fun” with sexual double entendres galore. The women, as I already stated, are playing along. They’re out in public and are, to my eyes, in no way coerced&#160;or threatened. Had I been walking on the street and Kimmel asked if I would play a game involving touching his dark places, I would’ve passed and carried on. These women played the game. Okay? Okay.</p>
<p>But for Kimmel to now erect monuments of virtue, when he thought having women on the street touch around his private parts was funny, is a little off brand. Don’t claim to be this great hero when you told ladies to put their mouths on it as they bent before you. On camera.</p>
<p>The internet is forever, Jimmy.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>NOT SUBSCRIBED TO THE PODCAST?&#160; <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/louder-with-crowder/id929121341?mt=2" type="external">FIX THAT</a>! IT’S COMPLETELY FREE ON BOTH&#160; <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/louder-with-crowder/id929121341?mt=2" type="external">ITUNES&#160;HERE</a>&#160;AND&#160; <a href="https://soundcloud.com/louderwithcrowder" type="external">SOUNDCLOUD&#160;HERE</a>.</p>
<p />
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FLASHBACK: Before Jimmy Kimmel Lectured America on Ethics, He Asked Women to Grab his Crotch…
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https://louderwithcrowder.com/flashback-jimmy-kimmel-cried-gunshealthcare-told-women-grab-crotch/
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2017-10-11
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FLASHBACK: Before Jimmy Kimmel Lectured America on Ethics, He Asked Women to Grab his Crotch…
<p><a href="" type="internal">Jimmy Kimmel</a> has anointed himself the arbiter of all that is good, caring, noble and moral. Be it <a href="" type="internal">healthcare</a>, <a href="" type="internal">guns</a>, Donald Trump grabbing women by the p*ssy, or poor <a href="" type="internal">Cecil the Lion</a>, Jimmy always has wise words for us little people.</p>
<p>Here’s Jimmy telling women to touch his junk&#160;and put their mouths on it.</p>
<p />
<p>Now, I want to be clear here: these women consented. I’m not&#160;going all&#160;“OMG, OUTRAGE” over what Kimmel did in this segment. Was it icky? To me, a woman, yes (note that byline). But the women are going along with it no problem. It’s possible a few women didn’t want to play and skipped the game. They’re not on camera.</p>
<p>What Kimmel is doing here is “all in fun” with sexual double entendres galore. The women, as I already stated, are playing along. They’re out in public and are, to my eyes, in no way coerced&#160;or threatened. Had I been walking on the street and Kimmel asked if I would play a game involving touching his dark places, I would’ve passed and carried on. These women played the game. Okay? Okay.</p>
<p>But for Kimmel to now erect monuments of virtue, when he thought having women on the street touch around his private parts was funny, is a little off brand. Don’t claim to be this great hero when you told ladies to put their mouths on it as they bent before you. On camera.</p>
<p>The internet is forever, Jimmy.</p>
<p />
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<p>NOT SUBSCRIBED TO THE PODCAST?&#160; <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/louder-with-crowder/id929121341?mt=2" type="external">FIX THAT</a>! IT’S COMPLETELY FREE ON BOTH&#160; <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/louder-with-crowder/id929121341?mt=2" type="external">ITUNES&#160;HERE</a>&#160;AND&#160; <a href="https://soundcloud.com/louderwithcrowder" type="external">SOUNDCLOUD&#160;HERE</a>.</p>
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<p>Nearly two million immigrants lived in Libya before the uprising last year, most there illegally. Today, only about a half million foreign workers make their home in the North African country. And that’s a problem for Libya, which is trying to rebuild after last year’s revolution.</p>
<p>At Libya’s Building &amp; Construction Exhibition, Ahmet Mojaat, the North African director at Mesa, a Turkish construction group, said the event marks his company’s return to business after a year and a half on hold.</p>
<p>“We want to restart our work because we are sure that there are projects here, and we have references and we will get a lot of work.”</p>
<p>Mojaat expects business to pick up after the elections in July, as Libya embarks on new public construction projects. But Mojaat’s not just scouting for government contracts; he needs foreign labor.</p>
<p>“Libya today needs a lot of workers,” he said, “so they must find solutions for them to stay here.”</p>
<p>Before the revolution, most construction workers in Libya were undocumented migrants from North and sub-Saharan Africa. Many fled during last year’s uprising. Adallah Abduaziz, who’s from Nigeria, worked in a Libyan cement factory for eight years. But this spring, he was arrested because he lacked legal documents. A post-revolution Libya has been cracking down on illegal immigration after taking a laissez faire approach during the decades of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule.</p>
<p>“None of us are here to sleep. We work,” Abduaziz said. “The Libyans need us here. We know we need them as much as they need us.”</p>
<p>“The migrant population represented about a third of the work force in Libya,” Haslam said. “It is not enough just to try and seal the borders and try and deny migrants crossing into Libya. They have to balance this need to meet the needs of the private sector for economic recovery of the country.Libya has a population of only about six million, so the country has depended on foreigners to fill jobs in farms, factories, hospitals and private homes. Jeremy Haslam, of the International Organization for Migration, said the labor shortage today is widespread.</p>
<p>According to Libya’s interim Labor Minister Mustafa Rugibani, they’re trying to find that balance. He said authorities have issued more than 100,000 work permits, and are processing half a million visa applications – most for jobs that Libyans don’t want. But Rugibani points out that creating an effective immigration policy is challenging in a country emerging from 42 years of dictatorship.</p>
<p>“During Gaddafi, no one can talk about anything, including this subject,” Rugibani said. “But now people have freedom, they are practicing democracy and with all that, they talk on any subject and this is one of the hot subject we have now.”</p>
<p>Rugibani said it’s getting easier for migrants to get work permits, but they still need to be sponsored by an employer. Critics say that doesn’t help day laborers and domestic workers, in high demand, who usually find jobs after they’ve entered the country illegally.</p>
<p>Becky, who’s 15, arrived in Tripoli in January. She found a job as a maid that pays $400 a month. Becky was sending half her earnings to her older sister back in Nigeria, but last month, she got arrested.</p>
<p>“They arrest me on the road and put me inside these useless containers,” Becky said, referring one of several metal containers that make up a makeshift detention facility. She’s here in the scorching heat with hundreds of other illegal immigrants; some have been here for months.</p>
<p>Nekson, a Nigerian mason who’s been detained since January, said rounding up undocumented workers only to pack them in detention centers seems counter-productive. It would make more sense, he said, for Libya to let the migrants work or at least send them back to home to warn others who might be heading to Libya for work.</p>
<p>“They believe that we are living well here,” Nekson said. “You send us back now so that we spread the news all over: Don’t go to Libya. The place is bad now for you as an illegal immigrant.”</p>
<p>But many observers say it’s unlikely such feedback would to stem the flow of migrants, now that Libya’s economic prospects are looking up again.</p>
<p>This project was made possible by a fellowship from the <a href="http://www.frenchamerican.org/" type="external">&#160;French-American Foundation-United State</a>s. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of the French-American Foundation or its directors, employees or representatives.</p>
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Libya Detains Immigrants, But Needs Migrant Labor
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https://pri.org/stories/2012-06-29/libya-detains-immigrants-needs-migrant-labor
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2012-06-29
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Libya Detains Immigrants, But Needs Migrant Labor
<p>Nearly two million immigrants lived in Libya before the uprising last year, most there illegally. Today, only about a half million foreign workers make their home in the North African country. And that’s a problem for Libya, which is trying to rebuild after last year’s revolution.</p>
<p>At Libya’s Building &amp; Construction Exhibition, Ahmet Mojaat, the North African director at Mesa, a Turkish construction group, said the event marks his company’s return to business after a year and a half on hold.</p>
<p>“We want to restart our work because we are sure that there are projects here, and we have references and we will get a lot of work.”</p>
<p>Mojaat expects business to pick up after the elections in July, as Libya embarks on new public construction projects. But Mojaat’s not just scouting for government contracts; he needs foreign labor.</p>
<p>“Libya today needs a lot of workers,” he said, “so they must find solutions for them to stay here.”</p>
<p>Before the revolution, most construction workers in Libya were undocumented migrants from North and sub-Saharan Africa. Many fled during last year’s uprising. Adallah Abduaziz, who’s from Nigeria, worked in a Libyan cement factory for eight years. But this spring, he was arrested because he lacked legal documents. A post-revolution Libya has been cracking down on illegal immigration after taking a laissez faire approach during the decades of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule.</p>
<p>“None of us are here to sleep. We work,” Abduaziz said. “The Libyans need us here. We know we need them as much as they need us.”</p>
<p>“The migrant population represented about a third of the work force in Libya,” Haslam said. “It is not enough just to try and seal the borders and try and deny migrants crossing into Libya. They have to balance this need to meet the needs of the private sector for economic recovery of the country.Libya has a population of only about six million, so the country has depended on foreigners to fill jobs in farms, factories, hospitals and private homes. Jeremy Haslam, of the International Organization for Migration, said the labor shortage today is widespread.</p>
<p>According to Libya’s interim Labor Minister Mustafa Rugibani, they’re trying to find that balance. He said authorities have issued more than 100,000 work permits, and are processing half a million visa applications – most for jobs that Libyans don’t want. But Rugibani points out that creating an effective immigration policy is challenging in a country emerging from 42 years of dictatorship.</p>
<p>“During Gaddafi, no one can talk about anything, including this subject,” Rugibani said. “But now people have freedom, they are practicing democracy and with all that, they talk on any subject and this is one of the hot subject we have now.”</p>
<p>Rugibani said it’s getting easier for migrants to get work permits, but they still need to be sponsored by an employer. Critics say that doesn’t help day laborers and domestic workers, in high demand, who usually find jobs after they’ve entered the country illegally.</p>
<p>Becky, who’s 15, arrived in Tripoli in January. She found a job as a maid that pays $400 a month. Becky was sending half her earnings to her older sister back in Nigeria, but last month, she got arrested.</p>
<p>“They arrest me on the road and put me inside these useless containers,” Becky said, referring one of several metal containers that make up a makeshift detention facility. She’s here in the scorching heat with hundreds of other illegal immigrants; some have been here for months.</p>
<p>Nekson, a Nigerian mason who’s been detained since January, said rounding up undocumented workers only to pack them in detention centers seems counter-productive. It would make more sense, he said, for Libya to let the migrants work or at least send them back to home to warn others who might be heading to Libya for work.</p>
<p>“They believe that we are living well here,” Nekson said. “You send us back now so that we spread the news all over: Don’t go to Libya. The place is bad now for you as an illegal immigrant.”</p>
<p>But many observers say it’s unlikely such feedback would to stem the flow of migrants, now that Libya’s economic prospects are looking up again.</p>
<p>This project was made possible by a fellowship from the <a href="http://www.frenchamerican.org/" type="external">&#160;French-American Foundation-United State</a>s. The views expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of the French-American Foundation or its directors, employees or representatives.</p>
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<p>The discovery of an assassination plot has led to the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops to the upcoming Donald Trump inauguration. Massively beefed up security presence is expected to surround the President-elect in order to curb the threat of any assassination attempt, the Jan. 20 inauguration will see 5,000 troops deployed downtown.</p>
<p />
<p>A report from the <a href="http://Washingtonexaminer.com" type="external">Washingtonexaminer.com</a> highlighted a statement from Mayor Muriel Bowser who said that despite increased security concerns, the city was ready and prepared for the inauguration event that was set to take place in 12 days, Bowser was speaking on Friday at a press conference with U.S. Secret Service and other security forces that are prepping for the big day.</p>
<p>"We prepare for the biggest number possible," Bowser said. Secret Service special agent Brian Ebert said the Washington field office is "well-prepared and ready for this inauguration."</p>
<p>Security officials have also reported that 3,000 security officers from multiple jurisdiction will be deployed on the ground alongside the 5,000 National Guard troops that will be deployed in the city.</p>
<p>"My expectation of this entire team is that they have prepared for any and all circumstances," Bowser said.</p>
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<p />
<p>Peter Newsham, the city's interim police chief made it clear that the city is ready for all contingencies and is monitoring social media to track activists and other groups or persons who ar plotting to disrupt the 58th inauguration.</p>
<p />
<p>"Some folks that are indicating on social media that they're coming to shut down the inauguration or the events," Police Chief Newsham said. "It is something that we will be prepared for."</p>
<p>The Mayor pointed out that a hooping $30 million will be incurred by the city in the inauguration event, $19 million of the amount has been appropriated by Congress. Bowser also pointed out that the remainder should be reimbursed by the federal government after the event is concluded.</p>
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3,000 Security Officers And 5,000 National Guards To Attend Trump Inauguration Over Assassination
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http://thegoldwater.com/news/987-3-000-Security-Officers-And-5-000-National-Guards-To-Attend-Trump-Inauguration-Over-Assassination
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2017-01-08
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3,000 Security Officers And 5,000 National Guards To Attend Trump Inauguration Over Assassination
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<p>The discovery of an assassination plot has led to the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops to the upcoming Donald Trump inauguration. Massively beefed up security presence is expected to surround the President-elect in order to curb the threat of any assassination attempt, the Jan. 20 inauguration will see 5,000 troops deployed downtown.</p>
<p />
<p>A report from the <a href="http://Washingtonexaminer.com" type="external">Washingtonexaminer.com</a> highlighted a statement from Mayor Muriel Bowser who said that despite increased security concerns, the city was ready and prepared for the inauguration event that was set to take place in 12 days, Bowser was speaking on Friday at a press conference with U.S. Secret Service and other security forces that are prepping for the big day.</p>
<p>"We prepare for the biggest number possible," Bowser said. Secret Service special agent Brian Ebert said the Washington field office is "well-prepared and ready for this inauguration."</p>
<p>Security officials have also reported that 3,000 security officers from multiple jurisdiction will be deployed on the ground alongside the 5,000 National Guard troops that will be deployed in the city.</p>
<p>"My expectation of this entire team is that they have prepared for any and all circumstances," Bowser said.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Peter Newsham, the city's interim police chief made it clear that the city is ready for all contingencies and is monitoring social media to track activists and other groups or persons who ar plotting to disrupt the 58th inauguration.</p>
<p />
<p>"Some folks that are indicating on social media that they're coming to shut down the inauguration or the events," Police Chief Newsham said. "It is something that we will be prepared for."</p>
<p>The Mayor pointed out that a hooping $30 million will be incurred by the city in the inauguration event, $19 million of the amount has been appropriated by Congress. Bowser also pointed out that the remainder should be reimbursed by the federal government after the event is concluded.</p>
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<p>DETROIT — General Motors is recalling nearly 49,000 trucks worldwide to fix a fuel tank problem that increases the risk of a fire.</p>
<p>The recall covers Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 3500 trucks from 2011 through 2015 with two fuel tanks.</p>
<p>Documents posted Thursday by the U.S. government say that the low-fuel-level sensor in the front tank can stick, causing the rear tank to over-fill the front tank. That can make the front tank expand and touch the drive shaft, possibly causing a hole and a fuel leak.</p>
<p>GM says it has no reports of fires or injuries from the problem.</p>
<p>Dealers will replace the rear tank fuel pump, update software and inspect the front tank. Owners will be notified starting Dec. 18 with parts available for repairs in February.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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General Motors recalls trucks to fix potential fuel leaks
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https://abqjournal.com/1093662/general-motors-recalls-trucks-to-fix-potential-fuel-leaks.html
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General Motors recalls trucks to fix potential fuel leaks
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<p>DETROIT — General Motors is recalling nearly 49,000 trucks worldwide to fix a fuel tank problem that increases the risk of a fire.</p>
<p>The recall covers Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 3500 trucks from 2011 through 2015 with two fuel tanks.</p>
<p>Documents posted Thursday by the U.S. government say that the low-fuel-level sensor in the front tank can stick, causing the rear tank to over-fill the front tank. That can make the front tank expand and touch the drive shaft, possibly causing a hole and a fuel leak.</p>
<p>GM says it has no reports of fires or injuries from the problem.</p>
<p>Dealers will replace the rear tank fuel pump, update software and inspect the front tank. Owners will be notified starting Dec. 18 with parts available for repairs in February.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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<p>n EL HOMBRE, you’re right about too many college bowl games, but do I detect a note of jealousy that despite there being 37 bowl games, your beloved Lobos STILL couldn’t play well enough to get invited to play in one? The usual reaction when you’re not invited to the party is to downgrade the party as “no big deal.” – Jose, ABQ</p>
<p>n GOOD TO SEE that Kenny Thomas did so well in English while at UNM. In his statement, he said, “Due to in-climate weather ….” There is no such thing. He should have used the word “inclement”. Sure would have been nice if (the Journal) had caught it. That’s what “(sic)” is used for. … – The Grammar Police</p>
<p>n BE CAREFUL Notre Dame fans for what you wish for. – T.D.K</p>
<p>— This article appeared on page D5 of the Albuquerque Journal</p>
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Sports Speak Up!
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https://abqjournal.com/238355/headline-39-2.html
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Sports Speak Up!
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<p>n EL HOMBRE, you’re right about too many college bowl games, but do I detect a note of jealousy that despite there being 37 bowl games, your beloved Lobos STILL couldn’t play well enough to get invited to play in one? The usual reaction when you’re not invited to the party is to downgrade the party as “no big deal.” – Jose, ABQ</p>
<p>n GOOD TO SEE that Kenny Thomas did so well in English while at UNM. In his statement, he said, “Due to in-climate weather ….” There is no such thing. He should have used the word “inclement”. Sure would have been nice if (the Journal) had caught it. That’s what “(sic)” is used for. … – The Grammar Police</p>
<p>n BE CAREFUL Notre Dame fans for what you wish for. – T.D.K</p>
<p>— This article appeared on page D5 of the Albuquerque Journal</p>
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<p>Josephine Norwood’s children have undergone multiple school closings and forced transfers in their time at Chicago Public Schools. But when Norwood got wind that her autistic son’s current school was on the final list of schools being considered for closure, it was just too much to take.</p>
<p>The program her son is in has already been moved two times because of school actions. Now, it is at McClellan, a small school in Bridgeport.</p>
<p>“I am appalled that he could be displaced again,” Norwood said at a Tuesday press conference organized by Raise Your Hand, a parent advocacy group. “I want to ask this question: Do you understand the repercussions this will have?”</p>
<p>Like other parents with autistic children, she said her son has trouble with transitions and each move causes him to regress. (Norwood is a member of Catalyst Chicago’s editorial board.)</p>
<p>Raise Your Hand’s Wendy Katten said she wanted to call attention to the issues faced by special education students because, just days before the expected announcement of closing recommendations, she doesn’t feel as though they have been adequately addressed.</p>
<p>Katten says that about 6,000 special education students attend the 129 schools still being considered for closure. Three of the schools serve only special education students.</p>
<p>Thirty-nine of these schools have what are called <a href="http://catalyst-chicago.org/2013/02/special-education-preschools-risk-in-school-closings/" type="external">“cluster programs,”</a> for severely disabled students from the neighborhood. Cluster programs were often located in underutilized schools—the schools being targeted for possible closure—because these schools had space.</p>
<p>In a letter sent to parents of special education students last week, CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett promised that, if their child’s school is closed, the new school will be flush with a library, computer and science labs, social workers and air conditioning. &#160;</p>
<p>“I also know that transitioning to a new school may be challenging for some students, especially for those with disabilities,” she said.</p>
<p>She said she will ensure that students go to a school that can serve the special needs child, has supplies and equipment and is accessible.</p>
<p>Proposed change in state law heightens anxiety</p>
<p>Katten noted that Chief Transformation Officer Todd Babbitz admitted to the Chicago Educational Facilities Task Force that the additional space needed for special education students was not taken into account in the district’s official utilization formula, which was used to determine which schools are considered under-utilized and at risk for closing.</p>
<p>Currently, state law dictates that students with mild disabilities must be in pull-out classes with 15 or fewer students, while students with more severe disabilities must be in classes with no more than eight students. The Illinois Legislature is <a href="http://catalyst-chicago.org/2013/02/class-sizes-could-increase-special-education-students/" type="external">considering a change</a> that would remove these limits—something that advocates are pushing hard against.</p>
<p>CPS has not said whether it supports scrapping these limits. But the prospect of the change is adding to the anxiety of parents whose children have special needs.</p>
<p>After the press conference, which was held in the lobby of CPS headquarters, Katten and parents from 13 schools still on the potential closing list tried to get a meeting with CPS leaders. As she was talking to the staff at front lobby desk, Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley was walking out.</p>
<p>Katten turned and asked him if he knew if a decision maker was upstairs and could speak with them. First, Cawley said that he was not the right person to speak to and that the forum to speak with officials was during the many community meetings held in February.</p>
<p>“Those meetings failed,” Katten told him.</p>
<p>Then, Cawley told the group that they should take their concerns to the network offices. After a little more back and forth, Cawley left. Later, Phillip Hampton, who runs the Office of Family and Community Engagement, came down and talked to the parents.&#160;</p>
<p>The parents, however, seemed unsatisfied.</p>
<p>Lasharra Wilson, a parent from Smyth School, said she is tired and overwhelmed by the prospect of having to find a new school for her son. “I am begging you not to close Smyth. It is already hard enough.”</p>
<p>Mary Moore said when her son was three years old and started at McNair Elementary School in Austin, he hid under the table. She said she was told that he would never talk and never walk.</p>
<p>“Now he is going to graduate from 8th grade with honors and go to Wells,” she said. “McNair is a school with love.”</p>
<p>Elizabeth Yarbrough sent her four adopted children to McNair and takes students from her home day care center to and from the school. She says when her oldest son, who is now 19, was there, parents fought for a new building. Now it is renovated and wheelchair- accessible. “Students can just slide in and feel welcomed,” she said. &#160;</p>
<p>Twenty-three percent of McNair’s students are in special education.</p>
<p>“I am standing here for the parents who are not able to speak for their children,” Yarbrough said. “Let McNair stand. Why are you destroying something that should not be destroyed? Find something else to do.”</p>
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Parents of special needs students plead against closings
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http://chicagoreporter.com/parents-special-needs-students-plead-against-closings/
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2013-03-19
| 3left-center
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Parents of special needs students plead against closings
<p>Josephine Norwood’s children have undergone multiple school closings and forced transfers in their time at Chicago Public Schools. But when Norwood got wind that her autistic son’s current school was on the final list of schools being considered for closure, it was just too much to take.</p>
<p>The program her son is in has already been moved two times because of school actions. Now, it is at McClellan, a small school in Bridgeport.</p>
<p>“I am appalled that he could be displaced again,” Norwood said at a Tuesday press conference organized by Raise Your Hand, a parent advocacy group. “I want to ask this question: Do you understand the repercussions this will have?”</p>
<p>Like other parents with autistic children, she said her son has trouble with transitions and each move causes him to regress. (Norwood is a member of Catalyst Chicago’s editorial board.)</p>
<p>Raise Your Hand’s Wendy Katten said she wanted to call attention to the issues faced by special education students because, just days before the expected announcement of closing recommendations, she doesn’t feel as though they have been adequately addressed.</p>
<p>Katten says that about 6,000 special education students attend the 129 schools still being considered for closure. Three of the schools serve only special education students.</p>
<p>Thirty-nine of these schools have what are called <a href="http://catalyst-chicago.org/2013/02/special-education-preschools-risk-in-school-closings/" type="external">“cluster programs,”</a> for severely disabled students from the neighborhood. Cluster programs were often located in underutilized schools—the schools being targeted for possible closure—because these schools had space.</p>
<p>In a letter sent to parents of special education students last week, CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett promised that, if their child’s school is closed, the new school will be flush with a library, computer and science labs, social workers and air conditioning. &#160;</p>
<p>“I also know that transitioning to a new school may be challenging for some students, especially for those with disabilities,” she said.</p>
<p>She said she will ensure that students go to a school that can serve the special needs child, has supplies and equipment and is accessible.</p>
<p>Proposed change in state law heightens anxiety</p>
<p>Katten noted that Chief Transformation Officer Todd Babbitz admitted to the Chicago Educational Facilities Task Force that the additional space needed for special education students was not taken into account in the district’s official utilization formula, which was used to determine which schools are considered under-utilized and at risk for closing.</p>
<p>Currently, state law dictates that students with mild disabilities must be in pull-out classes with 15 or fewer students, while students with more severe disabilities must be in classes with no more than eight students. The Illinois Legislature is <a href="http://catalyst-chicago.org/2013/02/class-sizes-could-increase-special-education-students/" type="external">considering a change</a> that would remove these limits—something that advocates are pushing hard against.</p>
<p>CPS has not said whether it supports scrapping these limits. But the prospect of the change is adding to the anxiety of parents whose children have special needs.</p>
<p>After the press conference, which was held in the lobby of CPS headquarters, Katten and parents from 13 schools still on the potential closing list tried to get a meeting with CPS leaders. As she was talking to the staff at front lobby desk, Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley was walking out.</p>
<p>Katten turned and asked him if he knew if a decision maker was upstairs and could speak with them. First, Cawley said that he was not the right person to speak to and that the forum to speak with officials was during the many community meetings held in February.</p>
<p>“Those meetings failed,” Katten told him.</p>
<p>Then, Cawley told the group that they should take their concerns to the network offices. After a little more back and forth, Cawley left. Later, Phillip Hampton, who runs the Office of Family and Community Engagement, came down and talked to the parents.&#160;</p>
<p>The parents, however, seemed unsatisfied.</p>
<p>Lasharra Wilson, a parent from Smyth School, said she is tired and overwhelmed by the prospect of having to find a new school for her son. “I am begging you not to close Smyth. It is already hard enough.”</p>
<p>Mary Moore said when her son was three years old and started at McNair Elementary School in Austin, he hid under the table. She said she was told that he would never talk and never walk.</p>
<p>“Now he is going to graduate from 8th grade with honors and go to Wells,” she said. “McNair is a school with love.”</p>
<p>Elizabeth Yarbrough sent her four adopted children to McNair and takes students from her home day care center to and from the school. She says when her oldest son, who is now 19, was there, parents fought for a new building. Now it is renovated and wheelchair- accessible. “Students can just slide in and feel welcomed,” she said. &#160;</p>
<p>Twenty-three percent of McNair’s students are in special education.</p>
<p>“I am standing here for the parents who are not able to speak for their children,” Yarbrough said. “Let McNair stand. Why are you destroying something that should not be destroyed? Find something else to do.”</p>
| 5,888 |
<p />
<p>Investors in Kratos Defense &amp; Security stock have been hard-pressed to find good news to cheer about lately. <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/07/3-reasons-kratos-stock-dropped-21-in-may.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Last month's earnings report</a>, featuring primarily revenue declines and per-share losses, certainly didn't qualify.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But already this month, things are starting to look a little different.</p>
<p>Drones are where the action is at Kratos -- but for profits, one must look elsewhere. Image source: <a href="http://www.kratosusd.com/" type="external">Kratos Defense</a>.</p>
<p>Over the first half of the month of June, Kratos has reported a total of five new contract wins totaling $45.1 million in value. Annualized, that works out to new contracts coming in at roughly twice the rate at which Kratos collected revenue for contracts already booked over the past year. And while that's a pace that will probably be difficult to maintain, it does at least suggest that the company's decline in revenue last quarter may reverse and turn into growing revenue in the quarters to come.</p>
<p>But what about the profits?</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>According to data from <a href="https://www.capitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence</a>, Kratos is currently just getting by in terms of the profitability of its revenues. Operating profit margins over the past 12 months amounted to a bare 0.8% profit on revenues (although when you add tax benefits to the mix, the company's net profit margin was actually 2.1%).</p>
<p>But what can we tell from the new contracts Kratos has been winning? Will they tend to boost the company's profit margin, or drag it down even further? Let's find out.</p>
<p>So far, Kratos has announced five contract wins this month:</p>
<p>Kratos doesn't always make it obvious which of its contracts fall under which of its three major business divisions. Near as I can tell, however, the first three contracts described above appear to fall within the ambit of the company's Kratos Government Solutions (KGS) division, while the fourth is a "public safety and security" contract, and the fifth will be performed by the company's unmanned systems unit.</p>
<p>Why is this important? In a word: margins.</p>
<p>S&amp;P Global data show that unmanned systems, while clearly the division <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/16/5-things-kratos-defense-and-security-wants-you-to.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">for which Kratos has the highest hopes</a>, is currently the least profitable of its business units, actually losing money over the past 12 months. Public safety is just barely profitable, producing operating profit margins of 1.8%.</p>
<p>In contrast, KGS is both Kratos' biggest division by revenue and its most profitable at 3.6% operating margins. And the fact that $31.5 million of the $45.1 million in new-won contracts -- 70% of them -- will be running through the company's most profitable division suggests this could be above-average profit-margin revenue for Kratos.</p>
<p>Critics of Kratos stock may point out (rightly) that a 3.6% profit margin still isn't very much. But at this point, beggars can't be choosers -- and 3.6% is at least better than the 0.8% overall operating profit margin Kratos has been managing thus far. Maybe, if Kratos can keep on winning more contracts of these sizes, and this caliber, there's at least a faint hope that in the not-too-distant future, the company will be able to earn consistent profits, without depending on tax benefits to provide them.</p>
<p>Maybe.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/14/kratos-small-contracts-could-earn-outsize-profits.aspx" type="external">Small Contracts Could Earn Outsize Profits for Kratos</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Rich Smith</a>does not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him on <a href="http://caps.fool.com/?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Motley Fool CAPS</a>, publicly pontificating under the handle <a href="http://caps.fool.com/ViewPlayer.aspx?t=01002844399633209838&amp;source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">TMFDitty</a>, where he's currently ranked No. 292 out of more than 75,000 rated members.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</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</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</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</a>.</p>
|
Small Contracts Could Earn Outsize Profits for Kratos
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/14/small-contracts-could-earn-outsize-profits-for-kratos.html
|
2016-06-14
| 0right
|
Small Contracts Could Earn Outsize Profits for Kratos
<p />
<p>Investors in Kratos Defense &amp; Security stock have been hard-pressed to find good news to cheer about lately. <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/07/3-reasons-kratos-stock-dropped-21-in-may.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Last month's earnings report</a>, featuring primarily revenue declines and per-share losses, certainly didn't qualify.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But already this month, things are starting to look a little different.</p>
<p>Drones are where the action is at Kratos -- but for profits, one must look elsewhere. Image source: <a href="http://www.kratosusd.com/" type="external">Kratos Defense</a>.</p>
<p>Over the first half of the month of June, Kratos has reported a total of five new contract wins totaling $45.1 million in value. Annualized, that works out to new contracts coming in at roughly twice the rate at which Kratos collected revenue for contracts already booked over the past year. And while that's a pace that will probably be difficult to maintain, it does at least suggest that the company's decline in revenue last quarter may reverse and turn into growing revenue in the quarters to come.</p>
<p>But what about the profits?</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>According to data from <a href="https://www.capitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence</a>, Kratos is currently just getting by in terms of the profitability of its revenues. Operating profit margins over the past 12 months amounted to a bare 0.8% profit on revenues (although when you add tax benefits to the mix, the company's net profit margin was actually 2.1%).</p>
<p>But what can we tell from the new contracts Kratos has been winning? Will they tend to boost the company's profit margin, or drag it down even further? Let's find out.</p>
<p>So far, Kratos has announced five contract wins this month:</p>
<p>Kratos doesn't always make it obvious which of its contracts fall under which of its three major business divisions. Near as I can tell, however, the first three contracts described above appear to fall within the ambit of the company's Kratos Government Solutions (KGS) division, while the fourth is a "public safety and security" contract, and the fifth will be performed by the company's unmanned systems unit.</p>
<p>Why is this important? In a word: margins.</p>
<p>S&amp;P Global data show that unmanned systems, while clearly the division <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/05/16/5-things-kratos-defense-and-security-wants-you-to.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">for which Kratos has the highest hopes</a>, is currently the least profitable of its business units, actually losing money over the past 12 months. Public safety is just barely profitable, producing operating profit margins of 1.8%.</p>
<p>In contrast, KGS is both Kratos' biggest division by revenue and its most profitable at 3.6% operating margins. And the fact that $31.5 million of the $45.1 million in new-won contracts -- 70% of them -- will be running through the company's most profitable division suggests this could be above-average profit-margin revenue for Kratos.</p>
<p>Critics of Kratos stock may point out (rightly) that a 3.6% profit margin still isn't very much. But at this point, beggars can't be choosers -- and 3.6% is at least better than the 0.8% overall operating profit margin Kratos has been managing thus far. Maybe, if Kratos can keep on winning more contracts of these sizes, and this caliber, there's at least a faint hope that in the not-too-distant future, the company will be able to earn consistent profits, without depending on tax benefits to provide them.</p>
<p>Maybe.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/14/kratos-small-contracts-could-earn-outsize-profits.aspx" type="external">Small Contracts Could Earn Outsize Profits for Kratos</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Rich Smith</a>does not own shares of, nor is he short, any company named above. You can find him on <a href="http://caps.fool.com/?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Motley Fool CAPS</a>, publicly pontificating under the handle <a href="http://caps.fool.com/ViewPlayer.aspx?t=01002844399633209838&amp;source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">TMFDitty</a>, where he's currently ranked No. 292 out of more than 75,000 rated members.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</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</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</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</a>.</p>
| 5,889 |
<p><a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2012/03/19/is-mitt-romney-the-most-unpopular-presidential-nominee-ever.html" type="external">Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith</a>, so often described as an impediment to his political prospects, might work to his advantage with one crucial segment of the electorate: Jewish voters.</p>
<p>The very fact that his Mormonism makes him <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2012/03/08/rick-santorum-s-dead-end-evangelical-voters.html" type="external">less popular among evangelical Christians</a> almost certainly makes him more popular among American Jews. Academic analysis of the intersection of religion and politics suggests that Jews maintain a distinctly—and surprisingly—favorable view of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean Romney stands a chance of winning an outright majority in the Jewish community: no Republican presidential nominee has achieved that feat since William Howard Taft in 1908. Moreover, recent surveys indicate that most Jewish voters back Barack Obama for reelection, though his level of support has declined. Exit polls in 2008 showed Obama carrying 78 percent of Jewish votes, while a new poll by the Public Religion Research Institute ( <a href="http://publicreligion.org/research/2012/04/jewish-values-in-2012/" type="external">Jewish Values Survey, March 2012</a>) shows that number falling to 62 percent if the election were held today.</p>
<p>Among the 30 percent of Jewish voters who say they plan to vote Republican, Romney emerges as the big winner, crushing Rick Santorum by a margin of 57 to 17 percent. When comparing these figures with the exit polls from major primaries, Romney fares much better among Republican Jews than he does among any other religious group in the GOP, except for his fellow Mormons, of course.</p>
<p>This outcome reflects a surprising study by two prominent professors, Robert D. Putnam of Harvard and David E. Campbell of Notre Dame, concerning public attitudes toward various faith communities. As expected, Mormons scored poorly in terms of their overall popularity, ranking below evangelical Christians, Catholics, and Jews, and ahead of only atheists and Muslims.</p>
<p>Among Jews, on the other hand, Mormons ranked at the very top of the approval list—and Jews viewed Mormons more warmly than did any other respondents in the survey. For those who speculate that this positive attitude might connect with the fervent support for Israel by members of the LDS church, Putnam and Campbell point out that evangelical Christians similarly love Israel, but American Jews in no way love them back. Indeed, in their study, Jewish participants gave evangelicals an even lower rating than they gave to Muslims. For those who like to think of Jews as savvy and insightful about our self-interest, it’s tough to explain why we offer less approval to a faith community that overwhelmingly wants to support us than we do to a religious tradition that has spawned tens of millions of angry adherents who say openly that they want to kill us.</p>
<p>Concerning Mormons, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204485304576643011599025044.html" type="external">Campbell and Putnam wrote in The Wall Street Journal</a>: “We suspect that Jews’ warmth toward Mormons stems from solidarity with another group that is small and subject to intolerance. Jews and Mormons are the two American groups most likely to report that other people disparage their religious beliefs.” If this analysis accurately describes Jewish sentiments, then every time some born-again clergyman attacks Romney for his Mormon faith or describes the LDS church as a “cult,” Jews probably look at Mitt more favorably, especially given the irrational, unjustified—but undeniable—Jewish hostility to evangelicals.</p>
<p>There’s also a special historical affinity between Jews and Mormons that may play a role in Romney’s relative popularity in the Jewish community. Joseph Smith, the prophet and founder of the LDS church, qualified as a committed “restorationist”—eager to facilitate the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland. In his fascinating book Power, Faith, and Fantasy [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00509CS7O/thedaibea-20]], Michael B. Oren, who is Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., writes of the first Mormon pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In 1841, Smith sent his “personal apostle” Orson Hyde to the ancient Jewish capital. “Climbing the Mount of Olives, Hyde erected an altar and beseeched God to ‘restore the kingdom unto Israel—raise up Jerusalem as its capital, and continue her people a distinct nation and government.’ Mormons would later integrate that prayer into their liturgy and, on the site of Hyde’s altar, build a branch of Brigham Young University.”</p>
<p>That handsome and impressive facility has become a well-regarded fixture in the life of modern Jerusalem, overcoming resistance from many Orthodox Jewish leaders at the time of its construction in the early 1980s. According to nearly all accounts, the Mormons have carefully kept their promise to avoid using the BYU center as a base for missionary activity, and this “good neighbor” policy has greatly enhanced their popularity in Israel. My late father, who chose to spend the last 20 years of his life in Jerusalem, regularly attended the outstanding series of classical-music concerts graciously hosted at the Mormon campus on Sundays.</p>
<p>Back in the United States, Mormons and Jews frequently laugh together at our common use of the word “gentiles” to describe the multitudes outside our minority religious communities. The first “gentile” governor of the state of Utah was, indeed, Jewish: Simon Bamberger served between 1917 and 1921.</p>
<p>Mitt Romney’s business career brought him into close collaboration with Jewish communal leaders in Massachusetts and around the country. As a young graduate of Harvard Business School, he took his first full-time job at the Boston Consulting Group, where he worked alongside a young graduate of the MIT Business School, Benjamin Netanyahu, who later went on to win a more prominent job as Israel’s prime minister. Romney, naturally, likes to tell that story on the campaign trail. Last year, he offered his prestige and contacts to a fundraising banquet (where, in the interests of full disclosure, I was also a featured speaker) for the Jerusalem College of Technology, a dynamic institution that combines Orthodox religious study with world-class training in engineering.</p>
<p>Of course, most evangelical leaders similarly show their love for the Jewish people by backing Israeli institutions, leading tours of the Holy Land, and even defending our religious liberties when they’re threatened in the United States. When aggressive efforts to ban all infant circumcisions were undertaken last year in San Francisco and Santa Monica, evangelical Christians provided crucial backing to turn back the assault on our right to our rite.</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 the prominent, powerful involvement of evangelicals in conservative politics alarms many in the Jewish community, which remains overwhelmingly liberal; 64 percent of Jews describe themselves as Democrats. Since most Jews also count as decidedly irreligious, shunning synagogue or temple membership and avoiding traditional patterns of observance, the chief sense in which they see themselves as distinctively Jewish involves their rejection of the core claims of Christianity. This means secular, liberal Jewish voters react with particular horror to any mixture of Christianity and politics. John Marttila, a pollster for the Anti-Defamation League, told the <a href="http://www.jpost.com/USPresidentialrace/Article.aspx?id=264709" type="external">Jerusalem Post</a> that “he believed that the rhetoric of the Republican primaries, particularly on religious issues, was alienating moderate Jews who might otherwise consider voting for the GOP.”</p>
<p>Romney has been a victim of that rhetoric far more than the source of it; he recognizes the lingering doubts about his own faith and has tried for the most part to avoid combining preaching and politics. This may not build his popularity among evangelical voters in the upcoming primaries in Pennsylvania or Texas, but it makes him far more viable in the Jewish community than his remaining Republican rivals.</p>
|
Why Jewish Voters Might Like Mitt Romney: His Religion
| true |
https://thedailybeast.com/why-jewish-voters-might-like-mitt-romney-his-religion
|
2018-10-04
| 4left
|
Why Jewish Voters Might Like Mitt Romney: His Religion
<p><a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2012/03/19/is-mitt-romney-the-most-unpopular-presidential-nominee-ever.html" type="external">Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith</a>, so often described as an impediment to his political prospects, might work to his advantage with one crucial segment of the electorate: Jewish voters.</p>
<p>The very fact that his Mormonism makes him <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2012/03/08/rick-santorum-s-dead-end-evangelical-voters.html" type="external">less popular among evangelical Christians</a> almost certainly makes him more popular among American Jews. Academic analysis of the intersection of religion and politics suggests that Jews maintain a distinctly—and surprisingly—favorable view of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.</p>
<p>This doesn’t mean Romney stands a chance of winning an outright majority in the Jewish community: no Republican presidential nominee has achieved that feat since William Howard Taft in 1908. Moreover, recent surveys indicate that most Jewish voters back Barack Obama for reelection, though his level of support has declined. Exit polls in 2008 showed Obama carrying 78 percent of Jewish votes, while a new poll by the Public Religion Research Institute ( <a href="http://publicreligion.org/research/2012/04/jewish-values-in-2012/" type="external">Jewish Values Survey, March 2012</a>) shows that number falling to 62 percent if the election were held today.</p>
<p>Among the 30 percent of Jewish voters who say they plan to vote Republican, Romney emerges as the big winner, crushing Rick Santorum by a margin of 57 to 17 percent. When comparing these figures with the exit polls from major primaries, Romney fares much better among Republican Jews than he does among any other religious group in the GOP, except for his fellow Mormons, of course.</p>
<p>This outcome reflects a surprising study by two prominent professors, Robert D. Putnam of Harvard and David E. Campbell of Notre Dame, concerning public attitudes toward various faith communities. As expected, Mormons scored poorly in terms of their overall popularity, ranking below evangelical Christians, Catholics, and Jews, and ahead of only atheists and Muslims.</p>
<p>Among Jews, on the other hand, Mormons ranked at the very top of the approval list—and Jews viewed Mormons more warmly than did any other respondents in the survey. For those who speculate that this positive attitude might connect with the fervent support for Israel by members of the LDS church, Putnam and Campbell point out that evangelical Christians similarly love Israel, but American Jews in no way love them back. Indeed, in their study, Jewish participants gave evangelicals an even lower rating than they gave to Muslims. For those who like to think of Jews as savvy and insightful about our self-interest, it’s tough to explain why we offer less approval to a faith community that overwhelmingly wants to support us than we do to a religious tradition that has spawned tens of millions of angry adherents who say openly that they want to kill us.</p>
<p>Concerning Mormons, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204485304576643011599025044.html" type="external">Campbell and Putnam wrote in The Wall Street Journal</a>: “We suspect that Jews’ warmth toward Mormons stems from solidarity with another group that is small and subject to intolerance. Jews and Mormons are the two American groups most likely to report that other people disparage their religious beliefs.” If this analysis accurately describes Jewish sentiments, then every time some born-again clergyman attacks Romney for his Mormon faith or describes the LDS church as a “cult,” Jews probably look at Mitt more favorably, especially given the irrational, unjustified—but undeniable—Jewish hostility to evangelicals.</p>
<p>There’s also a special historical affinity between Jews and Mormons that may play a role in Romney’s relative popularity in the Jewish community. Joseph Smith, the prophet and founder of the LDS church, qualified as a committed “restorationist”—eager to facilitate the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland. In his fascinating book Power, Faith, and Fantasy [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00509CS7O/thedaibea-20]], Michael B. Oren, who is Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., writes of the first Mormon pilgrimage to Jerusalem. In 1841, Smith sent his “personal apostle” Orson Hyde to the ancient Jewish capital. “Climbing the Mount of Olives, Hyde erected an altar and beseeched God to ‘restore the kingdom unto Israel—raise up Jerusalem as its capital, and continue her people a distinct nation and government.’ Mormons would later integrate that prayer into their liturgy and, on the site of Hyde’s altar, build a branch of Brigham Young University.”</p>
<p>That handsome and impressive facility has become a well-regarded fixture in the life of modern Jerusalem, overcoming resistance from many Orthodox Jewish leaders at the time of its construction in the early 1980s. According to nearly all accounts, the Mormons have carefully kept their promise to avoid using the BYU center as a base for missionary activity, and this “good neighbor” policy has greatly enhanced their popularity in Israel. My late father, who chose to spend the last 20 years of his life in Jerusalem, regularly attended the outstanding series of classical-music concerts graciously hosted at the Mormon campus on Sundays.</p>
<p>Back in the United States, Mormons and Jews frequently laugh together at our common use of the word “gentiles” to describe the multitudes outside our minority religious communities. The first “gentile” governor of the state of Utah was, indeed, Jewish: Simon Bamberger served between 1917 and 1921.</p>
<p>Mitt Romney’s business career brought him into close collaboration with Jewish communal leaders in Massachusetts and around the country. As a young graduate of Harvard Business School, he took his first full-time job at the Boston Consulting Group, where he worked alongside a young graduate of the MIT Business School, Benjamin Netanyahu, who later went on to win a more prominent job as Israel’s prime minister. Romney, naturally, likes to tell that story on the campaign trail. Last year, he offered his prestige and contacts to a fundraising banquet (where, in the interests of full disclosure, I was also a featured speaker) for the Jerusalem College of Technology, a dynamic institution that combines Orthodox religious study with world-class training in engineering.</p>
<p>Of course, most evangelical leaders similarly show their love for the Jewish people by backing Israeli institutions, leading tours of the Holy Land, and even defending our religious liberties when they’re threatened in the United States. When aggressive efforts to ban all infant circumcisions were undertaken last year in San Francisco and Santa Monica, evangelical Christians provided crucial backing to turn back the assault on our right to our rite.</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 the prominent, powerful involvement of evangelicals in conservative politics alarms many in the Jewish community, which remains overwhelmingly liberal; 64 percent of Jews describe themselves as Democrats. Since most Jews also count as decidedly irreligious, shunning synagogue or temple membership and avoiding traditional patterns of observance, the chief sense in which they see themselves as distinctively Jewish involves their rejection of the core claims of Christianity. This means secular, liberal Jewish voters react with particular horror to any mixture of Christianity and politics. John Marttila, a pollster for the Anti-Defamation League, told the <a href="http://www.jpost.com/USPresidentialrace/Article.aspx?id=264709" type="external">Jerusalem Post</a> that “he believed that the rhetoric of the Republican primaries, particularly on religious issues, was alienating moderate Jews who might otherwise consider voting for the GOP.”</p>
<p>Romney has been a victim of that rhetoric far more than the source of it; he recognizes the lingering doubts about his own faith and has tried for the most part to avoid combining preaching and politics. This may not build his popularity among evangelical voters in the upcoming primaries in Pennsylvania or Texas, but it makes him far more viable in the Jewish community than his remaining Republican rivals.</p>
| 5,890 |
<p>House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says she’s for a single payer Medicare for All, everybody in, nobody out health care system.</p>
<p>But she refuses to co-sponsor single payer legislation in the House (HR 676) or to organize to build support for it.</p>
<p>Ralph Nader <a href="" type="internal">has now written a letter to Pelosi calling her out.</a></p>
<p>“I see you were <a href="" type="internal">quoted in The Hill newspaper</a> recently saying that you are for single payer health insurance,” Nader wrote to Pelosi. “You had this preference before Presidents Clinton and Obama, who ideally agree with you, dismissed single payer as ‘impractical’ given the entrenched and powerful healthcare industry.”</p>
<p>“A couple of years ago, I wrote an article titled <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/21-ways-canadas-single-payer-system-beats-obamacare" type="external">21 Ways Canada’s Single Payer System Beats Obamacare.</a>”</p>
<p>“Within a week or so, your colleague, Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan), will re-introduce HR 676, the single payer bill in the House.”</p>
<p>“Will you actively support this much more efficient and comprehensive legislation, with its many advantages proven in other countries, and persuade other House Democrats to also co-sponsor?”</p>
<p>“Last year, only 63 Democrats co-sponsored.”</p>
<p>“Obamacare, without a public option, has been a complex patchwork in so many ways — &#160;including forcing individuals to purchase inadequate insurance from private health insurance companies — &#160;insurance that carries with it high premiums, deductibles, co-pays and forces narrow networks.”</p>
<p>“For many, Obamacare is quasi-catastrophic insurance with limited choice of doctor and hospital.”</p>
<p>“If the Republicans repeal Obamacare, Democrats need to be ready and offer to replace it with something that can attract left/right support — single payer, Medicare for All — everyone in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital, no medical bankruptcies, no coercive co-pays or deductibles, with all their accompanying fears and anxieties, and no more deaths due to lack of health insurance.”</p>
<p>“A December 2015 national Kaiser public opinion poll found that 58 percent of adults in the U. S. supported single payer (Medicare for All), including 81 percent of Democrats, 60 percent of Independents, and 30 percent of Republicans. Imagine the poll numbers when Full Medicare for All starts to be explained, in its clear simplicity, and promoted by a major political party.”</p>
<p>“Let’s work together to present the American people something both more efficient and responsive that they want and need — Medicare for All and freedom to choose their doctor, clinic and hospital.”</p>
|
Nader, Pelosi and Single Payer
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2017/02/01/nader-pelosi-and-single-payer/
|
2017-02-01
| 4left
|
Nader, Pelosi and Single Payer
<p>House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says she’s for a single payer Medicare for All, everybody in, nobody out health care system.</p>
<p>But she refuses to co-sponsor single payer legislation in the House (HR 676) or to organize to build support for it.</p>
<p>Ralph Nader <a href="" type="internal">has now written a letter to Pelosi calling her out.</a></p>
<p>“I see you were <a href="" type="internal">quoted in The Hill newspaper</a> recently saying that you are for single payer health insurance,” Nader wrote to Pelosi. “You had this preference before Presidents Clinton and Obama, who ideally agree with you, dismissed single payer as ‘impractical’ given the entrenched and powerful healthcare industry.”</p>
<p>“A couple of years ago, I wrote an article titled <a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/21-ways-canadas-single-payer-system-beats-obamacare" type="external">21 Ways Canada’s Single Payer System Beats Obamacare.</a>”</p>
<p>“Within a week or so, your colleague, Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan), will re-introduce HR 676, the single payer bill in the House.”</p>
<p>“Will you actively support this much more efficient and comprehensive legislation, with its many advantages proven in other countries, and persuade other House Democrats to also co-sponsor?”</p>
<p>“Last year, only 63 Democrats co-sponsored.”</p>
<p>“Obamacare, without a public option, has been a complex patchwork in so many ways — &#160;including forcing individuals to purchase inadequate insurance from private health insurance companies — &#160;insurance that carries with it high premiums, deductibles, co-pays and forces narrow networks.”</p>
<p>“For many, Obamacare is quasi-catastrophic insurance with limited choice of doctor and hospital.”</p>
<p>“If the Republicans repeal Obamacare, Democrats need to be ready and offer to replace it with something that can attract left/right support — single payer, Medicare for All — everyone in, nobody out, free choice of doctor and hospital, no medical bankruptcies, no coercive co-pays or deductibles, with all their accompanying fears and anxieties, and no more deaths due to lack of health insurance.”</p>
<p>“A December 2015 national Kaiser public opinion poll found that 58 percent of adults in the U. S. supported single payer (Medicare for All), including 81 percent of Democrats, 60 percent of Independents, and 30 percent of Republicans. Imagine the poll numbers when Full Medicare for All starts to be explained, in its clear simplicity, and promoted by a major political party.”</p>
<p>“Let’s work together to present the American people something both more efficient and responsive that they want and need — Medicare for All and freedom to choose their doctor, clinic and hospital.”</p>
| 5,891 |
<p>Wikimedia Commons</p>
<p>This post originally ran on Truthdig contributor <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2016/04/top-7-ways-harriet-tubman-is-the-most-badass-spy-warrior-ever-to-be-on-us-currency.html" type="external">Juan Cole’s website</a>.</p>
<p>Despite US schools’ tendency to give students several years of American history, over and over again, most of us probably have only a foggy idea who <a href="http://zinnedproject.org/materials/black-abolitionists/%20" type="external">Harriet Tubman</a>, chosen to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, was.</p>
<p>That she was an abolitionist and helped out with the Underground Railroad might lurk in the back of the mind. But she didn’t just help out. She led what were essentially armed guerrilla raids into enemy territory. That role prepared her to be one of the great spies in American intelligence history, during the Civil War, serving President Lincoln.</p>
<p />
<p>That’s right. She was Jane Bond in the mid-19th century.</p>
<p>Not content to provide intelligence, she actually led a company-sized military unit of 150 men (making her the equivalent of a captain or major) in a riverine naval raid that freed hundreds of slaves and destroyed the estates of several major wealthy secessionists.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.ushistory.org/us/28c.asp%20" type="external">US History</a> writes:</p>
<p>“Perhaps the most outstanding “conductor” of the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman. Born a slave herself, she began working on the railroad to free her family members. During the 1850s, Tubman made 19 separate trips into slave territory. She was terribly serious about her mission. Any slave who had second thoughts she threatened to shoot with the pistol she carried on her hip.”</p>
<p>Here, then, are seven ways Tubman was a badass:</p>
<p>1. She led 19 dangerous expeditions into the South to bring slaves up north and to freedom.</p>
<p>2. She wore a pistol on her hip during these expeditions.</p>
<p>3. She threatened to shoot any slaves who got cold feet once the rescue was initiated. She <a href="http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/harriet-tubman.html%20" type="external">freed some 70 slaves from Maryland</a> and helped 50 or 60 more got to Canada.</p>
<p>4. In 1862-3 she carried out dangerous espionage missions in South Carolina for the Union army, working with General David Hunter.</p>
<p>5. She then <a href="http://www.blackpast.org/aah/combahee-river-raid-june-2-1863#sthash.FU6eZcq3.dpuf%20" type="external">led the Combahee River raid on South Carolina</a>; Blackpast.org explains:</p>
<p>“On the night of June 2nd three federal gunboats set sail from Beaufort, South Carolina up the Combahee River. Tubman had gained vital information about the location of Rebel torpedoes planted along the river from slaves who were willing to trade information for freedom. Because of this information Tubman was able to steer the Union ships away from any danger. She led the ships to specific spots along the shore where fugitive slaves were hiding and waiting to be rescued . . . eventually 750 boarded the vessels. The boats however had a specific military mission. They carried Union troops who came on shore and succeeded in destroying several influential South Carolina estates owned by leading secessionists, including the plantations of the Heywards, the Middletons, and the Lowndes families. Many of the Union soldiers who took part in the raid were former slaves who saw the burning and pillaging of these estates as an opportunity to enact revenge on the master class.”</p>
<p>6. Blackpast.org concludes: “Harriett Tubman was the only woman known to have led a military operation during the American Civil War.”</p>
<p>7. After the war, Tubman supported women’s rights and the granting of the vote to women. The <a href="http://www.harriet-tubman.org/women-rights-suffrage/%20" type="external">Harriet Tubman Historical Society</a> explains:</p>
<p>“Many supporters of Harriet Tubman during her Underground Railroad years who let her use her properties to harbor fugitives and funded her trips, were involved in the women’s rights movement. After the Civil War Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Canton and Lucretia Mott had become strong advocates and leaders of the women’s rights movement. Tubman believed in the equality of all people, black or white, male or female, which made her sympathetic to the women’s rights movement. Tubman’s role was not that of a leader but that of a strong supporter. As a woman who had fought for her own freedom and the freedom of others, Tubman set to work with her friends by touring and giving speeches about her own experiences as a female slave and as the liberator of hundreds born under the bondage of slavery.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.blackpast.org/aah/tubman-harriet-ross-c-1821-1913#sthash.sIxkcZI5.dpuf%20" type="external">Blackpast.org observes</a>,</p>
<p>” In 1911, two years before she died, she attended a meeting of the suffrage club in Geneva, New York, where a white woman asked her: “Do you really believe that women should vote?” Tubman reportedly replied, “I suffered enough to believe it.”</p>
<p>Tubman died in 1913. Women got the vote in 1920.</p>
|
Top Seven Ways Harriet Tubman Is the Most Badass Spy and Warrior Ever to Grace U.S. Currency
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/top-seven-ways-harriet-tubman-is-the-most-badass-spy-and-warrior-ever-to-grace-u-s-currency/
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2016-04-24
| 4left
|
Top Seven Ways Harriet Tubman Is the Most Badass Spy and Warrior Ever to Grace U.S. Currency
<p>Wikimedia Commons</p>
<p>This post originally ran on Truthdig contributor <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2016/04/top-7-ways-harriet-tubman-is-the-most-badass-spy-warrior-ever-to-be-on-us-currency.html" type="external">Juan Cole’s website</a>.</p>
<p>Despite US schools’ tendency to give students several years of American history, over and over again, most of us probably have only a foggy idea who <a href="http://zinnedproject.org/materials/black-abolitionists/%20" type="external">Harriet Tubman</a>, chosen to replace Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill, was.</p>
<p>That she was an abolitionist and helped out with the Underground Railroad might lurk in the back of the mind. But she didn’t just help out. She led what were essentially armed guerrilla raids into enemy territory. That role prepared her to be one of the great spies in American intelligence history, during the Civil War, serving President Lincoln.</p>
<p />
<p>That’s right. She was Jane Bond in the mid-19th century.</p>
<p>Not content to provide intelligence, she actually led a company-sized military unit of 150 men (making her the equivalent of a captain or major) in a riverine naval raid that freed hundreds of slaves and destroyed the estates of several major wealthy secessionists.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.ushistory.org/us/28c.asp%20" type="external">US History</a> writes:</p>
<p>“Perhaps the most outstanding “conductor” of the Underground Railroad was Harriet Tubman. Born a slave herself, she began working on the railroad to free her family members. During the 1850s, Tubman made 19 separate trips into slave territory. She was terribly serious about her mission. Any slave who had second thoughts she threatened to shoot with the pistol she carried on her hip.”</p>
<p>Here, then, are seven ways Tubman was a badass:</p>
<p>1. She led 19 dangerous expeditions into the South to bring slaves up north and to freedom.</p>
<p>2. She wore a pistol on her hip during these expeditions.</p>
<p>3. She threatened to shoot any slaves who got cold feet once the rescue was initiated. She <a href="http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/harriet-tubman.html%20" type="external">freed some 70 slaves from Maryland</a> and helped 50 or 60 more got to Canada.</p>
<p>4. In 1862-3 she carried out dangerous espionage missions in South Carolina for the Union army, working with General David Hunter.</p>
<p>5. She then <a href="http://www.blackpast.org/aah/combahee-river-raid-june-2-1863#sthash.FU6eZcq3.dpuf%20" type="external">led the Combahee River raid on South Carolina</a>; Blackpast.org explains:</p>
<p>“On the night of June 2nd three federal gunboats set sail from Beaufort, South Carolina up the Combahee River. Tubman had gained vital information about the location of Rebel torpedoes planted along the river from slaves who were willing to trade information for freedom. Because of this information Tubman was able to steer the Union ships away from any danger. She led the ships to specific spots along the shore where fugitive slaves were hiding and waiting to be rescued . . . eventually 750 boarded the vessels. The boats however had a specific military mission. They carried Union troops who came on shore and succeeded in destroying several influential South Carolina estates owned by leading secessionists, including the plantations of the Heywards, the Middletons, and the Lowndes families. Many of the Union soldiers who took part in the raid were former slaves who saw the burning and pillaging of these estates as an opportunity to enact revenge on the master class.”</p>
<p>6. Blackpast.org concludes: “Harriett Tubman was the only woman known to have led a military operation during the American Civil War.”</p>
<p>7. After the war, Tubman supported women’s rights and the granting of the vote to women. The <a href="http://www.harriet-tubman.org/women-rights-suffrage/%20" type="external">Harriet Tubman Historical Society</a> explains:</p>
<p>“Many supporters of Harriet Tubman during her Underground Railroad years who let her use her properties to harbor fugitives and funded her trips, were involved in the women’s rights movement. After the Civil War Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Canton and Lucretia Mott had become strong advocates and leaders of the women’s rights movement. Tubman believed in the equality of all people, black or white, male or female, which made her sympathetic to the women’s rights movement. Tubman’s role was not that of a leader but that of a strong supporter. As a woman who had fought for her own freedom and the freedom of others, Tubman set to work with her friends by touring and giving speeches about her own experiences as a female slave and as the liberator of hundreds born under the bondage of slavery.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.blackpast.org/aah/tubman-harriet-ross-c-1821-1913#sthash.sIxkcZI5.dpuf%20" type="external">Blackpast.org observes</a>,</p>
<p>” In 1911, two years before she died, she attended a meeting of the suffrage club in Geneva, New York, where a white woman asked her: “Do you really believe that women should vote?” Tubman reportedly replied, “I suffered enough to believe it.”</p>
<p>Tubman died in 1913. Women got the vote in 1920.</p>
| 5,892 |
<p><a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-a0V" type="external">21st Century Wire</a> says…</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> LIVE UPDATES: (AFP) FRI JAN 9th, LOCAL TIME</p>
<p>7:00am –&#160;A day after the Paris attack, officers carried out house-to-house searches in the village of Corcy, a few km (miles) from a service station where police sources said the brothers were sighted in ski masks. Helicopters flew overhead (via Reuters).</p>
<p>9:30am –&#160;French Police have&#160;now confirmed a ‘major police operation’, as police have moved out of wooded area and are said to be engaged in ‘highway pursuit’ heading towards Paris, with 2 suspects and closing in on a stolen Peugeot.</p>
<p>9:35am – Reports suggest that 1 hostage has been taken by fleeing pair. Two helicopters are positioned over the high-speed chase. Shots have been fired during the chase.</p>
<p>9:45am – Suspects are now said to be ‘cornered’ by police near&#160;a village&#160;farm. – Police are currently working ‘to keep press away’ from immediate scene.</p>
<p>10:00am – Earlier&#160;reports from French prosecutors, that an additional&#160;&#160;2 victims are dead, and 20 injured&#160;–&#160;but 2 dead has now&#160;denied by Interior Ministry, but 20 injured stands.</p>
<p>10:05am – Ministers describe operation to ‘neutralize’ suspects.</p>
<p>10:10am – Chase, shootout is ended. Police are now in hostage negotiations with suspects.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Printing Building with Police on standby (IMAGE: 21WIRE)</p>
<p>10:20am – Suspects and hostage(s) are held up in a small free-standing printing business building/workshop called ‘CTD’, which employs ten persons, in the town of Dammartin en Goele, just northeast of Paris.</p>
<p>10:30am – Armed police are now ordering the media OUT of the area, saying it’s ‘too dangerous’ for media personnel, with approx 100 journalist still together, 300 meters from siege building.</p>
<p>10:40am – Residents describe town of&#160;Dammartin en Goele as ‘a war zone’.</p>
<p>10:50am – From a camera distance of 300 meters, approx 4-6 armed police can be seen pacing casually outside of the printing workshop building.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> (IMAGE: 21WIRE)</p>
<p>10:55am –&#160;People inside other building adjacent to&#160;industrial complex with&#160;printing business, named ‘KUEHNE&#160;HAGEL’, have been told by police to ‘stay inside, pull down shutters and stay away from windows’.</p>
<p>11:05am – French President Francois Hollande is scheduled to speak to press corps in minutes in Paris.</p>
<p>11:25am – Police announce that suspects are still holed-up inside business and that contact with the suspects has been made by hostage negotiators.</p>
<p>11:30am – There are confirmed multiple hostages inside business, including one woman, and that suspects have told negotiators that they “intend to die as Martyrs”.</p>
<p>11:40am – Hundreds more police are arriving on the scene every minute, in&#160;Dammartin en Goele. In addition, hundreds of media workers are also arriving, and being corralled on to a nearby hillside by law enforcement – away from the siege area.</p>
<p>Siege building – rear view (IMAGE: Telegraph)</p>
<p>&#160;11:45am – A new French ‘Unity Movement’ has just announcement that the National Front Party of Marine Le Pen is NOT invited to join the large demonstrations which are being scheduled for this Sunday in Paris and at multiple locations around the country.</p>
<p>11:50am – French police and soldiers have instituted a “shelter in place” order for all residents and all schools in the area were being guarded and the children kept inside, with a&#160;perimeter being set around the village of&#160;Dammartin en Goele&#160;and&#160;adjacent areas and access roads located just north of the Charles De Gaul International Airport.</p>
<p>11:55am – French authorities have just announced that&#160;Charles De Gaul International Airport has now been closed.</p>
<p>12:00pm – Police have now indicated that they are drawing up plans to ‘neutralize’ the two suspects in the event hostage negotiations fail.</p>
<p>12:25am – French police have announced that they are planning to take&#160;the building ‘by force’.</p>
<p>12:55am –&#160;Around 1,000 children have been evacuated from the nearby two primary and two secondary schools and taken to a nearby town. Some were heard shouting: “Charlie! Charlie!” (via <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11329976/Paris-Charlie-Hebdo-attack-live.html" type="external">Telegraph</a>)</p>
<p>French Tac Teams assemble in parking lot of adjacent industrial estate to siege building (IMAGE: Telegraph)</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">CONTINUE HERE</a> – WITH MORE UPDATES OF THE DOUBLE SIEGE IN&#160;DAMMARTIN&#160;EN&#160;GOELE, AND PARIS ***</p>
<p><a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-a0V" type="external">21WIRE</a> January&#160;8, 2015&#160;</p>
<p>It’s being&#160;touted as&#160;‘France’s 9-11’. This evening French Authorities have announced they are in hot pursuit of the two <a href="" type="internal">Charlie Hebdo shooters</a>, who are believed to now be fleeing through the forest – but what are their chances of survival?</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />In what global&#160;media are now describing as “the largest man-hunt in Europe’s&#160;history” involving some 80,000 plus law enforcement personnel,&#160;French SWAT units have now entered&#160;the forest of Retz, a large wooded region located 50 miles northeast of Paris, this after receiving ‘reports’ that the two fugitive suspects, Cherif and Said Kouachi reportedly abandoned their vehicle on a nearby country road.</p>
<p>The fugitive suspects are said to be the ‘French-born’ sons of Algerian-born parents, who incredibly, were already under police surveillance, with at least one already on a “no fly list”, and even jailed for 18 months for trying to travel on jihad to&#160;Iraq&#160;10 years previous.&#160;US officials have also leaked to the media the talking point that&#160;one of the brothers, Said Kouachi, was also in Yemen&#160;in 2011 for a number of months “training with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)”.</p>
<p>Two suspects’ photos released by French police on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Police helicopters have been scrambled, along with several dozen police vehicles, tactical&#160;RAID off-road units, as French teams scour the 13,000-hectare woodland and adjacent farming properties. CNN has keen to announce that police were “using night vision goggles” as they worked their way through the densely wooded area. Additionally, <a href="http://mashable.com/2015/01/08/france-manhunt-charlie-hebdo-suspects/" type="external">French military soldiers have also been deployed</a>, firstly in Paris itself, but it’s unclear yet if the military are joining in the dragnet operation near Retz.</p>
<p>French official now report that, in addition to the two fleeing suspects still at large, and the 18 year old ‘false positive’ suspect currently in police custody (a student who police still cannot tie to the Charlie Hebdo shooting),&#160;at least 7&#160;other ‘friends and associates’ of suspects have also been arrested today.</p>
<p>The police were apparently ‘tipped off’&#160;when reports emerged from the nearby village of 300 people, where they claim to have located&#160;the two suspects’ abandoned the Renault Clio hijacked in Paris after&#160;Wednesday’s shooting, and claim the suspects fled&#160;on foot, leaving the vehicle stocked with “jihadists flags”, and ‘Molotov cocktails’ (the only thing missing from this story so far is a copy of the Koran on left the seat of the vehicle, and ID’s of the suspects*).</p>
<p>* As if by magic on Wednesday evening, the <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/charlie-hebdo-paris-shooting-three-4938972" type="external">British media appear to have broken the story</a>&#160;that one of the suspects,&#160;Said Kouachi, had (too conveniently) left his ID Card on the seat of the original get-away vehicle, a&#160;Citroën C3 which police say they abandoned during&#160;their escaped.</p>
<p />
<p>US media quickly constructed a new headline talking point around this seemingly improbable development, exclaiming that,&#160;“How can such a well-planned operation make such a mistake?” This scenario is a fact an exact re-run of another unlikely&#160;story put forth by US authorities immediately following the attacks of Sept 11, 2001, where one of the alleged hijacker’s passport, said to have belonged to Egyptian national Mohamed Atta&#160;(Mohamed&#160;el-Amir Awad el-Sayed&#160;Atta)&#160; <a href="http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/09/10/911-hijacker-mohamed-atta-the-unreported-story/" type="external">was found in mint condition amidst the rubble in Manhattan</a> after the collapse of WTC Buildings 1, 2 and 7.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> After this amazing disovery, <a href="http://www.madcowprod.com/06122007.html" type="external">US Media and law enforcement then fashioned Atta into a central character</a> in the 9/11 story, even though at least one of official photos released of Atta has since been <a href="http://mediahoaxes.tumblr.com/post/63371338908/mohammed-atta-one-of-the-fake-hijackers-of" type="external">proven to be a forgery</a>. Atta’s passport has never been made&#160;available to the public for an independent forensic examination.</p>
<p>SEE ALSO:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">PARIS SHOOTING: Charlie ‘Magazine Murders’ Reveals Evidence of Deliberate Staging</a></p>
<p>What abundantly clear now after scanning US and European media outlets, is that the two suspects which French police are claiming to be presently ‘on the run’,&#160;Cherif&#160;and&#160;Said&#160;Kouachi, have already been tried, convicted and sentenced in the court of public opinion, so it’s unlikely that anyone who believes the official narrative of this event will shed a single tear for these two alleged fugitives should they turn up dead at the hands of French SWAT units.</p>
<p>If indeed tonight’s French manhunt ends up in a rural wooded area, then it’s&#160;also fairly certain that there will be no real public witnesses, and only French police to tell the official story once the assailents have been either shot, or burned alive in a farm house building, in a similar set staged for the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYsiEFLQ44g" type="external">Dorner Siege</a> at Big Bear Mountain in 2013.</p>
<p>Ostensibly, the minute their photos were released in the media on Wednesday, both <a href="" type="internal">Kouachi Brothers could be classed as ‘dead men walking’</a>. As 21WIRE has detailed in previous reports, this pattern of SUSPECT, MANHUNT, and DEAD SUSPECT mirrors the official narratives of both <a href="" type="internal">Tamerlan Tsarnaev</a> in Boston in 2013, and LAPD fugitive ‘cop-killer’ <a href="" type="internal">Chris Dorner</a> in Los Angeles in 2013.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> SILENCED: FBI recruit Tamerlan never made it out alive to tell the real story.</p>
<p>Based on how this Paris manhunt is being scripted by the police and media, it’s very likely that both Cherif and Said will go the way of Boston Boming suspects the&#160;Tsarnaev Brothers.&#160;Older brother&#160;Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who himself was recruited by US security services (FBI) as&#160; <a href="" type="internal">a federal informant</a>&#160;long before the alleged bombing took place, was in fact ‘alive and well’ while initially&#160;in police custody – a fact blacked-out by the US media, but&#160; <a href="" type="internal">reported here at 21WIRE.</a>&#160;Later on it appears that he was in fact&#160; <a href="" type="internal">killed sometime after being taken into&#160;police custody</a> before his mutilated body was dumped off at the local&#160;morgue outside of Boston. &#160;Younger brother,&#160;Dzhokhar&#160;Tsarnaev, was more fortunate,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">narrowly escaping with his life</a>&#160;during the arrest following a stand-off near&#160;Watertown, MA, but was&#160;severely injured to his neck and throat&#160;after&#160;being taken into custody&#160;by police and federal agents.</p>
<p>Like with the Tsarnaevs, when authorities release the photos in public, it almost guarantees that the suspects will&#160;never&#160;make it out alive, and hence, will never tell their story in public.</p>
<p>Will Cherif and Said be ‘Dead in the Woods’ by Friday morning?</p>
<p>It would certainly be an open and shut case for authorities and media is the story ends there – as global press ignore the real underlying narrative which could connect Wednesday’s violent shooting to a covert NATO Intelligence operation in the vain of declassified&#160; <a href="https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Operation_Gladio" type="external">Operation GLADIO</a>&#160;where CIA-NATO cells were allowed to murder innocents on European soil in order to make these events look like the work of a nefarious terrorist organization.</p>
<p>EDITOR’S NOTE:&#160;Based on the timing of the photos released by police and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">the professional contract/mercenary attributes</a>&#160;of the attack, therefore, it is VERY&#160;UNLIKELY that the two suspects&#160;presented by French Police,&#160;Cherif&#160;and&#160;Said&#160;Kouachi,&#160;are the same men&#160;who carried out today’s sophisticated attack. Note also the height and build of the shooters, and do not be surprised if the two suspects are short and look nothing like the tall, muscular-frame shooters depicted in news reports on Wednesday.</p>
<p>READ MORE PARIS SHOOTING NEWS AT:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire Paris Shooting Files</a></p>
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TIMELINE: French Police in ‘Hot Pursuit’ of Hebdo Suspects in Village (press not allowed in)
| true |
http://21stcenturywire.com/2015/01/08/into-the-woods-french-police-in-pursuit-of-terrorists-in-forest-that-means-no-witnesses/
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2015-01-08
| 4left
|
TIMELINE: French Police in ‘Hot Pursuit’ of Hebdo Suspects in Village (press not allowed in)
<p><a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-a0V" type="external">21st Century Wire</a> says…</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> LIVE UPDATES: (AFP) FRI JAN 9th, LOCAL TIME</p>
<p>7:00am –&#160;A day after the Paris attack, officers carried out house-to-house searches in the village of Corcy, a few km (miles) from a service station where police sources said the brothers were sighted in ski masks. Helicopters flew overhead (via Reuters).</p>
<p>9:30am –&#160;French Police have&#160;now confirmed a ‘major police operation’, as police have moved out of wooded area and are said to be engaged in ‘highway pursuit’ heading towards Paris, with 2 suspects and closing in on a stolen Peugeot.</p>
<p>9:35am – Reports suggest that 1 hostage has been taken by fleeing pair. Two helicopters are positioned over the high-speed chase. Shots have been fired during the chase.</p>
<p>9:45am – Suspects are now said to be ‘cornered’ by police near&#160;a village&#160;farm. – Police are currently working ‘to keep press away’ from immediate scene.</p>
<p>10:00am – Earlier&#160;reports from French prosecutors, that an additional&#160;&#160;2 victims are dead, and 20 injured&#160;–&#160;but 2 dead has now&#160;denied by Interior Ministry, but 20 injured stands.</p>
<p>10:05am – Ministers describe operation to ‘neutralize’ suspects.</p>
<p>10:10am – Chase, shootout is ended. Police are now in hostage negotiations with suspects.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Printing Building with Police on standby (IMAGE: 21WIRE)</p>
<p>10:20am – Suspects and hostage(s) are held up in a small free-standing printing business building/workshop called ‘CTD’, which employs ten persons, in the town of Dammartin en Goele, just northeast of Paris.</p>
<p>10:30am – Armed police are now ordering the media OUT of the area, saying it’s ‘too dangerous’ for media personnel, with approx 100 journalist still together, 300 meters from siege building.</p>
<p>10:40am – Residents describe town of&#160;Dammartin en Goele as ‘a war zone’.</p>
<p>10:50am – From a camera distance of 300 meters, approx 4-6 armed police can be seen pacing casually outside of the printing workshop building.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> (IMAGE: 21WIRE)</p>
<p>10:55am –&#160;People inside other building adjacent to&#160;industrial complex with&#160;printing business, named ‘KUEHNE&#160;HAGEL’, have been told by police to ‘stay inside, pull down shutters and stay away from windows’.</p>
<p>11:05am – French President Francois Hollande is scheduled to speak to press corps in minutes in Paris.</p>
<p>11:25am – Police announce that suspects are still holed-up inside business and that contact with the suspects has been made by hostage negotiators.</p>
<p>11:30am – There are confirmed multiple hostages inside business, including one woman, and that suspects have told negotiators that they “intend to die as Martyrs”.</p>
<p>11:40am – Hundreds more police are arriving on the scene every minute, in&#160;Dammartin en Goele. In addition, hundreds of media workers are also arriving, and being corralled on to a nearby hillside by law enforcement – away from the siege area.</p>
<p>Siege building – rear view (IMAGE: Telegraph)</p>
<p>&#160;11:45am – A new French ‘Unity Movement’ has just announcement that the National Front Party of Marine Le Pen is NOT invited to join the large demonstrations which are being scheduled for this Sunday in Paris and at multiple locations around the country.</p>
<p>11:50am – French police and soldiers have instituted a “shelter in place” order for all residents and all schools in the area were being guarded and the children kept inside, with a&#160;perimeter being set around the village of&#160;Dammartin en Goele&#160;and&#160;adjacent areas and access roads located just north of the Charles De Gaul International Airport.</p>
<p>11:55am – French authorities have just announced that&#160;Charles De Gaul International Airport has now been closed.</p>
<p>12:00pm – Police have now indicated that they are drawing up plans to ‘neutralize’ the two suspects in the event hostage negotiations fail.</p>
<p>12:25am – French police have announced that they are planning to take&#160;the building ‘by force’.</p>
<p>12:55am –&#160;Around 1,000 children have been evacuated from the nearby two primary and two secondary schools and taken to a nearby town. Some were heard shouting: “Charlie! Charlie!” (via <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11329976/Paris-Charlie-Hebdo-attack-live.html" type="external">Telegraph</a>)</p>
<p>French Tac Teams assemble in parking lot of adjacent industrial estate to siege building (IMAGE: Telegraph)</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">CONTINUE HERE</a> – WITH MORE UPDATES OF THE DOUBLE SIEGE IN&#160;DAMMARTIN&#160;EN&#160;GOELE, AND PARIS ***</p>
<p><a href="http://wp.me/p3bwni-a0V" type="external">21WIRE</a> January&#160;8, 2015&#160;</p>
<p>It’s being&#160;touted as&#160;‘France’s 9-11’. This evening French Authorities have announced they are in hot pursuit of the two <a href="" type="internal">Charlie Hebdo shooters</a>, who are believed to now be fleeing through the forest – but what are their chances of survival?</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />In what global&#160;media are now describing as “the largest man-hunt in Europe’s&#160;history” involving some 80,000 plus law enforcement personnel,&#160;French SWAT units have now entered&#160;the forest of Retz, a large wooded region located 50 miles northeast of Paris, this after receiving ‘reports’ that the two fugitive suspects, Cherif and Said Kouachi reportedly abandoned their vehicle on a nearby country road.</p>
<p>The fugitive suspects are said to be the ‘French-born’ sons of Algerian-born parents, who incredibly, were already under police surveillance, with at least one already on a “no fly list”, and even jailed for 18 months for trying to travel on jihad to&#160;Iraq&#160;10 years previous.&#160;US officials have also leaked to the media the talking point that&#160;one of the brothers, Said Kouachi, was also in Yemen&#160;in 2011 for a number of months “training with Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)”.</p>
<p>Two suspects’ photos released by French police on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Police helicopters have been scrambled, along with several dozen police vehicles, tactical&#160;RAID off-road units, as French teams scour the 13,000-hectare woodland and adjacent farming properties. CNN has keen to announce that police were “using night vision goggles” as they worked their way through the densely wooded area. Additionally, <a href="http://mashable.com/2015/01/08/france-manhunt-charlie-hebdo-suspects/" type="external">French military soldiers have also been deployed</a>, firstly in Paris itself, but it’s unclear yet if the military are joining in the dragnet operation near Retz.</p>
<p>French official now report that, in addition to the two fleeing suspects still at large, and the 18 year old ‘false positive’ suspect currently in police custody (a student who police still cannot tie to the Charlie Hebdo shooting),&#160;at least 7&#160;other ‘friends and associates’ of suspects have also been arrested today.</p>
<p>The police were apparently ‘tipped off’&#160;when reports emerged from the nearby village of 300 people, where they claim to have located&#160;the two suspects’ abandoned the Renault Clio hijacked in Paris after&#160;Wednesday’s shooting, and claim the suspects fled&#160;on foot, leaving the vehicle stocked with “jihadists flags”, and ‘Molotov cocktails’ (the only thing missing from this story so far is a copy of the Koran on left the seat of the vehicle, and ID’s of the suspects*).</p>
<p>* As if by magic on Wednesday evening, the <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/charlie-hebdo-paris-shooting-three-4938972" type="external">British media appear to have broken the story</a>&#160;that one of the suspects,&#160;Said Kouachi, had (too conveniently) left his ID Card on the seat of the original get-away vehicle, a&#160;Citroën C3 which police say they abandoned during&#160;their escaped.</p>
<p />
<p>US media quickly constructed a new headline talking point around this seemingly improbable development, exclaiming that,&#160;“How can such a well-planned operation make such a mistake?” This scenario is a fact an exact re-run of another unlikely&#160;story put forth by US authorities immediately following the attacks of Sept 11, 2001, where one of the alleged hijacker’s passport, said to have belonged to Egyptian national Mohamed Atta&#160;(Mohamed&#160;el-Amir Awad el-Sayed&#160;Atta)&#160; <a href="http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/09/10/911-hijacker-mohamed-atta-the-unreported-story/" type="external">was found in mint condition amidst the rubble in Manhattan</a> after the collapse of WTC Buildings 1, 2 and 7.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> After this amazing disovery, <a href="http://www.madcowprod.com/06122007.html" type="external">US Media and law enforcement then fashioned Atta into a central character</a> in the 9/11 story, even though at least one of official photos released of Atta has since been <a href="http://mediahoaxes.tumblr.com/post/63371338908/mohammed-atta-one-of-the-fake-hijackers-of" type="external">proven to be a forgery</a>. Atta’s passport has never been made&#160;available to the public for an independent forensic examination.</p>
<p>SEE ALSO:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">PARIS SHOOTING: Charlie ‘Magazine Murders’ Reveals Evidence of Deliberate Staging</a></p>
<p>What abundantly clear now after scanning US and European media outlets, is that the two suspects which French police are claiming to be presently ‘on the run’,&#160;Cherif&#160;and&#160;Said&#160;Kouachi, have already been tried, convicted and sentenced in the court of public opinion, so it’s unlikely that anyone who believes the official narrative of this event will shed a single tear for these two alleged fugitives should they turn up dead at the hands of French SWAT units.</p>
<p>If indeed tonight’s French manhunt ends up in a rural wooded area, then it’s&#160;also fairly certain that there will be no real public witnesses, and only French police to tell the official story once the assailents have been either shot, or burned alive in a farm house building, in a similar set staged for the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYsiEFLQ44g" type="external">Dorner Siege</a> at Big Bear Mountain in 2013.</p>
<p>Ostensibly, the minute their photos were released in the media on Wednesday, both <a href="" type="internal">Kouachi Brothers could be classed as ‘dead men walking’</a>. As 21WIRE has detailed in previous reports, this pattern of SUSPECT, MANHUNT, and DEAD SUSPECT mirrors the official narratives of both <a href="" type="internal">Tamerlan Tsarnaev</a> in Boston in 2013, and LAPD fugitive ‘cop-killer’ <a href="" type="internal">Chris Dorner</a> in Los Angeles in 2013.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> SILENCED: FBI recruit Tamerlan never made it out alive to tell the real story.</p>
<p>Based on how this Paris manhunt is being scripted by the police and media, it’s very likely that both Cherif and Said will go the way of Boston Boming suspects the&#160;Tsarnaev Brothers.&#160;Older brother&#160;Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who himself was recruited by US security services (FBI) as&#160; <a href="" type="internal">a federal informant</a>&#160;long before the alleged bombing took place, was in fact ‘alive and well’ while initially&#160;in police custody – a fact blacked-out by the US media, but&#160; <a href="" type="internal">reported here at 21WIRE.</a>&#160;Later on it appears that he was in fact&#160; <a href="" type="internal">killed sometime after being taken into&#160;police custody</a> before his mutilated body was dumped off at the local&#160;morgue outside of Boston. &#160;Younger brother,&#160;Dzhokhar&#160;Tsarnaev, was more fortunate,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">narrowly escaping with his life</a>&#160;during the arrest following a stand-off near&#160;Watertown, MA, but was&#160;severely injured to his neck and throat&#160;after&#160;being taken into custody&#160;by police and federal agents.</p>
<p>Like with the Tsarnaevs, when authorities release the photos in public, it almost guarantees that the suspects will&#160;never&#160;make it out alive, and hence, will never tell their story in public.</p>
<p>Will Cherif and Said be ‘Dead in the Woods’ by Friday morning?</p>
<p>It would certainly be an open and shut case for authorities and media is the story ends there – as global press ignore the real underlying narrative which could connect Wednesday’s violent shooting to a covert NATO Intelligence operation in the vain of declassified&#160; <a href="https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Operation_Gladio" type="external">Operation GLADIO</a>&#160;where CIA-NATO cells were allowed to murder innocents on European soil in order to make these events look like the work of a nefarious terrorist organization.</p>
<p>EDITOR’S NOTE:&#160;Based on the timing of the photos released by police and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">the professional contract/mercenary attributes</a>&#160;of the attack, therefore, it is VERY&#160;UNLIKELY that the two suspects&#160;presented by French Police,&#160;Cherif&#160;and&#160;Said&#160;Kouachi,&#160;are the same men&#160;who carried out today’s sophisticated attack. Note also the height and build of the shooters, and do not be surprised if the two suspects are short and look nothing like the tall, muscular-frame shooters depicted in news reports on Wednesday.</p>
<p>READ MORE PARIS SHOOTING NEWS AT:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">21st Century Wire Paris Shooting Files</a></p>
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<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scientists. Tax collectors. Typists. Analysts. Lawyers. And more scientists.</p>
<p>Recreational marijuana use becomes legal in California in 2018, and one of the things to blossom in the emerging industry isn't green and leafy - it's government jobs.</p>
<p>The state is on a hiring binge to fill what eventually will be hundreds of new government positions by 2019 intended to bring order to the legal pot economy, from keeping watch on what's seeping into streams near cannabis grows to running background checks on storefront sellers who want government licenses. Thousands of additional jobs are expected to be added by local governments.</p>
<p>The swiftly expanding bureaucracy represents just one aspect of the complex challenge faced by California: Come January, the state will unite its longstanding medical cannabis industry with the newly legalized recreational one, creating what will be the United States' largest legal pot economy.</p>
<p>Last January, just 11 full-time workers were part of what's now known as the Bureau of Cannabis Control, the state's chief regulatory agency overseeing the pot market. Now, it's more than doubled, and by February the agency expects to have more than 100 staffers.</p>
<p>The agency is moving into new offices later this year, having outgrown its original quarters. It's expected new satellite offices will eventually spread around the state.</p>
<p>There also will be scores of jobs added to issue licenses for sellers, growers, truck drivers, manufacturers and others working in the projected $7 billion industry. The state has taken to Facebook to lure applicants.</p>
<p>The bureau is using a video snippet of actor Jim Carrey, hammering his fingers into a computer keyboard, to catch the eye of prospective applicants online. "Get those applications in ... before this guy beats you to it," it reads.</p>
<p>"New job just ahead," reads another post. "We're hiring."</p>
<p>This year's state budget contained about $100 million to fund regulatory programs for marijuana, which includes personnel to review and issue licenses, watch over environmental conditions and carry out enforcement.</p>
<p>Planned hiring into 2018 covers a range of state agencies: Fifty people are bound for the Public Health Department, 65 are slated to join the Water Resources Control Board, and 60 new employees are expected at the Food and Agriculture Department, which will oversee licensing for cultivators.</p>
<p>Some of the work is highly specialized.</p>
<p>Environmental scientists will be responsible for developing standards for pot grows near streams, to make sure fertilizer or pesticides do not taint the water or harm fish. An engineer will monitor groundwater and water being diverted to nourish plants. Lawyers are needed to help sort out complex issues involving the state's maze of environmental laws.</p>
<p>Pay varies with position but can be attractive, with some scientist posts paying over $100,000 annually. Special investigators with the Consumer Affairs Department could earn in the $80,000 range.</p>
<p>Policing cannabis cultivation, legal and not, has been a long-running concern in the state. Recently, Republican state Sen. Ted Gaines of El Dorado urged Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency in Siskiyou County because of what he called rampant illegal marijuana grows.</p>
<p>Gaines said criminals are treating the county as "their own illicit greenhouse" while polluting waterways with pesticides and other waste.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the state and local governments are rushing to enact rules to govern the new pot economy, a process that so far has produced mixed results.</p>
<p>The state says it will be ready to begin issuing licenses in January, albeit temporary ones.</p>
<p>In coastal Mendocino County, about 700 cultivators have applied for local permits, though it's estimated thousands of people grow pot in the county north of San Francisco. The fear is that many growers and sellers will remain in the black market, undercutting legitimate sales.</p>
<p>"My biggest concern is that the state regulations may prove to be so onerous that it will discourage people who want to be legally compliant from coming forward," said John McCowen, who chairs the county Board of Supervisors.</p>
<p>"And that will mean greater opportunity for those operating in the black market," McCowen added.</p>
<p>While the state is adding jobs to oversee the marketplace, law enforcement will face new demands that come with a price tag, from keeping roads free of stoned drivers to helping weed out illegal operators.</p>
<p>The California Highway Patrol is expanding training for officers to identify "buzzed" drivers. In cities that permit cultivation, manufacturing or sales, police duties could also include protecting legitimate operators from gangs intent on pushing them out of business.</p>
<p>And a key issue will be keeping legally grown pot from moving into the black market.</p>
<p>To combat illegal activity, whether through code enforcement or police, "we are going to have to invest," said Gardena Police Chief Edward Medrano, who heads the California Police Chiefs Association.</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scientists. Tax collectors. Typists. Analysts. Lawyers. And more scientists.</p>
<p>Recreational marijuana use becomes legal in California in 2018, and one of the things to blossom in the emerging industry isn't green and leafy - it's government jobs.</p>
<p>The state is on a hiring binge to fill what eventually will be hundreds of new government positions by 2019 intended to bring order to the legal pot economy, from keeping watch on what's seeping into streams near cannabis grows to running background checks on storefront sellers who want government licenses. Thousands of additional jobs are expected to be added by local governments.</p>
<p>The swiftly expanding bureaucracy represents just one aspect of the complex challenge faced by California: Come January, the state will unite its longstanding medical cannabis industry with the newly legalized recreational one, creating what will be the United States' largest legal pot economy.</p>
<p>Last January, just 11 full-time workers were part of what's now known as the Bureau of Cannabis Control, the state's chief regulatory agency overseeing the pot market. Now, it's more than doubled, and by February the agency expects to have more than 100 staffers.</p>
<p>The agency is moving into new offices later this year, having outgrown its original quarters. It's expected new satellite offices will eventually spread around the state.</p>
<p>There also will be scores of jobs added to issue licenses for sellers, growers, truck drivers, manufacturers and others working in the projected $7 billion industry. The state has taken to Facebook to lure applicants.</p>
<p>The bureau is using a video snippet of actor Jim Carrey, hammering his fingers into a computer keyboard, to catch the eye of prospective applicants online. "Get those applications in ... before this guy beats you to it," it reads.</p>
<p>"New job just ahead," reads another post. "We're hiring."</p>
<p>This year's state budget contained about $100 million to fund regulatory programs for marijuana, which includes personnel to review and issue licenses, watch over environmental conditions and carry out enforcement.</p>
<p>Planned hiring into 2018 covers a range of state agencies: Fifty people are bound for the Public Health Department, 65 are slated to join the Water Resources Control Board, and 60 new employees are expected at the Food and Agriculture Department, which will oversee licensing for cultivators.</p>
<p>Some of the work is highly specialized.</p>
<p>Environmental scientists will be responsible for developing standards for pot grows near streams, to make sure fertilizer or pesticides do not taint the water or harm fish. An engineer will monitor groundwater and water being diverted to nourish plants. Lawyers are needed to help sort out complex issues involving the state's maze of environmental laws.</p>
<p>Pay varies with position but can be attractive, with some scientist posts paying over $100,000 annually. Special investigators with the Consumer Affairs Department could earn in the $80,000 range.</p>
<p>Policing cannabis cultivation, legal and not, has been a long-running concern in the state. Recently, Republican state Sen. Ted Gaines of El Dorado urged Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency in Siskiyou County because of what he called rampant illegal marijuana grows.</p>
<p>Gaines said criminals are treating the county as "their own illicit greenhouse" while polluting waterways with pesticides and other waste.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the state and local governments are rushing to enact rules to govern the new pot economy, a process that so far has produced mixed results.</p>
<p>The state says it will be ready to begin issuing licenses in January, albeit temporary ones.</p>
<p>In coastal Mendocino County, about 700 cultivators have applied for local permits, though it's estimated thousands of people grow pot in the county north of San Francisco. The fear is that many growers and sellers will remain in the black market, undercutting legitimate sales.</p>
<p>"My biggest concern is that the state regulations may prove to be so onerous that it will discourage people who want to be legally compliant from coming forward," said John McCowen, who chairs the county Board of Supervisors.</p>
<p>"And that will mean greater opportunity for those operating in the black market," McCowen added.</p>
<p>While the state is adding jobs to oversee the marketplace, law enforcement will face new demands that come with a price tag, from keeping roads free of stoned drivers to helping weed out illegal operators.</p>
<p>The California Highway Patrol is expanding training for officers to identify "buzzed" drivers. In cities that permit cultivation, manufacturing or sales, police duties could also include protecting legitimate operators from gangs intent on pushing them out of business.</p>
<p>And a key issue will be keeping legally grown pot from moving into the black market.</p>
<p>To combat illegal activity, whether through code enforcement or police, "we are going to have to invest," said Gardena Police Chief Edward Medrano, who heads the California Police Chiefs Association.</p>
|
Government jobs sprouting as legal pot looms in California
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/5760c7ccef0c479289224f81a764a250
|
2017-09-30
| 2least
|
Government jobs sprouting as legal pot looms in California
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scientists. Tax collectors. Typists. Analysts. Lawyers. And more scientists.</p>
<p>Recreational marijuana use becomes legal in California in 2018, and one of the things to blossom in the emerging industry isn't green and leafy - it's government jobs.</p>
<p>The state is on a hiring binge to fill what eventually will be hundreds of new government positions by 2019 intended to bring order to the legal pot economy, from keeping watch on what's seeping into streams near cannabis grows to running background checks on storefront sellers who want government licenses. Thousands of additional jobs are expected to be added by local governments.</p>
<p>The swiftly expanding bureaucracy represents just one aspect of the complex challenge faced by California: Come January, the state will unite its longstanding medical cannabis industry with the newly legalized recreational one, creating what will be the United States' largest legal pot economy.</p>
<p>Last January, just 11 full-time workers were part of what's now known as the Bureau of Cannabis Control, the state's chief regulatory agency overseeing the pot market. Now, it's more than doubled, and by February the agency expects to have more than 100 staffers.</p>
<p>The agency is moving into new offices later this year, having outgrown its original quarters. It's expected new satellite offices will eventually spread around the state.</p>
<p>There also will be scores of jobs added to issue licenses for sellers, growers, truck drivers, manufacturers and others working in the projected $7 billion industry. The state has taken to Facebook to lure applicants.</p>
<p>The bureau is using a video snippet of actor Jim Carrey, hammering his fingers into a computer keyboard, to catch the eye of prospective applicants online. "Get those applications in ... before this guy beats you to it," it reads.</p>
<p>"New job just ahead," reads another post. "We're hiring."</p>
<p>This year's state budget contained about $100 million to fund regulatory programs for marijuana, which includes personnel to review and issue licenses, watch over environmental conditions and carry out enforcement.</p>
<p>Planned hiring into 2018 covers a range of state agencies: Fifty people are bound for the Public Health Department, 65 are slated to join the Water Resources Control Board, and 60 new employees are expected at the Food and Agriculture Department, which will oversee licensing for cultivators.</p>
<p>Some of the work is highly specialized.</p>
<p>Environmental scientists will be responsible for developing standards for pot grows near streams, to make sure fertilizer or pesticides do not taint the water or harm fish. An engineer will monitor groundwater and water being diverted to nourish plants. Lawyers are needed to help sort out complex issues involving the state's maze of environmental laws.</p>
<p>Pay varies with position but can be attractive, with some scientist posts paying over $100,000 annually. Special investigators with the Consumer Affairs Department could earn in the $80,000 range.</p>
<p>Policing cannabis cultivation, legal and not, has been a long-running concern in the state. Recently, Republican state Sen. Ted Gaines of El Dorado urged Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency in Siskiyou County because of what he called rampant illegal marijuana grows.</p>
<p>Gaines said criminals are treating the county as "their own illicit greenhouse" while polluting waterways with pesticides and other waste.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the state and local governments are rushing to enact rules to govern the new pot economy, a process that so far has produced mixed results.</p>
<p>The state says it will be ready to begin issuing licenses in January, albeit temporary ones.</p>
<p>In coastal Mendocino County, about 700 cultivators have applied for local permits, though it's estimated thousands of people grow pot in the county north of San Francisco. The fear is that many growers and sellers will remain in the black market, undercutting legitimate sales.</p>
<p>"My biggest concern is that the state regulations may prove to be so onerous that it will discourage people who want to be legally compliant from coming forward," said John McCowen, who chairs the county Board of Supervisors.</p>
<p>"And that will mean greater opportunity for those operating in the black market," McCowen added.</p>
<p>While the state is adding jobs to oversee the marketplace, law enforcement will face new demands that come with a price tag, from keeping roads free of stoned drivers to helping weed out illegal operators.</p>
<p>The California Highway Patrol is expanding training for officers to identify "buzzed" drivers. In cities that permit cultivation, manufacturing or sales, police duties could also include protecting legitimate operators from gangs intent on pushing them out of business.</p>
<p>And a key issue will be keeping legally grown pot from moving into the black market.</p>
<p>To combat illegal activity, whether through code enforcement or police, "we are going to have to invest," said Gardena Police Chief Edward Medrano, who heads the California Police Chiefs Association.</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scientists. Tax collectors. Typists. Analysts. Lawyers. And more scientists.</p>
<p>Recreational marijuana use becomes legal in California in 2018, and one of the things to blossom in the emerging industry isn't green and leafy - it's government jobs.</p>
<p>The state is on a hiring binge to fill what eventually will be hundreds of new government positions by 2019 intended to bring order to the legal pot economy, from keeping watch on what's seeping into streams near cannabis grows to running background checks on storefront sellers who want government licenses. Thousands of additional jobs are expected to be added by local governments.</p>
<p>The swiftly expanding bureaucracy represents just one aspect of the complex challenge faced by California: Come January, the state will unite its longstanding medical cannabis industry with the newly legalized recreational one, creating what will be the United States' largest legal pot economy.</p>
<p>Last January, just 11 full-time workers were part of what's now known as the Bureau of Cannabis Control, the state's chief regulatory agency overseeing the pot market. Now, it's more than doubled, and by February the agency expects to have more than 100 staffers.</p>
<p>The agency is moving into new offices later this year, having outgrown its original quarters. It's expected new satellite offices will eventually spread around the state.</p>
<p>There also will be scores of jobs added to issue licenses for sellers, growers, truck drivers, manufacturers and others working in the projected $7 billion industry. The state has taken to Facebook to lure applicants.</p>
<p>The bureau is using a video snippet of actor Jim Carrey, hammering his fingers into a computer keyboard, to catch the eye of prospective applicants online. "Get those applications in ... before this guy beats you to it," it reads.</p>
<p>"New job just ahead," reads another post. "We're hiring."</p>
<p>This year's state budget contained about $100 million to fund regulatory programs for marijuana, which includes personnel to review and issue licenses, watch over environmental conditions and carry out enforcement.</p>
<p>Planned hiring into 2018 covers a range of state agencies: Fifty people are bound for the Public Health Department, 65 are slated to join the Water Resources Control Board, and 60 new employees are expected at the Food and Agriculture Department, which will oversee licensing for cultivators.</p>
<p>Some of the work is highly specialized.</p>
<p>Environmental scientists will be responsible for developing standards for pot grows near streams, to make sure fertilizer or pesticides do not taint the water or harm fish. An engineer will monitor groundwater and water being diverted to nourish plants. Lawyers are needed to help sort out complex issues involving the state's maze of environmental laws.</p>
<p>Pay varies with position but can be attractive, with some scientist posts paying over $100,000 annually. Special investigators with the Consumer Affairs Department could earn in the $80,000 range.</p>
<p>Policing cannabis cultivation, legal and not, has been a long-running concern in the state. Recently, Republican state Sen. Ted Gaines of El Dorado urged Gov. Jerry Brown to declare a state of emergency in Siskiyou County because of what he called rampant illegal marijuana grows.</p>
<p>Gaines said criminals are treating the county as "their own illicit greenhouse" while polluting waterways with pesticides and other waste.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the state and local governments are rushing to enact rules to govern the new pot economy, a process that so far has produced mixed results.</p>
<p>The state says it will be ready to begin issuing licenses in January, albeit temporary ones.</p>
<p>In coastal Mendocino County, about 700 cultivators have applied for local permits, though it's estimated thousands of people grow pot in the county north of San Francisco. The fear is that many growers and sellers will remain in the black market, undercutting legitimate sales.</p>
<p>"My biggest concern is that the state regulations may prove to be so onerous that it will discourage people who want to be legally compliant from coming forward," said John McCowen, who chairs the county Board of Supervisors.</p>
<p>"And that will mean greater opportunity for those operating in the black market," McCowen added.</p>
<p>While the state is adding jobs to oversee the marketplace, law enforcement will face new demands that come with a price tag, from keeping roads free of stoned drivers to helping weed out illegal operators.</p>
<p>The California Highway Patrol is expanding training for officers to identify "buzzed" drivers. In cities that permit cultivation, manufacturing or sales, police duties could also include protecting legitimate operators from gangs intent on pushing them out of business.</p>
<p>And a key issue will be keeping legally grown pot from moving into the black market.</p>
<p>To combat illegal activity, whether through code enforcement or police, "we are going to have to invest," said Gardena Police Chief Edward Medrano, who heads the California Police Chiefs Association.</p>
| 5,894 |
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<p />
<p>Those are the findings of an AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety report released Tuesday that draws on original research and past studies to create a troubling picture of the risk caused by a go-go world where many people don’t get enough rest.</p>
<p>“Managing a healthy work-life balance can be difficult, and far too often we sacrifice our sleep as a result,” said Jake Nelson, director of Traffic Safety Advocacy and Research for AAA.</p>
<p>About 35 percent of people get fewer than the needed seven hours of sleep, and 12 percent say they sleep for five hours or less, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Earlier research by AAA Foundation showed that 21 percent of fatal crashes involved a sleep-deprived driver. The group’s new work uses data from the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey to delve into how much driving ability decreases based on varying lack of sleep.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the less sleep, the higher the risk of a crash.</p>
<p>“You cannot miss sleep and still expect to be able to safely function behind the wheel,” said David Yang, executive director for the foundation. “Our new research shows that a driver who has slept for less than five hours has a crash risk comparable to someone driving drunk.”</p>
<p>People who pride themselves on their ability to function on less sleep than the recommended seven-plus hours will contend otherwise, but the foundation used a sample of 4,571 crashes in which police determined a cause to conclude that those non-sleepers are wrong.</p>
<p>The report says those who slept for less than 4 of the past 24 hours had an 11.5 higher risk of getting in a crash. Drivers who slept 4-5 hours had a 4.3 percent higher risk; 5-7 hours had a 1.9 percent higher risk; and 6-7 hours had a 1.3 percent higher risk.</p>
<p>And it adds this caveat:</p>
<p>“The study may underestimate the risk of driving while sleep-deprived, because data on crashes that occurred between midnight and 6 a.m. were not available, and other studies have shown that the effects of sleep deprivation . . . are greatest during the early morning hours.”</p>
<p>The report said that driving with 4-5 hours of sleep was comparable to driving with a blood alcohol content at or above the legal limit, and that the risk of driving with less than four hours was “much greater.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“The crash risk associated with having slept less than 4 hours of sleep is comparable to the crash risk associated with a [blood alcohol content] of roughly .12- .15.” said Tom Calcagni, of AAA’s Mid-Atlantic office. The legal limit for driving is .08.</p>
<p>The report also looked at whether a change in sleep schedule may have caused sleep loss and contributed to a crash. Long-haul truckers, nurses and police officers are among those who commonly have fractured schedules. It found that there appeared to be a causal relationship in more than 6 percent of crashes.</p>
<p>A survey by AAA determined that while 97 percent of drivers thought it was unacceptable and a threat to safety to drive while drowsy, about a third of them admitted that in the past month they had driven “when they were so tired they had a hard time keeping their eyes open.”</p>
<p>The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that 35,092 people were killed on the road last year, up 7.2 percent from 32,675 in 2014.</p>
<p>After a five-year decline in deaths, 2015 marked a sharp turn around with deaths increasing across nearly every segment of the population. The last single-year jump of similar magnitude was in 1966, when deaths rose 8.1 percent from 1965.</p>
<p>drivers</p>
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Sleep-deprived drivers have plenty in common with drunk drivers
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https://abqjournal.com/903474/sleep-deprived-drivers-have-plenty-in-common-with-drunk-drivers.html
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Sleep-deprived drivers have plenty in common with drunk drivers
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Those are the findings of an AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety report released Tuesday that draws on original research and past studies to create a troubling picture of the risk caused by a go-go world where many people don’t get enough rest.</p>
<p>“Managing a healthy work-life balance can be difficult, and far too often we sacrifice our sleep as a result,” said Jake Nelson, director of Traffic Safety Advocacy and Research for AAA.</p>
<p>About 35 percent of people get fewer than the needed seven hours of sleep, and 12 percent say they sleep for five hours or less, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Earlier research by AAA Foundation showed that 21 percent of fatal crashes involved a sleep-deprived driver. The group’s new work uses data from the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey to delve into how much driving ability decreases based on varying lack of sleep.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the less sleep, the higher the risk of a crash.</p>
<p>“You cannot miss sleep and still expect to be able to safely function behind the wheel,” said David Yang, executive director for the foundation. “Our new research shows that a driver who has slept for less than five hours has a crash risk comparable to someone driving drunk.”</p>
<p>People who pride themselves on their ability to function on less sleep than the recommended seven-plus hours will contend otherwise, but the foundation used a sample of 4,571 crashes in which police determined a cause to conclude that those non-sleepers are wrong.</p>
<p>The report says those who slept for less than 4 of the past 24 hours had an 11.5 higher risk of getting in a crash. Drivers who slept 4-5 hours had a 4.3 percent higher risk; 5-7 hours had a 1.9 percent higher risk; and 6-7 hours had a 1.3 percent higher risk.</p>
<p>And it adds this caveat:</p>
<p>“The study may underestimate the risk of driving while sleep-deprived, because data on crashes that occurred between midnight and 6 a.m. were not available, and other studies have shown that the effects of sleep deprivation . . . are greatest during the early morning hours.”</p>
<p>The report said that driving with 4-5 hours of sleep was comparable to driving with a blood alcohol content at or above the legal limit, and that the risk of driving with less than four hours was “much greater.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“The crash risk associated with having slept less than 4 hours of sleep is comparable to the crash risk associated with a [blood alcohol content] of roughly .12- .15.” said Tom Calcagni, of AAA’s Mid-Atlantic office. The legal limit for driving is .08.</p>
<p>The report also looked at whether a change in sleep schedule may have caused sleep loss and contributed to a crash. Long-haul truckers, nurses and police officers are among those who commonly have fractured schedules. It found that there appeared to be a causal relationship in more than 6 percent of crashes.</p>
<p>A survey by AAA determined that while 97 percent of drivers thought it was unacceptable and a threat to safety to drive while drowsy, about a third of them admitted that in the past month they had driven “when they were so tired they had a hard time keeping their eyes open.”</p>
<p>The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that 35,092 people were killed on the road last year, up 7.2 percent from 32,675 in 2014.</p>
<p>After a five-year decline in deaths, 2015 marked a sharp turn around with deaths increasing across nearly every segment of the population. The last single-year jump of similar magnitude was in 1966, when deaths rose 8.1 percent from 1965.</p>
<p>drivers</p>
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<p>There was a good bit of misdirection and some misinformation earlier this month as developers and 1st Ward Ald. Joe Moreno presented the master plan for Lathrop Homes, the historic Chicago Housing Authority development along the North Chicago River.</p>
<p>The Chicago Plan Commission is scheduled to consider the planned development proposal for Lathrop on Thursday, February 18, although residents and community advocates are calling on Moreno to have the agenda item postponed.</p>
<p>The prime piece of misinformation at the February 3 meeting on the Lathrop development team’s plan came from Moreno, who said it would be “illegal” to rehab Lathrop as 100 percent public housing. Moreno has said inclusion of market-rate housing and a larger proportion of affordable housing are both necessary to win his support.</p>
<p>The alderman cited the Gautreaux case, first filed in 1966. But Gautreaux declared unconstitutional CHA’s policy of restricting new construction to black communities. It didn’t address rehab, and since then CHA has renovated several developments as entirely public housing, including Trumbull Homes on the Far South Side, which like Lathrop was originally built in the late 1930s.</p>
<p>Lathrop is situated squarely in what the Gautreaux court orders term an “opportunity area,” where public housing siting is encouraged. Some attorneys have sought to extend Gautreaux to essentially outlaw any CHA redevelopment that doesn’t include market-rate housing, but other lawyers – generally representing existing CHA residents – have opposed that interpretation.</p>
<p>In any case, no one is pressing for 100 percent public housing at Lathrop. For nearly ten years, Lathrop residents have been advocating an even split between public and affordable housing. High-end housing isn’t needed in the area, they say.</p>
<p>Michael Goldberg of Heartland Housing, which is part of Lathrop Community Partners, suggested developers had made significant changes to the plan – around density and building height, increased preservation and increased affordable housing – in response to community concerns. Much of this amounted to developers asking for more than they were going to get (and more than the CHA’s request for proposals specified), then scaling back. As far as affordable housing, LCP added exactly eight units – going from 212 up to 220 – since a preliminary plan was developed two years ago.</p>
<p>“This plan has more affordable housing than any previous proposal,” Moreno said, calling that “a very important component.” He added, “We have won so many things.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Noting residents’ complaints about a proposed TIF</a> supporting “chain retail,” Joy Aruguete of Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation said TIF funds would only go to affordable housing and infrastructure. But that’s just moving money around on paper; shifting TIF from commercial to residential development just means more private financing can go to retail. And two proposed new streets (connected to nothing outside the Lathrop site) are needed only to accommodate new retail.</p>
<p>One change wasn’t noted: LCP increased the amount of retail from 20,000 square feet two years ago to 50,000 in the final plan. This apparently reflects a shift in the city’s planning department toward a less rigorous standard for the development. What’s planned is far more than needed for 1,200 households, and it’s not like the area around Lathrop needs more shopping (or more traffic congestion).</p>
<p>Like the insistence on reserving nearly half the planned units for high-end market rate housing, the proposal for excessive retail reflects the involvement of for-profit developer Related Midwest in LCP.</p>
<p>With the <a href="" type="internal">total public housing unit count at Lathrop dropping</a> from 925 to 400, Moreno has said he won’t let the project proceed unless CHA commits in writing to replace the lost public housing ­– and replace it on the North Side. At the community meeting earlier this month, CHA’s new chief executive Eugene Jones declined to address the question.</p>
<p>Moreno has given CHA until Thursday to agree to the demand, saying he will postpone action at the planning commission meeting if the agency doesn’t come through.&#160; Residents and advocates want more time for community review of a possible agreement – and for an opportunity to strengthen the commitment if need be.</p>
<p>The details could matter.&#160; CHA has a long history of broken promises.&#160; And it’s becoming a much tougher market for acquiring the kind of properties needed to replace Lathrop’s units elsewhere on the North Side. &#160;If CHA promises its “best efforts,” the results could be disappointing.</p>
<p>Without care in fashioning a plan for Lathrop, it’s entirely possible that this project will repeat what’s happened throughout nearly two decades of the CHA’s Plan For Transformation: millions of taxpayer dollars spent, private developers enriched, and the supply of housing for low-income Chicagoans significantly reduced.</p>
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Details matter in fight for North Side public housing
| false |
http://chicagoreporter.com/details-matter-in-fight-for-north-side-public-housing/
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2016-02-17
| 3left-center
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Details matter in fight for North Side public housing
<p>There was a good bit of misdirection and some misinformation earlier this month as developers and 1st Ward Ald. Joe Moreno presented the master plan for Lathrop Homes, the historic Chicago Housing Authority development along the North Chicago River.</p>
<p>The Chicago Plan Commission is scheduled to consider the planned development proposal for Lathrop on Thursday, February 18, although residents and community advocates are calling on Moreno to have the agenda item postponed.</p>
<p>The prime piece of misinformation at the February 3 meeting on the Lathrop development team’s plan came from Moreno, who said it would be “illegal” to rehab Lathrop as 100 percent public housing. Moreno has said inclusion of market-rate housing and a larger proportion of affordable housing are both necessary to win his support.</p>
<p>The alderman cited the Gautreaux case, first filed in 1966. But Gautreaux declared unconstitutional CHA’s policy of restricting new construction to black communities. It didn’t address rehab, and since then CHA has renovated several developments as entirely public housing, including Trumbull Homes on the Far South Side, which like Lathrop was originally built in the late 1930s.</p>
<p>Lathrop is situated squarely in what the Gautreaux court orders term an “opportunity area,” where public housing siting is encouraged. Some attorneys have sought to extend Gautreaux to essentially outlaw any CHA redevelopment that doesn’t include market-rate housing, but other lawyers – generally representing existing CHA residents – have opposed that interpretation.</p>
<p>In any case, no one is pressing for 100 percent public housing at Lathrop. For nearly ten years, Lathrop residents have been advocating an even split between public and affordable housing. High-end housing isn’t needed in the area, they say.</p>
<p>Michael Goldberg of Heartland Housing, which is part of Lathrop Community Partners, suggested developers had made significant changes to the plan – around density and building height, increased preservation and increased affordable housing – in response to community concerns. Much of this amounted to developers asking for more than they were going to get (and more than the CHA’s request for proposals specified), then scaling back. As far as affordable housing, LCP added exactly eight units – going from 212 up to 220 – since a preliminary plan was developed two years ago.</p>
<p>“This plan has more affordable housing than any previous proposal,” Moreno said, calling that “a very important component.” He added, “We have won so many things.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Noting residents’ complaints about a proposed TIF</a> supporting “chain retail,” Joy Aruguete of Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation said TIF funds would only go to affordable housing and infrastructure. But that’s just moving money around on paper; shifting TIF from commercial to residential development just means more private financing can go to retail. And two proposed new streets (connected to nothing outside the Lathrop site) are needed only to accommodate new retail.</p>
<p>One change wasn’t noted: LCP increased the amount of retail from 20,000 square feet two years ago to 50,000 in the final plan. This apparently reflects a shift in the city’s planning department toward a less rigorous standard for the development. What’s planned is far more than needed for 1,200 households, and it’s not like the area around Lathrop needs more shopping (or more traffic congestion).</p>
<p>Like the insistence on reserving nearly half the planned units for high-end market rate housing, the proposal for excessive retail reflects the involvement of for-profit developer Related Midwest in LCP.</p>
<p>With the <a href="" type="internal">total public housing unit count at Lathrop dropping</a> from 925 to 400, Moreno has said he won’t let the project proceed unless CHA commits in writing to replace the lost public housing ­– and replace it on the North Side. At the community meeting earlier this month, CHA’s new chief executive Eugene Jones declined to address the question.</p>
<p>Moreno has given CHA until Thursday to agree to the demand, saying he will postpone action at the planning commission meeting if the agency doesn’t come through.&#160; Residents and advocates want more time for community review of a possible agreement – and for an opportunity to strengthen the commitment if need be.</p>
<p>The details could matter.&#160; CHA has a long history of broken promises.&#160; And it’s becoming a much tougher market for acquiring the kind of properties needed to replace Lathrop’s units elsewhere on the North Side. &#160;If CHA promises its “best efforts,” the results could be disappointing.</p>
<p>Without care in fashioning a plan for Lathrop, it’s entirely possible that this project will repeat what’s happened throughout nearly two decades of the CHA’s Plan For Transformation: millions of taxpayer dollars spent, private developers enriched, and the supply of housing for low-income Chicagoans significantly reduced.</p>
| 5,896 |
<p>ATHENS (Reuters) - Black-clad protesters in southern Athens have torn down a red sculpture shaped like an angel and broke its wings in a fresh act of violence against an artwork critics liken to Satan.</p> A red angel-shaped statue called Phylax by Greek artist Kostis Georgiou is seen in southern Athens, Greece, December 28, 2017. Picture taken December 28, 2017. Panayiotis Tzamaros/Intimenews via REUTERS
<p>Protests against the 8-metre high sculpture called Phylax, which in Greek means “guardian”, have ranged from throwing white paint and spitting at it to attempting to exorcise it with a Greek priest sprinkling holy water.</p>
<p>It was displayed in early December in a busy area in the coastal suburb of Palaio Faliro. Protesters have included some residents, religious conservatives and supporters of far right political groups.</p>
<p>Late on Wednesday night a group of 10-15 hooded persons tied it to the back of a truck and drove away, pulling it down, mayor of Palaio Faliro Dionysis Hatzidakis told Real FM.</p>
<p>“It’s wings are now broken,” said Hatzidakis who has filed a lawsuit. “It has been severely damaged.”</p>
<p>“So, if we don’t like something we destroy it ... for political purposes?,” Hatzidakis said, adding that he suspected the attackers were far-right.</p>
<p>He said they threatened to hurt an eye-witness if he alerted authorities. If the sculpture can be repaired it will be reinstalled, a spokesman for the mayor told Reuters.</p>
<p>The sculpture was created by well-known Greek artist Kostis Georgiou who has exhibited both at home and in other countries. He told Enikos.gr that Phylax was transferred to a safe place and that he hopes “the evil shall not prevail”.</p>
<p>“All this violence against the sculpture since the first moment it was installed has left me speechless,” he told Reuters. “It should remain down on the ground as a memorial of the irrational rationale.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LAGOS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nigerian choreographer Seyi Oluyole found dance rehearsals were a great way to distract the street children in her care from the lack of lunch but star power from Rihanna and supermodel Naomi Campbell has changed their fortunes in the past month.</p>
<p>Oluyole, 26, started the Dream Catchers charity dance group in 2014 to teach dance to disadvantaged children in Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos while also encouraging them to attend school, hoping it would lead them to a better future.</p>
<p>Determined to change lives, she brought children - with their parents’ permission - to live in her three-bedroom flat and paid their school fees, but the amount Oluyole earned by day as a screenwriter was never enough and on days they went hungry.</p>
<p>“I used dance to distract them. By the time we did a dance rehearsal, it would be time for dinner,” Oluyole told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at her flat in Ikorodu in Lagos.</p>
<p>Nigeria has 10.5 million out-of-school children, the world’s highest number according to UNICEF, with 60 percent of those girls. UNICEF said key reasons were the low perception of the value of education for girls and early marriages.</p>
<p>Oluyole encouraged members of Dream Catchers to attend school by day and rehearse at night and weekends but she didn’t know how long she could struggle to cater for the 20 or so children in the group since 2014 with 10 members currently.</p>
<p>Then last month everything changed.</p>
<p>Naomi Campbell reposted one of the Dream Catcher’s Instagram videos and it went viral after it was shared by singer Rihanna. Since then more of the group’s videos have been featured by celebrities like U.S. rapper P. Diddy.</p>
<p>The group performed at a concert organized for British-Nigerian grime artist Skepta where Campbell introduced them.</p>
<p>She also visited them at their home where her picture hangs on the wall alongside other black females like Serena Williams and Michelle Obama under a banner reading “Hall of Power”.</p>
<p>Oluyole said she can’t believe things have finally changed.</p>
<p>Her concern for street children began when she was 12 and her parents hit a bad patch, making them homeless for two years.</p>
<p>“It was then I met some of these kids and realized their reality. I had been through a lot in the past year or two but this was their everyday reality,” she said.</p>
<p>She said the group has changed members’ lives, such as Blessing, 15, who was out of school for three years.</p>
<p>“Now I can speak good English. I am no more staying at home. I feel very happy,” Blessing told the Thomson Reuters Foundation</p>
<p>Adeyemi, 14, was begging before joining Dream Catchers.</p>
<p>“I want to go to school and read my books,” he said.</p>
<p>Oluyole said some children had dropped out of the group, saying they were tired of hearing her talk of a brighter future - and she had also started to doubt it would happen as well.</p>
<p>“Last year I was telling myself I would just give this thing one more year and if doesn’t work ... pack up,” she said.</p>
<p>But with celebrity endorsements, Oluyole is now looking to acquire a large home so more children can join Dream Catchers.</p>
<p>“Let’s just say we won’t be worrying about food for a very long time,” said Oluyole, declining to give financial details.</p>
<p>“All they just know is that there are now days when we will actually eat lunch.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit <a href="http://news.trust.org" type="external">news.trust.org</a> to see more stories.</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - Former supermodel Janice Dickinson testified on Thursday that Bill Cosby drugged and raped her at a Lake Tahoe home in 1982, a story similar to those of other alleged victims called as witnesses in the comedian’s sexual assault retrial.</p>
<p>“I wanted to hit him, wanted to punch him in the face,” said Dickinson, a highly successful model in the 1970s and 1980s. “I felt anger, was humiliated, disgusted, ashamed.”</p>
<p>Cosby, who played the loveable patriarch and “America’s Dad” on “The Cosby Show,” is on trial in Pennsylvania for a second time on accusations of drugging and sexually assaulting former friend and colleague Andrea Constand, 45, in 2004.</p>
<p>In all some 50 women have accused Cosby of molestation going back decades. All but Constand’s case were too old to be prosecuted, and Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial last June due to a deadlocked jury.</p>
<p>Cosby is accused of giving pills to college administrator Constand and assaulting her at his home near Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Cosby has denied the charge of aggravated indecent assault of Constand, saying any sexual contact was consensual. His lawyers have portrayed Constand as a gold-digging con artist.</p>
<p>Dickinson is the fourth of five accusers permitted by Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill to tell their stories to the jury in the suburban Philadelphia courtroom.</p>
<p>Describing a scenario similar to three previous accusers, Dickinson said Cosby contacted her and offered career help.</p>
<p>He flew her to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where she met Cosby and his musical director for dinner and complained of menstrual cramps. “I have something for that,” Cosby said, according to her testimony.</p>
<p>She testified that he gave her a little blue pill, which she swallowed. Cosby then took her back to his room, where Dickinson, 27 at the time, shot several pictures of him with her Polaroid camera that were projected in court.</p> Model Janice Dickinson, walks through the Montgomery County Courthouse while on a break from testifying against actor and comedian Bill Cosby during the fourth day of his sexual assault retrial case in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 12, 2018. Mark Makela/Pool via Reuters
<p>“I was really light-headed,” she said. “When I spoke, it didn’t sound like words were coming out. We weren’t discussing my career. He was on the phone.”</p>
<p>She testified that when he finished his call, he climbed on top of her.</p>
<p>“I remember his breath, the taste of his kiss, cigars and espresso. Here was ‘America’s Dad’ on top of me, a happily married man with five kids, and how very, very wrong it was,” Dickinson said.</p>
<p>She found semen between her legs the next day, she said. Confronting Cosby later that day, she demanded to know why he did it. His response was silence and a facial expression that conveyed, “You’re crazy,” she testified.</p> Slideshow (7 Images)
<p>Dickinson said she did not report the assault to police out of fear it would destroy her career. She said she had long struggled to make it as a model and finally had premiere clients such as cosmetics titan Revlon Inc “who would not have appreciated it if I had been raped and gone to the police.”</p>
<p>Defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau began his cross-examination by focusing on a book ostensibly authored by Dickinson but actually ghost-written by Pablo Fenjves, who also penned O.J. Simpson’s book, “If I Did It.”</p>
<p>Dickinson said she wanted the book’s sections about her rape to be complete and honest and gave that information to Fenjves but its use was overruled by publisher Judith Regan.</p>
<p>Reporting by David DeKok; writing by Daniel Trotta and Barbara Goldberg; editing by Cynthia Osterman and G Crosse</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - A woman who is at the center of the case against Bill Cosby is expected to take the stand on Friday in a Pennsylvania courtroom, where she previously accused the comedian of drugging and sexually assaulting her more than a decade ago.</p> Actor and comedian, Bill Cosby, arrives for the fourth day of his sexual assault retrial case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 12, 2018. Mark Makela/Pool via Reuters
<p>Cosby, who played the loveable patriarch and “America’s Dad” on “The Cosby Show,” is on trial in Norristown for a second time on a charge of aggravated indecent assault of former friend and colleague Andrea Constand, 45.</p>
<p>In all, some 50 women have accused Cosby of molestation going back decades. All but Constand’s case were too old to be prosecuted, and Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial last June due to a deadlocked jury.</p>
<p>The 80-year-old entertainer has denied the charge, saying any sexual contact was consensual. His lawyers have portrayed Constand as a gold-digging con artist.</p>
<p>“Based on the evidence heard so far, Mr.&#160;Cosby should be found not guilty on all charges,” Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt said on Thursday.</p>
<p>Since the first trial, the #MeToo movement exploded, prompting an increasing number of women to come forward with accusations of harassment or assault from rich and famous men.</p>
<p>During the first trial, Constand said she first met Cosby in late 2002, when she was the newly hired director of basketball operations for Temple University’s women’s basketball program and he was a university trustee and the Philadelphia school’s most famous alumnus.</p>
<p>After a series of phone calls, Constand, who was then in her 30s, said the married Cosby began inviting her to dinner at his house and other events. On at least one occasion, Constand said she rebuffed his advances, telling him she had no interest.</p>
<p>In January 2004, Constand said, Cosby invited her to his house again to discuss her career options. That night, he offered her the three blue pills, saying they were her “friends”.</p>
<p>Constand told the court that she took the pills, which he promised would help her “relax”. The pills left her feeling “frozen” and unable to resist him, she said.</p>
<p>Former supermodel Janice Dickinson testified on Thursday that Cosby drugged and raped her at a Lake Tahoe home in 1982. Several other women have also testified that they were drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby in the 1980s, when Cosby was at the height of his popularity.</p>
<p>Reporting by David DeKok; Editing by Hugh Lawson</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>RIYADH (Reuters) - Fashionable women, dark-haired Saudis and blonde Eastern Europeans alike, fill the gold-trimmed halls of Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, marking the start of Saudi Arabia’s first-ever fashion week.</p>
<p>Models and makeup artists preparing for the inaugural Saudi episode of Arab Fashion Week said they were surprised the event was taking place in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom.</p>
<p>“We are so excited because this is the first fashion week in Saudi Arabia, so we are making history,” model Anita Dmycroska said.</p>
<p>Strict social restrictions have eased dramatically under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has reined in religious police, introduced public concerts and lifted bans on cinemas and women driving.</p>
<p>Yet, restrictions persist. Tuesday’s reception was open to men and cameras, but only women are permitted at catwalk events and outside photography is barred.</p>
<p>Women in public places in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, wear abayas — loose-fitting, full-length robes symbolic of piety.</p>
<p>With recent reforms, women in some cities have begun to don more colorful abayas, sometimes trimmed with lace and velvet or left open to reveal long skirts or jeans.</p>
<p>No abayas will feature on the catwalk. The event hosts invitation-only fashion viewings and a Harvey Nichols pop-up store in a tent that was still being erected hours before the first show.</p>
<p>Another tent holds the catwalk, featuring designers from Brazil, Lebanon, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.</p> MAKING THE KINGDOM FASHIONABLE
<p>The event, initially scheduled for last month, was postponed because of delays in issuing visas. Industry figures from Italy, Russia and Lebanon flocked to Riyadh, many for the first time, to admire the work of local and international designers.</p>
<p>Layla Issa Abouzeid, Saudi Arabia country director for the Dubai-based Arab Fashion Council (AFC) organizing the event, said 1,500 people were expected to attend, including 400 from abroad.</p>
<p>She hopes the event will bring revenue into the kingdom and highlight local talent.</p> Women attend the Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia April 10, 2018. Picture taken April 10, 2018. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser
<p>“[When] people go to Paris on the Paris Fashion week, the hotels are completely fully booked,” she said. “I want to create the same demand in Saudi Arabia, twice a year. I want to create a platform for the local designers to go worldwide.”</p>
<p>Lebanese designer Naja Saade came to Riyadh to display his couture collection.</p>
<p>“I’m very proud to participate in this first edition of Arab Fashion Week in Saudi Arabia, because it’s a part of the revolution of the women in this country,” he said.</p>
<p>By bringing talent from Europe and placing international brands on the same catwalk as Arab brands, he hopes to elevate local fashion designers.</p>
<p>AFC wants to introduce fashion courses, internships and scholarships to Saudi Arabia and develop a fashion district in Riyadh.</p> Slideshow (7 Images)
<p>Jacob Abrian, AFC founder and chief executive, said many Arabs have had to leave their countries to have fashion careers, but this recurring event allows them to stay in the region.</p>
<p>“I was always asking myself, why do us Arabs have to travel abroad to find our future? Why can’t we find our future in our own countries?”</p>
<p>Reporting by Sarah Dadouch, editing by Larry King</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
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Protesters yank down angel sculpture in Athens, saying it looks like Satan Dancing for dreams, the Nigerian street kids capturing the stars Model Janice Dickinson tells jury that Cosby drugged, raped her Cosby's main accuser to testify in sexual assault case Fashionably late: Saudi Arabia hosts its first-ever fashion week
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https://reuters.com/article/us-greece-sculpture-protests/protesters-yank-down-angel-sculpture-in-athens-saying-it-looks-like-satan-idUSKBN1F72FZ
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2018-01-18
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Protesters yank down angel sculpture in Athens, saying it looks like Satan Dancing for dreams, the Nigerian street kids capturing the stars Model Janice Dickinson tells jury that Cosby drugged, raped her Cosby's main accuser to testify in sexual assault case Fashionably late: Saudi Arabia hosts its first-ever fashion week
<p>ATHENS (Reuters) - Black-clad protesters in southern Athens have torn down a red sculpture shaped like an angel and broke its wings in a fresh act of violence against an artwork critics liken to Satan.</p> A red angel-shaped statue called Phylax by Greek artist Kostis Georgiou is seen in southern Athens, Greece, December 28, 2017. Picture taken December 28, 2017. Panayiotis Tzamaros/Intimenews via REUTERS
<p>Protests against the 8-metre high sculpture called Phylax, which in Greek means “guardian”, have ranged from throwing white paint and spitting at it to attempting to exorcise it with a Greek priest sprinkling holy water.</p>
<p>It was displayed in early December in a busy area in the coastal suburb of Palaio Faliro. Protesters have included some residents, religious conservatives and supporters of far right political groups.</p>
<p>Late on Wednesday night a group of 10-15 hooded persons tied it to the back of a truck and drove away, pulling it down, mayor of Palaio Faliro Dionysis Hatzidakis told Real FM.</p>
<p>“It’s wings are now broken,” said Hatzidakis who has filed a lawsuit. “It has been severely damaged.”</p>
<p>“So, if we don’t like something we destroy it ... for political purposes?,” Hatzidakis said, adding that he suspected the attackers were far-right.</p>
<p>He said they threatened to hurt an eye-witness if he alerted authorities. If the sculpture can be repaired it will be reinstalled, a spokesman for the mayor told Reuters.</p>
<p>The sculpture was created by well-known Greek artist Kostis Georgiou who has exhibited both at home and in other countries. He told Enikos.gr that Phylax was transferred to a safe place and that he hopes “the evil shall not prevail”.</p>
<p>“All this violence against the sculpture since the first moment it was installed has left me speechless,” he told Reuters. “It should remain down on the ground as a memorial of the irrational rationale.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LAGOS (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nigerian choreographer Seyi Oluyole found dance rehearsals were a great way to distract the street children in her care from the lack of lunch but star power from Rihanna and supermodel Naomi Campbell has changed their fortunes in the past month.</p>
<p>Oluyole, 26, started the Dream Catchers charity dance group in 2014 to teach dance to disadvantaged children in Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos while also encouraging them to attend school, hoping it would lead them to a better future.</p>
<p>Determined to change lives, she brought children - with their parents’ permission - to live in her three-bedroom flat and paid their school fees, but the amount Oluyole earned by day as a screenwriter was never enough and on days they went hungry.</p>
<p>“I used dance to distract them. By the time we did a dance rehearsal, it would be time for dinner,” Oluyole told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at her flat in Ikorodu in Lagos.</p>
<p>Nigeria has 10.5 million out-of-school children, the world’s highest number according to UNICEF, with 60 percent of those girls. UNICEF said key reasons were the low perception of the value of education for girls and early marriages.</p>
<p>Oluyole encouraged members of Dream Catchers to attend school by day and rehearse at night and weekends but she didn’t know how long she could struggle to cater for the 20 or so children in the group since 2014 with 10 members currently.</p>
<p>Then last month everything changed.</p>
<p>Naomi Campbell reposted one of the Dream Catcher’s Instagram videos and it went viral after it was shared by singer Rihanna. Since then more of the group’s videos have been featured by celebrities like U.S. rapper P. Diddy.</p>
<p>The group performed at a concert organized for British-Nigerian grime artist Skepta where Campbell introduced them.</p>
<p>She also visited them at their home where her picture hangs on the wall alongside other black females like Serena Williams and Michelle Obama under a banner reading “Hall of Power”.</p>
<p>Oluyole said she can’t believe things have finally changed.</p>
<p>Her concern for street children began when she was 12 and her parents hit a bad patch, making them homeless for two years.</p>
<p>“It was then I met some of these kids and realized their reality. I had been through a lot in the past year or two but this was their everyday reality,” she said.</p>
<p>She said the group has changed members’ lives, such as Blessing, 15, who was out of school for three years.</p>
<p>“Now I can speak good English. I am no more staying at home. I feel very happy,” Blessing told the Thomson Reuters Foundation</p>
<p>Adeyemi, 14, was begging before joining Dream Catchers.</p>
<p>“I want to go to school and read my books,” he said.</p>
<p>Oluyole said some children had dropped out of the group, saying they were tired of hearing her talk of a brighter future - and she had also started to doubt it would happen as well.</p>
<p>“Last year I was telling myself I would just give this thing one more year and if doesn’t work ... pack up,” she said.</p>
<p>But with celebrity endorsements, Oluyole is now looking to acquire a large home so more children can join Dream Catchers.</p>
<p>“Let’s just say we won’t be worrying about food for a very long time,” said Oluyole, declining to give financial details.</p>
<p>“All they just know is that there are now days when we will actually eat lunch.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights, climate change and resilience. Visit <a href="http://news.trust.org" type="external">news.trust.org</a> to see more stories.</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - Former supermodel Janice Dickinson testified on Thursday that Bill Cosby drugged and raped her at a Lake Tahoe home in 1982, a story similar to those of other alleged victims called as witnesses in the comedian’s sexual assault retrial.</p>
<p>“I wanted to hit him, wanted to punch him in the face,” said Dickinson, a highly successful model in the 1970s and 1980s. “I felt anger, was humiliated, disgusted, ashamed.”</p>
<p>Cosby, who played the loveable patriarch and “America’s Dad” on “The Cosby Show,” is on trial in Pennsylvania for a second time on accusations of drugging and sexually assaulting former friend and colleague Andrea Constand, 45, in 2004.</p>
<p>In all some 50 women have accused Cosby of molestation going back decades. All but Constand’s case were too old to be prosecuted, and Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial last June due to a deadlocked jury.</p>
<p>Cosby is accused of giving pills to college administrator Constand and assaulting her at his home near Philadelphia.</p>
<p>Cosby has denied the charge of aggravated indecent assault of Constand, saying any sexual contact was consensual. His lawyers have portrayed Constand as a gold-digging con artist.</p>
<p>Dickinson is the fourth of five accusers permitted by Montgomery County Judge Steven O’Neill to tell their stories to the jury in the suburban Philadelphia courtroom.</p>
<p>Describing a scenario similar to three previous accusers, Dickinson said Cosby contacted her and offered career help.</p>
<p>He flew her to Lake Tahoe, Nevada, where she met Cosby and his musical director for dinner and complained of menstrual cramps. “I have something for that,” Cosby said, according to her testimony.</p>
<p>She testified that he gave her a little blue pill, which she swallowed. Cosby then took her back to his room, where Dickinson, 27 at the time, shot several pictures of him with her Polaroid camera that were projected in court.</p> Model Janice Dickinson, walks through the Montgomery County Courthouse while on a break from testifying against actor and comedian Bill Cosby during the fourth day of his sexual assault retrial case in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 12, 2018. Mark Makela/Pool via Reuters
<p>“I was really light-headed,” she said. “When I spoke, it didn’t sound like words were coming out. We weren’t discussing my career. He was on the phone.”</p>
<p>She testified that when he finished his call, he climbed on top of her.</p>
<p>“I remember his breath, the taste of his kiss, cigars and espresso. Here was ‘America’s Dad’ on top of me, a happily married man with five kids, and how very, very wrong it was,” Dickinson said.</p>
<p>She found semen between her legs the next day, she said. Confronting Cosby later that day, she demanded to know why he did it. His response was silence and a facial expression that conveyed, “You’re crazy,” she testified.</p> Slideshow (7 Images)
<p>Dickinson said she did not report the assault to police out of fear it would destroy her career. She said she had long struggled to make it as a model and finally had premiere clients such as cosmetics titan Revlon Inc “who would not have appreciated it if I had been raped and gone to the police.”</p>
<p>Defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau began his cross-examination by focusing on a book ostensibly authored by Dickinson but actually ghost-written by Pablo Fenjves, who also penned O.J. Simpson’s book, “If I Did It.”</p>
<p>Dickinson said she wanted the book’s sections about her rape to be complete and honest and gave that information to Fenjves but its use was overruled by publisher Judith Regan.</p>
<p>Reporting by David DeKok; writing by Daniel Trotta and Barbara Goldberg; editing by Cynthia Osterman and G Crosse</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Reuters) - A woman who is at the center of the case against Bill Cosby is expected to take the stand on Friday in a Pennsylvania courtroom, where she previously accused the comedian of drugging and sexually assaulting her more than a decade ago.</p> Actor and comedian, Bill Cosby, arrives for the fourth day of his sexual assault retrial case at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S., April 12, 2018. Mark Makela/Pool via Reuters
<p>Cosby, who played the loveable patriarch and “America’s Dad” on “The Cosby Show,” is on trial in Norristown for a second time on a charge of aggravated indecent assault of former friend and colleague Andrea Constand, 45.</p>
<p>In all, some 50 women have accused Cosby of molestation going back decades. All but Constand’s case were too old to be prosecuted, and Cosby’s first trial ended in a mistrial last June due to a deadlocked jury.</p>
<p>The 80-year-old entertainer has denied the charge, saying any sexual contact was consensual. His lawyers have portrayed Constand as a gold-digging con artist.</p>
<p>“Based on the evidence heard so far, Mr.&#160;Cosby should be found not guilty on all charges,” Cosby spokesman Andrew Wyatt said on Thursday.</p>
<p>Since the first trial, the #MeToo movement exploded, prompting an increasing number of women to come forward with accusations of harassment or assault from rich and famous men.</p>
<p>During the first trial, Constand said she first met Cosby in late 2002, when she was the newly hired director of basketball operations for Temple University’s women’s basketball program and he was a university trustee and the Philadelphia school’s most famous alumnus.</p>
<p>After a series of phone calls, Constand, who was then in her 30s, said the married Cosby began inviting her to dinner at his house and other events. On at least one occasion, Constand said she rebuffed his advances, telling him she had no interest.</p>
<p>In January 2004, Constand said, Cosby invited her to his house again to discuss her career options. That night, he offered her the three blue pills, saying they were her “friends”.</p>
<p>Constand told the court that she took the pills, which he promised would help her “relax”. The pills left her feeling “frozen” and unable to resist him, she said.</p>
<p>Former supermodel Janice Dickinson testified on Thursday that Cosby drugged and raped her at a Lake Tahoe home in 1982. Several other women have also testified that they were drugged and sexually assaulted by Cosby in the 1980s, when Cosby was at the height of his popularity.</p>
<p>Reporting by David DeKok; Editing by Hugh Lawson</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>RIYADH (Reuters) - Fashionable women, dark-haired Saudis and blonde Eastern Europeans alike, fill the gold-trimmed halls of Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel, marking the start of Saudi Arabia’s first-ever fashion week.</p>
<p>Models and makeup artists preparing for the inaugural Saudi episode of Arab Fashion Week said they were surprised the event was taking place in the deeply conservative Muslim kingdom.</p>
<p>“We are so excited because this is the first fashion week in Saudi Arabia, so we are making history,” model Anita Dmycroska said.</p>
<p>Strict social restrictions have eased dramatically under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has reined in religious police, introduced public concerts and lifted bans on cinemas and women driving.</p>
<p>Yet, restrictions persist. Tuesday’s reception was open to men and cameras, but only women are permitted at catwalk events and outside photography is barred.</p>
<p>Women in public places in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, wear abayas — loose-fitting, full-length robes symbolic of piety.</p>
<p>With recent reforms, women in some cities have begun to don more colorful abayas, sometimes trimmed with lace and velvet or left open to reveal long skirts or jeans.</p>
<p>No abayas will feature on the catwalk. The event hosts invitation-only fashion viewings and a Harvey Nichols pop-up store in a tent that was still being erected hours before the first show.</p>
<p>Another tent holds the catwalk, featuring designers from Brazil, Lebanon, Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.</p> MAKING THE KINGDOM FASHIONABLE
<p>The event, initially scheduled for last month, was postponed because of delays in issuing visas. Industry figures from Italy, Russia and Lebanon flocked to Riyadh, many for the first time, to admire the work of local and international designers.</p>
<p>Layla Issa Abouzeid, Saudi Arabia country director for the Dubai-based Arab Fashion Council (AFC) organizing the event, said 1,500 people were expected to attend, including 400 from abroad.</p>
<p>She hopes the event will bring revenue into the kingdom and highlight local talent.</p> Women attend the Arab Fashion Week in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia April 10, 2018. Picture taken April 10, 2018. REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser
<p>“[When] people go to Paris on the Paris Fashion week, the hotels are completely fully booked,” she said. “I want to create the same demand in Saudi Arabia, twice a year. I want to create a platform for the local designers to go worldwide.”</p>
<p>Lebanese designer Naja Saade came to Riyadh to display his couture collection.</p>
<p>“I’m very proud to participate in this first edition of Arab Fashion Week in Saudi Arabia, because it’s a part of the revolution of the women in this country,” he said.</p>
<p>By bringing talent from Europe and placing international brands on the same catwalk as Arab brands, he hopes to elevate local fashion designers.</p>
<p>AFC wants to introduce fashion courses, internships and scholarships to Saudi Arabia and develop a fashion district in Riyadh.</p> Slideshow (7 Images)
<p>Jacob Abrian, AFC founder and chief executive, said many Arabs have had to leave their countries to have fashion careers, but this recurring event allows them to stay in the region.</p>
<p>“I was always asking myself, why do us Arabs have to travel abroad to find our future? Why can’t we find our future in our own countries?”</p>
<p>Reporting by Sarah Dadouch, editing by Larry King</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
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<p>In Santa Clara Canyon, rainfall ranged between 3.09 and 8.9 inches since last Tuesday, causing road closures and damage to homes and tribal buildings on Santa Clara Pueblo.</p>
<p>On Monday, the pueblo also announced that a thunderstorm that came through the pueblo about 7 p.m. on Sunday forced the closure of the pueblo’s medical clinic.</p>
<p>Sheriff Regis Chavarria said a berm failure near the clinic resulted in several inches of water and mud seeping into the building. “The soils are so saturated there’s nowhere for the water to run. It goes where gravity takes it,” he said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Chavarria said the clinic will be closed at least a week until officials are able to assess damage to the floor, walls and electric components buried beneath the clinic. In the meantime, patients will have to go to the Santa Fe Indian Hospital for appointments, treatment, or to pick up prescription medicine.</p>
<p>Chavarria said numerous homes were also impacted by flooding, with some reports of water inside homes and adobe walls collapsing. “About 13 homes were affected, but those numbers are increasing,” he said.</p>
<p>Also Monday, the tribal council issued a resolution declaring a state of emergency. The disaster declaration allows the pueblo to apply for funding to pay for resources, aid and assistance through relief programs through the state and federal government.</p>
<p>Bandelier National Monument issued a news release late Monday that announced the popular Frijoles Canyon would be closed until at least Thursday due to extensive flooding.</p>
<p>According to the news release, high water came down the canyon on three different occasions last week, carrying debris and sediment, and stacking tree trunks, branches and rocks into huge piles along the banks of the creek and into the parking lot of the visitors center. In some areas, Frijoles Creek changed its course and wiped out sections of trails.</p>
<p>Other parts of the park were not affected and remain open, however.</p>
<p>Among the areas that remain open are the Juniper Campground and the Tsankawi and mesatop trails along N.M. 4.</p>
<p>Las Vegas</p>
<p>Near Las Vegas, N.M., where nearly 6 inches of rain has fallen in the past week, repair work on a breached canal off the Gallinas River that feeds Storrie Lake was completed late Monday afternoon, as some parts of the area remained submerged in floodwaters.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We’re taking in water to Storrie Lake now and will continue to reinforce the banks,” said Robert Quintana, president of the Storrie Project Water Users Association, which represents about 50 irrigators and owns the canal. “We’re not going to back off until we get a full flow.”</p>
<p>A contractor has been working to repair the canal since Friday. The breach meant all the water coming down the Gallinas during storms late last week ran through Las Vegas, without the relief valve the diversion canal usually provides, sending water over the riverbanks in town.</p>
<p>Also, Quintana estimated the breach caused the association to lose between 4,000 and 5,000 acre-feet of water that could have been diverted to the drought-stricken lake for storage. The privately owned lake, used mainly for irrigation of ranches and farms, holds about 22,000 acre-feet of water, he said.</p>
<p>Despite the breach, Las Vegas City Manager Tim Dodge said Storrie Lake was at about 59 percent of its capacity, up from 53 percent before the rains came.</p>
<p>Some homes outside the city limits suffered flood damage, he said, but there were only a few reports of city residents being impacted by flooding.</p>
<p>“We’ve been providing sandbags for residents and have assisted some families, pumping water out of their yards,” he said.</p>
<p>Dennis English, emergency manager for San Miguel County/City of Las Vegas Emergency Management, said the focus of its efforts has shifted to the county. He said he’s received several reports of bridges in the county being washed out. “We’re trying to identify those, as well as critical infrastructure, and then do an assessment of property damage,” he said.</p>
<p>English said one bridge on County Road A1 may have cut off access to the community of La Tegua. Bridges were also reported damaged or out of commission in the upper Gallinas area, near San Rafael and around Pecos.</p>
<p>Los Alamos</p>
<p>National Weather Service data shows that Los Alamos got 7.0 inches of rain in the past week. “We’ve had more rain in four days than we’ve had in six years,” lamented Los Alamos Emergency Manager Philmont Taylor. While there has been some flooding of roads, Taylor said he hasn’t received any reports about water getting into homes, other than from leaky roofs.</p>
<p>“The Los Alamos Canyon Dam Reservoir looks to be the hardest hit. There was a lot of debris and silt that washed down from the watershed,” he said.</p>
<p>“We’re putting together a rough quantification of damages and other issues related to water storage tanks and lines,” he said. “We’re at our saturation points. … You do what you can and hope for the best.”</p>
<p>Santa Fe</p>
<p>Santa Fe got much less rain than other parts of northern New Mexico, receiving 2.27 inches of rain in the past week, according the Weather Service.</p>
<p>Rick Carpenter, Santa Fe’s water resources and conservation manager, said the rains have more than doubled the amount of water in storage at the McClure reservoir, bringing the reservoir to 65 percent capacity – up from just 28 percent a week ago. “That’s really good news that we’ve got that much water in storage, absent a bunch of snow,” he said.</p>
<p>The bad news, Carpenter said, is that no water from the Rio Grande is being diverted from the city and county-owned Buckman Direct Diversion channel. “With all this rain, it’s a double-edged sword because when we have these big storms, lots of stuff flows down the river. The water quality has been so bad over the past several days, we haven’t been able to divert water from the river,” he said.</p>
<p>Asked when water from the river might be diverted from Buckman, Carpenter said, “It all depends on whether we get more rain. I would hope that in the next week or 10 days the river will have a chance to clean itself up and we can start diverting water again.”</p>
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Historic rainfall brings both good news and bad
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2013-09-17
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Historic rainfall brings both good news and bad
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<p />
<p>In Santa Clara Canyon, rainfall ranged between 3.09 and 8.9 inches since last Tuesday, causing road closures and damage to homes and tribal buildings on Santa Clara Pueblo.</p>
<p>On Monday, the pueblo also announced that a thunderstorm that came through the pueblo about 7 p.m. on Sunday forced the closure of the pueblo’s medical clinic.</p>
<p>Sheriff Regis Chavarria said a berm failure near the clinic resulted in several inches of water and mud seeping into the building. “The soils are so saturated there’s nowhere for the water to run. It goes where gravity takes it,” he said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Chavarria said the clinic will be closed at least a week until officials are able to assess damage to the floor, walls and electric components buried beneath the clinic. In the meantime, patients will have to go to the Santa Fe Indian Hospital for appointments, treatment, or to pick up prescription medicine.</p>
<p>Chavarria said numerous homes were also impacted by flooding, with some reports of water inside homes and adobe walls collapsing. “About 13 homes were affected, but those numbers are increasing,” he said.</p>
<p>Also Monday, the tribal council issued a resolution declaring a state of emergency. The disaster declaration allows the pueblo to apply for funding to pay for resources, aid and assistance through relief programs through the state and federal government.</p>
<p>Bandelier National Monument issued a news release late Monday that announced the popular Frijoles Canyon would be closed until at least Thursday due to extensive flooding.</p>
<p>According to the news release, high water came down the canyon on three different occasions last week, carrying debris and sediment, and stacking tree trunks, branches and rocks into huge piles along the banks of the creek and into the parking lot of the visitors center. In some areas, Frijoles Creek changed its course and wiped out sections of trails.</p>
<p>Other parts of the park were not affected and remain open, however.</p>
<p>Among the areas that remain open are the Juniper Campground and the Tsankawi and mesatop trails along N.M. 4.</p>
<p>Las Vegas</p>
<p>Near Las Vegas, N.M., where nearly 6 inches of rain has fallen in the past week, repair work on a breached canal off the Gallinas River that feeds Storrie Lake was completed late Monday afternoon, as some parts of the area remained submerged in floodwaters.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We’re taking in water to Storrie Lake now and will continue to reinforce the banks,” said Robert Quintana, president of the Storrie Project Water Users Association, which represents about 50 irrigators and owns the canal. “We’re not going to back off until we get a full flow.”</p>
<p>A contractor has been working to repair the canal since Friday. The breach meant all the water coming down the Gallinas during storms late last week ran through Las Vegas, without the relief valve the diversion canal usually provides, sending water over the riverbanks in town.</p>
<p>Also, Quintana estimated the breach caused the association to lose between 4,000 and 5,000 acre-feet of water that could have been diverted to the drought-stricken lake for storage. The privately owned lake, used mainly for irrigation of ranches and farms, holds about 22,000 acre-feet of water, he said.</p>
<p>Despite the breach, Las Vegas City Manager Tim Dodge said Storrie Lake was at about 59 percent of its capacity, up from 53 percent before the rains came.</p>
<p>Some homes outside the city limits suffered flood damage, he said, but there were only a few reports of city residents being impacted by flooding.</p>
<p>“We’ve been providing sandbags for residents and have assisted some families, pumping water out of their yards,” he said.</p>
<p>Dennis English, emergency manager for San Miguel County/City of Las Vegas Emergency Management, said the focus of its efforts has shifted to the county. He said he’s received several reports of bridges in the county being washed out. “We’re trying to identify those, as well as critical infrastructure, and then do an assessment of property damage,” he said.</p>
<p>English said one bridge on County Road A1 may have cut off access to the community of La Tegua. Bridges were also reported damaged or out of commission in the upper Gallinas area, near San Rafael and around Pecos.</p>
<p>Los Alamos</p>
<p>National Weather Service data shows that Los Alamos got 7.0 inches of rain in the past week. “We’ve had more rain in four days than we’ve had in six years,” lamented Los Alamos Emergency Manager Philmont Taylor. While there has been some flooding of roads, Taylor said he hasn’t received any reports about water getting into homes, other than from leaky roofs.</p>
<p>“The Los Alamos Canyon Dam Reservoir looks to be the hardest hit. There was a lot of debris and silt that washed down from the watershed,” he said.</p>
<p>“We’re putting together a rough quantification of damages and other issues related to water storage tanks and lines,” he said. “We’re at our saturation points. … You do what you can and hope for the best.”</p>
<p>Santa Fe</p>
<p>Santa Fe got much less rain than other parts of northern New Mexico, receiving 2.27 inches of rain in the past week, according the Weather Service.</p>
<p>Rick Carpenter, Santa Fe’s water resources and conservation manager, said the rains have more than doubled the amount of water in storage at the McClure reservoir, bringing the reservoir to 65 percent capacity – up from just 28 percent a week ago. “That’s really good news that we’ve got that much water in storage, absent a bunch of snow,” he said.</p>
<p>The bad news, Carpenter said, is that no water from the Rio Grande is being diverted from the city and county-owned Buckman Direct Diversion channel. “With all this rain, it’s a double-edged sword because when we have these big storms, lots of stuff flows down the river. The water quality has been so bad over the past several days, we haven’t been able to divert water from the river,” he said.</p>
<p>Asked when water from the river might be diverted from Buckman, Carpenter said, “It all depends on whether we get more rain. I would hope that in the next week or 10 days the river will have a chance to clean itself up and we can start diverting water again.”</p>
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<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man who authorities say was shot by officers after he rammed several police cars while trying to run from police has been charged after his release from the hospital.</p>
<p>Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said 30-year-old Nicholas Poulos was taken to police headquarters after being discharged from the hospital Friday. He was then taken to jail after his interview with a detective.</p>
<p>Police say officers tried to pull over Poulos for outstanding warrants near Interstate 77 in south Charlotte on Wednesday night. They say Poulos rammed several police cars as officers were out of their cruisers trying to arrest him. He was shot in the hand.</p>
<p>Poulos faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer as well as a number of other charges.</p>
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man who authorities say was shot by officers after he rammed several police cars while trying to run from police has been charged after his release from the hospital.</p>
<p>Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said 30-year-old Nicholas Poulos was taken to police headquarters after being discharged from the hospital Friday. He was then taken to jail after his interview with a detective.</p>
<p>Police say officers tried to pull over Poulos for outstanding warrants near Interstate 77 in south Charlotte on Wednesday night. They say Poulos rammed several police cars as officers were out of their cruisers trying to arrest him. He was shot in the hand.</p>
<p>Poulos faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer as well as a number of other charges.</p>
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Man shot after ramming police cars charged after treatment
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https://apnews.com/ebd9fec6f8d3478293af87ec5bb2a11d
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2017-12-30
| 2least
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Man shot after ramming police cars charged after treatment
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man who authorities say was shot by officers after he rammed several police cars while trying to run from police has been charged after his release from the hospital.</p>
<p>Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said 30-year-old Nicholas Poulos was taken to police headquarters after being discharged from the hospital Friday. He was then taken to jail after his interview with a detective.</p>
<p>Police say officers tried to pull over Poulos for outstanding warrants near Interstate 77 in south Charlotte on Wednesday night. They say Poulos rammed several police cars as officers were out of their cruisers trying to arrest him. He was shot in the hand.</p>
<p>Poulos faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer as well as a number of other charges.</p>
<p>CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A man who authorities say was shot by officers after he rammed several police cars while trying to run from police has been charged after his release from the hospital.</p>
<p>Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said 30-year-old Nicholas Poulos was taken to police headquarters after being discharged from the hospital Friday. He was then taken to jail after his interview with a detective.</p>
<p>Police say officers tried to pull over Poulos for outstanding warrants near Interstate 77 in south Charlotte on Wednesday night. They say Poulos rammed several police cars as officers were out of their cruisers trying to arrest him. He was shot in the hand.</p>
<p>Poulos faces one count of assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer as well as a number of other charges.</p>
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