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<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Compared to the current Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president Muhammad Khatami is regarded in Western foreign affairs circles as a moderate. When Khatami visited the US in September, he called on the US and Iran to stop verbally assaulting each other in the interest of dialogue that could build trust and eliminate the frictions between the two countries. Khatami said that the precondition for dialogue was “to eliminate the language of threat.”</p>
<p>In an attempt to “resolve conflicts by talking, rather than by aggression,” the venerable Scottish University of St. Andrews invited Khatami to the United Kingdom for an honorary degree, followed by a speech at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. However, a spanner was thrown into the works by two Iranian exiles, who claim to have been unlawfully imprisoned and tortured in Iran during the period of Khatami’s presidency. Under Section 134 of Britain’s Criminal Justice Act of 1988, torture wherever committed in the world is criminal under British law and triable in the UK. Thus, Khatami might still be arrested as he tours the UK in the interest of opening communication.</p>
<p>If Khatami can be arrested in the UK for torture, how does British Prime Minister Tony Blair escape arrest for the torture of Afghans and Iraqis by coalition forces? Why are not US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Richard Cheney, and President George W. Bush arrested when they visit the UK?</p>
<p>Does the British law excuse Anglo-Americans from its reach? Does it exclude government officials while they are in office and pursue them only when they have become private citizens?</p>
<p>Or are we witnessing the operation of the neoconservative assumption that there is one rule of law for the US and its allies and another rule for countries that do not support the neocon agenda? Neocons maintain that whatever the US and its allies or puppets do in the interest of US hegemony is defensible and permissible but is a crime if any other country does it.</p>
<p>When the president and vice president of the United States publicly defend and advocate torture and ram torture legislation through the US Congress, it is hypocrisy for the US to condemn others for torture.</p>
<p>Perhaps Americans don’t notice, but the rest of the world does see the double standard applied when Saddam Hussein is put on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, while US, UK, and Israeli government officials commit far greater crimes by illegally invading countries, targeting civilian populations, and torturing detainees.</p>
<p>Considering the enormous bloodshed and destruction of civilian lives and infrastructure in Afghanistan and Iraq by US and UK troops, why do British left-wing academics and human rights activists want to help the neoconservatives in the US and UK spread the war to Iran? Helping to spread war is what the British left is doing when they agitate for the arrest of Khatami while leaving Labour Party PM Tony Blair free to commit more crimes against humanity. Could it be that the two Iranian exiles are acting as neoconservative agents to block any possible rapprochement with Iran? This is not a wild speculation in view of the role Iraqi exiles played in deceiving the the American public and making false accusations against Iraq that Bush used to justify his invasion.</p>
<p>The Iraq and Afghanistan invasions have turned out to be a catastrophe for the US and UK as well as for the Iraqis and Afghans. Only a totally deranged political leadership would want to spread the catastrophe to Iran.</p>
<p>According to a BBC news report (October 30), British private security firm personnel–mercenaries to some–outnumber British soldiers in Iraq six to one. A British charity group accuses PM Tony Blair of “allowing mercenary armies to operate completely outside the law.”</p>
<p>In Britain it is no longer permissible to hunt foxes, because it is “cruel and inhumane,” but it is perfectly alright for private mercenaries and British soldiers to murder Iraqi and Afghan men, women, and children for the sake of Anglo-American-Israeli hegemony in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Saddam Hussein was overthrown and indicted, and Iraq largely destroyed, in part because Saddam is “an evil man who tortured political opponents.” Evidence of US torture of Iraqis is all over the Internet in vivid photos. According to Amnesty International, “Adequate safeguards against torture and ill-treatment are not in place in Multinational Force detention facilities, and thousands continue to be held without charge or trial.” The president and vice president of the US advocate torture not only of Iraqis but also of everyone declared, correctly or incorrectly, by some US government official to be a “terrorist suspect.”</p>
<p>Why are not Bush, Cheney and Blair on trial? Their crimes dwarf any that could possibly be attributed to Khatami.</p>
<p>The only possible answer is that “might makes right.” Yet, Bush, Cheney and Blair parade around draping themselves in moral justifications for their inhumane deeds and despicable acts.</p>
<p>The fact that Americans tolerate crimes against humanity by their own leaders is evidence that Americans are exceptional only in their hubris.</p>
<p>PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is author or coauthor of eight books, including The Supply-Side Revolutin (Harvard University Press). He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has contributed to numerous scholar journals and testified before Congress on 30 occasions. He has been awarded the U.S. Treasury’s Meritorious Service Award and the French Legion of Honor. He was a reviewer for the Journal of Political Economy under editor Robert Mundell.&#160;He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Evil is as Evil Does | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/11/02/evil-is-as-evil-does-3/ | 2006-11-02 | 4left
| Evil is as Evil Does
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Compared to the current Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president Muhammad Khatami is regarded in Western foreign affairs circles as a moderate. When Khatami visited the US in September, he called on the US and Iran to stop verbally assaulting each other in the interest of dialogue that could build trust and eliminate the frictions between the two countries. Khatami said that the precondition for dialogue was “to eliminate the language of threat.”</p>
<p>In an attempt to “resolve conflicts by talking, rather than by aggression,” the venerable Scottish University of St. Andrews invited Khatami to the United Kingdom for an honorary degree, followed by a speech at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London. However, a spanner was thrown into the works by two Iranian exiles, who claim to have been unlawfully imprisoned and tortured in Iran during the period of Khatami’s presidency. Under Section 134 of Britain’s Criminal Justice Act of 1988, torture wherever committed in the world is criminal under British law and triable in the UK. Thus, Khatami might still be arrested as he tours the UK in the interest of opening communication.</p>
<p>If Khatami can be arrested in the UK for torture, how does British Prime Minister Tony Blair escape arrest for the torture of Afghans and Iraqis by coalition forces? Why are not US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Vice President Richard Cheney, and President George W. Bush arrested when they visit the UK?</p>
<p>Does the British law excuse Anglo-Americans from its reach? Does it exclude government officials while they are in office and pursue them only when they have become private citizens?</p>
<p>Or are we witnessing the operation of the neoconservative assumption that there is one rule of law for the US and its allies and another rule for countries that do not support the neocon agenda? Neocons maintain that whatever the US and its allies or puppets do in the interest of US hegemony is defensible and permissible but is a crime if any other country does it.</p>
<p>When the president and vice president of the United States publicly defend and advocate torture and ram torture legislation through the US Congress, it is hypocrisy for the US to condemn others for torture.</p>
<p>Perhaps Americans don’t notice, but the rest of the world does see the double standard applied when Saddam Hussein is put on trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity, while US, UK, and Israeli government officials commit far greater crimes by illegally invading countries, targeting civilian populations, and torturing detainees.</p>
<p>Considering the enormous bloodshed and destruction of civilian lives and infrastructure in Afghanistan and Iraq by US and UK troops, why do British left-wing academics and human rights activists want to help the neoconservatives in the US and UK spread the war to Iran? Helping to spread war is what the British left is doing when they agitate for the arrest of Khatami while leaving Labour Party PM Tony Blair free to commit more crimes against humanity. Could it be that the two Iranian exiles are acting as neoconservative agents to block any possible rapprochement with Iran? This is not a wild speculation in view of the role Iraqi exiles played in deceiving the the American public and making false accusations against Iraq that Bush used to justify his invasion.</p>
<p>The Iraq and Afghanistan invasions have turned out to be a catastrophe for the US and UK as well as for the Iraqis and Afghans. Only a totally deranged political leadership would want to spread the catastrophe to Iran.</p>
<p>According to a BBC news report (October 30), British private security firm personnel–mercenaries to some–outnumber British soldiers in Iraq six to one. A British charity group accuses PM Tony Blair of “allowing mercenary armies to operate completely outside the law.”</p>
<p>In Britain it is no longer permissible to hunt foxes, because it is “cruel and inhumane,” but it is perfectly alright for private mercenaries and British soldiers to murder Iraqi and Afghan men, women, and children for the sake of Anglo-American-Israeli hegemony in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Saddam Hussein was overthrown and indicted, and Iraq largely destroyed, in part because Saddam is “an evil man who tortured political opponents.” Evidence of US torture of Iraqis is all over the Internet in vivid photos. According to Amnesty International, “Adequate safeguards against torture and ill-treatment are not in place in Multinational Force detention facilities, and thousands continue to be held without charge or trial.” The president and vice president of the US advocate torture not only of Iraqis but also of everyone declared, correctly or incorrectly, by some US government official to be a “terrorist suspect.”</p>
<p>Why are not Bush, Cheney and Blair on trial? Their crimes dwarf any that could possibly be attributed to Khatami.</p>
<p>The only possible answer is that “might makes right.” Yet, Bush, Cheney and Blair parade around draping themselves in moral justifications for their inhumane deeds and despicable acts.</p>
<p>The fact that Americans tolerate crimes against humanity by their own leaders is evidence that Americans are exceptional only in their hubris.</p>
<p>PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS wrote the Kemp-Roth bill and was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is author or coauthor of eight books, including The Supply-Side Revolutin (Harvard University Press). He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair in Political Economy, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He has contributed to numerous scholar journals and testified before Congress on 30 occasions. He has been awarded the U.S. Treasury’s Meritorious Service Award and the French Legion of Honor. He was a reviewer for the Journal of Political Economy under editor Robert Mundell.&#160;He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 599,700 |
<p>John Seiler:</p>
<p>California insanely is going forward with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming_Solutions_Act_of_2006" type="external">AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006</a>, which will <a href="" type="internal">kill 1.1 million jobs</a> in California in the midst of the Great Recession. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is realizing that there is no global warming. Here’s a Brit politician explaining reality:</p>
<p />
<p>Dec. 16, 2010</p> | Brit Pol Explains Global Warm Scam | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2010/12/16/brit-pol-explains-global-warm-scam/ | 2018-12-20 | 3left-center
| Brit Pol Explains Global Warm Scam
<p>John Seiler:</p>
<p>California insanely is going forward with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming_Solutions_Act_of_2006" type="external">AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006</a>, which will <a href="" type="internal">kill 1.1 million jobs</a> in California in the midst of the Great Recession. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is realizing that there is no global warming. Here’s a Brit politician explaining reality:</p>
<p />
<p>Dec. 16, 2010</p> | 599,701 |
<p>Burlington Stores Inc. shares are up 4.6% in Monday trading after the company raised its second quarter guidance. The off-price retailer now expects fiscal second quarter comparable sales to increase between 4.2% and 4.5%, up from an increase of 2.5% to 3.5%. And Burlington Stores expects adjusted net income between 28 cents and 30 cents per share, up from between 20 cents per share and 23 cents per share. The company will update its full-year guidance when it announces second-quarter results, it said in a statement. Burlington Stores is expected to announced second-quarter results on September 6, according to FactSet. Burlington Stores shares are up 65% for the year so far while the S&amp;P 500 is up 5.8% for the same period.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | Burlington Stores Shares Jump After Second Quarter Guidance Increase | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/07/18/burlington-stores-shares-jump-after-second-quarter-guidance-increase.html | 2016-07-18 | 0right
| Burlington Stores Shares Jump After Second Quarter Guidance Increase
<p>Burlington Stores Inc. shares are up 4.6% in Monday trading after the company raised its second quarter guidance. The off-price retailer now expects fiscal second quarter comparable sales to increase between 4.2% and 4.5%, up from an increase of 2.5% to 3.5%. And Burlington Stores expects adjusted net income between 28 cents and 30 cents per share, up from between 20 cents per share and 23 cents per share. The company will update its full-year guidance when it announces second-quarter results, it said in a statement. Burlington Stores is expected to announced second-quarter results on September 6, according to FactSet. Burlington Stores shares are up 65% for the year so far while the S&amp;P 500 is up 5.8% for the same period.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | 599,702 |
<p>American Airlines, Travelers, Qualcomm among stocks to watch</p>
<p>U.S. stocks looked set to keep a grip on record highs Thursday, with investors looking for earnings from Microsoft Corp. later in the day to help cement a strong run for technology stocks.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Results from companies like American Airlines Group Inc. and a European Central Bank monetary policy meeting are highlights ahead of the market open.</p>
<p>Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 17 points to 21,613, while S&amp;P 500 index futures added 1.85 points to 2,473.25. Nasdaq-100 index (NQ) futures edged up 0.75 point to 5,919.25.</p>
<p>All three major indexes snared new closing records on Wednesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tech-stocks-on-track-to-set-another-record-even-as-sp-futures-struggle-2017-07-19), buoyed by earnings optimism after better-than-expected Morgan Stanley (MS) results. The DJIA ended up 0.3% at 21,640.75, the S&amp;P 500 gained 0.5% to 2,473.83, and the Nasdaq-100 rose 0.6% to 6,385.04, for its 40th record close this year.</p>
<p>At the same time, the S&amp;P 500's Information Technology sector closed 0.56% higher at 992.29. That broke a record set on March 27, 2000, at the height of the dot-com bubble, when it closed at 988.49.</p>
<p>Read: BAML's Hartnett sees global snub for U.S. stocks as more fuel for upside (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bamls-hartnett-sees-global-snub-of-us-stocks-as-more-fuel-for-upside-2017-07-19)</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Those U.S. stock records inspired gains across the globe on Thursday, as Asian and European equities pushed higher on a day of key central bank meetings. Earlier, the Bank of Japan lifted hopes for more monetary stimulus (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-japan-leaves-monetary-policy-alone-pushes-back-inflation-goals-2017-07-19) as it pushed back its inflation target, while the European Central Bank's own monetary policy meeting will be closely watched for signs it may ease up on its bond-buying program.</p>
<p>Read:Why Mario Draghi can't back down from ECB taper hints (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-mario-draghi-cant-back-down-from-ecb-taper-hints-2017-07-19)</p>
<p>The ECB meeting may not have much impact on U.S. stocks, though, said Craig Erlam, Oanda's senior market analyst, in emailed comments. He said the central bank is likely to lay the foundation for another small cut to its bond-buying program in September.</p>
<p>"U.S. investors are also more focused on earnings season at the moment and what the Fed is doing," said Erlam.</p>
<p>Early readings on U.S. earnings have been largely upbeat, though Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) disappointed this week, and investors are looking to results to keep driving gains.</p>
<p>U.S. economic data on tap for Thursday includes weekly jobless claims and the Philadelphia Fed index for July, both due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Leading economic indicators for June are expected at 10 a.m. Eastern.</p>
<p>Stocks in focus: Among those on the earnings docket ahead of the market open are Travelers Inc.(TRV) , Philip Morris International Inc.(PM) and American Airlines Group Inc.(AAL) .</p>
<p>Microsoft Corp.(MSFT) , Visa Inc.(V) , eBay Inc.(EBAY) and Capitol One Financial Corp.(COF) are among those companies reporting after the close.</p>
<p>Check out:Preview of Microsoft earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/microsoft-earnings-massive-changes-are-ahead-2017-07-19)</p>
<p>Qualcomm Inc.(QCOM) shares were down around 3% in premarket trading, after the chip maker's quarterly earnings met forecasts late Wednesday, but its forecast made no mention of sales related to Apple Inc. (AAPL) products.</p>
<p>Read:Qualcomm's issues go beyond Apple fight (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/qualcomms-issues-go-beyond-apple-fight-2017-07-19)</p>
<p>(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/qualcomms-issues-go-beyond-apple-fight-2017-07-19) (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ptc-shares-fall-after-hours-on-weak-outlook-2017-07-19)Other markets: Stocks rose in Asia (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-post-gains-awaiting-central-bank-decisions-2017-07-19) after the Bank of Japan pushed back on its inflation target, which fueled some hopes for more monetary stimulus. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.3% ahead of that ECB meeting.</p>
<p>The dollar traded mostly flat (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/euro-holds-steady-at-115-as-all-eyes-turn-to-ecb-meeting-2017-07-20) across the board, though slightly higher against the yen .</p>
<p>Oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-ease-ahead-of-data-that-may-show-rising-us-inventories-2017-07-19) were flat, while gold prices slipped $4.90 to $1,237.10 an ounce.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>July 20, 2017 06:18 ET (10:18 GMT)</p> | MARKET SNAPSHOT: Wall Street Stocks Poised To Hold Onto Record Run; ECB Meeting In The Spotlight | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/07/20/market-snapshot-wall-street-stocks-poised-to-hold-onto-record-run-ecb-meeting-in-spotlight.html | 2017-07-20 | 0right
| MARKET SNAPSHOT: Wall Street Stocks Poised To Hold Onto Record Run; ECB Meeting In The Spotlight
<p>American Airlines, Travelers, Qualcomm among stocks to watch</p>
<p>U.S. stocks looked set to keep a grip on record highs Thursday, with investors looking for earnings from Microsoft Corp. later in the day to help cement a strong run for technology stocks.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Results from companies like American Airlines Group Inc. and a European Central Bank monetary policy meeting are highlights ahead of the market open.</p>
<p>Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 17 points to 21,613, while S&amp;P 500 index futures added 1.85 points to 2,473.25. Nasdaq-100 index (NQ) futures edged up 0.75 point to 5,919.25.</p>
<p>All three major indexes snared new closing records on Wednesday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/tech-stocks-on-track-to-set-another-record-even-as-sp-futures-struggle-2017-07-19), buoyed by earnings optimism after better-than-expected Morgan Stanley (MS) results. The DJIA ended up 0.3% at 21,640.75, the S&amp;P 500 gained 0.5% to 2,473.83, and the Nasdaq-100 rose 0.6% to 6,385.04, for its 40th record close this year.</p>
<p>At the same time, the S&amp;P 500's Information Technology sector closed 0.56% higher at 992.29. That broke a record set on March 27, 2000, at the height of the dot-com bubble, when it closed at 988.49.</p>
<p>Read: BAML's Hartnett sees global snub for U.S. stocks as more fuel for upside (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bamls-hartnett-sees-global-snub-of-us-stocks-as-more-fuel-for-upside-2017-07-19)</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Those U.S. stock records inspired gains across the globe on Thursday, as Asian and European equities pushed higher on a day of key central bank meetings. Earlier, the Bank of Japan lifted hopes for more monetary stimulus (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bank-of-japan-leaves-monetary-policy-alone-pushes-back-inflation-goals-2017-07-19) as it pushed back its inflation target, while the European Central Bank's own monetary policy meeting will be closely watched for signs it may ease up on its bond-buying program.</p>
<p>Read:Why Mario Draghi can't back down from ECB taper hints (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-mario-draghi-cant-back-down-from-ecb-taper-hints-2017-07-19)</p>
<p>The ECB meeting may not have much impact on U.S. stocks, though, said Craig Erlam, Oanda's senior market analyst, in emailed comments. He said the central bank is likely to lay the foundation for another small cut to its bond-buying program in September.</p>
<p>"U.S. investors are also more focused on earnings season at the moment and what the Fed is doing," said Erlam.</p>
<p>Early readings on U.S. earnings have been largely upbeat, though Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) disappointed this week, and investors are looking to results to keep driving gains.</p>
<p>U.S. economic data on tap for Thursday includes weekly jobless claims and the Philadelphia Fed index for July, both due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Leading economic indicators for June are expected at 10 a.m. Eastern.</p>
<p>Stocks in focus: Among those on the earnings docket ahead of the market open are Travelers Inc.(TRV) , Philip Morris International Inc.(PM) and American Airlines Group Inc.(AAL) .</p>
<p>Microsoft Corp.(MSFT) , Visa Inc.(V) , eBay Inc.(EBAY) and Capitol One Financial Corp.(COF) are among those companies reporting after the close.</p>
<p>Check out:Preview of Microsoft earnings (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/microsoft-earnings-massive-changes-are-ahead-2017-07-19)</p>
<p>Qualcomm Inc.(QCOM) shares were down around 3% in premarket trading, after the chip maker's quarterly earnings met forecasts late Wednesday, but its forecast made no mention of sales related to Apple Inc. (AAPL) products.</p>
<p>Read:Qualcomm's issues go beyond Apple fight (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/qualcomms-issues-go-beyond-apple-fight-2017-07-19)</p>
<p>(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/qualcomms-issues-go-beyond-apple-fight-2017-07-19) (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ptc-shares-fall-after-hours-on-weak-outlook-2017-07-19)Other markets: Stocks rose in Asia (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-post-gains-awaiting-central-bank-decisions-2017-07-19) after the Bank of Japan pushed back on its inflation target, which fueled some hopes for more monetary stimulus. The Stoxx Europe 600 index rose 0.3% ahead of that ECB meeting.</p>
<p>The dollar traded mostly flat (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/euro-holds-steady-at-115-as-all-eyes-turn-to-ecb-meeting-2017-07-20) across the board, though slightly higher against the yen .</p>
<p>Oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-ease-ahead-of-data-that-may-show-rising-us-inventories-2017-07-19) were flat, while gold prices slipped $4.90 to $1,237.10 an ounce.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>July 20, 2017 06:18 ET (10:18 GMT)</p> | 599,703 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>SAFFORD, Ariz. — The state highway that goes up Mount Graham in southeastern Arizona has closed for the winter.</p>
<p>The Arizona Department of Transportation says State Route 366 closed Monday and will remain so through April 15.</p>
<p>The highway also known as the Swift Trail begins about five miles south of Safford off US 191.</p>
<p>ADOT says the highway is blocked about a half-mile past the Coronado National Forest’s Shannon Campground.</p>
<p>Motor vehicles aren’t allowed on SR 366 past the locked gate, but hikers, mountain bikers and cross-country skiers may still use the area.</p>
<p>ADOT says it will close lower portions of SR 366 as needed to clear snow.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Highway up southeastern Arizona mountain closes for winter | false | https://abqjournal.com/889437/highway-up-southeastern-arizona-mountain-closes-for-winter.html | 2least
| Highway up southeastern Arizona mountain closes for winter
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>SAFFORD, Ariz. — The state highway that goes up Mount Graham in southeastern Arizona has closed for the winter.</p>
<p>The Arizona Department of Transportation says State Route 366 closed Monday and will remain so through April 15.</p>
<p>The highway also known as the Swift Trail begins about five miles south of Safford off US 191.</p>
<p>ADOT says the highway is blocked about a half-mile past the Coronado National Forest’s Shannon Campground.</p>
<p>Motor vehicles aren’t allowed on SR 366 past the locked gate, but hikers, mountain bikers and cross-country skiers may still use the area.</p>
<p>ADOT says it will close lower portions of SR 366 as needed to clear snow.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 599,704 |
|
<p>CHICAGO — The <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Pittsburgh_Steelers/" type="external">Pittsburgh Steelers</a> will remain in their locker room during the national anthem prior to their game against the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Chicago_Bears/" type="external">Chicago Bears</a> on Sunday at Soldier Field in response to President <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Donald_Trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a>‘s comments.</p>
<p>Steelers coach <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Mike_Tomlin/" type="external">Mike Tomlin</a> told CBS Sports that the choice to keep his team off the field during the anthem was not to be disrespectful. He said the decision was made to “remove ourselves from the circumstance” because “people shouldn’t have to choose.”</p>
<p>“These are very divisive times times for our country,” Tomlin said in the interview with CBS. “For us as a <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/John_Walker/" type="external">football</a> team, it’s about remaining solid.”</p> | Pittsburgh Steelers to remain in locker room during national anthem in response to Donald Trump | false | https://newsline.com/pittsburgh-steelers-to-remain-in-locker-room-during-national-anthem-in-response-to-donald-trump/ | 2017-09-24 | 1right-center
| Pittsburgh Steelers to remain in locker room during national anthem in response to Donald Trump
<p>CHICAGO — The <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Pittsburgh_Steelers/" type="external">Pittsburgh Steelers</a> will remain in their locker room during the national anthem prior to their game against the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Chicago_Bears/" type="external">Chicago Bears</a> on Sunday at Soldier Field in response to President <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Donald_Trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a>‘s comments.</p>
<p>Steelers coach <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Mike_Tomlin/" type="external">Mike Tomlin</a> told CBS Sports that the choice to keep his team off the field during the anthem was not to be disrespectful. He said the decision was made to “remove ourselves from the circumstance” because “people shouldn’t have to choose.”</p>
<p>“These are very divisive times times for our country,” Tomlin said in the interview with CBS. “For us as a <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/John_Walker/" type="external">football</a> team, it’s about remaining solid.”</p> | 599,705 |
<p>On December 23, <a href="https://www.blogtalkradio.com/latinorebels/2017/01/09/calling-out-machismo-culture" type="external">the&#160;Facebook page of Conejo Productions published a video</a> called BOYS WILL BE BOYS.&#160;It boldly confronted machismo culture in the Latino community. Since then, the video has been viewed more than 8 million times. <a href="https://audioboom.com/channel/latinorebelsradio" type="external">This week on Latino Rebels Radio</a>, Gloria Morán and Kimberly Bautista joined us to talk about the story behind the video.</p>
<p />
<p>The narrative can indeed change.</p>
<p>December 30, 2016</p>
<p>Come on. Really? Let's step back for a minute and give you the context. This past weekend, the Miami Herald reported a new poll it conducted with Florida International University. The latest results have Obama leading Romney 51-44%&#160;(just seven percentage points) among the sampling of about 720 Latino voters the…</p>
<p>October 15, 2012</p>
<p>No way! We say MORE TACOS!!!</p>
<p>September 1, 2016</p> | Calling Out Machismo Culture (PODCAST) | true | http://latinorebels.com/2017/01/09/calling-out-machismo-culture-podcast/ | 2017-01-09 | 4left
| Calling Out Machismo Culture (PODCAST)
<p>On December 23, <a href="https://www.blogtalkradio.com/latinorebels/2017/01/09/calling-out-machismo-culture" type="external">the&#160;Facebook page of Conejo Productions published a video</a> called BOYS WILL BE BOYS.&#160;It boldly confronted machismo culture in the Latino community. Since then, the video has been viewed more than 8 million times. <a href="https://audioboom.com/channel/latinorebelsradio" type="external">This week on Latino Rebels Radio</a>, Gloria Morán and Kimberly Bautista joined us to talk about the story behind the video.</p>
<p />
<p>The narrative can indeed change.</p>
<p>December 30, 2016</p>
<p>Come on. Really? Let's step back for a minute and give you the context. This past weekend, the Miami Herald reported a new poll it conducted with Florida International University. The latest results have Obama leading Romney 51-44%&#160;(just seven percentage points) among the sampling of about 720 Latino voters the…</p>
<p>October 15, 2012</p>
<p>No way! We say MORE TACOS!!!</p>
<p>September 1, 2016</p> | 599,706 |
<p>Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Newscom via ZUMA</p>
<p>At a <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/extremist-content-and-russian-disinformation-online-working-with-tech-to-find-solutions" type="external">Senate Judiciary Committee</a>&#160;hearing today investigating Russian interference on social-media platforms during the 2016 election, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) tore into Facebook’s general counsel, Colin Stretch, over Russian ads on the platform.&#160;</p>
<p>“How did Facebook, which prides itself on being able to process billions of data points and instantly transform them into personal connections for its users, somehow not make the connection that electoral ads paid for in rubles were coming from Russia?” an incredulous Franken asked Stretch. “Those are two data points! American political ads, and Russian money, rubles. How could you not connect those two dots?</p>
<p>When Stretch tried to explain Facebook’s efforts to address the issues, acknowledging that Facebook, “in hindsight, should have had a broader lens,” and that “signals were missed,” Franken immediately shot back: “People are buying ads on your platforms with rubles…You put billions of data points together all the time. You can’t put together rubles with a political ad and go, hmm, those two data points spell out something bad?”&#160;</p>
<p>Watch the heated exchange here:&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Legal representatives from Facebook, Twitter, and Google have begun testifying this week on Russian interference on their platforms.&#160;</p> | Al Franken Tears Into Facebook Counsel at Senate Hearing | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/al-franken-tears-into-facebook-counsel-at-senate-hearing/ | 2017-10-31 | 4left
| Al Franken Tears Into Facebook Counsel at Senate Hearing
<p>Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Newscom via ZUMA</p>
<p>At a <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/meetings/extremist-content-and-russian-disinformation-online-working-with-tech-to-find-solutions" type="external">Senate Judiciary Committee</a>&#160;hearing today investigating Russian interference on social-media platforms during the 2016 election, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) tore into Facebook’s general counsel, Colin Stretch, over Russian ads on the platform.&#160;</p>
<p>“How did Facebook, which prides itself on being able to process billions of data points and instantly transform them into personal connections for its users, somehow not make the connection that electoral ads paid for in rubles were coming from Russia?” an incredulous Franken asked Stretch. “Those are two data points! American political ads, and Russian money, rubles. How could you not connect those two dots?</p>
<p>When Stretch tried to explain Facebook’s efforts to address the issues, acknowledging that Facebook, “in hindsight, should have had a broader lens,” and that “signals were missed,” Franken immediately shot back: “People are buying ads on your platforms with rubles…You put billions of data points together all the time. You can’t put together rubles with a political ad and go, hmm, those two data points spell out something bad?”&#160;</p>
<p>Watch the heated exchange here:&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Legal representatives from Facebook, Twitter, and Google have begun testifying this week on Russian interference on their platforms.&#160;</p> | 599,707 |
<p>In the middle of everyday life, how do we experience the holy? This was a question I’ve been pondering since a recent road trip to the quaint little town of Lancaster, Pa. &#160; I set out to visit Lancaster with the intention of browsing their Central Market and taking in a newly developed block of art galleries in downtown, along with gaining some appreciation for Amish and Mennonite traditions there in the heart of their communities.</p>
<p />
<p>What I did not expect to do was learn more than I ever wanted to know about the ancient Israelites’ portable tabernacle, the one God gave strict instructions to construct in the middle of every campsite they visited in those 40 years of wandering the desert after their exodus from Egypt.</p>
<p>We stopped at a Pennsylvania Welcome Center before arriving, scanning the brochure rack for interesting destinations. And so, for the mere oddity of its existence, a friend and I felt compelled to make our first stop in Lancaster at the Biblical Tabernacle Reproduction — a full-size model of the Israelites’ house of worship, built to exact biblical specifications and housed on the grounds of the Mennonite Information Center right next to the Tanger Outlet mall on the edge of the city.</p>
<p>We arrived about noon, which was fortunate because the only way to see the tabernacle is to join a guided tour beginning every hour on the hour. After paying for $7.50 per ticket we were shown into a small room filled with benches. One whole wall was glass, allowing a view of what we quickly learned was the temple courtyard. An elderly Mennonite woman in a long black skirt and sensible lace-up shoes stood purposefully at the front of the room and began her tour.</p>
<p>We first heard a recitation of Israel’s history. Our guide quickly listed the names of Abram and of his descendants, throwing in juicy tidbits we learn in Sunday school, barely pausing for a breath. Her goal was, of course, to bring us up to speed with Israel’s story so we might understand the need for a collapsible tabernacle.</p>
<p>After our short history lesson our tour guide invited the group (by now seven of us) into the tabernacle itself. No food was allowed, she explained, and no pictures whatsoever.</p>
<p>We followed our guide somberly into the tabernacle, which looked suspiciously like a converted church sanctuary to me. All of us hushed with the awareness that our guide took her job very seriously and that we were in a place she considered deeply holy.</p>
<p>We sat quietly while the tour guide purposefully turned on switches to light the “flames” of the temple candlesticks, allowed us to peer through a small window to the holy of holies (no pictures!), and pressed a button that moved a mannequin (High Priest Aaron, don’t you know) jerkily down a track toward the altar to demonstrate the lighting of incense.</p>
<p>And while the tour continued with all seriousness, I kept looking at my shoes, avoiding the gaze of my friend and trying to make sense of sitting in a biblical tabernacle replica in the middle of Amish country. I confess that I may have even stifled a giggle toward the end when our tour guide, standing right next to the high priest mannequin, stretched out her hands and recited a passage from Revelation so loudly the feedback on her portable microphone hurt our ears: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God!”</p>
<p>Finally, our guide paused and thanked us for coming to visit this place that has held so much meaning for so many people, and obviously for her. Before we left she asked us to hear the high priestly blessing. She held out her arms toward us and pronounced: “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord shine His countenance toward you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace.”</p>
<p>Then I felt it — a little bit of holy in the middle of all the gold spray paint and bath rugs cut to look like animal skins.</p>
<p>In all the ridiculousness I could sense the wonder of it all. And even skeptical me, busy on a road trip to visit Amish country, felt a little bit of holy in the midst of everyday life.</p>
<p>Amy Butler is senior pastor of <a href="http://www.calvarybaptistdc.org/" type="external">Calvary Baptist Church</a>in Washington. This article was distributed by Associated Baptist Press.</p> | OPINION: Finding the holy in Amish country | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/opinionfindingtheholyinamishcountry/ | 3left-center
| OPINION: Finding the holy in Amish country
<p>In the middle of everyday life, how do we experience the holy? This was a question I’ve been pondering since a recent road trip to the quaint little town of Lancaster, Pa. &#160; I set out to visit Lancaster with the intention of browsing their Central Market and taking in a newly developed block of art galleries in downtown, along with gaining some appreciation for Amish and Mennonite traditions there in the heart of their communities.</p>
<p />
<p>What I did not expect to do was learn more than I ever wanted to know about the ancient Israelites’ portable tabernacle, the one God gave strict instructions to construct in the middle of every campsite they visited in those 40 years of wandering the desert after their exodus from Egypt.</p>
<p>We stopped at a Pennsylvania Welcome Center before arriving, scanning the brochure rack for interesting destinations. And so, for the mere oddity of its existence, a friend and I felt compelled to make our first stop in Lancaster at the Biblical Tabernacle Reproduction — a full-size model of the Israelites’ house of worship, built to exact biblical specifications and housed on the grounds of the Mennonite Information Center right next to the Tanger Outlet mall on the edge of the city.</p>
<p>We arrived about noon, which was fortunate because the only way to see the tabernacle is to join a guided tour beginning every hour on the hour. After paying for $7.50 per ticket we were shown into a small room filled with benches. One whole wall was glass, allowing a view of what we quickly learned was the temple courtyard. An elderly Mennonite woman in a long black skirt and sensible lace-up shoes stood purposefully at the front of the room and began her tour.</p>
<p>We first heard a recitation of Israel’s history. Our guide quickly listed the names of Abram and of his descendants, throwing in juicy tidbits we learn in Sunday school, barely pausing for a breath. Her goal was, of course, to bring us up to speed with Israel’s story so we might understand the need for a collapsible tabernacle.</p>
<p>After our short history lesson our tour guide invited the group (by now seven of us) into the tabernacle itself. No food was allowed, she explained, and no pictures whatsoever.</p>
<p>We followed our guide somberly into the tabernacle, which looked suspiciously like a converted church sanctuary to me. All of us hushed with the awareness that our guide took her job very seriously and that we were in a place she considered deeply holy.</p>
<p>We sat quietly while the tour guide purposefully turned on switches to light the “flames” of the temple candlesticks, allowed us to peer through a small window to the holy of holies (no pictures!), and pressed a button that moved a mannequin (High Priest Aaron, don’t you know) jerkily down a track toward the altar to demonstrate the lighting of incense.</p>
<p>And while the tour continued with all seriousness, I kept looking at my shoes, avoiding the gaze of my friend and trying to make sense of sitting in a biblical tabernacle replica in the middle of Amish country. I confess that I may have even stifled a giggle toward the end when our tour guide, standing right next to the high priest mannequin, stretched out her hands and recited a passage from Revelation so loudly the feedback on her portable microphone hurt our ears: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God!”</p>
<p>Finally, our guide paused and thanked us for coming to visit this place that has held so much meaning for so many people, and obviously for her. Before we left she asked us to hear the high priestly blessing. She held out her arms toward us and pronounced: “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord shine His countenance toward you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance toward you and give you peace.”</p>
<p>Then I felt it — a little bit of holy in the middle of all the gold spray paint and bath rugs cut to look like animal skins.</p>
<p>In all the ridiculousness I could sense the wonder of it all. And even skeptical me, busy on a road trip to visit Amish country, felt a little bit of holy in the midst of everyday life.</p>
<p>Amy Butler is senior pastor of <a href="http://www.calvarybaptistdc.org/" type="external">Calvary Baptist Church</a>in Washington. This article was distributed by Associated Baptist Press.</p> | 599,708 |
|
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Do you collect anything? My dear Aunt Isabel used to collect little spoons that she proudly displayed in a wall cabinet. Grandma collected tea cups. I began a collection of beautiful hand bells.</p>
<p>Well, some people collect items that are much more macabre – items that have a connection to notorious serial killers.</p>
<p>How macabre? Would you believe these collectors buy serial killer’s autographed photos, artwork and handwritten letters sent to people outside prison walls?</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Even an envelope bearing a handwritten return address commands a pretty penny. The murderer’s fingernail clippings, dirty socks or any other object that can be authenticated as genuine ranks a place of honor on some people’s mantle.</p>
<p>But those are not the most shocking serial killer items up for sale on the Internet.</p>
<p>Andy Kahan, the Houston Police Department’s victim rights advocate, has dedicated much of the last 15 years to following – and fighting – this bizarre form of commerce.</p>
<p>Kahan told me he got interested in making sure serial killers could never profit from their crimes after reading an article about Arthur Shawcross, who sold paintings and poems out of his cell in upstate New York.</p>
<p>This serial killer had sexually abused, mutilated and killed at least 14 people (including two children) in the ’70s and ’80s. Some Shawcross paintings sold for nearly $600.</p>
<p>“I thought to myself, ‘this just not right,'” Kahan said. His research led him to eBay where items from several notorious killers were being sold.</p>
<p>Kahan vowed to spread the word about the morbid practice and actually bought up some of the most bizarre offerings to use during lectures on why there should be a law against the practice. He called these odd collectibles “murderabilia” and the name has stuck.</p>
<p>Kahan bought hair from Charlie Manson that had been fashioned into a swastika, dirt from a crawlspace-tomb at John Wayne Gacy’s house and an action figure of cannibal killer Jeffrey Dahmer that is marketed with this little ditty: “Open me up for a sure delight and see what I ate for dinner last night.” Unzip the doll and mock body parts fall out.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Among the most disgusting thing for sale, according to Kahan, was a bag of rocks and dirt taken from the Texas road where in 1998 a black man named James Bryd was dragged to his death by three white supremacists.</p>
<p>“From a victim’s perspective, selling murderabilia is about the most nauseating and disgusting thing that could happen,” Kahan told me. “It is like being gutted all over again by the justice system.”</p>
<p>Kahan has made it his life’s calling to rid the Internet of this ugly profit-making booty. eBay finally gave in to his persistent calls and lobbying, and has now banned the sale of murderabilia from its site.</p>
<p>Kahan works hard to get states with the most serial killers in prison to pass “notoriety for profit” laws to make sure none of the money goes to the criminals. So far, Alabama, California, Florida, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Utah and Texas have done so.</p>
<p>Many people think the so-called Son of Sam laws prohibiting murderers from profiting by selling their life stories are still in effect, but they were declared an unconstitutional violation of free speech by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991.</p>
<p>Notoriety for profit laws are designed to follow the money and, therein, lies the difference.</p>
<p>In the meantime, there are still grisly offerings out there: Calendars, trading cards, T-shirts and even snow globes glorifying the grisly crimes of these killers. A handwritten recipe card from Dorthea Puentes for her tuna casserole is one of the coveted finds.</p>
<p>Puentes ran a rooming house in Sacramento, Calif., in the ’80s and killed at least nine of the elderly boarders who dared to complain that she was cashing and keeping their Social Security checks.</p>
<p>Then there are the gravestone chips from Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein’s final resting place. His repulsive story was the inspiration for the movies “Psycho” and “Silence of the Lambs.”</p>
<p>After the purveyors of murderabilia found the eBay door closed, sellers simply started their own websites and their ghastly business flourishes. As Kahan says, “I have no problem with those who are collecting the stuff. My problem is someone profiting from it. It is blood money plain and simple.”</p>
<p>While some of the convicts have entered into shady “trades” with sellers – mailing out their personal items in return for small gifts or money deposited into their prison accounts – many of the killers had no clue that what they were sending from prison was then being sold at auction sites.</p>
<p>“(David) Berkowitz had no idea his things were being sold and is violently opposed to it,” Dr. Scott Bonn told me. “After having been born again in 1987 … he thinks it is a sacrilege.”</p>
<p>As an author and professor of criminology, Bonn befriended the so-called Son of Sam Killer as part of his research for an upcoming book called “Why We Love Serial Killers.”</p>
<p>So why are we so fascinated by them? And what prompts people to collect these awful souvenirs? Bonn believes the media elevates these larger-than-life ghouls to morbid rock stars status. They become celebrity monsters.</p>
<p>“It’s an adrenalin rush and we love to have the crap scared out of us,” Bonn said. “That, and we’re riveted to the dark side of humanity … they define the outside parameters of what one human being can do to another.”</p>
<p>Indeed, but I still don’t want a bag of dirt from a crime scene on the shelf with my bells.</p>
<p>www.DianeDimond.net – e-mail to <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p /> | Murderabilia — the the latest fad in collectibles | false | https://abqjournal.com/215751/murderabilia-ndash-the.html | 2013-06-29 | 2least
| Murderabilia — the the latest fad in collectibles
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Do you collect anything? My dear Aunt Isabel used to collect little spoons that she proudly displayed in a wall cabinet. Grandma collected tea cups. I began a collection of beautiful hand bells.</p>
<p>Well, some people collect items that are much more macabre – items that have a connection to notorious serial killers.</p>
<p>How macabre? Would you believe these collectors buy serial killer’s autographed photos, artwork and handwritten letters sent to people outside prison walls?</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Even an envelope bearing a handwritten return address commands a pretty penny. The murderer’s fingernail clippings, dirty socks or any other object that can be authenticated as genuine ranks a place of honor on some people’s mantle.</p>
<p>But those are not the most shocking serial killer items up for sale on the Internet.</p>
<p>Andy Kahan, the Houston Police Department’s victim rights advocate, has dedicated much of the last 15 years to following – and fighting – this bizarre form of commerce.</p>
<p>Kahan told me he got interested in making sure serial killers could never profit from their crimes after reading an article about Arthur Shawcross, who sold paintings and poems out of his cell in upstate New York.</p>
<p>This serial killer had sexually abused, mutilated and killed at least 14 people (including two children) in the ’70s and ’80s. Some Shawcross paintings sold for nearly $600.</p>
<p>“I thought to myself, ‘this just not right,'” Kahan said. His research led him to eBay where items from several notorious killers were being sold.</p>
<p>Kahan vowed to spread the word about the morbid practice and actually bought up some of the most bizarre offerings to use during lectures on why there should be a law against the practice. He called these odd collectibles “murderabilia” and the name has stuck.</p>
<p>Kahan bought hair from Charlie Manson that had been fashioned into a swastika, dirt from a crawlspace-tomb at John Wayne Gacy’s house and an action figure of cannibal killer Jeffrey Dahmer that is marketed with this little ditty: “Open me up for a sure delight and see what I ate for dinner last night.” Unzip the doll and mock body parts fall out.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Among the most disgusting thing for sale, according to Kahan, was a bag of rocks and dirt taken from the Texas road where in 1998 a black man named James Bryd was dragged to his death by three white supremacists.</p>
<p>“From a victim’s perspective, selling murderabilia is about the most nauseating and disgusting thing that could happen,” Kahan told me. “It is like being gutted all over again by the justice system.”</p>
<p>Kahan has made it his life’s calling to rid the Internet of this ugly profit-making booty. eBay finally gave in to his persistent calls and lobbying, and has now banned the sale of murderabilia from its site.</p>
<p>Kahan works hard to get states with the most serial killers in prison to pass “notoriety for profit” laws to make sure none of the money goes to the criminals. So far, Alabama, California, Florida, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, Utah and Texas have done so.</p>
<p>Many people think the so-called Son of Sam laws prohibiting murderers from profiting by selling their life stories are still in effect, but they were declared an unconstitutional violation of free speech by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1991.</p>
<p>Notoriety for profit laws are designed to follow the money and, therein, lies the difference.</p>
<p>In the meantime, there are still grisly offerings out there: Calendars, trading cards, T-shirts and even snow globes glorifying the grisly crimes of these killers. A handwritten recipe card from Dorthea Puentes for her tuna casserole is one of the coveted finds.</p>
<p>Puentes ran a rooming house in Sacramento, Calif., in the ’80s and killed at least nine of the elderly boarders who dared to complain that she was cashing and keeping their Social Security checks.</p>
<p>Then there are the gravestone chips from Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein’s final resting place. His repulsive story was the inspiration for the movies “Psycho” and “Silence of the Lambs.”</p>
<p>After the purveyors of murderabilia found the eBay door closed, sellers simply started their own websites and their ghastly business flourishes. As Kahan says, “I have no problem with those who are collecting the stuff. My problem is someone profiting from it. It is blood money plain and simple.”</p>
<p>While some of the convicts have entered into shady “trades” with sellers – mailing out their personal items in return for small gifts or money deposited into their prison accounts – many of the killers had no clue that what they were sending from prison was then being sold at auction sites.</p>
<p>“(David) Berkowitz had no idea his things were being sold and is violently opposed to it,” Dr. Scott Bonn told me. “After having been born again in 1987 … he thinks it is a sacrilege.”</p>
<p>As an author and professor of criminology, Bonn befriended the so-called Son of Sam Killer as part of his research for an upcoming book called “Why We Love Serial Killers.”</p>
<p>So why are we so fascinated by them? And what prompts people to collect these awful souvenirs? Bonn believes the media elevates these larger-than-life ghouls to morbid rock stars status. They become celebrity monsters.</p>
<p>“It’s an adrenalin rush and we love to have the crap scared out of us,” Bonn said. “That, and we’re riveted to the dark side of humanity … they define the outside parameters of what one human being can do to another.”</p>
<p>Indeed, but I still don’t want a bag of dirt from a crime scene on the shelf with my bells.</p>
<p>www.DianeDimond.net – e-mail to <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p /> | 599,709 |
<p>A Police Officer in <a href="http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/12/24/police-shoot-kill-armed-teenager-in-berkeley/20849209/" type="external">Berkley</a> MO. Shot and killed a 18 year old teen Tuesday night as he was responding to a local convenience store for a report of a theft. The incident resulted in a large crowd gathering at the scene with two Police Officers being injured and several arrests after protesters clashed with Police.</p>
<p>In a statement made by Sgt. Brian Schellman, a spokesman with the St. Louis County Police Department, the Police Officer involved shooting occurred at 11:15 p.m. at the Mobil gas station in the 6800 block of N. Hanley Road. The Officer was responding to a report of a theft.</p>
<p>According to Officer Schellman, the police officer arrived at scene and positioned his vehicle at the side of the stores entrance. The officer was approaching the store to make contact with the clerk when he encountered two males. The officer then ordered the two males to the front of his patrol car and asked them for identification.</p>
<p>The first <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/us/berkeley-missouri-police-shooting.html?_r=0" type="external">teen</a> complied with the police officers requests. The second teen then started to walk away with his back toward the officer. “The officer then began to verbally engage the teen who then turned toward the officer brandishing a hand gun, he then pointed the weapon toward the officer.” Schellman said.</p>
<p>According to Schellman the officer then began to back pedal as he pulled his weapon and fired at the armed teen. The St. Louis County Police released a short clip of the gas stations surveillance video of the incident. Schellman did state the Berkley Police cruisers are equipped with dash cameras but it is unknown at this time if it was activated or working.</p>
<p>In a press conference, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters, “the officer is believed to have fired three shots, one struck the armed teen, another struck the front tire on the officer’s vehicle, and the third bullet has not yet been accounted for. The suspect is not believed to have fired his weapon.”</p>
<p>According to Chief Belmar, Investigators recovered a 9mm handgun at the scene. “The weapon was “defaced,” meaning the serial number was unreadable.” A common practice with stolen fire arms is to remove the serial numbers to make it harder for law enforcement to identify and trace them.</p>
<p>“The 18-year-old does have criminal record, including previous arrests for armed robbery, armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon, local police departments were familiar with the suspect due to multiple previous contacts with law enforcement,” Belmar said.</p>
<p>Belmar also said, the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/24/us-usa-police-shooting-idUSKBN0K20I920141224" type="external">officer</a> involved in the shooting, a six-year veteran of the Berkeley police department, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation takes place.</p>
<p>Shortly after the shooting a crowd of approximately 200 to 300 gathered at the scene. The crowd reportedly was protesting in a relatively calm manner. Around 2 AM the tone of the crowd changed dramatically as the crowd began to throw plastic bottles at police, this quickly escalated to bricks and even small explosive type of fireworks.</p>
<p>Two police officers were injured in the incident, one officer suffered injuries to his lower leg while trying to get away from the fireworks,&#160; A St. Ann police officer also was also injured when he was hit by a rock or brick, the officer was taken to a local hospital according to Belmar.</p>
<p /> | Police Officer shoots, kills teen near Ferguson Missouri | false | http://natmonitor.com/2014/12/24/police-officer-shoots-kills-teen-near-ferguson-missouri/ | 2014-12-24 | 3left-center
| Police Officer shoots, kills teen near Ferguson Missouri
<p>A Police Officer in <a href="http://www.ksdk.com/story/news/local/2014/12/24/police-shoot-kill-armed-teenager-in-berkeley/20849209/" type="external">Berkley</a> MO. Shot and killed a 18 year old teen Tuesday night as he was responding to a local convenience store for a report of a theft. The incident resulted in a large crowd gathering at the scene with two Police Officers being injured and several arrests after protesters clashed with Police.</p>
<p>In a statement made by Sgt. Brian Schellman, a spokesman with the St. Louis County Police Department, the Police Officer involved shooting occurred at 11:15 p.m. at the Mobil gas station in the 6800 block of N. Hanley Road. The Officer was responding to a report of a theft.</p>
<p>According to Officer Schellman, the police officer arrived at scene and positioned his vehicle at the side of the stores entrance. The officer was approaching the store to make contact with the clerk when he encountered two males. The officer then ordered the two males to the front of his patrol car and asked them for identification.</p>
<p>The first <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/25/us/berkeley-missouri-police-shooting.html?_r=0" type="external">teen</a> complied with the police officers requests. The second teen then started to walk away with his back toward the officer. “The officer then began to verbally engage the teen who then turned toward the officer brandishing a hand gun, he then pointed the weapon toward the officer.” Schellman said.</p>
<p>According to Schellman the officer then began to back pedal as he pulled his weapon and fired at the armed teen. The St. Louis County Police released a short clip of the gas stations surveillance video of the incident. Schellman did state the Berkley Police cruisers are equipped with dash cameras but it is unknown at this time if it was activated or working.</p>
<p>In a press conference, St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar told reporters, “the officer is believed to have fired three shots, one struck the armed teen, another struck the front tire on the officer’s vehicle, and the third bullet has not yet been accounted for. The suspect is not believed to have fired his weapon.”</p>
<p>According to Chief Belmar, Investigators recovered a 9mm handgun at the scene. “The weapon was “defaced,” meaning the serial number was unreadable.” A common practice with stolen fire arms is to remove the serial numbers to make it harder for law enforcement to identify and trace them.</p>
<p>“The 18-year-old does have criminal record, including previous arrests for armed robbery, armed criminal action, and unlawful use of a weapon, local police departments were familiar with the suspect due to multiple previous contacts with law enforcement,” Belmar said.</p>
<p>Belmar also said, the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/24/us-usa-police-shooting-idUSKBN0K20I920141224" type="external">officer</a> involved in the shooting, a six-year veteran of the Berkeley police department, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the investigation takes place.</p>
<p>Shortly after the shooting a crowd of approximately 200 to 300 gathered at the scene. The crowd reportedly was protesting in a relatively calm manner. Around 2 AM the tone of the crowd changed dramatically as the crowd began to throw plastic bottles at police, this quickly escalated to bricks and even small explosive type of fireworks.</p>
<p>Two police officers were injured in the incident, one officer suffered injuries to his lower leg while trying to get away from the fireworks,&#160; A St. Ann police officer also was also injured when he was hit by a rock or brick, the officer was taken to a local hospital according to Belmar.</p>
<p /> | 599,710 |
<p>Over President Donald Trump's first 100 days, we're asking him questions that our audience wants answers to. Join the project by tweeting this question to @realDonaldTrump with the hashtag #100Days100Qs.</p>
<p>#85. @realDonaldTrump, this year's taxes are due tomorrow. When will you share them with the public? #100Days100Qs&#160;</p>
<p>When you think of April 15 in the US, usually you think of tax day. Of course, with weekends tax day often isn't the 15th — so much as it is April 16 or even April 17.</p>
<p>And this year, because of a somewhat obscure Washington, DC, holiday, <a href="https://emancipation.dc.gov/" type="external">Emancipation Day</a>, taxes&#160;this year will actually be due on April 18. And that includes taxes for President Donald Trump, too, of course — though he could certainly seek an extension.</p>
<p>Trump, of course, made waves as a candidate when he was the first candidate in decades to refuse to release his tax returns — ever.&#160;A new ABC/Washington Post poll found that as many as 75 percent of Americans want Trump to release his taxes for public inspection.</p>
<p>Perhaps feeling the pressure, over the weekend, Trump seemed to say that winning the election aboslved him of the need to release his tax returns:</p>
<p>So, with tax day right around the corner and with a new poll indicating this issue is still top-of mind for Americans, we're asking President Trump when he plans to release this year's tax returns to the public. Surely he's not being audited for this year, yet.</p>
<p><a href="http://ctt.ec/90pds" type="external">Click here</a> to tweet the question to the president.</p> | President Trump, this year's taxes are due tomorrow. When will you share yours with the public? | false | https://pri.org/stories/2017-04-17/president-trump-years-taxes-are-due-tomorrow-when-will-you-share-them-public | 2017-04-17 | 3left-center
| President Trump, this year's taxes are due tomorrow. When will you share yours with the public?
<p>Over President Donald Trump's first 100 days, we're asking him questions that our audience wants answers to. Join the project by tweeting this question to @realDonaldTrump with the hashtag #100Days100Qs.</p>
<p>#85. @realDonaldTrump, this year's taxes are due tomorrow. When will you share them with the public? #100Days100Qs&#160;</p>
<p>When you think of April 15 in the US, usually you think of tax day. Of course, with weekends tax day often isn't the 15th — so much as it is April 16 or even April 17.</p>
<p>And this year, because of a somewhat obscure Washington, DC, holiday, <a href="https://emancipation.dc.gov/" type="external">Emancipation Day</a>, taxes&#160;this year will actually be due on April 18. And that includes taxes for President Donald Trump, too, of course — though he could certainly seek an extension.</p>
<p>Trump, of course, made waves as a candidate when he was the first candidate in decades to refuse to release his tax returns — ever.&#160;A new ABC/Washington Post poll found that as many as 75 percent of Americans want Trump to release his taxes for public inspection.</p>
<p>Perhaps feeling the pressure, over the weekend, Trump seemed to say that winning the election aboslved him of the need to release his tax returns:</p>
<p>So, with tax day right around the corner and with a new poll indicating this issue is still top-of mind for Americans, we're asking President Trump when he plans to release this year's tax returns to the public. Surely he's not being audited for this year, yet.</p>
<p><a href="http://ctt.ec/90pds" type="external">Click here</a> to tweet the question to the president.</p> | 599,711 |
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Latest on the suspension of Minnesota Gophers center Reggie Lynch over a new 2016 sexual assault allegation (all times local):</p>
<p>12:05 a.m.</p>
<p>Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle says basketball player Reggie Lynch has been suspended from competition.</p>
<p>Coyle says Lynch remains a member of the team for now.</p>
<p>The decision to suspend Lynch from playing for the Gophers reportedly came from the university's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action office after a woman accused him in an April 2016 sexual assault.</p>
<p>Neither Coyle nor coach Richard Pitino would discuss the specifics of Lynch's case, citing student privacy.</p>
<p>Lynch was also suspended during the 2016 offseason, pending a police investigation into a different allegation of sexual assault. Lynch was cleared in that case and reinstated to the team before last season. He was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year last season.</p>
<p>The Gophers host Indiana on Saturday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>6:28 a.m.</p>
<p>University of Minnesota center Reggie Lynch faces suspension over an alleged violation of the school's sexual misconduct policy.</p>
<p>The Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press report that Lynch was accused last fall by a woman who said he assaulted her in his dorm room in April 2016. The newspapers cite an investigative report by the school's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office that said Lynch is suspended until 2020 unless he appeals.</p>
<p>Neither newspaper detailed the alleged incident.</p>
<p>The Star Tribune said neither Lynch nor his attorney returned calls seeking comment. The Associated Press sent an email to a university spokesman and left a phone message at what appeared to be Lynch's parents' home early Friday.</p>
<p>The 23-year-old Lynch is averaging 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.</p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Latest on the suspension of Minnesota Gophers center Reggie Lynch over a new 2016 sexual assault allegation (all times local):</p>
<p>12:05 a.m.</p>
<p>Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle says basketball player Reggie Lynch has been suspended from competition.</p>
<p>Coyle says Lynch remains a member of the team for now.</p>
<p>The decision to suspend Lynch from playing for the Gophers reportedly came from the university's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action office after a woman accused him in an April 2016 sexual assault.</p>
<p>Neither Coyle nor coach Richard Pitino would discuss the specifics of Lynch's case, citing student privacy.</p>
<p>Lynch was also suspended during the 2016 offseason, pending a police investigation into a different allegation of sexual assault. Lynch was cleared in that case and reinstated to the team before last season. He was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year last season.</p>
<p>The Gophers host Indiana on Saturday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>6:28 a.m.</p>
<p>University of Minnesota center Reggie Lynch faces suspension over an alleged violation of the school's sexual misconduct policy.</p>
<p>The Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press report that Lynch was accused last fall by a woman who said he assaulted her in his dorm room in April 2016. The newspapers cite an investigative report by the school's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office that said Lynch is suspended until 2020 unless he appeals.</p>
<p>Neither newspaper detailed the alleged incident.</p>
<p>The Star Tribune said neither Lynch nor his attorney returned calls seeking comment. The Associated Press sent an email to a university spokesman and left a phone message at what appeared to be Lynch's parents' home early Friday.</p>
<p>The 23-year-old Lynch is averaging 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.</p> | The Latest: Gophers? Lynch suspended in alleged assault | false | https://apnews.com/6f0c1a96cce74d72bfcfb829af11631b | 2018-01-05 | 2least
| The Latest: Gophers? Lynch suspended in alleged assault
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Latest on the suspension of Minnesota Gophers center Reggie Lynch over a new 2016 sexual assault allegation (all times local):</p>
<p>12:05 a.m.</p>
<p>Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle says basketball player Reggie Lynch has been suspended from competition.</p>
<p>Coyle says Lynch remains a member of the team for now.</p>
<p>The decision to suspend Lynch from playing for the Gophers reportedly came from the university's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action office after a woman accused him in an April 2016 sexual assault.</p>
<p>Neither Coyle nor coach Richard Pitino would discuss the specifics of Lynch's case, citing student privacy.</p>
<p>Lynch was also suspended during the 2016 offseason, pending a police investigation into a different allegation of sexual assault. Lynch was cleared in that case and reinstated to the team before last season. He was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year last season.</p>
<p>The Gophers host Indiana on Saturday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>6:28 a.m.</p>
<p>University of Minnesota center Reggie Lynch faces suspension over an alleged violation of the school's sexual misconduct policy.</p>
<p>The Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press report that Lynch was accused last fall by a woman who said he assaulted her in his dorm room in April 2016. The newspapers cite an investigative report by the school's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office that said Lynch is suspended until 2020 unless he appeals.</p>
<p>Neither newspaper detailed the alleged incident.</p>
<p>The Star Tribune said neither Lynch nor his attorney returned calls seeking comment. The Associated Press sent an email to a university spokesman and left a phone message at what appeared to be Lynch's parents' home early Friday.</p>
<p>The 23-year-old Lynch is averaging 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.</p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Latest on the suspension of Minnesota Gophers center Reggie Lynch over a new 2016 sexual assault allegation (all times local):</p>
<p>12:05 a.m.</p>
<p>Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle says basketball player Reggie Lynch has been suspended from competition.</p>
<p>Coyle says Lynch remains a member of the team for now.</p>
<p>The decision to suspend Lynch from playing for the Gophers reportedly came from the university's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action office after a woman accused him in an April 2016 sexual assault.</p>
<p>Neither Coyle nor coach Richard Pitino would discuss the specifics of Lynch's case, citing student privacy.</p>
<p>Lynch was also suspended during the 2016 offseason, pending a police investigation into a different allegation of sexual assault. Lynch was cleared in that case and reinstated to the team before last season. He was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year last season.</p>
<p>The Gophers host Indiana on Saturday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>6:28 a.m.</p>
<p>University of Minnesota center Reggie Lynch faces suspension over an alleged violation of the school's sexual misconduct policy.</p>
<p>The Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press report that Lynch was accused last fall by a woman who said he assaulted her in his dorm room in April 2016. The newspapers cite an investigative report by the school's Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Office that said Lynch is suspended until 2020 unless he appeals.</p>
<p>Neither newspaper detailed the alleged incident.</p>
<p>The Star Tribune said neither Lynch nor his attorney returned calls seeking comment. The Associated Press sent an email to a university spokesman and left a phone message at what appeared to be Lynch's parents' home early Friday.</p>
<p>The 23-year-old Lynch is averaging 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.</p> | 599,712 |
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.accuweather.com/news-blogs.asp?partner=accuweather&amp;blog=strait" type="external">Frank Strait’s blog</a> at Accuweather informs us that it’s so hot in the east that nuclear reactors in the Tennessee Valley are <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/5061439.html" type="external">being shut down</a> because the water drawn out of the Tennessee River is too warm to cool them. That’s a first. The Tennessee Valley Authority said it would compensate for the loss of power by buying power elsewhere—though just Thursday they announced they were imposing a fuel surcharge on their customers because hydropower production is already down from the drought.</p>
<p>So maybe we won’t have to learn how to cut our own profligate carbon footprints. Maybe it will all be done for us in a hand-of-imaginary-friend, I mean, -god kind of way.</p>
<p>Add to this news the extremely weird behavior of tropical system Erin—it actually <a href="http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_13351.html" type="external">got stronger after landfall</a>. And the fact that those fabulously bizarre birds known as frogmouths are <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6934449.stm" type="external">breeding at the London Zoo</a> for the first time in nearly a decade because, apparently, they’re mistaking the neverending deluge there for a monsoon. Seems someone likes the new normal. <a href="http://julia.whitty.googlepages.com/home" type="external">JULIA WHITTY</a></p>
<p /> | Weird – er, New-Normal – Weather Watch: Too Hot to Cool Nuclear Reactors | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/08/weird-er-new-normal-weather-watch-too-hot-cool-nuclear-reactors/ | 2007-08-20 | 4left
| Weird – er, New-Normal – Weather Watch: Too Hot to Cool Nuclear Reactors
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.accuweather.com/news-blogs.asp?partner=accuweather&amp;blog=strait" type="external">Frank Strait’s blog</a> at Accuweather informs us that it’s so hot in the east that nuclear reactors in the Tennessee Valley are <a href="http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/energy/5061439.html" type="external">being shut down</a> because the water drawn out of the Tennessee River is too warm to cool them. That’s a first. The Tennessee Valley Authority said it would compensate for the loss of power by buying power elsewhere—though just Thursday they announced they were imposing a fuel surcharge on their customers because hydropower production is already down from the drought.</p>
<p>So maybe we won’t have to learn how to cut our own profligate carbon footprints. Maybe it will all be done for us in a hand-of-imaginary-friend, I mean, -god kind of way.</p>
<p>Add to this news the extremely weird behavior of tropical system Erin—it actually <a href="http://www.weather.com/blog/weather/8_13351.html" type="external">got stronger after landfall</a>. And the fact that those fabulously bizarre birds known as frogmouths are <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6934449.stm" type="external">breeding at the London Zoo</a> for the first time in nearly a decade because, apparently, they’re mistaking the neverending deluge there for a monsoon. Seems someone likes the new normal. <a href="http://julia.whitty.googlepages.com/home" type="external">JULIA WHITTY</a></p>
<p /> | 599,713 |
<p>Aug. 10 (UPI) — U.S. President <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Donald_Trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a> upped his rhetoric against <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/North_Korea/" type="external">North Korea</a> on Thursday, saying perhaps his earlier promise to unleash “fire and fury” on Pyongyang “wasn’t tough enough.”</p>
<p>Speaking to reporters from his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J., Trump stood by his threats from earlier in the week.</p>
<p>“Frankly, the people who were questioning that statement, was it too tough? Maybe it wasn’t tough enough,” he said. North Korea has “been doing this to our country for a long time, for many years, and it’s about time that somebody stuck up for the people of this country and for the people of other countries. So if anything, maybe that statement wasn’t tough enough.</p>
<p>“And we’re backed 100 percent by our military, we’re back by everybody and we’re backed by many other leaders. And I noticed that many senators and others came out today very much in favor of what I said. But if anything, that statement may not be tough enough.”</p>
<p>When asked what’s tougher than “fire and fury,” Trump responded: “You’ll see. You’ll see.” He added that he would not discuss a possibility of a pre-emptive strike with reporters.</p>
<p>When asked if China could more regarding North Korea’s threats, Trump said he thought they “can do a lot more.”</p>
<p>“I think China will do a lot more. Look, we have trade with China. We lose hundreds of billions of dollars a year on trade with China. They know how I feel. It’s not going to continue like that. But if China helps us, I feel a lot differently toward trade, a lot differently toward trade.</p>
<p>“So we will do – the people of our country are safe. Our allies are safe. And I will tell you this: North Korea better get their act together or they’re going to be in trouble like few nations ever have been in trouble in this world.”</p>
<p>The new remarks are the latest in a series of back-and-forth threats between the two countries.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Trump warned North Korea not to make any more threats against the United States. In July, North Korea said it would “strike a merciless blow” at the United States if Washington ever attempted to remove leader <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kim_Jong_Un/" type="external">Kim Jong Un</a> from power.</p>
<p>“They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” Trump said. “[Kim] has been very threatening beyond a normal state and as I said they will be met with fire and fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.”</p>
<p>Trump’s statement came hours after a U.S. intelligence analysis determined North Korea has made a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a missile.</p>
<p>By Tuesday evening — Wednesday morning North Korea time — Pyongyang <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/08/08/North-Korea-threatens-strike-near-Guam-after-US-bomber-mission/6121502216475/" type="external">began making threats</a> against the U.S. territory of Guam.</p>
<p>A spokesman for North Korea’s military told state-run KCNA that it is “now carefully examining the operational plan for making an developing fire at the areas around Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12.”</p>
<p>Guam is home to Anderson Air Force Base, from which two U.S. B-1B bombers deployed on a mission with the South Korean and Japanese air forces on Monday. The aircraft flew over Japanese airspace before passing over the Korean Peninsula.</p>
<p>North Korea’s threat cited the mission, calling for a potential strike on “Anderson Air Force Base in which the U.S. strategic bombers, which get on the nerves of [North Korea] and threaten and blackmail it through their frequent visits to the sky above South Korea, are stationed and to send a serious warning signal to the U.S.”</p>
<p>Gen. Kim Rak Gyom, commander of the Strategic Force of the Korean People’s Army, <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/08/09/North-Korea-expects-to-have-Guam-action-plan-by-mid-August/3151502318968/" type="external">issued another statement</a> Thursday morning saying “only absolute force” will work against someone “bereft of reason” like Trump.</p>
<p>The statement, published by state-run Korean Central News Agency says North Korea is “about to take” military action near the U.S. territory of Guam and a plan to do so would be finalized by mid-August.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/08/02/Trump-signs-bill-toughening-sanctions-on-Russia-Iran-and-North-Korea/7131501684813/" type="external">the United States</a> and <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/08/05/UN-Security-Council-passes-tough-new-sanctions-on-North-Korea/8121501962604/" type="external">the United Nations</a> increased sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear activity.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, North Korea said it would take “physical action” in reaction to new U.N. sanctions.</p>
<p>“Packs of wolves are coming in attack to strangle a nation,” a statement from Pyongyang carried by KCNA said. “They should be mindful that [North Korea’s] strategic steps accompanied by physical action will be taken mercilessly with the mobilization of all its national strength.”</p>
<p>In his Thursday comments, Trump said the United States will “always consider negotiations” but that the two countries have been negotiating for 25 years.</p>
<p>“What they’ve been doing, what they’ve been getting away with, is a tragedy and it can’t be allowed,” he said.</p> | Trump on North Korea: 'Fire and fury' not 'tough enough' | false | https://newsline.com/trump-on-north-korea-039fire-and-fury039-not-039tough-enough039/ | 2017-08-10 | 1right-center
| Trump on North Korea: 'Fire and fury' not 'tough enough'
<p>Aug. 10 (UPI) — U.S. President <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Donald_Trump/" type="external">Donald Trump</a> upped his rhetoric against <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/North_Korea/" type="external">North Korea</a> on Thursday, saying perhaps his earlier promise to unleash “fire and fury” on Pyongyang “wasn’t tough enough.”</p>
<p>Speaking to reporters from his private golf club in Bedminster, N.J., Trump stood by his threats from earlier in the week.</p>
<p>“Frankly, the people who were questioning that statement, was it too tough? Maybe it wasn’t tough enough,” he said. North Korea has “been doing this to our country for a long time, for many years, and it’s about time that somebody stuck up for the people of this country and for the people of other countries. So if anything, maybe that statement wasn’t tough enough.</p>
<p>“And we’re backed 100 percent by our military, we’re back by everybody and we’re backed by many other leaders. And I noticed that many senators and others came out today very much in favor of what I said. But if anything, that statement may not be tough enough.”</p>
<p>When asked what’s tougher than “fire and fury,” Trump responded: “You’ll see. You’ll see.” He added that he would not discuss a possibility of a pre-emptive strike with reporters.</p>
<p>When asked if China could more regarding North Korea’s threats, Trump said he thought they “can do a lot more.”</p>
<p>“I think China will do a lot more. Look, we have trade with China. We lose hundreds of billions of dollars a year on trade with China. They know how I feel. It’s not going to continue like that. But if China helps us, I feel a lot differently toward trade, a lot differently toward trade.</p>
<p>“So we will do – the people of our country are safe. Our allies are safe. And I will tell you this: North Korea better get their act together or they’re going to be in trouble like few nations ever have been in trouble in this world.”</p>
<p>The new remarks are the latest in a series of back-and-forth threats between the two countries.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, Trump warned North Korea not to make any more threats against the United States. In July, North Korea said it would “strike a merciless blow” at the United States if Washington ever attempted to remove leader <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Kim_Jong_Un/" type="external">Kim Jong Un</a> from power.</p>
<p>“They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” Trump said. “[Kim] has been very threatening beyond a normal state and as I said they will be met with fire and fury and frankly power the likes of which this world has never seen before.”</p>
<p>Trump’s statement came hours after a U.S. intelligence analysis determined North Korea has made a nuclear warhead small enough to fit on a missile.</p>
<p>By Tuesday evening — Wednesday morning North Korea time — Pyongyang <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/08/08/North-Korea-threatens-strike-near-Guam-after-US-bomber-mission/6121502216475/" type="external">began making threats</a> against the U.S. territory of Guam.</p>
<p>A spokesman for North Korea’s military told state-run KCNA that it is “now carefully examining the operational plan for making an developing fire at the areas around Guam with medium-to-long-range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12.”</p>
<p>Guam is home to Anderson Air Force Base, from which two U.S. B-1B bombers deployed on a mission with the South Korean and Japanese air forces on Monday. The aircraft flew over Japanese airspace before passing over the Korean Peninsula.</p>
<p>North Korea’s threat cited the mission, calling for a potential strike on “Anderson Air Force Base in which the U.S. strategic bombers, which get on the nerves of [North Korea] and threaten and blackmail it through their frequent visits to the sky above South Korea, are stationed and to send a serious warning signal to the U.S.”</p>
<p>Gen. Kim Rak Gyom, commander of the Strategic Force of the Korean People’s Army, <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/08/09/North-Korea-expects-to-have-Guam-action-plan-by-mid-August/3151502318968/" type="external">issued another statement</a> Thursday morning saying “only absolute force” will work against someone “bereft of reason” like Trump.</p>
<p>The statement, published by state-run Korean Central News Agency says North Korea is “about to take” military action near the U.S. territory of Guam and a plan to do so would be finalized by mid-August.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/08/02/Trump-signs-bill-toughening-sanctions-on-Russia-Iran-and-North-Korea/7131501684813/" type="external">the United States</a> and <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/08/05/UN-Security-Council-passes-tough-new-sanctions-on-North-Korea/8121501962604/" type="external">the United Nations</a> increased sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear activity.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, North Korea said it would take “physical action” in reaction to new U.N. sanctions.</p>
<p>“Packs of wolves are coming in attack to strangle a nation,” a statement from Pyongyang carried by KCNA said. “They should be mindful that [North Korea’s] strategic steps accompanied by physical action will be taken mercilessly with the mobilization of all its national strength.”</p>
<p>In his Thursday comments, Trump said the United States will “always consider negotiations” but that the two countries have been negotiating for 25 years.</p>
<p>“What they’ve been doing, what they’ve been getting away with, is a tragedy and it can’t be allowed,” he said.</p> | 599,714 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - The acrimony surrounding former White House adviser Steve Bannon's very public break with President Donald Trump is escalating, suggesting a permanent split between the president and the pugilistic strategist who helped put him in the Oval Office.</p>
<p>The new fissure in an already fractious Republican Party cast doubt on Bannon's hopes to foment a movement centered on "Trumpism without Trump."</p>
<p>It already has cost him a key backer. Rebekah Mercer, the billionaire GOP donor and Breitbart co-owner, issued a statement Thursday distancing her family from Bannon.</p>
<p>"I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected," she said. "My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements."</p>
<p>Trump hailed that move on Twitter Friday, saying: "The Mercer Family recently dumped the leaker known as Sloppy Steve Bannon. Smart!"</p>
<p>White House officials described the president as furious at Bannon's criticisms, laid out in an explosive new book that quoted the former aide as questioning Trump's competence and describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."</p>
<p>On Twitter Thursday night, Trump said the book was full of "lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist." He also came up with a new nickname for Bannon: "Sloppy Steve."</p>
<p>A parade of administration officials and allies worked to discredit Bannon as a disgruntled has-been. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders went so far as to suggest that Bannon ought to be booted from Breitbart, the populist website he helps run.</p>
<p>"I certainly think that it's something they should look at and consider," she said.</p>
<p>Michael Wolff, author of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," spoke on NBC's "Today Show" Friday, defending his reporting and saying the president's efforts to halt publication have been good for sales.</p>
<p>Asked about Bannon's comments in the book and in recent days, Wolff said: "The president has tried to put this, this book is about Steve Bannon. So let me say very forthrightly: This book is not about Steve Bannon. This book is about Donald Trump."</p>
<p>Bannon had helped Trump form a coalition of anti-establishment Republicans, blue-collar working class and economic nationalists that launched him to the White House, but Trump had long ago grown frustrated that Bannon seemed to be overstepping his role as a staffer.</p>
<p>The self-appointed keeper of Trump's nationalist flame during the president's first six months in office, Bannon had soured on the president even before he was pushed out of the White House for feeding the perception that he was Trump's puppeteer.</p>
<p>None of Bannon's close associates was willing to speak publicly about the fallout but privately conceded that the explosive comments may forever tarnish his brand. Bannon's political appeal had been deeply tied to the perception that he was an ally of Trump's. Those close to Bannon feared that the connection had been permanently severed.</p>
<p>Bannon was preparing to launch a nonprofit organization designed to help give Trump's brand of conservatism populism a permanent base. It's unclear how Bannon's new rift with the president, and the related impact on major donors, will affect the organization, dubbed Citizens of the American Republic.</p>
<p>Current and former White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, said Bannon had miscalculated by attacking the president and his family. Much of Bannon's political clout, they argue, stemmed from the assumption that he was acting with the imprimatur of the president, even if Trump wasn't visibly in lockstep.</p>
<p>Some Trump allies also expressed satisfaction that Bannon appeared to be finally cast out of the president's inner circle.</p>
<p>"Bannon has no contingent," former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday between media interviews to defend Trump. On Thursday, Gingrich echoed Trump's charge that Bannon had "lost his mind."</p>
<p>Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a longtime punching bag for Bannon, reveled in the aide's break with the president. "I'd like to associate myself with what the president had to say about Steve Bannon yesterday," he said mischievously Thursday.</p>
<p>Since leaving the White House, Bannon spent much of his time courting donors to help finance his self-declared war on the Republican establishment. He vowed to find Republican challengers for virtually every GOP senator seeking election this fall, chiefly for the purpose of electing candidates who would remove McConnell as majority leader.</p>
<p>Bannon publicly backed conservative challengers in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Mississippi and New York, where House challenger Michael Grimm issued a statement denouncing the ex-adviser's comments as "baseless attacks" that were "beyond disturbing."</p>
<p>Others who have received boosts from Bannon, including Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward and potential Mississippi Senate challenger Chris McDaniel, were more circumspect, wary of alienating either faction of the party's insurgent grassroots.</p>
<p>Bannon's political standing was already weakened after he went all-out last month to support failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore despite multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore.</p>
<p>Doubling down on Moore left Bannon politically "incapacitated," said Steven Law, president and CEO of the super PAC led by McConnell.</p>
<p>"The only concern left was whether the president might give Bannon a temporary lease on life," he said. "But this repudiation was so methodical and so absolute that it really slams the door on that."</p>
<p>White House aides have tried to look past other loaded comments from Bannon in recent months while seeking to marshal his political following on the president's behalf.</p>
<p>But they warned Bannon's allies over the last 24 hours that Trump would likely never take his calls again. However, there are few absolutes in Trump's orbit, White House aides acknowledge, and he has been known to bury the hatchet with those he perceived to have wronged him.</p>
<p>Some Trump allies even encouraged him to welcome Bannon back into his good graces.</p>
<p>"You can either excise him or shun him, which I don't think is the best recommended strategy, or tell him to knock it off and bring himself back into the fold," Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director, said on MSNBC.</p>
<p>Trump coolly noted Thursday that his full-throated counterassault appeared to have its desired effect on Bannon.</p>
<p>"He called me a great man last night," Trump said, referring to Bannon's radio show appearance. "He obviously changed his tune pretty quick."</p>
<p>"Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," quickly shot atop Amazon's best-seller list, and the publisher moved up its release date by four days, to Friday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and contributed to this report.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - The acrimony surrounding former White House adviser Steve Bannon's very public break with President Donald Trump is escalating, suggesting a permanent split between the president and the pugilistic strategist who helped put him in the Oval Office.</p>
<p>The new fissure in an already fractious Republican Party cast doubt on Bannon's hopes to foment a movement centered on "Trumpism without Trump."</p>
<p>It already has cost him a key backer. Rebekah Mercer, the billionaire GOP donor and Breitbart co-owner, issued a statement Thursday distancing her family from Bannon.</p>
<p>"I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected," she said. "My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements."</p>
<p>Trump hailed that move on Twitter Friday, saying: "The Mercer Family recently dumped the leaker known as Sloppy Steve Bannon. Smart!"</p>
<p>White House officials described the president as furious at Bannon's criticisms, laid out in an explosive new book that quoted the former aide as questioning Trump's competence and describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."</p>
<p>On Twitter Thursday night, Trump said the book was full of "lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist." He also came up with a new nickname for Bannon: "Sloppy Steve."</p>
<p>A parade of administration officials and allies worked to discredit Bannon as a disgruntled has-been. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders went so far as to suggest that Bannon ought to be booted from Breitbart, the populist website he helps run.</p>
<p>"I certainly think that it's something they should look at and consider," she said.</p>
<p>Michael Wolff, author of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," spoke on NBC's "Today Show" Friday, defending his reporting and saying the president's efforts to halt publication have been good for sales.</p>
<p>Asked about Bannon's comments in the book and in recent days, Wolff said: "The president has tried to put this, this book is about Steve Bannon. So let me say very forthrightly: This book is not about Steve Bannon. This book is about Donald Trump."</p>
<p>Bannon had helped Trump form a coalition of anti-establishment Republicans, blue-collar working class and economic nationalists that launched him to the White House, but Trump had long ago grown frustrated that Bannon seemed to be overstepping his role as a staffer.</p>
<p>The self-appointed keeper of Trump's nationalist flame during the president's first six months in office, Bannon had soured on the president even before he was pushed out of the White House for feeding the perception that he was Trump's puppeteer.</p>
<p>None of Bannon's close associates was willing to speak publicly about the fallout but privately conceded that the explosive comments may forever tarnish his brand. Bannon's political appeal had been deeply tied to the perception that he was an ally of Trump's. Those close to Bannon feared that the connection had been permanently severed.</p>
<p>Bannon was preparing to launch a nonprofit organization designed to help give Trump's brand of conservatism populism a permanent base. It's unclear how Bannon's new rift with the president, and the related impact on major donors, will affect the organization, dubbed Citizens of the American Republic.</p>
<p>Current and former White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, said Bannon had miscalculated by attacking the president and his family. Much of Bannon's political clout, they argue, stemmed from the assumption that he was acting with the imprimatur of the president, even if Trump wasn't visibly in lockstep.</p>
<p>Some Trump allies also expressed satisfaction that Bannon appeared to be finally cast out of the president's inner circle.</p>
<p>"Bannon has no contingent," former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday between media interviews to defend Trump. On Thursday, Gingrich echoed Trump's charge that Bannon had "lost his mind."</p>
<p>Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a longtime punching bag for Bannon, reveled in the aide's break with the president. "I'd like to associate myself with what the president had to say about Steve Bannon yesterday," he said mischievously Thursday.</p>
<p>Since leaving the White House, Bannon spent much of his time courting donors to help finance his self-declared war on the Republican establishment. He vowed to find Republican challengers for virtually every GOP senator seeking election this fall, chiefly for the purpose of electing candidates who would remove McConnell as majority leader.</p>
<p>Bannon publicly backed conservative challengers in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Mississippi and New York, where House challenger Michael Grimm issued a statement denouncing the ex-adviser's comments as "baseless attacks" that were "beyond disturbing."</p>
<p>Others who have received boosts from Bannon, including Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward and potential Mississippi Senate challenger Chris McDaniel, were more circumspect, wary of alienating either faction of the party's insurgent grassroots.</p>
<p>Bannon's political standing was already weakened after he went all-out last month to support failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore despite multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore.</p>
<p>Doubling down on Moore left Bannon politically "incapacitated," said Steven Law, president and CEO of the super PAC led by McConnell.</p>
<p>"The only concern left was whether the president might give Bannon a temporary lease on life," he said. "But this repudiation was so methodical and so absolute that it really slams the door on that."</p>
<p>White House aides have tried to look past other loaded comments from Bannon in recent months while seeking to marshal his political following on the president's behalf.</p>
<p>But they warned Bannon's allies over the last 24 hours that Trump would likely never take his calls again. However, there are few absolutes in Trump's orbit, White House aides acknowledge, and he has been known to bury the hatchet with those he perceived to have wronged him.</p>
<p>Some Trump allies even encouraged him to welcome Bannon back into his good graces.</p>
<p>"You can either excise him or shun him, which I don't think is the best recommended strategy, or tell him to knock it off and bring himself back into the fold," Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director, said on MSNBC.</p>
<p>Trump coolly noted Thursday that his full-throated counterassault appeared to have its desired effect on Bannon.</p>
<p>"He called me a great man last night," Trump said, referring to Bannon's radio show appearance. "He obviously changed his tune pretty quick."</p>
<p>"Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," quickly shot atop Amazon's best-seller list, and the publisher moved up its release date by four days, to Friday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and contributed to this report.</p> | 'Fire and Fury' book released, blowing open GOP feud | false | https://apnews.com/amp/fede4a8fb22c4496b2a1efe6f63c2e34 | 2018-01-05 | 2least
| 'Fire and Fury' book released, blowing open GOP feud
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - The acrimony surrounding former White House adviser Steve Bannon's very public break with President Donald Trump is escalating, suggesting a permanent split between the president and the pugilistic strategist who helped put him in the Oval Office.</p>
<p>The new fissure in an already fractious Republican Party cast doubt on Bannon's hopes to foment a movement centered on "Trumpism without Trump."</p>
<p>It already has cost him a key backer. Rebekah Mercer, the billionaire GOP donor and Breitbart co-owner, issued a statement Thursday distancing her family from Bannon.</p>
<p>"I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected," she said. "My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements."</p>
<p>Trump hailed that move on Twitter Friday, saying: "The Mercer Family recently dumped the leaker known as Sloppy Steve Bannon. Smart!"</p>
<p>White House officials described the president as furious at Bannon's criticisms, laid out in an explosive new book that quoted the former aide as questioning Trump's competence and describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."</p>
<p>On Twitter Thursday night, Trump said the book was full of "lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist." He also came up with a new nickname for Bannon: "Sloppy Steve."</p>
<p>A parade of administration officials and allies worked to discredit Bannon as a disgruntled has-been. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders went so far as to suggest that Bannon ought to be booted from Breitbart, the populist website he helps run.</p>
<p>"I certainly think that it's something they should look at and consider," she said.</p>
<p>Michael Wolff, author of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," spoke on NBC's "Today Show" Friday, defending his reporting and saying the president's efforts to halt publication have been good for sales.</p>
<p>Asked about Bannon's comments in the book and in recent days, Wolff said: "The president has tried to put this, this book is about Steve Bannon. So let me say very forthrightly: This book is not about Steve Bannon. This book is about Donald Trump."</p>
<p>Bannon had helped Trump form a coalition of anti-establishment Republicans, blue-collar working class and economic nationalists that launched him to the White House, but Trump had long ago grown frustrated that Bannon seemed to be overstepping his role as a staffer.</p>
<p>The self-appointed keeper of Trump's nationalist flame during the president's first six months in office, Bannon had soured on the president even before he was pushed out of the White House for feeding the perception that he was Trump's puppeteer.</p>
<p>None of Bannon's close associates was willing to speak publicly about the fallout but privately conceded that the explosive comments may forever tarnish his brand. Bannon's political appeal had been deeply tied to the perception that he was an ally of Trump's. Those close to Bannon feared that the connection had been permanently severed.</p>
<p>Bannon was preparing to launch a nonprofit organization designed to help give Trump's brand of conservatism populism a permanent base. It's unclear how Bannon's new rift with the president, and the related impact on major donors, will affect the organization, dubbed Citizens of the American Republic.</p>
<p>Current and former White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, said Bannon had miscalculated by attacking the president and his family. Much of Bannon's political clout, they argue, stemmed from the assumption that he was acting with the imprimatur of the president, even if Trump wasn't visibly in lockstep.</p>
<p>Some Trump allies also expressed satisfaction that Bannon appeared to be finally cast out of the president's inner circle.</p>
<p>"Bannon has no contingent," former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday between media interviews to defend Trump. On Thursday, Gingrich echoed Trump's charge that Bannon had "lost his mind."</p>
<p>Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a longtime punching bag for Bannon, reveled in the aide's break with the president. "I'd like to associate myself with what the president had to say about Steve Bannon yesterday," he said mischievously Thursday.</p>
<p>Since leaving the White House, Bannon spent much of his time courting donors to help finance his self-declared war on the Republican establishment. He vowed to find Republican challengers for virtually every GOP senator seeking election this fall, chiefly for the purpose of electing candidates who would remove McConnell as majority leader.</p>
<p>Bannon publicly backed conservative challengers in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Mississippi and New York, where House challenger Michael Grimm issued a statement denouncing the ex-adviser's comments as "baseless attacks" that were "beyond disturbing."</p>
<p>Others who have received boosts from Bannon, including Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward and potential Mississippi Senate challenger Chris McDaniel, were more circumspect, wary of alienating either faction of the party's insurgent grassroots.</p>
<p>Bannon's political standing was already weakened after he went all-out last month to support failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore despite multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore.</p>
<p>Doubling down on Moore left Bannon politically "incapacitated," said Steven Law, president and CEO of the super PAC led by McConnell.</p>
<p>"The only concern left was whether the president might give Bannon a temporary lease on life," he said. "But this repudiation was so methodical and so absolute that it really slams the door on that."</p>
<p>White House aides have tried to look past other loaded comments from Bannon in recent months while seeking to marshal his political following on the president's behalf.</p>
<p>But they warned Bannon's allies over the last 24 hours that Trump would likely never take his calls again. However, there are few absolutes in Trump's orbit, White House aides acknowledge, and he has been known to bury the hatchet with those he perceived to have wronged him.</p>
<p>Some Trump allies even encouraged him to welcome Bannon back into his good graces.</p>
<p>"You can either excise him or shun him, which I don't think is the best recommended strategy, or tell him to knock it off and bring himself back into the fold," Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director, said on MSNBC.</p>
<p>Trump coolly noted Thursday that his full-throated counterassault appeared to have its desired effect on Bannon.</p>
<p>"He called me a great man last night," Trump said, referring to Bannon's radio show appearance. "He obviously changed his tune pretty quick."</p>
<p>"Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," quickly shot atop Amazon's best-seller list, and the publisher moved up its release date by four days, to Friday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and contributed to this report.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) - The acrimony surrounding former White House adviser Steve Bannon's very public break with President Donald Trump is escalating, suggesting a permanent split between the president and the pugilistic strategist who helped put him in the Oval Office.</p>
<p>The new fissure in an already fractious Republican Party cast doubt on Bannon's hopes to foment a movement centered on "Trumpism without Trump."</p>
<p>It already has cost him a key backer. Rebekah Mercer, the billionaire GOP donor and Breitbart co-owner, issued a statement Thursday distancing her family from Bannon.</p>
<p>"I support President Trump and the platform upon which he was elected," she said. "My family and I have not communicated with Steve Bannon in many months and have provided no financial support to his political agenda, nor do we support his recent actions and statements."</p>
<p>Trump hailed that move on Twitter Friday, saying: "The Mercer Family recently dumped the leaker known as Sloppy Steve Bannon. Smart!"</p>
<p>White House officials described the president as furious at Bannon's criticisms, laid out in an explosive new book that quoted the former aide as questioning Trump's competence and describing a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower between Donald Trump Jr., Trump campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic."</p>
<p>On Twitter Thursday night, Trump said the book was full of "lies, misrepresentations and sources that don't exist." He also came up with a new nickname for Bannon: "Sloppy Steve."</p>
<p>A parade of administration officials and allies worked to discredit Bannon as a disgruntled has-been. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders went so far as to suggest that Bannon ought to be booted from Breitbart, the populist website he helps run.</p>
<p>"I certainly think that it's something they should look at and consider," she said.</p>
<p>Michael Wolff, author of "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," spoke on NBC's "Today Show" Friday, defending his reporting and saying the president's efforts to halt publication have been good for sales.</p>
<p>Asked about Bannon's comments in the book and in recent days, Wolff said: "The president has tried to put this, this book is about Steve Bannon. So let me say very forthrightly: This book is not about Steve Bannon. This book is about Donald Trump."</p>
<p>Bannon had helped Trump form a coalition of anti-establishment Republicans, blue-collar working class and economic nationalists that launched him to the White House, but Trump had long ago grown frustrated that Bannon seemed to be overstepping his role as a staffer.</p>
<p>The self-appointed keeper of Trump's nationalist flame during the president's first six months in office, Bannon had soured on the president even before he was pushed out of the White House for feeding the perception that he was Trump's puppeteer.</p>
<p>None of Bannon's close associates was willing to speak publicly about the fallout but privately conceded that the explosive comments may forever tarnish his brand. Bannon's political appeal had been deeply tied to the perception that he was an ally of Trump's. Those close to Bannon feared that the connection had been permanently severed.</p>
<p>Bannon was preparing to launch a nonprofit organization designed to help give Trump's brand of conservatism populism a permanent base. It's unclear how Bannon's new rift with the president, and the related impact on major donors, will affect the organization, dubbed Citizens of the American Republic.</p>
<p>Current and former White House officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal conversations, said Bannon had miscalculated by attacking the president and his family. Much of Bannon's political clout, they argue, stemmed from the assumption that he was acting with the imprimatur of the president, even if Trump wasn't visibly in lockstep.</p>
<p>Some Trump allies also expressed satisfaction that Bannon appeared to be finally cast out of the president's inner circle.</p>
<p>"Bannon has no contingent," former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday between media interviews to defend Trump. On Thursday, Gingrich echoed Trump's charge that Bannon had "lost his mind."</p>
<p>Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a longtime punching bag for Bannon, reveled in the aide's break with the president. "I'd like to associate myself with what the president had to say about Steve Bannon yesterday," he said mischievously Thursday.</p>
<p>Since leaving the White House, Bannon spent much of his time courting donors to help finance his self-declared war on the Republican establishment. He vowed to find Republican challengers for virtually every GOP senator seeking election this fall, chiefly for the purpose of electing candidates who would remove McConnell as majority leader.</p>
<p>Bannon publicly backed conservative challengers in Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Mississippi and New York, where House challenger Michael Grimm issued a statement denouncing the ex-adviser's comments as "baseless attacks" that were "beyond disturbing."</p>
<p>Others who have received boosts from Bannon, including Arizona Senate candidate Kelli Ward and potential Mississippi Senate challenger Chris McDaniel, were more circumspect, wary of alienating either faction of the party's insurgent grassroots.</p>
<p>Bannon's political standing was already weakened after he went all-out last month to support failed Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore despite multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore.</p>
<p>Doubling down on Moore left Bannon politically "incapacitated," said Steven Law, president and CEO of the super PAC led by McConnell.</p>
<p>"The only concern left was whether the president might give Bannon a temporary lease on life," he said. "But this repudiation was so methodical and so absolute that it really slams the door on that."</p>
<p>White House aides have tried to look past other loaded comments from Bannon in recent months while seeking to marshal his political following on the president's behalf.</p>
<p>But they warned Bannon's allies over the last 24 hours that Trump would likely never take his calls again. However, there are few absolutes in Trump's orbit, White House aides acknowledge, and he has been known to bury the hatchet with those he perceived to have wronged him.</p>
<p>Some Trump allies even encouraged him to welcome Bannon back into his good graces.</p>
<p>"You can either excise him or shun him, which I don't think is the best recommended strategy, or tell him to knock it off and bring himself back into the fold," Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director, said on MSNBC.</p>
<p>Trump coolly noted Thursday that his full-throated counterassault appeared to have its desired effect on Bannon.</p>
<p>"He called me a great man last night," Trump said, referring to Bannon's radio show appearance. "He obviously changed his tune pretty quick."</p>
<p>"Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," quickly shot atop Amazon's best-seller list, and the publisher moved up its release date by four days, to Friday.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Madison, Wis., Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and contributed to this report.</p> | 599,715 |
<p>While paleontologists have always assumed that prehistoric reptiles used either feathers or a membrane of skin and muscle supported by a lengthened finger, a&#160;new creature&#160;has been discovered which seemingly boasted&#160;both features. Chinese researchers&#160;announced on Wednesday that they discovered a new gliding dinosaur named Yi qi which was a close relative of the lineage which&#160;ultimately evolved into&#160;birds.</p>
<p>China has yielded a number of important fossils over the past several years, and researchers recently&#160;uncovered fossils of a small feathered dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic age.&#160;Yi qi,&#160;which comes from the Mandarin for “strange wing,” is being&#160;assigned it to a group of diminutive, feathered meat-eaters known as scansoriopterygids.&#160;Unlike most other&#160;dinosaurian gliders and proto-birds, researchers believe it&#160;had both feathers positioned on its long arms and fingers and a membrane-like soft tissue that would have given it bat-like wings. While&#160;Yi qi&#160;isn’t being considered a direct ancestor of birds, its unique wings are being considered a surprising example of convergent evolution.</p>
<p>“This is refreshingly weird,” said&#160;Daniel Ksepka&#160;of&#160;the Bruce Museum “Paleontologists will be thinking about Yi qi for a long time, and we can surely expect some interesting research into the structure and function of the wing.”</p>
<p>While researchers once considered dinosaurs and pterosaurs and their respective feathery or leathery wings mutually exclusive,&#160;Yi qi&#160;challenges that way of thinking.</p>
<p>“It definitely evolved a wing that is unique in the context of the transition from dinosaurs to birds,” said lead author&#160;Xu Xing,&#160;a professor with&#160;the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, due to the&#160;incomplete preservation of the wings and the uncertain position of the long wrist bone, researchers have no way of knowing whether the dinosaur had a very broad wing or a narrow one, or if it&#160;had the muscles and joints needed for powered flight.</p>
<p>“We don’t know if Yi qi was flapping, or gliding, or both,” wrote Xu Xing in the latest issue of the journal&#160;Nature.&#160;</p>
<p /> | Newly-discovered dinosaur with bat-like wings is ‘refreshingly weird’ | false | http://natmonitor.com/2015/04/29/newly-discovered-dinosaur-with-bat-like-wings-is-refreshingly-weird/ | 2015-04-29 | 3left-center
| Newly-discovered dinosaur with bat-like wings is ‘refreshingly weird’
<p>While paleontologists have always assumed that prehistoric reptiles used either feathers or a membrane of skin and muscle supported by a lengthened finger, a&#160;new creature&#160;has been discovered which seemingly boasted&#160;both features. Chinese researchers&#160;announced on Wednesday that they discovered a new gliding dinosaur named Yi qi which was a close relative of the lineage which&#160;ultimately evolved into&#160;birds.</p>
<p>China has yielded a number of important fossils over the past several years, and researchers recently&#160;uncovered fossils of a small feathered dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic age.&#160;Yi qi,&#160;which comes from the Mandarin for “strange wing,” is being&#160;assigned it to a group of diminutive, feathered meat-eaters known as scansoriopterygids.&#160;Unlike most other&#160;dinosaurian gliders and proto-birds, researchers believe it&#160;had both feathers positioned on its long arms and fingers and a membrane-like soft tissue that would have given it bat-like wings. While&#160;Yi qi&#160;isn’t being considered a direct ancestor of birds, its unique wings are being considered a surprising example of convergent evolution.</p>
<p>“This is refreshingly weird,” said&#160;Daniel Ksepka&#160;of&#160;the Bruce Museum “Paleontologists will be thinking about Yi qi for a long time, and we can surely expect some interesting research into the structure and function of the wing.”</p>
<p>While researchers once considered dinosaurs and pterosaurs and their respective feathery or leathery wings mutually exclusive,&#160;Yi qi&#160;challenges that way of thinking.</p>
<p>“It definitely evolved a wing that is unique in the context of the transition from dinosaurs to birds,” said lead author&#160;Xu Xing,&#160;a professor with&#160;the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, due to the&#160;incomplete preservation of the wings and the uncertain position of the long wrist bone, researchers have no way of knowing whether the dinosaur had a very broad wing or a narrow one, or if it&#160;had the muscles and joints needed for powered flight.</p>
<p>“We don’t know if Yi qi was flapping, or gliding, or both,” wrote Xu Xing in the latest issue of the journal&#160;Nature.&#160;</p>
<p /> | 599,716 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Who, it should be noted, is not so little anymore.</p>
<p>Nikki Eaton was 4 when Smithey last saw her, his beautiful redheaded baby with rosy cheeks and the same nose and mouth as his own. She is 20 now, a junior at the University of New Mexico studying psychology and criminology.</p>
<p>Oh, what Smithey could teach her about the latter subject.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>That, though, is for another day. Until he flies back to his home in Greeley, Colo., today, what Smithey, 38, wanted most of all was to get to know the beautiful young woman he helped bring into the world, then walked away from when his own world turned so dark.</p>
<p>“I had her baby picture with me. I thought about her all the time,” said Smithey, who arrived in Albuquerque late Thursday from Greeley, where he works as an oil field pipe inspector. “The lifestyle I was living, I was involved in – I didn’t want her to see me like that.”</p>
<p>In those 17 years, he battled a severe meth addiction, though often the battle was more of a capitulation.</p>
<p>“There were times, many times, six months at a time, where I have no recollection,” he said. “It was kind of like a ‘Breaking Bad’ story. There were times I was living on the street, when I had nothing but my meth. It seemed like a never-ending story at times.”</p>
<p>It did end, in 2011, when the law caught up with him and placed him in a drug court program in Weld County, Colo. He’s been clean for two years. He is ready to come home.</p>
<p>Smithey said he broke bad at age 8. He was a surly, confused kid then, kicked out of elementary school for brawling, angry that his father had abandoned him, too much for his mother to handle on her own. She sent him to live at the New Mexico Christian Children’s Home, a place for troubled children to heal in the rural reaches outside Portales. He stayed for six years.</p>
<p>He was 14 when he returned. He went to Sandia High School but dropped out in his senior year and obtained a GED.</p>
<p>“And that’s pretty much when I got involved with the wrong people,” he said. “With drugs.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It began with drinking alcohol, then smoking marijuana, then meth.</p>
<p>“Once I started that, there was no turning back,” he said. “When you do meth, it gives you motivation and ambition, like you are on top of the world. That’s only the first couple of days. Then, the side effects come in.”</p>
<p>Like not sleeping, sometimes a week at a time. Like the paranoia, the eating away of heart, mind and soul like acid. Like doing whatever it takes – lying, stealing – to pay for more. Then more. Then more.</p>
<p>At age 18, Smithey and a girlfriend brought Nikki into the world. But his addiction proved stronger than his fatherhood. Four years later, the girlfriend took Nikki and left.</p>
<p>Smithey moved to Greeley to get away from the meth. He found a job, found a woman to marry, had a son, divorced. He found meth again, and soon he was snorting it, shooting it, cooking it, stealing for it. In 2011, he was arrested for stealing copper wire and spent the next eight months in the Weld County jail. He was facing six years in prison. It was the bottom.</p>
<p>“I told my lawyer, listen, I have a real bad drug habit. I’ve never been to rehab, never gotten help. I would at least like to try that once,” he said. “And then she suggested drug court.”</p>
<p>The rigorous 18-month, five-stage program is an alternative to incarceration that combines treatment and counseling, frequent and random drug testing and close monitoring by a judge. Similar drug courts are in operation in judicial districts across New Mexico.</p>
<p>Smithey said the program worked for him because for the first time he was held accountable for his decisions and was provided a path to a clean and sober life.</p>
<p>“Without the drugs, he’s become the good person he always could be,” said Smithey’s boss, James Timpe, in Greeley. “I’m real proud of him.”</p>
<p>In September 2012, and with his life finally on track, Smithey said it was time to make things right with his daughter. He found her on Facebook.</p>
<p>“It took me a while to process,” Eaton said. “I always thought about what it would be like to meet him someday. I knew minimal things about him. My mom had only told me he wasn’t the best person for me to be around.”</p>
<p>Eaton’s childhood had been quite unlike Smithey’s. She was raised in a stable home with a mother and a father far from the specter of drugs and depravity. She has become a strong, grounded young woman of compassion. When she is not studying at UNM, she volunteers at the Agora Crisis Center on campus.</p>
<p>The two have kept in contact, mostly by text messaging. After so many years apart, they met for the first time, heard each other’s voice for the first time, at lunch Friday in Albuquerque.</p>
<p>It was, Smithey said, an affirmation that he had found his way back, the reason he must never to return to that darkness.</p>
<p>“She was always in my heart and mind,” he said of the daughter he lovingly calls the Queen of the Duke City. “And now she is here.”</p>
<p>UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a> or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to <a href="" type="internal">www.ABQjournal.com</a>/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p /> | Father turns corner after breaking bad | false | https://abqjournal.com/316655/after-breaking-bad-a-father-reunites-with-lost-daughter.html | 2least
| Father turns corner after breaking bad
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Who, it should be noted, is not so little anymore.</p>
<p>Nikki Eaton was 4 when Smithey last saw her, his beautiful redheaded baby with rosy cheeks and the same nose and mouth as his own. She is 20 now, a junior at the University of New Mexico studying psychology and criminology.</p>
<p>Oh, what Smithey could teach her about the latter subject.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>That, though, is for another day. Until he flies back to his home in Greeley, Colo., today, what Smithey, 38, wanted most of all was to get to know the beautiful young woman he helped bring into the world, then walked away from when his own world turned so dark.</p>
<p>“I had her baby picture with me. I thought about her all the time,” said Smithey, who arrived in Albuquerque late Thursday from Greeley, where he works as an oil field pipe inspector. “The lifestyle I was living, I was involved in – I didn’t want her to see me like that.”</p>
<p>In those 17 years, he battled a severe meth addiction, though often the battle was more of a capitulation.</p>
<p>“There were times, many times, six months at a time, where I have no recollection,” he said. “It was kind of like a ‘Breaking Bad’ story. There were times I was living on the street, when I had nothing but my meth. It seemed like a never-ending story at times.”</p>
<p>It did end, in 2011, when the law caught up with him and placed him in a drug court program in Weld County, Colo. He’s been clean for two years. He is ready to come home.</p>
<p>Smithey said he broke bad at age 8. He was a surly, confused kid then, kicked out of elementary school for brawling, angry that his father had abandoned him, too much for his mother to handle on her own. She sent him to live at the New Mexico Christian Children’s Home, a place for troubled children to heal in the rural reaches outside Portales. He stayed for six years.</p>
<p>He was 14 when he returned. He went to Sandia High School but dropped out in his senior year and obtained a GED.</p>
<p>“And that’s pretty much when I got involved with the wrong people,” he said. “With drugs.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It began with drinking alcohol, then smoking marijuana, then meth.</p>
<p>“Once I started that, there was no turning back,” he said. “When you do meth, it gives you motivation and ambition, like you are on top of the world. That’s only the first couple of days. Then, the side effects come in.”</p>
<p>Like not sleeping, sometimes a week at a time. Like the paranoia, the eating away of heart, mind and soul like acid. Like doing whatever it takes – lying, stealing – to pay for more. Then more. Then more.</p>
<p>At age 18, Smithey and a girlfriend brought Nikki into the world. But his addiction proved stronger than his fatherhood. Four years later, the girlfriend took Nikki and left.</p>
<p>Smithey moved to Greeley to get away from the meth. He found a job, found a woman to marry, had a son, divorced. He found meth again, and soon he was snorting it, shooting it, cooking it, stealing for it. In 2011, he was arrested for stealing copper wire and spent the next eight months in the Weld County jail. He was facing six years in prison. It was the bottom.</p>
<p>“I told my lawyer, listen, I have a real bad drug habit. I’ve never been to rehab, never gotten help. I would at least like to try that once,” he said. “And then she suggested drug court.”</p>
<p>The rigorous 18-month, five-stage program is an alternative to incarceration that combines treatment and counseling, frequent and random drug testing and close monitoring by a judge. Similar drug courts are in operation in judicial districts across New Mexico.</p>
<p>Smithey said the program worked for him because for the first time he was held accountable for his decisions and was provided a path to a clean and sober life.</p>
<p>“Without the drugs, he’s become the good person he always could be,” said Smithey’s boss, James Timpe, in Greeley. “I’m real proud of him.”</p>
<p>In September 2012, and with his life finally on track, Smithey said it was time to make things right with his daughter. He found her on Facebook.</p>
<p>“It took me a while to process,” Eaton said. “I always thought about what it would be like to meet him someday. I knew minimal things about him. My mom had only told me he wasn’t the best person for me to be around.”</p>
<p>Eaton’s childhood had been quite unlike Smithey’s. She was raised in a stable home with a mother and a father far from the specter of drugs and depravity. She has become a strong, grounded young woman of compassion. When she is not studying at UNM, she volunteers at the Agora Crisis Center on campus.</p>
<p>The two have kept in contact, mostly by text messaging. After so many years apart, they met for the first time, heard each other’s voice for the first time, at lunch Friday in Albuquerque.</p>
<p>It was, Smithey said, an affirmation that he had found his way back, the reason he must never to return to that darkness.</p>
<p>“She was always in my heart and mind,” he said of the daughter he lovingly calls the Queen of the Duke City. “And now she is here.”</p>
<p>UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a> or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to <a href="" type="internal">www.ABQjournal.com</a>/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p /> | 599,717 |
|
<p />
<p>Rep. Bart Stupak’s polarizing abortion fight has stalled the health care bill—and now it’s started to spill over into the midterm elections. Stupak has attracted a primary challenger who launched her campaign because of his anti-abortion stance. Now even moderate Democratic candidates are&#160; speaking out against Stupak’s anti-abortion maneuvering, which has become a major roadblock to passing the bill. Rob Miller, who is running in what’s likely to be a competitive contest against Rep. Joe “You Lie!” Wilson in South Carolina’s second district, <a href="http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2010/03/10/miller-no-reason-for-bill-to-stop-taxpayer-funded-abortions/" type="external">said</a> in a meeting this week with local Democrats that he would have opposed Stupak’s amendment to restrict abortion access in the House version of the bill.</p>
<p>“It’s an excessive piece of legislation that I think would strip from some areas—some of the life-saving aspects of the previous legislation,” Miller <a href="http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2010/03/10/miller-no-reason-for-bill-to-stop-taxpayer-funded-abortions/" type="external">said</a> on Tuesday. “I thought it was unnecessary, I think that’s the biggest thing for me. So I would have voted against it.”</p>
<p>Miller is a fairly moderate, fiscally conservative <a href="http://robmillerforcongress.com/on-the-issues/honoring-our-troops" type="external">Blue Dog</a> running in a conservative district that broke for McCain. His comments highlight just how extreme Stupak’s demands are. Though Miller hasn’t taken a vocal stance on abortion in the past—his campaign hasn’t yet responded to questions regarding his views on the issue—Miller is certainly drawing a bright line between himself and Wilson, whose campaign is hauling out the Republican attack line. “It’s up to folks to say whether they want government-funded abortions or not,” Brian DeRoy, the communications director for Wilson’s campaign, tells Mother Jones.</p>
<p>In just days after Wilson’s outburst during the State of the Union address, in which he accused the president of lying about the health reform bill, Miller <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0909/Wilson_campaign_Fundraising_breaks_1_million_passes_Miller.html" type="external">raised</a> over $1 million from the liberal netroots. After the massive influx of support, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sensed the chance for an upset and designated the race as a “Red to Blue” target. And Milller’s opposition to Stupak could now win him more support from liberal groups. “I was very encouraged,” said Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women. “It’s absolutely exciting that people are stepping up to challenge [Wilson], especially those who are willing to recognize that women’s reproductive health care is health care.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>It looks as though Stupak could soon make a compromise on abortion in the health-care bill. But given the prolonged political firefight, the issue could continue to rear its head on the campaign trail—not the least for Stupak himself, who’s drawn a primary challenger who’s <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/86159-stupak-faces-primary-challenge" type="external">campaigning</a>on his anti-choice intransigence.</p>
<p /> | Stupak’s Abortion Fight Spills Onto the Campaign Trail | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/stupak-abortion-fight-spills-onto-campaign-trail/ | 2010-03-11 | 4left
| Stupak’s Abortion Fight Spills Onto the Campaign Trail
<p />
<p>Rep. Bart Stupak’s polarizing abortion fight has stalled the health care bill—and now it’s started to spill over into the midterm elections. Stupak has attracted a primary challenger who launched her campaign because of his anti-abortion stance. Now even moderate Democratic candidates are&#160; speaking out against Stupak’s anti-abortion maneuvering, which has become a major roadblock to passing the bill. Rob Miller, who is running in what’s likely to be a competitive contest against Rep. Joe “You Lie!” Wilson in South Carolina’s second district, <a href="http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2010/03/10/miller-no-reason-for-bill-to-stop-taxpayer-funded-abortions/" type="external">said</a> in a meeting this week with local Democrats that he would have opposed Stupak’s amendment to restrict abortion access in the House version of the bill.</p>
<p>“It’s an excessive piece of legislation that I think would strip from some areas—some of the life-saving aspects of the previous legislation,” Miller <a href="http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2010/03/10/miller-no-reason-for-bill-to-stop-taxpayer-funded-abortions/" type="external">said</a> on Tuesday. “I thought it was unnecessary, I think that’s the biggest thing for me. So I would have voted against it.”</p>
<p>Miller is a fairly moderate, fiscally conservative <a href="http://robmillerforcongress.com/on-the-issues/honoring-our-troops" type="external">Blue Dog</a> running in a conservative district that broke for McCain. His comments highlight just how extreme Stupak’s demands are. Though Miller hasn’t taken a vocal stance on abortion in the past—his campaign hasn’t yet responded to questions regarding his views on the issue—Miller is certainly drawing a bright line between himself and Wilson, whose campaign is hauling out the Republican attack line. “It’s up to folks to say whether they want government-funded abortions or not,” Brian DeRoy, the communications director for Wilson’s campaign, tells Mother Jones.</p>
<p>In just days after Wilson’s outburst during the State of the Union address, in which he accused the president of lying about the health reform bill, Miller <a href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0909/Wilson_campaign_Fundraising_breaks_1_million_passes_Miller.html" type="external">raised</a> over $1 million from the liberal netroots. After the massive influx of support, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sensed the chance for an upset and designated the race as a “Red to Blue” target. And Milller’s opposition to Stupak could now win him more support from liberal groups. “I was very encouraged,” said Terry O’Neill, president of the National Organization for Women. “It’s absolutely exciting that people are stepping up to challenge [Wilson], especially those who are willing to recognize that women’s reproductive health care is health care.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>It looks as though Stupak could soon make a compromise on abortion in the health-care bill. But given the prolonged political firefight, the issue could continue to rear its head on the campaign trail—not the least for Stupak himself, who’s drawn a primary challenger who’s <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/86159-stupak-faces-primary-challenge" type="external">campaigning</a>on his anti-choice intransigence.</p>
<p /> | 599,718 |
<p>WORCESTER (MA)Telegram &amp; GazetteRichard Nangle can be reached by e-mail at rnangletelegram.com.A Westboro priest says he reported a parishioner's sexual abuse claim against Rev. Jean-Paul Gagnon to his superiors 16 years ago and never heard another word about it until the alleged victim filed a lawsuit over the matter late last year. Despite the lawsuit, Bishop Daniel P. Reilly has not removed Rev. Gagnon from his post at St. Augustine Church in Millville. Instead, Rev. Gagnon remains on personal leave. In a January lawsuit deposition, Rev. Steven M. LaBaire also said he rebuffed an attempt by a diocesan lawyer to arrange an informal meeting with alleged victim Timothy P. Staney, who had confided in Rev. LaBaire on the condition of anonymity. Mr. Staney later cast aside anonymity to file the lawsuit against Rev. Gagnon. "During the summer of 1987, in the late summer, in a conversation that I had with Mr. Staney, he shared with me in very general terms inappropriate interaction of a physical sexual nature that went on between him and Rev. Gagnon,' said Rev. LaBaire, who was assigned to Holy Name of Jesus Church in Worcester at the time. His predecessor there was Rev. Gagnon. Rev. LaBaire said he immediately reported the allegation to his pastor, Rev. Roland G. Hebert, who he said directed him to report the matter to Rev. Raymond Page, whom he described as vicar of priests. Testimony from another Staney lawsuit deposition showed that former preseminarian Chad Boisvert said Bishop Reilly removed him from consideration for the priesthood in 1998 after learning that a series of homosexual encounters occurred between Mr. Boisvert and Rev. Gagnon at St. Augustine's in Millville. Mr. Boisvert, who now works for a Braintree financial company, said he had never been told about any past allegations involving Rev. Gagnon. Diocesan spokesman Raymond L. Delisle said he could offer no comment on the Staney lawsuit. After disclosing the allegation of Rev. Gagnon's alleged sexual abuse both to church officials and his therapist, Rev. LaBaire said he was told that Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte was promptly notified. But Rev. LaBaire said he was never contacted by the district attorney's office or any law enforcement authorities.</p> | Diocese ignored priest's report | false | https://poynter.org/news/diocese-ignored-priests-report | 2003-03-10 | 2least
| Diocese ignored priest's report
<p>WORCESTER (MA)Telegram &amp; GazetteRichard Nangle can be reached by e-mail at rnangletelegram.com.A Westboro priest says he reported a parishioner's sexual abuse claim against Rev. Jean-Paul Gagnon to his superiors 16 years ago and never heard another word about it until the alleged victim filed a lawsuit over the matter late last year. Despite the lawsuit, Bishop Daniel P. Reilly has not removed Rev. Gagnon from his post at St. Augustine Church in Millville. Instead, Rev. Gagnon remains on personal leave. In a January lawsuit deposition, Rev. Steven M. LaBaire also said he rebuffed an attempt by a diocesan lawyer to arrange an informal meeting with alleged victim Timothy P. Staney, who had confided in Rev. LaBaire on the condition of anonymity. Mr. Staney later cast aside anonymity to file the lawsuit against Rev. Gagnon. "During the summer of 1987, in the late summer, in a conversation that I had with Mr. Staney, he shared with me in very general terms inappropriate interaction of a physical sexual nature that went on between him and Rev. Gagnon,' said Rev. LaBaire, who was assigned to Holy Name of Jesus Church in Worcester at the time. His predecessor there was Rev. Gagnon. Rev. LaBaire said he immediately reported the allegation to his pastor, Rev. Roland G. Hebert, who he said directed him to report the matter to Rev. Raymond Page, whom he described as vicar of priests. Testimony from another Staney lawsuit deposition showed that former preseminarian Chad Boisvert said Bishop Reilly removed him from consideration for the priesthood in 1998 after learning that a series of homosexual encounters occurred between Mr. Boisvert and Rev. Gagnon at St. Augustine's in Millville. Mr. Boisvert, who now works for a Braintree financial company, said he had never been told about any past allegations involving Rev. Gagnon. Diocesan spokesman Raymond L. Delisle said he could offer no comment on the Staney lawsuit. After disclosing the allegation of Rev. Gagnon's alleged sexual abuse both to church officials and his therapist, Rev. LaBaire said he was told that Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte was promptly notified. But Rev. LaBaire said he was never contacted by the district attorney's office or any law enforcement authorities.</p> | 599,719 |
<p />
<p>U.S. President Barack Obama disparaged U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday, saying the billionaire seeks tweets over solutions and has "rattled" foreign leaders with his pronouncements.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Obama accused the real estate mogul and former reality TV impresario of making cavalier comments for provocative effect, and he urged all presidential candidates to take the high road in a boisterous and harsh campaign.</p>
<p>Weighing in on the race to succeed him with his strongest broadside yet against Trump, Obama said fellow leaders from the Group of Seven nations "are surprised by the Republican nominee".</p>
<p>"They are not sure how seriously to take some of his pronouncements but they are rattled by them," the president told a news conference on the sidelines of a G7 summit in central Japan.</p>
<p>"For good reason, because a lot of the proposals he has made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude, or an interest in getting tweets and headlines, instead of actually thinking through what it is that is required to keep America safe, secure and prosperous and the world on an even keel."</p>
<p>Many U.S. allies fear Trump will feed insecurity in countries worried about China's growing power, embolden nationalists and authoritarians, and unravel Obama's "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Trump has also been accused of racism and bigotry for saying he would build a wall to keep out illegal Mexican immigrants and would temporarily ban Muslims from the United States. He has also made comments considered demeaning to women.</p>
<p>The race between Trump on the one hand and the Democratic candidates, front-runner Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state, and Senator Bernie Sanders, for the Nov. 8 election has become increasingly bitter and personal.</p>
<p>Trump this week took his use of accusations against Clinton to levels unprecedented in modern U.S. presidential campaigns, making incendiary statements that television networks cannot resist covering, giving him hours of free media and putting his opponents on the defensive.</p>
<p>Obama said it was natural for journalists in such a campaign to elevate "every roll, blink, speed bump, conflict, trash talkin'", but urged, instead, that candidates from both sides stick to the issues.</p>
<p>"Grumpiness arises where folks feel that we're not talking about issues but personalities or character."</p>
<p>Obama, a Democrat, issued his most extensive analysis to date of his own party's race, while refusing to take sides.</p>
<p>He rejected a suggestion that beating Trump would get more difficult as the two parties' conventions approach in July, a period when the Democratic victor can focus on fighting Trump instead of the fellow Democrat, adding that the Democrat battle was tough.</p>
<p>"Arguing against your friends is more draining than arguing against political opponents," Obama said.</p>
<p>He said there were no big ideological differences between Clinton, an establishment candidate who is a former First Lady and senator, and Sanders, a firebrand populist who identifies as a Democratic Socialist.</p>
<p>The president said it was important that the race eventually end in a way "that leaves both sides feeling proud of what they've done."</p>
<p>(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Thomas Wilson; Editing by William Mallard, Robert Birsel)</p> | Obama: Trump Displays Ignorance, Seeks Tweets Over Solutions | true | http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/05/26/obama-trump-displays-ignorance-seeks-tweets-over-solutions.html | 2016-05-26 | 0right
| Obama: Trump Displays Ignorance, Seeks Tweets Over Solutions
<p />
<p>U.S. President Barack Obama disparaged U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Thursday, saying the billionaire seeks tweets over solutions and has "rattled" foreign leaders with his pronouncements.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Obama accused the real estate mogul and former reality TV impresario of making cavalier comments for provocative effect, and he urged all presidential candidates to take the high road in a boisterous and harsh campaign.</p>
<p>Weighing in on the race to succeed him with his strongest broadside yet against Trump, Obama said fellow leaders from the Group of Seven nations "are surprised by the Republican nominee".</p>
<p>"They are not sure how seriously to take some of his pronouncements but they are rattled by them," the president told a news conference on the sidelines of a G7 summit in central Japan.</p>
<p>"For good reason, because a lot of the proposals he has made display either ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude, or an interest in getting tweets and headlines, instead of actually thinking through what it is that is required to keep America safe, secure and prosperous and the world on an even keel."</p>
<p>Many U.S. allies fear Trump will feed insecurity in countries worried about China's growing power, embolden nationalists and authoritarians, and unravel Obama's "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Trump has also been accused of racism and bigotry for saying he would build a wall to keep out illegal Mexican immigrants and would temporarily ban Muslims from the United States. He has also made comments considered demeaning to women.</p>
<p>The race between Trump on the one hand and the Democratic candidates, front-runner Hillary Clinton, a former secretary of state, and Senator Bernie Sanders, for the Nov. 8 election has become increasingly bitter and personal.</p>
<p>Trump this week took his use of accusations against Clinton to levels unprecedented in modern U.S. presidential campaigns, making incendiary statements that television networks cannot resist covering, giving him hours of free media and putting his opponents on the defensive.</p>
<p>Obama said it was natural for journalists in such a campaign to elevate "every roll, blink, speed bump, conflict, trash talkin'", but urged, instead, that candidates from both sides stick to the issues.</p>
<p>"Grumpiness arises where folks feel that we're not talking about issues but personalities or character."</p>
<p>Obama, a Democrat, issued his most extensive analysis to date of his own party's race, while refusing to take sides.</p>
<p>He rejected a suggestion that beating Trump would get more difficult as the two parties' conventions approach in July, a period when the Democratic victor can focus on fighting Trump instead of the fellow Democrat, adding that the Democrat battle was tough.</p>
<p>"Arguing against your friends is more draining than arguing against political opponents," Obama said.</p>
<p>He said there were no big ideological differences between Clinton, an establishment candidate who is a former First Lady and senator, and Sanders, a firebrand populist who identifies as a Democratic Socialist.</p>
<p>The president said it was important that the race eventually end in a way "that leaves both sides feeling proud of what they've done."</p>
<p>(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Thomas Wilson; Editing by William Mallard, Robert Birsel)</p> | 599,720 |
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>WikiLeaks had everyone speculating on the context of the mysterious Vault 7 tweet. However, that's no longer the case, the context of the mysterious Vault 7 tweets from WikiLeaks has been confirmed. Revelations dealt a blow to the US after WikiLeaks unveiled CIA documents detailing how the French political parties were targeted for infiltrations by the CIA's human human (?HUMINT?) and electronic (?SIGINT?) spies in the seven months leading up to France's 2012 presidential election.</p>
<p />
<p>Reports from EV pointed out that the US intelligence departments justified their intrusions into the theatre of European politics to assist in assessing and preparing key US policymakers for the post-election landscape in France, with special emphasis on US-France relationship.</p>
<p>Anon covered a report revolving around cryptic messaged of WikiLeaks Vault 7 tweets, this has led to the speculation that it was a potential new release of documents that would potentially shake the world.</p>
<p />
<p>However, it was anyone's guess at the time. However, WikiLeaks has stated that the latest document purge is in context for its forth coming CIA Vault 7 series.</p>
<p>A WikiLeaks press release pointed out that all major French political parties were targeted for the infiltration by the CIA's human (?HUMINT?) and electronic (?SIGINT?) spies in the seven months leading up to France's 2012 presidential election. The revelations are contained within three CIA tasking orders published today by WikiLeaks as context for its forth coming CIA Vault 7 series. Named specifically as targets are the French Socialist Party (PS), the National Front (FN) and Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) together with current President Francois Hollande, then President Nicolas Sarkozy, current round one presidential front runner Marine Le Pen, and former presidential candidates Martine Aubry and Dominique Strauss-Khan.</p>
<p />
<p>WikiLeaks also indicated that this also coincided with an economic espionage against the French alongside another order dedicated to surveying and obtaining details of French companies and policies that included the decisions made by the French government.</p>
<p />
<p>The only uncertainty that remains is how exactly does this tie in with the upcoming Vault 7 Series, and what explosive release will follow that will most probably incriminate the US government?</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>SOURCE: <a href="http://anonhq.com/wikileaks-the-context-of-vault-7-released/" type="external">anonhq.com/wikileaks-the-context-of-vault-7-released</a></p> | WikiLeaks Releases The Context Of Vault 7 | true | http://thegoldwater.com/news/1427-WikiLeaks-Releases-The-Context-Of-Vault-7 | 2017-02-22 | 0right
| WikiLeaks Releases The Context Of Vault 7
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>WikiLeaks had everyone speculating on the context of the mysterious Vault 7 tweet. However, that's no longer the case, the context of the mysterious Vault 7 tweets from WikiLeaks has been confirmed. Revelations dealt a blow to the US after WikiLeaks unveiled CIA documents detailing how the French political parties were targeted for infiltrations by the CIA's human human (?HUMINT?) and electronic (?SIGINT?) spies in the seven months leading up to France's 2012 presidential election.</p>
<p />
<p>Reports from EV pointed out that the US intelligence departments justified their intrusions into the theatre of European politics to assist in assessing and preparing key US policymakers for the post-election landscape in France, with special emphasis on US-France relationship.</p>
<p>Anon covered a report revolving around cryptic messaged of WikiLeaks Vault 7 tweets, this has led to the speculation that it was a potential new release of documents that would potentially shake the world.</p>
<p />
<p>However, it was anyone's guess at the time. However, WikiLeaks has stated that the latest document purge is in context for its forth coming CIA Vault 7 series.</p>
<p>A WikiLeaks press release pointed out that all major French political parties were targeted for the infiltration by the CIA's human (?HUMINT?) and electronic (?SIGINT?) spies in the seven months leading up to France's 2012 presidential election. The revelations are contained within three CIA tasking orders published today by WikiLeaks as context for its forth coming CIA Vault 7 series. Named specifically as targets are the French Socialist Party (PS), the National Front (FN) and Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) together with current President Francois Hollande, then President Nicolas Sarkozy, current round one presidential front runner Marine Le Pen, and former presidential candidates Martine Aubry and Dominique Strauss-Khan.</p>
<p />
<p>WikiLeaks also indicated that this also coincided with an economic espionage against the French alongside another order dedicated to surveying and obtaining details of French companies and policies that included the decisions made by the French government.</p>
<p />
<p>The only uncertainty that remains is how exactly does this tie in with the upcoming Vault 7 Series, and what explosive release will follow that will most probably incriminate the US government?</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>SOURCE: <a href="http://anonhq.com/wikileaks-the-context-of-vault-7-released/" type="external">anonhq.com/wikileaks-the-context-of-vault-7-released</a></p> | 599,721 |
<p />
<p>80 cents on the male dollar: <a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0435.pdf" type="external">” Women’s Earnings,”</a> Government Accountability Office, October 2003</p>
<p>$1.2 million over her career: <a href="http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350.pdf" type="external">“The Gender Wage Ratio,”</a>, Institute for Women’s Policy Fact Sheet, August 2005</p>
<p>Less than a half penny per year: <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0193820.html" type="external">“Women’s Earnings as a Percentage of Men’s,”</a> US Women’s Bureau and the National Committee on Pay Equity</p>
<p>RFK’s all-male club: Burk, Martha. Cult of Power, Scribner: 2005</p>
<p>Catalyst and Augusta: Burk, Martha. Cult of Power, Scribner: 2005; <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org" type="external">Catalyst</a></p>
<p>GE as Catalyst winner: <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org/pressroom/press_releases/2004_awardwin.htm" type="external">“Prestigious Catalyst Award for Efforts to Advance Women Employees”</a>, Catalyst press release, January 2004; and <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org/knowledge/titles/wp-content/uploads/full/financialperformancereport.pdf" type="external">“The Bottom Line”</a>, Catalyst report, 2004</p>
<p>Companies with female execs yield higher returns: <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org/knowledge/titles/wp-content/uploads/full/financialperformancereport.pdf" type="external">“The Bottom Line”</a>, Catalyst report, 2004</p>
<p>Employed spouses: female vs. male execs: <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/exe/GlobalLeadersExecSumm.pdf" type="external">“Leaders in a Global Economy”</a>, Catalyst report</p>
<p>Children: female vs. male execs: <a href="http://www.worklifepolicy.org/documents/news-pr03.pdf" type="external">“High-Achieving Women “</a>, Center for Work-Life Policy, April 2005</p>
<p>Children and earnings increases: <a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0435.pdf" type="external">” Women’s Earnings,”</a> Government Accountability Office, October 2003</p>
<p>Paid parental leave in industrialized countries: The Project on Global Working Families <a href="http://www.nationalpartnership.org/portals/p3/library/PaidLeave/WorkFamilyandEquityIndex.pdf" type="external">“The Work, Family, and Equity Index: Where Does the United States Stand Globally?,”</a> June 16, 2004.</p>
<p>86% of Sunday-morning talk shows; 80% of the Daily Show: <a href="http://www.thewhitehouseproject.org/v2/researchandreports/whostalking/whos_talking_2005.pdf" type="external">“Who’s Talking?”</a>, The White House Project, 2005; and <a href="http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/index.jhtml" type="external">The Daily Show video archives</a></p>
<p>5 of 20-odd thought-leader magazines: Samir Husni, Journalism Department, University of Mississippi.</p>
<p>24% of recent stories in major mags written by women: <a href="http://www.womentk.com" type="external">“WomenTK”</a></p>
<p>1/3 on gender, family or short stories, memoirs: <a href="http://www.womentk.com/page2.html" type="external">“WomenTK” and Mother Jones count</a></p>
<p>41% of Mother Jones stories over same period: <a href="/" type="external">“Mother Jones: Sept/Oct 2005, Nov 2005, Dec 2005”</a></p>
<p>Cost of being Carrie Bradshaw: Candace Bushnell, creator of Sex and the City.; Mark Chulpayed, owner, Belazza Salon and Spa; Sally Hershberger Downtown; Bliss 49 spa; Reebok Sports Club/NY; City Sun Tanning; PerfumeEmporium.com.</p>
<p>“Best” firms lists and pay-to-play advertising: Martha Burk, Cult of Power Scribner, 2005.</p>
<p>Working Mother best firms for women of color: <a href="http://www.workingmother.com/woc_chart.html" type="external">“Charting Women of Color at Our Winning Companies”</a>, Working Mother magazine, 2005</p>
<p>Women over 65 in poverty: <a href="http://www.legalmomentum.org/womeninpoverty.pdf" type="external">“Reading Between the Lines: Women’s Poverty in the United States”</a>, Legal Momentum, 2003</p>
<p>Actors and actresses over 40: <a href="http://www.films42.com/chats/chats_lauzen.asp" type="external">“The Celluloid Ceiling”</a></p>
<p>Bancroft and Hoffman in The Graduate: <a href="http://www.imdb.com" type="external">“IMDB pages for Bancroft, Hoffman and The Graduate”</a>, Internet Movie Database</p>
<p>Best actresses: Prostitutes, Nuns, and Mutes: <a href="http://www.filmsite.org/bestactress.html" type="external">“Filmsite.org: Best Actresses”</a></p>
<p>Orchestra auditions behind a screen: <a href="http://www.irs.princeton.edu/pubs/pdfs/376.pdf" type="external">“Orchestrating Impartiality”</a>, Princeton University, 1997</p>
<p>Husbands do less work than they create: <a href="http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=R0503B" type="external">“Off-Ramps and On-Ramps”</a>, Harvard Business Review, March 2005</p>
<p>Teenagers adding to mom and dad’s housework: “Social Forces; September 01, 2000: Is Anyone Doing the Housework?”</p>
<p>Heavyset women get fewer promotions: Gender, Body Mass and Economic Status National Bureau of Economic Research, May 2005.</p>
<p>The Shrinking Model: <a href="http://health.discovery.com/centers/nutritionfitness/nwhrc/eatingdisorders/nwhrc_eatingdisorders.html" type="external">“Eating Disorders: Get the Facts”</a>, National Women’s Health Resource Center, 2005</p>
<p>Dove ad campaign: <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2123659/" type="external">“When Tush Comes to Dove”</a>, Slate.com, August 1, 2005</p>
<p>College men prefer women in subordinate jobs: Stephanie L. Brown and Brian P. Lewis, “Relational dominance and mate-selection criteria: Evidence that males attend to female dominance,” Evolution and Human Behavior 25 (2004), p.406-415. &gt;</p>
<p>Men earning fewer B.A.s: National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_169.asp" type="external">Table 169</a> (Enrollment, staff, and degrees conferred in postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV programs, by level and control of institution, sex, and type of degree: Fall 2001, fall 2002, and 2002-03).</p>
<p>Affirmative action for men: “Colleges remain cautious in handling gender diversity,” USA Today, Oct. 20, 2005.</p>
<p>Female Ph.D.s, tenure and babies: Mary Ann Mason and Marc Goulden, <a href="http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/2004/04nd/04ndmaso.htm" type="external">“Do Babies Matter (Part II)?”</a> Academe, November-December 2004.</p>
<p>Women in Iraq’s parliament and U.S. Congress, and African nations with a higher percentage of female legislators than the U.S.: Inter-Parliamentary Union, <a href="http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm" type="external">Women in National Parliaments</a>.</p>
<p>The Vanishing Point: <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/fact/COTE%20Factsheet%202002updated.pdf" type="external">2002 Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners in the Fortune 500</a>.</p>
<p>America better off with more women in top political jobs: Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government, Center for Public Leadership, <a href="http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/leadership/nli/nli2005.pdf" type="external">National Leadership Index 2005</a>.</p>
<p>Labor Dept.’s missing publications: National Council for Research on Women, <a href="http://www.ncrw.org/misinfo/report.pdf" type="external">“MISSING: Information about Women’s Lives,”</a>March 2004.</p>
<p>Merrill Lynch sexual harassment: “Merrill Lynch Firm Is Told It Must Pay In Sexual Bias Case,” The New York Times, April 21, 2004.</p>
<p /> | Limited Ambitions: Sources | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/01/limited-ambitions-sources/ | 2018-01-01 | 4left
| Limited Ambitions: Sources
<p />
<p>80 cents on the male dollar: <a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0435.pdf" type="external">” Women’s Earnings,”</a> Government Accountability Office, October 2003</p>
<p>$1.2 million over her career: <a href="http://www.iwpr.org/pdf/C350.pdf" type="external">“The Gender Wage Ratio,”</a>, Institute for Women’s Policy Fact Sheet, August 2005</p>
<p>Less than a half penny per year: <a href="http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0193820.html" type="external">“Women’s Earnings as a Percentage of Men’s,”</a> US Women’s Bureau and the National Committee on Pay Equity</p>
<p>RFK’s all-male club: Burk, Martha. Cult of Power, Scribner: 2005</p>
<p>Catalyst and Augusta: Burk, Martha. Cult of Power, Scribner: 2005; <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org" type="external">Catalyst</a></p>
<p>GE as Catalyst winner: <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org/pressroom/press_releases/2004_awardwin.htm" type="external">“Prestigious Catalyst Award for Efforts to Advance Women Employees”</a>, Catalyst press release, January 2004; and <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org/knowledge/titles/wp-content/uploads/full/financialperformancereport.pdf" type="external">“The Bottom Line”</a>, Catalyst report, 2004</p>
<p>Companies with female execs yield higher returns: <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org/knowledge/titles/wp-content/uploads/full/financialperformancereport.pdf" type="external">“The Bottom Line”</a>, Catalyst report, 2004</p>
<p>Employed spouses: female vs. male execs: <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/exe/GlobalLeadersExecSumm.pdf" type="external">“Leaders in a Global Economy”</a>, Catalyst report</p>
<p>Children: female vs. male execs: <a href="http://www.worklifepolicy.org/documents/news-pr03.pdf" type="external">“High-Achieving Women “</a>, Center for Work-Life Policy, April 2005</p>
<p>Children and earnings increases: <a href="http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d0435.pdf" type="external">” Women’s Earnings,”</a> Government Accountability Office, October 2003</p>
<p>Paid parental leave in industrialized countries: The Project on Global Working Families <a href="http://www.nationalpartnership.org/portals/p3/library/PaidLeave/WorkFamilyandEquityIndex.pdf" type="external">“The Work, Family, and Equity Index: Where Does the United States Stand Globally?,”</a> June 16, 2004.</p>
<p>86% of Sunday-morning talk shows; 80% of the Daily Show: <a href="http://www.thewhitehouseproject.org/v2/researchandreports/whostalking/whos_talking_2005.pdf" type="external">“Who’s Talking?”</a>, The White House Project, 2005; and <a href="http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/index.jhtml" type="external">The Daily Show video archives</a></p>
<p>5 of 20-odd thought-leader magazines: Samir Husni, Journalism Department, University of Mississippi.</p>
<p>24% of recent stories in major mags written by women: <a href="http://www.womentk.com" type="external">“WomenTK”</a></p>
<p>1/3 on gender, family or short stories, memoirs: <a href="http://www.womentk.com/page2.html" type="external">“WomenTK” and Mother Jones count</a></p>
<p>41% of Mother Jones stories over same period: <a href="/" type="external">“Mother Jones: Sept/Oct 2005, Nov 2005, Dec 2005”</a></p>
<p>Cost of being Carrie Bradshaw: Candace Bushnell, creator of Sex and the City.; Mark Chulpayed, owner, Belazza Salon and Spa; Sally Hershberger Downtown; Bliss 49 spa; Reebok Sports Club/NY; City Sun Tanning; PerfumeEmporium.com.</p>
<p>“Best” firms lists and pay-to-play advertising: Martha Burk, Cult of Power Scribner, 2005.</p>
<p>Working Mother best firms for women of color: <a href="http://www.workingmother.com/woc_chart.html" type="external">“Charting Women of Color at Our Winning Companies”</a>, Working Mother magazine, 2005</p>
<p>Women over 65 in poverty: <a href="http://www.legalmomentum.org/womeninpoverty.pdf" type="external">“Reading Between the Lines: Women’s Poverty in the United States”</a>, Legal Momentum, 2003</p>
<p>Actors and actresses over 40: <a href="http://www.films42.com/chats/chats_lauzen.asp" type="external">“The Celluloid Ceiling”</a></p>
<p>Bancroft and Hoffman in The Graduate: <a href="http://www.imdb.com" type="external">“IMDB pages for Bancroft, Hoffman and The Graduate”</a>, Internet Movie Database</p>
<p>Best actresses: Prostitutes, Nuns, and Mutes: <a href="http://www.filmsite.org/bestactress.html" type="external">“Filmsite.org: Best Actresses”</a></p>
<p>Orchestra auditions behind a screen: <a href="http://www.irs.princeton.edu/pubs/pdfs/376.pdf" type="external">“Orchestrating Impartiality”</a>, Princeton University, 1997</p>
<p>Husbands do less work than they create: <a href="http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=R0503B" type="external">“Off-Ramps and On-Ramps”</a>, Harvard Business Review, March 2005</p>
<p>Teenagers adding to mom and dad’s housework: “Social Forces; September 01, 2000: Is Anyone Doing the Housework?”</p>
<p>Heavyset women get fewer promotions: Gender, Body Mass and Economic Status National Bureau of Economic Research, May 2005.</p>
<p>The Shrinking Model: <a href="http://health.discovery.com/centers/nutritionfitness/nwhrc/eatingdisorders/nwhrc_eatingdisorders.html" type="external">“Eating Disorders: Get the Facts”</a>, National Women’s Health Resource Center, 2005</p>
<p>Dove ad campaign: <a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2123659/" type="external">“When Tush Comes to Dove”</a>, Slate.com, August 1, 2005</p>
<p>College men prefer women in subordinate jobs: Stephanie L. Brown and Brian P. Lewis, “Relational dominance and mate-selection criteria: Evidence that males attend to female dominance,” Evolution and Human Behavior 25 (2004), p.406-415. &gt;</p>
<p>Men earning fewer B.A.s: National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics, 2004, <a href="http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d04/tables/dt04_169.asp" type="external">Table 169</a> (Enrollment, staff, and degrees conferred in postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV programs, by level and control of institution, sex, and type of degree: Fall 2001, fall 2002, and 2002-03).</p>
<p>Affirmative action for men: “Colleges remain cautious in handling gender diversity,” USA Today, Oct. 20, 2005.</p>
<p>Female Ph.D.s, tenure and babies: Mary Ann Mason and Marc Goulden, <a href="http://www.aaup.org/publications/Academe/2004/04nd/04ndmaso.htm" type="external">“Do Babies Matter (Part II)?”</a> Academe, November-December 2004.</p>
<p>Women in Iraq’s parliament and U.S. Congress, and African nations with a higher percentage of female legislators than the U.S.: Inter-Parliamentary Union, <a href="http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm" type="external">Women in National Parliaments</a>.</p>
<p>The Vanishing Point: <a href="http://www.catalystwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/fact/COTE%20Factsheet%202002updated.pdf" type="external">2002 Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners in the Fortune 500</a>.</p>
<p>America better off with more women in top political jobs: Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government, Center for Public Leadership, <a href="http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/leadership/nli/nli2005.pdf" type="external">National Leadership Index 2005</a>.</p>
<p>Labor Dept.’s missing publications: National Council for Research on Women, <a href="http://www.ncrw.org/misinfo/report.pdf" type="external">“MISSING: Information about Women’s Lives,”</a>March 2004.</p>
<p>Merrill Lynch sexual harassment: “Merrill Lynch Firm Is Told It Must Pay In Sexual Bias Case,” The New York Times, April 21, 2004.</p>
<p /> | 599,722 |
<p>DALLAS (AP) — Thousands of Texans have saluted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with parades, music and speeches honoring the slain civil rights leader.</p>
<p>MLK Day Parades were being held Monday in numerous Texas cities, including Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio. An MLK march, rally and cultural festival was scheduled on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin.</p>
<p>The Children’s Museum of Houston’s 22nd annual MLK Day Celebration on Monday featured artwork, recitations and spiritual songs. A Gospel Night community choir program was planned in Lubbock.</p>
<p>Some communities honored King, who was assassinated 50 years ago, with public service and church programs. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley urged volunteers to do projects for “a more beloved community.”</p>
<p>An MLK unity barbecue was held Sunday in Tyler.</p>
<p>DALLAS (AP) — Thousands of Texans have saluted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with parades, music and speeches honoring the slain civil rights leader.</p>
<p>MLK Day Parades were being held Monday in numerous Texas cities, including Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio. An MLK march, rally and cultural festival was scheduled on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin.</p>
<p>The Children’s Museum of Houston’s 22nd annual MLK Day Celebration on Monday featured artwork, recitations and spiritual songs. A Gospel Night community choir program was planned in Lubbock.</p>
<p>Some communities honored King, who was assassinated 50 years ago, with public service and church programs. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley urged volunteers to do projects for “a more beloved community.”</p>
<p>An MLK unity barbecue was held Sunday in Tyler.</p> | Texans salute MLK with peace marches, music, speeches | false | https://apnews.com/7cb71c6e278a4adebf2075dd4a1dad54 | 2018-01-15 | 2least
| Texans salute MLK with peace marches, music, speeches
<p>DALLAS (AP) — Thousands of Texans have saluted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with parades, music and speeches honoring the slain civil rights leader.</p>
<p>MLK Day Parades were being held Monday in numerous Texas cities, including Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio. An MLK march, rally and cultural festival was scheduled on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin.</p>
<p>The Children’s Museum of Houston’s 22nd annual MLK Day Celebration on Monday featured artwork, recitations and spiritual songs. A Gospel Night community choir program was planned in Lubbock.</p>
<p>Some communities honored King, who was assassinated 50 years ago, with public service and church programs. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley urged volunteers to do projects for “a more beloved community.”</p>
<p>An MLK unity barbecue was held Sunday in Tyler.</p>
<p>DALLAS (AP) — Thousands of Texans have saluted the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. with parades, music and speeches honoring the slain civil rights leader.</p>
<p>MLK Day Parades were being held Monday in numerous Texas cities, including Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio. An MLK march, rally and cultural festival was scheduled on the campus of the University of Texas in Austin.</p>
<p>The Children’s Museum of Houston’s 22nd annual MLK Day Celebration on Monday featured artwork, recitations and spiritual songs. A Gospel Night community choir program was planned in Lubbock.</p>
<p>Some communities honored King, who was assassinated 50 years ago, with public service and church programs. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley urged volunteers to do projects for “a more beloved community.”</p>
<p>An MLK unity barbecue was held Sunday in Tyler.</p> | 599,723 |
<p>Texts between Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius in the weeks before the model's death show her telling the “Blade Runner” that she’s falling in love with him, but that “sick people” are trying to fill her head with doubt about the relationship.</p>
<p>Messages from the mobile phone texting app WhatsApp introduced at the double-amputee Olympian's murder trial in South Africa earlier this week quoted Steenkamp complaining to Pistorius about his jealousy and tantrums and saying “I’m scared of u sometimes.” Pistorius is charged with murder for shooting Steenkamp to death last February.</p>
<p>Further messages from the cache entered into the judicial record by prosecutors also show the couple calling each other “angel,” “baba,” “rockstar,” and “boo,” exchanging “selfie” photographs, and discussing daily tasks like visits to the dentists and visits to the physical therapist.</p>
<p>On Jan. 9, 2013, Steenkamp jokes about giving Pistorius a lifelike replica of herself to keep him company when he’s lonely.</p>
<p>“I’ll get a blowup doll that feels just like me. And shouts at u when u grope it,” says Steenkamp.</p>
<p>Pistorius answers with a smiley emoticon and then says, “Very realistic.”</p>
<p>The next day, the 29-year-old law graduate texted Pistorius that “This is going to be a good year!”</p>
<p>She also talks about being stressed and says she’s sick from “emotional stress.”</p>
<p>“I get sick like this when my mind is nuts with everything, ” writes Steenkamp.</p>
<p>In mid-January, she intimates to “Ozzy” that she’s falling in love with him.</p>
<p>“Since Cape Town I hope that you’ve noticed a change in me and my feelings towards you,” she writes. “That I’ve let go. And let you in a lot. I just need you to understand that sometimes I’m still like a deer in the headlights.”</p>
<p>She warns, however, that there are obstacles to their relationship.</p>
<p>“Dating you comes with sick people trying to fill my head with doubt and I’m learning to trust what is real and safe,” says Steenkamp.</p>
<p>“K baba … xx,” answers Pistorius. “I know you are. I know I’m not the easiest person to understand and I feel like you get me better than I sometimes know myself. You making me so happy and I know we argue from time to time but I think we actually so similar.”</p>
<p>Steenkamp responds that they do have disputes, but that it’s not a serious problem. “Arguments with us are a struggle to find balance inside of new territory for us and trying to do so with a similar language,” she says. “It’s ok to argue about the things we argue about. At least it’s not fundamental values.</p>
<p>“Xx you right my angel.. xx,” answers Pistorius. “You right.. x.”</p>
<p>On Feb. 13, Steenkamp tries to console Pistorius about something that has gone wrong and tells him, “you’re a nice guy. “</p>
<p>“You are an amazing person with so many blessings,” she writes, “and you are more than cared for. Your health and future monetary blessings far out way this hurdle I can promise u that.”</p>
<p>Later that day, Pistorius tells Steenkamp, who had been living with friends in Johannesburg, that she can spend the night at his house in Pretoria. He calls her an “angel” and says, “Stay tonight if you like.” Reeva answers, “Thank you baba!”</p>
<p>Reeva then sent a message to a friend she’d been living with that she would be spending the night at Oscar’s place in Pretoria.</p>
<p>“I’m staying in PTA again it’s soooooo far to drive I just decided to stay here today and work! See u for valentines day xxxxx.”</p>
<p>In the early morning hours of Feb. 14, Pistorius got out of bed and shot Steenkamp to death through the locked door of his bathroom. Pistorius, 27, claims that he heard a noise in the bathroom and thought it was an intruder. He is expected to take the stand in his own defense in a Pretoria courtroom as early as Friday.</p> | Reeva Steenkamp Texts: ‘Sick People’ Want to Fill Her Head with Doubts | false | http://nbcnews.com/storyline/pistorius-trial/reeva-steenkamp-texts-sick-people-want-fill-her-head-doubts-n64036 | 2014-03-27 | 3left-center
| Reeva Steenkamp Texts: ‘Sick People’ Want to Fill Her Head with Doubts
<p>Texts between Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius in the weeks before the model's death show her telling the “Blade Runner” that she’s falling in love with him, but that “sick people” are trying to fill her head with doubt about the relationship.</p>
<p>Messages from the mobile phone texting app WhatsApp introduced at the double-amputee Olympian's murder trial in South Africa earlier this week quoted Steenkamp complaining to Pistorius about his jealousy and tantrums and saying “I’m scared of u sometimes.” Pistorius is charged with murder for shooting Steenkamp to death last February.</p>
<p>Further messages from the cache entered into the judicial record by prosecutors also show the couple calling each other “angel,” “baba,” “rockstar,” and “boo,” exchanging “selfie” photographs, and discussing daily tasks like visits to the dentists and visits to the physical therapist.</p>
<p>On Jan. 9, 2013, Steenkamp jokes about giving Pistorius a lifelike replica of herself to keep him company when he’s lonely.</p>
<p>“I’ll get a blowup doll that feels just like me. And shouts at u when u grope it,” says Steenkamp.</p>
<p>Pistorius answers with a smiley emoticon and then says, “Very realistic.”</p>
<p>The next day, the 29-year-old law graduate texted Pistorius that “This is going to be a good year!”</p>
<p>She also talks about being stressed and says she’s sick from “emotional stress.”</p>
<p>“I get sick like this when my mind is nuts with everything, ” writes Steenkamp.</p>
<p>In mid-January, she intimates to “Ozzy” that she’s falling in love with him.</p>
<p>“Since Cape Town I hope that you’ve noticed a change in me and my feelings towards you,” she writes. “That I’ve let go. And let you in a lot. I just need you to understand that sometimes I’m still like a deer in the headlights.”</p>
<p>She warns, however, that there are obstacles to their relationship.</p>
<p>“Dating you comes with sick people trying to fill my head with doubt and I’m learning to trust what is real and safe,” says Steenkamp.</p>
<p>“K baba … xx,” answers Pistorius. “I know you are. I know I’m not the easiest person to understand and I feel like you get me better than I sometimes know myself. You making me so happy and I know we argue from time to time but I think we actually so similar.”</p>
<p>Steenkamp responds that they do have disputes, but that it’s not a serious problem. “Arguments with us are a struggle to find balance inside of new territory for us and trying to do so with a similar language,” she says. “It’s ok to argue about the things we argue about. At least it’s not fundamental values.</p>
<p>“Xx you right my angel.. xx,” answers Pistorius. “You right.. x.”</p>
<p>On Feb. 13, Steenkamp tries to console Pistorius about something that has gone wrong and tells him, “you’re a nice guy. “</p>
<p>“You are an amazing person with so many blessings,” she writes, “and you are more than cared for. Your health and future monetary blessings far out way this hurdle I can promise u that.”</p>
<p>Later that day, Pistorius tells Steenkamp, who had been living with friends in Johannesburg, that she can spend the night at his house in Pretoria. He calls her an “angel” and says, “Stay tonight if you like.” Reeva answers, “Thank you baba!”</p>
<p>Reeva then sent a message to a friend she’d been living with that she would be spending the night at Oscar’s place in Pretoria.</p>
<p>“I’m staying in PTA again it’s soooooo far to drive I just decided to stay here today and work! See u for valentines day xxxxx.”</p>
<p>In the early morning hours of Feb. 14, Pistorius got out of bed and shot Steenkamp to death through the locked door of his bathroom. Pistorius, 27, claims that he heard a noise in the bathroom and thought it was an intruder. He is expected to take the stand in his own defense in a Pretoria courtroom as early as Friday.</p> | 599,724 |
<p>The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported that domestic crude-oil supplies rose by 5 million barrels for the week ended March 17. That marked the tenth increase in 11 weeks. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a 4.5 million-barrel climb, according to sources, while analysts polled by S&amp;P Global Platts forecast a rise of 2 million barrels. Gasoline supplies fell by 2.8 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined by 1.9 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. May crude lost 95 cents, or 2%, to $47.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was trading at $47.69 before the supply data.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | EIA Data Show Hefty Increase In U.S. Crude Supplies | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/22/eia-data-show-hefty-increase-in-us-crude-supplies.html | 2017-03-22 | 0right
| EIA Data Show Hefty Increase In U.S. Crude Supplies
<p>The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday reported that domestic crude-oil supplies rose by 5 million barrels for the week ended March 17. That marked the tenth increase in 11 weeks. The American Petroleum Institute late Tuesday reported a 4.5 million-barrel climb, according to sources, while analysts polled by S&amp;P Global Platts forecast a rise of 2 million barrels. Gasoline supplies fell by 2.8 million barrels, while distillate stockpiles declined by 1.9 million barrels last week, according to the EIA. May crude lost 95 cents, or 2%, to $47.29 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was trading at $47.69 before the supply data.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p> | 599,725 |
<p>There are food trends, and then there are big food trends. And who know more about what's trending than our friends at What's Trending?</p>
<p>In Bangkok, Thailand a restaurant named MO &amp; MOSHI has been serving a sundae that would take you (and hopefully some friends) all day to eat. But, we want you to know it can be done.</p>
<p>Here's what you're in for: 20+ scoops of ice cream, soft serve ice cream, mini-waffles, cake, fruit and candy, just to cut the sweetness, apparently.</p>
<p>For more stories from What's Trending, click <a href="" type="internal">HERE</a>.</p>
<p>And, see how much we like to eat with these: <a href="" type="internal">You Want These: Pickle Cheese Sticks</a> <a href="" type="internal">OMG, Lobster Fries</a> <a href="" type="internal">That pumpkin beer you're drinking doesn't taste like pumpkin</a></p>
<p>And, for even more food stuffs, go <a href="" type="internal">HERE</a>.</p> | This sundae is literally the biggest food obsession of 2017 | false | https://circa.com/story/2017/12/02/food/this-sundae-is-literally-the-biggest-food-obsession-of-2017 | 2017-12-02 | 1right-center
| This sundae is literally the biggest food obsession of 2017
<p>There are food trends, and then there are big food trends. And who know more about what's trending than our friends at What's Trending?</p>
<p>In Bangkok, Thailand a restaurant named MO &amp; MOSHI has been serving a sundae that would take you (and hopefully some friends) all day to eat. But, we want you to know it can be done.</p>
<p>Here's what you're in for: 20+ scoops of ice cream, soft serve ice cream, mini-waffles, cake, fruit and candy, just to cut the sweetness, apparently.</p>
<p>For more stories from What's Trending, click <a href="" type="internal">HERE</a>.</p>
<p>And, see how much we like to eat with these: <a href="" type="internal">You Want These: Pickle Cheese Sticks</a> <a href="" type="internal">OMG, Lobster Fries</a> <a href="" type="internal">That pumpkin beer you're drinking doesn't taste like pumpkin</a></p>
<p>And, for even more food stuffs, go <a href="" type="internal">HERE</a>.</p> | 599,726 |
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelimage/506905893/#/"&gt;Michaelramallah&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com" type="external" />This <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175353/" type="external">story</a> first appeared on the <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/" type="external">TomDispatch</a> website.</p>
<p>As pro-democracy demonstrations sweep across the Middle East, ousting dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, many in the West have expressed surprise that such a strong, sophisticated vision of a democratic future is being articulated by ordinary citizens and grassroots movements in the Arab world.</p>
<p>I have not been surprised. Sophisticated organizing for democratic reform and justice has a rich legacy in the region. In fact, watching anti-Mubarak demonstrators taking to the streets en masse to demand true democracy, freedom from repression, and the right to be stakeholders in their own political and civil systems caused me to reflect on my friend Sami Al Jundi, a Palestinian from the Old City of Jerusalem who has spent the last two decades working for peace and a nonviolent end to Israeli occupation. He is, in many ways, a product of that legacy.</p>
<p>Sami’s political awakening came in 1980, when he was inducted into a highly organized, democratic community and, at the age of 18, began a program of serious study, reading hundreds of books including:</p>
<p>These were not parts of syllabi for courses in political science and literature. Sami was not in a university. He was a Palestinian political prisoner in an Israeli jail, incarcerated for building a bomb with two friends intended to be used against Israeli security forces. The bomb exploded prematurely, killing one of Sami’s friends. He and his other friend were arrested by the Israeli secret service, tortured, interrogated, and finally sentenced to 10 and 15 years in prison, respectively.</p>
<p>It was in prison that Sami received his higher education. The veteran prisoners in his jail had established a complex, intricate, community-based society with self-governance. This included a program of study for the new prisoners via a curriculum created and overseen by an education committee.</p>
<p>Previously, political prisoners had been forced to work in Israeli military factories, making netting for tanks and building crates to hold missiles. The prisoners revolted, burning down one of the factories, and then made a collective decision: their efforts and energy would go only towards their own people. They won access to books, paper, and pens through hunger strikes and other acts of resistance. &#160;</p>
<p>A Palestinian Odyssey</p>
<p>For the first three years of his confinement, Sami sat with five other new prisoners in a circle on the concrete floor of their cell for six hours a day, six days a week, being instructed in great detail by two older cellmates/teachers. One of them covered the background of Fatah (the secular Palestinian national liberation movement that Sami was a member of) and the other taught the history of rebellion and revolution in the modern world, from the Bolsheviks in Russia to Fidel Castro’s Cuban guerrillas and the Vietnamese movement that defeated the French and Americans in a decades-long war. Their lessons were peppered with comparisons to and anecdotes from places as distant and disparate as Ireland and South Africa.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1568584482/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external" />After the six hours of group meetings, Sami and his fellow prisoners would sit on their mats, each with a book, reading in silence for the rest of the day. The books were assigned, but the education committee mixed the fare. A dense political volume like Mahdi Abd Al-Hadi’s The Palestinian Issue and the Political Projects for Resolution would be followed with a volume of poetry or a novel like Nikolai Ostrovsky’s How the Steel Was Tempered.</p>
<p>When Sami graduated from the mandatory courses, he was free to determine his own reading and composed a list of 70 titles. Taking advice from the older prisoners, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novels topped his list.</p>
<p>Given the mainstream media’s emphasis on the role of inflammatory Islamic rhetoric in the Palestinian resistance movement, one might assume the prisoners’ reading list would have been replete with books focusing on anti-Israel indoctrination. In reality, Sami underwent the intensive equivalent of a liberal arts education.</p>
<p>He emerged from his decade in prison well-versed in Greek and Roman classics, Russian literature, world history, philosophy, psychology, economics, and much more. He read The Odyssey and The Iliad three times each. He read the Torah, the New Testament, and the Qur’an. He read the letters that future Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote from prison to his daughter, Indira Gandhi, a future prime minister herself. Sami describes the prison library as “an ocean.” The texts mentioned above only skim the surface of his deep plunge into world literature.</p>
<p>This education system was just one element of the remarkable society that Palestinian prisoners built inside Israeli prisons. They held elections every six months for a prison-wide council and steering committee. They divided themselves into committees chaired by the members of that steering committee, responsible for education, communication with the Israeli guards, security, and intra-prisoner affairs.</p>
<p>Sami served several times on the elections committee and the magazine committee. When his cell got hold of a contraband radio, he and his cellmates became the news committee, surreptitiously listening to radio reports at night and stealthily disseminating the news in headline form to the other cells each morning.</p>
<p>There were daily book discussions in the cell, weekly political meetings between cells, and monthly gatherings of the entire 120-person section or corridor of cells to take up thorny topics of disagreement among members of the different Palestinian resistance movements jailed together. When the prisoners engaged in any joint action, such as a hunger strike, the decision would be made collectively after lengthy deliberation.</p>
<p>Israeli guards sometimes revoked the privileges of the prisoners as a form of punishment. The harshest punishment of all was the confiscation of pens, paper, and books. Books, according to Sami, were the prisoners’ souls.</p>
<p>The Impact of Prison</p>
<p>Prison did not further radicalize Sami in the ways one might expect, nor did it stoke a desire for revenge or for the further use of violence. Instead, locked away, he began to develop a worldview grounded in principles of nonviolence, democracy, and equal rights. Undoubtedly, he was influenced by a collection of speeches he came across by Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the teachings of Gandhi that he read. But much of the human being that Sami grew into emerged from the society the prisoners had painstakenly created, with its emphasis on reading, discussion, reflection, democracy, solidarity, and equality.</p>
<p>Sami speaks with nostalgia of the weekly “criticism” meetings that the older prisoners in his cell facilitated. He approached the first such meeting with trepidation. No one, after all, likes to be scolded for doing something wrong.</p>
<p>He was taken off-guard when the prisoner-facilitators started the meeting by criticizing themselves. Then, turning to the younger prisoners, they began with positive feedback, noting, for example, who had participated actively in group discussions. The prisoners were also given the opportunity to critique each other, but only after each had criticized himself first.</p>
<p>Sitting in those meetings, Sami came to realize that much of the goal of this prison society was, as he puts it, to build the humanity of the young prisoners. Political books and discussion provided intellectual stimulation, literature engendered empathy and compassion, and carefully facilitated discussions fostered connection and solidarity.</p>
<p>Prison as a place of study is hardly unique to Palestinians. Though in the United States prison is notorious for intense violence, political prisoners worldwide have historically used their time of incarceration to educate themselves. Malcolm X famously taught himself to read and write in prison. Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland, where many Irish Republican Army volunteers were jailed, was regularly referred to as “the university of Long Kesh.” While locked away on Robben Island for 27 years, Nelson Mandela received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London.</p>
<p>What was suprising to me, however, was the intricate community built by the Palestinian prisoners, with enormous care taken to nurture and educate the young. The path that Sami set out on, while in prison for constructing a bomb, led him to an unshakeable belief that Israelis and Palestinians can and must work together to build a common future of peace with justice. I had never considered the possibility that a decade in prison might not harden a prisoner against his jailers but provide him with the intellectual and emotional tools to become a passionate advocate for reconciliation.</p>
<p>Prison was instrumental in shaping Sami’s worldview and his growth as a courageous and critical thinker, thanks not just to his determination to study, but to the fact that older political prisoners viewed the development and education of a younger generation as their primary human and political task. Sami’s own proudest moment, he would later tell me, was when it was his turn to become a teacher. &#160;</p>
<p>From Israeli Prison to Tahrir Square: connecting the dots</p>
<p>As I watched the events in Tahrir Square unfold, leading to President Mubarak’s ouster, I experienced the same excitement and inspiration I first felt when Sami began describing his prison experience to me. There are striking parallels between the two in terms of solidarity, human connection, and incredible organization.</p>
<p>For example, neighborhoods in Cairo organized their own volunteer guards to make sure their streets and homes remained safe; people set up ad-hoc clinics in Tahrir Square; demonstrators banded together to protect the Egyptian Museum and its priceless treasures from regime-friendly thugs and looters. And according to a Democracy Now report by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, when a group of demonstrators associated with the Muslim Brotherhood began to chant “Allah Akbar!” the crowd drowned them out with the chant, “Muslim, Christian, we are all Egyptian!”</p>
<p>But I watched with dismay the way the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) responded to the protests. It seems reasonable to expect that those who struggled for their own people’s freedom would be quick to support an Egyptian nonviolent struggle for democracy. Yet the PA banned and suppressed solidarity demonstrations in the West Bank—and such repression of political expression was no isolated incident. The once revolutionary Fatah movement has become the corrupt, authoritarian, and self-serving Palestinian leadership we see today.</p>
<p>There are complex reasons for this transformation, including the fact that, though some of Sami’s former cellmates now hold high positions within the PA, much of the current Palestinian leadership is drawn not from the revolutionary prison generation, but from PLO members who returned from exile in 1996 after the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords. In addition, those accords created the Palestinian Authority as a quasi-government without a state. The political goals of a national liberation movement and the political project of nation building were absorbed by an entity (the PA) that had functionally become a sub-contractor for the Israeli occupation.</p>
<p>Beyond the specifics, there is the issue of the nature of power itself. Once a regime—any regime—is in power, its tendency is to do whatever it takes to cling onto, consolidate, and expand that power, even at the expense of the very ideals it came to power to uphold.</p>
<p>Whatever the mixture of reasons, if there is a parallel to be drawn between the incredible Palestinian political prisoner community of the 1980s and the inspirational people’s revolution emerging like a tidal wave in the Arab world today, there is also a warning to be offered. Today’s Palestinian Authority provides a lesson for the people of Egypt. It is not enough to struggle for freedom and democracy against an authoritarian or dictatorial regime (or, in the Palestinian case, an occupying power). Once the revolutionaries obtain power, the struggle for those same core values becomes even more difficult and critical.</p>
<p>May Palestinians and Egyptians gain strength and solidarity from one another as they demand freedom as well as a meaningful political voice. May they learn from each other as they build enduring institutions of democracy and pluralism. May they continue to nurture hundreds of thousands of courageous, critical thinkers.</p>
<p>The people’s revolution is still unfolding in Egypt and all over the Arab world, including the occupied Palestinian territories. Where it will lead is unknown. If, however, it maintains (or, in the case of the Palestinians, rediscovers) its roots in ideals about a caring community that nurtures the humanity of its young, as in Tahrir Square and as in the Israeli jail where Sami Al Jundi went to “university,” then genuine social change in the Arab world is inevitable.</p>
<p>Jen Marlowe is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, author, playwright, human rights advocate, and founder of <a href="http://www.donkeysaddle.org/" type="external">donkeysaddle projects</a>. Her new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1568584482/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The Hour of Sunlight: One Palestinian’s Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker</a>, co-written with and about Palestinian peace activist Sami Al Jundi, has just been published by Nation Books. Her previous book was Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival. (To catch Timothy MacBain’s latest TomCast audio interview in which Marlowe discusses how prison became university for one Palestinian prisoner, click <a href="http://tomdispatch.blogspot.com/2011/02/from-prisoner-to-peacemaker.html" type="external">here</a>, or download it to your iPod <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=j0SS4Al/iVI&amp;subid=&amp;offerid=146261.1&amp;type=10&amp;tmpid=5573&amp;RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Ftomcast-from-tomdispatch-com%2Fid357095817" type="external">here</a>.)</p> | From An Israeli Prison to Tahrir Square | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/israeli-prison-tahrir-square/ | 2011-02-14 | 4left
| From An Israeli Prison to Tahrir Square
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelimage/506905893/#/"&gt;Michaelramallah&lt;/a&gt;/Flickr</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com" type="external" />This <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/archive/175353/" type="external">story</a> first appeared on the <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/" type="external">TomDispatch</a> website.</p>
<p>As pro-democracy demonstrations sweep across the Middle East, ousting dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, many in the West have expressed surprise that such a strong, sophisticated vision of a democratic future is being articulated by ordinary citizens and grassroots movements in the Arab world.</p>
<p>I have not been surprised. Sophisticated organizing for democratic reform and justice has a rich legacy in the region. In fact, watching anti-Mubarak demonstrators taking to the streets en masse to demand true democracy, freedom from repression, and the right to be stakeholders in their own political and civil systems caused me to reflect on my friend Sami Al Jundi, a Palestinian from the Old City of Jerusalem who has spent the last two decades working for peace and a nonviolent end to Israeli occupation. He is, in many ways, a product of that legacy.</p>
<p>Sami’s political awakening came in 1980, when he was inducted into a highly organized, democratic community and, at the age of 18, began a program of serious study, reading hundreds of books including:</p>
<p>These were not parts of syllabi for courses in political science and literature. Sami was not in a university. He was a Palestinian political prisoner in an Israeli jail, incarcerated for building a bomb with two friends intended to be used against Israeli security forces. The bomb exploded prematurely, killing one of Sami’s friends. He and his other friend were arrested by the Israeli secret service, tortured, interrogated, and finally sentenced to 10 and 15 years in prison, respectively.</p>
<p>It was in prison that Sami received his higher education. The veteran prisoners in his jail had established a complex, intricate, community-based society with self-governance. This included a program of study for the new prisoners via a curriculum created and overseen by an education committee.</p>
<p>Previously, political prisoners had been forced to work in Israeli military factories, making netting for tanks and building crates to hold missiles. The prisoners revolted, burning down one of the factories, and then made a collective decision: their efforts and energy would go only towards their own people. They won access to books, paper, and pens through hunger strikes and other acts of resistance. &#160;</p>
<p>A Palestinian Odyssey</p>
<p>For the first three years of his confinement, Sami sat with five other new prisoners in a circle on the concrete floor of their cell for six hours a day, six days a week, being instructed in great detail by two older cellmates/teachers. One of them covered the background of Fatah (the secular Palestinian national liberation movement that Sami was a member of) and the other taught the history of rebellion and revolution in the modern world, from the Bolsheviks in Russia to Fidel Castro’s Cuban guerrillas and the Vietnamese movement that defeated the French and Americans in a decades-long war. Their lessons were peppered with comparisons to and anecdotes from places as distant and disparate as Ireland and South Africa.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1568584482/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external" />After the six hours of group meetings, Sami and his fellow prisoners would sit on their mats, each with a book, reading in silence for the rest of the day. The books were assigned, but the education committee mixed the fare. A dense political volume like Mahdi Abd Al-Hadi’s The Palestinian Issue and the Political Projects for Resolution would be followed with a volume of poetry or a novel like Nikolai Ostrovsky’s How the Steel Was Tempered.</p>
<p>When Sami graduated from the mandatory courses, he was free to determine his own reading and composed a list of 70 titles. Taking advice from the older prisoners, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novels topped his list.</p>
<p>Given the mainstream media’s emphasis on the role of inflammatory Islamic rhetoric in the Palestinian resistance movement, one might assume the prisoners’ reading list would have been replete with books focusing on anti-Israel indoctrination. In reality, Sami underwent the intensive equivalent of a liberal arts education.</p>
<p>He emerged from his decade in prison well-versed in Greek and Roman classics, Russian literature, world history, philosophy, psychology, economics, and much more. He read The Odyssey and The Iliad three times each. He read the Torah, the New Testament, and the Qur’an. He read the letters that future Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wrote from prison to his daughter, Indira Gandhi, a future prime minister herself. Sami describes the prison library as “an ocean.” The texts mentioned above only skim the surface of his deep plunge into world literature.</p>
<p>This education system was just one element of the remarkable society that Palestinian prisoners built inside Israeli prisons. They held elections every six months for a prison-wide council and steering committee. They divided themselves into committees chaired by the members of that steering committee, responsible for education, communication with the Israeli guards, security, and intra-prisoner affairs.</p>
<p>Sami served several times on the elections committee and the magazine committee. When his cell got hold of a contraband radio, he and his cellmates became the news committee, surreptitiously listening to radio reports at night and stealthily disseminating the news in headline form to the other cells each morning.</p>
<p>There were daily book discussions in the cell, weekly political meetings between cells, and monthly gatherings of the entire 120-person section or corridor of cells to take up thorny topics of disagreement among members of the different Palestinian resistance movements jailed together. When the prisoners engaged in any joint action, such as a hunger strike, the decision would be made collectively after lengthy deliberation.</p>
<p>Israeli guards sometimes revoked the privileges of the prisoners as a form of punishment. The harshest punishment of all was the confiscation of pens, paper, and books. Books, according to Sami, were the prisoners’ souls.</p>
<p>The Impact of Prison</p>
<p>Prison did not further radicalize Sami in the ways one might expect, nor did it stoke a desire for revenge or for the further use of violence. Instead, locked away, he began to develop a worldview grounded in principles of nonviolence, democracy, and equal rights. Undoubtedly, he was influenced by a collection of speeches he came across by Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the teachings of Gandhi that he read. But much of the human being that Sami grew into emerged from the society the prisoners had painstakenly created, with its emphasis on reading, discussion, reflection, democracy, solidarity, and equality.</p>
<p>Sami speaks with nostalgia of the weekly “criticism” meetings that the older prisoners in his cell facilitated. He approached the first such meeting with trepidation. No one, after all, likes to be scolded for doing something wrong.</p>
<p>He was taken off-guard when the prisoner-facilitators started the meeting by criticizing themselves. Then, turning to the younger prisoners, they began with positive feedback, noting, for example, who had participated actively in group discussions. The prisoners were also given the opportunity to critique each other, but only after each had criticized himself first.</p>
<p>Sitting in those meetings, Sami came to realize that much of the goal of this prison society was, as he puts it, to build the humanity of the young prisoners. Political books and discussion provided intellectual stimulation, literature engendered empathy and compassion, and carefully facilitated discussions fostered connection and solidarity.</p>
<p>Prison as a place of study is hardly unique to Palestinians. Though in the United States prison is notorious for intense violence, political prisoners worldwide have historically used their time of incarceration to educate themselves. Malcolm X famously taught himself to read and write in prison. Long Kesh prison in Northern Ireland, where many Irish Republican Army volunteers were jailed, was regularly referred to as “the university of Long Kesh.” While locked away on Robben Island for 27 years, Nelson Mandela received a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London.</p>
<p>What was suprising to me, however, was the intricate community built by the Palestinian prisoners, with enormous care taken to nurture and educate the young. The path that Sami set out on, while in prison for constructing a bomb, led him to an unshakeable belief that Israelis and Palestinians can and must work together to build a common future of peace with justice. I had never considered the possibility that a decade in prison might not harden a prisoner against his jailers but provide him with the intellectual and emotional tools to become a passionate advocate for reconciliation.</p>
<p>Prison was instrumental in shaping Sami’s worldview and his growth as a courageous and critical thinker, thanks not just to his determination to study, but to the fact that older political prisoners viewed the development and education of a younger generation as their primary human and political task. Sami’s own proudest moment, he would later tell me, was when it was his turn to become a teacher. &#160;</p>
<p>From Israeli Prison to Tahrir Square: connecting the dots</p>
<p>As I watched the events in Tahrir Square unfold, leading to President Mubarak’s ouster, I experienced the same excitement and inspiration I first felt when Sami began describing his prison experience to me. There are striking parallels between the two in terms of solidarity, human connection, and incredible organization.</p>
<p>For example, neighborhoods in Cairo organized their own volunteer guards to make sure their streets and homes remained safe; people set up ad-hoc clinics in Tahrir Square; demonstrators banded together to protect the Egyptian Museum and its priceless treasures from regime-friendly thugs and looters. And according to a Democracy Now report by Sharif Abdel Kouddous, when a group of demonstrators associated with the Muslim Brotherhood began to chant “Allah Akbar!” the crowd drowned them out with the chant, “Muslim, Christian, we are all Egyptian!”</p>
<p>But I watched with dismay the way the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority (PA) responded to the protests. It seems reasonable to expect that those who struggled for their own people’s freedom would be quick to support an Egyptian nonviolent struggle for democracy. Yet the PA banned and suppressed solidarity demonstrations in the West Bank—and such repression of political expression was no isolated incident. The once revolutionary Fatah movement has become the corrupt, authoritarian, and self-serving Palestinian leadership we see today.</p>
<p>There are complex reasons for this transformation, including the fact that, though some of Sami’s former cellmates now hold high positions within the PA, much of the current Palestinian leadership is drawn not from the revolutionary prison generation, but from PLO members who returned from exile in 1996 after the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords. In addition, those accords created the Palestinian Authority as a quasi-government without a state. The political goals of a national liberation movement and the political project of nation building were absorbed by an entity (the PA) that had functionally become a sub-contractor for the Israeli occupation.</p>
<p>Beyond the specifics, there is the issue of the nature of power itself. Once a regime—any regime—is in power, its tendency is to do whatever it takes to cling onto, consolidate, and expand that power, even at the expense of the very ideals it came to power to uphold.</p>
<p>Whatever the mixture of reasons, if there is a parallel to be drawn between the incredible Palestinian political prisoner community of the 1980s and the inspirational people’s revolution emerging like a tidal wave in the Arab world today, there is also a warning to be offered. Today’s Palestinian Authority provides a lesson for the people of Egypt. It is not enough to struggle for freedom and democracy against an authoritarian or dictatorial regime (or, in the Palestinian case, an occupying power). Once the revolutionaries obtain power, the struggle for those same core values becomes even more difficult and critical.</p>
<p>May Palestinians and Egyptians gain strength and solidarity from one another as they demand freedom as well as a meaningful political voice. May they learn from each other as they build enduring institutions of democracy and pluralism. May they continue to nurture hundreds of thousands of courageous, critical thinkers.</p>
<p>The people’s revolution is still unfolding in Egypt and all over the Arab world, including the occupied Palestinian territories. Where it will lead is unknown. If, however, it maintains (or, in the case of the Palestinians, rediscovers) its roots in ideals about a caring community that nurtures the humanity of its young, as in Tahrir Square and as in the Israeli jail where Sami Al Jundi went to “university,” then genuine social change in the Arab world is inevitable.</p>
<p>Jen Marlowe is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, author, playwright, human rights advocate, and founder of <a href="http://www.donkeysaddle.org/" type="external">donkeysaddle projects</a>. Her new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1568584482/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The Hour of Sunlight: One Palestinian’s Journey from Prisoner to Peacemaker</a>, co-written with and about Palestinian peace activist Sami Al Jundi, has just been published by Nation Books. Her previous book was Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival. (To catch Timothy MacBain’s latest TomCast audio interview in which Marlowe discusses how prison became university for one Palestinian prisoner, click <a href="http://tomdispatch.blogspot.com/2011/02/from-prisoner-to-peacemaker.html" type="external">here</a>, or download it to your iPod <a href="http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/click?id=j0SS4Al/iVI&amp;subid=&amp;offerid=146261.1&amp;type=10&amp;tmpid=5573&amp;RD_PARM1=http%3A%2F%2Fitunes.apple.com%2Fus%2Fpodcast%2Ftomcast-from-tomdispatch-com%2Fid357095817" type="external">here</a>.)</p> | 599,727 |
<p>"Rix" (as he was known to his friends) died this past August in Berlin after a prolonged illness. An early and frequent contributor to Dissent, he was social democracy's major theorist in postwar Germany, an acknowledged authority on international communism, and a highly regarded analyst of totalitarianism. He was also a master of the spoken word, which made his limited ability to speak during his illness all the more painful.</p>
<p /> | In Memoriam: Richard Lowenthal | true | https://dissentmagazine.org/article/in-memoriam-richard-lowenthal | 2018-10-06 | 4left
| In Memoriam: Richard Lowenthal
<p>"Rix" (as he was known to his friends) died this past August in Berlin after a prolonged illness. An early and frequent contributor to Dissent, he was social democracy's major theorist in postwar Germany, an acknowledged authority on international communism, and a highly regarded analyst of totalitarianism. He was also a master of the spoken word, which made his limited ability to speak during his illness all the more painful.</p>
<p /> | 599,728 |
<p>Saudi Arabian prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has a somewhat unusual complaint: he thinks that Forbes magazine undervalued his wealth in their 2013 list of billionaires, placing him in 26th place with a wealth of $20 billion.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21665997" type="external">According to the BBC,</a> Alwaleed — who has made his billions largely off of investments, and is the founder and CEO of Kingdom Holding Investments — says that his wealth actually tops $29.6 billion, which would put him in a comfortable spot in tenth place on the prestigious Forbes listing.</p>
<p>Read more from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/spain/120329/spanish-court-drops-saudi-prince-rape-case" type="external">Spanish court drops Saudi prince rape case</a></p>
<p>An incensed Alwaleed has said he will sever all ties with Forbes, and has accused the magazine of doing harm to Saudi-US relations, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/05/prince-alwaleed-bin-talal-forbes-rich-list" type="external">according to the Guardian.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2013/03/05/prince-alwaleed-and-the-curious-case-of-kingdom-holding-stock/" type="external">Forbes stands by their</a>assessment of Alawaleed's wealth, releasing an article that states quite plainly that Forbes "doesn't buy" his $29.6 billion figure.</p>
<p>The financial magazine claims in the analysis piece that Alwaleed inflates his own net worth, and that he is particularly concerned with securing a high ranking on the Forbes list.</p>
<p>"The value that the prince puts on his holdings at times feels like an alternate reality, including his publicly trading Kingdom Holdings, which rises and falls based on factors that, coincidentally, seem more tied to the Forbes billionaires list than fundamentals," <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2013/03/05/prince-alwaleed-and-the-curious-case-of-kingdom-holding-stock/" type="external">noted Forbes editor Kerry Dolan in the article.</a></p>
<p>"We have worked very openly with the Forbes team over the years and have on multiple occasions pointed out problems with their methodology that need correction," said Kingdom Holdings chief financial officer Shadi Sanbar in a press release of the situation, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/05/prince-alwaleed-bin-talal-forbes-rich-list" type="external">according to the Guardian.</a></p>
<p>"However, after several years of our efforts to correct mistakes falling on deaf ears, we have decided that Forbes has no intention of improving the accuracy of their valuation of our holdings and we have made the decision to move on."</p>
<p>Who was at the top <a href="http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/" type="external">of the Forbes 2013 list?</a></p>
<p>Honors go to Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu and family, whose net worh tops out at a remarkable $73 billion.</p>
<p>Slim was followed by Microsoft maven and philanthropist Bill Gates, with a net worth of $67 billion.</p> | Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed claims Forbes understates his wealth | false | https://pri.org/stories/2013-03-05/saudi-arabias-prince-alwaleed-claims-forbes-understates-his-wealth | 2013-03-05 | 3left-center
| Saudi Arabia's Prince Alwaleed claims Forbes understates his wealth
<p>Saudi Arabian prince Alwaleed Bin Talal has a somewhat unusual complaint: he thinks that Forbes magazine undervalued his wealth in their 2013 list of billionaires, placing him in 26th place with a wealth of $20 billion.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21665997" type="external">According to the BBC,</a> Alwaleed — who has made his billions largely off of investments, and is the founder and CEO of Kingdom Holding Investments — says that his wealth actually tops $29.6 billion, which would put him in a comfortable spot in tenth place on the prestigious Forbes listing.</p>
<p>Read more from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/spain/120329/spanish-court-drops-saudi-prince-rape-case" type="external">Spanish court drops Saudi prince rape case</a></p>
<p>An incensed Alwaleed has said he will sever all ties with Forbes, and has accused the magazine of doing harm to Saudi-US relations, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/05/prince-alwaleed-bin-talal-forbes-rich-list" type="external">according to the Guardian.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2013/03/05/prince-alwaleed-and-the-curious-case-of-kingdom-holding-stock/" type="external">Forbes stands by their</a>assessment of Alawaleed's wealth, releasing an article that states quite plainly that Forbes "doesn't buy" his $29.6 billion figure.</p>
<p>The financial magazine claims in the analysis piece that Alwaleed inflates his own net worth, and that he is particularly concerned with securing a high ranking on the Forbes list.</p>
<p>"The value that the prince puts on his holdings at times feels like an alternate reality, including his publicly trading Kingdom Holdings, which rises and falls based on factors that, coincidentally, seem more tied to the Forbes billionaires list than fundamentals," <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2013/03/05/prince-alwaleed-and-the-curious-case-of-kingdom-holding-stock/" type="external">noted Forbes editor Kerry Dolan in the article.</a></p>
<p>"We have worked very openly with the Forbes team over the years and have on multiple occasions pointed out problems with their methodology that need correction," said Kingdom Holdings chief financial officer Shadi Sanbar in a press release of the situation, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/mar/05/prince-alwaleed-bin-talal-forbes-rich-list" type="external">according to the Guardian.</a></p>
<p>"However, after several years of our efforts to correct mistakes falling on deaf ears, we have decided that Forbes has no intention of improving the accuracy of their valuation of our holdings and we have made the decision to move on."</p>
<p>Who was at the top <a href="http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/" type="external">of the Forbes 2013 list?</a></p>
<p>Honors go to Mexico's Carlos Slim Helu and family, whose net worh tops out at a remarkable $73 billion.</p>
<p>Slim was followed by Microsoft maven and philanthropist Bill Gates, with a net worth of $67 billion.</p> | 599,729 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />May 22, 2013</p>
<p>By John Seiler</p>
<p>Apple Inc. is the world’s most profitable and admired company. It’s also the world’s biggest tax dodger. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324102604578497550932292788.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection" type="external">Reported the Wall Street Journal</a> of a U.S. Senate grilling of CEO Tim Cook, “The Senate panel, in a report released Monday, said that Apple used technicalities in Irish and U.S. law to pay little or no corporate taxes on $74 billion over the past four years.”</p>
<p>Good for Apple. No reason to get robbed more than necessary. This also explains how Apple thrives in California’s notoriously high-tax environment: they dodge paying much of the extortion.</p>
<p>And who has most benefited your life in recent years? Apple, with its great inventions? Or the government, with its confiscations and abuses?</p>
<p>But it’s a little hypocritical of Apple because its wealthy executives are part of Silicon Valley’s Democratic Party political culture. The late Steve Jobs, who devised the tax-dodging strategy, was a Democrat and friend of President Obama.</p>
<p>There are no studies to prove it, but I would suspect that most top Apple execs are Democrats who voted for Proposition 30, last year’s $7 billion tax increase. It supposedly taxed those who had to “pay their fair share,” as went the phrase of Gov. Jerry Brown (and of President Obama on the federal tax increases imposed by him and Republicans on Jan. 1).</p>
<p>But those who are supposed to “pay their fair share” are richer, smarter and better connected than the rest of us, and so can run rings around the politicians and activists who write the tax laws, and the government functionaries who implement the laws.</p>
<p>Here was a typical exchange at the hearing:</p>
<p>Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.), chairman of the investigations panel, on Tuesday accused Apple of employing “alchemy” and “ghost companies” to escape tax collectors in the U.S. and Ireland, the base of the firm’s international operations outside the Americas.</p>
<p>“Apple has sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance,” said Mr. Levin. “Apple is exploiting an absurdity, one that we have not seen other companies use.”</p>
<p>Mr. Cook [Apple CEO] countered: “There’s no shifting going on…We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar.”</p>
<p>Levin is retiring next year after a long career of misgovernance, wasting the taxpayers’ money with a wild abandon. Levin also <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/15/democratic-sen-levin-pressured-irs-to-investigate-conservative-nonprofits/" type="external">pressured the IRS</a> to go on its since-revealed witch hunt of conservative and libertarian groups, although now he’s pretending to be the taxpayers’ friend against such abuse.</p>
<p>It’s not just him. Both Republicans and Democrats refuse to reform the confiscatory policies and socialist spending that all but mandate the IRS abuse.</p>
<p>Someday, we’ll repeal the demonic income tax — and replace it with nothing.</p> | Apple right to avoid ridiculous taxes | false | https://calwatchdog.com/2013/05/22/apple-right-to-avoid-ridiculous-taxes/ | 2018-05-20 | 3left-center
| Apple right to avoid ridiculous taxes
<p><a href="" type="internal" />May 22, 2013</p>
<p>By John Seiler</p>
<p>Apple Inc. is the world’s most profitable and admired company. It’s also the world’s biggest tax dodger. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324102604578497550932292788.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection" type="external">Reported the Wall Street Journal</a> of a U.S. Senate grilling of CEO Tim Cook, “The Senate panel, in a report released Monday, said that Apple used technicalities in Irish and U.S. law to pay little or no corporate taxes on $74 billion over the past four years.”</p>
<p>Good for Apple. No reason to get robbed more than necessary. This also explains how Apple thrives in California’s notoriously high-tax environment: they dodge paying much of the extortion.</p>
<p>And who has most benefited your life in recent years? Apple, with its great inventions? Or the government, with its confiscations and abuses?</p>
<p>But it’s a little hypocritical of Apple because its wealthy executives are part of Silicon Valley’s Democratic Party political culture. The late Steve Jobs, who devised the tax-dodging strategy, was a Democrat and friend of President Obama.</p>
<p>There are no studies to prove it, but I would suspect that most top Apple execs are Democrats who voted for Proposition 30, last year’s $7 billion tax increase. It supposedly taxed those who had to “pay their fair share,” as went the phrase of Gov. Jerry Brown (and of President Obama on the federal tax increases imposed by him and Republicans on Jan. 1).</p>
<p>But those who are supposed to “pay their fair share” are richer, smarter and better connected than the rest of us, and so can run rings around the politicians and activists who write the tax laws, and the government functionaries who implement the laws.</p>
<p>Here was a typical exchange at the hearing:</p>
<p>Sen. Carl Levin (D., Mich.), chairman of the investigations panel, on Tuesday accused Apple of employing “alchemy” and “ghost companies” to escape tax collectors in the U.S. and Ireland, the base of the firm’s international operations outside the Americas.</p>
<p>“Apple has sought the Holy Grail of tax avoidance,” said Mr. Levin. “Apple is exploiting an absurdity, one that we have not seen other companies use.”</p>
<p>Mr. Cook [Apple CEO] countered: “There’s no shifting going on…We pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar.”</p>
<p>Levin is retiring next year after a long career of misgovernance, wasting the taxpayers’ money with a wild abandon. Levin also <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/15/democratic-sen-levin-pressured-irs-to-investigate-conservative-nonprofits/" type="external">pressured the IRS</a> to go on its since-revealed witch hunt of conservative and libertarian groups, although now he’s pretending to be the taxpayers’ friend against such abuse.</p>
<p>It’s not just him. Both Republicans and Democrats refuse to reform the confiscatory policies and socialist spending that all but mandate the IRS abuse.</p>
<p>Someday, we’ll repeal the demonic income tax — and replace it with nothing.</p> | 599,730 |
<p>JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Edgar Ray Killen, a 1960s Ku Klux Klan leader who was convicted decades later in the “Mississippi Burning” slayings of three civil rights workers, has died in prison at the age of 92, the state’s corrections department announced.</p>
<p>Killen was serving three consecutive 20-year terms for manslaughter when he died at 9 p.m. Thursday inside the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. An autopsy was pending, but no foul play was suspected, the statement Friday said.</p>
<p>His conviction came 41 years to the day after James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, all in their 20s, were ambushed and killed by Klansmen.</p>
<p>The three Freedom Summer workers had been investigating the burning of a black church near Philadelphia, Mississippi. A deputy sheriff in Philadelphia had arrested them on a traffic charge, then released them after alerting a mob. Mississippi’s then-governor claimed their disappearance was a hoax, and segregationist Sen. Jim Eastland told President Lyndon Johnson it was a “publicity stunt” before their bodies were dug up.</p>
<p>The slayings shocked the nation, helped spur passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and were dramatized in the 1988 movie “Mississippi Burning.” The movie title came from the name of the FBI investigation.</p>
<p>Killen, a part-time preacher and lumber mill operator, was 80 when a Neshoba County jury of nine white people and three black people convicted him of three counts of manslaughter on June 21, 2005, despite his assertions that he was innocent. Prosecutors said Killen masterminded the slayings, then went elsewhere so he would have an alibi.</p>
<p>Killen was the only person ever to face state murder charges, and even then, it was the lesser charge of manslaughter that put him in state prison.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t even murder. It was manslaughter,” David Goodman, Andrew’s younger brother, observed Friday.</p>
<p>“His life spanned a period in this country where members of the Ku Klux Klan like him were able to believe they had a right to take other people’s lives, and that’s a form of terrorism,” Goodman said. “Many took black lives with impunity.”</p>
<p>Schwerner, a white New Yorker, moved to Mississippi in early 1964 to work on black voter registration and other projects. Chaney was a black Mississippian who befriended him. Andrew Goodman, another white New Yorker, underwent civil-rights training in Ohio and arrived in Mississippi a day before he, Schwerner and Chaney were killed. Investigators searching for their bodies found bodies of other black men who had been killed in Mississippi, including two who were brutalized before being dumped in the Mississippi River.</p>
<p>Schwerner’s widow, Rita Schwerner Bender, said on the day Killen was convicted that the slayings were part of a larger problem of violence in Mississippi against black people and others who challenged the segregationist status quo.</p>
<p>“Preacher Killen did not act in a vacuum and the members of the Klan who were members of the police department and the sheriff’s department and the highway patrol didn’t act in a vacuum,” she said.</p>
<p>Goodman said Friday that Killen’s passing is a reminder that issues of racism and white nationalism remain today. He pointed to the violent rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, as an example.</p>
<p>Killen wouldn’t say much about the killings during a 2014 interview with The Associated Press inside the penitentiary. He said he remained a segregationist who did not believe in racial equality, but contended he harbored no ill will toward black people. Killen said he never had talked about the events that landed him behind bars, and never would.</p>
<p>Long a suspect in the 1964 slayings, Killen had made a livelihood from farming, operating his sawmill and preaching to a small congregation at Smyrna Baptist Church in Union, south of Philadelphia, Mississippi.</p>
<p>According to FBI files and court transcripts from a 1967 federal conspiracy trial, Killen did most of the planning in the ambush killings of the civil rights workers. According to testimony in the 2005 murder trial, Killen served as a kleagle, or organizer, of the Klan in Neshoba County and helped set up a klavern, or local Klan group, in a nearby county.</p>
<p>Nineteen men, including Killen, were indicted on federal charges in the 1967 case. Seven were convicted of violating the victims’ civil rights. None served more than six years.</p>
<p>Killen’s federal case ended with a hung jury after one juror said she couldn’t convict a preacher. During his state trial in 2005, witnesses testified that on June 21, 1964, Killen went to Meridian to round up carloads of Klansmen to ambush Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, telling some of the Klan members to bring plastic or rubber gloves. Witnesses said Killen then went to a Philadelphia funeral home as an alibi while the fatal attack occurred.</p>
<p>The three bodies were found 44 days later, buried in a red-clay dam in rural Neshoba County.</p>
<p>In February 2010, Killen sued the FBI, claiming the government used a mafia hit man to pistol-whip and intimidate witnesses for information in the case. The federal lawsuit sought millions of dollars in damages and a declaration that his rights were violated when the FBI allegedly used a gangster known as “The Grim Reaper” during the investigation. The lawsuit was later dismissed.</p>
<p>In the AP interview, Killen repeated his contention that he was not a criminal, but a political prisoner. He spoke of his many friends, Sen. Eastland among them. Of one thing he was certain: “I could have beat that thing if I’d had the mental ability.”</p>
<p>When she learned of Killen’s death, Chaney’s sister, the Rev. Julia Chaney Moss, said her first thought was that “God has been kind to him. And for that I am grateful.”</p>
<p>“My last thought on this is just that I only wish peace and blessings for all the families as well as the families of the perpetrators,” she said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Rebecca Santana reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writer Jack Elliott Jr. contributed to this report.</p>
<p>JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Edgar Ray Killen, a 1960s Ku Klux Klan leader who was convicted decades later in the “Mississippi Burning” slayings of three civil rights workers, has died in prison at the age of 92, the state’s corrections department announced.</p>
<p>Killen was serving three consecutive 20-year terms for manslaughter when he died at 9 p.m. Thursday inside the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. An autopsy was pending, but no foul play was suspected, the statement Friday said.</p>
<p>His conviction came 41 years to the day after James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, all in their 20s, were ambushed and killed by Klansmen.</p>
<p>The three Freedom Summer workers had been investigating the burning of a black church near Philadelphia, Mississippi. A deputy sheriff in Philadelphia had arrested them on a traffic charge, then released them after alerting a mob. Mississippi’s then-governor claimed their disappearance was a hoax, and segregationist Sen. Jim Eastland told President Lyndon Johnson it was a “publicity stunt” before their bodies were dug up.</p>
<p>The slayings shocked the nation, helped spur passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and were dramatized in the 1988 movie “Mississippi Burning.” The movie title came from the name of the FBI investigation.</p>
<p>Killen, a part-time preacher and lumber mill operator, was 80 when a Neshoba County jury of nine white people and three black people convicted him of three counts of manslaughter on June 21, 2005, despite his assertions that he was innocent. Prosecutors said Killen masterminded the slayings, then went elsewhere so he would have an alibi.</p>
<p>Killen was the only person ever to face state murder charges, and even then, it was the lesser charge of manslaughter that put him in state prison.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t even murder. It was manslaughter,” David Goodman, Andrew’s younger brother, observed Friday.</p>
<p>“His life spanned a period in this country where members of the Ku Klux Klan like him were able to believe they had a right to take other people’s lives, and that’s a form of terrorism,” Goodman said. “Many took black lives with impunity.”</p>
<p>Schwerner, a white New Yorker, moved to Mississippi in early 1964 to work on black voter registration and other projects. Chaney was a black Mississippian who befriended him. Andrew Goodman, another white New Yorker, underwent civil-rights training in Ohio and arrived in Mississippi a day before he, Schwerner and Chaney were killed. Investigators searching for their bodies found bodies of other black men who had been killed in Mississippi, including two who were brutalized before being dumped in the Mississippi River.</p>
<p>Schwerner’s widow, Rita Schwerner Bender, said on the day Killen was convicted that the slayings were part of a larger problem of violence in Mississippi against black people and others who challenged the segregationist status quo.</p>
<p>“Preacher Killen did not act in a vacuum and the members of the Klan who were members of the police department and the sheriff’s department and the highway patrol didn’t act in a vacuum,” she said.</p>
<p>Goodman said Friday that Killen’s passing is a reminder that issues of racism and white nationalism remain today. He pointed to the violent rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, as an example.</p>
<p>Killen wouldn’t say much about the killings during a 2014 interview with The Associated Press inside the penitentiary. He said he remained a segregationist who did not believe in racial equality, but contended he harbored no ill will toward black people. Killen said he never had talked about the events that landed him behind bars, and never would.</p>
<p>Long a suspect in the 1964 slayings, Killen had made a livelihood from farming, operating his sawmill and preaching to a small congregation at Smyrna Baptist Church in Union, south of Philadelphia, Mississippi.</p>
<p>According to FBI files and court transcripts from a 1967 federal conspiracy trial, Killen did most of the planning in the ambush killings of the civil rights workers. According to testimony in the 2005 murder trial, Killen served as a kleagle, or organizer, of the Klan in Neshoba County and helped set up a klavern, or local Klan group, in a nearby county.</p>
<p>Nineteen men, including Killen, were indicted on federal charges in the 1967 case. Seven were convicted of violating the victims’ civil rights. None served more than six years.</p>
<p>Killen’s federal case ended with a hung jury after one juror said she couldn’t convict a preacher. During his state trial in 2005, witnesses testified that on June 21, 1964, Killen went to Meridian to round up carloads of Klansmen to ambush Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, telling some of the Klan members to bring plastic or rubber gloves. Witnesses said Killen then went to a Philadelphia funeral home as an alibi while the fatal attack occurred.</p>
<p>The three bodies were found 44 days later, buried in a red-clay dam in rural Neshoba County.</p>
<p>In February 2010, Killen sued the FBI, claiming the government used a mafia hit man to pistol-whip and intimidate witnesses for information in the case. The federal lawsuit sought millions of dollars in damages and a declaration that his rights were violated when the FBI allegedly used a gangster known as “The Grim Reaper” during the investigation. The lawsuit was later dismissed.</p>
<p>In the AP interview, Killen repeated his contention that he was not a criminal, but a political prisoner. He spoke of his many friends, Sen. Eastland among them. Of one thing he was certain: “I could have beat that thing if I’d had the mental ability.”</p>
<p>When she learned of Killen’s death, Chaney’s sister, the Rev. Julia Chaney Moss, said her first thought was that “God has been kind to him. And for that I am grateful.”</p>
<p>“My last thought on this is just that I only wish peace and blessings for all the families as well as the families of the perpetrators,” she said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Rebecca Santana reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writer Jack Elliott Jr. contributed to this report.</p> | Man convicted of 3 killing civil rights workers dies in jail | false | https://apnews.com/3d82e778b5d643088268c3214ae904f8 | 2018-01-13 | 2least
| Man convicted of 3 killing civil rights workers dies in jail
<p>JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Edgar Ray Killen, a 1960s Ku Klux Klan leader who was convicted decades later in the “Mississippi Burning” slayings of three civil rights workers, has died in prison at the age of 92, the state’s corrections department announced.</p>
<p>Killen was serving three consecutive 20-year terms for manslaughter when he died at 9 p.m. Thursday inside the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. An autopsy was pending, but no foul play was suspected, the statement Friday said.</p>
<p>His conviction came 41 years to the day after James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, all in their 20s, were ambushed and killed by Klansmen.</p>
<p>The three Freedom Summer workers had been investigating the burning of a black church near Philadelphia, Mississippi. A deputy sheriff in Philadelphia had arrested them on a traffic charge, then released them after alerting a mob. Mississippi’s then-governor claimed their disappearance was a hoax, and segregationist Sen. Jim Eastland told President Lyndon Johnson it was a “publicity stunt” before their bodies were dug up.</p>
<p>The slayings shocked the nation, helped spur passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and were dramatized in the 1988 movie “Mississippi Burning.” The movie title came from the name of the FBI investigation.</p>
<p>Killen, a part-time preacher and lumber mill operator, was 80 when a Neshoba County jury of nine white people and three black people convicted him of three counts of manslaughter on June 21, 2005, despite his assertions that he was innocent. Prosecutors said Killen masterminded the slayings, then went elsewhere so he would have an alibi.</p>
<p>Killen was the only person ever to face state murder charges, and even then, it was the lesser charge of manslaughter that put him in state prison.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t even murder. It was manslaughter,” David Goodman, Andrew’s younger brother, observed Friday.</p>
<p>“His life spanned a period in this country where members of the Ku Klux Klan like him were able to believe they had a right to take other people’s lives, and that’s a form of terrorism,” Goodman said. “Many took black lives with impunity.”</p>
<p>Schwerner, a white New Yorker, moved to Mississippi in early 1964 to work on black voter registration and other projects. Chaney was a black Mississippian who befriended him. Andrew Goodman, another white New Yorker, underwent civil-rights training in Ohio and arrived in Mississippi a day before he, Schwerner and Chaney were killed. Investigators searching for their bodies found bodies of other black men who had been killed in Mississippi, including two who were brutalized before being dumped in the Mississippi River.</p>
<p>Schwerner’s widow, Rita Schwerner Bender, said on the day Killen was convicted that the slayings were part of a larger problem of violence in Mississippi against black people and others who challenged the segregationist status quo.</p>
<p>“Preacher Killen did not act in a vacuum and the members of the Klan who were members of the police department and the sheriff’s department and the highway patrol didn’t act in a vacuum,” she said.</p>
<p>Goodman said Friday that Killen’s passing is a reminder that issues of racism and white nationalism remain today. He pointed to the violent rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, as an example.</p>
<p>Killen wouldn’t say much about the killings during a 2014 interview with The Associated Press inside the penitentiary. He said he remained a segregationist who did not believe in racial equality, but contended he harbored no ill will toward black people. Killen said he never had talked about the events that landed him behind bars, and never would.</p>
<p>Long a suspect in the 1964 slayings, Killen had made a livelihood from farming, operating his sawmill and preaching to a small congregation at Smyrna Baptist Church in Union, south of Philadelphia, Mississippi.</p>
<p>According to FBI files and court transcripts from a 1967 federal conspiracy trial, Killen did most of the planning in the ambush killings of the civil rights workers. According to testimony in the 2005 murder trial, Killen served as a kleagle, or organizer, of the Klan in Neshoba County and helped set up a klavern, or local Klan group, in a nearby county.</p>
<p>Nineteen men, including Killen, were indicted on federal charges in the 1967 case. Seven were convicted of violating the victims’ civil rights. None served more than six years.</p>
<p>Killen’s federal case ended with a hung jury after one juror said she couldn’t convict a preacher. During his state trial in 2005, witnesses testified that on June 21, 1964, Killen went to Meridian to round up carloads of Klansmen to ambush Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, telling some of the Klan members to bring plastic or rubber gloves. Witnesses said Killen then went to a Philadelphia funeral home as an alibi while the fatal attack occurred.</p>
<p>The three bodies were found 44 days later, buried in a red-clay dam in rural Neshoba County.</p>
<p>In February 2010, Killen sued the FBI, claiming the government used a mafia hit man to pistol-whip and intimidate witnesses for information in the case. The federal lawsuit sought millions of dollars in damages and a declaration that his rights were violated when the FBI allegedly used a gangster known as “The Grim Reaper” during the investigation. The lawsuit was later dismissed.</p>
<p>In the AP interview, Killen repeated his contention that he was not a criminal, but a political prisoner. He spoke of his many friends, Sen. Eastland among them. Of one thing he was certain: “I could have beat that thing if I’d had the mental ability.”</p>
<p>When she learned of Killen’s death, Chaney’s sister, the Rev. Julia Chaney Moss, said her first thought was that “God has been kind to him. And for that I am grateful.”</p>
<p>“My last thought on this is just that I only wish peace and blessings for all the families as well as the families of the perpetrators,” she said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Rebecca Santana reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writer Jack Elliott Jr. contributed to this report.</p>
<p>JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Edgar Ray Killen, a 1960s Ku Klux Klan leader who was convicted decades later in the “Mississippi Burning” slayings of three civil rights workers, has died in prison at the age of 92, the state’s corrections department announced.</p>
<p>Killen was serving three consecutive 20-year terms for manslaughter when he died at 9 p.m. Thursday inside the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. An autopsy was pending, but no foul play was suspected, the statement Friday said.</p>
<p>His conviction came 41 years to the day after James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, all in their 20s, were ambushed and killed by Klansmen.</p>
<p>The three Freedom Summer workers had been investigating the burning of a black church near Philadelphia, Mississippi. A deputy sheriff in Philadelphia had arrested them on a traffic charge, then released them after alerting a mob. Mississippi’s then-governor claimed their disappearance was a hoax, and segregationist Sen. Jim Eastland told President Lyndon Johnson it was a “publicity stunt” before their bodies were dug up.</p>
<p>The slayings shocked the nation, helped spur passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and were dramatized in the 1988 movie “Mississippi Burning.” The movie title came from the name of the FBI investigation.</p>
<p>Killen, a part-time preacher and lumber mill operator, was 80 when a Neshoba County jury of nine white people and three black people convicted him of three counts of manslaughter on June 21, 2005, despite his assertions that he was innocent. Prosecutors said Killen masterminded the slayings, then went elsewhere so he would have an alibi.</p>
<p>Killen was the only person ever to face state murder charges, and even then, it was the lesser charge of manslaughter that put him in state prison.</p>
<p>“It wasn’t even murder. It was manslaughter,” David Goodman, Andrew’s younger brother, observed Friday.</p>
<p>“His life spanned a period in this country where members of the Ku Klux Klan like him were able to believe they had a right to take other people’s lives, and that’s a form of terrorism,” Goodman said. “Many took black lives with impunity.”</p>
<p>Schwerner, a white New Yorker, moved to Mississippi in early 1964 to work on black voter registration and other projects. Chaney was a black Mississippian who befriended him. Andrew Goodman, another white New Yorker, underwent civil-rights training in Ohio and arrived in Mississippi a day before he, Schwerner and Chaney were killed. Investigators searching for their bodies found bodies of other black men who had been killed in Mississippi, including two who were brutalized before being dumped in the Mississippi River.</p>
<p>Schwerner’s widow, Rita Schwerner Bender, said on the day Killen was convicted that the slayings were part of a larger problem of violence in Mississippi against black people and others who challenged the segregationist status quo.</p>
<p>“Preacher Killen did not act in a vacuum and the members of the Klan who were members of the police department and the sheriff’s department and the highway patrol didn’t act in a vacuum,” she said.</p>
<p>Goodman said Friday that Killen’s passing is a reminder that issues of racism and white nationalism remain today. He pointed to the violent rally of white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, as an example.</p>
<p>Killen wouldn’t say much about the killings during a 2014 interview with The Associated Press inside the penitentiary. He said he remained a segregationist who did not believe in racial equality, but contended he harbored no ill will toward black people. Killen said he never had talked about the events that landed him behind bars, and never would.</p>
<p>Long a suspect in the 1964 slayings, Killen had made a livelihood from farming, operating his sawmill and preaching to a small congregation at Smyrna Baptist Church in Union, south of Philadelphia, Mississippi.</p>
<p>According to FBI files and court transcripts from a 1967 federal conspiracy trial, Killen did most of the planning in the ambush killings of the civil rights workers. According to testimony in the 2005 murder trial, Killen served as a kleagle, or organizer, of the Klan in Neshoba County and helped set up a klavern, or local Klan group, in a nearby county.</p>
<p>Nineteen men, including Killen, were indicted on federal charges in the 1967 case. Seven were convicted of violating the victims’ civil rights. None served more than six years.</p>
<p>Killen’s federal case ended with a hung jury after one juror said she couldn’t convict a preacher. During his state trial in 2005, witnesses testified that on June 21, 1964, Killen went to Meridian to round up carloads of Klansmen to ambush Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman, telling some of the Klan members to bring plastic or rubber gloves. Witnesses said Killen then went to a Philadelphia funeral home as an alibi while the fatal attack occurred.</p>
<p>The three bodies were found 44 days later, buried in a red-clay dam in rural Neshoba County.</p>
<p>In February 2010, Killen sued the FBI, claiming the government used a mafia hit man to pistol-whip and intimidate witnesses for information in the case. The federal lawsuit sought millions of dollars in damages and a declaration that his rights were violated when the FBI allegedly used a gangster known as “The Grim Reaper” during the investigation. The lawsuit was later dismissed.</p>
<p>In the AP interview, Killen repeated his contention that he was not a criminal, but a political prisoner. He spoke of his many friends, Sen. Eastland among them. Of one thing he was certain: “I could have beat that thing if I’d had the mental ability.”</p>
<p>When she learned of Killen’s death, Chaney’s sister, the Rev. Julia Chaney Moss, said her first thought was that “God has been kind to him. And for that I am grateful.”</p>
<p>“My last thought on this is just that I only wish peace and blessings for all the families as well as the families of the perpetrators,” she said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Rebecca Santana reported from New Orleans. Associated Press writer Jack Elliott Jr. contributed to this report.</p> | 599,731 |
<p>Since his death in 1984, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault" type="external">Michel Foucault</a>’s work has become a touchstone for the academic left worldwide. But in a provocative new book published in Belgium last month, a team of scholars led by sociologist <a href="https://ulb.academia.edu/danielzamora" type="external">Daniel Zamora</a> raises probing questions about Foucault’s relationship with the neoliberal revolution that was just getting started in&#160;his last years.</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.revue-ballast.fr/peut-on-critiquer-foucault/" type="external">interview</a> this month with the new French journal <a href="http://www.revue-ballast.fr/" type="external">Ballast</a>, Zamora discusses the book’s fascinating findings and what they mean for radical thought today. Below is the text of the interview, translated from French by Seth Ackerman.</p> | Can We Criticize Foucault? | true | https://jacobinmag.com/2014/12/foucault-interview/ | 2018-10-06 | 4left
| Can We Criticize Foucault?
<p>Since his death in 1984, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault" type="external">Michel Foucault</a>’s work has become a touchstone for the academic left worldwide. But in a provocative new book published in Belgium last month, a team of scholars led by sociologist <a href="https://ulb.academia.edu/danielzamora" type="external">Daniel Zamora</a> raises probing questions about Foucault’s relationship with the neoliberal revolution that was just getting started in&#160;his last years.</p>
<p>In an <a href="http://www.revue-ballast.fr/peut-on-critiquer-foucault/" type="external">interview</a> this month with the new French journal <a href="http://www.revue-ballast.fr/" type="external">Ballast</a>, Zamora discusses the book’s fascinating findings and what they mean for radical thought today. Below is the text of the interview, translated from French by Seth Ackerman.</p> | 599,732 |
<p>The former Arizona congresswoman who survived a gunshot to the head said in her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, “Speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important.”</p>
<p>Her struggle to get the words out only added emotional heft to her remarks. “Too many children are dying,” Giffords said. “Too many children. We must do something.”</p>
<p />
<p>— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer. Follow him on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/peesch" type="external">@peesch</a>.</p>
<p /> | Watch: Gabrielle Giffords Speaks to the Senate on Gun Violence | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/watch-gabrielle-giffords-speaks-to-the-senate-on-gun-violence/ | 2013-01-31 | 4left
| Watch: Gabrielle Giffords Speaks to the Senate on Gun Violence
<p>The former Arizona congresswoman who survived a gunshot to the head said in her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, “Speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important.”</p>
<p>Her struggle to get the words out only added emotional heft to her remarks. “Too many children are dying,” Giffords said. “Too many children. We must do something.”</p>
<p />
<p>— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer. Follow him on Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/peesch" type="external">@peesch</a>.</p>
<p /> | 599,733 |
<p>Ballingarry, Republic of Ireland</p>
<p>This tiny village in the heart of County Limerick, with its narrow streets and multiple churches, seems untouched by time and untroubled by the economic and political cross currents tearing away at the European Union (EU). But Ireland can be a deceptive place, and these days nowhere is immune from what happens in Barcelona, Paris and Berlin.</p>
<p>Ballingarry—the place my grandfather emigrated from 126 years ago—was a textile center before the 1845 potato famine starved to death or scattered its residents. Today it houses five pubs, “One for every 100 people” notes my third cousin Caroline, who, along with her husband John, live next to an old Protestant church that has been taken over by a high-tech company.</p>
<p>When the American and European economies crashed in 2008, Ireland was especially victimized. Strong-armed into a “bailout” to save its banks and speculators, the Republic is only beginning to emerge from almost a decade of tax hikes, layoffs, and austerity policies that impoverished a significant section of its population. The crisis also re-ignited the island’s major export: people, particularly its young. Between 2008 and 2016, an average of 30,000 people, age 15 to 24, left each year.</p>
<p>The Irish&#160; <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/irish-economy-forecast-to-grow-by-4-8-despite-brexit-concern-1.3162945" type="external">economy</a>&#160;is growing again, but the country is still burdened by a massive debt, whose repayment drains capital from much needed investments in housing, education and infrastructure. But “debt” can be a deceptive word. It is not the result of a spending spree, but the fallout from of a huge real estate bubble pumped up by German, Dutch and French banks in cahoots with local speculators and politicians, who turned the Irish economy into an enormous casino. From 1999 to 2007, Irish real estate prices jumped 500 percent.</p>
<p>People here have reason to be wary of official government press releases and Bank of Ireland predictions. The center-right government of former Prime Minister Enda Kenny crowed that the economy had grown an astounding 26 percent in 2015, but it turned out to be nothing more than a bunch of multinationals moving their intellectual property into Ireland to protect their profits. The forecast has since been labeled&#160; <a href="" type="internal">“Leprechaun economics.”</a></p>
<p>Former U.S. Speaker of the House, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill—whose ancestors hailed from County Donegal in Ireland’s northwest—once said, “All politics are local,” and that’s at least partly true here. The news outlets are full of a&#160; <a href="" type="internal">scandal</a>&#160;about the Irish police, the Garda, cooking breathalyzer tests to arrest motorists, an upcoming&#160; <a href="" type="internal">abortion</a>&#160;referendum, and a change of leadership in the left-wing&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Sinn Fein Party</a>. There is also deep concern about the Brexit. Britain is Ireland’s number two&#160; <a href="http://www.worldstopexports.com/irelands-top-import-partners/" type="external">trading partner</a>—the U.S. is number one—and it is not clear how London’s exit from the EU will affect that. There is also the worrisome matter of the now open border between the Republic and Northern Ireland, accompanied by fears that Brexit will undermine the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Good Friday</a>&#160;peace agreement between northern Catholics and Protestants.</p>
<p>But even the Irish have a hard time focusing on themselves these days, what with the German elections vaulting Nazis into the Bundestag and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s auto da fe against the Catalans. Watching Spain’s Guardia Civil using truncheons on old people, whose only crime was trying to vote, felt disturbingly like the dark days when Gen. Francisco Franco and his fascist Falange Party ran the country.</p>
<p>There is an interesting parallel between Catalonia and Ireland. Dublin is still awash with the100th anniversary commemorations of the 1916 Easter Rebellion. At the time the rising was opposed by many of the Irish, but when the British authorities began executing the rising’s leaders, sentiment began to shift. In 1921, the British threw in the towel after 751 years.</p>
<p>It is a lesson Rajoy should examine. Before he unleashed the Guardia Civil, polls showed the Catalans were deeply split on whether they wanted to break from Spain. That sentiment is liable to change rather dramatically in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>There are a number of cross currents in Europe these days, although many of them have a common source: an economic crisis in the European Union and austerity policies that have widened the inequality gap throughout the continent. The outcome of the German elections is a case in point.</p>
<p>Going into the Sept. 25 vote, the media projected a cakewalk for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union alliance. What happened was more like a&#160; <a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/component/content/article/698-victor-grossman/3332-merkel-clobbered-while-rightists-threaten" type="external">train wreck</a>, The major parties, including the Social Democratic Party (SDP), dropped more than 100 seats in the Bundestag, and the openly racist, rightwing Alternative for Germany took almost 13 percent of the vote and 94 seats.</p>
<p>In some ways the German election was a replay of the&#160; <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/labours-near-triumph-brings-a-new-morning-to-british-politics/" type="external">British election</a>&#160;last June, but without the Labour Party’s leftwing turn. Faced with the British Conservative Party’s numbingly vague platform of “experience” and “order,” voters went for Labour’s progressive program of tax the rich, free tuition, and improve health care and education, and denied the Tories a majority.</p>
<p>Merkel ran an election not very much different than the British Conservatives, but with the exception of the small Die Linke&#160;Party (which was itself divided) there were not a lot of alternatives for voters. The SDP were part of Merkel’s Grand Coalition government, making it rather hard to critique the Chancellor’s policies. The SDP leader, Martin Schultz started off campaigning against economic inequality, but shifted to the middle after&#160; <a href="" type="internal">losing three state elections</a>. In their one&#160; <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n18/thomas-meaney/in-the-centre-of-the-centre" type="external">big debate</a>&#160;it was hard to distinguish Schultz from Merkel, and both avoided climate change, housing, the Brexit, and growing poverty.</p>
<p>There was certainly ammunition to go after the Chancellor with. In Merkel’s 12 years in power,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">the chasm</a>&#160;between rich and poor in the EU’s wealthiest state has widened. In spite of low unemployment, almost 16 percent of the population is near the poverty line. The problem is that many are working low paying temp jobs.</p>
<p>Under normal circumstances that would be a powerful issue, except that it was Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and the SDP who put policies in place that led to rise of temporary jobs and reduced wages. Suppressing wages boosted German imports but left a whole section of the population behind.</p>
<p>It is a&#160; <a href="" type="internal">continent-wide</a>&#160;problem. According to the European Commission, almost one-third of Europe’s workforce is part of the “gig” economy, many working for under minimum wage and without benefits. The replacement of employees with “independent contractors” has allowed companies like Uber to amass enormous wealth, but the company’s drivers end up earning barely enough to get by.</p>
<p>In short, German voters did not trust the SDP and looked for alternatives. Given the hysteria around immigration, some choose the fascist Alternative for Germany. As odious as it is to have the inheritors of the Third Reich sitting in the Bundestag, it would be a mistake to think the Party’s program was behind its success. The Alternative has nothing to offer but racism and reaction, and neither will do much to close the wealth gap in Germany.</p>
<p>Dublin has turned over a wing of its National Library to an exhibit of the great Irish poet and playwright, William Butler Yates, who is much quoted these days. A favorite seems to be some lines from “The Second Coming”: “Thing fall apart; the Centre cannot hold…the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”</p>
<p>On one level that seems a pretty good description of the rise of Europe’s extreme rightwing parties, and the precipitous decline of center and center-left parties. It is an attractive literary simile, but misleading. It was the “Centre” that introduced many of the neo-liberal policies that wiped out industries, cut wages, and abandoned whole sections of the population. When French, British, German, Spanish, Italian and Greek socialists embraced free trade and wide-open markets over strong unions and social democracy, is it any wonder that voters in those countries abandoned them?</p>
<p>When center-left parties returned to their roots, as they did in Britain and Portugal, voters rewarded them.&#160; After being dismissed as a deluded leftist who would destroy the British Labour Party, suddenly Corbin is being talked of as a future prime minister. In the meantime the alliance of the Portuguese Socialist Party with two other left parties is rolling back many of the more onerous austerity policies inflicted on Lisbon by the EU, sparking economic growth and a drop in the jobless rate.</p>
<p>Visually, Ireland is a lovely country, though one needs to prepare for prodigious amounts of rain and intimidatingly narrow roads (having destroyed two tires in 24 hours I was banished to riding shotgun half way through our trip). But while the meadows sweeping down from dark mountains in Kerry look timeless to the tourists who pack the scenic Ring, they are not. Ireland’s modern landscape is a deception.</p>
<p>In 1845 the population of Kerry was 416 people per square mile, compared to 272 in England and Wales. Those sweeping meadows that the tourists ogle were crowded with cottages before three years of potato blight swept them all away, “Look at those great grass fields, empty for miles and miles away,” wrote the Bishop of Clonfert in 1886,”every one of them contained once its little house, its potato ground, its patch of oats.”</p>
<p>It is ironic that Europe is so befuddled by the flood of immigrants pounding on its doors, or that Europeans somehow think the current crisis is unique. Between 1845 and 1848,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">one and half to two million</a>&#160;Irish fled their famine-blackened land (another million—likely far more—starved to death) in large part due to the same kind of economics Europe is currently trying to force on countries like Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain and Cyprus.</p>
<p>“God brought the blight, the English brought the famine,” is an old Irish saying, and it is spot on. The Liberal Party government in London was deeply enamored with free trade and market economics, the 19th&#160;century version of neo-liberalism, and they rigidly applied its strictures to Ireland. The result was the single worst disaster to strike a population in the 19th&#160;century. Between 1845 and 1851 Ireland lost between 20 and 25 percent of its people, although those figures were far higher in the country’s west.</p>
<p>Today, the migrants are from Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, fleeing wars that Europeans helped start and from which some make a pretty penny dealing arms. Others are from Africa, where a century of colonialism dismantled existing states, suppressed local industries and throttled development. Now those chickens are coming home to roost.</p>
<p>Ireland is a small player in the scheme of things, but it has much to teach the world: courage, perseverance, and a sense of humor. When the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in 1921, the people of Galway pulled down a statue of Lord Dunkellen and tossed it into the sea, while a band played “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.”</p>
<p>And Europe would do well to pay attention to some if its poets, like Patrick Pierce, who was executed at Kilmainham jail for his part in the Easter Rebellion: “I say to the masters of my people, beware. Beware of the risen people who shall take from ye that which you would not give.”</p> | Of Leprechauns, Nazis, and Truncheons | true | https://counterpunch.org/2017/10/13/of-leprechauns-nazis-and-truncheons/ | 2017-10-13 | 4left
| Of Leprechauns, Nazis, and Truncheons
<p>Ballingarry, Republic of Ireland</p>
<p>This tiny village in the heart of County Limerick, with its narrow streets and multiple churches, seems untouched by time and untroubled by the economic and political cross currents tearing away at the European Union (EU). But Ireland can be a deceptive place, and these days nowhere is immune from what happens in Barcelona, Paris and Berlin.</p>
<p>Ballingarry—the place my grandfather emigrated from 126 years ago—was a textile center before the 1845 potato famine starved to death or scattered its residents. Today it houses five pubs, “One for every 100 people” notes my third cousin Caroline, who, along with her husband John, live next to an old Protestant church that has been taken over by a high-tech company.</p>
<p>When the American and European economies crashed in 2008, Ireland was especially victimized. Strong-armed into a “bailout” to save its banks and speculators, the Republic is only beginning to emerge from almost a decade of tax hikes, layoffs, and austerity policies that impoverished a significant section of its population. The crisis also re-ignited the island’s major export: people, particularly its young. Between 2008 and 2016, an average of 30,000 people, age 15 to 24, left each year.</p>
<p>The Irish&#160; <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/business/economy/irish-economy-forecast-to-grow-by-4-8-despite-brexit-concern-1.3162945" type="external">economy</a>&#160;is growing again, but the country is still burdened by a massive debt, whose repayment drains capital from much needed investments in housing, education and infrastructure. But “debt” can be a deceptive word. It is not the result of a spending spree, but the fallout from of a huge real estate bubble pumped up by German, Dutch and French banks in cahoots with local speculators and politicians, who turned the Irish economy into an enormous casino. From 1999 to 2007, Irish real estate prices jumped 500 percent.</p>
<p>People here have reason to be wary of official government press releases and Bank of Ireland predictions. The center-right government of former Prime Minister Enda Kenny crowed that the economy had grown an astounding 26 percent in 2015, but it turned out to be nothing more than a bunch of multinationals moving their intellectual property into Ireland to protect their profits. The forecast has since been labeled&#160; <a href="" type="internal">“Leprechaun economics.”</a></p>
<p>Former U.S. Speaker of the House, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill—whose ancestors hailed from County Donegal in Ireland’s northwest—once said, “All politics are local,” and that’s at least partly true here. The news outlets are full of a&#160; <a href="" type="internal">scandal</a>&#160;about the Irish police, the Garda, cooking breathalyzer tests to arrest motorists, an upcoming&#160; <a href="" type="internal">abortion</a>&#160;referendum, and a change of leadership in the left-wing&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Sinn Fein Party</a>. There is also deep concern about the Brexit. Britain is Ireland’s number two&#160; <a href="http://www.worldstopexports.com/irelands-top-import-partners/" type="external">trading partner</a>—the U.S. is number one—and it is not clear how London’s exit from the EU will affect that. There is also the worrisome matter of the now open border between the Republic and Northern Ireland, accompanied by fears that Brexit will undermine the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Good Friday</a>&#160;peace agreement between northern Catholics and Protestants.</p>
<p>But even the Irish have a hard time focusing on themselves these days, what with the German elections vaulting Nazis into the Bundestag and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s auto da fe against the Catalans. Watching Spain’s Guardia Civil using truncheons on old people, whose only crime was trying to vote, felt disturbingly like the dark days when Gen. Francisco Franco and his fascist Falange Party ran the country.</p>
<p>There is an interesting parallel between Catalonia and Ireland. Dublin is still awash with the100th anniversary commemorations of the 1916 Easter Rebellion. At the time the rising was opposed by many of the Irish, but when the British authorities began executing the rising’s leaders, sentiment began to shift. In 1921, the British threw in the towel after 751 years.</p>
<p>It is a lesson Rajoy should examine. Before he unleashed the Guardia Civil, polls showed the Catalans were deeply split on whether they wanted to break from Spain. That sentiment is liable to change rather dramatically in the coming weeks.</p>
<p>There are a number of cross currents in Europe these days, although many of them have a common source: an economic crisis in the European Union and austerity policies that have widened the inequality gap throughout the continent. The outcome of the German elections is a case in point.</p>
<p>Going into the Sept. 25 vote, the media projected a cakewalk for Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union alliance. What happened was more like a&#160; <a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/component/content/article/698-victor-grossman/3332-merkel-clobbered-while-rightists-threaten" type="external">train wreck</a>, The major parties, including the Social Democratic Party (SDP), dropped more than 100 seats in the Bundestag, and the openly racist, rightwing Alternative for Germany took almost 13 percent of the vote and 94 seats.</p>
<p>In some ways the German election was a replay of the&#160; <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/labours-near-triumph-brings-a-new-morning-to-british-politics/" type="external">British election</a>&#160;last June, but without the Labour Party’s leftwing turn. Faced with the British Conservative Party’s numbingly vague platform of “experience” and “order,” voters went for Labour’s progressive program of tax the rich, free tuition, and improve health care and education, and denied the Tories a majority.</p>
<p>Merkel ran an election not very much different than the British Conservatives, but with the exception of the small Die Linke&#160;Party (which was itself divided) there were not a lot of alternatives for voters. The SDP were part of Merkel’s Grand Coalition government, making it rather hard to critique the Chancellor’s policies. The SDP leader, Martin Schultz started off campaigning against economic inequality, but shifted to the middle after&#160; <a href="" type="internal">losing three state elections</a>. In their one&#160; <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n18/thomas-meaney/in-the-centre-of-the-centre" type="external">big debate</a>&#160;it was hard to distinguish Schultz from Merkel, and both avoided climate change, housing, the Brexit, and growing poverty.</p>
<p>There was certainly ammunition to go after the Chancellor with. In Merkel’s 12 years in power,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">the chasm</a>&#160;between rich and poor in the EU’s wealthiest state has widened. In spite of low unemployment, almost 16 percent of the population is near the poverty line. The problem is that many are working low paying temp jobs.</p>
<p>Under normal circumstances that would be a powerful issue, except that it was Chancellor Gerhard Schroder and the SDP who put policies in place that led to rise of temporary jobs and reduced wages. Suppressing wages boosted German imports but left a whole section of the population behind.</p>
<p>It is a&#160; <a href="" type="internal">continent-wide</a>&#160;problem. According to the European Commission, almost one-third of Europe’s workforce is part of the “gig” economy, many working for under minimum wage and without benefits. The replacement of employees with “independent contractors” has allowed companies like Uber to amass enormous wealth, but the company’s drivers end up earning barely enough to get by.</p>
<p>In short, German voters did not trust the SDP and looked for alternatives. Given the hysteria around immigration, some choose the fascist Alternative for Germany. As odious as it is to have the inheritors of the Third Reich sitting in the Bundestag, it would be a mistake to think the Party’s program was behind its success. The Alternative has nothing to offer but racism and reaction, and neither will do much to close the wealth gap in Germany.</p>
<p>Dublin has turned over a wing of its National Library to an exhibit of the great Irish poet and playwright, William Butler Yates, who is much quoted these days. A favorite seems to be some lines from “The Second Coming”: “Thing fall apart; the Centre cannot hold…the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.”</p>
<p>On one level that seems a pretty good description of the rise of Europe’s extreme rightwing parties, and the precipitous decline of center and center-left parties. It is an attractive literary simile, but misleading. It was the “Centre” that introduced many of the neo-liberal policies that wiped out industries, cut wages, and abandoned whole sections of the population. When French, British, German, Spanish, Italian and Greek socialists embraced free trade and wide-open markets over strong unions and social democracy, is it any wonder that voters in those countries abandoned them?</p>
<p>When center-left parties returned to their roots, as they did in Britain and Portugal, voters rewarded them.&#160; After being dismissed as a deluded leftist who would destroy the British Labour Party, suddenly Corbin is being talked of as a future prime minister. In the meantime the alliance of the Portuguese Socialist Party with two other left parties is rolling back many of the more onerous austerity policies inflicted on Lisbon by the EU, sparking economic growth and a drop in the jobless rate.</p>
<p>Visually, Ireland is a lovely country, though one needs to prepare for prodigious amounts of rain and intimidatingly narrow roads (having destroyed two tires in 24 hours I was banished to riding shotgun half way through our trip). But while the meadows sweeping down from dark mountains in Kerry look timeless to the tourists who pack the scenic Ring, they are not. Ireland’s modern landscape is a deception.</p>
<p>In 1845 the population of Kerry was 416 people per square mile, compared to 272 in England and Wales. Those sweeping meadows that the tourists ogle were crowded with cottages before three years of potato blight swept them all away, “Look at those great grass fields, empty for miles and miles away,” wrote the Bishop of Clonfert in 1886,”every one of them contained once its little house, its potato ground, its patch of oats.”</p>
<p>It is ironic that Europe is so befuddled by the flood of immigrants pounding on its doors, or that Europeans somehow think the current crisis is unique. Between 1845 and 1848,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">one and half to two million</a>&#160;Irish fled their famine-blackened land (another million—likely far more—starved to death) in large part due to the same kind of economics Europe is currently trying to force on countries like Ireland, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Spain and Cyprus.</p>
<p>“God brought the blight, the English brought the famine,” is an old Irish saying, and it is spot on. The Liberal Party government in London was deeply enamored with free trade and market economics, the 19th&#160;century version of neo-liberalism, and they rigidly applied its strictures to Ireland. The result was the single worst disaster to strike a population in the 19th&#160;century. Between 1845 and 1851 Ireland lost between 20 and 25 percent of its people, although those figures were far higher in the country’s west.</p>
<p>Today, the migrants are from Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, fleeing wars that Europeans helped start and from which some make a pretty penny dealing arms. Others are from Africa, where a century of colonialism dismantled existing states, suppressed local industries and throttled development. Now those chickens are coming home to roost.</p>
<p>Ireland is a small player in the scheme of things, but it has much to teach the world: courage, perseverance, and a sense of humor. When the Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in 1921, the people of Galway pulled down a statue of Lord Dunkellen and tossed it into the sea, while a band played “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles.”</p>
<p>And Europe would do well to pay attention to some if its poets, like Patrick Pierce, who was executed at Kilmainham jail for his part in the Easter Rebellion: “I say to the masters of my people, beware. Beware of the risen people who shall take from ye that which you would not give.”</p> | 599,734 |
<p>Beirut</p>
<p>Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi passed through Beirut a couple of weeks ago and gave a terrific lecture at AUB entitled “P <a href="" type="internal">reliminary&#160; Historical Observations on the Arab Revolutions of 2011</a>.”</p>
<p>In response to a student’s question, Khalidi disputed that there was any “Obama Doctrine” worthy of that label and he predicted the White House would be much more tolerant of human rights abuses in Bahrain than say, in Libya and some other countries whose despotism indexes are no worse than the 200-year ossified Al Khalifa dynasty’s war against its majority Shia population.</p>
<p>After his talk I reminded Rashid in our brief encounter that we had not crossed paths since that fateful summer of 1982 in West Beirut where we and our mutual friend, American journalist Janet Stevens, who had introduced us, all shared a similar experience of trying to do research amidst the Israeli bombing and intermittent electricity and water cuts and for that period when Israeli forces, on orders of Ariel Sharon, cut all the power and water to the trapped civilians in West Beirut. In those, now sometimes romanticized “summer of ‘82 days” Khalidi was an intense, hard-working young man and his 1982 research was published in his 1983 volume, Under Siege: P.L.O. Decisionmaking During the 1982 War.</p>
<p>It was during this period that Janet &#160;(Rashid was in no way involved!) &#160;and I committed at least four felonies (I was just following orders!) and broke into the abandoned AUB cafeteria &amp; &#160;AUB storage rooms and liberated maybe 500 cases of AUB bottled water and &#160;perhaps 50 large cartons filled with that nasty orange powdered drink stuff called Tang.</p>
<p>Janet put me in charge of about 100 Fatah fighters who, wisely assuming the Israelis would think twice before bombing AUB had set up a base under the Banyan trees on campus and we all used to share the AUB beach and swim together.&#160; The PLO fighters were under orders from their Commander Abu al-Walid, who was one of those in charge of the defense of West Beirut, not to damage the AUB campus or enter AUB buildings.&#160; So the fighters demurred to the breaking and entering part of our operation and waited outside.</p>
<p>Janet and I were under no such orders.</p>
<p>&#160;Our guys quickly distributed the liberated humanitarian supplies and for days afterwards there were plenty of tykes running around West Beirut with orange mouths and cheeks carrying plastic bottles of fresh spring water.</p>
<p>&#160;It was only after the 20 year Statute of Limitations ran and I was living in Kerr Hall on campus that my conscience got the better of me and I finally blurted out my crimes to the AUB President. He laughed with delight and on behalf of AUB excused our egregious war time sociopathy. That being said, I heard not long ago that the US Embassy is looking into trying to open a case against me since USAID paid for the AUB water and the nasty Tang and the Embassy is still insisting on accountability.</p>
<p>On the issue of Ariel Sharon’s cutting off of water and electricity during the hot summer to West Beirut in order to punish the trapped civilian population for their presumed support for the PLO in defending an Arab capitol, the US government was furious. President Reagan and his secretary of State George Shultz, and Middle East envoy Morris Draper claimed they yelled at and threatened Israeli PM Menachem Begin to immediately restore water and power to West Beirut. &#160;Begin kept promising Reagan that the utilities would be quickly restored and Draper told Begin that Beirut was becoming like the Warsaw Ghetto. Begin replied that Draper’s comparison was a “blood libel against every Jew everywhere.” Begin used that turn of phrase more than once during 1982, once to Reagan’s face. &#160;Philip Habib later reported that he called Begin every day and Begin always claimed there were ‘technical problems’ but that Sharon promised his that the utilities would be restored by the next day at the latest.</p>
<p>It did not happen.</p>
<p>Not until Janet Stevens, working with Palestinian colleagues discovered the truth behind what Begin told Reagan were “technical problems” and she informed journalists in the bar of the Commodore Hotel, where many journalists spent their time (thinking the Israelis would not bomb the western journalists “shelter”—they actually did shell in twice during the summer) waiting for others to bring in the news of the day so they could get on the PLO-maintained telexes to their editors and “report from the Front.” We noticed that some of them actually started dressing like Robert Fisk, a real war correspondent.</p>
<p>What Janet explained to the rapt reporters was that Israeli commanders and their &#160;right wing Phalangist collaborators, with Sharon’s, if not Begin’s approval, were making plenty of fast cash selling truckloads of water to trapped West Beirutis and the business soon expanded to Bekaa hashish. By late July some of the Israeli checkpoints along the green line between East and West Beirut were manned by stoned Israelis such that the PLO was able to bring in truckloads of needed relief supplies including ammunition and weapons even after the power and water were eventually restored. The late Lebanese Patriot, George Hawri, head of the Lebanese Communist Party, worked to maintain this lifeline with the help of friends from the Bekaa and years later relished each retelling of the story. The Israeli troop’s blurry condition may have contributed to several routs they experienced by PLO forces and the loss of more than 25 tanks and APC’s near the Beirut racecourse just east of the green line. 1982 was not the last time Israeli troops eagerly traded weapons and intelligence for drugs in Lebanon.</p>
<p>What Khalidi remains critical of, like many observers, is what he sees as the Obama administration’s claimed “American values imperative” being made a mockery of whenever American “interests” are brought up to justify cherry picking which brutal despots get the ‘moderate’ or ‘reformer’ label while others are no-fly zoned and targeted for elimination for being “genocidal.”</p>
<p>The Obama administration’s hypocrisy toward the unarmed civilians being killed in Bahrain is flagrant.&#160;Speaking on 4/13/11 at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, a gathering sponsored by Qatar and the Brookings Institution, Secretary of State Clinton assured the World that “America’s core interests and values have not changed, including our commitment to promote human rights equally in every country.”</p>
<p>&#160;Clinton’s remarks prompted some groans from the audience and one Georgetown University student impolitely blurted out “Tell that to the people of Bahrain and prove it, lady!”</p>
<p>What the exasperated student, and others in the audience apparently found outrageous was Clinton’s comment that, “We know that a one-size-fits-all approach to American values doesn’t make sense in such a diverse region at such a fluid time” as she hailed Bahrain for what she called a “decades-long friendship which we expect to continue long into the future.”&#160; Referring to the government crackdown, she added that “violence is not and cannot be the answer.”</p>
<p>Clinton explained that the Obama administration will neither recall its ambassador to Manama nor threaten sanctions — a striking disparity that is fueling ­anti-U.S. sentiment among Bahraini opposition groups. The Obama Doctrine words are all about freedom and democracy and change, but in Bahrain, the reality is that the Obama Doctrine amounts to a protection for the dictatorship.</p>
<p>By contrast, Obama has repeatedly justified military attacks in Libya, saying: “Innocent people were targeted for killing. Hospitals and ambulances were attacked. Journalists were arrested. These acts are against core American values.”</p>
<p>But while the same human rights abuses noted by Obama are happening in Bahrain, but the Obama Doctrine is not on the Presidents teleprompter. &#160;It appears that core American values aren’t so important when the regime being reformed houses the Fifth Fleet and has Saudi neighbors, themselves afraid of potential protests, according to the Wall Street Journal.</p>
<p>What the rude Georgetown student at Clinton’s speech this week understood, is that as Joe Stork, Deputy Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch noted a couple of days ago concerning yet another brutal Khalifa government killing of unarmed civilians, “Four detainee deaths in nine days is a crime, not a coincidence. The government tells families of detainees nothing about their whereabouts or well-being while they are alive or about the circumstances of their deaths. “Emergency laws should not be used as a cover for brutality,” Stork reminded the Obama administration that torture and killing of the peaceful protesters in Bahrain at the hands of both the Bahrani armed forces and the additional forces provided by Saudi Arabia are not supported by the American public.</p>
<p>Obama administration officials, like most of the US media, have been playing a game of criminal silence about the situation in Bahrain. Political institutions have been trying to stoke the fire of Shi’a-Sunni sectarianism instead of trying to resolve the real issues – the barbaric actions and unfair political and economic policies of the ruling family in Bahrain, a state of forceful repression.</p>
<p>More than 70 per cent of native Bahrainis are Shi’ites, while the ruling family and most elites are Sunnis. This state of affairs has led to an apartheid mentality among the ruling family. Shi’ites are not allowed to work in the army, the intelligence service, or the police force, nor are they fairly represented in top-level governmental positions. &#160;In addition to jailing activists and banning Shiite-led opposition parties, Bahraini authorities fired civil servants and even professional athletes who participated in demonstrations. &#160;The country’s only independent newspaper was taken over last week and its editor forced to resign. On 4/14/11 the Sunni government moved to ban Bahrain’s largest political party, the Shiite-dominated al-Wefaq, along with a smaller Shiite party.</p>
<p>When they apply for jobs the Shia in Bahrain experience in some ways what the Palestinian refugees suffer in Lebanon.&#160; They may be offered a job but it is quickly withdrawn when the prospective employer learns that the applicant is Shia. &#160;As Nicholas Kristof wrote of the Khalifa’s attitude toward Shi’ites in his New York Times Blog: “the language of the ruling party sounds a lot to me like the language of white South Africans — or even like the language of white southerners in Jim Crow America, or the language of militant Israeli settlers in the West Bank. There’s a fear of the rabble, a distrust of full democracy, a sense of entitlement.”</p>
<p>The “American humanitarian values”-based “Obama Doctrine” offers no protection for the majority Shia population of Bahrain. &#160;They’re vulnerable. &#160;They are expendable.&#160; The Fifth fleet is not. &#160;Nor are Saudi interests for they represent for Washington’s neocons a strategically important bulwark against Iranian power in the region.</p>
<p>The “Obama Doctrine” offers no police, security or judicial system to protect them.&#160; In the past few days the Khalifa regime has intensified their attacks on this community – harassment on the streets, housing and job discrimination, and systematic attacks in the media.</p>
<p>The Obama administration appears to be trying to use the Iran issue in a way similar to how the Arab regimes use Israel in order to deny justice to their people and prevent them&#160; &#160;from participating in the government.</p>
<p>At the same time the “Obama Doctrine” ignores recent polls showing that nearly 60 per cent of Americans support the uprising in Bahrain and the region even if the uprisings lead to regimes more likely to oppose US policies in the region including US support for Israel.</p>
<p>These polls of American public opinion reflect true American values.</p>
<p>The “Obama Doctrine” as selectively applied, does not.</p>
<p>FRANKLIN LAMB is doing research in Lebanon and is reachable c/o <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p> | The Obama Doctrine | true | https://counterpunch.org/2011/04/15/the-obama-doctrine/ | 2011-04-15 | 4left
| The Obama Doctrine
<p>Beirut</p>
<p>Columbia University Professor Rashid Khalidi passed through Beirut a couple of weeks ago and gave a terrific lecture at AUB entitled “P <a href="" type="internal">reliminary&#160; Historical Observations on the Arab Revolutions of 2011</a>.”</p>
<p>In response to a student’s question, Khalidi disputed that there was any “Obama Doctrine” worthy of that label and he predicted the White House would be much more tolerant of human rights abuses in Bahrain than say, in Libya and some other countries whose despotism indexes are no worse than the 200-year ossified Al Khalifa dynasty’s war against its majority Shia population.</p>
<p>After his talk I reminded Rashid in our brief encounter that we had not crossed paths since that fateful summer of 1982 in West Beirut where we and our mutual friend, American journalist Janet Stevens, who had introduced us, all shared a similar experience of trying to do research amidst the Israeli bombing and intermittent electricity and water cuts and for that period when Israeli forces, on orders of Ariel Sharon, cut all the power and water to the trapped civilians in West Beirut. In those, now sometimes romanticized “summer of ‘82 days” Khalidi was an intense, hard-working young man and his 1982 research was published in his 1983 volume, Under Siege: P.L.O. Decisionmaking During the 1982 War.</p>
<p>It was during this period that Janet &#160;(Rashid was in no way involved!) &#160;and I committed at least four felonies (I was just following orders!) and broke into the abandoned AUB cafeteria &amp; &#160;AUB storage rooms and liberated maybe 500 cases of AUB bottled water and &#160;perhaps 50 large cartons filled with that nasty orange powdered drink stuff called Tang.</p>
<p>Janet put me in charge of about 100 Fatah fighters who, wisely assuming the Israelis would think twice before bombing AUB had set up a base under the Banyan trees on campus and we all used to share the AUB beach and swim together.&#160; The PLO fighters were under orders from their Commander Abu al-Walid, who was one of those in charge of the defense of West Beirut, not to damage the AUB campus or enter AUB buildings.&#160; So the fighters demurred to the breaking and entering part of our operation and waited outside.</p>
<p>Janet and I were under no such orders.</p>
<p>&#160;Our guys quickly distributed the liberated humanitarian supplies and for days afterwards there were plenty of tykes running around West Beirut with orange mouths and cheeks carrying plastic bottles of fresh spring water.</p>
<p>&#160;It was only after the 20 year Statute of Limitations ran and I was living in Kerr Hall on campus that my conscience got the better of me and I finally blurted out my crimes to the AUB President. He laughed with delight and on behalf of AUB excused our egregious war time sociopathy. That being said, I heard not long ago that the US Embassy is looking into trying to open a case against me since USAID paid for the AUB water and the nasty Tang and the Embassy is still insisting on accountability.</p>
<p>On the issue of Ariel Sharon’s cutting off of water and electricity during the hot summer to West Beirut in order to punish the trapped civilian population for their presumed support for the PLO in defending an Arab capitol, the US government was furious. President Reagan and his secretary of State George Shultz, and Middle East envoy Morris Draper claimed they yelled at and threatened Israeli PM Menachem Begin to immediately restore water and power to West Beirut. &#160;Begin kept promising Reagan that the utilities would be quickly restored and Draper told Begin that Beirut was becoming like the Warsaw Ghetto. Begin replied that Draper’s comparison was a “blood libel against every Jew everywhere.” Begin used that turn of phrase more than once during 1982, once to Reagan’s face. &#160;Philip Habib later reported that he called Begin every day and Begin always claimed there were ‘technical problems’ but that Sharon promised his that the utilities would be restored by the next day at the latest.</p>
<p>It did not happen.</p>
<p>Not until Janet Stevens, working with Palestinian colleagues discovered the truth behind what Begin told Reagan were “technical problems” and she informed journalists in the bar of the Commodore Hotel, where many journalists spent their time (thinking the Israelis would not bomb the western journalists “shelter”—they actually did shell in twice during the summer) waiting for others to bring in the news of the day so they could get on the PLO-maintained telexes to their editors and “report from the Front.” We noticed that some of them actually started dressing like Robert Fisk, a real war correspondent.</p>
<p>What Janet explained to the rapt reporters was that Israeli commanders and their &#160;right wing Phalangist collaborators, with Sharon’s, if not Begin’s approval, were making plenty of fast cash selling truckloads of water to trapped West Beirutis and the business soon expanded to Bekaa hashish. By late July some of the Israeli checkpoints along the green line between East and West Beirut were manned by stoned Israelis such that the PLO was able to bring in truckloads of needed relief supplies including ammunition and weapons even after the power and water were eventually restored. The late Lebanese Patriot, George Hawri, head of the Lebanese Communist Party, worked to maintain this lifeline with the help of friends from the Bekaa and years later relished each retelling of the story. The Israeli troop’s blurry condition may have contributed to several routs they experienced by PLO forces and the loss of more than 25 tanks and APC’s near the Beirut racecourse just east of the green line. 1982 was not the last time Israeli troops eagerly traded weapons and intelligence for drugs in Lebanon.</p>
<p>What Khalidi remains critical of, like many observers, is what he sees as the Obama administration’s claimed “American values imperative” being made a mockery of whenever American “interests” are brought up to justify cherry picking which brutal despots get the ‘moderate’ or ‘reformer’ label while others are no-fly zoned and targeted for elimination for being “genocidal.”</p>
<p>The Obama administration’s hypocrisy toward the unarmed civilians being killed in Bahrain is flagrant.&#160;Speaking on 4/13/11 at the U.S.-Islamic World Forum, a gathering sponsored by Qatar and the Brookings Institution, Secretary of State Clinton assured the World that “America’s core interests and values have not changed, including our commitment to promote human rights equally in every country.”</p>
<p>&#160;Clinton’s remarks prompted some groans from the audience and one Georgetown University student impolitely blurted out “Tell that to the people of Bahrain and prove it, lady!”</p>
<p>What the exasperated student, and others in the audience apparently found outrageous was Clinton’s comment that, “We know that a one-size-fits-all approach to American values doesn’t make sense in such a diverse region at such a fluid time” as she hailed Bahrain for what she called a “decades-long friendship which we expect to continue long into the future.”&#160; Referring to the government crackdown, she added that “violence is not and cannot be the answer.”</p>
<p>Clinton explained that the Obama administration will neither recall its ambassador to Manama nor threaten sanctions — a striking disparity that is fueling ­anti-U.S. sentiment among Bahraini opposition groups. The Obama Doctrine words are all about freedom and democracy and change, but in Bahrain, the reality is that the Obama Doctrine amounts to a protection for the dictatorship.</p>
<p>By contrast, Obama has repeatedly justified military attacks in Libya, saying: “Innocent people were targeted for killing. Hospitals and ambulances were attacked. Journalists were arrested. These acts are against core American values.”</p>
<p>But while the same human rights abuses noted by Obama are happening in Bahrain, but the Obama Doctrine is not on the Presidents teleprompter. &#160;It appears that core American values aren’t so important when the regime being reformed houses the Fifth Fleet and has Saudi neighbors, themselves afraid of potential protests, according to the Wall Street Journal.</p>
<p>What the rude Georgetown student at Clinton’s speech this week understood, is that as Joe Stork, Deputy Middle East Director at Human Rights Watch noted a couple of days ago concerning yet another brutal Khalifa government killing of unarmed civilians, “Four detainee deaths in nine days is a crime, not a coincidence. The government tells families of detainees nothing about their whereabouts or well-being while they are alive or about the circumstances of their deaths. “Emergency laws should not be used as a cover for brutality,” Stork reminded the Obama administration that torture and killing of the peaceful protesters in Bahrain at the hands of both the Bahrani armed forces and the additional forces provided by Saudi Arabia are not supported by the American public.</p>
<p>Obama administration officials, like most of the US media, have been playing a game of criminal silence about the situation in Bahrain. Political institutions have been trying to stoke the fire of Shi’a-Sunni sectarianism instead of trying to resolve the real issues – the barbaric actions and unfair political and economic policies of the ruling family in Bahrain, a state of forceful repression.</p>
<p>More than 70 per cent of native Bahrainis are Shi’ites, while the ruling family and most elites are Sunnis. This state of affairs has led to an apartheid mentality among the ruling family. Shi’ites are not allowed to work in the army, the intelligence service, or the police force, nor are they fairly represented in top-level governmental positions. &#160;In addition to jailing activists and banning Shiite-led opposition parties, Bahraini authorities fired civil servants and even professional athletes who participated in demonstrations. &#160;The country’s only independent newspaper was taken over last week and its editor forced to resign. On 4/14/11 the Sunni government moved to ban Bahrain’s largest political party, the Shiite-dominated al-Wefaq, along with a smaller Shiite party.</p>
<p>When they apply for jobs the Shia in Bahrain experience in some ways what the Palestinian refugees suffer in Lebanon.&#160; They may be offered a job but it is quickly withdrawn when the prospective employer learns that the applicant is Shia. &#160;As Nicholas Kristof wrote of the Khalifa’s attitude toward Shi’ites in his New York Times Blog: “the language of the ruling party sounds a lot to me like the language of white South Africans — or even like the language of white southerners in Jim Crow America, or the language of militant Israeli settlers in the West Bank. There’s a fear of the rabble, a distrust of full democracy, a sense of entitlement.”</p>
<p>The “American humanitarian values”-based “Obama Doctrine” offers no protection for the majority Shia population of Bahrain. &#160;They’re vulnerable. &#160;They are expendable.&#160; The Fifth fleet is not. &#160;Nor are Saudi interests for they represent for Washington’s neocons a strategically important bulwark against Iranian power in the region.</p>
<p>The “Obama Doctrine” offers no police, security or judicial system to protect them.&#160; In the past few days the Khalifa regime has intensified their attacks on this community – harassment on the streets, housing and job discrimination, and systematic attacks in the media.</p>
<p>The Obama administration appears to be trying to use the Iran issue in a way similar to how the Arab regimes use Israel in order to deny justice to their people and prevent them&#160; &#160;from participating in the government.</p>
<p>At the same time the “Obama Doctrine” ignores recent polls showing that nearly 60 per cent of Americans support the uprising in Bahrain and the region even if the uprisings lead to regimes more likely to oppose US policies in the region including US support for Israel.</p>
<p>These polls of American public opinion reflect true American values.</p>
<p>The “Obama Doctrine” as selectively applied, does not.</p>
<p>FRANKLIN LAMB is doing research in Lebanon and is reachable c/o <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p> | 599,735 |
<p />
<p>This cartoon requires Macromedia’s Flash Player. If you don’t see the cartoon above, <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="external">download the player here</a>.</p>
<p>Mark Fiore is an editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and has a <a href="http://www.markfiore.com" type="external">web site</a> featuring his work.</p>
<p /> | Pyramids | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2005/04/pyramids/ | 2005-04-27 | 4left
| Pyramids
<p />
<p>This cartoon requires Macromedia’s Flash Player. If you don’t see the cartoon above, <a href="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" type="external">download the player here</a>.</p>
<p>Mark Fiore is an editorial cartoonist and animator whose work has appeared in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Examiner, and dozens of other publications. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists, and has a <a href="http://www.markfiore.com" type="external">web site</a> featuring his work.</p>
<p /> | 599,736 |
<p>GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry on Friday, just hours before the deadline, filed his paperwork to formally become a candidate in the New Hampshire Republican primary. Perry paid the $1000 fee and shortly thereafter went on stage and lied. <a href="" type="internal">Rick Perry lies a lot</a> (“I don’t know” <a href="" type="internal">if Obama’s birth certificate is real</a>, <a href="" type="internal">homosexuality is like alcoholism</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Texas teaches evolution and creationism</a>, <a href="" type="internal">the science on climate change isn’t settled</a>,) but this particular lie against gays, children, and marriage was not only wrong, it was pure bigotry — and pure evil.</p>
<p>That Governor Perry waited until the very last minute to file for such an important event made me chuckle. For a moment I imagined perhaps Perry was busy taking his two children, Griffin and Sydney, to school, or to a baseball game, or even, perhaps, hunting, at the family hunting camp, Niggerhead. Of course, the two Perry offspring are now in their mid-twenties so that imaginary scenario wasn’t likely, and no doubt the Governor had plenty of help raising his children, and plenty of government benefits to help financially, too. Unlike all gay couples raising children.</p>
<p>“As conservatives we believe in the sanctity of life,” Perry said, in front of 450 voters and supporters in the state’s largest city, Manchester. “We believe in the sanctity of traditional marriage. And I applaud those legislators in New Hampshire who are working to defend marriage as an institution between one man and one woman, realizing that children need to be raised in a loving home by a mother and a father.”</p>
<p>Children, Governor Perry, need to be raised in a loving home. Period. If that home is headed by a man and a woman, two women, or two men, I really don’t care, and neither do the children. And neither should you.</p>
<p>There is not one shred of evidence that shows children growing up in a household headed by heterosexual parents do any better than children growing up in a household headed by homosexual parents. In fact, the science says that in some cases, children actually do better in households headed by same-sex couples — probably, at least in part, because those gay or lesbian parents had to work really hard to actually be able to adopt children. And, like I said, we have the science that proves it.</p>
<p>The lie that children need to be raised in a loving home by a mother and a father is just that — a lie. Two long-​term studies published in the past two years found just the opposite. In fact, one of them, a twenty-​five year-​long and vigorously peer-​reviewed study published in the journal <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2009-3153v1.pdf" type="external">Pediatrics</a>, found that adopted children raised by lesbian parents are better–adjusted and do better in school than their opposite-​parented peers. Add to this the fact that we now have, “ <a href="http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/gay_dads_also_better_than_straight_parents" type="external">a study of gay dads that finds they are more likely than straight ones to focus on parenting over career, at least when their children are young</a>.”</p>
<p>Additionally, we do know that <a href="" type="internal">states that offer same-sex marriage equality also have the lowest rates of child homelessness</a>.</p>
<p>(And while same-sex parent-headed households aren’t perfect, we certainly don’t have any <a href="" type="internal">reports like this</a> for children being raised by same-sex couples.)</p>
<p>Even if Governor Perry and his ilk — like the National Organization For Marriage — actually are successful in their march into the 18th century, same-sex couples will continue to raise families and grow. Which means that re-establishing a second-class citizenship structure will only serve the egos of the bigots, not the needs of the children, who have what they need in terms of parents, but not what they need in terms of equality.</p>
<p>Republicans these days talk a lot about the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans, talking about business and social issues, continue to claim that they believe in equality of opportunity, not the equality of outcome. I think that’s a fair principle. And I think they should apply it to those they claim to care about the most: families.</p>
<p>Why shouldn’t families headed by gay or lesbian parents have the same equality of opportunity as families headed by straight parents?</p>
<p>Twenty-two months ago, <a href="" type="internal">New Hampshire became the sixth state to allow same-sex couples marriage equality</a>, after a challenging battle during which the Democratic Governor insisted on heightened religious protections before he would sign the bill into law in 2009.</p>
<p>But Texas Governor Rick Perry doesn’t know the first thing about New Hampshire, or gay marriage, or states’ rights, or what children really need. Because Governor Perry, up until a few months ago, thought that states should have the right to allow same-sex marriage because it was, in his words, a states’ rights issue. Until the Religious Right went crazy and Perry retreated into a Texas-sized corner.</p>
<p>Now, Perry thinks not only should same-sex marriage not be an option, but that New Hampshire should actually ram down the people’s throats a repeal of marriage equality, in a state that believes the law should stay — by a two-to-one margin.</p>
<p>“What we’ve found is those people who are in favor of gay marriage are much more intense in their positions and much more likely to take action politically then are opponents of gay marriage,” says University of New Hampshire pollster Andrew Smith, who finds that 62% of New Hampshire residents want the law to remain, and only 27% would support a repeal.</p>
<p>Sadly, for the theocratic Governor Perry, Smith also finds that “44 percent of those polled would oppose a candidate who favors a repeal,” according to <a href="http://www.nhpr.org/poll-shows-strong-opposition-gay-marriage-repeal" type="external">a report by New Hampshire Public Radio</a> earlier this month.</p>
<p>But the reality is that Perry isn’t running for Governor of the Granite State, and he’s not running for president (yet,) he’s running for the Republican nomination for president, and that means having lots of racism and bigotry on tap.</p>
<p>Rick Perry has spent a good part of his adult life at his family hunting camp named “ <a href="" type="internal">Niggerhead</a>,” so racism and bigotry are right up his alley. And that’s exactly where, as far as I’m concerned, Rick Perry can put his views on gays, families, children, and marriage.</p>
<p>Tagged as: <a href="" type="internal">Gay</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay Marriage</a>, <a href="" type="internal">governor perry</a>, <a href="" type="internal">lgbt parenting</a>, <a href="" type="internal">lgbt rights</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Marriage Equality</a>, <a href="" type="internal">presidential candidate</a>, <a href="" type="internal">rick perry</a>, <a href="" type="internal">social issues</a>, <a href="" type="internal">texas governor</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> | Enough Rick Perry Lies About Gays, Children, And Marriage | true | http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/enough-rick-perry-lies-about-gays-children-and-marriage/politics/2011/10/30/29414 | 2011-10-30 | 4left
| Enough Rick Perry Lies About Gays, Children, And Marriage
<p>GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry on Friday, just hours before the deadline, filed his paperwork to formally become a candidate in the New Hampshire Republican primary. Perry paid the $1000 fee and shortly thereafter went on stage and lied. <a href="" type="internal">Rick Perry lies a lot</a> (“I don’t know” <a href="" type="internal">if Obama’s birth certificate is real</a>, <a href="" type="internal">homosexuality is like alcoholism</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Texas teaches evolution and creationism</a>, <a href="" type="internal">the science on climate change isn’t settled</a>,) but this particular lie against gays, children, and marriage was not only wrong, it was pure bigotry — and pure evil.</p>
<p>That Governor Perry waited until the very last minute to file for such an important event made me chuckle. For a moment I imagined perhaps Perry was busy taking his two children, Griffin and Sydney, to school, or to a baseball game, or even, perhaps, hunting, at the family hunting camp, Niggerhead. Of course, the two Perry offspring are now in their mid-twenties so that imaginary scenario wasn’t likely, and no doubt the Governor had plenty of help raising his children, and plenty of government benefits to help financially, too. Unlike all gay couples raising children.</p>
<p>“As conservatives we believe in the sanctity of life,” Perry said, in front of 450 voters and supporters in the state’s largest city, Manchester. “We believe in the sanctity of traditional marriage. And I applaud those legislators in New Hampshire who are working to defend marriage as an institution between one man and one woman, realizing that children need to be raised in a loving home by a mother and a father.”</p>
<p>Children, Governor Perry, need to be raised in a loving home. Period. If that home is headed by a man and a woman, two women, or two men, I really don’t care, and neither do the children. And neither should you.</p>
<p>There is not one shred of evidence that shows children growing up in a household headed by heterosexual parents do any better than children growing up in a household headed by homosexual parents. In fact, the science says that in some cases, children actually do better in households headed by same-sex couples — probably, at least in part, because those gay or lesbian parents had to work really hard to actually be able to adopt children. And, like I said, we have the science that proves it.</p>
<p>The lie that children need to be raised in a loving home by a mother and a father is just that — a lie. Two long-​term studies published in the past two years found just the opposite. In fact, one of them, a twenty-​five year-​long and vigorously peer-​reviewed study published in the journal <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2009-3153v1.pdf" type="external">Pediatrics</a>, found that adopted children raised by lesbian parents are better–adjusted and do better in school than their opposite-​parented peers. Add to this the fact that we now have, “ <a href="http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/gay_dads_also_better_than_straight_parents" type="external">a study of gay dads that finds they are more likely than straight ones to focus on parenting over career, at least when their children are young</a>.”</p>
<p>Additionally, we do know that <a href="" type="internal">states that offer same-sex marriage equality also have the lowest rates of child homelessness</a>.</p>
<p>(And while same-sex parent-headed households aren’t perfect, we certainly don’t have any <a href="" type="internal">reports like this</a> for children being raised by same-sex couples.)</p>
<p>Even if Governor Perry and his ilk — like the National Organization For Marriage — actually are successful in their march into the 18th century, same-sex couples will continue to raise families and grow. Which means that re-establishing a second-class citizenship structure will only serve the egos of the bigots, not the needs of the children, who have what they need in terms of parents, but not what they need in terms of equality.</p>
<p>Republicans these days talk a lot about the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans, talking about business and social issues, continue to claim that they believe in equality of opportunity, not the equality of outcome. I think that’s a fair principle. And I think they should apply it to those they claim to care about the most: families.</p>
<p>Why shouldn’t families headed by gay or lesbian parents have the same equality of opportunity as families headed by straight parents?</p>
<p>Twenty-two months ago, <a href="" type="internal">New Hampshire became the sixth state to allow same-sex couples marriage equality</a>, after a challenging battle during which the Democratic Governor insisted on heightened religious protections before he would sign the bill into law in 2009.</p>
<p>But Texas Governor Rick Perry doesn’t know the first thing about New Hampshire, or gay marriage, or states’ rights, or what children really need. Because Governor Perry, up until a few months ago, thought that states should have the right to allow same-sex marriage because it was, in his words, a states’ rights issue. Until the Religious Right went crazy and Perry retreated into a Texas-sized corner.</p>
<p>Now, Perry thinks not only should same-sex marriage not be an option, but that New Hampshire should actually ram down the people’s throats a repeal of marriage equality, in a state that believes the law should stay — by a two-to-one margin.</p>
<p>“What we’ve found is those people who are in favor of gay marriage are much more intense in their positions and much more likely to take action politically then are opponents of gay marriage,” says University of New Hampshire pollster Andrew Smith, who finds that 62% of New Hampshire residents want the law to remain, and only 27% would support a repeal.</p>
<p>Sadly, for the theocratic Governor Perry, Smith also finds that “44 percent of those polled would oppose a candidate who favors a repeal,” according to <a href="http://www.nhpr.org/poll-shows-strong-opposition-gay-marriage-repeal" type="external">a report by New Hampshire Public Radio</a> earlier this month.</p>
<p>But the reality is that Perry isn’t running for Governor of the Granite State, and he’s not running for president (yet,) he’s running for the Republican nomination for president, and that means having lots of racism and bigotry on tap.</p>
<p>Rick Perry has spent a good part of his adult life at his family hunting camp named “ <a href="" type="internal">Niggerhead</a>,” so racism and bigotry are right up his alley. And that’s exactly where, as far as I’m concerned, Rick Perry can put his views on gays, families, children, and marriage.</p>
<p>Tagged as: <a href="" type="internal">Gay</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Gay Marriage</a>, <a href="" type="internal">governor perry</a>, <a href="" type="internal">lgbt parenting</a>, <a href="" type="internal">lgbt rights</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Marriage Equality</a>, <a href="" type="internal">presidential candidate</a>, <a href="" type="internal">rick perry</a>, <a href="" type="internal">social issues</a>, <a href="" type="internal">texas governor</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> | 599,737 |
<p>A terrorist suspect encouraged extremists to attack Prince George at his London school, a court heard. Husnain Rashid allegedly warned “even the Royal Family will not be left alone.”</p>
<p>Rashid, 31, used encrypted messages service Telegram to share a picture of the third-in-line to the throne next to the image of an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) fighter and the address of the Prince’s school, Westminster Magistrates Court heard. He also allegedly supplied practical assistance to would-be terrorists, including information on potential targets such as UK sports stadiums, and called for attacks on the Jewish community.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/399318-prince-george-gay-icon/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Prosecutors also say the British national, of Nelson, Lancashire, planned to travel to Syria to join IS. The militant group is fighting to retain a foothold in the country.</p>
<p>Rashid, who spoke only to confirm his name and address, is charged with one count of preparing terrorist acts, and one count of preparation to assist others to commit terrorist attacks. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.</p>
<p>Rebecca Mundy, prosecuting, said the charges related to “two sets of conduct” on or before November 22, according to the Telegraph. She said the first related to his “intention to travel to Syria,” and the second because he had “set up a number of channels on which he broadcasts material to assist terrorists.”</p>
<p>Mundy said the channels included “terror resources, guides and videos and more for the lone Mujahideen.” She added: “They actively provide practical assistance and the intention is the readers will go on to commit acts of terrorism.” Rashid also is said to have provided a link to “all stadiums in the UK.”</p>
<p>The prosecutor continued: “A post, which we in this country will find particularly worrying, was a photograph of the young Prince George at the beginning of his school term, next to a silhouette of a jihadi fighter. Next to that was a caption, ‘school starts early.’ It provides an address in Battersea for a school to which the young Prince attends.” The court heard next to the photo was the caption: “Even the Royal Family will not be left alone.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/408907-prince-george-white-privilege/" type="external">READ MORE:&#160;British Council boss sacked for calling Prince George ‘emblem of white privilege’ denied payout</a></p>
<p>The security at Prince George’s school has come under scrutiny, the Daily Mail reports. Earlier this year, a woman filmed herself walking through the corridors unchallenged, calling the lack of security “astonishing.” In September, a woman was arrested at the school after trying to get into the property twice within 24 hours. Both of those incidents were unconnected to Wednesday’s court case.</p>
<p>Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot sent Rashid’s case to the Central Criminal Court. He was remanded in custody ahead of his hearing at the Old Bailey later this month.</p>
<p>[embedded content]</p> | ‘Even the Royal family won’t be left alone’: Terrorist suspect ‘urged ISIS attacks on Prince George’ | false | https://newsline.com/even-the-royal-family-wont-be-left-alone-terrorist-suspect-urged-isis-attacks-on-prince-george/ | 2017-12-06 | 1right-center
| ‘Even the Royal family won’t be left alone’: Terrorist suspect ‘urged ISIS attacks on Prince George’
<p>A terrorist suspect encouraged extremists to attack Prince George at his London school, a court heard. Husnain Rashid allegedly warned “even the Royal Family will not be left alone.”</p>
<p>Rashid, 31, used encrypted messages service Telegram to share a picture of the third-in-line to the throne next to the image of an Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) fighter and the address of the Prince’s school, Westminster Magistrates Court heard. He also allegedly supplied practical assistance to would-be terrorists, including information on potential targets such as UK sports stadiums, and called for attacks on the Jewish community.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/399318-prince-george-gay-icon/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Prosecutors also say the British national, of Nelson, Lancashire, planned to travel to Syria to join IS. The militant group is fighting to retain a foothold in the country.</p>
<p>Rashid, who spoke only to confirm his name and address, is charged with one count of preparing terrorist acts, and one count of preparation to assist others to commit terrorist attacks. He pleaded not guilty to both charges.</p>
<p>Rebecca Mundy, prosecuting, said the charges related to “two sets of conduct” on or before November 22, according to the Telegraph. She said the first related to his “intention to travel to Syria,” and the second because he had “set up a number of channels on which he broadcasts material to assist terrorists.”</p>
<p>Mundy said the channels included “terror resources, guides and videos and more for the lone Mujahideen.” She added: “They actively provide practical assistance and the intention is the readers will go on to commit acts of terrorism.” Rashid also is said to have provided a link to “all stadiums in the UK.”</p>
<p>The prosecutor continued: “A post, which we in this country will find particularly worrying, was a photograph of the young Prince George at the beginning of his school term, next to a silhouette of a jihadi fighter. Next to that was a caption, ‘school starts early.’ It provides an address in Battersea for a school to which the young Prince attends.” The court heard next to the photo was the caption: “Even the Royal Family will not be left alone.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/408907-prince-george-white-privilege/" type="external">READ MORE:&#160;British Council boss sacked for calling Prince George ‘emblem of white privilege’ denied payout</a></p>
<p>The security at Prince George’s school has come under scrutiny, the Daily Mail reports. Earlier this year, a woman filmed herself walking through the corridors unchallenged, calling the lack of security “astonishing.” In September, a woman was arrested at the school after trying to get into the property twice within 24 hours. Both of those incidents were unconnected to Wednesday’s court case.</p>
<p>Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot sent Rashid’s case to the Central Criminal Court. He was remanded in custody ahead of his hearing at the Old Bailey later this month.</p>
<p>[embedded content]</p> | 599,738 |
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?country_code=US&amp;page_number=1&amp;position=8&amp;safesearch=1&amp;search_language=en&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;search_type=keyword_search&amp;searchterm=airport%20security&amp;sort_method=popular&amp;source=search&amp;timestamp=1443039578&amp;tracking_id=cFJ0HZQsS6DmwwwyQZr0jg&amp;use_local_boost=1&amp;version=llv1&amp;page=1&amp;inline=97381709"&gt;fuyu liu&lt;/a&gt;/Shutterstock</p>
<p />
<p>Didn’t think air travel could get more obnoxious? Well, if you’re a resident of New York, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Louisiana, or American Samoa, abandon such wishful thinking, because starting&#160;next year&#160; <a href="http://time.com/money/4042896/drivers-license-airport-security-states-passport/" type="external">you may&#160;need a passport</a> to get on a plane—regardless of whether you’re flying domestic or international.</p>
<p>Thanks to the <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/real-id-enforcement-brief" type="external">Real ID Act</a> passed back in 2005, these five places, in which a obtaining a driver’s license does not require proof of citizenship or residency, <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/drivers-licenses-new-york-domestic-flight-real-id" type="external">according to Travel+Leisure</a>, have been deemed “non-compliant” with the act’s security standards. Therefore, residents will need to remember to bring their passports along for air travel or obtain an Enhanced Driver’s License for an extra $30.</p>
<p>One small <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty/2015/09/21/new-york-residents-need-passports/" type="external">problem</a>: Only New York and Minnesota offer EDL’s.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2008-01-29/html/08-140.htm" type="external">policy</a>, which was proposed in response to the 9/11 Commission’s guidance, seeks to beef up counterterrorism measures. According to the <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-state-wants-more-time-to-comply-with-u-s-drivers-license-law-1442886964" type="external">Wall Street Journal</a>, 22 states’ driver’s licenses already comply with the new law, while 24 other states have received extensions.</p>
<p>The act will be enforced starting sometime in 2016. New York has already applied for an extension.</p>
<p>“We have submitted a request for an extension to the Real ID Act and our discussions with the Department of Homeland Security have been very productive,” a spokeswoman from the <a href="http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/blogs/vote-up/2015/09/21/warning-ny-licenses-may-not-comply-with-federal-travel-standards/72565018/" type="external">New York Department of Motor Vehicles said</a>. “We have no reason to believe that any New Yorker will have a problem using their current state-issued ID card to get on a plane come January 2016.”</p>
<p /> | Air Travel Is About to Get Way More Annoying | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/09/your-air-travel-just-got-way-more-obnoxious/ | 2015-09-23 | 4left
| Air Travel Is About to Get Way More Annoying
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/cat.mhtml?country_code=US&amp;page_number=1&amp;position=8&amp;safesearch=1&amp;search_language=en&amp;search_source=search_form&amp;search_type=keyword_search&amp;searchterm=airport%20security&amp;sort_method=popular&amp;source=search&amp;timestamp=1443039578&amp;tracking_id=cFJ0HZQsS6DmwwwyQZr0jg&amp;use_local_boost=1&amp;version=llv1&amp;page=1&amp;inline=97381709"&gt;fuyu liu&lt;/a&gt;/Shutterstock</p>
<p />
<p>Didn’t think air travel could get more obnoxious? Well, if you’re a resident of New York, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Louisiana, or American Samoa, abandon such wishful thinking, because starting&#160;next year&#160; <a href="http://time.com/money/4042896/drivers-license-airport-security-states-passport/" type="external">you may&#160;need a passport</a> to get on a plane—regardless of whether you’re flying domestic or international.</p>
<p>Thanks to the <a href="http://www.dhs.gov/real-id-enforcement-brief" type="external">Real ID Act</a> passed back in 2005, these five places, in which a obtaining a driver’s license does not require proof of citizenship or residency, <a href="http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/drivers-licenses-new-york-domestic-flight-real-id" type="external">according to Travel+Leisure</a>, have been deemed “non-compliant” with the act’s security standards. Therefore, residents will need to remember to bring their passports along for air travel or obtain an Enhanced Driver’s License for an extra $30.</p>
<p>One small <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandratalty/2015/09/21/new-york-residents-need-passports/" type="external">problem</a>: Only New York and Minnesota offer EDL’s.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2008-01-29/html/08-140.htm" type="external">policy</a>, which was proposed in response to the 9/11 Commission’s guidance, seeks to beef up counterterrorism measures. According to the <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-state-wants-more-time-to-comply-with-u-s-drivers-license-law-1442886964" type="external">Wall Street Journal</a>, 22 states’ driver’s licenses already comply with the new law, while 24 other states have received extensions.</p>
<p>The act will be enforced starting sometime in 2016. New York has already applied for an extension.</p>
<p>“We have submitted a request for an extension to the Real ID Act and our discussions with the Department of Homeland Security have been very productive,” a spokeswoman from the <a href="http://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/blogs/vote-up/2015/09/21/warning-ny-licenses-may-not-comply-with-federal-travel-standards/72565018/" type="external">New York Department of Motor Vehicles said</a>. “We have no reason to believe that any New Yorker will have a problem using their current state-issued ID card to get on a plane come January 2016.”</p>
<p /> | 599,739 |
<p>Federal authorities on Friday accused former baseball star Lenny "Nails" Dykstra of committing bankruptcy fraud, alleging the athlete-turned-stock picker illegally sold items from his $18 million California mansion.</p>
<p>Separately, Dykstra, 48, was arrested Thursday night by the Los Angeles Police Department on Grand Theft charges for suspicion of buying vehicles through fraudulent means.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The legal headaches are mounting for Dykstra, who the <a href="" type="internal">Department of Justice</a> alleges removed, destroyed and sold property that was part of his bankruptcy estate without consent from the bankruptcy trustee. Dykstra filed for bankruptcy in July 2009, listing his $18.5 million mansion in Lake Sherwood Estates that was purchased from hockey great Wayne Gretzky as well as a Westlake Village residence valued at $5.4 million.</p>
<p>An attorney for the trustee estimates Dykstra sold and destroyed more than $400,000 worth of property in the estate, the criminal complaint says.</p>
<p>Authorities say Dykstra, a former outfielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, sold many items for cash on <a href="" type="internal">eBay</a> (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Craigslist.</p>
<p>One such item was a $50,000 sink that Dykstra “ripped out” of his mansion, the complaint says. Dykstra allegedly took granite from the mansion and installed it in an office he set up at the Camarillo airport after he filed for bankruptcy.</p>
<p>The indictment says Dykstra was paid cash for personal items, including a “truckload of furnishings and fixtures” from his mansion. Dykstra also apparently admitted in a bankruptcy hearing to arranging the sale of sports memorabilia and a dresser that were the property of the estate.</p>
<p>Since retiring from the Phillies in 1996, Dykstra has gained attention for his work as a stock picker and frequently appearing in the financial media, including on FOX Business.</p>
<p>According to the DOJ, Dykstra was arrested at around 8pm local time on April 14 in Encino, Calif. on Grand Theft charges. He was booked and held on $500,000 bail.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Former Major Leaguer Dykstra Nailed for Bankruptcy Fraud | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2011/04/15/ex-met-dykstra-nailed-bankruptcy-fraud.html | 2016-01-28 | 0right
| Former Major Leaguer Dykstra Nailed for Bankruptcy Fraud
<p>Federal authorities on Friday accused former baseball star Lenny "Nails" Dykstra of committing bankruptcy fraud, alleging the athlete-turned-stock picker illegally sold items from his $18 million California mansion.</p>
<p>Separately, Dykstra, 48, was arrested Thursday night by the Los Angeles Police Department on Grand Theft charges for suspicion of buying vehicles through fraudulent means.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The legal headaches are mounting for Dykstra, who the <a href="" type="internal">Department of Justice</a> alleges removed, destroyed and sold property that was part of his bankruptcy estate without consent from the bankruptcy trustee. Dykstra filed for bankruptcy in July 2009, listing his $18.5 million mansion in Lake Sherwood Estates that was purchased from hockey great Wayne Gretzky as well as a Westlake Village residence valued at $5.4 million.</p>
<p>An attorney for the trustee estimates Dykstra sold and destroyed more than $400,000 worth of property in the estate, the criminal complaint says.</p>
<p>Authorities say Dykstra, a former outfielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, sold many items for cash on <a href="" type="internal">eBay</a> (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Craigslist.</p>
<p>One such item was a $50,000 sink that Dykstra “ripped out” of his mansion, the complaint says. Dykstra allegedly took granite from the mansion and installed it in an office he set up at the Camarillo airport after he filed for bankruptcy.</p>
<p>The indictment says Dykstra was paid cash for personal items, including a “truckload of furnishings and fixtures” from his mansion. Dykstra also apparently admitted in a bankruptcy hearing to arranging the sale of sports memorabilia and a dresser that were the property of the estate.</p>
<p>Since retiring from the Phillies in 1996, Dykstra has gained attention for his work as a stock picker and frequently appearing in the financial media, including on FOX Business.</p>
<p>According to the DOJ, Dykstra was arrested at around 8pm local time on April 14 in Encino, Calif. on Grand Theft charges. He was booked and held on $500,000 bail.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | 599,740 |
<p>GRANVILLE, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio liberal arts college is hanging effigies in trees and using pyrotechnics to move destructive vultures off campus.</p>
<p>The Columbus Dispatch <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180121/fireworks-fake-dead-birds-help-drive-vultures-from-denison-campus" type="external">reports</a> vultures have caused at least $50,000 damage at Denison University in the last year by picking at roof membranes and at caulking around vents. Vulture droppings left around air-handling units have created stinky health hazards.</p>
<p>Initial efforts to scare off the birds appear to be working. Vulture effigies hung by the U.S. Department of Agriculture send danger signals, says USDA wildlife biologist Jeff Pelc. Only non-lethal methods can be used because vultures are a protected migratory bird species.</p>
<p>Granville officials don’t want the vultures moving into town. Village administrator Mollie Ann Prasher says residents should bang pots and pans to scare off vultures when they’re spotted.</p>
<p>GRANVILLE, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio liberal arts college is hanging effigies in trees and using pyrotechnics to move destructive vultures off campus.</p>
<p>The Columbus Dispatch <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180121/fireworks-fake-dead-birds-help-drive-vultures-from-denison-campus" type="external">reports</a> vultures have caused at least $50,000 damage at Denison University in the last year by picking at roof membranes and at caulking around vents. Vulture droppings left around air-handling units have created stinky health hazards.</p>
<p>Initial efforts to scare off the birds appear to be working. Vulture effigies hung by the U.S. Department of Agriculture send danger signals, says USDA wildlife biologist Jeff Pelc. Only non-lethal methods can be used because vultures are a protected migratory bird species.</p>
<p>Granville officials don’t want the vultures moving into town. Village administrator Mollie Ann Prasher says residents should bang pots and pans to scare off vultures when they’re spotted.</p> | Buzz off: Ohio college want vultures to leave campus | false | https://apnews.com/b6f5e78119e64b8298c516a57dfae4fe | 2018-01-21 | 2least
| Buzz off: Ohio college want vultures to leave campus
<p>GRANVILLE, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio liberal arts college is hanging effigies in trees and using pyrotechnics to move destructive vultures off campus.</p>
<p>The Columbus Dispatch <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180121/fireworks-fake-dead-birds-help-drive-vultures-from-denison-campus" type="external">reports</a> vultures have caused at least $50,000 damage at Denison University in the last year by picking at roof membranes and at caulking around vents. Vulture droppings left around air-handling units have created stinky health hazards.</p>
<p>Initial efforts to scare off the birds appear to be working. Vulture effigies hung by the U.S. Department of Agriculture send danger signals, says USDA wildlife biologist Jeff Pelc. Only non-lethal methods can be used because vultures are a protected migratory bird species.</p>
<p>Granville officials don’t want the vultures moving into town. Village administrator Mollie Ann Prasher says residents should bang pots and pans to scare off vultures when they’re spotted.</p>
<p>GRANVILLE, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio liberal arts college is hanging effigies in trees and using pyrotechnics to move destructive vultures off campus.</p>
<p>The Columbus Dispatch <a href="http://www.dispatch.com/news/20180121/fireworks-fake-dead-birds-help-drive-vultures-from-denison-campus" type="external">reports</a> vultures have caused at least $50,000 damage at Denison University in the last year by picking at roof membranes and at caulking around vents. Vulture droppings left around air-handling units have created stinky health hazards.</p>
<p>Initial efforts to scare off the birds appear to be working. Vulture effigies hung by the U.S. Department of Agriculture send danger signals, says USDA wildlife biologist Jeff Pelc. Only non-lethal methods can be used because vultures are a protected migratory bird species.</p>
<p>Granville officials don’t want the vultures moving into town. Village administrator Mollie Ann Prasher says residents should bang pots and pans to scare off vultures when they’re spotted.</p> | 599,741 |
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<p>SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Stoneworkers will be showing their stuff this week in Santa Fe.</p>
<p>That’s where the folks who make stone walls and carvings are converging for the annual Rocknockers Rendezvous and Symposium during the week and a competition next weekend.</p>
<p><a href="http://bit.ly/1ewCwsv" type="external">The Santa Fe New Mexican&#160;reports</a> that some of the workers use centuries-old techniques to stack stones into solid wall without mortar.</p>
<p>The rendezvous officially begins Monday with a group carving the word “stone” in various languages on a white marble cube.</p>
<p>Workshops will be held during the week. There also will practice for competitive events in preparation for the Lithic Olympics tournament on Saturday.</p>
<p>The Santa Fe-based Stone Foundation is holding the rendezvous. The group has 1,000 members from more than a dozen countries.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Stoneworkers gathering for symposium, competition | false | https://abqjournal.com/285581/stoneworkers-gathering-for-symposium-competition.html | 2least
| Stoneworkers gathering for symposium, competition
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<p>SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Stoneworkers will be showing their stuff this week in Santa Fe.</p>
<p>That’s where the folks who make stone walls and carvings are converging for the annual Rocknockers Rendezvous and Symposium during the week and a competition next weekend.</p>
<p><a href="http://bit.ly/1ewCwsv" type="external">The Santa Fe New Mexican&#160;reports</a> that some of the workers use centuries-old techniques to stack stones into solid wall without mortar.</p>
<p>The rendezvous officially begins Monday with a group carving the word “stone” in various languages on a white marble cube.</p>
<p>Workshops will be held during the week. There also will practice for competitive events in preparation for the Lithic Olympics tournament on Saturday.</p>
<p>The Santa Fe-based Stone Foundation is holding the rendezvous. The group has 1,000 members from more than a dozen countries.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 599,742 |
|
<p>TIDMINVP TIDMTSCO</p>
<p>FORM 8.5 (EPT/RI)</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>PUBLIC DEALING DISCLOSURE BY AN EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER WITH RECOGNISED</p>
<p>INTERMEDIARY STATUS DEALING IN A CLIENT-SERVING CAPACITY</p>
<p>1. KEY INFORMATION</p>
<p>(a) Name of exempt principal trader:</p>
<p>Investec Bank plc</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>(b) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant</p>
<p>securities this form relates: Tesco plc</p>
<p>Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree</p>
<p>(c) Name of the party to the offer with which exempt</p>
<p>principal trader is connected: Investec are Broker to Booker Group plc</p>
<p>d) Date dealing undertaken:</p>
<p>30(th) January 2018</p>
<p>(e) Has the EPT previously disclosed, or is it today Yes</p>
<p>disclosing, in respect of any other party to this</p>
<p>offer?</p>
<p>2. DEALINGS BY THE EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER</p>
<p>(a) Purchases and sales</p>
<p>Class of Purchases/ sales Total Highest price per unit paid/received Lowest price per unit paid/received</p>
<p>relevant number of (pence) (pence)</p>
<p>security securities</p>
<p>Ordinary Purchases 521,926 211.2 207.7</p>
<p>Shares</p>
<p>Ordinary Sales 519,065 211.7 207.8</p>
<p>Shares</p>
<p>(b) Derivatives transactions (other than options)</p>
<p>Class of Product description Nature of dealing Number of Price</p>
<p>relevant e.g. CFD e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing reference per</p>
<p>security a long/short position securities unit</p>
<p>(c) Options transactions in respect of existing securities</p>
<p>(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying</p>
<p>Class of Product Writing, Number of Exercise Type Expiry Option</p>
<p>relevant description purchasing, securities price e.g. American, European etc. date money</p>
<p>security e.g. call selling, to which per paid/</p>
<p>option varying option unit received</p>
<p>etc. relates per</p>
<p>unit</p>
<p>(ii) Exercising</p>
<p>Class of relevant Product description Number of Exercise price per</p>
<p>security e.g. call option securities unit</p>
<p>(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)</p>
<p>Class of relevant Nature of dealing Details Price per unit</p>
<p>security e.g. subscription, conversion (if applicable)</p>
<p>The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.</p>
<p>Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant</p>
<p>securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(b), copy table 2(a), (b),</p>
<p>(c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant</p>
<p>security dealt in.</p>
<p>3. OTHER INFORMATION</p>
<p>(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements</p>
<p>Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or</p>
<p>any agreement or understanding, formal or informal,</p>
<p>relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement</p>
<p>to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the</p>
<p>exempt principal trader making the disclosure and</p>
<p>any party to the offer or any person acting in concert</p>
<p>with a party to the offer:</p>
<p>If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings,</p>
<p>state "none"</p>
<p>None</p>
<p>(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to</p>
<p>options or derivatives</p>
<p>Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding,</p>
<p>formal or informal, between the exempt principal trader</p>
<p>making the disclosure and any other person relating</p>
<p>to:</p>
<p>(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under</p>
<p>any option; or</p>
<p>(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal</p>
<p>of any relevant securities to which any derivative</p>
<p>is referenced:</p>
<p>If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings,</p>
<p>state "none"</p>
<p>None</p>
<p>Date of disclosure:</p>
<p>31(st) January 2018</p>
<p>Contact name:</p>
<p>Robert Letson</p>
<p>Telephone number:</p>
<p>0207 597 5690</p>
<p>This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf</p>
<p>of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.</p>
<p>The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely</p>
<p>responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information</p>
<p>contained therein.</p>
<p>Source: Investec Bank plc via Globenewswire</p>
<p>https://www.investec.co.uk/</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>January 31, 2018 05:26 ET (10:26 GMT)</p> | Investec Bank plc Investec Bank Plc : Form 8.5 (EPT/RI) - Tesco Plc | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/17/investec-bank-plc-investec-bank-plc-form-8-5-eptri-tesco-plc.html | 2018-01-31 | 0right
| Investec Bank plc Investec Bank Plc : Form 8.5 (EPT/RI) - Tesco Plc
<p>TIDMINVP TIDMTSCO</p>
<p>FORM 8.5 (EPT/RI)</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>PUBLIC DEALING DISCLOSURE BY AN EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER WITH RECOGNISED</p>
<p>INTERMEDIARY STATUS DEALING IN A CLIENT-SERVING CAPACITY</p>
<p>1. KEY INFORMATION</p>
<p>(a) Name of exempt principal trader:</p>
<p>Investec Bank plc</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>(b) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant</p>
<p>securities this form relates: Tesco plc</p>
<p>Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree</p>
<p>(c) Name of the party to the offer with which exempt</p>
<p>principal trader is connected: Investec are Broker to Booker Group plc</p>
<p>d) Date dealing undertaken:</p>
<p>30(th) January 2018</p>
<p>(e) Has the EPT previously disclosed, or is it today Yes</p>
<p>disclosing, in respect of any other party to this</p>
<p>offer?</p>
<p>2. DEALINGS BY THE EXEMPT PRINCIPAL TRADER</p>
<p>(a) Purchases and sales</p>
<p>Class of Purchases/ sales Total Highest price per unit paid/received Lowest price per unit paid/received</p>
<p>relevant number of (pence) (pence)</p>
<p>security securities</p>
<p>Ordinary Purchases 521,926 211.2 207.7</p>
<p>Shares</p>
<p>Ordinary Sales 519,065 211.7 207.8</p>
<p>Shares</p>
<p>(b) Derivatives transactions (other than options)</p>
<p>Class of Product description Nature of dealing Number of Price</p>
<p>relevant e.g. CFD e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing reference per</p>
<p>security a long/short position securities unit</p>
<p>(c) Options transactions in respect of existing securities</p>
<p>(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying</p>
<p>Class of Product Writing, Number of Exercise Type Expiry Option</p>
<p>relevant description purchasing, securities price e.g. American, European etc. date money</p>
<p>security e.g. call selling, to which per paid/</p>
<p>option varying option unit received</p>
<p>etc. relates per</p>
<p>unit</p>
<p>(ii) Exercising</p>
<p>Class of relevant Product description Number of Exercise price per</p>
<p>security e.g. call option securities unit</p>
<p>(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)</p>
<p>Class of relevant Nature of dealing Details Price per unit</p>
<p>security e.g. subscription, conversion (if applicable)</p>
<p>The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.</p>
<p>Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant</p>
<p>securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(b), copy table 2(a), (b),</p>
<p>(c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant</p>
<p>security dealt in.</p>
<p>3. OTHER INFORMATION</p>
<p>(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements</p>
<p>Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or</p>
<p>any agreement or understanding, formal or informal,</p>
<p>relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement</p>
<p>to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the</p>
<p>exempt principal trader making the disclosure and</p>
<p>any party to the offer or any person acting in concert</p>
<p>with a party to the offer:</p>
<p>If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings,</p>
<p>state "none"</p>
<p>None</p>
<p>(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to</p>
<p>options or derivatives</p>
<p>Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding,</p>
<p>formal or informal, between the exempt principal trader</p>
<p>making the disclosure and any other person relating</p>
<p>to:</p>
<p>(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under</p>
<p>any option; or</p>
<p>(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal</p>
<p>of any relevant securities to which any derivative</p>
<p>is referenced:</p>
<p>If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings,</p>
<p>state "none"</p>
<p>None</p>
<p>Date of disclosure:</p>
<p>31(st) January 2018</p>
<p>Contact name:</p>
<p>Robert Letson</p>
<p>Telephone number:</p>
<p>0207 597 5690</p>
<p>This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf</p>
<p>of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.</p>
<p>The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely</p>
<p>responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information</p>
<p>contained therein.</p>
<p>Source: Investec Bank plc via Globenewswire</p>
<p>https://www.investec.co.uk/</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>January 31, 2018 05:26 ET (10:26 GMT)</p> | 599,743 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Police have generated a sketch of a man they said sexually assaulted a woman in the Albuquerque bosque on June 16.</p>
<p>The man is described as a Hispanic man aged 16 to 20 and weighs between 145 and 170 pounds. He’s 5 feet 7 inches tall, wears a mustache and has tattoos on his chest just beneath the collar, police said. See the sketch below:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | APD releases sketch of bosque sexual assault suspect | false | https://abqjournal.com/214569/apd-releases-sketch-of-bosque-sexual-assault.html | 2013-06-25 | 2least
| APD releases sketch of bosque sexual assault suspect
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Police have generated a sketch of a man they said sexually assaulted a woman in the Albuquerque bosque on June 16.</p>
<p>The man is described as a Hispanic man aged 16 to 20 and weighs between 145 and 170 pounds. He’s 5 feet 7 inches tall, wears a mustache and has tattoos on his chest just beneath the collar, police said. See the sketch below:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 599,744 |
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<p />
<p>Brent Hermanussen went 4-for-6 and drove in four runs for the Aggies (9-34-1), while Daniel Johnson had three hits, including a home run. Derek Umphres added a homer and three RBIs as New Mexico State avenged a 22-3 loss at UNM earlier this season.</p>
<p>It was a sloppy game for the Lobos (24-23). They committed six errors, hit six batters, walked six more and allowed the most hits of the season.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It was the first time UNM had allowed 20 or more runs in a game since May 20, 2011, vs. TCU.</p>
<p />
<p>UNM's first run came on a mammoth home run to center field by Carl Stajduhar leading off the second. He hit it well over the batter's eye in straight-away center, which is 400 feet away from home plate. It was the freshman's sixth homer of the season, which is tied for the team lead.</p>
<p>After that, though, it was all Aggies for the next five innings, including the big third. The Lobos appeared to escape the inning with minimal damage, but a misplay on a pickoff attempt extended the inning and led to seven unearned runs.</p>
<p>By the time the Lobos scored again it was 16-1 Aggies in the seventh inning.</p>
<p>However, the Lobos tallied seven runs on eight hits in the seventh to cut the deficit to 16-8. Scottie Graham chipped in with a two-run double in the inning for his first career extra-base hit, and Sam Haggerty recorded two infield singles.</p>
<p>UNM returns to Mountain West play with a home game against San Jose State on Friday.</p>
<p /> | Aggies whip Lobos in baseball | false | https://abqjournal.com/580150/new-mexico-state-overwhelms-new-mexico-228.html | 2least
| Aggies whip Lobos in baseball
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Brent Hermanussen went 4-for-6 and drove in four runs for the Aggies (9-34-1), while Daniel Johnson had three hits, including a home run. Derek Umphres added a homer and three RBIs as New Mexico State avenged a 22-3 loss at UNM earlier this season.</p>
<p>It was a sloppy game for the Lobos (24-23). They committed six errors, hit six batters, walked six more and allowed the most hits of the season.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It was the first time UNM had allowed 20 or more runs in a game since May 20, 2011, vs. TCU.</p>
<p />
<p>UNM's first run came on a mammoth home run to center field by Carl Stajduhar leading off the second. He hit it well over the batter's eye in straight-away center, which is 400 feet away from home plate. It was the freshman's sixth homer of the season, which is tied for the team lead.</p>
<p>After that, though, it was all Aggies for the next five innings, including the big third. The Lobos appeared to escape the inning with minimal damage, but a misplay on a pickoff attempt extended the inning and led to seven unearned runs.</p>
<p>By the time the Lobos scored again it was 16-1 Aggies in the seventh inning.</p>
<p>However, the Lobos tallied seven runs on eight hits in the seventh to cut the deficit to 16-8. Scottie Graham chipped in with a two-run double in the inning for his first career extra-base hit, and Sam Haggerty recorded two infield singles.</p>
<p>UNM returns to Mountain West play with a home game against San Jose State on Friday.</p>
<p /> | 599,745 |
|
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<p />
<p>Still, as 2017 comes to an end, the focus in New Mexico boxing may be shifting. Four younger New Mexico fighters, with a combined 45 victories against not a single defeat, are knocking on the door.</p>
<p>They are, in alphabetical order:</p>
<p>Super flyweight Matthew Griego (8-0, seven knockouts), 21.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Super bantamweight Angelo Leo (11-0, seven KOs), 23.</p>
<p>Welterweight Brian Mendoza (15-0, 11 KOs), 23.</p>
<p>Featherweight Jason Sanchez (11-0, six KOs), 23.</p>
<p>Mendoza is from Rio Rancho, with Griego, Leo and Sanchez from Albuquerque.</p>
<p>For years, Trout, 32, of Las Cruces, and Maldonado, 26, and Torres, 28, both of Albuquerque, have been the flag bearers for New Mexico boxing. Trout (30-4, 17 KOs) has won and fought for world titles; Maldonado (24-4-1, 19 KOs) has climbed to the brink of world contender status; Torres (16-6-2, eight KOs) has been a popular and successful regional fighter around whom local fight cards have been built.</p>
<p>None of three plans to retire. Torres, in fact, has posted on Facebook that he has a fight scheduled on March 17. Fidel Maldonado Sr., his son’s manager and trainer, has plans for his son that he’s not ready to announce. “Far from finished!” Trout tweeted shortly after his Oct. 14 loss to Jarrett Hurd.</p>
<p>But, for all three, 2017 has put up some roadblocks.</p>
<p>Trout lost in his bid for Hurd’s IBF junior middleweight title when the Las Cruces southpaw didn’t come out for the 11th round. It was the first time Trout had been stopped short of the distance.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At 32, Trout seems to be in a precarious position. He has his lost two fights and four of his last seven. All of Trout’s losses have come to world champions, and his skills have not markedly diminished.</p>
<p>Yet, going forward, that could be part of the problem. Trout would have to wait in line for another title shot, and it’s unlikely any young up-and-comer would want any part of a slick southpaw in trying to burnish his résumé. Currently, Trout is ranked in the top 15 at 154 pounds by only one of the four universally recognized sanctioning bodies: 13th by the WBC.</p>
<p>The Hurd fight was Trout’s first since May 2016, when he lost by unanimous decision to Jermall Charlo in a bid for the same IBF title. Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, which guides Trout’s career, is known to have too many fighters and not enough dates.</p>
<p>On Oct. 13, Maldonado (24-4-1, 19 KOs), lost by sixth-round knockout to Ismael Barroso. It was a classic crossroads fight, reversing the momentum Maldonado had generated with his split-decision victory over Pablo César Cano four months earlier. Fidel Sr. then chose to cut the cord with Golden Boy, the fighter’s promoter since 2011.</p>
<p>After the Barroso fight, Maldonado Sr. said he wanted his son to take six months away from boxing — then decide whether to continue. But on Wednesday, Maldonado Sr. said his son will resume training shortly after New Year’s Day.</p>
<p>The exit from Golden Boy, Maldonado Sr. believes, will help and not harm his son’s career in 2018.</p>
<p>Even so, he said, one more loss could mean retirement.</p>
<p>Torres won his most recent bout but was 1-2 this year and has lost three of his last five. Married with two children, with a steady job, he doesn’t need to keep fighting. But he’s a good defensive fighter, while still aggressive and entertaining, and hasn’t taken a lot of punishment. There’s no reason he shouldn’t continue, but his record argues against the notion that he’ll ever be a player on a national scale.</p>
<p>Then, there are the young guns — none of whom has been truly tested but all of whom have shown potential.</p>
<p>Who among them is most likely to succeed on the level of a Torres, or a Maldonado, or even a Trout?</p>
<p>All of a sudden, it might be Leo who has a leg up on the competition.</p>
<p>Leo was training in Las Vegas, Nev., when he caught the eye of former world champion and fledgling promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather signed him to a contract, and Leo made his Vegas debut on a Mayweather Promotions card on Nov. 18. His victory that night by fourth-round KO over Basilio Nieves (15-5) is arguably the most impressive performance staged thus far by any of the aforementioned four.</p>
<p>If Leo’s victory over Nieves isn’t the most impressive victory among the four, Griego’s win by third-round retirement over Mexican trial horse Alejando Moreno would be a contender. Moreno’s corner men declined to let their fighter come out for the fourth round because of the punishment Griego was doling out.</p>
<p>Griego is the personification of the old boxing adage, “speed is power.” He knocks opponents out with punches they never saw coming.</p>
<p>Mendoza is a power puncher who, like Griego, trains with Maldonado Sr. at Atrisco Boxing. Like Griego, his progress has been slowed by promotional hiccups.</p>
<p>Maldonado Sr. said the plans he has for his son in the new year most definitely include Griego and Mendoza. They both are managed by former Albuquerque resident Cameron Dunkin, an influential figure in the boxing world, who also serves as an adviser to the Maldonados.</p>
<p>Sanchez, like the others, has displayed talent and skill but has yet to face serious competition. His best victory, based on records, is his Sept. 24 victory over Las Cruces’ Juan Carlos Guillen (7-5-1) in September. Leo, Griego, Mendoza and Sanchez are by no means the only promising young New Mexico boxers. So far, though, they appear to have the best chance among their peers to make an impact beyond our state’s borders.</p>
<p>Notable during the past 12 months:</p>
<p>MARCH: Albuquerque hosts the Western Elite Qualifier &amp; Regional Open Championships. Several New Mexico boxers win their divisions during three nights of competition at the Convention Center.</p>
<p>Recently, USA Boxing announced the event will return to Albuquerque next year.</p>
<p>APRIL: Victories by Maldonado and Torres highlight a Legacy Promotions card in the Manuel Lujan Jr. Exhibit Complex at Expo New Mexico. It marks the return of boxing to the Lujan building, site of many a card in the 1980s-1990s.</p>
<p>MAY: The Albuquerque City Council approves a resolution renaming the Wells Park Community Center after the late five-time world champion Johnny Tapia.</p>
<p>JUNE: Tapia is inducted posthumously into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He is the second New Mexico fighter to be so honored, preceded by the late Bob Foster. … Maldonado, in arguably the finest performance of his career, defeats Cano by split decision in Frisco, Texas. Most observers felt the decision should have been unanimous. … Legacy Promotions’ Eric Martinez dies at age 38 after staging seven cards in just 23 months at five different venues.</p>
<p>SEPTEMBER: Santa Fe’s Pat Holmes and international promoter Sampson Lewkovicz stage an internationally televised card at Buffalo Thunder Casino in Pojoaque.</p>
<p>OCTOBER: On back-to-back nights, Maldonado loses to Barroso in Indio, Calif., and Trout loses to Hurd in Brooklyn N.Y.</p>
<p>NOVEMBER: New Mexicans Sharahya Moreu (Albuquerque) and Amy Salinas (Las Cruces) represent the United States at the AIBA World Youth Women’s Boxing Championships in Guwahati, India. Both lose their opening bouts but gain valuable boxing and cultural experience. … Sanchez, Mendoza and Griego all win on a Legacy Promotions card at the Lujan building as the Perez brothers, Jordan and Aaron, keep the faith after the death of their friend and partner Martinez.</p>
<p>DECEMBER: Tapia is announced as a 2017 inductee into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame … Las Cruces’ Joscelyn Olayo-Muñoz wins a national title in the female Bantam Division 60-pound weight class at USA Boxing nationals in Salt Lake City.</p> | New Mexico boxing scene starting to shift | false | https://abqjournal.com/1111829/new-mexico-boxing-scene-starting-to-shift.html | 2least
| New Mexico boxing scene starting to shift
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<p />
<p>Still, as 2017 comes to an end, the focus in New Mexico boxing may be shifting. Four younger New Mexico fighters, with a combined 45 victories against not a single defeat, are knocking on the door.</p>
<p>They are, in alphabetical order:</p>
<p>Super flyweight Matthew Griego (8-0, seven knockouts), 21.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Super bantamweight Angelo Leo (11-0, seven KOs), 23.</p>
<p>Welterweight Brian Mendoza (15-0, 11 KOs), 23.</p>
<p>Featherweight Jason Sanchez (11-0, six KOs), 23.</p>
<p>Mendoza is from Rio Rancho, with Griego, Leo and Sanchez from Albuquerque.</p>
<p>For years, Trout, 32, of Las Cruces, and Maldonado, 26, and Torres, 28, both of Albuquerque, have been the flag bearers for New Mexico boxing. Trout (30-4, 17 KOs) has won and fought for world titles; Maldonado (24-4-1, 19 KOs) has climbed to the brink of world contender status; Torres (16-6-2, eight KOs) has been a popular and successful regional fighter around whom local fight cards have been built.</p>
<p>None of three plans to retire. Torres, in fact, has posted on Facebook that he has a fight scheduled on March 17. Fidel Maldonado Sr., his son’s manager and trainer, has plans for his son that he’s not ready to announce. “Far from finished!” Trout tweeted shortly after his Oct. 14 loss to Jarrett Hurd.</p>
<p>But, for all three, 2017 has put up some roadblocks.</p>
<p>Trout lost in his bid for Hurd’s IBF junior middleweight title when the Las Cruces southpaw didn’t come out for the 11th round. It was the first time Trout had been stopped short of the distance.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>At 32, Trout seems to be in a precarious position. He has his lost two fights and four of his last seven. All of Trout’s losses have come to world champions, and his skills have not markedly diminished.</p>
<p>Yet, going forward, that could be part of the problem. Trout would have to wait in line for another title shot, and it’s unlikely any young up-and-comer would want any part of a slick southpaw in trying to burnish his résumé. Currently, Trout is ranked in the top 15 at 154 pounds by only one of the four universally recognized sanctioning bodies: 13th by the WBC.</p>
<p>The Hurd fight was Trout’s first since May 2016, when he lost by unanimous decision to Jermall Charlo in a bid for the same IBF title. Al Haymon’s Premier Boxing Champions, which guides Trout’s career, is known to have too many fighters and not enough dates.</p>
<p>On Oct. 13, Maldonado (24-4-1, 19 KOs), lost by sixth-round knockout to Ismael Barroso. It was a classic crossroads fight, reversing the momentum Maldonado had generated with his split-decision victory over Pablo César Cano four months earlier. Fidel Sr. then chose to cut the cord with Golden Boy, the fighter’s promoter since 2011.</p>
<p>After the Barroso fight, Maldonado Sr. said he wanted his son to take six months away from boxing — then decide whether to continue. But on Wednesday, Maldonado Sr. said his son will resume training shortly after New Year’s Day.</p>
<p>The exit from Golden Boy, Maldonado Sr. believes, will help and not harm his son’s career in 2018.</p>
<p>Even so, he said, one more loss could mean retirement.</p>
<p>Torres won his most recent bout but was 1-2 this year and has lost three of his last five. Married with two children, with a steady job, he doesn’t need to keep fighting. But he’s a good defensive fighter, while still aggressive and entertaining, and hasn’t taken a lot of punishment. There’s no reason he shouldn’t continue, but his record argues against the notion that he’ll ever be a player on a national scale.</p>
<p>Then, there are the young guns — none of whom has been truly tested but all of whom have shown potential.</p>
<p>Who among them is most likely to succeed on the level of a Torres, or a Maldonado, or even a Trout?</p>
<p>All of a sudden, it might be Leo who has a leg up on the competition.</p>
<p>Leo was training in Las Vegas, Nev., when he caught the eye of former world champion and fledgling promoter Floyd Mayweather Jr. Mayweather signed him to a contract, and Leo made his Vegas debut on a Mayweather Promotions card on Nov. 18. His victory that night by fourth-round KO over Basilio Nieves (15-5) is arguably the most impressive performance staged thus far by any of the aforementioned four.</p>
<p>If Leo’s victory over Nieves isn’t the most impressive victory among the four, Griego’s win by third-round retirement over Mexican trial horse Alejando Moreno would be a contender. Moreno’s corner men declined to let their fighter come out for the fourth round because of the punishment Griego was doling out.</p>
<p>Griego is the personification of the old boxing adage, “speed is power.” He knocks opponents out with punches they never saw coming.</p>
<p>Mendoza is a power puncher who, like Griego, trains with Maldonado Sr. at Atrisco Boxing. Like Griego, his progress has been slowed by promotional hiccups.</p>
<p>Maldonado Sr. said the plans he has for his son in the new year most definitely include Griego and Mendoza. They both are managed by former Albuquerque resident Cameron Dunkin, an influential figure in the boxing world, who also serves as an adviser to the Maldonados.</p>
<p>Sanchez, like the others, has displayed talent and skill but has yet to face serious competition. His best victory, based on records, is his Sept. 24 victory over Las Cruces’ Juan Carlos Guillen (7-5-1) in September. Leo, Griego, Mendoza and Sanchez are by no means the only promising young New Mexico boxers. So far, though, they appear to have the best chance among their peers to make an impact beyond our state’s borders.</p>
<p>Notable during the past 12 months:</p>
<p>MARCH: Albuquerque hosts the Western Elite Qualifier &amp; Regional Open Championships. Several New Mexico boxers win their divisions during three nights of competition at the Convention Center.</p>
<p>Recently, USA Boxing announced the event will return to Albuquerque next year.</p>
<p>APRIL: Victories by Maldonado and Torres highlight a Legacy Promotions card in the Manuel Lujan Jr. Exhibit Complex at Expo New Mexico. It marks the return of boxing to the Lujan building, site of many a card in the 1980s-1990s.</p>
<p>MAY: The Albuquerque City Council approves a resolution renaming the Wells Park Community Center after the late five-time world champion Johnny Tapia.</p>
<p>JUNE: Tapia is inducted posthumously into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. He is the second New Mexico fighter to be so honored, preceded by the late Bob Foster. … Maldonado, in arguably the finest performance of his career, defeats Cano by split decision in Frisco, Texas. Most observers felt the decision should have been unanimous. … Legacy Promotions’ Eric Martinez dies at age 38 after staging seven cards in just 23 months at five different venues.</p>
<p>SEPTEMBER: Santa Fe’s Pat Holmes and international promoter Sampson Lewkovicz stage an internationally televised card at Buffalo Thunder Casino in Pojoaque.</p>
<p>OCTOBER: On back-to-back nights, Maldonado loses to Barroso in Indio, Calif., and Trout loses to Hurd in Brooklyn N.Y.</p>
<p>NOVEMBER: New Mexicans Sharahya Moreu (Albuquerque) and Amy Salinas (Las Cruces) represent the United States at the AIBA World Youth Women’s Boxing Championships in Guwahati, India. Both lose their opening bouts but gain valuable boxing and cultural experience. … Sanchez, Mendoza and Griego all win on a Legacy Promotions card at the Lujan building as the Perez brothers, Jordan and Aaron, keep the faith after the death of their friend and partner Martinez.</p>
<p>DECEMBER: Tapia is announced as a 2017 inductee into the New Mexico Sports Hall of Fame … Las Cruces’ Joscelyn Olayo-Muñoz wins a national title in the female Bantam Division 60-pound weight class at USA Boxing nationals in Salt Lake City.</p> | 599,746 |
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<p>PHOENIX (AZ)WCCOJun 17, 2003 1:31 pm US/CentralPHOENIX (CBS/AP) The Roman Catholic bishop of Phoenix faces a felony charge for leaving an accident in which a pedestrian was killed. Bishop Thomas O'Brien, 67, was booked Monday and subsequently released after posting $45,000 in bail, and declined to answer any questions as he passed reporters outside the jail. At a press conference, Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley said O'Brien was charged with a class four felony for leaving the scene of a serious accident. O'Brien's attorney, Jordan Green, declined to comment on the arrest. O'Brien made headlines earlier this month when it was announced that he relinquished some of his authority in an unprecedented agreement with prosecutors that spared him from indictment on obstruction charges for protecting child-molesting priests. In the hit-and-run case Saturday night, 43-year-old Jim Reed died after he was struck while walking across a street in the middle of the block about three miles from the bishop's home. Romley said contrary to early reports, it was not clear that a second car was involved in the accident. Because of the nature of the injuries, investigators believe that some time after the initial collision, a second car likely ran over the victim and dragged him.</p> | Bishop Faces Felony Charge | false | https://poynter.org/news/bishop-faces-felony-charge | 2003-06-17 | 2least
| Bishop Faces Felony Charge
<p>PHOENIX (AZ)WCCOJun 17, 2003 1:31 pm US/CentralPHOENIX (CBS/AP) The Roman Catholic bishop of Phoenix faces a felony charge for leaving an accident in which a pedestrian was killed. Bishop Thomas O'Brien, 67, was booked Monday and subsequently released after posting $45,000 in bail, and declined to answer any questions as he passed reporters outside the jail. At a press conference, Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley said O'Brien was charged with a class four felony for leaving the scene of a serious accident. O'Brien's attorney, Jordan Green, declined to comment on the arrest. O'Brien made headlines earlier this month when it was announced that he relinquished some of his authority in an unprecedented agreement with prosecutors that spared him from indictment on obstruction charges for protecting child-molesting priests. In the hit-and-run case Saturday night, 43-year-old Jim Reed died after he was struck while walking across a street in the middle of the block about three miles from the bishop's home. Romley said contrary to early reports, it was not clear that a second car was involved in the accident. Because of the nature of the injuries, investigators believe that some time after the initial collision, a second car likely ran over the victim and dragged him.</p> | 599,747 |
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<p>MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota couple celebrated their wedding day by posing with puppies.</p>
<p>Kathryn and Brad Ziemer of Maple Grove wanted to highlight the work of Secondhand Hounds, a nonprofit that rescues dogs from high-kill shelters. So instead of flowers, the couple chose puppies when they tied the knot at a suburban Minneapolis golf club on Saturday.</p>
<p>Kathryn Ziemer says, “Who doesn't love puppies?” But while having puppies at the wedding was special to her and her new husband, she says it was more about the animal rescue, which she calls “incredible.”</p>
<p>KMSP-TV ( <a href="http://bit.ly/2erixlS" type="external">http://bit.ly/2erixlS</a> ) reports that members of the wedding party did not know about the puppies until they went outside for group photos and found 13 pit bull puppies waiting for them.</p>
<p>Information from: KMSP-TV, <a href="http://www.myfox9.com" type="external">http://www.myfox9.com</a></p>
<p><a href="#8252bc4a-921e-433a-af93-6218ac671bed" type="external">© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</a> Learn more about our <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/privacy" type="external">Privacy Policy</a> and <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/terms" type="external">Terms of Use</a>.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Minnesota couple celebrates wedding by posing with puppies | false | https://abqjournal.com/870092/minnesota-couple-celebrates-wedding-by-posing-with-puppies-2.html | 2least
| Minnesota couple celebrates wedding by posing with puppies
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<p>MAPLE GROVE, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota couple celebrated their wedding day by posing with puppies.</p>
<p>Kathryn and Brad Ziemer of Maple Grove wanted to highlight the work of Secondhand Hounds, a nonprofit that rescues dogs from high-kill shelters. So instead of flowers, the couple chose puppies when they tied the knot at a suburban Minneapolis golf club on Saturday.</p>
<p>Kathryn Ziemer says, “Who doesn't love puppies?” But while having puppies at the wedding was special to her and her new husband, she says it was more about the animal rescue, which she calls “incredible.”</p>
<p>KMSP-TV ( <a href="http://bit.ly/2erixlS" type="external">http://bit.ly/2erixlS</a> ) reports that members of the wedding party did not know about the puppies until they went outside for group photos and found 13 pit bull puppies waiting for them.</p>
<p>Information from: KMSP-TV, <a href="http://www.myfox9.com" type="external">http://www.myfox9.com</a></p>
<p><a href="#8252bc4a-921e-433a-af93-6218ac671bed" type="external">© 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</a> Learn more about our <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/privacy" type="external">Privacy Policy</a> and <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/terms" type="external">Terms of Use</a>.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 599,748 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Willis Whitfield, the humble Texas farm boy turned Sandia National Laboratories scientist who had an idea that changed the world, never made it to the 50th anniversary party Sandia was planning to celebrate his world-changing patent.</p>
<p>The 92-year-old scientist died two weeks ago, and what was to be a celebration turned into a sweet memorial Monday as his widow, Belva, son Jim and a group of Sandians and reporters toured Sandia’s Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Application center to see clean rooms in action today.</p>
<p>In nearly every computer chip plant, pharmaceutical manufacturing center and hospital operating room in the world, you will find technology with roots in Whitfield’s U.S. Patent No. 3,148,457, “Ultra-Clean Room.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Everywhere dust poses a serious problem, Whitfield’s clean room has become an essential solution.</p>
<p>Gil Herrera, director of microsystems science and technology at Sandia, called Whitfield’s invention of the clean room “an enabling technology that changed the world significantly.”</p>
<p>To mark the invention’s 50th anniversary, Sandia had planned to invite Whitfield to the modern version of his invention.</p>
<p>The 400,000-square-foot complex of buildings toured Monday holds clean rooms used to make computer chips for use in U.S. nuclear weapons and for a range of other military and civilian applications.</p>
<p>The idea, meticulously sketched out in a notebook now on display at Sandia’s Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Application building, is remarkably simple. Create a smooth, gentle flow of air through a lab space, run it through a filter, repeat. Over and over and over again.</p>
<p>The key to inventive genius, Whitfield’s son Jim said, is to keep things simple.</p>
<p>In retrospect, Whitfield’s idea seemed obvious. “He couldn’t believe that somebody else hadn’t thought of it,” Belva Whitfield said as Herrera passed around a copy of the notebook recording the initial idea.</p>
<p>The problem was a big one in the early 1960s, when Whitfield hit on his solution.</p>
<p>“There has for some time been a problem of cleanliness in working environments such as operating rooms and in industrialized work areas where complex and miniaturized components are assembled,” Whitfield wrote in his 1962 patent application.</p>
<p>Typical air has 3 million microscopic particles per cubic foot, Herrera explained — dust, bacteria and the like. Traditional clean room techniques of the day, carefully dusting and vacuuming, could reduce that to 1 million.</p>
<p>Whitfield’s experimental clean rooms, using air flow and filters, reduced that to one particle per cubic foot on average, an innovation that made modern electronic manufacturing possible by eliminating the risk of defects caused by bits of dust.</p>
<p>There was initial skepticism, but by the late 1960s clean room technology had spurred a $60 billion industry, according to Herrera. Modern computer technology, which requires ultra-clean conditions to manufacture, would simply not be possible without it, he said. — This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | Inventor Of Clean Room Remembered | false | https://abqjournal.com/149165/inventor-of-clean-room-remembered.html | 2012-11-27 | 2least
| Inventor Of Clean Room Remembered
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<p />
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Willis Whitfield, the humble Texas farm boy turned Sandia National Laboratories scientist who had an idea that changed the world, never made it to the 50th anniversary party Sandia was planning to celebrate his world-changing patent.</p>
<p>The 92-year-old scientist died two weeks ago, and what was to be a celebration turned into a sweet memorial Monday as his widow, Belva, son Jim and a group of Sandians and reporters toured Sandia’s Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Application center to see clean rooms in action today.</p>
<p>In nearly every computer chip plant, pharmaceutical manufacturing center and hospital operating room in the world, you will find technology with roots in Whitfield’s U.S. Patent No. 3,148,457, “Ultra-Clean Room.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Everywhere dust poses a serious problem, Whitfield’s clean room has become an essential solution.</p>
<p>Gil Herrera, director of microsystems science and technology at Sandia, called Whitfield’s invention of the clean room “an enabling technology that changed the world significantly.”</p>
<p>To mark the invention’s 50th anniversary, Sandia had planned to invite Whitfield to the modern version of his invention.</p>
<p>The 400,000-square-foot complex of buildings toured Monday holds clean rooms used to make computer chips for use in U.S. nuclear weapons and for a range of other military and civilian applications.</p>
<p>The idea, meticulously sketched out in a notebook now on display at Sandia’s Microsystems and Engineering Sciences Application building, is remarkably simple. Create a smooth, gentle flow of air through a lab space, run it through a filter, repeat. Over and over and over again.</p>
<p>The key to inventive genius, Whitfield’s son Jim said, is to keep things simple.</p>
<p>In retrospect, Whitfield’s idea seemed obvious. “He couldn’t believe that somebody else hadn’t thought of it,” Belva Whitfield said as Herrera passed around a copy of the notebook recording the initial idea.</p>
<p>The problem was a big one in the early 1960s, when Whitfield hit on his solution.</p>
<p>“There has for some time been a problem of cleanliness in working environments such as operating rooms and in industrialized work areas where complex and miniaturized components are assembled,” Whitfield wrote in his 1962 patent application.</p>
<p>Typical air has 3 million microscopic particles per cubic foot, Herrera explained — dust, bacteria and the like. Traditional clean room techniques of the day, carefully dusting and vacuuming, could reduce that to 1 million.</p>
<p>Whitfield’s experimental clean rooms, using air flow and filters, reduced that to one particle per cubic foot on average, an innovation that made modern electronic manufacturing possible by eliminating the risk of defects caused by bits of dust.</p>
<p>There was initial skepticism, but by the late 1960s clean room technology had spurred a $60 billion industry, according to Herrera. Modern computer technology, which requires ultra-clean conditions to manufacture, would simply not be possible without it, he said. — This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal</p> | 599,749 |
<p>The wheels are turning to loosen up restrictions on food truck vendors in the city of Providence.</p>
<p>Officials are looking into revising a decades-old ordinance that requires restaurants-on-wheels to abide by the same rules as hawkers or peddlers, including the two-hour limit in parking spaces around the capital city. This is just one of the restrictions that local food truck vendors have said is killing their business.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"They need to set up, do a lunch or dinner service for two or three hours, and then clean up," said Eric Weiner, a food truck advocate who runs the website FoodTrucksIn.com. "Telling them to move makes it so they can't park or make a living."</p>
<p>The new law would allow food trucks to park in two-hour spots for up to four hours and to park in metered spots as long as they pay, said Councilman Bryan Principe, who sponsored the legislation. The Providence City Council votes on the new ordinance Thursday.</p>
<p>As the food truck trend has grown, cities across the country have sought to revise outdated regulations in order to accommodate the mobile restaurants. Providence's ordinance hasn't been revised in decades and doesn't specifically address food trucks.</p>
<p>"The old ordinance was titled for peddlers and hawkers," Principe said. "It just shows you the age of the ordinance."</p>
<p>One rule that won't be tossed is a proximity ban that prevents food trucks from setting up shop within 200 feet of brick-and-mortar restaurants, which Principe said is the courteous thing to do, though he doesn't think food trucks are competition.</p>
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<p>"I think they're targeting different segments of the population," Principe said. "I think we have a very dynamic restaurant scene in this city in general, and that includes food trucks."</p>
<p>Paul Gervais, who owns food truck Buddha Belly, said the restrictions have made an already-challenging business even more difficult.</p>
<p>"It's absurd that in a city where we have one of the leading culinary schools and we're known for food, it's not more food truck friendly," Gervais said.</p>
<p>Gervais used to park his truck on Thayer Street, near Brown University's campus, a location Gervais said was perfect because his authentic Chinese street food - like pork-filled dumplings - appealed to many of the school's international students. But he stopped parking there after police asked him on several occasions to leave, either because of how or where he was parked.</p>
<p>"If these rules pass, 100 percent I would go back to Thayer Street," Gervais said.</p>
<p>But Gervais said he still takes issue with the proximity ban, which he sees as unfair because it only applies to food trucks, and not to other brick-and-mortar restaurants.</p>
<p>"I don't want to take away anyone's business," Gervais said. "The food truck industry is blowing up. We're adding, not taking away."</p> | Providence officials look to revise outdated ordinance not fit for food trucks | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/07/15/providence-officials-look-to-revise-outdated-ordinance-not-fit-for-food-trucks.html | 2016-03-09 | 0right
| Providence officials look to revise outdated ordinance not fit for food trucks
<p>The wheels are turning to loosen up restrictions on food truck vendors in the city of Providence.</p>
<p>Officials are looking into revising a decades-old ordinance that requires restaurants-on-wheels to abide by the same rules as hawkers or peddlers, including the two-hour limit in parking spaces around the capital city. This is just one of the restrictions that local food truck vendors have said is killing their business.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"They need to set up, do a lunch or dinner service for two or three hours, and then clean up," said Eric Weiner, a food truck advocate who runs the website FoodTrucksIn.com. "Telling them to move makes it so they can't park or make a living."</p>
<p>The new law would allow food trucks to park in two-hour spots for up to four hours and to park in metered spots as long as they pay, said Councilman Bryan Principe, who sponsored the legislation. The Providence City Council votes on the new ordinance Thursday.</p>
<p>As the food truck trend has grown, cities across the country have sought to revise outdated regulations in order to accommodate the mobile restaurants. Providence's ordinance hasn't been revised in decades and doesn't specifically address food trucks.</p>
<p>"The old ordinance was titled for peddlers and hawkers," Principe said. "It just shows you the age of the ordinance."</p>
<p>One rule that won't be tossed is a proximity ban that prevents food trucks from setting up shop within 200 feet of brick-and-mortar restaurants, which Principe said is the courteous thing to do, though he doesn't think food trucks are competition.</p>
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<p>"I think they're targeting different segments of the population," Principe said. "I think we have a very dynamic restaurant scene in this city in general, and that includes food trucks."</p>
<p>Paul Gervais, who owns food truck Buddha Belly, said the restrictions have made an already-challenging business even more difficult.</p>
<p>"It's absurd that in a city where we have one of the leading culinary schools and we're known for food, it's not more food truck friendly," Gervais said.</p>
<p>Gervais used to park his truck on Thayer Street, near Brown University's campus, a location Gervais said was perfect because his authentic Chinese street food - like pork-filled dumplings - appealed to many of the school's international students. But he stopped parking there after police asked him on several occasions to leave, either because of how or where he was parked.</p>
<p>"If these rules pass, 100 percent I would go back to Thayer Street," Gervais said.</p>
<p>But Gervais said he still takes issue with the proximity ban, which he sees as unfair because it only applies to food trucks, and not to other brick-and-mortar restaurants.</p>
<p>"I don't want to take away anyone's business," Gervais said. "The food truck industry is blowing up. We're adding, not taking away."</p> | 599,750 |
<p>By Michael Georgy and Maha El Dahan</p>
<p>RAQQA/DUBAI (Reuters) – While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was accusing the West of turning a blind eye to Islamic State smuggling, a member of his parliament was quietly doing business with the group, farmers and administrators in the militants’ former stronghold said.</p>
<p>The arrangement helped the Syrian government to feed areas still under its control after Islamic State took over the northeastern wheat-growing region during the six-year-old civil war, they said.</p>
<p>Traders working for businessman and lawmaker Hossam al-Katerji bought wheat from farmers in Islamic State areas and transported it to Damascus, allowing the group to take a cut, five farmers and two administrators in Raqqa province told Reuters.</p>
<p>Katerji’s office manager, Mohammed Kassab, confirmed that Katerji Group was providing Syrian government territories with wheat from the northeast of Syria through Islamic State territory but denied any contact with Islamic State. It is not clear how much Assad knew of the wheat trading.</p>
<p>Cooperation over wheat between a figure from Syria’s establishment, which is backed by Shi’ite power Iran, and the hardline Sunni Islamic State would mark a new ironic twist in a war that has deepened regional Sunni-Shi’ite divisions.</p>
<p>Reuters contacted Katerji’s office six times to request comment but was not given access to him.</p>
<p>His office manager Kassab, asked how the company managed to buy and transport the wheat without any contact with Islamic State, said: “It was not easy, the situation was very difficult.” When asked for details he said only that it was a long explanation. He did not return further calls or messages.</p>
<p>Damascus, under U.S. and EU sanctions over the conflict and alleged oil trading with Islamic State, strongly denies any business links with the hardline Islamist militants, arguing that the United States is responsible for their rise to power.</p>
<p>The self-declared caliphate they set up across large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014 has all but collapsed after Western-backed forces drove them out of their Iraqi stronghold, Mosul and surrounded them in Raqqa, where they are now confined to a small area.</p>
<p>Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian forces are attacking them elsewhere, such as Deir al Zor on Syria’s eastern border, where Kassab says he was speaking from, in a continuing struggle for the upper hand between world powers.</p>
<p>TWENTY PERCENT</p>
<p>Five farmers in Raqqa described how they sold wheat to Katerji’s traders during Islamic State rule in interviews at the building housing the Raqqa Civil Council, formed to take over once the city is retaken.</p>
<p>“The operation was organized,” said Mahmoud al-Hadi, who owns agricultural land near Raqqa and who, like the other farmers, had come to the council’s cement offices to seek help.</p>
<p>“I would sell to small traders who sent the wheat to big traders who sent it on to Katerji and the regime through two or three traders,” he said.</p>
<p>He and the other farmers said they all had to pay Islamic State a 10 percent tax, or zakat, and sold all of their season’s supplies to Katerji’s traders under the multi-layered scheme.</p>
<p>Local officials said Katerji’s traders bought up wheat from Raqqa and Deir al-Zor and gave Islamic State 20 percent.</p>
<p>“If a truck is carrying 100 sacks, they (Islamic State) would keep 20 and give the rest to the trucker,” said Awas Ali, a deputy of the Tabqa joint leadership council, a similar, post-Islamic State local body allied to the Kurdish-led forces now attacking Raqqa.</p>
<p>Ali said he learned of the details of the arrangement with Katerji&#160;by speaking with Islamic State prisoners and others who worked in the group’s tax collection and road tolling systems.</p>
<p>“Katerji’s trucks were well known and the logo on them was clear and they were not harassed at all,” Ali said, adding that Katerji’s people were active during the last buying season, which lasts from May to August. The farmers also said the trucks were identifiable as Katerji’s.</p>
<p>The truck drivers were even allowed to smoke cigarettes as they passed through the checkpoints, something Islamic State enforcers punished with whippings elsewhere, Ali and several other sources said.</p>
<p>“I would sell an entire season’s supplies to Katerji’s traders,”&#160;said farmer Ali Shanaan.</p>
<p>“They are known traders.&#160;The checkpoints stopped the trucks and Daesh would take a cut and let them pass,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.</p>
<p>The wheat was transported via the “New bridge” over the Euphrates River to a road leading out of&#160;Raqqa, the farmers and local officials said. Control of the bridge is now unclear as the militants in Raqqa come close to defeat.</p>
<p>Raqqa-based lawyer Abdullah al-Aryan, who said he had been a consultant for some of Katerji’s traders, said Katerji’s trucks brought goods into Islamic State territory as well as wheat out.</p>
<p>“Food used to come from areas controlled by the government. Medicine and food,” he said.</p>
<p>Islamic State rule involved shooting or beheading perceived opponents in public squares, imposing its own extreme version of sharia, Islamic law, and then providing basic goods such as bread and setting up ministries and taxation.</p>
<p>Several farmers said they saw Islamic State documents which were stamped at checkpoints to allow the wheat trucks to pass. They belonged to the department which imposes taxes.</p>
<p>SMUGGLING</p>
<p>Islamic State may have exported some of the wheat. Local officials and farmers said the militants, as well as a rebel group, had sold the contents of grain silos in the northeast to traders across the Turkish border.</p>
<p>Assad has accused his enemies, including Turkey and Western countries, of supporting the group, something they deny.</p>
<p>In an interview in March with a Chinese news agency, published by Syrian state news agency SANA, Assad said:</p>
<p>“As for the other side, which is the United States, at least during the Obama administration, it dealt with Daesh through overlooking its smuggling of Syrian oil to Turkey, and in that way Daesh was able to procure money in order to recruit terrorists from all over the world.”</p>
<p>Asked whether Syrian companies were dealing with Islamic State to secure wheat, Internal Trade and Consumer Protection Minister Abdullah al-Gharbi said in August: “No, not at all.”</p>
<p>Speaking to Reuters at a Damascus trade fair, he added: “This doesn’t exist at all. We are importing wheat from Russian companies in addition to our local crop and this talk is completely unacceptable.”</p>
<p>The wheat buying season ended in August and IS has lost control of the wheat-growing areas, either to government forces or the Syrian Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces.</p>
<p>THE ONASSIS OF SYRIA</p>
<p>Assad has traditionally relied on a close-knit set of businessmen most notably Rami Makhlouf, his maternal cousin, to help keep Syria’s economy afloat.</p>
<p>Makhlouf is subject to international sanctions and relies on various associates to do business.</p>
<p>Katerji is a household name around Raqqa and elsewhere. Farmer Hadi likened him to&#160;a late Greek shipping tycoon, Aristotle Onassis.&#160;“Katerji is the Onassis of&#160;Syria,” he said.&#160;</p>
<p>Katerji’s&#160;facebook profile page shows him shaking hands with Assad and he regularly posts pictures of the president, who he describes as “a beacon of light for pan-Arabism, patriotism and loyalty”.</p>
<p>He is member of parliament for Aleppo, a key battleground recovered by the government late last year, and is part of a new business class that has risen to prominence during the war.</p>
<p>The United States and EU have imposed a range of measures targeted both at the government and some of the many armed groups operating in Syria, but foodstuffs are not restricted.</p>
<p>U.S. and European sanctions on banking and asset freezes have, however, made it difficult for most trading houses to do business with Assad’s government and made local supplies increasingly vital.</p>
<p>Flat bread is a subsidized staple for Syrians, who have suffered under a conflict estimated to have killed several hundred thousand people and forced millions to flee their homes.</p>
<p>The government needs around 1.5 million tonnes annually to feed the areas it controls and keep Syrians on Assad’s side.</p>
<p>Syria’s bread-basket provinces of Hasaka, Raqqa and Deir al-Zor account for nearly 70 percent of total wheat production.</p>
<p>While the government looks set to retake much of Deir al-Zor province soon, Hasaka is mostly under the control of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, who are also likely to hold sway in Raqqa along with Arab allied groups.</p>
<p>Ali, from the Tabqa council, predicted that would not stop the wheat trade. “People like Katerji, with a lot of money and power, their activities will never be completely frozen,” he said. “It is just going to disappear from one area and go to another.”</p> | How a businessman struck a deal with Islamic State to help Assad feed Syrians | false | https://newsline.com/how-a-businessman-struck-a-deal-with-islamic-state-to-help-assad-feed-syrians/ | 2017-10-11 | 1right-center
| How a businessman struck a deal with Islamic State to help Assad feed Syrians
<p>By Michael Georgy and Maha El Dahan</p>
<p>RAQQA/DUBAI (Reuters) – While Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was accusing the West of turning a blind eye to Islamic State smuggling, a member of his parliament was quietly doing business with the group, farmers and administrators in the militants’ former stronghold said.</p>
<p>The arrangement helped the Syrian government to feed areas still under its control after Islamic State took over the northeastern wheat-growing region during the six-year-old civil war, they said.</p>
<p>Traders working for businessman and lawmaker Hossam al-Katerji bought wheat from farmers in Islamic State areas and transported it to Damascus, allowing the group to take a cut, five farmers and two administrators in Raqqa province told Reuters.</p>
<p>Katerji’s office manager, Mohammed Kassab, confirmed that Katerji Group was providing Syrian government territories with wheat from the northeast of Syria through Islamic State territory but denied any contact with Islamic State. It is not clear how much Assad knew of the wheat trading.</p>
<p>Cooperation over wheat between a figure from Syria’s establishment, which is backed by Shi’ite power Iran, and the hardline Sunni Islamic State would mark a new ironic twist in a war that has deepened regional Sunni-Shi’ite divisions.</p>
<p>Reuters contacted Katerji’s office six times to request comment but was not given access to him.</p>
<p>His office manager Kassab, asked how the company managed to buy and transport the wheat without any contact with Islamic State, said: “It was not easy, the situation was very difficult.” When asked for details he said only that it was a long explanation. He did not return further calls or messages.</p>
<p>Damascus, under U.S. and EU sanctions over the conflict and alleged oil trading with Islamic State, strongly denies any business links with the hardline Islamist militants, arguing that the United States is responsible for their rise to power.</p>
<p>The self-declared caliphate they set up across large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014 has all but collapsed after Western-backed forces drove them out of their Iraqi stronghold, Mosul and surrounded them in Raqqa, where they are now confined to a small area.</p>
<p>Russian and Iranian-backed Syrian forces are attacking them elsewhere, such as Deir al Zor on Syria’s eastern border, where Kassab says he was speaking from, in a continuing struggle for the upper hand between world powers.</p>
<p>TWENTY PERCENT</p>
<p>Five farmers in Raqqa described how they sold wheat to Katerji’s traders during Islamic State rule in interviews at the building housing the Raqqa Civil Council, formed to take over once the city is retaken.</p>
<p>“The operation was organized,” said Mahmoud al-Hadi, who owns agricultural land near Raqqa and who, like the other farmers, had come to the council’s cement offices to seek help.</p>
<p>“I would sell to small traders who sent the wheat to big traders who sent it on to Katerji and the regime through two or three traders,” he said.</p>
<p>He and the other farmers said they all had to pay Islamic State a 10 percent tax, or zakat, and sold all of their season’s supplies to Katerji’s traders under the multi-layered scheme.</p>
<p>Local officials said Katerji’s traders bought up wheat from Raqqa and Deir al-Zor and gave Islamic State 20 percent.</p>
<p>“If a truck is carrying 100 sacks, they (Islamic State) would keep 20 and give the rest to the trucker,” said Awas Ali, a deputy of the Tabqa joint leadership council, a similar, post-Islamic State local body allied to the Kurdish-led forces now attacking Raqqa.</p>
<p>Ali said he learned of the details of the arrangement with Katerji&#160;by speaking with Islamic State prisoners and others who worked in the group’s tax collection and road tolling systems.</p>
<p>“Katerji’s trucks were well known and the logo on them was clear and they were not harassed at all,” Ali said, adding that Katerji’s people were active during the last buying season, which lasts from May to August. The farmers also said the trucks were identifiable as Katerji’s.</p>
<p>The truck drivers were even allowed to smoke cigarettes as they passed through the checkpoints, something Islamic State enforcers punished with whippings elsewhere, Ali and several other sources said.</p>
<p>“I would sell an entire season’s supplies to Katerji’s traders,”&#160;said farmer Ali Shanaan.</p>
<p>“They are known traders.&#160;The checkpoints stopped the trucks and Daesh would take a cut and let them pass,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.</p>
<p>The wheat was transported via the “New bridge” over the Euphrates River to a road leading out of&#160;Raqqa, the farmers and local officials said. Control of the bridge is now unclear as the militants in Raqqa come close to defeat.</p>
<p>Raqqa-based lawyer Abdullah al-Aryan, who said he had been a consultant for some of Katerji’s traders, said Katerji’s trucks brought goods into Islamic State territory as well as wheat out.</p>
<p>“Food used to come from areas controlled by the government. Medicine and food,” he said.</p>
<p>Islamic State rule involved shooting or beheading perceived opponents in public squares, imposing its own extreme version of sharia, Islamic law, and then providing basic goods such as bread and setting up ministries and taxation.</p>
<p>Several farmers said they saw Islamic State documents which were stamped at checkpoints to allow the wheat trucks to pass. They belonged to the department which imposes taxes.</p>
<p>SMUGGLING</p>
<p>Islamic State may have exported some of the wheat. Local officials and farmers said the militants, as well as a rebel group, had sold the contents of grain silos in the northeast to traders across the Turkish border.</p>
<p>Assad has accused his enemies, including Turkey and Western countries, of supporting the group, something they deny.</p>
<p>In an interview in March with a Chinese news agency, published by Syrian state news agency SANA, Assad said:</p>
<p>“As for the other side, which is the United States, at least during the Obama administration, it dealt with Daesh through overlooking its smuggling of Syrian oil to Turkey, and in that way Daesh was able to procure money in order to recruit terrorists from all over the world.”</p>
<p>Asked whether Syrian companies were dealing with Islamic State to secure wheat, Internal Trade and Consumer Protection Minister Abdullah al-Gharbi said in August: “No, not at all.”</p>
<p>Speaking to Reuters at a Damascus trade fair, he added: “This doesn’t exist at all. We are importing wheat from Russian companies in addition to our local crop and this talk is completely unacceptable.”</p>
<p>The wheat buying season ended in August and IS has lost control of the wheat-growing areas, either to government forces or the Syrian Kurdish-led Syrian Defense Forces.</p>
<p>THE ONASSIS OF SYRIA</p>
<p>Assad has traditionally relied on a close-knit set of businessmen most notably Rami Makhlouf, his maternal cousin, to help keep Syria’s economy afloat.</p>
<p>Makhlouf is subject to international sanctions and relies on various associates to do business.</p>
<p>Katerji is a household name around Raqqa and elsewhere. Farmer Hadi likened him to&#160;a late Greek shipping tycoon, Aristotle Onassis.&#160;“Katerji is the Onassis of&#160;Syria,” he said.&#160;</p>
<p>Katerji’s&#160;facebook profile page shows him shaking hands with Assad and he regularly posts pictures of the president, who he describes as “a beacon of light for pan-Arabism, patriotism and loyalty”.</p>
<p>He is member of parliament for Aleppo, a key battleground recovered by the government late last year, and is part of a new business class that has risen to prominence during the war.</p>
<p>The United States and EU have imposed a range of measures targeted both at the government and some of the many armed groups operating in Syria, but foodstuffs are not restricted.</p>
<p>U.S. and European sanctions on banking and asset freezes have, however, made it difficult for most trading houses to do business with Assad’s government and made local supplies increasingly vital.</p>
<p>Flat bread is a subsidized staple for Syrians, who have suffered under a conflict estimated to have killed several hundred thousand people and forced millions to flee their homes.</p>
<p>The government needs around 1.5 million tonnes annually to feed the areas it controls and keep Syrians on Assad’s side.</p>
<p>Syria’s bread-basket provinces of Hasaka, Raqqa and Deir al-Zor account for nearly 70 percent of total wheat production.</p>
<p>While the government looks set to retake much of Deir al-Zor province soon, Hasaka is mostly under the control of U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, who are also likely to hold sway in Raqqa along with Arab allied groups.</p>
<p>Ali, from the Tabqa council, predicted that would not stop the wheat trade. “People like Katerji, with a lot of money and power, their activities will never be completely frozen,” he said. “It is just going to disappear from one area and go to another.”</p> | 599,751 |
<p />
<p>It's been clear for some time now that the automotive industry is on the verge of evolving more over the next two decades than it has in the past hundred years. Further proof came Monday morning when Silicon Valley pushed more chips onto the table with Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) announcing it would acquire Mobileye (NYSE: MBLY), a leader in developing driverless car technology.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Intel's deal to purchase Mobileye came with a $15.3 billion price tag, a hefty sum that valued Mobileye at $63.54 per share. That's a 34% premium to Mobileye's price at Friday's close, and is the driving force behind the company's 30% surge in stock price Monday morning.</p>
<p>While this move was unforeseen, it does make a lot of sense and is just one of many recent big moves in the automotive industry. Intel already had made a move to buy a 15% stake in digital map-making company Here International B.V., to own more navigation technology. Samsung Electronics made its own move a week ago when it closed an $8 billion deal to purchase Harman International, a company devoted to designing and engineering connected products and solutions for automakers.Even the automotive industry's own General Motors spent roughly $1 billion to purchase Cruise Automation to ignite its own self-driving research, and has invested $500 million in ride-hailing company Lyft in its effort to bulk up smart mobility projects.</p>
<p>Ford's Fusion testing self-driving technology. Image source: Ford Motor Company.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In the press release announcing the acquisition, Ziv Aviram, Mobileye co-founder, president and CEO, said:</p>
<p>Intel paid a hefty price tag for Mobileye, which generated a modest $358.2 million in revenue last year. But Intel is getting a serious foot in the door of markets it wants to dominate in the future.</p>
<p>Image source: Intel Corporation Mobileye acquisition presentation.</p>
<p>Mobileye brings a lot to the table in that regard with its thoroughly respected expertise in self-driving sensors and technology, as well as numerous partnerships with the largest automakers in the business. Mobileye is a leader in advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) technologies and has a portfolio of vision, sensor fusion, mapping, and driving policy products.</p>
<p>And if you're going to get into the automotive industry, which is plagued by capital-intensive operations and historically low margins, this is the place to be. Consider that during 2016 Mobileye generated 76% gross margin, 48.3% adjusted-EBITDA margin, and 34% operating margin, thanks to its low fixed costs and less intensive marketing and SG&amp;A costs compared to OEM (original equipment manufacturer) automakers.As a bonus, Mobileye is expected to be immediately accretive to Intel's non-GAAP earnings per share and cash flow. Intel management also believes it can wring out $175 million in cost synergies annually by 2019, which will only improve margins in the years ahead.</p>
<p>With Intel making a significant push into self-driving vehicle technology, the company now has the products to offer automakers a larger and more complete package of components, which could help seal future contracts. The future of the automotive industry is autonomous vehicles, and it's going to be a lucrative market in a couple of decades -- Intel is just the latest tech company to spend billions carving out its spot in the coming automotive evolution, but it certainly won't be the last.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than IntelWhen 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=572f49b0-e424-4e58-a978-fd7a9eae32a8&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 Intel 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=572f49b0-e424-4e58-a978-fd7a9eae32a8&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/TMFTwoCoins/info.aspx" type="external">Daniel Miller Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of General Motors. The Motley Fool recommends General Motors and Intel. 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> | Intel Spends $15.3 Billion to Own Its Share of the Self-Driving Future | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/14/intel-spends-153-billion-to-own-its-share-self-driving-future.html | 2017-03-17 | 0right
| Intel Spends $15.3 Billion to Own Its Share of the Self-Driving Future
<p />
<p>It's been clear for some time now that the automotive industry is on the verge of evolving more over the next two decades than it has in the past hundred years. Further proof came Monday morning when Silicon Valley pushed more chips onto the table with Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) announcing it would acquire Mobileye (NYSE: MBLY), a leader in developing driverless car technology.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Intel's deal to purchase Mobileye came with a $15.3 billion price tag, a hefty sum that valued Mobileye at $63.54 per share. That's a 34% premium to Mobileye's price at Friday's close, and is the driving force behind the company's 30% surge in stock price Monday morning.</p>
<p>While this move was unforeseen, it does make a lot of sense and is just one of many recent big moves in the automotive industry. Intel already had made a move to buy a 15% stake in digital map-making company Here International B.V., to own more navigation technology. Samsung Electronics made its own move a week ago when it closed an $8 billion deal to purchase Harman International, a company devoted to designing and engineering connected products and solutions for automakers.Even the automotive industry's own General Motors spent roughly $1 billion to purchase Cruise Automation to ignite its own self-driving research, and has invested $500 million in ride-hailing company Lyft in its effort to bulk up smart mobility projects.</p>
<p>Ford's Fusion testing self-driving technology. Image source: Ford Motor Company.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In the press release announcing the acquisition, Ziv Aviram, Mobileye co-founder, president and CEO, said:</p>
<p>Intel paid a hefty price tag for Mobileye, which generated a modest $358.2 million in revenue last year. But Intel is getting a serious foot in the door of markets it wants to dominate in the future.</p>
<p>Image source: Intel Corporation Mobileye acquisition presentation.</p>
<p>Mobileye brings a lot to the table in that regard with its thoroughly respected expertise in self-driving sensors and technology, as well as numerous partnerships with the largest automakers in the business. Mobileye is a leader in advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS) technologies and has a portfolio of vision, sensor fusion, mapping, and driving policy products.</p>
<p>And if you're going to get into the automotive industry, which is plagued by capital-intensive operations and historically low margins, this is the place to be. Consider that during 2016 Mobileye generated 76% gross margin, 48.3% adjusted-EBITDA margin, and 34% operating margin, thanks to its low fixed costs and less intensive marketing and SG&amp;A costs compared to OEM (original equipment manufacturer) automakers.As a bonus, Mobileye is expected to be immediately accretive to Intel's non-GAAP earnings per share and cash flow. Intel management also believes it can wring out $175 million in cost synergies annually by 2019, which will only improve margins in the years ahead.</p>
<p>With Intel making a significant push into self-driving vehicle technology, the company now has the products to offer automakers a larger and more complete package of components, which could help seal future contracts. The future of the automotive industry is autonomous vehicles, and it's going to be a lucrative market in a couple of decades -- Intel is just the latest tech company to spend billions carving out its spot in the coming automotive evolution, but it certainly won't be the last.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than IntelWhen 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=572f49b0-e424-4e58-a978-fd7a9eae32a8&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 Intel 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=572f49b0-e424-4e58-a978-fd7a9eae32a8&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/TMFTwoCoins/info.aspx" type="external">Daniel Miller Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of General Motors. The Motley Fool recommends General Motors and Intel. 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> | 599,752 |
<p />
<p>It’s almost painful to watch Peter Thiel speak in public. Cerebral and awkward, the tech billionaire seems about as comfortable in that role as Star Trek’s Mr. Spock was with human emotion. Mr. Charismatic he is not. And his support for Donald Trump has made him something of a pariah in the liberal-leaning Bay Area.&#160;</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But then, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist is no stranger to controversy nor friend of common doctrine. He’s known for flying in the face of the status quo, having built a solid reputation as the highly successful co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and early backer of Facebook, LinkedIn and Yelp, among many others.</p>
<p>Unlike most people, who Thiel once called “disturbingly herdlike,” he intuitively grasps the fundamental principle that you can’t disrupt markets by following the crowd. “As an investor-entrepreneur, I’ve always tried to be contrarian, to go against the crowd, to identify opportunities in places where people are not looking,” he said.</p>
<p>Yesterday, the man who much prefers to operate behind the scenes challenged his own comfort zone, walking into the lion’s den at the <a href="http://www.press.org/events/peter-thiel" type="external">National Press Club in Washington D.C. Opens a New Window.</a> to explain why he was backing the Trump campaign when the extremely vocal majority of Valley elites clearly despise the man.</p>
<p>Thiel spoke with uncharacteristic passion as he described a nation in steep decline, deep debt, and and even deeper denial of the harsh realities of free trade and bubble economics that have devastated America’s heartland while enriching a permanent political class.</p>
<p>“For a long time, our elites have been in the habit of denying difficult realities. That’s how bubbles form,” he said. “Whenever there is a hard problem but people want to believe in an easy solution, they will be tempted to deny reality and inflate a bubble.”</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Not mincing words, Thiel essentially called baby boomers suckers for one bubble after another: the dot-com bubble and market crash of 2000, the housing bubble and great recession of 2008, an annual trade deficit of $500 billion, and the never-ending wars that have cost our nation trillions of dollars and thousands of lives.</p>
<p>While he does not agree with everything Trump says and does, Thiel believes that voters “pull the lever” for what a candidate stands for, not for his flaws. He sees Trump as an outsider who can break the chain of political dynasties and chronic leadership failure and break America of its bubble addiction.</p>
<p>Before we get too caught up in Thiel’s libertarian doctrine, let’s not overlook the obvious. Even if you agree with much of what he says, it might seem just a tad bit hypocritical for a tech billionaire to accuse beltway insiders of living in an ideological bubble, given Silicon Valley’s similar insular mentality.</p>
<p>On the contrary, Thiel judges himself and his brethren as harshly as he judges anyone else.</p>
<p>As the <a href="http://www.press.org/events/peter-thiel" type="external">Don of the PayPal Mafia</a> who played a key role in the social media revolution that dominates our digital lives, Thiel is nevertheless profoundly disappointed with its lack of broad economic impact in terms of jobs and productivity. Indeed, the internet economy has benefited a relatively few number of companies and individuals – certainly not the middle class.</p>
<p>It’s telling that the manifesto of Thiel’s investment company, Founders Fund, begins with a question, What happened to the future? Even more telling is Thiel’s famous pat answer: “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters,” a blatant jab at Twitter. Interestingly enough, the man has virtually no online presence whatsoever. The irony.</p>
<p>Thiel does put his money where his mouth is, funding numerous philanthropic causes. And besides Airbnb, Lyft and Spotify, the fund’s investment portfolio includes a number of companies whose products will go a long way to serving the greater good, including cancer drug maker Stemcentrx and fellow PayPal buddy Elon Musk’s SpaceX.</p>
<p>Towards the end of his speech, Thiel mentioned the Manhattan project, interstate highway system and Apollo program as evidence that Washington wasn’t always broken. But if we want to return to that standard of competence, he said, “we cannot let free market ideology serve as an excuse for decline.”</p>
<p>Trump represents a new American politics that “overcomes denial, rejects bubble thinking and reckons with reality,” he said. “When the distracting spectacles of this election season are forgotten and the history of our time is written, the only important question will be whether or not that new politics came too late.”</p>
<p>In any case, nobody can dispute Thiel’s courage for once again going up against the status quo, speaking out on behalf of Trump and giving voice to The Valley’s silent minority who feel the same way.</p> | Peter Thiel Speaks for Silicon Valley's Silent Minority | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/11/01/peter-thiel-speaks-for-silicon-valleys-silent-minority.html | 2016-11-01 | 0right
| Peter Thiel Speaks for Silicon Valley's Silent Minority
<p />
<p>It’s almost painful to watch Peter Thiel speak in public. Cerebral and awkward, the tech billionaire seems about as comfortable in that role as Star Trek’s Mr. Spock was with human emotion. Mr. Charismatic he is not. And his support for Donald Trump has made him something of a pariah in the liberal-leaning Bay Area.&#160;</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But then, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist is no stranger to controversy nor friend of common doctrine. He’s known for flying in the face of the status quo, having built a solid reputation as the highly successful co-founder of PayPal and Palantir and early backer of Facebook, LinkedIn and Yelp, among many others.</p>
<p>Unlike most people, who Thiel once called “disturbingly herdlike,” he intuitively grasps the fundamental principle that you can’t disrupt markets by following the crowd. “As an investor-entrepreneur, I’ve always tried to be contrarian, to go against the crowd, to identify opportunities in places where people are not looking,” he said.</p>
<p>Yesterday, the man who much prefers to operate behind the scenes challenged his own comfort zone, walking into the lion’s den at the <a href="http://www.press.org/events/peter-thiel" type="external">National Press Club in Washington D.C. Opens a New Window.</a> to explain why he was backing the Trump campaign when the extremely vocal majority of Valley elites clearly despise the man.</p>
<p>Thiel spoke with uncharacteristic passion as he described a nation in steep decline, deep debt, and and even deeper denial of the harsh realities of free trade and bubble economics that have devastated America’s heartland while enriching a permanent political class.</p>
<p>“For a long time, our elites have been in the habit of denying difficult realities. That’s how bubbles form,” he said. “Whenever there is a hard problem but people want to believe in an easy solution, they will be tempted to deny reality and inflate a bubble.”</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Not mincing words, Thiel essentially called baby boomers suckers for one bubble after another: the dot-com bubble and market crash of 2000, the housing bubble and great recession of 2008, an annual trade deficit of $500 billion, and the never-ending wars that have cost our nation trillions of dollars and thousands of lives.</p>
<p>While he does not agree with everything Trump says and does, Thiel believes that voters “pull the lever” for what a candidate stands for, not for his flaws. He sees Trump as an outsider who can break the chain of political dynasties and chronic leadership failure and break America of its bubble addiction.</p>
<p>Before we get too caught up in Thiel’s libertarian doctrine, let’s not overlook the obvious. Even if you agree with much of what he says, it might seem just a tad bit hypocritical for a tech billionaire to accuse beltway insiders of living in an ideological bubble, given Silicon Valley’s similar insular mentality.</p>
<p>On the contrary, Thiel judges himself and his brethren as harshly as he judges anyone else.</p>
<p>As the <a href="http://www.press.org/events/peter-thiel" type="external">Don of the PayPal Mafia</a> who played a key role in the social media revolution that dominates our digital lives, Thiel is nevertheless profoundly disappointed with its lack of broad economic impact in terms of jobs and productivity. Indeed, the internet economy has benefited a relatively few number of companies and individuals – certainly not the middle class.</p>
<p>It’s telling that the manifesto of Thiel’s investment company, Founders Fund, begins with a question, What happened to the future? Even more telling is Thiel’s famous pat answer: “We wanted flying cars, instead we got 140 characters,” a blatant jab at Twitter. Interestingly enough, the man has virtually no online presence whatsoever. The irony.</p>
<p>Thiel does put his money where his mouth is, funding numerous philanthropic causes. And besides Airbnb, Lyft and Spotify, the fund’s investment portfolio includes a number of companies whose products will go a long way to serving the greater good, including cancer drug maker Stemcentrx and fellow PayPal buddy Elon Musk’s SpaceX.</p>
<p>Towards the end of his speech, Thiel mentioned the Manhattan project, interstate highway system and Apollo program as evidence that Washington wasn’t always broken. But if we want to return to that standard of competence, he said, “we cannot let free market ideology serve as an excuse for decline.”</p>
<p>Trump represents a new American politics that “overcomes denial, rejects bubble thinking and reckons with reality,” he said. “When the distracting spectacles of this election season are forgotten and the history of our time is written, the only important question will be whether or not that new politics came too late.”</p>
<p>In any case, nobody can dispute Thiel’s courage for once again going up against the status quo, speaking out on behalf of Trump and giving voice to The Valley’s silent minority who feel the same way.</p> | 599,753 |
<p>By Ken Camp</p>
<p>The world focused on Cuba in recent days, gauging the impact of restored diplomatic relations with the United States after more than 50 years. But for a&#160;volunteer team from Texas, a trek to Cuba was business as usual.</p>
<p><a href="https://texasbaptistmen.org/" type="external">Texas Baptist Men</a>&#160;agreed in 2012 to enter a ministry partnership with the&#160; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_Convention_of_Western_Cuba" type="external">Western Baptist Convention of Cuba</a>. It includes building and remodeling projects, disaster-relief training, water purification, Royal Ambassador training and church renewal. TBM also has provided scholarships for students at the Baptist seminary in Havana, which has educated ministers in Cuba more than a century.</p>
<p>L.M. and Dora Lynn Dyson from&#160; <a href="http://www.fbcwoodway.org/" type="external">First Baptist Church of Woodway</a>&#160;in Waco, Texas, have traveled to Cuba at least 40 times since 1999. The Dysons work in partnership with Cuban Baptists, primarily by facilitating procurement and delivery of shipping containers filled with a wide variety of ministry supplies.</p>
<p />
<p>Dyson, who served 35 years on the faculty at&#160; <a href="http://www.baylor.edu/" type="external">Baylor University</a>, handles the logistics and works with multiple partners to fill the containers — at least two dozen in 15 years.</p>
<p>“It takes so many people touching one container to get it to the right place,” Dyson said.</p>
<p>Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, working through the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, provided funds for shipping the container that cleared customs in Havana Jan. 21.</p>
<p>TBM volunteers filled the 50-foot container at the Dixon Missions Equipping Center in east Dallas. Contents included durable medical equipment — wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and other items — collected by Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas; assorted other medical supplies, including crates of masks and latex gloves; disaster-relief supplies and equipment for Cuban Baptists; and a washer and dryer for an elder care facility operated by the Western Baptist Convention of Cuba, donated by senior adults at First Baptist Church of Woodway.</p>
<p>“It’s always a joint effort with many people and many organizations,” Dora Lynn Dyson said. “When people find out you are helping others, they want to be part of that.”</p>
<p>The container included three rolls of artificial turf from Baylor University, provided to the Havana Industriales baseball team for their practice facility. The Baylor baseball team developed a relationship with the Cuban professional team during a sports evangelism mission trip a few years ago. At least five Industriales team members have professed faith in Jesus Christ and now are members of Iglesia Bautista El Calvario in Havana.</p>
<p />
<p>The container also included lumber, tools and other construction supplies for a half-dozen TBM volunteers to use to repair and resurface the floor of a gymnasium at El Calvario. The church uses the facility for a youth Sunday school class and various weekday ministries, as well as sports outreach and discipleship.</p>
<p>“We have learned an important lesson from Texas Baptist Men. We want to demonstrate the love of God through more than words,” said Juan Carlos Rojas, pastor of El Calvario. The church, which attracts about 1,200 to worship services at its downtown Havana facility, reaches an equal or greater number each week through 114 house churches.</p>
<p>A TBM missions team unloaded most of the container at the Cuban Baptist elder care home on the outskirts of Havana. Volunteers from El Calvario unloaded the lumber and construction supplies at their church facility — including materials a future TBM mission team will use to rebuild risers in the 113-year-old congregation’s sanctuary balcony.</p>
<p>While the missions team served in Cuba, another shipping container filled with food left the port of Houston bound for Havana. TBM, First Baptist Church of Woodway,&#160; <a href="http://www.gabc.org/" type="external">Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler</a>, Texas, Lakeside Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, and others partnered to provide that shipment to supply meals for participants at the annual meeting of the Western Baptist Convention of Cuba, scheduled in March at El Calvario, and for the seminary in Havana.</p>
<p>In addition to ministries in Havana, several team members also delivered ministry supplies to a seminary in Santa Clara and a pastor in Vueltas who works with indigenous missionaries who serve about 100 sites in Central Cuba.</p>
<p>The volunteers also delivered equipment and supplies to the pastor of a church in Santa Clara who lives with his pregnant wife and their daughter on a demonstration farm launched through the efforts of First Baptist Church of Woodway and Pastor Mike Toby, who died Dec. 29, 2012. Toby envisioned a farm that not only would become self-sustaining, but also would serve as a nursery and breeding facility to start plants and raise livestock that could be given to others to begin farms as ministry outposts.</p>
<p>In less than three years, Pastor Yoan Ramos has cleared more than 30 acres and planted guava, banana, yucca, lemon, peanuts and sweet potatoes, as well as raising cattle, horses, goats, rabbits, turkeys, chickens and guineas.</p>
<p />
<p>One TBM volunteer, Ron Wingard from&#160; <a href="http://www.mimosalane.org/web2/" type="external">Mimosa Lane Baptist Church in Mesquite</a>, Texas, also delivered two duffels to Cuba, filled with children’s shoes provided by Buckner International as part of its&#160; <a href="http://www.shoesfororphansouls.org/" type="external">Shoes for Orphan Souls</a>&#160;ministry.</p>
<p>He presented one shoe-filled bag to Cavidad Arteaga Acosto, administrator of the benevolence program and women’s ministries at El Calvario in Havana. She explained the church’s benevolence ministry not only meets needs among its own congregation and in downtown Havana, but also ministers throughout western Cuba.</p>
<p>After learning about the scope of the ministry and depth of need, Wingard told her he had another duffel filled with shoes he had planned to deliver to the Baptist seminary in Havana the next day. He offered to bring the shoes to her, instead.</p>
<p>“Oh, no,” she said. “Take them to the seminary. Share with them. There are so many pastors’ children who don’t have shoes. They have needs, too.”</p> | Openness to Cuba is nothing new to these Baptists | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/openness-to-cuba-is-nothing-new-to-these-baptists/ | 3left-center
| Openness to Cuba is nothing new to these Baptists
<p>By Ken Camp</p>
<p>The world focused on Cuba in recent days, gauging the impact of restored diplomatic relations with the United States after more than 50 years. But for a&#160;volunteer team from Texas, a trek to Cuba was business as usual.</p>
<p><a href="https://texasbaptistmen.org/" type="external">Texas Baptist Men</a>&#160;agreed in 2012 to enter a ministry partnership with the&#160; <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baptist_Convention_of_Western_Cuba" type="external">Western Baptist Convention of Cuba</a>. It includes building and remodeling projects, disaster-relief training, water purification, Royal Ambassador training and church renewal. TBM also has provided scholarships for students at the Baptist seminary in Havana, which has educated ministers in Cuba more than a century.</p>
<p>L.M. and Dora Lynn Dyson from&#160; <a href="http://www.fbcwoodway.org/" type="external">First Baptist Church of Woodway</a>&#160;in Waco, Texas, have traveled to Cuba at least 40 times since 1999. The Dysons work in partnership with Cuban Baptists, primarily by facilitating procurement and delivery of shipping containers filled with a wide variety of ministry supplies.</p>
<p />
<p>Dyson, who served 35 years on the faculty at&#160; <a href="http://www.baylor.edu/" type="external">Baylor University</a>, handles the logistics and works with multiple partners to fill the containers — at least two dozen in 15 years.</p>
<p>“It takes so many people touching one container to get it to the right place,” Dyson said.</p>
<p>Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas, working through the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, provided funds for shipping the container that cleared customs in Havana Jan. 21.</p>
<p>TBM volunteers filled the 50-foot container at the Dixon Missions Equipping Center in east Dallas. Contents included durable medical equipment — wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and other items — collected by Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas; assorted other medical supplies, including crates of masks and latex gloves; disaster-relief supplies and equipment for Cuban Baptists; and a washer and dryer for an elder care facility operated by the Western Baptist Convention of Cuba, donated by senior adults at First Baptist Church of Woodway.</p>
<p>“It’s always a joint effort with many people and many organizations,” Dora Lynn Dyson said. “When people find out you are helping others, they want to be part of that.”</p>
<p>The container included three rolls of artificial turf from Baylor University, provided to the Havana Industriales baseball team for their practice facility. The Baylor baseball team developed a relationship with the Cuban professional team during a sports evangelism mission trip a few years ago. At least five Industriales team members have professed faith in Jesus Christ and now are members of Iglesia Bautista El Calvario in Havana.</p>
<p />
<p>The container also included lumber, tools and other construction supplies for a half-dozen TBM volunteers to use to repair and resurface the floor of a gymnasium at El Calvario. The church uses the facility for a youth Sunday school class and various weekday ministries, as well as sports outreach and discipleship.</p>
<p>“We have learned an important lesson from Texas Baptist Men. We want to demonstrate the love of God through more than words,” said Juan Carlos Rojas, pastor of El Calvario. The church, which attracts about 1,200 to worship services at its downtown Havana facility, reaches an equal or greater number each week through 114 house churches.</p>
<p>A TBM missions team unloaded most of the container at the Cuban Baptist elder care home on the outskirts of Havana. Volunteers from El Calvario unloaded the lumber and construction supplies at their church facility — including materials a future TBM mission team will use to rebuild risers in the 113-year-old congregation’s sanctuary balcony.</p>
<p>While the missions team served in Cuba, another shipping container filled with food left the port of Houston bound for Havana. TBM, First Baptist Church of Woodway,&#160; <a href="http://www.gabc.org/" type="external">Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler</a>, Texas, Lakeside Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, and others partnered to provide that shipment to supply meals for participants at the annual meeting of the Western Baptist Convention of Cuba, scheduled in March at El Calvario, and for the seminary in Havana.</p>
<p>In addition to ministries in Havana, several team members also delivered ministry supplies to a seminary in Santa Clara and a pastor in Vueltas who works with indigenous missionaries who serve about 100 sites in Central Cuba.</p>
<p>The volunteers also delivered equipment and supplies to the pastor of a church in Santa Clara who lives with his pregnant wife and their daughter on a demonstration farm launched through the efforts of First Baptist Church of Woodway and Pastor Mike Toby, who died Dec. 29, 2012. Toby envisioned a farm that not only would become self-sustaining, but also would serve as a nursery and breeding facility to start plants and raise livestock that could be given to others to begin farms as ministry outposts.</p>
<p>In less than three years, Pastor Yoan Ramos has cleared more than 30 acres and planted guava, banana, yucca, lemon, peanuts and sweet potatoes, as well as raising cattle, horses, goats, rabbits, turkeys, chickens and guineas.</p>
<p />
<p>One TBM volunteer, Ron Wingard from&#160; <a href="http://www.mimosalane.org/web2/" type="external">Mimosa Lane Baptist Church in Mesquite</a>, Texas, also delivered two duffels to Cuba, filled with children’s shoes provided by Buckner International as part of its&#160; <a href="http://www.shoesfororphansouls.org/" type="external">Shoes for Orphan Souls</a>&#160;ministry.</p>
<p>He presented one shoe-filled bag to Cavidad Arteaga Acosto, administrator of the benevolence program and women’s ministries at El Calvario in Havana. She explained the church’s benevolence ministry not only meets needs among its own congregation and in downtown Havana, but also ministers throughout western Cuba.</p>
<p>After learning about the scope of the ministry and depth of need, Wingard told her he had another duffel filled with shoes he had planned to deliver to the Baptist seminary in Havana the next day. He offered to bring the shoes to her, instead.</p>
<p>“Oh, no,” she said. “Take them to the seminary. Share with them. There are so many pastors’ children who don’t have shoes. They have needs, too.”</p> | 599,754 |
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<p>Attorney Paxton Guymon holds a photograph of Jim and Jan Harding during a news conference in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014. Jan Harding, 67, is in critical condition at a Salt Lake City hospital’s burn unit, unable to talk and fighting for her life, Guymon said. She drank sweet tea containing a toxic cleaning chemical, severely burning her mouth and throat at a Utah restaurant after an employee mistook the substance for sugar and mixed it into a dispenser, Guymon said. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)</p>
<p>SALT LAKE CITY — Hospital officials say a woman who unknowingly drank iced tea laced with an industrial cleaning solution at a Utah restaurant is starting to recover.</p>
<p>University of Utah hospital officials say Jan Harding’s condition was upgraded Sunday evening to serious.</p>
<p>The 67-year-old woman had been in critical condition since Aug. 10, when she drank the sweetened iced tea at Dickey’s Barbecue in South Jordan, a Salt Lake City suburb. Family attorney Paxton Guymon has said the chemicals caused deep, ulcerated burns in her upper esophagus.</p>
<p>Guymon says Harding is now able to speak, albeit in a strained voice. Her breathing tube was removed over the weekend.</p>
<p>Authorities have said a restaurant employee unintentionally put the heavy-duty cleaner in a sugar bag, and a worker later mistakenly mixed it into the iced tea dispenser.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Woman who drank chemical-laced tea improving | false | https://abqjournal.com/447981/woman-who-drank-chemical-laced-tea-improving.html | 2least
| Woman who drank chemical-laced tea improving
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<p>Attorney Paxton Guymon holds a photograph of Jim and Jan Harding during a news conference in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014. Jan Harding, 67, is in critical condition at a Salt Lake City hospital’s burn unit, unable to talk and fighting for her life, Guymon said. She drank sweet tea containing a toxic cleaning chemical, severely burning her mouth and throat at a Utah restaurant after an employee mistook the substance for sugar and mixed it into a dispenser, Guymon said. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)</p>
<p>SALT LAKE CITY — Hospital officials say a woman who unknowingly drank iced tea laced with an industrial cleaning solution at a Utah restaurant is starting to recover.</p>
<p>University of Utah hospital officials say Jan Harding’s condition was upgraded Sunday evening to serious.</p>
<p>The 67-year-old woman had been in critical condition since Aug. 10, when she drank the sweetened iced tea at Dickey’s Barbecue in South Jordan, a Salt Lake City suburb. Family attorney Paxton Guymon has said the chemicals caused deep, ulcerated burns in her upper esophagus.</p>
<p>Guymon says Harding is now able to speak, albeit in a strained voice. Her breathing tube was removed over the weekend.</p>
<p>Authorities have said a restaurant employee unintentionally put the heavy-duty cleaner in a sugar bag, and a worker later mistakenly mixed it into the iced tea dispenser.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 599,755 |
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<p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Airbus says it has agreed to sell a total of 80 A320neo planes to Saudi Arabian low-cost airline Flynas in a deal worth $8.6 billion.</p>
<p>The agreement announced Monday includes a new order for 60 of the single-aisle aircraft and upgrades an existing order for 20 of the less-advanced A320ceo model.</p>
<p>The value of the 60 additional planes alone is $6.4 billion at list prices, though airlines typically negotiate discounts for large orders.</p>
<p>Riyadh-based Flynas is a low-cost airline previously known as Nas Air that flies to domestic Saudi and regional destinations.</p>
<p>Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Company owns just over a 34 percent stake in the airline. It announced the value of the deal Thursday but did not disclose details of the aircraft involved.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | Saudi’s Flynas to buy 80 Airbus A320neo planes in $8.6B deal | false | https://abqjournal.com/928479/saudis-flynas-to-buy-80-airbus-a320neo-planes-in-8-6b-deal.html | 2least
| Saudi’s Flynas to buy 80 Airbus A320neo planes in $8.6B deal
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<p>DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Airbus says it has agreed to sell a total of 80 A320neo planes to Saudi Arabian low-cost airline Flynas in a deal worth $8.6 billion.</p>
<p>The agreement announced Monday includes a new order for 60 of the single-aisle aircraft and upgrades an existing order for 20 of the less-advanced A320ceo model.</p>
<p>The value of the 60 additional planes alone is $6.4 billion at list prices, though airlines typically negotiate discounts for large orders.</p>
<p>Riyadh-based Flynas is a low-cost airline previously known as Nas Air that flies to domestic Saudi and regional destinations.</p>
<p>Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Company owns just over a 34 percent stake in the airline. It announced the value of the deal Thursday but did not disclose details of the aircraft involved.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 599,756 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal" />DETROIT — General Motors said Thursday that it will launch a program to compensate crash victims or families affected by faulty ignition switches linked to at least 13 deaths that prompted a recall of 2.6 million cars.</p>
<p>The company said it expects the program will start accepting claims Aug. 1 but hasn’t said how much money will be involved. Guidelines and other details will be developed in the coming weeks, GM said.</p>
<p>The fund will be administered by compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg. GM announced in April the hiring of Feinberg, who handled the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund as well as funds for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and the BP oil spill.</p>
<p>The announcement comes the same day a report on the GM’s response to the faulty switches is expected to be released. The investigation was conducted by former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas and paid for by General Motors.</p>
<p>CEO Mary Barra said Thursday morning that the report finds a pattern of incompetency and neglect, but not a cover-up, at the heart of the Detroit automaker’s long delay in dealing with faulty ignition switches.</p>
<p>Barra said the company would “do the right things for those who were harmed” and “everything in our power to make sure this never happens again.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | GM launches compensation program for crash victims | false | https://abqjournal.com/411063/gm-launches-compensation-program-for-crash-victims.html | 2least
| GM launches compensation program for crash victims
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<p><a href="" type="internal" />DETROIT — General Motors said Thursday that it will launch a program to compensate crash victims or families affected by faulty ignition switches linked to at least 13 deaths that prompted a recall of 2.6 million cars.</p>
<p>The company said it expects the program will start accepting claims Aug. 1 but hasn’t said how much money will be involved. Guidelines and other details will be developed in the coming weeks, GM said.</p>
<p>The fund will be administered by compensation expert Kenneth Feinberg. GM announced in April the hiring of Feinberg, who handled the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund as well as funds for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing and the BP oil spill.</p>
<p>The announcement comes the same day a report on the GM’s response to the faulty switches is expected to be released. The investigation was conducted by former U.S. Attorney Anton Valukas and paid for by General Motors.</p>
<p>CEO Mary Barra said Thursday morning that the report finds a pattern of incompetency and neglect, but not a cover-up, at the heart of the Detroit automaker’s long delay in dealing with faulty ignition switches.</p>
<p>Barra said the company would “do the right things for those who were harmed” and “everything in our power to make sure this never happens again.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p> | 599,757 |
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<p>Firearms training unit Detective Barbara J. Mattson, of the Connecticut State Police, holds up a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the same make and model of gun used by Adam Lanza in the Sandy Hook School shooting, during a hearing of a legislative subcommittee, at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn., in 2013. (Jessica Hill/The Associated Press)</p>
<p>BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Lawyers for a gun maker and families of some Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims squared off in a Connecticut courtroom Monday over whether a federal law prevents the families' wrongful death lawsuit targeting the AR-15 rifle used to kill 20 children and six adults in the 2012 shooting.</p>
<p>Judge Barbara Bellis in Bridgeport heard arguments but didn't issue a ruling Monday. She said she would rule within the next two months on whether the lawsuit should go forward toward trial or be dismissed.</p>
<p>The families of nine children and adults killed at the Newtown school and a teacher who survived the attack say the AR-15 is a highly lethal military weapon that should not be sold to the public. They're suing Freedom Group, the Madison, North Carolina, parent company of Bushmaster Firearms, which made the AR-15 used in the school shooting.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Lawyers for Freedom Group said the company is protected by a 2005 federal law that shields gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over criminal use of their products. They said Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act after determining such lawsuits were an abuse of the legal system.</p>
<p>Joshua Koskoff, a lawyer for the victims' families, said their lawsuit is believed to be the first to be filed under an exception listed in the federal law that allows litigation against companies that know, or should know, that their weapons are likely to be used in a way that risks injury to others. The families are seeking unspecified monetary damages and hope the lawsuit persuades gun companies to not sell AR-15s to the public.</p>
<p>"This is an instrument of war designed for the battlefield that is marketed and sold to the general public," said Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was killed in the massacre. "We're just asking for accountability."</p>
<p>Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan died in the shooting, said the plaintiffs are hoping to prevent AR-15s from being used in other mass shootings.</p>
<p>"He chose the AR-15," she said of Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza, "because he was aware of how many shots it could get out, how lethal it was, the way it was designed, that it would serve his objective of killing as many people as possible in the shortest time possible."</p>
<p>State police say Lanza, 20, killed his victims with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, an AR-15 model, on Dec. 14, 2012. Lanza killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their Newtown home with a different gun before going to the school a few miles away, and then killed himself as police arrived. Nancy Lanza legally bought the rifle, state police said.</p>
<p>Debate over the 2005 law has resurfaced in this year's presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton has criticized fellow Democrat Bernie Sanders' support of the 2005 law when it passed. Sanders is now backing a bill to repeal the law.</p>
<p>Gun rights advocates posted to social media and gave interviews with traditional media Monday criticizing the Newtown families' lawsuit.</p>
<p>"It is unconscionable for plaintiffs to assert that a company who manufactures a legal product would do so with any fore-thought that it was somehow acceptable to commit murder with their products," Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, told Hartford-area station WFSB-TV.</p> | Gun maker seeks dismissal of lawsuit over Newtown shooting | false | https://abqjournal.com/728386/gun-maker-seeks-dismissal-of-lawsuit-over-newtown-shooting.html | 2least
| Gun maker seeks dismissal of lawsuit over Newtown shooting
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Firearms training unit Detective Barbara J. Mattson, of the Connecticut State Police, holds up a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the same make and model of gun used by Adam Lanza in the Sandy Hook School shooting, during a hearing of a legislative subcommittee, at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn., in 2013. (Jessica Hill/The Associated Press)</p>
<p>BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - Lawyers for a gun maker and families of some Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims squared off in a Connecticut courtroom Monday over whether a federal law prevents the families' wrongful death lawsuit targeting the AR-15 rifle used to kill 20 children and six adults in the 2012 shooting.</p>
<p>Judge Barbara Bellis in Bridgeport heard arguments but didn't issue a ruling Monday. She said she would rule within the next two months on whether the lawsuit should go forward toward trial or be dismissed.</p>
<p>The families of nine children and adults killed at the Newtown school and a teacher who survived the attack say the AR-15 is a highly lethal military weapon that should not be sold to the public. They're suing Freedom Group, the Madison, North Carolina, parent company of Bushmaster Firearms, which made the AR-15 used in the school shooting.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Lawyers for Freedom Group said the company is protected by a 2005 federal law that shields gun manufacturers from most lawsuits over criminal use of their products. They said Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act after determining such lawsuits were an abuse of the legal system.</p>
<p>Joshua Koskoff, a lawyer for the victims' families, said their lawsuit is believed to be the first to be filed under an exception listed in the federal law that allows litigation against companies that know, or should know, that their weapons are likely to be used in a way that risks injury to others. The families are seeking unspecified monetary damages and hope the lawsuit persuades gun companies to not sell AR-15s to the public.</p>
<p>"This is an instrument of war designed for the battlefield that is marketed and sold to the general public," said Mark Barden, whose son Daniel was killed in the massacre. "We're just asking for accountability."</p>
<p>Nicole Hockley, whose son Dylan died in the shooting, said the plaintiffs are hoping to prevent AR-15s from being used in other mass shootings.</p>
<p>"He chose the AR-15," she said of Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza, "because he was aware of how many shots it could get out, how lethal it was, the way it was designed, that it would serve his objective of killing as many people as possible in the shortest time possible."</p>
<p>State police say Lanza, 20, killed his victims with a Bushmaster XM15-E2S rifle, an AR-15 model, on Dec. 14, 2012. Lanza killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their Newtown home with a different gun before going to the school a few miles away, and then killed himself as police arrived. Nancy Lanza legally bought the rifle, state police said.</p>
<p>Debate over the 2005 law has resurfaced in this year's presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton has criticized fellow Democrat Bernie Sanders' support of the 2005 law when it passed. Sanders is now backing a bill to repeal the law.</p>
<p>Gun rights advocates posted to social media and gave interviews with traditional media Monday criticizing the Newtown families' lawsuit.</p>
<p>"It is unconscionable for plaintiffs to assert that a company who manufactures a legal product would do so with any fore-thought that it was somehow acceptable to commit murder with their products," Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, told Hartford-area station WFSB-TV.</p> | 599,758 |
|
<p />
<p>By now, some of you have surely seen the National Organization for Marriage’s anti-gay marriage commercials being aired across the nation in response to recent developments in Vermont and Iowa. If not, you can see them online <a href="http://www.nationformarriage.org/site/c.omL2KeN0LzH/b.5075663/k.A89C/Religious_Liberty.htm" type="external">here</a>. The Human Rights Campaign has already rebutted the commercial’s claims <a href="http://www.hrc.org/12470.htm" type="external">very well</a>, so I&#160;won’t go into that except to say Mother Jones <a href="" type="internal">wrote extensively</a> about the case involving the “California doctor” who says she’s forced to choose “between my faith and my job.”</p>
<p>Like others in the <a href="http://community.feministing.com/2009/04/same-sex-marriage-in-vt-and-ia.html" type="external">blogosphere</a>, I thought the commercial was pretty heinous, not to mention factually inaccurate. But my jaw really dropped when I went to <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/05/02/nom-nom-nom-2/" type="external">NOM</a>‘s site and read the suggested “ <a href="http://www.nationformarriage.org/site/c.omL2KeN0LzH/b.4475595/k.566A/Marriage_Talking_Points.htm" type="external">talking points</a>” supporters can use when confronted by pro-gay marriage folks. Here’s one gem: “We need a marriage amendment to settle the gay marriage issue once and for all, so we don’t have it in our face every day for the next ten years.” That’s right: they said “in our face.” I’m taking this to mean, “Why can’t you people just go back in the closet and stop asking for rights?” That said, I agree with NOM. We do need a marriage amendment. But if <a href="http://mapscroll.blogspot.com/2009/04/mapping-future-of-gay-marriage_04.html" type="external">this map</a> is any indication, I don’t think it’ll be the amendment NOM is hoping for.</p>
<p>Another online amusement:&#160;NOM lists answers supporters can give to common, but uncomfortable, questions such as “Are you a bigot?” and “Isn’t the ban on gay marriage like bans on interracial marriage?” The suggested answers really speak for themselves. Apparently banning interracial marriage was about “keeping two races apart so one race could oppress the other.”&#160;And gay marriage has absolutely nothing to with keeping two kinds of people apart or oppressing one of them, right? Right. Seriously, the rest of the questions and answers are pretty priceless. You can check them out <a href="http://www.nationformarriage.org/site/c.omL2KeN0LzH/b.4475595/k.566A/Marriage_Talking_Points.htm" type="external">here</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | The Anti-Gay Commercial, Plus ‘Talking Points’ | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/04/anti-gay-commercial-talking-points/ | 2009-04-09 | 4left
| The Anti-Gay Commercial, Plus ‘Talking Points’
<p />
<p>By now, some of you have surely seen the National Organization for Marriage’s anti-gay marriage commercials being aired across the nation in response to recent developments in Vermont and Iowa. If not, you can see them online <a href="http://www.nationformarriage.org/site/c.omL2KeN0LzH/b.5075663/k.A89C/Religious_Liberty.htm" type="external">here</a>. The Human Rights Campaign has already rebutted the commercial’s claims <a href="http://www.hrc.org/12470.htm" type="external">very well</a>, so I&#160;won’t go into that except to say Mother Jones <a href="" type="internal">wrote extensively</a> about the case involving the “California doctor” who says she’s forced to choose “between my faith and my job.”</p>
<p>Like others in the <a href="http://community.feministing.com/2009/04/same-sex-marriage-in-vt-and-ia.html" type="external">blogosphere</a>, I thought the commercial was pretty heinous, not to mention factually inaccurate. But my jaw really dropped when I went to <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/05/02/nom-nom-nom-2/" type="external">NOM</a>‘s site and read the suggested “ <a href="http://www.nationformarriage.org/site/c.omL2KeN0LzH/b.4475595/k.566A/Marriage_Talking_Points.htm" type="external">talking points</a>” supporters can use when confronted by pro-gay marriage folks. Here’s one gem: “We need a marriage amendment to settle the gay marriage issue once and for all, so we don’t have it in our face every day for the next ten years.” That’s right: they said “in our face.” I’m taking this to mean, “Why can’t you people just go back in the closet and stop asking for rights?” That said, I agree with NOM. We do need a marriage amendment. But if <a href="http://mapscroll.blogspot.com/2009/04/mapping-future-of-gay-marriage_04.html" type="external">this map</a> is any indication, I don’t think it’ll be the amendment NOM is hoping for.</p>
<p>Another online amusement:&#160;NOM lists answers supporters can give to common, but uncomfortable, questions such as “Are you a bigot?” and “Isn’t the ban on gay marriage like bans on interracial marriage?” The suggested answers really speak for themselves. Apparently banning interracial marriage was about “keeping two races apart so one race could oppress the other.”&#160;And gay marriage has absolutely nothing to with keeping two kinds of people apart or oppressing one of them, right? Right. Seriously, the rest of the questions and answers are pretty priceless. You can check them out <a href="http://www.nationformarriage.org/site/c.omL2KeN0LzH/b.4475595/k.566A/Marriage_Talking_Points.htm" type="external">here</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p /> | 599,759 |
<p />
<p>Imagine this: Your insurance agent calls and informs you that your auto insurance policy is being cancelled, offering no further explanation.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>You are stunned, the first question that pops into your mind is, "Can they actually do this?"</p>
<p>The answer to that question is a very unsatisfying, it depends.</p>
<p>First the bad news.</p>
<p>During the so-called "binding period," which is typically the first 30 to 60 days of your policy, depending on your state laws, your insurer is free to cancel at will, without offering an explanation. This period allows the insurer to investigate the accuracy of your application and decide if they want to accept you as a risk.</p>
<p>The most common reason for a cancellation during the binding period is due to underwriting, says Kristofer Kirchen, president of Advanced Insurance Managers in Tampa, Fla. "Discovering an undisclosed driver, failure to provide requested information and vehicles that do not meet coverage requirements are common," says Kirchen.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Now the good news.</p>
<p>Once the binding period has passed your insurer can only cancel for valid reasons. Reasons vary by state but common ones include non-payment, fraud, or suspension of your license.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether you are shopping for a new policy or renewing your current one, you have rights when it comes to car insurance.</p>
<p>Most people know that you cannot be denied a policy due to your gender, ethnicity or religion. Though specifics can vary by state, beyond these basics, there are other things you should never hear from a car insurance company. Here are 10 things your insurer should never say to you.</p>
<p>1.We are denying your application but are not going to tell you why.</p>
<p>Most states require insurers to explain why they are denying an application or non-renewing a policy. If you feel the decision is based on incorrect information you have the right to review your application and to make corrections and appeal the decision.</p>
<p>2. You cannot cancel your policy until the renewal date.</p>
<p>You can <a href="http://www.insurance.com/auto-insurance.aspx?WT.qs_osrc=fxb-176545110" type="external">compare car insurance quotes Opens a New Window.</a> and shop for insurance at any time and are entitled to a refund of any unused premium. However, insurers do have the right to charge a penalty if you cancel before the expiration date.</p>
<p>3.You cannot change your coverage or policy limits until the renewal date.</p>
<p>You can change your policy limits or coverages at any time and if the changes result in a lower premium, you are entitled to a refund.</p>
<p>4.We are cancelling your policy and not giving you any notice.</p>
<p>Required notice will vary by state but your insurer must give you written notice of a cancellation or non-renewal and the reason why. For instance, Texas requires 10 days notice while Massachusetts gives you 20 days. If you feel the cancellation is based on inaccurate information you have the right to appeal.</p>
<p>If you experience a cancellation, look for a new policy immediately.</p>
<p>"A lapse of just one day can result in a penalty and a lapse will typically cause your rates to go up," says Penny Gusner, consumer analyst with CarInsurance.com.</p>
<p>5.We cannot insure you because you have been denied by another insurance company.</p>
<p>Insurers can look at a variety of factors when evaluating your application but they cannot deny coverage based on the fact that you have been denied by another insurer.</p>
<p>6.We cannot insure you because you purchased from an assigned risk plan.</p>
<p>Insurers cannot deny a policy because you were previously insured by an assigned high-risk plan for drivers convicted of DUI or other serious offenses.</p>
<p>7.We cannot sell you a policy because you are only buying the minimum required state limits.</p>
<p>An insurer cannot refuse your application because you only want to buy the minimum amount of car insurance required by your state.</p>
<p>8.We cannot sell you a policy because you have a low credit rating.</p>
<p>While insurers in most states consider your credit rating when setting your rates, they cannot deny coverage based solely on your credit rating.</p>
<p>9.We cannot sell you a policy because you are not paying in full.</p>
<p>Most insurers offer a small discount if you pay the policy in full, but they cannot require it. You have the right to pay for your insurance in installments. Insurers are allowed to charge a fee for each installment. (One exception is if you have a policy attached to an SR-22, which is a form that your car insurance company must file with the state to show that you have obtained -- and will maintain -- certain auto insurance coverages.)</p>
<p>10.We don't like something on your driving record but won't tell you about it.</p>
<p>Insurers consider many factors when calculating your car insurance rate, and your driving record is chief among them. However, insurers have to give you an explanation of how your DMV record affects their decision.</p>
<p>The original article can be found at Insurance.com: <a href="http://www.insurance.com/auto-insurance/auto-insurance-basics/10-things-you-should-never-hear-from-a-car-insurance-company.html?WT.qs_osrc=fxb-176545110" type="external">10 things you should never hear from a car insurance company Opens a New Window.</a></p> | 10 Things You Should Never Hear from a Car Insurance Company | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/10/18/10-things-should-never-hear-from-car-insurance-company.html | 2016-03-05 | 0right
| 10 Things You Should Never Hear from a Car Insurance Company
<p />
<p>Imagine this: Your insurance agent calls and informs you that your auto insurance policy is being cancelled, offering no further explanation.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>You are stunned, the first question that pops into your mind is, "Can they actually do this?"</p>
<p>The answer to that question is a very unsatisfying, it depends.</p>
<p>First the bad news.</p>
<p>During the so-called "binding period," which is typically the first 30 to 60 days of your policy, depending on your state laws, your insurer is free to cancel at will, without offering an explanation. This period allows the insurer to investigate the accuracy of your application and decide if they want to accept you as a risk.</p>
<p>The most common reason for a cancellation during the binding period is due to underwriting, says Kristofer Kirchen, president of Advanced Insurance Managers in Tampa, Fla. "Discovering an undisclosed driver, failure to provide requested information and vehicles that do not meet coverage requirements are common," says Kirchen.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Now the good news.</p>
<p>Once the binding period has passed your insurer can only cancel for valid reasons. Reasons vary by state but common ones include non-payment, fraud, or suspension of your license.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether you are shopping for a new policy or renewing your current one, you have rights when it comes to car insurance.</p>
<p>Most people know that you cannot be denied a policy due to your gender, ethnicity or religion. Though specifics can vary by state, beyond these basics, there are other things you should never hear from a car insurance company. Here are 10 things your insurer should never say to you.</p>
<p>1.We are denying your application but are not going to tell you why.</p>
<p>Most states require insurers to explain why they are denying an application or non-renewing a policy. If you feel the decision is based on incorrect information you have the right to review your application and to make corrections and appeal the decision.</p>
<p>2. You cannot cancel your policy until the renewal date.</p>
<p>You can <a href="http://www.insurance.com/auto-insurance.aspx?WT.qs_osrc=fxb-176545110" type="external">compare car insurance quotes Opens a New Window.</a> and shop for insurance at any time and are entitled to a refund of any unused premium. However, insurers do have the right to charge a penalty if you cancel before the expiration date.</p>
<p>3.You cannot change your coverage or policy limits until the renewal date.</p>
<p>You can change your policy limits or coverages at any time and if the changes result in a lower premium, you are entitled to a refund.</p>
<p>4.We are cancelling your policy and not giving you any notice.</p>
<p>Required notice will vary by state but your insurer must give you written notice of a cancellation or non-renewal and the reason why. For instance, Texas requires 10 days notice while Massachusetts gives you 20 days. If you feel the cancellation is based on inaccurate information you have the right to appeal.</p>
<p>If you experience a cancellation, look for a new policy immediately.</p>
<p>"A lapse of just one day can result in a penalty and a lapse will typically cause your rates to go up," says Penny Gusner, consumer analyst with CarInsurance.com.</p>
<p>5.We cannot insure you because you have been denied by another insurance company.</p>
<p>Insurers can look at a variety of factors when evaluating your application but they cannot deny coverage based on the fact that you have been denied by another insurer.</p>
<p>6.We cannot insure you because you purchased from an assigned risk plan.</p>
<p>Insurers cannot deny a policy because you were previously insured by an assigned high-risk plan for drivers convicted of DUI or other serious offenses.</p>
<p>7.We cannot sell you a policy because you are only buying the minimum required state limits.</p>
<p>An insurer cannot refuse your application because you only want to buy the minimum amount of car insurance required by your state.</p>
<p>8.We cannot sell you a policy because you have a low credit rating.</p>
<p>While insurers in most states consider your credit rating when setting your rates, they cannot deny coverage based solely on your credit rating.</p>
<p>9.We cannot sell you a policy because you are not paying in full.</p>
<p>Most insurers offer a small discount if you pay the policy in full, but they cannot require it. You have the right to pay for your insurance in installments. Insurers are allowed to charge a fee for each installment. (One exception is if you have a policy attached to an SR-22, which is a form that your car insurance company must file with the state to show that you have obtained -- and will maintain -- certain auto insurance coverages.)</p>
<p>10.We don't like something on your driving record but won't tell you about it.</p>
<p>Insurers consider many factors when calculating your car insurance rate, and your driving record is chief among them. However, insurers have to give you an explanation of how your DMV record affects their decision.</p>
<p>The original article can be found at Insurance.com: <a href="http://www.insurance.com/auto-insurance/auto-insurance-basics/10-things-you-should-never-hear-from-a-car-insurance-company.html?WT.qs_osrc=fxb-176545110" type="external">10 things you should never hear from a car insurance company Opens a New Window.</a></p> | 599,760 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>LONDON — Brexit is the challenge of a generation, and “unique solutions” will be needed to prevent it doing major damage, Ireland’s prime minister said Friday.</p>
<p>Leo Varadkar said a so-called “hard Brexit,” in which Britain leaves the EU single market and customs union, would mean “barriers to commerce and trade” between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K.</p>
<p>Britain voted last year to quit the 28-nation bloc and is due to formally leave the EU in March 2019.</p>
<p>The decision has huge implications for Ireland, the only EU country to share a land border with the U.K. At present the border is all but invisible, with goods and people moving freely back and forth.</p>
<p>Speaking in Belfast, Varadkar said there will have to be “unique solutions if we are to preserve all that we’ve gained” since the Northern Ireland peace process was cemented two decades ago and border barriers were dismantled.</p>
<p>The 38-year-old politician, who became Ireland’s youngest-ever leader in June, said he did not want to see a return to a hard border.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He said the onus was on supporters of Brexit “to come up with proposals for such a border” and persuade people it was a good idea.</p>
<p>“They’ve already had 14 months to do so,” he said. “If they cannot — and I believe they cannot — we can then talk meaningfully about solutions that might work for all of us.</p>
<p>“At a time when Brexit threatens to drive a wedge between north and south we need to build more bridges and fewer borders,” Varadkar said.</p>
<p>Divorce talks between Britain and the bloc are underway, but EU officials say progress must be made on resolving issues around the Irish border, the size of Britain’s exit bill and the status of EU nationals in the U.K. before the two sides can start hammering out their future economic relationship.</p>
<p>Varadkar said he hopes EU leaders will see enough progress by a summit in October, “but I do not underestimate for a second the enormity of the challenges that we face.”</p> | Irish PM: Unique solutions needed for Brexit border dilemma | false | https://abqjournal.com/1043303/irish-pm-unique-solutions-needed-for-brexit-border-dilemma.html | 2017-08-04 | 2least
| Irish PM: Unique solutions needed for Brexit border dilemma
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>LONDON — Brexit is the challenge of a generation, and “unique solutions” will be needed to prevent it doing major damage, Ireland’s prime minister said Friday.</p>
<p>Leo Varadkar said a so-called “hard Brexit,” in which Britain leaves the EU single market and customs union, would mean “barriers to commerce and trade” between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K.</p>
<p>Britain voted last year to quit the 28-nation bloc and is due to formally leave the EU in March 2019.</p>
<p>The decision has huge implications for Ireland, the only EU country to share a land border with the U.K. At present the border is all but invisible, with goods and people moving freely back and forth.</p>
<p>Speaking in Belfast, Varadkar said there will have to be “unique solutions if we are to preserve all that we’ve gained” since the Northern Ireland peace process was cemented two decades ago and border barriers were dismantled.</p>
<p>The 38-year-old politician, who became Ireland’s youngest-ever leader in June, said he did not want to see a return to a hard border.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He said the onus was on supporters of Brexit “to come up with proposals for such a border” and persuade people it was a good idea.</p>
<p>“They’ve already had 14 months to do so,” he said. “If they cannot — and I believe they cannot — we can then talk meaningfully about solutions that might work for all of us.</p>
<p>“At a time when Brexit threatens to drive a wedge between north and south we need to build more bridges and fewer borders,” Varadkar said.</p>
<p>Divorce talks between Britain and the bloc are underway, but EU officials say progress must be made on resolving issues around the Irish border, the size of Britain’s exit bill and the status of EU nationals in the U.K. before the two sides can start hammering out their future economic relationship.</p>
<p>Varadkar said he hopes EU leaders will see enough progress by a summit in October, “but I do not underestimate for a second the enormity of the challenges that we face.”</p> | 599,761 |
<p>Amazon, Netflix, Facebook and many other tech giants have blasted Congress’ decision to repeal net neutrality, branding it ‘harmful’ for all internet users.</p>
<p>“I am extremely disappointed in the FCC decision to remove the #NetNeutrality protections,” wrote Amazon’s Chief Technology Officer Werner Vogels on Twitter. “We’ll continue to work with our peers, partners and customers to find ways to ensure an open and fair internet that can continue to drive massive innovation.”</p>
<p />
<p>I am extremely disappointed in the FCC decision to remove the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#NetNeutrality</a> protections. We’ll continue to work with our peers, partners and customers to find ways to ensure an open and fair internet that can continue to drive massive innovation. <a href="https://t.co/0NjoNr90A4" type="external">https://t.co/0NjoNr90A4</a></p>
<p>— Werner Vogels (@Werner) <a href="https://twitter.com/Werner/status/941393285766983680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>“Today’s decision from the Federal Communications Commission to end net neutrality is disappointing and harmful. An open internet is critical for new ideas and economic opportunity – and internet providers shouldn’t be able to decide what people can see online or charge more for certain websites,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer.</p>
<p>“We’re disappointed in the decision to gut #NetNeutrality protections that ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity &amp; civic engagement. This is the beginning of a longer legal battle. Netflix stands w/ innovators, large &amp; small, to oppose this misguided FCC order,” Netflix tweeted.</p>
<p />
<p>We’re disappointed in the decision to gut <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#NetNeutrality</a> protections that ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity &amp; civic engagement. This is the beginning of a longer legal battle. Netflix stands w/ innovators, large &amp; small, to oppose this misguided FCC order.</p>
<p>— Netflix US (@netflix) <a href="https://twitter.com/netflix/status/941373853216915456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/413247-fcc-net-neutrality-repeal/" type="external">READ MORE: FCC repeals ‘Net Neutrality’ rule despite widespread protests</a></p>
<p>Mozilla called the vote an “unsurprising, unfortunate disappointment” in a <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2017/12/14/todays-net-neutrality-vote-an-unsurprising-unfortunate-disappointment/" type="external">statement</a> against the rollback, Vimeo <a href="https://twitter.com/Vimeo/status/941411709029363714" type="external">labelled</a> it as “disheartening”. Microsoft Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said the decision “jeopardizes” the benefits of an open internet.</p>
<p />
<p>The open internet benefits consumers, business &amp; the entire economy. That’s jeopardized by the FCC’s elimination of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/netneutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#netneutrality</a> protections today.</p>
<p>— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) <a href="https://twitter.com/BradSmi/status/941388055067295744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian shared an example from the telecommunications market in Portugal and Spain in which specific apps are included as add-on data package plans and wrote: “We cannot let this happen to our internet in the US.”</p>
<p>Three out of five federal congress regulators voted to completely repeal the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order decision, taken during the Obama administration, on Thursday. Net neutrality ensured that Internet Service Providers accomodated a fast, free and open internet space for giant players and small businesses alike.</p>
<p />
<p>This is an egregious attack on our democracy. The end of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#NetNeutrality</a> protections means that the internet will be for sale to the highest bidder. When our democratic institutions are already in peril, we must do everything we can to stop this decision from taking effect. <a href="https://t.co/8GGrJFMdrU" type="external">https://t.co/8GGrJFMdrU</a></p>
<p>— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/941372365941944320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>If the rollback goes ahead – it will take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, which could take a minimum of six weeks after the FCC vote, and several states have already filed against the FCC decision – ISPs will be able to control accessibility to certain websites.</p>
<p>For example, if Verizon buys Yahoo!, they would be legally allowed to charge users to access Google or facilitate a faster loading time/improved quality when visiting a certain webpage.</p>
<p>FCC Chairman for the Trump administration Ajit Pai has previously expressed his dislike for net neutrality and argued that the regulations discouraged ISP from investing in their networks or expanding to rural areas.</p>
<p>“I sincerely doubt that legitimate businesses are willing to subject themselves to a PR nightmare for attempting to engage in blocking, throttling, or improper discrimination. It is simply not worth the reputational cost and potential loss of business,” said Commissioner Mike O’Rielly who also voted to overturn the protections.</p>
<p />
<p>We have met with the <a href="https://twitter.com/FCC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">@FCC</a> ahead of today’s vote to continue our push for strong <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#NetNeutrality</a> rules. Ensuring our customers can enjoy an open internet remains a top priority for Amazon.</p>
<p>— Amazon Policy (@amazon_policy) <a href="https://twitter.com/amazon_policy/status/941400320185421825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/413245-fcc-neutrality-vote-security/" type="external">READ MORE: Security threat interrupts FCC net neutrality vote</a></p>
<p>For what it’s worth Verizon, AT&amp;T (which is seeking to buy Time Warner, the parent company of CNN) and the US Telecom and Broadband Association have all spoken out against the proposed law change and promise to uphold the unbiased market.</p>
<p>“We do not block websites, nor censor online content, nor throttle or degrade traffic based on the content, nor unfairly discriminate in our treatment of internet traffic,” said a spokesperson for AT&amp;T in a statement.</p>
<p>“These principles, which were laid out in the FCC’s 2010 Open Internet Order and fully supported by AT&amp;T, are clearly articulated on our website and are fully enforceable against us. In short, the internet will continue to work tomorrow just as it always has.”</p>
<p>“Verizon fully supports the open Internet, and we will continue to do so,” <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/12/14/net-neutrality-verizon-neflix-comcast/" type="external">said</a> Verizon’s Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Will Johnson. “Our customers demand it and our business depends on it.”</p>
<p />
<p>It’s disheartening that the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FCC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#FCC</a> chose to ignore the public and approve a policy that benefits the few and powerful at the expense of creators, and the stories they work to tell. We look forward to challenging this misguided decision in court. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#NetNeutrality</a></p>
<p>— Vimeo (@Vimeo) <a href="https://twitter.com/Vimeo/status/941411709029363714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>“Today, the future of our open, thriving internet has been secured,” <a href="https://www.ustelecom.org/news/press-release/fcc-restores-consumer-friendly-open-internet-protections" type="external">wrote</a> the US Telecom and Broadband Association.</p>
<p>“America’s broadband providers – who have long supported net-neutrality protections and have committed to continuing to do so – will have renewed confidence to make the investments required to strengthen the nation’s networks and close the digital divide, especially in rural communities.”</p> | Net-neutrality rollback: Tech giants blast threat to ‘freedom & innovation’ | false | https://newsline.com/net-neutrality-rollback-tech-giants-blast-threat-to-freedom-innovation/ | 2017-12-15 | 1right-center
| Net-neutrality rollback: Tech giants blast threat to ‘freedom & innovation’
<p>Amazon, Netflix, Facebook and many other tech giants have blasted Congress’ decision to repeal net neutrality, branding it ‘harmful’ for all internet users.</p>
<p>“I am extremely disappointed in the FCC decision to remove the #NetNeutrality protections,” wrote Amazon’s Chief Technology Officer Werner Vogels on Twitter. “We’ll continue to work with our peers, partners and customers to find ways to ensure an open and fair internet that can continue to drive massive innovation.”</p>
<p />
<p>I am extremely disappointed in the FCC decision to remove the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#NetNeutrality</a> protections. We’ll continue to work with our peers, partners and customers to find ways to ensure an open and fair internet that can continue to drive massive innovation. <a href="https://t.co/0NjoNr90A4" type="external">https://t.co/0NjoNr90A4</a></p>
<p>— Werner Vogels (@Werner) <a href="https://twitter.com/Werner/status/941393285766983680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>“Today’s decision from the Federal Communications Commission to end net neutrality is disappointing and harmful. An open internet is critical for new ideas and economic opportunity – and internet providers shouldn’t be able to decide what people can see online or charge more for certain websites,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer.</p>
<p>“We’re disappointed in the decision to gut #NetNeutrality protections that ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity &amp; civic engagement. This is the beginning of a longer legal battle. Netflix stands w/ innovators, large &amp; small, to oppose this misguided FCC order,” Netflix tweeted.</p>
<p />
<p>We’re disappointed in the decision to gut <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#NetNeutrality</a> protections that ushered in an unprecedented era of innovation, creativity &amp; civic engagement. This is the beginning of a longer legal battle. Netflix stands w/ innovators, large &amp; small, to oppose this misguided FCC order.</p>
<p>— Netflix US (@netflix) <a href="https://twitter.com/netflix/status/941373853216915456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/413247-fcc-net-neutrality-repeal/" type="external">READ MORE: FCC repeals ‘Net Neutrality’ rule despite widespread protests</a></p>
<p>Mozilla called the vote an “unsurprising, unfortunate disappointment” in a <a href="https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2017/12/14/todays-net-neutrality-vote-an-unsurprising-unfortunate-disappointment/" type="external">statement</a> against the rollback, Vimeo <a href="https://twitter.com/Vimeo/status/941411709029363714" type="external">labelled</a> it as “disheartening”. Microsoft Chief Legal Officer Brad Smith said the decision “jeopardizes” the benefits of an open internet.</p>
<p />
<p>The open internet benefits consumers, business &amp; the entire economy. That’s jeopardized by the FCC’s elimination of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/netneutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#netneutrality</a> protections today.</p>
<p>— Brad Smith (@BradSmi) <a href="https://twitter.com/BradSmi/status/941388055067295744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian shared an example from the telecommunications market in Portugal and Spain in which specific apps are included as add-on data package plans and wrote: “We cannot let this happen to our internet in the US.”</p>
<p>Three out of five federal congress regulators voted to completely repeal the FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order decision, taken during the Obama administration, on Thursday. Net neutrality ensured that Internet Service Providers accomodated a fast, free and open internet space for giant players and small businesses alike.</p>
<p />
<p>This is an egregious attack on our democracy. The end of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#NetNeutrality</a> protections means that the internet will be for sale to the highest bidder. When our democratic institutions are already in peril, we must do everything we can to stop this decision from taking effect. <a href="https://t.co/8GGrJFMdrU" type="external">https://t.co/8GGrJFMdrU</a></p>
<p>— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) <a href="https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/941372365941944320?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>If the rollback goes ahead – it will take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, which could take a minimum of six weeks after the FCC vote, and several states have already filed against the FCC decision – ISPs will be able to control accessibility to certain websites.</p>
<p>For example, if Verizon buys Yahoo!, they would be legally allowed to charge users to access Google or facilitate a faster loading time/improved quality when visiting a certain webpage.</p>
<p>FCC Chairman for the Trump administration Ajit Pai has previously expressed his dislike for net neutrality and argued that the regulations discouraged ISP from investing in their networks or expanding to rural areas.</p>
<p>“I sincerely doubt that legitimate businesses are willing to subject themselves to a PR nightmare for attempting to engage in blocking, throttling, or improper discrimination. It is simply not worth the reputational cost and potential loss of business,” said Commissioner Mike O’Rielly who also voted to overturn the protections.</p>
<p />
<p>We have met with the <a href="https://twitter.com/FCC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">@FCC</a> ahead of today’s vote to continue our push for strong <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#NetNeutrality</a> rules. Ensuring our customers can enjoy an open internet remains a top priority for Amazon.</p>
<p>— Amazon Policy (@amazon_policy) <a href="https://twitter.com/amazon_policy/status/941400320185421825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/413245-fcc-neutrality-vote-security/" type="external">READ MORE: Security threat interrupts FCC net neutrality vote</a></p>
<p>For what it’s worth Verizon, AT&amp;T (which is seeking to buy Time Warner, the parent company of CNN) and the US Telecom and Broadband Association have all spoken out against the proposed law change and promise to uphold the unbiased market.</p>
<p>“We do not block websites, nor censor online content, nor throttle or degrade traffic based on the content, nor unfairly discriminate in our treatment of internet traffic,” said a spokesperson for AT&amp;T in a statement.</p>
<p>“These principles, which were laid out in the FCC’s 2010 Open Internet Order and fully supported by AT&amp;T, are clearly articulated on our website and are fully enforceable against us. In short, the internet will continue to work tomorrow just as it always has.”</p>
<p>“Verizon fully supports the open Internet, and we will continue to do so,” <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/12/14/net-neutrality-verizon-neflix-comcast/" type="external">said</a> Verizon’s Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Will Johnson. “Our customers demand it and our business depends on it.”</p>
<p />
<p>It’s disheartening that the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FCC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#FCC</a> chose to ignore the public and approve a policy that benefits the few and powerful at the expense of creators, and the stories they work to tell. We look forward to challenging this misguided decision in court. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NetNeutrality?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#NetNeutrality</a></p>
<p>— Vimeo (@Vimeo) <a href="https://twitter.com/Vimeo/status/941411709029363714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 14, 2017</a></p>
<p />
<p>“Today, the future of our open, thriving internet has been secured,” <a href="https://www.ustelecom.org/news/press-release/fcc-restores-consumer-friendly-open-internet-protections" type="external">wrote</a> the US Telecom and Broadband Association.</p>
<p>“America’s broadband providers – who have long supported net-neutrality protections and have committed to continuing to do so – will have renewed confidence to make the investments required to strengthen the nation’s networks and close the digital divide, especially in rural communities.”</p> | 599,762 |
<p><a href="http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2011/10/14/crowdsource-this-social-list-emails-expose-occupywallstreet-conspiracy-to-destablize-global-markets-governments/" type="external">Big Government</a>&#160;is launching a crowdsourcing project for a cache of documents obtained regarding the organization and implementation of the Occupy Wall Street movement ( <a href="http://minx.cc/?post=322581" type="external">via Ace</a>, who is participating):</p>
<p>In keeping with the new media notion of crowdsourcing–enthusiastically <a href="http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/06/10/crowdsourcing_palin_emails.html" type="external">embraced</a> by the mainstream media when trawling through Sarah Palin’s emails–Big Government will be providing readers later today with links to a document drop consisting of thousands of emails.</p>
<p>The email archive, created by a private cyber security researcher, appears to contain messages shared by the left’s anarcho-socialist activists during the strategic and daily tactical planning of the “Occupy Wall Street” and broader “Occupy” campaign this fall.</p>
<p>Big Government received a tip about the existence of the archive, and we were able to contact the individual who compiled and posted it. He will describe the archive, and how he obtained the emails, later this morning exclusively on Big Government.</p>
<p>Through “crowdsourcing,” the media and the public will then be able to discover the truth behind the “Occupy” movement.</p>
<p>Join the crowd.</p>
<p>As it progresses, feel free to make note in the comments here to keep readers up to date.</p>
<p>Update:&#160; You can download the entire file, so you can search on your own, <a href="http://biggovernment.com/thomasryan/2011/10/14/the-email-archive-of-the-occupywallstreet-movement-anarchists-socialists-jihadists-unions-democrats/" type="external">here</a>.</p> | Join the Big Government OWS crowdsourcing project | true | http://legalinsurrection.com/2011/10/join-the-big-government-ows-crowdsourcing-project/ | 2011-10-14 | 0right
| Join the Big Government OWS crowdsourcing project
<p><a href="http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2011/10/14/crowdsource-this-social-list-emails-expose-occupywallstreet-conspiracy-to-destablize-global-markets-governments/" type="external">Big Government</a>&#160;is launching a crowdsourcing project for a cache of documents obtained regarding the organization and implementation of the Occupy Wall Street movement ( <a href="http://minx.cc/?post=322581" type="external">via Ace</a>, who is participating):</p>
<p>In keeping with the new media notion of crowdsourcing–enthusiastically <a href="http://politicalwire.com/archives/2011/06/10/crowdsourcing_palin_emails.html" type="external">embraced</a> by the mainstream media when trawling through Sarah Palin’s emails–Big Government will be providing readers later today with links to a document drop consisting of thousands of emails.</p>
<p>The email archive, created by a private cyber security researcher, appears to contain messages shared by the left’s anarcho-socialist activists during the strategic and daily tactical planning of the “Occupy Wall Street” and broader “Occupy” campaign this fall.</p>
<p>Big Government received a tip about the existence of the archive, and we were able to contact the individual who compiled and posted it. He will describe the archive, and how he obtained the emails, later this morning exclusively on Big Government.</p>
<p>Through “crowdsourcing,” the media and the public will then be able to discover the truth behind the “Occupy” movement.</p>
<p>Join the crowd.</p>
<p>As it progresses, feel free to make note in the comments here to keep readers up to date.</p>
<p>Update:&#160; You can download the entire file, so you can search on your own, <a href="http://biggovernment.com/thomasryan/2011/10/14/the-email-archive-of-the-occupywallstreet-movement-anarchists-socialists-jihadists-unions-democrats/" type="external">here</a>.</p> | 599,763 |
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<p>MUNICH — Making his debut on the world stage, Vice President Mike Pence is looking to reassure skeptical allies in Europe about U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump, who has made his “America First” mantra a centerpiece of his new administration.</p>
<p>Pence arrived Friday in Germany, his first overseas trip as vice president, on a mission to ease concerns about the U.S. commitment to multinational institutions like NATO and the European Union. The visit, which will include a stop in Brussels on Sunday and Monday, comes amid worries in Europe about Russian aggression, and amid lingering questions about Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and whether the new president may promote isolationist tendencies.</p>
<p>The dismissal of Trump’s national security adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, has also put Pence and his stature within the administration under new scrutiny. Flynn was forced to resign Monday following reports he misled Pence about contacts with a Russian diplomat, which the vice president learned about through media accounts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Landing on a cold, rainy evening, Pence was greeted by about two dozen members of the Bavarian Honor Guard and local dignitaries at Munich’s airport. On Saturday, he will deliver a speech at the Munich Security Conference and then meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.</p>
<p>Pence is also scheduled to sit down with the leaders of the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko — countries facing the threat of Russian aggression — along with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.</p>
<p>“These are pretty blunt-spoken people and they are very nervous. Pence is looking like an adult,” said James Jeffrey, a U.S. ambassador to Iraq during the Obama administration and a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “The question is will Trump listen to him?”</p>
<p>Pence was also expected to meet with the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan, where the U.S. is embroiled in two separate wars. In the earliest days of his presidency, Trump declared his intention to fight and defeat the Islamic State group. But he also remarked that the U.S. may get a second chance to take Iraqi oil as compensation for its efforts in the war-torn country, a notion rebuffed by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who will be meeting with Pence.</p>
<p>Trump’s immigration and refugee ban has also ruffled feathers with a number of Muslim-majority countries affected by the order currently tied up in court, including Iraq — a close ally in the fight against IS.</p>
<p>The American allies will be seeking clues from Pence as to how the Trump administration plans to deal with Russia in the aftermath of Flynn’s departure, U.S. inquiries into Russia’s involvement in the presidential election and Trump’s past praise for Putin.</p>
<p>European countries along Russia’s border were rattled about deeper U.S.-Russian ties after Trump suggested sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea could be eased in exchange for a nuclear weapons deal and the president referred to NATO as “obsolete” in an interview before his inauguration. Trump has since tempered his language, telling foreign leaders in phone calls about the importance of the NATO alliance.</p>
<p>NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance of European and North American democracies created after World War II to strengthen international cooperation as a counter-balance to the rise of the Soviet Union. In 2014, the 28-member alliance created a rapid-reaction force to protect the most vulnerable NATO members against a confrontation with Russia.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But Trump cast doubt as a candidate about whether the U.S. might fulfill its NATO obligations if he won the White House, saying in a July interview that he would decide whether to protect the Baltic republics against Russian aggression based on whether those countries “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”</p>
<p>Pence will travel to Brussels, Belgium, on Sunday for meetings related to NATO and the European Union. His Monday itinerary includes face-to-face meetings with EU Council President Donald Tusk, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.</p>
<p>As part of his message, Pence is expected to press allies in Europe to raise their defense budgets to NATO’s target of 2 percent of GDP. Germany has been wary of the costs and pointed to its expenditures from supporting refugees and investing in international development.</p>
<p>As Indiana’s governor, Pence led a number of foreign trade missions, and he traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of Congress. But he is just beginning his relationships with foreign leaders and aides said the trip was also aimed at establishing personal ties with U.S. partners.</p>
<p>“There’s considerable concern, but because they don’t know (Pence) they’re willing to give him a chance,” said Julianne Smith, a former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden. “This is the opportunity for the administration to reassure very skittish allies across the European continent and beyond.”</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Vivian Salama contributed to this report.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>On Twitter follow Ken Thomas at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC</p> | Pence arrives in Germany for meetings with world leaders | false | https://abqjournal.com/951926/pence-aiming-to-reassure-allies-at-start-of-trump-presidency-2.html | 2017-02-17 | 2least
| Pence arrives in Germany for meetings with world leaders
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>MUNICH — Making his debut on the world stage, Vice President Mike Pence is looking to reassure skeptical allies in Europe about U.S. foreign policy under President Donald Trump, who has made his “America First” mantra a centerpiece of his new administration.</p>
<p>Pence arrived Friday in Germany, his first overseas trip as vice president, on a mission to ease concerns about the U.S. commitment to multinational institutions like NATO and the European Union. The visit, which will include a stop in Brussels on Sunday and Monday, comes amid worries in Europe about Russian aggression, and amid lingering questions about Trump’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and whether the new president may promote isolationist tendencies.</p>
<p>The dismissal of Trump’s national security adviser, retired Gen. Michael Flynn, has also put Pence and his stature within the administration under new scrutiny. Flynn was forced to resign Monday following reports he misled Pence about contacts with a Russian diplomat, which the vice president learned about through media accounts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Landing on a cold, rainy evening, Pence was greeted by about two dozen members of the Bavarian Honor Guard and local dignitaries at Munich’s airport. On Saturday, he will deliver a speech at the Munich Security Conference and then meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.</p>
<p>Pence is also scheduled to sit down with the leaders of the Baltic States of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko — countries facing the threat of Russian aggression — along with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.</p>
<p>“These are pretty blunt-spoken people and they are very nervous. Pence is looking like an adult,” said James Jeffrey, a U.S. ambassador to Iraq during the Obama administration and a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “The question is will Trump listen to him?”</p>
<p>Pence was also expected to meet with the leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan, where the U.S. is embroiled in two separate wars. In the earliest days of his presidency, Trump declared his intention to fight and defeat the Islamic State group. But he also remarked that the U.S. may get a second chance to take Iraqi oil as compensation for its efforts in the war-torn country, a notion rebuffed by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who will be meeting with Pence.</p>
<p>Trump’s immigration and refugee ban has also ruffled feathers with a number of Muslim-majority countries affected by the order currently tied up in court, including Iraq — a close ally in the fight against IS.</p>
<p>The American allies will be seeking clues from Pence as to how the Trump administration plans to deal with Russia in the aftermath of Flynn’s departure, U.S. inquiries into Russia’s involvement in the presidential election and Trump’s past praise for Putin.</p>
<p>European countries along Russia’s border were rattled about deeper U.S.-Russian ties after Trump suggested sanctions imposed after Russia’s annexation of Crimea could be eased in exchange for a nuclear weapons deal and the president referred to NATO as “obsolete” in an interview before his inauguration. Trump has since tempered his language, telling foreign leaders in phone calls about the importance of the NATO alliance.</p>
<p>NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance of European and North American democracies created after World War II to strengthen international cooperation as a counter-balance to the rise of the Soviet Union. In 2014, the 28-member alliance created a rapid-reaction force to protect the most vulnerable NATO members against a confrontation with Russia.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But Trump cast doubt as a candidate about whether the U.S. might fulfill its NATO obligations if he won the White House, saying in a July interview that he would decide whether to protect the Baltic republics against Russian aggression based on whether those countries “have fulfilled their obligations to us.”</p>
<p>Pence will travel to Brussels, Belgium, on Sunday for meetings related to NATO and the European Union. His Monday itinerary includes face-to-face meetings with EU Council President Donald Tusk, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.</p>
<p>As part of his message, Pence is expected to press allies in Europe to raise their defense budgets to NATO’s target of 2 percent of GDP. Germany has been wary of the costs and pointed to its expenditures from supporting refugees and investing in international development.</p>
<p>As Indiana’s governor, Pence led a number of foreign trade missions, and he traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of Congress. But he is just beginning his relationships with foreign leaders and aides said the trip was also aimed at establishing personal ties with U.S. partners.</p>
<p>“There’s considerable concern, but because they don’t know (Pence) they’re willing to give him a chance,” said Julianne Smith, a former deputy national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden. “This is the opportunity for the administration to reassure very skittish allies across the European continent and beyond.”</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Vivian Salama contributed to this report.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>On Twitter follow Ken Thomas at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC</p> | 599,764 |
<p>Investing.com – Poland stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the , and sectors led shares lower.</p>
<p>At the close in Warsaw, the declined 0.52%.</p>
<p>The best performers of the session on the were Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski SA (WA:), which rose 2.90% or 1.13 points to trade at 40.08 at the close. Meanwhile, PKP Cargo (WA:) added 2.33% or 1.25 points to end at 54.80 and Kernel Holding SA (WA:) was up 2.18% or 0.99 points to 46.50 in late trade.</p>
<p>The worst performers of the session were CD Projekt SA (WA:), which fell 8.13% or 10.15 points to trade at 114.75 at the close. Eurocash SA (WA:) declined 6.52% or 1.94 points to end at 27.81 and Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA (WA:) was down 6.24% or 0.41 points to 6.16.</p>
<p>Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Warsaw Stock Exchange by 307 to 207 and 182 ended unchanged.</p>
<p>Shares in Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski SA (WA:) rose to 3-years highs; gaining 2.90% or 1.13 to 40.08. Shares in Eurocash SA (WA:) fell to 5-year lows; down 6.52% or 1.94 to 27.81.</p>
<p>Crude oil for December delivery was up 0.12% or 0.07 to $56.81 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in January fell 0.38% or 0.24 to hit $63.28 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.33% or 4.17 to trade at $1278.37 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>EUR/PLN was up 0.31% to 4.2384, while USD/PLN rose 0.38% to 3.6361.</p>
<p>The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.19% at 94.48.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p> | Poland stocks lower at close of trade; WIG30 down 0.52% | false | https://newsline.com/poland-stocks-lower-at-close-of-trade-wig30-down-0-52/ | 2017-11-13 | 1right-center
| Poland stocks lower at close of trade; WIG30 down 0.52%
<p>Investing.com – Poland stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the , and sectors led shares lower.</p>
<p>At the close in Warsaw, the declined 0.52%.</p>
<p>The best performers of the session on the were Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski SA (WA:), which rose 2.90% or 1.13 points to trade at 40.08 at the close. Meanwhile, PKP Cargo (WA:) added 2.33% or 1.25 points to end at 54.80 and Kernel Holding SA (WA:) was up 2.18% or 0.99 points to 46.50 in late trade.</p>
<p>The worst performers of the session were CD Projekt SA (WA:), which fell 8.13% or 10.15 points to trade at 114.75 at the close. Eurocash SA (WA:) declined 6.52% or 1.94 points to end at 27.81 and Gornictwo Naftowe i Gazownictwo SA (WA:) was down 6.24% or 0.41 points to 6.16.</p>
<p>Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Warsaw Stock Exchange by 307 to 207 and 182 ended unchanged.</p>
<p>Shares in Powszechna Kasa Oszczednosci Bank Polski SA (WA:) rose to 3-years highs; gaining 2.90% or 1.13 to 40.08. Shares in Eurocash SA (WA:) fell to 5-year lows; down 6.52% or 1.94 to 27.81.</p>
<p>Crude oil for December delivery was up 0.12% or 0.07 to $56.81 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in January fell 0.38% or 0.24 to hit $63.28 a barrel, while the December Gold Futures contract rose 0.33% or 4.17 to trade at $1278.37 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>EUR/PLN was up 0.31% to 4.2384, while USD/PLN rose 0.38% to 3.6361.</p>
<p>The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.19% at 94.48.</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> | 599,765 |
<p>Published time: 6 Dec, 2017 19:10</p>
<p>A gang brandishing machetes and a samurai sword who stole thousands of pounds worth of watches have been caught on camera raiding a luxury store in London. They used a moped to smash through its glass front door in broad daylight.</p>
<p>Up to seven people dressed in dark clothing with face coverings descended on the shop on mopeds, eyewitnesses said. The footage shows one member of the gang waving a huge samurai sword while others held knives and iron bars as they robbed the Chronext store on Fleet Street at about 11am Monday.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/404640-acid-attack-video-burns/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Staff were forced to run for cover as some of the thieves barged into the shop. They smashed cabinets and grabbed watches, stuffing them into bags.</p>
<p>Witnesses told the Evening Standard the criminals jumped on their scooters and punched the air in victory. They netted thousands of pounds worth of merchandise.</p>
<p>“There was a huge vespa inside the shop because they drove it through the front door,” one witness told the newspaper. “I saw about five mopeds parked up on the pavement and the street outside and there were three guys walking up and down.”</p>
<p>The witness said a man from another shop attempted to confront the armed robbers but was frightened off by the man with the samurai sword. “They all jumped on their scooters and punched the air with their fists in a victory punch before driving off towards the Law Courts. It was seriously organised,”&#160;they added.</p>
<p>“They came outside with bags. Then they made off towards the Royal Courts of Justice, pumping their firsts in the air like some kind of victory. There are about 40 people here in my office. It was very frightening – people were crying in the office. It was like something you see on Netflix or in the movies,”&#160;another witness said.</p>
<p>[embedded content]</p>
<p>Police are investigating but no one has been arrested.&#160;“City of London Police were called at 10.52am on Monday 4 December to reports of suspects on mopeds entering a jewellers on Fleet Street. The suspects smashed their way into the jewellers brandishing weapons, including knives, before making off on mopeds. Officers are on scene. No one was injured,”&#160;a police spokesman said.</p> | Moped gang wielding machetes raid luxury London store in broad daylight (VIDEO) | false | https://newsline.com/moped-gang-wielding-machetes-raid-luxury-london-store-in-broad-daylight-video/ | 2017-12-06 | 1right-center
| Moped gang wielding machetes raid luxury London store in broad daylight (VIDEO)
<p>Published time: 6 Dec, 2017 19:10</p>
<p>A gang brandishing machetes and a samurai sword who stole thousands of pounds worth of watches have been caught on camera raiding a luxury store in London. They used a moped to smash through its glass front door in broad daylight.</p>
<p>Up to seven people dressed in dark clothing with face coverings descended on the shop on mopeds, eyewitnesses said. The footage shows one member of the gang waving a huge samurai sword while others held knives and iron bars as they robbed the Chronext store on Fleet Street at about 11am Monday.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/404640-acid-attack-video-burns/" type="external" /></p>
<p>Staff were forced to run for cover as some of the thieves barged into the shop. They smashed cabinets and grabbed watches, stuffing them into bags.</p>
<p>Witnesses told the Evening Standard the criminals jumped on their scooters and punched the air in victory. They netted thousands of pounds worth of merchandise.</p>
<p>“There was a huge vespa inside the shop because they drove it through the front door,” one witness told the newspaper. “I saw about five mopeds parked up on the pavement and the street outside and there were three guys walking up and down.”</p>
<p>The witness said a man from another shop attempted to confront the armed robbers but was frightened off by the man with the samurai sword. “They all jumped on their scooters and punched the air with their fists in a victory punch before driving off towards the Law Courts. It was seriously organised,”&#160;they added.</p>
<p>“They came outside with bags. Then they made off towards the Royal Courts of Justice, pumping their firsts in the air like some kind of victory. There are about 40 people here in my office. It was very frightening – people were crying in the office. It was like something you see on Netflix or in the movies,”&#160;another witness said.</p>
<p>[embedded content]</p>
<p>Police are investigating but no one has been arrested.&#160;“City of London Police were called at 10.52am on Monday 4 December to reports of suspects on mopeds entering a jewellers on Fleet Street. The suspects smashed their way into the jewellers brandishing weapons, including knives, before making off on mopeds. Officers are on scene. No one was injured,”&#160;a police spokesman said.</p> | 599,766 |
<p>Apple Inc is expected to make its biggest product move on Tuesday since debuting the iPad two years ago, launching a smaller, cheaper tablet into a market staked out by Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc.</p>
<p>Apple hopes to beat back their charge onto its home turf of consumer electronics hardware, while safeguarding its lead in the larger 10-inch tablet space that even deep-pocketed rivals like Samsung Electronics have found tough to penetrate.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Amazon's Kindle and Google's Nexus 7 have grabbed a chunk of the lower end of the tablet market and proved demand for a pocket-sized slate exists, helping force Apple into a space it has avoided and at times derided, analysts say.</p>
<p>A smaller tablet would mark the first device to be added to Apple's compact portfolio under Chief Executive Tim Cook, who took over from co-founder Steve Jobs just before his death.</p>
<p>"Apple sensed early that they had a real winner with the iPad and that has proven to be correct," said Lars Albright, co-founder of mobile advertising startup SessionM and a former Apple ad executive.</p>
<p>"They have a large market share, and to protect that market share they have got to be innovative," he said.</p>
<p>Apple's invitation-only event, where it is expected to unveil the tablet, gets underway at 10 am PT (1700 GMT) in San Jose.</p>
<p>Wall Street analysts have said for months that Apple was planning a less expensive version of the iPad to take on cheaper competing devices, a move they say might hurt its margins, but prevent its rivals from dominating an increasingly important segment.</p>
<p>The chief rival is Amazon, which proved a 7-inch tablet at around $200 has consumer appeal. The Kindle Fire, released last year for $199, was one of the hottest-selling holiday gadgets. It pressured Amazon's margins but gave it potentially millions of new high-spending customers.</p>
<p>Amazon sold more than a million Kindles a week during December, paving the way for others like Google with its Nexus 7 to try and beat Apple in a market the company created.</p>
<p>The Internet retailer has now put its second-generation Kindle Fire HD in the market, which it says is the "best-selling product across all of Amazon worldwide", based on undisclosed U.S. sales figures and international preorders.</p>
<p>Google's Nexus 7 tablet, built by Asian manufacturer Asustek, quickly ran out of stock after its July launch.</p>
<p>All three companies will be vying to get their devices on shopping lists during the U.S. holiday season, which traditionally starts next month.</p>
<p>"It's going to be the go-to holiday gift," said Michael Yoshikami, founder of Destination Wealth Management, which owns Apple shares.</p>
<p>PRICE IS KEY</p>
<p>Apple now has just one 9.7-inch iPad, starting at $499. The previous version, or iPad 2, is available for $399.</p>
<p>Jobs famously derided the 7-inch screen, saying such a device should come with sandpaper so users can file down their fingers. But an internal email revealed during a patent trial showed he turned more favorable to the idea by early 2011.</p>
<p>Apple has sold over 84 million iPads so far, with the device accounting for 26 percent of Apple's fiscal third quarter revenue. Most Wall Street analysts expect Apple's new tablet to fall between 7 inches and 8 inches in size, saying its price will be crucial to its success.</p>
<p>The "starting sweet spot" for the tablet would be in the $249-$299 range, according to a survey of over a thousand consumers by Baird Equity Research.</p>
<p>"When asked what the most they would pay for a smaller iPad was, our respondents on average said that they would pay $242 for a 7-inch iPad and $268 for an 8-inch iPad," William Power, Baird Equity Research analyst, said.</p>
<p>Any erosion in Apple's industry leading margins also hinges on the price tag. It earned gross margins of 23 percent to 32 percent on U.S. iPad sales between October 2010 and the end of March 2012, according to a July court filing by Apple.</p>
<p>Rivals haven't fared as well. Amazon's first Kindle Fire just about breaks even, according to IHS iSuppli estimates, and Google has said its Nexus 7 is being sold at cost.</p>
<p>Topeka Capital's Brian White argued a smaller tablet could overtake sales of the iPad in a few years. He is forecasting sales of 5 million to 7 million in the December quarter.</p>
<p>Apple shares rose 4 percent on Monday, buoying the benchmark S&amp;P 500 index. While the stock is up 56 percent this year, it is currently down 10 percent from its record high of $705 on September 21, struck by concerns about iPhone-supply disruption at contract manufacturer, Foxconn Technology. Sharp criticism about errors in its Maps service also hurt.</p>
<p>"Apple's stock is up a ton and it is only logical that it will take a breather after a while," Yoshikami said. "I don't think there is any fundamental issue beyond that."</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Richard Pullin)</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Apple set to unwrap mini-iPad to take on Amazon, Google | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/10/23/rpt-apple-set-to-unwrap-mini-ipad-to-take-on-amazon-google-1383904676.html | 2016-03-03 | 0right
| Apple set to unwrap mini-iPad to take on Amazon, Google
<p>Apple Inc is expected to make its biggest product move on Tuesday since debuting the iPad two years ago, launching a smaller, cheaper tablet into a market staked out by Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc.</p>
<p>Apple hopes to beat back their charge onto its home turf of consumer electronics hardware, while safeguarding its lead in the larger 10-inch tablet space that even deep-pocketed rivals like Samsung Electronics have found tough to penetrate.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Amazon's Kindle and Google's Nexus 7 have grabbed a chunk of the lower end of the tablet market and proved demand for a pocket-sized slate exists, helping force Apple into a space it has avoided and at times derided, analysts say.</p>
<p>A smaller tablet would mark the first device to be added to Apple's compact portfolio under Chief Executive Tim Cook, who took over from co-founder Steve Jobs just before his death.</p>
<p>"Apple sensed early that they had a real winner with the iPad and that has proven to be correct," said Lars Albright, co-founder of mobile advertising startup SessionM and a former Apple ad executive.</p>
<p>"They have a large market share, and to protect that market share they have got to be innovative," he said.</p>
<p>Apple's invitation-only event, where it is expected to unveil the tablet, gets underway at 10 am PT (1700 GMT) in San Jose.</p>
<p>Wall Street analysts have said for months that Apple was planning a less expensive version of the iPad to take on cheaper competing devices, a move they say might hurt its margins, but prevent its rivals from dominating an increasingly important segment.</p>
<p>The chief rival is Amazon, which proved a 7-inch tablet at around $200 has consumer appeal. The Kindle Fire, released last year for $199, was one of the hottest-selling holiday gadgets. It pressured Amazon's margins but gave it potentially millions of new high-spending customers.</p>
<p>Amazon sold more than a million Kindles a week during December, paving the way for others like Google with its Nexus 7 to try and beat Apple in a market the company created.</p>
<p>The Internet retailer has now put its second-generation Kindle Fire HD in the market, which it says is the "best-selling product across all of Amazon worldwide", based on undisclosed U.S. sales figures and international preorders.</p>
<p>Google's Nexus 7 tablet, built by Asian manufacturer Asustek, quickly ran out of stock after its July launch.</p>
<p>All three companies will be vying to get their devices on shopping lists during the U.S. holiday season, which traditionally starts next month.</p>
<p>"It's going to be the go-to holiday gift," said Michael Yoshikami, founder of Destination Wealth Management, which owns Apple shares.</p>
<p>PRICE IS KEY</p>
<p>Apple now has just one 9.7-inch iPad, starting at $499. The previous version, or iPad 2, is available for $399.</p>
<p>Jobs famously derided the 7-inch screen, saying such a device should come with sandpaper so users can file down their fingers. But an internal email revealed during a patent trial showed he turned more favorable to the idea by early 2011.</p>
<p>Apple has sold over 84 million iPads so far, with the device accounting for 26 percent of Apple's fiscal third quarter revenue. Most Wall Street analysts expect Apple's new tablet to fall between 7 inches and 8 inches in size, saying its price will be crucial to its success.</p>
<p>The "starting sweet spot" for the tablet would be in the $249-$299 range, according to a survey of over a thousand consumers by Baird Equity Research.</p>
<p>"When asked what the most they would pay for a smaller iPad was, our respondents on average said that they would pay $242 for a 7-inch iPad and $268 for an 8-inch iPad," William Power, Baird Equity Research analyst, said.</p>
<p>Any erosion in Apple's industry leading margins also hinges on the price tag. It earned gross margins of 23 percent to 32 percent on U.S. iPad sales between October 2010 and the end of March 2012, according to a July court filing by Apple.</p>
<p>Rivals haven't fared as well. Amazon's first Kindle Fire just about breaks even, according to IHS iSuppli estimates, and Google has said its Nexus 7 is being sold at cost.</p>
<p>Topeka Capital's Brian White argued a smaller tablet could overtake sales of the iPad in a few years. He is forecasting sales of 5 million to 7 million in the December quarter.</p>
<p>Apple shares rose 4 percent on Monday, buoying the benchmark S&amp;P 500 index. While the stock is up 56 percent this year, it is currently down 10 percent from its record high of $705 on September 21, struck by concerns about iPhone-supply disruption at contract manufacturer, Foxconn Technology. Sharp criticism about errors in its Maps service also hurt.</p>
<p>"Apple's stock is up a ton and it is only logical that it will take a breather after a while," Yoshikami said. "I don't think there is any fundamental issue beyond that."</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Edwin Chan; Editing by Richard Pullin)</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | 599,767 |
<p>BOSTON —&#160;The GroundTruth Project is pleased to announce two new correspondent positions, one covering human rights in the Middle East and the other undertaking a series of investigative reports in Africa.</p>
<p>Multimedia journalist and entrepreneur Lauren Bohn will join GroundTruth as a Middle East correspondent focusing on women and minorities after the Arab Spring. Bohn’s full-time position is based in Istanbul and made possible by financial support from the Ford Foundation, which promotes social justice reporting to develop a better-informed and engaged citizenry.</p>
<p>Award-winning reporter Jacob Kushner will become GroundTruth’s Africa correspondent leading investigative projects in East Africa. Kushner will be based in Nairobi and the position is made possible by financial support from the Galloway Family Foundation, which seeks to encourage the advancement of human rights in the United States and around the world.</p>
<p>A newly independent nonprofit, <a href="http://thegroundtruthproject.org/" type="external">The GroundTruth Project</a> is dedicated to training and mentoring the next generation of correspondents to take on in-depth reporting that makes a difference, and to do so safely. Growing out of the international news organization GlobalPost, GroundTruth has for the last several years established itself as a leading incubator for emerging talent in an era when journalism —particularly international reporting — is increasingly under threat.</p>
<p>”Lauren and Jacob are part of a generation of reporters who excel at using digital platforms to tell important stories that represent the highest standards of journalism,” said GroundTruth founder and executive director Charles Sennott, a longtime Boston Globe foreign correspondent and GlobalPost co-founder. “We have sought to nurture their careers through our reporting fellowships, and now we look forward to working with them more closely than ever in the new year as they officially join us as GroundTruth correspondents.”</p>
<p>The GroundTruth Project, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, launched in June and is based at the flagship PBS station WGBH in Boston. It publishes in partnership with GlobalPost, PRI’s The World, PBS FRONTLINE, NBC News and others. GroundTruth, which works in close partnership with GlobalPost in producing Special Reports, has offered more than 20 reporting fellowships a year since 2012, including ambitious training and reporting projects in Egypt, Burma and Haiti. It enjoys the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, Kaiser Family Foundation and Bake Family Trust in addition to the Ford Foundation and Galloway Family Foundation.</p>
<p>Bohn, a finalist for the 2012 Livingston Award, a 2012 Overseas Press Club fellow and co-founder of <a href="http://fpinterrupted.com/" type="external">Foreign Policy Interrupted</a>, was previously a GroundTruth reporting fellow in Egypt in 2011 and a GroundTruth reporting fellow on youth unemployment in Nigeria in 2014.</p>
<p>“At a time when the politics of the Middle East are once again a perfect storm for mass confusion and dehumanization, I’m honored and thrilled to be working with GroundTruth to go beyond the headlines,” said Bohn, who is presently a columnist for Foreign Policy and whose work has appeared in the New York Times,&#160;CNN, TIME, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal among others.</p>
<p>“We will deliver stories not just on the forces enveloping the region, but the people wrapped up in those forces,” she said. “Their voices are, after all, the best indicators of where these countries – and our shared humanity – are heading.”</p>
<p>Kushner, a 2013 Overseas Press Club fellow who was previously based in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, published his investigative series on “China’s Congo Plan” last year with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. He has worked on investigative projects for GlobalPost in Haiti, Kenya and Tanzania.</p>
<p>“Across East Africa, people are clamoring for rights and freedoms that their governments have long promised but seldom delivered,” Kushner said. “I’m excited to work with the GroundTruth team to investigate the troubling gap between law and reality and to scrutinize the role the US plays in condoning human rights abuses in the region. I’m eager to partner with Kenyan reporter Anthony Langat and other local colleagues as we investigate abuses of power in their home countries.”&#160;</p>
<p>About Lauren Bohn</p>
<p>Lauren is an independent journalist based in Istanbul and a columnist for Foreign Policy magazine.&#160;She’s the co-founder of&#160;Foreign Policy Interrupted,&#160;a start-up incubator and fellowship program dedicated to changing the ratio and getting more women miked and bylined.&#160;</p>
<p>She was a 2010-2011 Fulbright fellow in Egypt, where she is the founding assistant editor of a new journal, the Cairo Review.&#160;A Pulitzer Center grantee, her ongoing reporting project “Egypt: The Country Outside the Square” is funded by the center. She was a&#160;2012 Overseas Press Club fellow in Jerusalem with the Associated Press, and a 2013 UN Foundation Press fellow.</p>
<p>A finalist for a 2012 Livingston Award, she’s reported from Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria, the U.A.E., Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, Zambia, Malawi, and Nigeria.&#160;She graduated summa cum laude from New York University in May 2009 as a John W. Withers Memorial Award recipient and Presidential Scholar, with a degree in Media, Culture, and Communication. She received Chicago’s Association for Women Journalists 2010 award for outstanding young female journalist and received her master’s degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism in June 2010.&#160;</p>
<p>About Jacob Kushner</p>
<p>Jacob Kushner is a freelance journalist currently reporting on foreign aid, human rights, extractives in developing nations, and Chinese and other foreign investment in Africa. The latter two were the subjects of his recent multimedia eBook, China’s Congo Plan. He holds an M.A. in political journalism from Columbia University in New York. Jacob was a 2013 Overseas Press Club Fellow for the Associated Press in Nairobi.</p>
<p>Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jacob graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a B.A. in journalism and Latin American studies. He recently spent two years reporting from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where his work focused on immigration and foreign investment including development aid. He speaks fluent Spanish, conversational Haitian Creole and basic French.</p>
<p>Kushner has worked on investigative projects for GlobalPost in Haiti, Kenya and Tanzania. He has also been published by Foreign Policy, Associated Press, Newsweek, The American Interest, Guernica Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, OZY.com, the Center for Public Integrity, the Nation Institute and others. &#160;</p> | The GroundTruth Project announces two foundation-supported correspondent positions in Middle East and Africa | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-12-23/groundtruth-project-announces-two-foundation-supported-correspondent-positions | 2014-12-23 | 3left-center
| The GroundTruth Project announces two foundation-supported correspondent positions in Middle East and Africa
<p>BOSTON —&#160;The GroundTruth Project is pleased to announce two new correspondent positions, one covering human rights in the Middle East and the other undertaking a series of investigative reports in Africa.</p>
<p>Multimedia journalist and entrepreneur Lauren Bohn will join GroundTruth as a Middle East correspondent focusing on women and minorities after the Arab Spring. Bohn’s full-time position is based in Istanbul and made possible by financial support from the Ford Foundation, which promotes social justice reporting to develop a better-informed and engaged citizenry.</p>
<p>Award-winning reporter Jacob Kushner will become GroundTruth’s Africa correspondent leading investigative projects in East Africa. Kushner will be based in Nairobi and the position is made possible by financial support from the Galloway Family Foundation, which seeks to encourage the advancement of human rights in the United States and around the world.</p>
<p>A newly independent nonprofit, <a href="http://thegroundtruthproject.org/" type="external">The GroundTruth Project</a> is dedicated to training and mentoring the next generation of correspondents to take on in-depth reporting that makes a difference, and to do so safely. Growing out of the international news organization GlobalPost, GroundTruth has for the last several years established itself as a leading incubator for emerging talent in an era when journalism —particularly international reporting — is increasingly under threat.</p>
<p>”Lauren and Jacob are part of a generation of reporters who excel at using digital platforms to tell important stories that represent the highest standards of journalism,” said GroundTruth founder and executive director Charles Sennott, a longtime Boston Globe foreign correspondent and GlobalPost co-founder. “We have sought to nurture their careers through our reporting fellowships, and now we look forward to working with them more closely than ever in the new year as they officially join us as GroundTruth correspondents.”</p>
<p>The GroundTruth Project, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, launched in June and is based at the flagship PBS station WGBH in Boston. It publishes in partnership with GlobalPost, PRI’s The World, PBS FRONTLINE, NBC News and others. GroundTruth, which works in close partnership with GlobalPost in producing Special Reports, has offered more than 20 reporting fellowships a year since 2012, including ambitious training and reporting projects in Egypt, Burma and Haiti. It enjoys the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, Kaiser Family Foundation and Bake Family Trust in addition to the Ford Foundation and Galloway Family Foundation.</p>
<p>Bohn, a finalist for the 2012 Livingston Award, a 2012 Overseas Press Club fellow and co-founder of <a href="http://fpinterrupted.com/" type="external">Foreign Policy Interrupted</a>, was previously a GroundTruth reporting fellow in Egypt in 2011 and a GroundTruth reporting fellow on youth unemployment in Nigeria in 2014.</p>
<p>“At a time when the politics of the Middle East are once again a perfect storm for mass confusion and dehumanization, I’m honored and thrilled to be working with GroundTruth to go beyond the headlines,” said Bohn, who is presently a columnist for Foreign Policy and whose work has appeared in the New York Times,&#160;CNN, TIME, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal among others.</p>
<p>“We will deliver stories not just on the forces enveloping the region, but the people wrapped up in those forces,” she said. “Their voices are, after all, the best indicators of where these countries – and our shared humanity – are heading.”</p>
<p>Kushner, a 2013 Overseas Press Club fellow who was previously based in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, published his investigative series on “China’s Congo Plan” last year with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. He has worked on investigative projects for GlobalPost in Haiti, Kenya and Tanzania.</p>
<p>“Across East Africa, people are clamoring for rights and freedoms that their governments have long promised but seldom delivered,” Kushner said. “I’m excited to work with the GroundTruth team to investigate the troubling gap between law and reality and to scrutinize the role the US plays in condoning human rights abuses in the region. I’m eager to partner with Kenyan reporter Anthony Langat and other local colleagues as we investigate abuses of power in their home countries.”&#160;</p>
<p>About Lauren Bohn</p>
<p>Lauren is an independent journalist based in Istanbul and a columnist for Foreign Policy magazine.&#160;She’s the co-founder of&#160;Foreign Policy Interrupted,&#160;a start-up incubator and fellowship program dedicated to changing the ratio and getting more women miked and bylined.&#160;</p>
<p>She was a 2010-2011 Fulbright fellow in Egypt, where she is the founding assistant editor of a new journal, the Cairo Review.&#160;A Pulitzer Center grantee, her ongoing reporting project “Egypt: The Country Outside the Square” is funded by the center. She was a&#160;2012 Overseas Press Club fellow in Jerusalem with the Associated Press, and a 2013 UN Foundation Press fellow.</p>
<p>A finalist for a 2012 Livingston Award, she’s reported from Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Syria, the U.A.E., Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan, Zambia, Malawi, and Nigeria.&#160;She graduated summa cum laude from New York University in May 2009 as a John W. Withers Memorial Award recipient and Presidential Scholar, with a degree in Media, Culture, and Communication. She received Chicago’s Association for Women Journalists 2010 award for outstanding young female journalist and received her master’s degree from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism in June 2010.&#160;</p>
<p>About Jacob Kushner</p>
<p>Jacob Kushner is a freelance journalist currently reporting on foreign aid, human rights, extractives in developing nations, and Chinese and other foreign investment in Africa. The latter two were the subjects of his recent multimedia eBook, China’s Congo Plan. He holds an M.A. in political journalism from Columbia University in New York. Jacob was a 2013 Overseas Press Club Fellow for the Associated Press in Nairobi.</p>
<p>Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Jacob graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison with a B.A. in journalism and Latin American studies. He recently spent two years reporting from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where his work focused on immigration and foreign investment including development aid. He speaks fluent Spanish, conversational Haitian Creole and basic French.</p>
<p>Kushner has worked on investigative projects for GlobalPost in Haiti, Kenya and Tanzania. He has also been published by Foreign Policy, Associated Press, Newsweek, The American Interest, Guernica Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, OZY.com, the Center for Public Integrity, the Nation Institute and others. &#160;</p> | 599,768 |
<p>Nokia Corp. appears to have turned around its fortunes after the sale of its ailing cellphone unit to Microsoft, reporting a third-quarter net profit of 747 million euros ($950 million), from a loss of 91 million euros a year earlier. Sales growth was 13 percent compared to 2013.</p>
<p>But the Finnish telecommunications and wireless equipment maker's result was hit by a 2.1 billion euros impairment charge for HERE mapping services in the period.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>CEO Rajeev Suri said Thursday that Nokia saw improvements in all three remaining operation areas, and the company predicted strong growth in its networks sector, which accounts for around 90 percent of Nokia's revenue.</p>
<p>Sales in the period grew to 3.3 billion euros, from 2.9 billion euros a year earlier.</p> | Nokia sees third-quarter turn to profit as sales grow after sale of phone unit to Microsoft | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/10/23/nokia-sees-third-quarter-turn-to-profit-as-sales-grow-after-sale-phone-unit-to.html | 2016-03-05 | 0right
| Nokia sees third-quarter turn to profit as sales grow after sale of phone unit to Microsoft
<p>Nokia Corp. appears to have turned around its fortunes after the sale of its ailing cellphone unit to Microsoft, reporting a third-quarter net profit of 747 million euros ($950 million), from a loss of 91 million euros a year earlier. Sales growth was 13 percent compared to 2013.</p>
<p>But the Finnish telecommunications and wireless equipment maker's result was hit by a 2.1 billion euros impairment charge for HERE mapping services in the period.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>CEO Rajeev Suri said Thursday that Nokia saw improvements in all three remaining operation areas, and the company predicted strong growth in its networks sector, which accounts for around 90 percent of Nokia's revenue.</p>
<p>Sales in the period grew to 3.3 billion euros, from 2.9 billion euros a year earlier.</p> | 599,769 |
<p />
<p>If you’re one of the skeptics that <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2007/11/6012_ron_paul_its_re.html" type="external">Ron Paul supporters are for reals</a>, you probably won’t believe that they’re about to launch a Ron Paul blimp. Oh, but they are. There’s a <a href="http://www.dailypaul.com/node/9219" type="external">posting</a> on Daily Paul, and YouTube videos ( <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6I5zYu541Q" type="external">one</a> set to Electric Light Orchestra), and a <a href="http://ronpaulblimp.com/" type="external">website</a>, which has generated nearly $500K in pledges so far—not to mention spoof videos ( <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBizHvp7K4g" type="external">one</a> set to Journey).</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Get ready to see the blimp at the Super Bowl, and to accept once and for all that Ron Paulites are an incredibly devoted bunch who may be capable of doing pretty much any <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2007/11/6072_money_bomb_ron.html" type="external">wild thing</a> they put their mind to.</p>
<p /> | Get Ready for the Ron Paul Blimp (Blimp? Blimp!) | true | https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/11/get-ready-ron-paul-blimp-blimp-blimp/ | 2007-11-29 | 4left
| Get Ready for the Ron Paul Blimp (Blimp? Blimp!)
<p />
<p>If you’re one of the skeptics that <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2007/11/6012_ron_paul_its_re.html" type="external">Ron Paul supporters are for reals</a>, you probably won’t believe that they’re about to launch a Ron Paul blimp. Oh, but they are. There’s a <a href="http://www.dailypaul.com/node/9219" type="external">posting</a> on Daily Paul, and YouTube videos ( <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6I5zYu541Q" type="external">one</a> set to Electric Light Orchestra), and a <a href="http://ronpaulblimp.com/" type="external">website</a>, which has generated nearly $500K in pledges so far—not to mention spoof videos ( <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBizHvp7K4g" type="external">one</a> set to Journey).</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Get ready to see the blimp at the Super Bowl, and to accept once and for all that Ron Paulites are an incredibly devoted bunch who may be capable of doing pretty much any <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2007/11/6072_money_bomb_ron.html" type="external">wild thing</a> they put their mind to.</p>
<p /> | 599,770 |
<p>What started out as a racist taunt has turned into a <a href="http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/04/neymar-alves-racial-abuse-somos-todos-macacos" type="external">global campaign against racism</a> in soccer.</p>
<p>Barcelona defender Dani Alves was preparing to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/27/dani-alves-racists-banana-barcelona-villarreal" type="external">take a corner kick</a> during a game at Villarreal on Sunday when a spectator threw a banana onto the pitch.</p>
<p>The piece of fruit landed near the Brazilian player. He responded by picking up the banana, peeling it, eating it and then taking the shot.</p>
<p>Watch Alves' very cool reaction to the racist abuse here.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Fellow soccer stars, coaches and even politicians quickly began showing their support for Alves by posting photos of themselves holding a banana with the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&amp;q=%23SomosTodosMacacos" type="external">#SomosTodosMacacos,</a>&#160;which is Spanish for “We are all monkeys,” or #NoToRacism.</p>
<p>“We have suffered this in Spain for some time," <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/27/dani-alves-racists-banana-barcelona-villarreal" type="external">Alves said after the game,</a> which Barcelona won 3-2.</p>
<p>"You have to take it with a dose of humor. We aren't going to change things easily. If you don't give it importance, they don't achieve their objective."</p>
<p>Alves had the last laugh over the racist incident. <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27204824" type="external">Villarreal slapped a life ban</a> on the banana-throwing fan.&#160;</p>
<p>Italian PM Matteo Renzi and Italian national team manager Cesare Prandelli</p>
<p>Chelsea FC players</p>
<p>Oscar, David Luiz and Willian show their support to Brazil team mate Dani Alves <a href="http://t.co/UVKt08PEKu" type="external">pic.twitter.com/UVKt08PEKu</a></p>
<p>— InsideWorldFootball (@insidewldftball) <a href="https://twitter.com/insidewldftball/statuses/460789287253213185" type="external">April 28, 2014</a></p>
<p>AS Monaco FC defender Eric Abidal&#160;</p>
<p>Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero and Brazilian player Marta&#160;</p>
<p>Barcelona teammate Neymar</p>
<p>Bohemian FC defender Roberto Lopes</p> | Watch how Barcelona's Dani Alves responds to a banana thrown at him during a soccer game | false | https://pri.org/stories/2014-04-29/watch-how-barcelonas-dani-alves-responds-banana-thrown-him-during-soccer-game | 2014-04-29 | 3left-center
| Watch how Barcelona's Dani Alves responds to a banana thrown at him during a soccer game
<p>What started out as a racist taunt has turned into a <a href="http://ftw.usatoday.com/2014/04/neymar-alves-racial-abuse-somos-todos-macacos" type="external">global campaign against racism</a> in soccer.</p>
<p>Barcelona defender Dani Alves was preparing to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/27/dani-alves-racists-banana-barcelona-villarreal" type="external">take a corner kick</a> during a game at Villarreal on Sunday when a spectator threw a banana onto the pitch.</p>
<p>The piece of fruit landed near the Brazilian player. He responded by picking up the banana, peeling it, eating it and then taking the shot.</p>
<p>Watch Alves' very cool reaction to the racist abuse here.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Fellow soccer stars, coaches and even politicians quickly began showing their support for Alves by posting photos of themselves holding a banana with the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?src=typd&amp;q=%23SomosTodosMacacos" type="external">#SomosTodosMacacos,</a>&#160;which is Spanish for “We are all monkeys,” or #NoToRacism.</p>
<p>“We have suffered this in Spain for some time," <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/27/dani-alves-racists-banana-barcelona-villarreal" type="external">Alves said after the game,</a> which Barcelona won 3-2.</p>
<p>"You have to take it with a dose of humor. We aren't going to change things easily. If you don't give it importance, they don't achieve their objective."</p>
<p>Alves had the last laugh over the racist incident. <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27204824" type="external">Villarreal slapped a life ban</a> on the banana-throwing fan.&#160;</p>
<p>Italian PM Matteo Renzi and Italian national team manager Cesare Prandelli</p>
<p>Chelsea FC players</p>
<p>Oscar, David Luiz and Willian show their support to Brazil team mate Dani Alves <a href="http://t.co/UVKt08PEKu" type="external">pic.twitter.com/UVKt08PEKu</a></p>
<p>— InsideWorldFootball (@insidewldftball) <a href="https://twitter.com/insidewldftball/statuses/460789287253213185" type="external">April 28, 2014</a></p>
<p>AS Monaco FC defender Eric Abidal&#160;</p>
<p>Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero and Brazilian player Marta&#160;</p>
<p>Barcelona teammate Neymar</p>
<p>Bohemian FC defender Roberto Lopes</p> | 599,771 |
<p>Fortune executive editor Adam Lashinsky and Kingsview Asset Managements’ Scott Martin react to the earnings released from Alphabet Inc.</p>
<p>Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) on Thursday reported stronger-than-expected advertising sales and higher operating margins, driving shares up in after-hours trading as investors brushed off concerns about higher costs for acquiring mobile customers.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company’s shares were up nearly 3 percent at $1,020 after the bell. They have gained 25 percent this year.Third-quarter revenue for Alphabet, the parent company of Google, jumped 24 percent to $27.8 billion, above the average analysts’ estimate of $27.2 billion. Profits of $6.7 billion, or $9.57 per share, were well ahead of estimates.</p>
<p>Alphabet, along with much of the tech sector, has enjoyed torrid growth in recent years as advertising moves from traditional media to the internet and consumers flock to an ever-expanding array of digital devices.</p>
<p>While the company faces political pressures, especially in Europe, over its growing dominance and its role in spreading propaganda online, those problems have yet to hit the bottom line. The third quarter was the 15th in a row in which the company has shown double-digit, year-over-year sales growth. Advertising sales at Google, Alphabet’s main operating unit, account for the vast majority of the company’s revenue.</p>
<p>Google’s “other revenue” line, which includes hardware such as the Pixel smartphones and Home speakers as the well as the cloud computing business, also enjoyed solid growth. Sales from non-ad businesses rose 40 percent from a year ago to $3.4 billion in the quarter.</p>
<p>Google is playing catch-up with Amazon Web Services in the business of providing corporate computing services via large data centers. The company does not break out its cloud revenue, but Jefferies analysts estimate Google Cloud Platform is about 15 percent of Google’s other revenue.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Google is also trying to take on Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the high end of the smartphone business with the Pixel. Google’s Android operating system already powers most non-Apple smartphones.</p>
<p>But Google’s second-generation Pixel had a rough debut last week, with the company investigating user complaints of a faulty screen and poor call quality.</p>
<p>A top investor concern has been the cost of getting ads in front of mobile users: Google is paying a growing cut of ad sales to Apple and other companies that integrate Google search into mobile products and services.</p>
<p>Distribution payments increased 54 percent in the third quarter, accounting for 12 percent of ad sales.</p> | Alphabet revenue rise 24% on mobile ad growth; shares jump | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/26/alphabet-revenue-rises-24-percent-on-mobile-advertising-growth.html | 2017-10-27 | 0right
| Alphabet revenue rise 24% on mobile ad growth; shares jump
<p>Fortune executive editor Adam Lashinsky and Kingsview Asset Managements’ Scott Martin react to the earnings released from Alphabet Inc.</p>
<p>Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) on Thursday reported stronger-than-expected advertising sales and higher operating margins, driving shares up in after-hours trading as investors brushed off concerns about higher costs for acquiring mobile customers.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company’s shares were up nearly 3 percent at $1,020 after the bell. They have gained 25 percent this year.Third-quarter revenue for Alphabet, the parent company of Google, jumped 24 percent to $27.8 billion, above the average analysts’ estimate of $27.2 billion. Profits of $6.7 billion, or $9.57 per share, were well ahead of estimates.</p>
<p>Alphabet, along with much of the tech sector, has enjoyed torrid growth in recent years as advertising moves from traditional media to the internet and consumers flock to an ever-expanding array of digital devices.</p>
<p>While the company faces political pressures, especially in Europe, over its growing dominance and its role in spreading propaganda online, those problems have yet to hit the bottom line. The third quarter was the 15th in a row in which the company has shown double-digit, year-over-year sales growth. Advertising sales at Google, Alphabet’s main operating unit, account for the vast majority of the company’s revenue.</p>
<p>Google’s “other revenue” line, which includes hardware such as the Pixel smartphones and Home speakers as the well as the cloud computing business, also enjoyed solid growth. Sales from non-ad businesses rose 40 percent from a year ago to $3.4 billion in the quarter.</p>
<p>Google is playing catch-up with Amazon Web Services in the business of providing corporate computing services via large data centers. The company does not break out its cloud revenue, but Jefferies analysts estimate Google Cloud Platform is about 15 percent of Google’s other revenue.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Google is also trying to take on Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) in the high end of the smartphone business with the Pixel. Google’s Android operating system already powers most non-Apple smartphones.</p>
<p>But Google’s second-generation Pixel had a rough debut last week, with the company investigating user complaints of a faulty screen and poor call quality.</p>
<p>A top investor concern has been the cost of getting ads in front of mobile users: Google is paying a growing cut of ad sales to Apple and other companies that integrate Google search into mobile products and services.</p>
<p>Distribution payments increased 54 percent in the third quarter, accounting for 12 percent of ad sales.</p> | 599,772 |
<p>Today on Portlandia, Fred and his <a href="http://www.ifc.com/shows/portlandia/blog/2015/02/doug-is-a-male-feminist-now" type="external">all-male feminist support&#160;group</a> full of self-congratulatory allies are on a mission to “solve feminism.”&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Aaaaand applause.</p>
<p>Transcript:</p>
<p>Hi everybody, I’m Doug. This is my first time doing a male feminist meeting.</p>
<p>Hi, Doug. [applause]</p>
<p>I guess I’ll just start off&#160;talking about what kind of feminist I am. I’ve never hired a geisha. [Applause] I’ve been saying to ladies on the street, Are you a doctor? Hi, I’m sorry, are you a doctor? Just so there’s not a feeling of it like only men can be doctors. When I watch TV I’m never like, Oh man, look at that lady, man. Woah, she’s a blond, she’s a brunette, she’s a red head. Well, what the hell does it matter what color their hair is?</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t even see hair color.</p>
<p>I don’t even see hair. I just see bald women.&#160;[applause, blowhorn]</p>
<p>I used to be the worst of the worst. I would look at women like–you know. I would say hubba hubba. But them I met a girl and she was a feminist. Next thing you know, I’m…a feminist. [applause]</p>
<p>It takes a lot to say that.</p>
<p>Great story. [blowhorn]</p>
<p>I just wish there was a way that we could be like, validated for being such great feminists.</p>
<p>So we have to be showy about it. We can’t just be quiet. We have to be showy. We have to brag about being male feminists. For lack of a better word, it’s bragging.</p>
<p>Some day they’re going to write an article about us. And there’s gonna be like black and white photos of us like– [pose]. We’re pretty powerful dudes. We can gain more. We can do a lot more. And you have got to pay more attention, buddy. I’m just worried that you’re just part of the problem. Our job, guys, fellas, people, is to solve feminism.</p>
<p>To solving feminism. [cheers, applause]</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Portlandia mocks showy male feminists | true | http://feministing.com/2015/02/19/portlandia-mocks-showy-male-feminists/ | 4left
| Portlandia mocks showy male feminists
<p>Today on Portlandia, Fred and his <a href="http://www.ifc.com/shows/portlandia/blog/2015/02/doug-is-a-male-feminist-now" type="external">all-male feminist support&#160;group</a> full of self-congratulatory allies are on a mission to “solve feminism.”&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>Aaaaand applause.</p>
<p>Transcript:</p>
<p>Hi everybody, I’m Doug. This is my first time doing a male feminist meeting.</p>
<p>Hi, Doug. [applause]</p>
<p>I guess I’ll just start off&#160;talking about what kind of feminist I am. I’ve never hired a geisha. [Applause] I’ve been saying to ladies on the street, Are you a doctor? Hi, I’m sorry, are you a doctor? Just so there’s not a feeling of it like only men can be doctors. When I watch TV I’m never like, Oh man, look at that lady, man. Woah, she’s a blond, she’s a brunette, she’s a red head. Well, what the hell does it matter what color their hair is?</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t even see hair color.</p>
<p>I don’t even see hair. I just see bald women.&#160;[applause, blowhorn]</p>
<p>I used to be the worst of the worst. I would look at women like–you know. I would say hubba hubba. But them I met a girl and she was a feminist. Next thing you know, I’m…a feminist. [applause]</p>
<p>It takes a lot to say that.</p>
<p>Great story. [blowhorn]</p>
<p>I just wish there was a way that we could be like, validated for being such great feminists.</p>
<p>So we have to be showy about it. We can’t just be quiet. We have to be showy. We have to brag about being male feminists. For lack of a better word, it’s bragging.</p>
<p>Some day they’re going to write an article about us. And there’s gonna be like black and white photos of us like– [pose]. We’re pretty powerful dudes. We can gain more. We can do a lot more. And you have got to pay more attention, buddy. I’m just worried that you’re just part of the problem. Our job, guys, fellas, people, is to solve feminism.</p>
<p>To solving feminism. [cheers, applause]</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 599,773 |
|
<p>The message crafters of the Democratic Party don’t need Republican enemies when they have Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters screwing everything up.</p>
<p>During a press conference on Monday, Nancy Pelosi thought George W. Bush was still the president.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>“We’ve seen nothing where we can where — where I can work with President Bush on…” Pelosi said as Maxine Waters’ face dropped and she muttered to her colleagues.</p>
<p>“I’m disappointed because I thought there might be some interest because of what he said in the campaign.</p>
<p>“It turned out to be not true, a hoax and really dangerous to economic stability of America’s working families,” Pelosi said.</p>
<p>At the same press conference, Maxine Waters chided President Trump and his reaction to Russia’s alleged behavior.</p>
<p />
<p>“How can a president who is acting the manner he is acting — whether he’s talking about the travel ban, the way he’s targeted Muslims, or whether he’s talking about his relationship to (Vladimir) Putin and the Kremlin and knowing that they have hacked our (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) and the (Democratic National Committee),” she said.</p>
<p>But then the already wobbly wheels began falling off Waters’ rhetoric wagon.</p>
<p>“And knowing that he’s responsible for supplying the bombs that killed innocent children and families in, um, in, um,” she said, forgetting the name before someone behind her whispered, “Aleppo.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, in Aleppo,” she said.</p>
<p>Waters continued, “And the fact that he is wrapping his arms around Putin while Putin is continuing to advance into Korea.”</p>
<p>She likely meant Crimea, not Korea.</p> | CONFUSION: Nancy Pelosi says ‘Seen nothing I can work with President Bush on’ | true | http://theamericanmirror.com/confusion-nancy-pelosi-says-seen-nothing-can-work-president-bush/ | 2017-02-07 | 0right
| CONFUSION: Nancy Pelosi says ‘Seen nothing I can work with President Bush on’
<p>The message crafters of the Democratic Party don’t need Republican enemies when they have Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters screwing everything up.</p>
<p>During a press conference on Monday, Nancy Pelosi thought George W. Bush was still the president.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>“We’ve seen nothing where we can where — where I can work with President Bush on…” Pelosi said as Maxine Waters’ face dropped and she muttered to her colleagues.</p>
<p>“I’m disappointed because I thought there might be some interest because of what he said in the campaign.</p>
<p>“It turned out to be not true, a hoax and really dangerous to economic stability of America’s working families,” Pelosi said.</p>
<p>At the same press conference, Maxine Waters chided President Trump and his reaction to Russia’s alleged behavior.</p>
<p />
<p>“How can a president who is acting the manner he is acting — whether he’s talking about the travel ban, the way he’s targeted Muslims, or whether he’s talking about his relationship to (Vladimir) Putin and the Kremlin and knowing that they have hacked our (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) and the (Democratic National Committee),” she said.</p>
<p>But then the already wobbly wheels began falling off Waters’ rhetoric wagon.</p>
<p>“And knowing that he’s responsible for supplying the bombs that killed innocent children and families in, um, in, um,” she said, forgetting the name before someone behind her whispered, “Aleppo.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, in Aleppo,” she said.</p>
<p>Waters continued, “And the fact that he is wrapping his arms around Putin while Putin is continuing to advance into Korea.”</p>
<p>She likely meant Crimea, not Korea.</p> | 599,774 |
<p>July 25 (UPI) — A woman watching a pod of killer whales off the coast of Scotland captured the moment an orca used its tail to flip a seal through the air.</p>
<p>Ruth Morris posted a video to Facebook showing the footage she recorded Monday of the pod of orcas hunting deals in Levenwick, in the Shetland Islands.</p>
<p>The video shows a killer whale use its tail to flip a seal into the air.</p>
<p>The flip elicits audible gasps from a crowd of human onlookers.</p> | Killer whale uses tail to flip seal out of the water | false | https://newsline.com/killer-whale-uses-tail-to-flip-seal-out-of-the-water/ | 2017-07-25 | 1right-center
| Killer whale uses tail to flip seal out of the water
<p>July 25 (UPI) — A woman watching a pod of killer whales off the coast of Scotland captured the moment an orca used its tail to flip a seal through the air.</p>
<p>Ruth Morris posted a video to Facebook showing the footage she recorded Monday of the pod of orcas hunting deals in Levenwick, in the Shetland Islands.</p>
<p>The video shows a killer whale use its tail to flip a seal into the air.</p>
<p>The flip elicits audible gasps from a crowd of human onlookers.</p> | 599,775 |
<p>David Sirota got us thinking with this <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/davidsirota/status/114372057650823168" type="external">tweet</a>: “My guess is that 50% of political [junkies] who follow every shred of news about Obama/GOP don’t have any idea who their state legislator is.” Do you know who represents you in your statehouse?</p>
<p>(Just to be clear, we’re asking if you know who represents you in your state legislature, not who represents your state in the federal government.)</p>
<p>&lt;a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5507154/"&gt;Do you know who represents you in state government?&lt;/a&gt;</p>
<p /> | Poll: Do You Know Who Represents You? | true | https://truthdig.com/articles/poll-do-you-know-who-represents-you/ | 2011-09-16 | 4left
| Poll: Do You Know Who Represents You?
<p>David Sirota got us thinking with this <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/davidsirota/status/114372057650823168" type="external">tweet</a>: “My guess is that 50% of political [junkies] who follow every shred of news about Obama/GOP don’t have any idea who their state legislator is.” Do you know who represents you in your statehouse?</p>
<p>(Just to be clear, we’re asking if you know who represents you in your state legislature, not who represents your state in the federal government.)</p>
<p>&lt;a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5507154/"&gt;Do you know who represents you in state government?&lt;/a&gt;</p>
<p /> | 599,776 |
<p>Let’s call this the most unsurprising headline of the year so far: “Marriage Increases The Odds Of Surviving Cancer, Studies Find.” Next thing you know they’ll be discovering that salt makes you thirsty. I’m not actually belittling the science, more the opposite. Even the most cursory glance at social-science data accumulated over the past, oh, 150 years, provides copious evidence that we humans do better pair-bonded for life. And if data doesn’t convince you, there’s also literature, anecdote, tradition, and intuition. But let’s stick with science for now.</p>
<p>Two studies published in the journal Cancer found that among 800,000 adults diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2009, those who were married survived the disease at higher rates than single people — much higher rates. Especially men. The death rate among unmarried women was 19 percent higher than for married women, and for unmarried men the rate was 27 percent higher. The researchers controlled for factors such as&#160;income, health-insurance status, race, and other factors but still found that marriage was a key variable. Scarlett Lin Gomez of the Cancer Prevention Institute, one of the authors, told the Washington Post that money does not explain her results, but that “social support” is a “key factor.”</p>
<p>It’s interesting about the men, isn’t it? Marriage confers many benefits on women (though the early feminists were venomously anti-marriage), but study after study has found that when it comes to health and longevity, men benefit even more than women from tying the knot (and keeping it tied).</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/marriage-and-mens-health" type="external">Harvard Men’s Health Watch</a>, for example, cites a report from the Framingham Offspring Study that evaluated 3,682 adults over a ten-year period for heart-related conditions. Even after taking into account major risk factors such as age, body fat percentage, smoking, blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol, married men had a 46 percent lower rate of death than unmarried&#160;men.</p>
<p>Other studies cited by Harvard have found that married men have lower levels of depression, reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease, improved blood-sugar levels, and, as in the studies mentioned above, lower levels of cancer and better survival rates after diagnosis.</p>
<p>When examined through the marriage lens, other differentials in American life can be understood as flowing from this most basic of <a href="file://localhost/Users/monacharen1/Dropbox/Book%20Research/The%20Benefits%20from%20Marriage%20and%20Religion%20in%20the%20United%20States:%20A%20Comparative%20Analysis.webarchive" type="external">human relationships</a>. Marriage confers not just health and longevity, but wealth, life satisfaction, community engagement, and other social goods. There is a large income gap between white and black Americans. But the marriage rate among African Americans has been significantly below that of others for several generations (though the white and Hispanic rates of unmarried parenting are sharply increasing). According to 2010 Census data, African-American two-earner married couples had mean incomes above the national average for married couples.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, married couples are the minority in the black community. Sixty-six percent of black children are raised in single-parent homes, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The rate for Hispanics is 42 percent and for non-Hispanic whites, 25 percent. In 2013, half of all mothers aged 30 and younger were unwed.</p>
<p>The results of the retreat from marriage have been evident in the black community for some time — but were co-morbid with other things. Were the high crime rates and poor school performance the result of the collapse of marriage or the residue of slavery and Jim Crow? Were the higher rates of diseases such as&#160;diabetes and heart disease in the African-American community related to family structure or poverty, and if the latter, was the poverty the cause or the effect of family structure?</p>
<p>With the Hispanic and white populations now retreating from marriage as well, many of the pathologies that had been politely called “inner-city” woes — widespread drug abuse, joblessness, mental illness, and school failure — are on the upswing among whites. And now there is no comparable history of discrimination to cloud the picture.</p>
<p>Last year, Anne Case and Angus Deaton of Princeton published a much-discussed paper showing that the death rate among middle-aged non-Hispanic whites was increasing and that the rise was attributable to behaviors such as&#160;drug and alcohol abuse and suicide. I wrote to Deaton asking whether he and his wife had analyzed the data for marriage. He said no, but someone should.</p>
<p>In 1989, Irving Kristol declined fully to embrace triumphalism about our victory in the Cold War with the communist world. His Cold War, the cultural one, he wrote, was not won but lost. Our political crises are to a very considerable degree downstream of our cultural ones.</p>
<p>— Mona Charen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Copyright © 2016 Creators.com</p> | What Government Can’t Do | false | https://eppc.org/publications/what-government-cant-do/ | 1right-center
| What Government Can’t Do
<p>Let’s call this the most unsurprising headline of the year so far: “Marriage Increases The Odds Of Surviving Cancer, Studies Find.” Next thing you know they’ll be discovering that salt makes you thirsty. I’m not actually belittling the science, more the opposite. Even the most cursory glance at social-science data accumulated over the past, oh, 150 years, provides copious evidence that we humans do better pair-bonded for life. And if data doesn’t convince you, there’s also literature, anecdote, tradition, and intuition. But let’s stick with science for now.</p>
<p>Two studies published in the journal Cancer found that among 800,000 adults diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2009, those who were married survived the disease at higher rates than single people — much higher rates. Especially men. The death rate among unmarried women was 19 percent higher than for married women, and for unmarried men the rate was 27 percent higher. The researchers controlled for factors such as&#160;income, health-insurance status, race, and other factors but still found that marriage was a key variable. Scarlett Lin Gomez of the Cancer Prevention Institute, one of the authors, told the Washington Post that money does not explain her results, but that “social support” is a “key factor.”</p>
<p>It’s interesting about the men, isn’t it? Marriage confers many benefits on women (though the early feminists were venomously anti-marriage), but study after study has found that when it comes to health and longevity, men benefit even more than women from tying the knot (and keeping it tied).</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/marriage-and-mens-health" type="external">Harvard Men’s Health Watch</a>, for example, cites a report from the Framingham Offspring Study that evaluated 3,682 adults over a ten-year period for heart-related conditions. Even after taking into account major risk factors such as age, body fat percentage, smoking, blood pressure, diabetes, and cholesterol, married men had a 46 percent lower rate of death than unmarried&#160;men.</p>
<p>Other studies cited by Harvard have found that married men have lower levels of depression, reduced incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease, improved blood-sugar levels, and, as in the studies mentioned above, lower levels of cancer and better survival rates after diagnosis.</p>
<p>When examined through the marriage lens, other differentials in American life can be understood as flowing from this most basic of <a href="file://localhost/Users/monacharen1/Dropbox/Book%20Research/The%20Benefits%20from%20Marriage%20and%20Religion%20in%20the%20United%20States:%20A%20Comparative%20Analysis.webarchive" type="external">human relationships</a>. Marriage confers not just health and longevity, but wealth, life satisfaction, community engagement, and other social goods. There is a large income gap between white and black Americans. But the marriage rate among African Americans has been significantly below that of others for several generations (though the white and Hispanic rates of unmarried parenting are sharply increasing). According to 2010 Census data, African-American two-earner married couples had mean incomes above the national average for married couples.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, married couples are the minority in the black community. Sixty-six percent of black children are raised in single-parent homes, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The rate for Hispanics is 42 percent and for non-Hispanic whites, 25 percent. In 2013, half of all mothers aged 30 and younger were unwed.</p>
<p>The results of the retreat from marriage have been evident in the black community for some time — but were co-morbid with other things. Were the high crime rates and poor school performance the result of the collapse of marriage or the residue of slavery and Jim Crow? Were the higher rates of diseases such as&#160;diabetes and heart disease in the African-American community related to family structure or poverty, and if the latter, was the poverty the cause or the effect of family structure?</p>
<p>With the Hispanic and white populations now retreating from marriage as well, many of the pathologies that had been politely called “inner-city” woes — widespread drug abuse, joblessness, mental illness, and school failure — are on the upswing among whites. And now there is no comparable history of discrimination to cloud the picture.</p>
<p>Last year, Anne Case and Angus Deaton of Princeton published a much-discussed paper showing that the death rate among middle-aged non-Hispanic whites was increasing and that the rise was attributable to behaviors such as&#160;drug and alcohol abuse and suicide. I wrote to Deaton asking whether he and his wife had analyzed the data for marriage. He said no, but someone should.</p>
<p>In 1989, Irving Kristol declined fully to embrace triumphalism about our victory in the Cold War with the communist world. His Cold War, the cultural one, he wrote, was not won but lost. Our political crises are to a very considerable degree downstream of our cultural ones.</p>
<p>— Mona Charen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. Copyright © 2016 Creators.com</p> | 599,777 |
|
<p />
<p>The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday the country may start to see a small number of drug shortages within two or three weeks due to delays in restoring manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico, where 10 percent of drugs prescribed in the United States are made.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Hurricane Maria slammed into the Caribbean island on Sept. 20, knocking out electricity and causing widespread damage to homes and infrastructure. Almost three weeks later, just 16 percent of electricity service has been restored to the U.S. territory.</p>
<p>Drugmakers are working to get facilities fully online, but face an uncertain power supply and difficulty obtaining materials used in the manufacturing process.</p>
<p>"A lot of companies say they're online, but they basically have one of five lines running at 20 percent or 80 percent or 50 percent," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told Reuters in an interview in New York. "They are not manufacturing at full capacity. They are manufacturing well short of that."</p>
<p>"It's unclear when they are going to be able to bring that up to full capacity," he said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Asked when U.S. hospitals and pharmacies might see shortages as a result, he said: "You might see some in the next two or three weeks if there's going to be additional shortages coming out of this situation."</p>
<p>The FDA has warned of 40 drugs made in Puerto Rico that could face shortages, including treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and HIV, but has not named specific medicines.</p>
<p>Most major drug companies have manufacturing facilities on the island, including Merck &amp; Co, Johnson and Johnson , Amgen Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Eli Lilly and Co, Pfizer Inc, AstraZeneca and GSK</p>
<p>The FDA leader said he wants drugmakers to provide the public with more information about the extent of the problems they are facing. He said the plants were all relying on backup generators for electricity, some of which were not designed to operate for sustained periods of time.</p>
<p>"I'm going to ask some of these companies to be a little more transparent around some of these issues," he said, adding that improvements would likely come slowly, with potential setbacks along the way. "As time goes on, we're going to see secondary impacts like the generators could start going down."</p>
<p>Of the list of drugs being closely monitored by FDA, 14 medicines are sourced solely out of Puerto Rico, Gottlieb said.</p>
<p>He said the agency was working with drugmakers to consider approving manufacturing sites in other countries, such as Mexico, Canada or Ireland, to alleviate possible shortages if companies have plants there.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Caroline Humer and Michael Erman in New York and Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Bill Rigby)</p> | Pharma's Puerto Rico problems could mean drug shortages in US | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/10/10/pharmas-puerto-rico-problems-could-mean-drug-shortages-in-us.html | 2017-10-10 | 0right
| Pharma's Puerto Rico problems could mean drug shortages in US
<p />
<p>The head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday the country may start to see a small number of drug shortages within two or three weeks due to delays in restoring manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico, where 10 percent of drugs prescribed in the United States are made.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Hurricane Maria slammed into the Caribbean island on Sept. 20, knocking out electricity and causing widespread damage to homes and infrastructure. Almost three weeks later, just 16 percent of electricity service has been restored to the U.S. territory.</p>
<p>Drugmakers are working to get facilities fully online, but face an uncertain power supply and difficulty obtaining materials used in the manufacturing process.</p>
<p>"A lot of companies say they're online, but they basically have one of five lines running at 20 percent or 80 percent or 50 percent," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb told Reuters in an interview in New York. "They are not manufacturing at full capacity. They are manufacturing well short of that."</p>
<p>"It's unclear when they are going to be able to bring that up to full capacity," he said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Asked when U.S. hospitals and pharmacies might see shortages as a result, he said: "You might see some in the next two or three weeks if there's going to be additional shortages coming out of this situation."</p>
<p>The FDA has warned of 40 drugs made in Puerto Rico that could face shortages, including treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and HIV, but has not named specific medicines.</p>
<p>Most major drug companies have manufacturing facilities on the island, including Merck &amp; Co, Johnson and Johnson , Amgen Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Eli Lilly and Co, Pfizer Inc, AstraZeneca and GSK</p>
<p>The FDA leader said he wants drugmakers to provide the public with more information about the extent of the problems they are facing. He said the plants were all relying on backup generators for electricity, some of which were not designed to operate for sustained periods of time.</p>
<p>"I'm going to ask some of these companies to be a little more transparent around some of these issues," he said, adding that improvements would likely come slowly, with potential setbacks along the way. "As time goes on, we're going to see secondary impacts like the generators could start going down."</p>
<p>Of the list of drugs being closely monitored by FDA, 14 medicines are sourced solely out of Puerto Rico, Gottlieb said.</p>
<p>He said the agency was working with drugmakers to consider approving manufacturing sites in other countries, such as Mexico, Canada or Ireland, to alleviate possible shortages if companies have plants there.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Caroline Humer and Michael Erman in New York and Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Bill Rigby)</p> | 599,778 |
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/www.thedailysheeple.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/fogle.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Former Subway scumbucket <a href="" type="internal">Jared Fogle</a> just found a way to be even more disgusting, a feat most people had no idea was even possible at this point.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thedailysheeple.com/jared-fogle-sentenced-to-more-than-15-years-for-child-pornography-and-sex-charges_112015" type="external">While serving 15 years</a> and eight months in prison for <a href="" type="internal">having sex with children</a> and <a href="" type="internal">child pornography</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Jared Fogle</a> decided to <a href="http://www.thedailysheeple.com/boo-hoo-fatty-ex-subway-pitchman-pedophile-jared-fogle-already-gained-30-pounds-in-prison_032016" type="external">put down the honey buns he’s been binge eating behind bars</a> to file a lawsuit against the parents of one of his female victims for what he says are her “destructive behaviors,” AP is reporting.</p>
<p>The girl’s parents had previously filed a civil suit against Fogle for $300,000 in damages for the girl’s injuries and what has been described as “significant emotional trauma” she suffered during her contact with Fogle.</p>
<p>However it is the parents, Fogle claims, who are the ones that should be responsible for what Fogle did to the girl… not Fogle.</p>
<p>“See how that works?” said Fogle’s lawyer and no one else ever.</p>
<p>Amazingly, Fogle is trying to blame the parents, claiming they abused alcohol and fought in front of the girl and that they got divorced, and so its the parents that caused the girl distress… not Fogle secretly videotaping and using her to create <a href="" type="internal">child pornography</a> without her knowledge.</p>
<p>It’s as if Fogle read a book called “How to get shanked in prison” and then went and aspired…</p>
<p>Piper writes for <a href="http://www.thedailysheeple.com/in-a-brand-new-disgusting-low-scumbag-pedo-jared-fogle-is-suing-his-child-victims-parents_092016" type="external">The Daily Sheeple</a>. There’s a lot of B.S. out there. Someone has to write about it.</p>
<p />
<p /> | Scumbag Pedo Jared Fogle is Suing His Child Victim’s Parents | true | http://dcclothesline.com/2016/09/03/scumbag-pedo-jared-fogle-is-suing-his-child-victims-parents/ | 2016-09-03 | 0right
| Scumbag Pedo Jared Fogle is Suing His Child Victim’s Parents
<p><a href="https://i2.wp.com/www.thedailysheeple.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/fogle.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Former Subway scumbucket <a href="" type="internal">Jared Fogle</a> just found a way to be even more disgusting, a feat most people had no idea was even possible at this point.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.thedailysheeple.com/jared-fogle-sentenced-to-more-than-15-years-for-child-pornography-and-sex-charges_112015" type="external">While serving 15 years</a> and eight months in prison for <a href="" type="internal">having sex with children</a> and <a href="" type="internal">child pornography</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Jared Fogle</a> decided to <a href="http://www.thedailysheeple.com/boo-hoo-fatty-ex-subway-pitchman-pedophile-jared-fogle-already-gained-30-pounds-in-prison_032016" type="external">put down the honey buns he’s been binge eating behind bars</a> to file a lawsuit against the parents of one of his female victims for what he says are her “destructive behaviors,” AP is reporting.</p>
<p>The girl’s parents had previously filed a civil suit against Fogle for $300,000 in damages for the girl’s injuries and what has been described as “significant emotional trauma” she suffered during her contact with Fogle.</p>
<p>However it is the parents, Fogle claims, who are the ones that should be responsible for what Fogle did to the girl… not Fogle.</p>
<p>“See how that works?” said Fogle’s lawyer and no one else ever.</p>
<p>Amazingly, Fogle is trying to blame the parents, claiming they abused alcohol and fought in front of the girl and that they got divorced, and so its the parents that caused the girl distress… not Fogle secretly videotaping and using her to create <a href="" type="internal">child pornography</a> without her knowledge.</p>
<p>It’s as if Fogle read a book called “How to get shanked in prison” and then went and aspired…</p>
<p>Piper writes for <a href="http://www.thedailysheeple.com/in-a-brand-new-disgusting-low-scumbag-pedo-jared-fogle-is-suing-his-child-victims-parents_092016" type="external">The Daily Sheeple</a>. There’s a lot of B.S. out there. Someone has to write about it.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 599,779 |
<p>Jan 18 (Reuters) - Tigenix Nv:</p>
<p>* ‍TRANSPARENCY NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 14 OF LAW OF MAY 2, 2007​‍</p>
<p>* ON JANUARY 16, 2018, TIGENIX RECEIVED A TRANSPARENCY NOTIFICATION FROM JPMORGAN CHASE &amp; CO​</p>
<p>* ‍FOLLOWING DISPOSAL OF VOTING SECURITIES ON JAN 9 JPMORGAN CHASE &amp; CO HOLDS 1.2 MILLION VOTING RIGHTS IN CO ​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co’s ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=JPM.N" type="external">JPM.N</a>) quarterly profit fell short of Wall Street expectations on Friday as lower revenue from investment banking ate into gains from U.S. corporate tax changes and higher interest rates.</p> FILE PHOTO: People walk inside JP Morgan headquarters in New York, U.S., October 25, 2013. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo
<p>Revenue grew across its businesses as borrowing rose amid strong economic growth. Higher interest rates lifted lending revenue more than the bank’s cost of money and its equity markets business had a strong quarter, which it attributed to derivatives trading and prime services.</p>
<p>Investment banking, however, was a dark spot, with revenue falling 7 percent on lower debt and equity underwriting fees.</p>
<p>Overall profit rose 35 percent, while revenue gained about 10 percent in the first quarter ended March 31.</p>
<p>The bank’s shares were up nearly 1 percent in premarket trading on Friday. The stock has gained 33 percent in the past 12 months.</p>
<p>“2018 is off to a good start with our businesses performing well across the board, driving strong top-line growth and building on the momentum from last year,” Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in a statement.</p>
<p>JPMorgan, like its rivals, had indicated that President Donald Trump’s sweeping changes to the U.S. tax law would kick-start economic growth and help lenders boost their revenue as corporations borrow more to expand their businesses.</p>
<p>Income tax expense was down 8.6 percent at $2.56 billion as the U.S. corporate tax rate fell.</p>
<p>The bank’s net income rose to $8.71 billion from $6.45 billion a year earlier.</p>
<p>Excluding items, it earned $2.26 per share, missing average estimate of $2.28, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=JPM.N" type="external">JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co</a> 113.37 JPM.N New York Stock Exchange -- (--%) JPM.N
<p>Net revenue was $28.52 billion, beating the average estimate of $27.68 billion.</p>
<p>Markets revenue rose 7 percent, excluding special items, on increased equity trading.</p>
<p>Global markets have been in churn since February due to worries over inflation, rising bond yields and heightened trade tensions between the United States and China.</p>
<p>Net interest income rose 9 percent to $13.5 billion as the rates it received for loans rose faster than its costs of funds.</p>
<p>Return on tangible common equity, a performance measure, was 19 percent, compared with 13 percent a year earlier. JPMorgan in February raised its return target for three years out to 17 percent, largely because of lower tax rates.</p>
<p>Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bengaluru and David Henry in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he had discussed with his U.S. and Russian counterparts potential steps for peace in Syria, after a series of phone calls in recent days.</p> Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting of his ruling AK Party at the Parliament in Ankara, Turkey April 10, 2018. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS
<p>Speaking to reporters after Friday prayers, Erdogan said he had told both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that increasing tensions in the region was not right.</p>
<p>Erdogan also said the current situation showed tensions had eased, but that he would continue his talks with his U.S. and Russian counterparts.</p>
<p>Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by David Dolan</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIRUT (Reuters) - The prospect of Western military action in Syria that could lead to confrontation with Russia hung over the Middle East on Friday but there was no clear sign that a U.S.-led attack was imminent.</p>
<p>International chemical weapons experts were traveling to Syria to investigate an alleged gas attack by government forces on the town of Douma which killed dozens of people. Two days ago U.S. President Donald Trump warned that missiles “will be coming” in response to that attack.</p>
<p>The allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were eager on Friday to lay blame for the crisis not with him but with Trump.</p>
<p>Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said international relations should not depend on one person’s morning mood, in apparent reference to Trump’s tweets.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-russia/russias-lavrov-god-forbid-any-libya-style-adventure-in-syria-idUSKBN1HK1C7" type="external">Russia's Lavrov: God forbid any Libya style adventure in Syria</a>
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-chemicalweapons/factbox-chemical-weapons-inspectors-how-do-they-work-idUSKBN1HK16H" type="external">Factbox: Chemical weapons inspectors, how do they work?</a>
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-germany/germany-vows-to-keep-pressure-on-russia-over-syria-idUSKBN1HK19T" type="external">Germany vows to keep pressure on Russia over Syria</a>
<p>“We cannot depend on what someone on the other side of the ocean takes into his head in the morning. We cannot take such risks,” said Dvorkovich, speaking at a forum.</p>
<p>Russia has warned the West against attacking Assad, who is also supported by Iran, and says there is no evidence of a chemical attack in Douma, a town near Damascus which had been held by rebels until this month.</p>
<p>Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s ambassador to the United Nations, said he “cannot exclude” war between the United States and Russia.</p>
<p>“The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war,” he told reporters. “We hope there will be no point of no return.”</p>
<p>Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, told Lebanese daily al-Joumhouria: “The conditions do not point to a total war happening...unless Trump and (Israeli leader Benjamin) Netanyahu completely lose their minds.”</p>
<p>U.S. allies have offered strong words of support for Washington but no clear military plans have yet emerged.</p>
<p>British Prime Minister Theresa May won backing from her senior ministers on Thursday to take unspecified action with the United States and France to deter further use of chemical weapons by Syria.</p>
<p>Trump was also expected to speak with French President Emmanuel Macron, who said on Thursday France had proof the Syrian government carried out the Douma attack and would decide whether to strike back when all necessary information had been gathered.</p> ASSAD TIGHTENS GRIP
<p>Trump himself appeared on Thursday to cast doubt on at least the timing of any U.S.-led military action, tweeting: “Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!”</p> U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with governors and members of Congress at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
<p>He met his national security team on the situation in Syria later in the day and “no final decision has been made,” the White House said in a statement.</p>
<p>“We are continuing to assess intelligence and are engaged in conversations with our partners and allies,” it said.</p>
<p>A team of experts from the global chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, was traveling to Syria and will start its investigations into the Douma incident on Saturday, the Netherlands-based agency said.</p>
<p>The capture of Douma has clinched a major victory for Assad, crushing what was once a center of the insurgency near Damascus, and underlines his unassailable position in the war.</p> Slideshow (3 Images)
<p>He has cemented his control over most of the western, more heavily populated, part of the country, with rebels and jihadist insurgents largely contained to two areas on Syria’s northern and southern borders.</p>
<p>They still control the northwestern province of Idlib, near Turkey, and a southern region around Deraa, on the border with Jordan. Turkish forces and rebel allies control territory in northern Syria, while U.S.-backed Kurdish forces hold wide areas of the northeast, and pockets of Islamic State fighters remain.</p>
<p>But none of those any longer directly threaten Assad’s grip on power, which has been reinforced by Russian air power and Iran-backed fighters on the ground.</p>
<p>Reporting by Alistair Smout, Tom Perry, Ellen Francis and Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Andrew Roche; Editing by Angus MacSwan</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May won backing from senior ministers on Thursday for unspecified action with the United States and France to deter further use of chemical weapons by Syria after a suspected poison gas attack on civilians.</p> Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May visits Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, April 10, 2018. Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool via Reuters
<p>This is what could happen next, what Britain’s options are, and what the risks are for May:</p> WHY IS BRITAIN GETTING INVOLVED?
<p>On April 7 there was a suspected chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma. The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that 43 people who died showed “symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals”, citing reports from its local health partners.</p>
<p>May has said it is highly likely that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government was responsible for the attack. She has said that use of chemical weapons cannot be allowed to go unchallenged, and that those responsible must held to account.</p>
<p>The United States, Britain’s closest military ally, has threatened missile strikes against Assad in response to the attack. France, another long-standing military ally, has said it has proof Assad’s forces were behind the attack.</p> HAS THE PRIME MINISTER COMMITTED TO MILITARY ACTION?
<p>Not yet. A statement from May’s office on the Thursday meeting said ministers agreed “it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged” and approved her plan to work with France and the United States on a response.</p> WHAT APPROVAL DOES MAY NEED TO ORDER MILITARY ACTION?
<p>None, in principle. In Britain, the power to go to war is covered by the “Royal Prerogative”. That means May’s government can act on behalf of the Queen to order military action without having to seek the approval of parliament.</p>
<p>However, the reality is more complicated. In the last two decades Britain has put most decisions on offensive military action to a vote in parliament. This has established a convention and many lawmakers argue it would be wrong for May to engage in Syria without giving parliament a say.</p> WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
<p>Much depends on the speed with which the United States, which is expected to lead any intervention, wishes to act. President Donald Trump has sent mixed signals.</p>
<p>International chemical weapons experts are traveling to Syria to investigate the alleged gas attack.</p>
<p>May is not currently scheduled to speak publicly on Friday. The British parliament returns from its Easter break on Monday.</p> WILL MAY HOLD A VOTE IN PARLIAMENT?
<p>On Wednesday the BBC said May was ready to give the go-ahead for Britain to take part in action led by the United States without seeking prior approval from parliament. Downing Street spokesmen have repeatedly declined to comment on that report.</p>
<p>Several lawmakers from her Conservative Party have argued that May should not seek parliamentary approval because the situation requires an urgent response. Opposition parties insist parliament should be consulted.</p> HOW WOULD A VOTE IN PARLIAMENT GO?
<p>This is very uncertain. May has a slim majority thanks to a deal with a small Northern Irish party to support her Conservatives.</p>
<p>There is a deep distrust among voters and in parliament about foreign intervention, dating from the 2003 decision to go to war in Iraq. It was approved by parliament but the Labour government’s case was later heavily criticized for relying on flawed intelligence.</p>
<p>In 2013, May’s predecessor David Cameron lost a vote on taking action against the Assad government after a different chemical attack - a major political embarrassment that contributed to a U.S. decision to back away from intervention.</p>
<p>Thirty Conservatives rebelled in that vote, and comments in recent days show there are still some divisions in the party over whether military intervention is the right approach.</p>
<p>Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran anti-war campaigner, has called for a United Nations-led inquiry into the chemical attack and said he preferred to continue pressing for a political solution rather than a military one.</p>
<p>However, Corbyn is at odds with some within his party, and it is unclear if he would be able to get all his lawmakers to back him in opposition to military action.</p> WHAT ARE THE RISKS?
<p>May, a minority government leader battling to deliver Brexit and weakened by a failed gamble on a snap election last summer, faces risks whatever path she takes.</p>
<p>If she does not consult parliament, she risks voter unrest. There are local government elections on May 3, at which May is already expected to suffer losses.</p>
<p>If she does consult parliament and loses a vote, her authority and ability to govern - already stretched thin by the divisive nature of Brexit - would be undermined.</p> WHAT MILITARY ACTION COULD BRITAIN TAKE?
<p>Britain has jets positioned in Cyprus which could strike targets in Syria. It also has unmanned armed aircraft operating in the region. The Royal Navy has submarines capable of firing cruise missiles at land targets.</p> ISN’T BRITAIN ALREADY BOMBING IN SYRIA?
<p>Yes, but not the Assad government. Britain voted in 2015 to extend offensive operations in Iraq against the Islamic State militant group into Syria. British planes have conducted more than 1,600 strikes in Iraq and Syria.</p>
<p>Reporting by William James; Editing by Andrew Roche</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-Tigenix Says Received Transparency Notification From Jpmorgan Chase & Co On Jan 16 JPMorgan profit just below forecast on weak investment banking Turkey's Erdogan says discussed steps for peace in Syria with Putin, Trump Threat of U.S.-Russia clash hangs over Syria Factbox: UK ministers back action on Syria - What happens next? | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-tigenix-says-received-transparency/brief-tigenix-says-received-transparency-notification-from-jpmorgan-chase-co-on-jan-16-idUSFWN1PD1CZ | 2018-01-18 | 2least
| BRIEF-Tigenix Says Received Transparency Notification From Jpmorgan Chase & Co On Jan 16 JPMorgan profit just below forecast on weak investment banking Turkey's Erdogan says discussed steps for peace in Syria with Putin, Trump Threat of U.S.-Russia clash hangs over Syria Factbox: UK ministers back action on Syria - What happens next?
<p>Jan 18 (Reuters) - Tigenix Nv:</p>
<p>* ‍TRANSPARENCY NOTIFICATION PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 14 OF LAW OF MAY 2, 2007​‍</p>
<p>* ON JANUARY 16, 2018, TIGENIX RECEIVED A TRANSPARENCY NOTIFICATION FROM JPMORGAN CHASE &amp; CO​</p>
<p>* ‍FOLLOWING DISPOSAL OF VOTING SECURITIES ON JAN 9 JPMORGAN CHASE &amp; CO HOLDS 1.2 MILLION VOTING RIGHTS IN CO ​ Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co’s ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=JPM.N" type="external">JPM.N</a>) quarterly profit fell short of Wall Street expectations on Friday as lower revenue from investment banking ate into gains from U.S. corporate tax changes and higher interest rates.</p> FILE PHOTO: People walk inside JP Morgan headquarters in New York, U.S., October 25, 2013. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo
<p>Revenue grew across its businesses as borrowing rose amid strong economic growth. Higher interest rates lifted lending revenue more than the bank’s cost of money and its equity markets business had a strong quarter, which it attributed to derivatives trading and prime services.</p>
<p>Investment banking, however, was a dark spot, with revenue falling 7 percent on lower debt and equity underwriting fees.</p>
<p>Overall profit rose 35 percent, while revenue gained about 10 percent in the first quarter ended March 31.</p>
<p>The bank’s shares were up nearly 1 percent in premarket trading on Friday. The stock has gained 33 percent in the past 12 months.</p>
<p>“2018 is off to a good start with our businesses performing well across the board, driving strong top-line growth and building on the momentum from last year,” Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said in a statement.</p>
<p>JPMorgan, like its rivals, had indicated that President Donald Trump’s sweeping changes to the U.S. tax law would kick-start economic growth and help lenders boost their revenue as corporations borrow more to expand their businesses.</p>
<p>Income tax expense was down 8.6 percent at $2.56 billion as the U.S. corporate tax rate fell.</p>
<p>The bank’s net income rose to $8.71 billion from $6.45 billion a year earlier.</p>
<p>Excluding items, it earned $2.26 per share, missing average estimate of $2.28, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=JPM.N" type="external">JPMorgan Chase &amp; Co</a> 113.37 JPM.N New York Stock Exchange -- (--%) JPM.N
<p>Net revenue was $28.52 billion, beating the average estimate of $27.68 billion.</p>
<p>Markets revenue rose 7 percent, excluding special items, on increased equity trading.</p>
<p>Global markets have been in churn since February due to worries over inflation, rising bond yields and heightened trade tensions between the United States and China.</p>
<p>Net interest income rose 9 percent to $13.5 billion as the rates it received for loans rose faster than its costs of funds.</p>
<p>Return on tangible common equity, a performance measure, was 19 percent, compared with 13 percent a year earlier. JPMorgan in February raised its return target for three years out to 17 percent, largely because of lower tax rates.</p>
<p>Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bengaluru and David Henry in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday he had discussed with his U.S. and Russian counterparts potential steps for peace in Syria, after a series of phone calls in recent days.</p> Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a meeting of his ruling AK Party at the Parliament in Ankara, Turkey April 10, 2018. Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Palace/Handout via REUTERS
<p>Speaking to reporters after Friday prayers, Erdogan said he had told both U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that increasing tensions in the region was not right.</p>
<p>Erdogan also said the current situation showed tensions had eased, but that he would continue his talks with his U.S. and Russian counterparts.</p>
<p>Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by David Dolan</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BEIRUT (Reuters) - The prospect of Western military action in Syria that could lead to confrontation with Russia hung over the Middle East on Friday but there was no clear sign that a U.S.-led attack was imminent.</p>
<p>International chemical weapons experts were traveling to Syria to investigate an alleged gas attack by government forces on the town of Douma which killed dozens of people. Two days ago U.S. President Donald Trump warned that missiles “will be coming” in response to that attack.</p>
<p>The allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were eager on Friday to lay blame for the crisis not with him but with Trump.</p>
<p>Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said international relations should not depend on one person’s morning mood, in apparent reference to Trump’s tweets.</p> Related Coverage
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<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-chemicalweapons/factbox-chemical-weapons-inspectors-how-do-they-work-idUSKBN1HK16H" type="external">Factbox: Chemical weapons inspectors, how do they work?</a>
<a href="/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-germany/germany-vows-to-keep-pressure-on-russia-over-syria-idUSKBN1HK19T" type="external">Germany vows to keep pressure on Russia over Syria</a>
<p>“We cannot depend on what someone on the other side of the ocean takes into his head in the morning. We cannot take such risks,” said Dvorkovich, speaking at a forum.</p>
<p>Russia has warned the West against attacking Assad, who is also supported by Iran, and says there is no evidence of a chemical attack in Douma, a town near Damascus which had been held by rebels until this month.</p>
<p>Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s ambassador to the United Nations, said he “cannot exclude” war between the United States and Russia.</p>
<p>“The immediate priority is to avert the danger of war,” he told reporters. “We hope there will be no point of no return.”</p>
<p>Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy leader of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, told Lebanese daily al-Joumhouria: “The conditions do not point to a total war happening...unless Trump and (Israeli leader Benjamin) Netanyahu completely lose their minds.”</p>
<p>U.S. allies have offered strong words of support for Washington but no clear military plans have yet emerged.</p>
<p>British Prime Minister Theresa May won backing from her senior ministers on Thursday to take unspecified action with the United States and France to deter further use of chemical weapons by Syria.</p>
<p>Trump was also expected to speak with French President Emmanuel Macron, who said on Thursday France had proof the Syrian government carried out the Douma attack and would decide whether to strike back when all necessary information had been gathered.</p> ASSAD TIGHTENS GRIP
<p>Trump himself appeared on Thursday to cast doubt on at least the timing of any U.S.-led military action, tweeting: “Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all!”</p> U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with governors and members of Congress at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 12, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
<p>He met his national security team on the situation in Syria later in the day and “no final decision has been made,” the White House said in a statement.</p>
<p>“We are continuing to assess intelligence and are engaged in conversations with our partners and allies,” it said.</p>
<p>A team of experts from the global chemical weapons watchdog, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, was traveling to Syria and will start its investigations into the Douma incident on Saturday, the Netherlands-based agency said.</p>
<p>The capture of Douma has clinched a major victory for Assad, crushing what was once a center of the insurgency near Damascus, and underlines his unassailable position in the war.</p> Slideshow (3 Images)
<p>He has cemented his control over most of the western, more heavily populated, part of the country, with rebels and jihadist insurgents largely contained to two areas on Syria’s northern and southern borders.</p>
<p>They still control the northwestern province of Idlib, near Turkey, and a southern region around Deraa, on the border with Jordan. Turkish forces and rebel allies control territory in northern Syria, while U.S.-backed Kurdish forces hold wide areas of the northeast, and pockets of Islamic State fighters remain.</p>
<p>But none of those any longer directly threaten Assad’s grip on power, which has been reinforced by Russian air power and Iran-backed fighters on the ground.</p>
<p>Reporting by Alistair Smout, Tom Perry, Ellen Francis and Maria Tsvetkova; Writing by Andrew Roche; Editing by Angus MacSwan</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May won backing from senior ministers on Thursday for unspecified action with the United States and France to deter further use of chemical weapons by Syria after a suspected poison gas attack on civilians.</p> Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May visits Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, April 10, 2018. Daniel Leal-Olivas/Pool via Reuters
<p>This is what could happen next, what Britain’s options are, and what the risks are for May:</p> WHY IS BRITAIN GETTING INVOLVED?
<p>On April 7 there was a suspected chemical weapons attack in the Syrian town of Douma. The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that 43 people who died showed “symptoms consistent with exposure to highly toxic chemicals”, citing reports from its local health partners.</p>
<p>May has said it is highly likely that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government was responsible for the attack. She has said that use of chemical weapons cannot be allowed to go unchallenged, and that those responsible must held to account.</p>
<p>The United States, Britain’s closest military ally, has threatened missile strikes against Assad in response to the attack. France, another long-standing military ally, has said it has proof Assad’s forces were behind the attack.</p> HAS THE PRIME MINISTER COMMITTED TO MILITARY ACTION?
<p>Not yet. A statement from May’s office on the Thursday meeting said ministers agreed “it was vital that the use of chemical weapons did not go unchallenged” and approved her plan to work with France and the United States on a response.</p> WHAT APPROVAL DOES MAY NEED TO ORDER MILITARY ACTION?
<p>None, in principle. In Britain, the power to go to war is covered by the “Royal Prerogative”. That means May’s government can act on behalf of the Queen to order military action without having to seek the approval of parliament.</p>
<p>However, the reality is more complicated. In the last two decades Britain has put most decisions on offensive military action to a vote in parliament. This has established a convention and many lawmakers argue it would be wrong for May to engage in Syria without giving parliament a say.</p> WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
<p>Much depends on the speed with which the United States, which is expected to lead any intervention, wishes to act. President Donald Trump has sent mixed signals.</p>
<p>International chemical weapons experts are traveling to Syria to investigate the alleged gas attack.</p>
<p>May is not currently scheduled to speak publicly on Friday. The British parliament returns from its Easter break on Monday.</p> WILL MAY HOLD A VOTE IN PARLIAMENT?
<p>On Wednesday the BBC said May was ready to give the go-ahead for Britain to take part in action led by the United States without seeking prior approval from parliament. Downing Street spokesmen have repeatedly declined to comment on that report.</p>
<p>Several lawmakers from her Conservative Party have argued that May should not seek parliamentary approval because the situation requires an urgent response. Opposition parties insist parliament should be consulted.</p> HOW WOULD A VOTE IN PARLIAMENT GO?
<p>This is very uncertain. May has a slim majority thanks to a deal with a small Northern Irish party to support her Conservatives.</p>
<p>There is a deep distrust among voters and in parliament about foreign intervention, dating from the 2003 decision to go to war in Iraq. It was approved by parliament but the Labour government’s case was later heavily criticized for relying on flawed intelligence.</p>
<p>In 2013, May’s predecessor David Cameron lost a vote on taking action against the Assad government after a different chemical attack - a major political embarrassment that contributed to a U.S. decision to back away from intervention.</p>
<p>Thirty Conservatives rebelled in that vote, and comments in recent days show there are still some divisions in the party over whether military intervention is the right approach.</p>
<p>Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a veteran anti-war campaigner, has called for a United Nations-led inquiry into the chemical attack and said he preferred to continue pressing for a political solution rather than a military one.</p>
<p>However, Corbyn is at odds with some within his party, and it is unclear if he would be able to get all his lawmakers to back him in opposition to military action.</p> WHAT ARE THE RISKS?
<p>May, a minority government leader battling to deliver Brexit and weakened by a failed gamble on a snap election last summer, faces risks whatever path she takes.</p>
<p>If she does not consult parliament, she risks voter unrest. There are local government elections on May 3, at which May is already expected to suffer losses.</p>
<p>If she does consult parliament and loses a vote, her authority and ability to govern - already stretched thin by the divisive nature of Brexit - would be undermined.</p> WHAT MILITARY ACTION COULD BRITAIN TAKE?
<p>Britain has jets positioned in Cyprus which could strike targets in Syria. It also has unmanned armed aircraft operating in the region. The Royal Navy has submarines capable of firing cruise missiles at land targets.</p> ISN’T BRITAIN ALREADY BOMBING IN SYRIA?
<p>Yes, but not the Assad government. Britain voted in 2015 to extend offensive operations in Iraq against the Islamic State militant group into Syria. British planes have conducted more than 1,600 strikes in Iraq and Syria.</p>
<p>Reporting by William James; Editing by Andrew Roche</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | 599,780 |
<p>Photo Credit: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (D. Myles Cullen) / Flickr</p>
<p>Within a week, United States President Donald Trump authorised two major strikes—one against the Syrian Air Force and the other against an ISIS base in Afghanistan. Both of these strikes came with little warning, although these are not the first such attacks in either sector. The U.S. has bombed Syria almost 8,000 times over the past few years and Iraq uncountable times since 2003, dropping ordnance that has already dwarfed the tonnage dropped in all sectors of the Second World War. But these bombing raids were against the ISIS, largely, and not the Syrian government. In Afghanistan, the U.S. has been at war since 2001—making this the longest war in its history. Aerial bombardment of Afghanistan by the U.S. is now perfectly normal. What made this attack so extraordinary was the scale of the bomb—a-10-tonne monstrosity, the largest non-nuclear weapon used on planet earth. Not long after Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar shuddered with the intensity of that bomb, a U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson talked to&#160;The Hill&#160;(a Washington D.C.-based political newspaper and website) about the attack. President Trump, said this military spokesperson, had given his armed forces greater latitude to fight the War on Terror. This freedom in combat, said the anonymous spokesperson, was “empowering the commanders and winning the war against the bad guys. In this administration, the military is given empowerment to do what we need to do”. Most stunningly, the spokesperson then spoke as if he were the manager of a prize-fighting boxer. “We mean business. President Trump said that once he gets in [to office] he’s going to kick the shit out of the enemy. That was his promise and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said the spokesperson.&#160;</p>
<p>Hastily, a denial came from Doha (Qatar), where this spokesperson is based. CENTCOM’s media chief Major Josh Jacques said that the person who talked to&#160;The Hillwas “unauthorised to speak on behalf of the U.S. Central Command”. But that statement had already been made. It revealed the unvarnished attitude of the military, or at least the section that favoured Trump’s more aggressive posture towards the world. The language and tone of the unauthorised spokesperson from CENTCOM mirrored that of Trump. “We have the greatest military in the world,” Trump said. “We have given total authorisation, and that’s what they’re doing, and frankly, that’s why they’ve been so successful recently.”&#160;</p>
<p>The measure of success</p>
<p>Since Trump assumed office, the U.S. has indeed stepped up aerial bombing across the geography of the War on Terror, from Syria to Afghanistan. Reports of civilian casualties from these strikes began to trickle out in the days after Trump came into office. The non-profit monitoring group Airwars decided to shift its resources to track civilian deaths from U.S. strikes and stop using its limited resources to look at strikes by Russians. The number of deaths from the former dwarfs those from the latter. In March 2017 itself, Airwars counted 1,782 civilian non-combatant deaths from U.S. strikes. There were three mass casualty attacks that month, one in Syria’s Aleppo (47 civilians dead), another in Syria’s Raqqa (33 civilians dead) and the third in Iraq’s Mosul (200 civilians dead). “Nothing has prepared us for that level of civilian casualties,” said Chris Woods of Airwars.&#160;</p>
<p>The bombing has been severe but the strategic gains have been limited. In Syria, the U.S.-backed forces have struggled to push against the ISIS in the country’s north. One aerial strike, in fact, killed a dozen soldiers of the U.S.-backed Syrian Defence Forces (SDF). The SDF has been hemmed in because of pressure from the Turkish government, whose Operation Euphrates Shield is intended to block the advance of these mainly Kurdish fighters along the Syrian-Turkish border. The strike on the Shayrat Air Base in Syria by the U.S. also came with little strategic foresight. From this base, the Syrian Air Force had been striking ISIS columns as they moved to threaten the city of Palmyra. With the destruction of several aircraft by the U.S. cruise missiles, the ISIS has been given relief from the skies.&#160;</p>
<p>In Afghanistan, the U.S. targeted the meagre forces of the ISIS’s Khorasan division, which had already been badly dented during an offensive by the Afghan Army in January 2016. It is not the ISIS but the Taliban that is a threat to the Afghan government. The monstrous 10-tonne bomb was used against an opportunistic group of fighters who have been unsuccessful in trying to build momentum in Afghanistan and who have been unable to inflame a sectarian war inside the country. These fighters, in fact, have been a thorn in the side of the Taliban, challenging it to be more brutal in its tactics to win over young fighters. With the ISIS weakened, the Taliban will have the field to themselves just as the summer of fighting is ready to open up.&#160;</p>
<p>Even those who have congratulated Trump on his actions, such as the U.S. Senator John McCain, bemoan the lack of a strategy to win the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. The Trump Doctrine, if there is any such thing, is to show that the U.S. is willing to use the full extent of its military power to intimidate its enemies. But the problem with this view, if this is indeed the vision of the Trump Doctrine, is that the U.S. might indeed fire its massive arsenal but it will also earn itself more enemies from the families of dead civilians and from patriotic-minded people who will not tolerate the attempt to intimidate. Even Hamid Karzai, former President of Afghanistan who was close to the U.S., said after the bombing: “This is an inhuman act, a brutal act against an innocent country, against innocent people, against our land, against our sovereignty, against our soil and against our future.” Karzai is not alone. Trump’s especially brutal language and the relish with which he has unleashed military power have alienated many potential allies and friends. It is easy to bomb a country; far harder to build alliances in its aftermath.&#160;</p>
<p>When he was asked to define the Trump Doctrine, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that the two words that are essential to the Trump world view are “America First”. “We’re not just going to become the world’s policeman, running around the world,” Spicer said. But, the U.S. would use its military only when there is a “clear and defined national interest,” he said. What “clear and defined national interest” was served in the attacks on Syria and Afghanistan? Of Syria, Spicer said that the U.S. was acting so that weapons of mass destruction do not “spread to other groups” that might threaten the U.S. The logic here is similar to that advanced by George W. Bush in 2002 and 2003, that the U.S. should destroy Iraq’s fictional weapons of mass destruction arsenal before the country shared it with Al Qaeda. There is little evidence that the Syrian government, like the Iraqi government before it, would ally itself with a group like Al Qaeda, which it sees as an enemy. But that is beside the point. Logic and history are unimportant in the Trump White House (Spicer even said that Adolf Hitler had not used chemical weapons against his own people, which, of course, denies what the Nazis did in the Holocaust). The U.S.’ national interest is not served by the attack on the Syrian government. That is the kind of regime-change policy that Trump had campaigned against during his run for the White House.&#160;</p>
<p>Selective outrage</p>
<p>Almost no logical account has been provided by the White House as to why the U.S. acted against the Syrian government for the as-yet-to-be-investigated attack in Idlib. The White House said that Trump was moved by pictures of the children killed in the attack, and that his daughter, Ivanka, implored him to do something. There was no such reaction when at least 126 people were killed by extremists who bombed buses outside Aleppo in midApril. There were 60 children amongst those killed then. No U.S. outrage was evident against the extremists, many of whom have links of one kind or the other with the U.S. and its allies.&#160;</p>
<p>Minimal explanation has been given for the U.S. attack in Afghanistan apart from the assertion by the U.S. commander that this massive bomb was necessary to take out the tunnel networks used by the ISIS. These tunnels, many of which were built with the assistance of the U.S.’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for the mujahideen in the 1980s, have been used for long by various extremist groups. Why strike the ISIS, already weakened, when it would have been far more useful to the Kabul government if the U.S. had turned its firepower against the more threatening Taliban? No explanation has been given for this.&#160;</p>
<p>After Trump’s two strikes, he received accolades in the U.S. from a range of politicians and commentators. It is as if U.S. culture is incapable of being unhappy with a President who bombs another country. The term “presidential” began to be used for Trump by people who had previously seen him merely as a usurper. Perhaps Trump’s bombing raids had less to do with Syria and Afghanistan and more to do with U.S. politics, where his personal approval ratings are miserable. Trump would not be the first U.S. President to use the U.S. military to bolster his popularity. President Bill Clinton routinely used cruise missiles as a way to distract people from his domestic scandals. It has even been suggested that Trump used the attacks on Syria and Afghanistan to send a message to North Korea—that he would act if he sees fit (as in Syria) and he would use massive weaponry that is unimaginable (as in Afghanistan). Whether Trump acts for domestic reasons or to send a message to North Korea, either way his use of violence seems to be lacking a logical strategy for Syria and Afghanistan.&#160;</p>
<p>Richard Nixon pioneered a theory of foreign affairs known as the “Madman Theory”. He told his Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman: “I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I’ve reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war.” Nixon’s people would spread the rumour, he said, that the nuclear option was available and that Nixon was mad enough to use it.&#160;</p>
<p>“Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace,” Nixon said. Perhaps Trump, like Nixon, believes in the Madman Theory, one pioneered by Machiavelli, who wrote: “It is a wise thing to simulate madness.” It terrifies one’s adversaries. It pleases the bloodlust of one’s supporters. But it does not make the world a safer place.</p>
<p>Vijay Prashad is the chief editor of LeftWord Books ( <a href="http://leftword.com/" type="external">leftword.com</a>) and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.&#160;He is the author of <a href="http://mayday.leftword.com/index.php?url_section=book&amp;slug=red-star-over-the-third-world&amp;isbn=9789380118666" type="external">Red Star Over the Third World</a> (LeftWord, 2017) and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Death-Nation-Future-Arab-Revolution/dp/0520293266/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=" type="external">The Death of the Nation and the Future of the Arab Revolution</a> (University of California Press, 2016), among other books.&#160;</p> | Trump Has Already Proven He's Willing to Bomb the World to Help His Political Standing | true | http://alternet.org/news-amp-politics/trump-has-already-proven-hes-willing-bomb-world-help-his-political-standing | 2017-04-28 | 4left
| Trump Has Already Proven He's Willing to Bomb the World to Help His Political Standing
<p>Photo Credit: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (D. Myles Cullen) / Flickr</p>
<p>Within a week, United States President Donald Trump authorised two major strikes—one against the Syrian Air Force and the other against an ISIS base in Afghanistan. Both of these strikes came with little warning, although these are not the first such attacks in either sector. The U.S. has bombed Syria almost 8,000 times over the past few years and Iraq uncountable times since 2003, dropping ordnance that has already dwarfed the tonnage dropped in all sectors of the Second World War. But these bombing raids were against the ISIS, largely, and not the Syrian government. In Afghanistan, the U.S. has been at war since 2001—making this the longest war in its history. Aerial bombardment of Afghanistan by the U.S. is now perfectly normal. What made this attack so extraordinary was the scale of the bomb—a-10-tonne monstrosity, the largest non-nuclear weapon used on planet earth. Not long after Afghanistan’s eastern province of Nangarhar shuddered with the intensity of that bomb, a U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson talked to&#160;The Hill&#160;(a Washington D.C.-based political newspaper and website) about the attack. President Trump, said this military spokesperson, had given his armed forces greater latitude to fight the War on Terror. This freedom in combat, said the anonymous spokesperson, was “empowering the commanders and winning the war against the bad guys. In this administration, the military is given empowerment to do what we need to do”. Most stunningly, the spokesperson then spoke as if he were the manager of a prize-fighting boxer. “We mean business. President Trump said that once he gets in [to office] he’s going to kick the shit out of the enemy. That was his promise and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” said the spokesperson.&#160;</p>
<p>Hastily, a denial came from Doha (Qatar), where this spokesperson is based. CENTCOM’s media chief Major Josh Jacques said that the person who talked to&#160;The Hillwas “unauthorised to speak on behalf of the U.S. Central Command”. But that statement had already been made. It revealed the unvarnished attitude of the military, or at least the section that favoured Trump’s more aggressive posture towards the world. The language and tone of the unauthorised spokesperson from CENTCOM mirrored that of Trump. “We have the greatest military in the world,” Trump said. “We have given total authorisation, and that’s what they’re doing, and frankly, that’s why they’ve been so successful recently.”&#160;</p>
<p>The measure of success</p>
<p>Since Trump assumed office, the U.S. has indeed stepped up aerial bombing across the geography of the War on Terror, from Syria to Afghanistan. Reports of civilian casualties from these strikes began to trickle out in the days after Trump came into office. The non-profit monitoring group Airwars decided to shift its resources to track civilian deaths from U.S. strikes and stop using its limited resources to look at strikes by Russians. The number of deaths from the former dwarfs those from the latter. In March 2017 itself, Airwars counted 1,782 civilian non-combatant deaths from U.S. strikes. There were three mass casualty attacks that month, one in Syria’s Aleppo (47 civilians dead), another in Syria’s Raqqa (33 civilians dead) and the third in Iraq’s Mosul (200 civilians dead). “Nothing has prepared us for that level of civilian casualties,” said Chris Woods of Airwars.&#160;</p>
<p>The bombing has been severe but the strategic gains have been limited. In Syria, the U.S.-backed forces have struggled to push against the ISIS in the country’s north. One aerial strike, in fact, killed a dozen soldiers of the U.S.-backed Syrian Defence Forces (SDF). The SDF has been hemmed in because of pressure from the Turkish government, whose Operation Euphrates Shield is intended to block the advance of these mainly Kurdish fighters along the Syrian-Turkish border. The strike on the Shayrat Air Base in Syria by the U.S. also came with little strategic foresight. From this base, the Syrian Air Force had been striking ISIS columns as they moved to threaten the city of Palmyra. With the destruction of several aircraft by the U.S. cruise missiles, the ISIS has been given relief from the skies.&#160;</p>
<p>In Afghanistan, the U.S. targeted the meagre forces of the ISIS’s Khorasan division, which had already been badly dented during an offensive by the Afghan Army in January 2016. It is not the ISIS but the Taliban that is a threat to the Afghan government. The monstrous 10-tonne bomb was used against an opportunistic group of fighters who have been unsuccessful in trying to build momentum in Afghanistan and who have been unable to inflame a sectarian war inside the country. These fighters, in fact, have been a thorn in the side of the Taliban, challenging it to be more brutal in its tactics to win over young fighters. With the ISIS weakened, the Taliban will have the field to themselves just as the summer of fighting is ready to open up.&#160;</p>
<p>Even those who have congratulated Trump on his actions, such as the U.S. Senator John McCain, bemoan the lack of a strategy to win the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. The Trump Doctrine, if there is any such thing, is to show that the U.S. is willing to use the full extent of its military power to intimidate its enemies. But the problem with this view, if this is indeed the vision of the Trump Doctrine, is that the U.S. might indeed fire its massive arsenal but it will also earn itself more enemies from the families of dead civilians and from patriotic-minded people who will not tolerate the attempt to intimidate. Even Hamid Karzai, former President of Afghanistan who was close to the U.S., said after the bombing: “This is an inhuman act, a brutal act against an innocent country, against innocent people, against our land, against our sovereignty, against our soil and against our future.” Karzai is not alone. Trump’s especially brutal language and the relish with which he has unleashed military power have alienated many potential allies and friends. It is easy to bomb a country; far harder to build alliances in its aftermath.&#160;</p>
<p>When he was asked to define the Trump Doctrine, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said that the two words that are essential to the Trump world view are “America First”. “We’re not just going to become the world’s policeman, running around the world,” Spicer said. But, the U.S. would use its military only when there is a “clear and defined national interest,” he said. What “clear and defined national interest” was served in the attacks on Syria and Afghanistan? Of Syria, Spicer said that the U.S. was acting so that weapons of mass destruction do not “spread to other groups” that might threaten the U.S. The logic here is similar to that advanced by George W. Bush in 2002 and 2003, that the U.S. should destroy Iraq’s fictional weapons of mass destruction arsenal before the country shared it with Al Qaeda. There is little evidence that the Syrian government, like the Iraqi government before it, would ally itself with a group like Al Qaeda, which it sees as an enemy. But that is beside the point. Logic and history are unimportant in the Trump White House (Spicer even said that Adolf Hitler had not used chemical weapons against his own people, which, of course, denies what the Nazis did in the Holocaust). The U.S.’ national interest is not served by the attack on the Syrian government. That is the kind of regime-change policy that Trump had campaigned against during his run for the White House.&#160;</p>
<p>Selective outrage</p>
<p>Almost no logical account has been provided by the White House as to why the U.S. acted against the Syrian government for the as-yet-to-be-investigated attack in Idlib. The White House said that Trump was moved by pictures of the children killed in the attack, and that his daughter, Ivanka, implored him to do something. There was no such reaction when at least 126 people were killed by extremists who bombed buses outside Aleppo in midApril. There were 60 children amongst those killed then. No U.S. outrage was evident against the extremists, many of whom have links of one kind or the other with the U.S. and its allies.&#160;</p>
<p>Minimal explanation has been given for the U.S. attack in Afghanistan apart from the assertion by the U.S. commander that this massive bomb was necessary to take out the tunnel networks used by the ISIS. These tunnels, many of which were built with the assistance of the U.S.’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for the mujahideen in the 1980s, have been used for long by various extremist groups. Why strike the ISIS, already weakened, when it would have been far more useful to the Kabul government if the U.S. had turned its firepower against the more threatening Taliban? No explanation has been given for this.&#160;</p>
<p>After Trump’s two strikes, he received accolades in the U.S. from a range of politicians and commentators. It is as if U.S. culture is incapable of being unhappy with a President who bombs another country. The term “presidential” began to be used for Trump by people who had previously seen him merely as a usurper. Perhaps Trump’s bombing raids had less to do with Syria and Afghanistan and more to do with U.S. politics, where his personal approval ratings are miserable. Trump would not be the first U.S. President to use the U.S. military to bolster his popularity. President Bill Clinton routinely used cruise missiles as a way to distract people from his domestic scandals. It has even been suggested that Trump used the attacks on Syria and Afghanistan to send a message to North Korea—that he would act if he sees fit (as in Syria) and he would use massive weaponry that is unimaginable (as in Afghanistan). Whether Trump acts for domestic reasons or to send a message to North Korea, either way his use of violence seems to be lacking a logical strategy for Syria and Afghanistan.&#160;</p>
<p>Richard Nixon pioneered a theory of foreign affairs known as the “Madman Theory”. He told his Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman: “I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe I’ve reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war.” Nixon’s people would spread the rumour, he said, that the nuclear option was available and that Nixon was mad enough to use it.&#160;</p>
<p>“Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days begging for peace,” Nixon said. Perhaps Trump, like Nixon, believes in the Madman Theory, one pioneered by Machiavelli, who wrote: “It is a wise thing to simulate madness.” It terrifies one’s adversaries. It pleases the bloodlust of one’s supporters. But it does not make the world a safer place.</p>
<p>Vijay Prashad is the chief editor of LeftWord Books ( <a href="http://leftword.com/" type="external">leftword.com</a>) and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.&#160;He is the author of <a href="http://mayday.leftword.com/index.php?url_section=book&amp;slug=red-star-over-the-third-world&amp;isbn=9789380118666" type="external">Red Star Over the Third World</a> (LeftWord, 2017) and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Death-Nation-Future-Arab-Revolution/dp/0520293266/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=&amp;sr=" type="external">The Death of the Nation and the Future of the Arab Revolution</a> (University of California Press, 2016), among other books.&#160;</p> | 599,781 |
<p>Zoot suit, white jacket with side vents five inches long I’m out on the street again and I’m leaping along I’m dressed right for a beach fight but I just can’t explain Why that uncertain feeling is still here in my brain</p>
<p>From “Cut My Hair,” The Who</p>
<p>Imagine a time when Mexicans bore the brunt of patriotic (sic) fervor: physically threatened, targeted by legislation, an easy scapegoat for working class frustration. Surely I’m talking about 2006 AmeriKKKa, right? You know…the fascist police state ruled by Nazi Dubya and his cadre of brown shirts who cynically exploit good vs. evil rhetoric in the name of furthering their global agenda.</p>
<p>Well…not so fast. Sorry to disappoint the lesser-evil crowd but this time, I was referring to events that climaxed 63 years ago this week…during the reign of liberal (sic) hero, Franklin Delano Roosevelt who cynically exploited good vs. evil rhetoric in the name of furthering his global agenda.</p>
<p>During the good (sic) war, young Mexican workers entered the U.S. en masse in response to a worker shortage on the Pacific coast. Over time, some Latino youths formed gangs and dressed almost exclusively in zoot suits. A zoot suit, as described by authors Walter Glanze and Jerome Agel, is made up of a “very long jacket, flared at the bottom, with exaggeratedly padded, boxy shoulders, and pegged sleeves. The trousers are pleated at the waistline, cut very wide over the hips, and taper to such narrow bottoms that men with big feet have trouble slipping the pants on.”</p>
<p>While the zoot suit eventually attained widespread popularity in the mainstream, it also became a pejorative synonym for “Mexican” on the West Coast as some Americans took umbrage at so many able-bodied young men who were not “helping to win the war.” To the local white population of Los Angeles, the manufacture of the zoot suit was a glaring example of waste in a time that demanded sacrifice in the name of defending democracy (as it were). This perception inevitably led to racist violence sparked by angry white soldiers on leave.</p>
<p>“In June 1943, the ‘zoot suit’ riots exploded in Los Angeles,” says historian Michael C.C. Adams. “For almost a week, off-duty white enlisted personnel roamed the streets, assaulting Hispanics.”</p>
<p>Mexicans and blacks “were dragged into the streets by soldiers and civilians,” wrote Agel and Glanze, where they were “stripped and beaten.” The response of the Los Angeles city council was positively Bush-like. Rather than address the issues of cheap labor and racism, they made it a misdemeanor to wear a zoot suit.</p>
<p>Racist scapegoating: an American tradition…brought to you with bipartisan support.</p>
<p>MICKEY Z. is the author of several books, most recently 50 American Revolutions You’re Not Supposed to Know (Disinformation Books). He can be found on the Web at <a href="http://www.mickeyz.net/" type="external">http://www.mickeyz.net</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | Scapegoating Mexicans is an American Tradition | true | https://counterpunch.org/2006/05/31/scapegoating-mexicans-is-an-american-tradition/ | 2006-05-31 | 4left
| Scapegoating Mexicans is an American Tradition
<p>Zoot suit, white jacket with side vents five inches long I’m out on the street again and I’m leaping along I’m dressed right for a beach fight but I just can’t explain Why that uncertain feeling is still here in my brain</p>
<p>From “Cut My Hair,” The Who</p>
<p>Imagine a time when Mexicans bore the brunt of patriotic (sic) fervor: physically threatened, targeted by legislation, an easy scapegoat for working class frustration. Surely I’m talking about 2006 AmeriKKKa, right? You know…the fascist police state ruled by Nazi Dubya and his cadre of brown shirts who cynically exploit good vs. evil rhetoric in the name of furthering their global agenda.</p>
<p>Well…not so fast. Sorry to disappoint the lesser-evil crowd but this time, I was referring to events that climaxed 63 years ago this week…during the reign of liberal (sic) hero, Franklin Delano Roosevelt who cynically exploited good vs. evil rhetoric in the name of furthering his global agenda.</p>
<p>During the good (sic) war, young Mexican workers entered the U.S. en masse in response to a worker shortage on the Pacific coast. Over time, some Latino youths formed gangs and dressed almost exclusively in zoot suits. A zoot suit, as described by authors Walter Glanze and Jerome Agel, is made up of a “very long jacket, flared at the bottom, with exaggeratedly padded, boxy shoulders, and pegged sleeves. The trousers are pleated at the waistline, cut very wide over the hips, and taper to such narrow bottoms that men with big feet have trouble slipping the pants on.”</p>
<p>While the zoot suit eventually attained widespread popularity in the mainstream, it also became a pejorative synonym for “Mexican” on the West Coast as some Americans took umbrage at so many able-bodied young men who were not “helping to win the war.” To the local white population of Los Angeles, the manufacture of the zoot suit was a glaring example of waste in a time that demanded sacrifice in the name of defending democracy (as it were). This perception inevitably led to racist violence sparked by angry white soldiers on leave.</p>
<p>“In June 1943, the ‘zoot suit’ riots exploded in Los Angeles,” says historian Michael C.C. Adams. “For almost a week, off-duty white enlisted personnel roamed the streets, assaulting Hispanics.”</p>
<p>Mexicans and blacks “were dragged into the streets by soldiers and civilians,” wrote Agel and Glanze, where they were “stripped and beaten.” The response of the Los Angeles city council was positively Bush-like. Rather than address the issues of cheap labor and racism, they made it a misdemeanor to wear a zoot suit.</p>
<p>Racist scapegoating: an American tradition…brought to you with bipartisan support.</p>
<p>MICKEY Z. is the author of several books, most recently 50 American Revolutions You’re Not Supposed to Know (Disinformation Books). He can be found on the Web at <a href="http://www.mickeyz.net/" type="external">http://www.mickeyz.net</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 599,782 |
<p><a href="" type="internal">Zynga</a> Inc, the video game company that went public in December, is planning to sell additional shares in a secondary public offering, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The newswire, citing two sources, said the offering would let investors sell shares, and large stockholders may also agree to a longer "lock-up" period. A "lock-up" period during an IPO means that certain investors with a large number of shares are usually not able to sell their stock until a pre-arranged date.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>One source told Bloomberg that Zynga wants to avoid what happened with <a href="" type="internal">LinkedIn</a> Corp, whose shares fell following the end of its lock-up period last fall.</p>
<p>A Zynga spokesman declined to comment on Tuesday. Zynga shares fell 2.8 percent to close at $13.38 on the <a href="" type="internal">Nasdaq</a>.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | Zynga Planning Secondary Offering: Report | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/03/13/zynga-planning-secondary-offering-report.html | 2016-01-29 | 0right
| Zynga Planning Secondary Offering: Report
<p><a href="" type="internal">Zynga</a> Inc, the video game company that went public in December, is planning to sell additional shares in a secondary public offering, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The newswire, citing two sources, said the offering would let investors sell shares, and large stockholders may also agree to a longer "lock-up" period. A "lock-up" period during an IPO means that certain investors with a large number of shares are usually not able to sell their stock until a pre-arranged date.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>One source told Bloomberg that Zynga wants to avoid what happened with <a href="" type="internal">LinkedIn</a> Corp, whose shares fell following the end of its lock-up period last fall.</p>
<p>A Zynga spokesman declined to comment on Tuesday. Zynga shares fell 2.8 percent to close at $13.38 on the <a href="" type="internal">Nasdaq</a>.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p> | 599,783 |
<p>Jan 24 (Reuters) - Aviragen Therapeutics Inc:</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP DELIVERS LETTER TO THE STOCKHOLDERS OF AVIRAGEN</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP SAYS PROPOSED MERGER BETWEEN AVIRAGEN AND VAXART NOT IN BEST INTERESTS OF STOCKHOLDERS OF AVIRAGEN</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP - “BELIEVE VAXART’S TRUE VALUE IS LOWER THAN THAT INDICATED IN PROPOSED MERGER”</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP SAYS “‍BELIEVE VAXART’S TRUE VALUE IS LOWER THAN THAT INDICATED IN PROPOSED MERGER AND THAT VAXART IS NOT READY TO BE A PUBLIC COMPANY”​</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP - DIGIRAD CORP, EAST HILL MANAGEMENT, THOMAS CLAY (COLLECTIVELY CAS GROUP) OWN ABOUT 8.3 PERCENT OF OUTSTANDING AVIRAGEN SHARES</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP - HAS NOMINATED A SLATE OF DIRECTORS FOR AVIRAGEN’S BOARD Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - For residents of the Old City, returning to Mosul is an exercise in trying to forget.</p> Moayad stands in front of the market stall where he sells second-hand jeans in al-Nabi market in the east Mosul, Iraq, January 11, 2018. REUTERS/Raya Jalabi
<p>Its streets bear the scars of the horrors they survived – either living under Islamic State’s (IS) draconian rule or during nine months of brutal fighting, as the U.S.-led coalition battled to recapture the city from the jihadists.</p>
<p>“This corner is where Daesh whipped my sons for talking out of turn,” said Um Abdullah, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State, walking around the neighborhood she returned to in January. “And this corner is where they killed my father for trying to stop them.”</p>
<p>The spot was meters away from her home in the Bab al-Jadeed district. Though the front door had been blown off its hinges, the house remained standing unlike most others on the street. Where there were once 40 families living, there are now only three.</p>
<p>Um Abdullah says she returned reluctantly to the area, which has no electricity and no running water, because conditions were nevertheless better than the refugee camp where she had lived before.</p>
<p>A few streets away, Um Russil said she had also recently returned to the area, where her husband had been wounded in an air strike.</p>
<p>“Some of our neighbors don’t want to return – they say they are scarred by what they went through and can’t come back,” she said. “But we had to come back ... we had no choice.”</p>
<p>Prior to the move back, Um Russil had been living in the eastern part of Mosul, Islamic State’s main base in Iraq which suffered heavy damage from bombing and fighting.</p> FORCED UNDERGROUND
<p>Many residents of the Old City were among the last to leave Mosul. As the fighting intensified in the spring of 2017, the militants retreated further inwards, to the densely packed buildings of the historic quarter. They took over entire homes, turning them into makeshift bases, forcing families underground.</p>
<p>“We lived for three months in the cellar, before they liberated our areas on July 7,” said Moayad, 45.</p>
<p>He was forced to live - along with his mother, his children and grandchildren - in his small, windowless basement by Russian-speaking Islamic State fighters who took over his home in the Zanjili district last spring.</p>
<p>“They had everything they needed,” said Moayad, who declined to give his full name. He added that without clean drinking water or food to eat, his family survived on flour mixed with saline water he stole from IS fighters’ medical kits.</p>
<p>He was jaundiced and starving when Iraqi security forces cleared his street and evacuated civilians who had been living under intense shelling for months.</p>
<p>It wasn’t always like this. When Islamic State first came to the city, they were mostly welcomed by the predominantly Sunni residents, some of whom – at least at first – were sympathetic to their cause.</p>
<p>“Nothing really changed at first,” said Moayad, a market trader who sells second hand clothes. “We could still move around, go to the market, walk in the streets and everyone would greet each other and chit-chat, even the new people in their strange clothes.”</p>
<p>Many residents were relieved to gain reprieve from the Shi’ite-led government forces that they say treated them badly, and happier still to get a break from car bombs that had dominated since al Qaeda, Islamic State’s predecessor, fomented a years-long insurgency.</p> CLEAN STREETS AND BRUTALITY
<p>Islamic State quickly set about building the apparatus of its so-called caliphate, including establishing a new local government. Some of the city’s employees left Mosul, current municipality head Abdelsattar al-Hibbu told Reuters.</p>
<p>But most stayed and were either forced to work for or willingly joined the new regime.</p>
<p>The militants ensured streets were cleaned and roads were paved. Some residents said the Islamic State’s administration, run by a French-Morrocan jihadi, was more efficient than the previous regime. The militants subsidized services and food for some of the city’s poor.</p>
<p>But they also imposed a system of oppressive religious taxes and issued a series of decrees covering all aspects of public and private life. Punishments ranged from chopped hands to beheadings, a spectrum of unfettered violence which turned many initial supporters away.</p>
<p>“You lived in constant fear of getting in trouble with the religious police or a senior fighter walking by,” said Moayad, who said crimes could be as small as smoking to wearing the wrong clothing.</p>
<p>As the war began and later intensified, residents of the Old City were prevented from leaving, serving as human shields for the dwindling numbers of IS fighters.</p>
<p>“They killed four people who tried to escape the neighborhood right outside my house,” said Moayad, recalling the scene.</p>
<p>“And they did it publicly to scare people into staying. We weren’t allowed to remove the bodies until they started decomposing, to scare us.”</p>
<p>Editing by Cassell Bryan-Low</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Perched atop a mound of rubble, Abdelsattar al-Hibbu surveyed what remained of his second-floor office: twisted iron and centuries-old stone reduced to dust by an airstrike.</p> FILE PHOTO - Abdelsattar al-Hibbu, municipality chief of Mosul, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Mosul, Iraq, January 9, 2018. REUTERS/Ari Jalal
<p>“I used to look out at the river from my window,” Hibbu said wistfully, recalling how the nine-month battle that defeated Islamic State militants in Mosul last year destroyed tens of thousands of buildings. “Now look at it.”</p>
<p>Hibbu is the municipality chief of Mosul and faces the titanic task of rebuilding Iraq’s second largest city from the ruins of war. It is a mega-project that could take years and require billions of dollars – yet his administration is strapped for cash.</p>
<p>“What are we supposed to do, dig money out of the ground?” asked Hibbu, a tall, broad man in his mid-forties who is fond of recounting his city’s storied past as a center of culture and learning.</p>
<p>His daily struggles reflect the challenges facing a city seen as vital to efforts to stabilize Iraq. Once home to about two million inhabitants, Mosul now has an estimated 700,000 of its population displaced and needs at least $2 billion of reconstruction, according to federal government estimates. Before the war it had an administrative budget of $80 million a year; now it doesn’t know how to pay its bills.</p>
<p>In mid-January Hibbu told Reuters he didn’t have a budget for 2018 yet, but that the city needed $75 million just to maintain basic services. He thought he might get $10 million from the Ministry of the Municipalities and Public Works, a federal government agency in Baghdad that oversees municipal governments. Nor is he expecting much from the provincial government, which once provided Mosul with about $60 million a year. It’s in disarray after the governor was suspended in an investigation into alleged corruption and the torturing of journalists. The governor denies any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>What scares Hibbu and Western officials is that the devastation and lack of help may reignite old sectarian grievances.</p>
<p>Mosul’s predominantly Sunni population had for years complained they were marginalized by the Shi’ite-led central government, treated like second class citizens and deprived of decent jobs and senior positions in the security forces. Those resentments led many of Mosul’s Sunnis to welcome Islamic State when it captured the city in 2014 and called for war against Iraq’s majority Shi’ites.</p>
<p>Hibbu, a Sunni himself, wants to avoid conditions that could enable a new group of militants to exploit frustration with the central government and pose another security threat.</p>
<p>“If Baghdad doesn’t properly invest in the reconstruction of Mosul, we could get something worse” than Islamic State, said Hibbu. “This lack of foresight is going to have very negative consequences.”</p>
<p>Lise Grande, until recently the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq who oversaw the U.N.’s stabilization program tasked with servicing immediate humanitarian needs, takes a similar view. “If we don’t stabilize these areas quickly, violent extremism might emerge again, and the gains against ISIL (Islamic State) could be lost,” she told Reuters.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-iraq-mosul-official-help/international-help-for-iraq-idUSKBN1GX19I" type="external">International help for Iraq</a>
<p>The Baghdad government did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the reconstruction of Mosul and the festering tensions.</p>
<p>For Hibbu, it’s an uphill struggle. People show up at his office at all hours making endless demands. State employees who have not been paid in months. City workers who need more vehicles to clear the garbage that is piling up. Factory officials desperate for fuel. Even a shepherd seeking help to transport his animals through the city center.</p>
<p>Many people in the city feel abandoned. Some areas are dotted with dirt-covered women and children, scouring the rubble for scrap metal they can sell. At one rubbish dump in December, an elderly woman rooted through a pile of fetid garbage for anything salvageable. “At least under Daesh” - an Arabic acronym for Islamic State - “we were treated better and weren’t reduced to picking garbage,” she said.</p> DESERTED BAZAARS
<p>Hibbu portrays himself as a wheeler-dealer who can handle just about anything after a career as a municipality official that began 17 years ago under Saddam Hussein. During the subsequent al-Qaeda insurgency, local officials, including him, were targeted. Hibbu faced three assassination attempts and still feels pain from the wounds. Two bullets are still lodged in his lower back, he said.</p>
<p>He works an average of 18 hours a day, often sleeping on a mattress he keeps in his office, and the stress sometimes gets to him. One moment he has guests in his office and charms them over glasses of sweet tea, the next he yells down the telephone at employees or argues with people lobbying for help.</p>
<p>The Tigris River, which flows through the city, is a demarcation line in the task of reconstruction. To the east, which escaped the worst of the fighting, much of life has returned to normal: Markets are busy, classrooms are full and traffic is constant.</p>
<p>The picture is much bleaker to the west, where militants drew the advancing forces into door-to-door combat in the Old City, a warren of narrow streets dating back centuries. Officials estimate that 40,000 homes were destroyed in West Mosul. Civilian life has only just begun to trickle in once more.</p>
<p>According to Hibbu, of the 200,000 residents of the Old City, only 1,000 families have returned – or roughly 5,000 people. Many of those displaced are still living in refugee camps or have piled into East Mosul, putting additional strain on already stretched infrastructure.</p>
<p>The United Nations estimates there are 10 million tons of rubble in Mosul overall, and the Old City’s streets are still knee-deep with debris. Children’s clothes, university textbooks and human remains are scattered between mangled doorways and sheets of corrugated iron, the detritus of life in a city half-destroyed.</p>
<p>Taller buildings, home to snipers and makeshift bomb factories during the battle, are heaps of collapsed concrete. The bazaars have been turned inside out, their scorched or dust-coated contents strewn outside pummeled shops that once sold everything from CDs to saffron and second-hand clocks.</p> FILE PHOTO - Abdelsattar al-Hibbu, municipality chief of Mosul, is seen in Mosul, Iraq, January 9, 2018. REUTERS/Ari Jalal
<p>Massive cranes are perched in the main square, clearing rubble and bullet-pocked cars, and knocking down unstable structures. Men sweep dust and pick up trash.</p>
<p>“Every month we advance about 100 meters into the Old City,” Hibbu said of rubble-clearing efforts there, walking through the bazaars one morning in mid-January. “It’s slow going, but that’s all we can do with the resources we have right now.”</p>
<p>To help places such as Mosul, the Baghdad government set up a body called ReFAATO – The Reconstruction Fund for Areas Affected by Terroristic Operations. Fadhel Abdel Amir, an adviser to the Ministry of Municipalities, which is a partner in ReFAATO, said the fund was allocated $400 million last year in the federal budget. But only $120 million was actually transferred to the fund - and that money was for all liberated areas of Iraq, not just Mosul, Abdel Amir said.</p>
<p>According to Hibbu, Mosul received the equivalent of just $252,000 from ReFAATO for 2017. “That’s about what we need to spend every hour,” Hibbu said, frustrated. “It’s not fair on the people of Mosul.” The central government in Baghdad declined to comment.</p>
<p>Hibbu says the municipality currently has 1,500 employees but needs 10,000. Much of its machinery was stolen or destroyed by Islamic State. About 970 machines, worth some $350 million, were taken or wrecked, he says, and the city has been left with only two specialized bulldozers small enough for clearing residential side streets.</p>
<p>To survive, the city has been racking up debts and relying on the patience of workers. The municipality owes $7 million to contractors and workers it hired in 2017, Hibbu said. “We’re four months late paying the salaries of our laborers.”</p>
<p>Fuel supplies are also short. On Mosul’s outskirts is a plant making asphalt vital for reconstruction. Its manager, Wafar Younis Zanoon, said the plant needs 5,000 liters of fuel per day but secures only 3,000 liters about twice a week. “We have to close three days a week,” he said.</p>
<p>It is people like Um Russil, a mother of two, who came back to her home in the Bab al Jadeed neighborhood of the Old City in October, that Hibbu needs to reassure. The municipal chief was eager to show that her street and nearby ones had been cleared of rubble. But there was no water or electricity anywhere in the neighborhood.</p> Slideshow (18 Images)
<p>Um Russil asked Hibbu to speed up the delivery of basic services to her and three other families who have returned to her street. “I’m too embarrassed to ask anything from you,” she said as she pulled at her dirt-covered dress. “But our lives were destroyed by Daesh … Right now, we just need running water.” Hibbu, clad in a smart suit, instructed a deputy from his 20-person entourage to look into the delay.</p>
<p>Some barely scratch a living as they suffer quietly in half-demolished homes. On a typical day before the war, a trader named Moayad, who declined to give his full name, used to earn $10 a day selling used jeans. Now, he says he can hardly make $1 a week.</p>
<p>“How am I ever going to make any money to rebuild my home?” he asked on a cold day in mid-January. His eldest son was killed in an airstrike during the war, leaving him to take care of his son’s wife and five children.</p>
<p>He said he had to borrow $25 from his sister just to buy a tarpaulin and some cement blocks to shelter his extended family of 13. He fears that even if aid money does arrive, it will not reach people like him.</p>
<p>“The best solution would be if the international donors and the coalition gave money directly to us, to residents, to rebuild our own homes and our own city,” said Moayad. “Because you know the second the money goes into government hands, we’re never going to see a dinar.”</p> “NOT A WISE CHOICE”
<p>Early this year, the central government and Mosul officials approved a plan intended to ameliorate sectarian tensions and police the city more effectively. The federal police and the powerful Shi’ite militias that have been providing security since the city’s liberation on July 10 were supposed to be phased out in favor of an army unit led by Najm al-Jabouri, a popular general from a large Sunni tribe.</p>
<p>Iraqi and Western officials had agreed to this arrangement to help displaced Sunni civilians feel safe enough to move back to the city. The Shi’ite militias were accused throughout the war of extra-judicial killings of Sunnis suspected of backing Islamic State. However, the plan has been indefinitely delayed, according to military and government sources, due to an increase in violence across liberated areas.</p>
<p>Sectarian tensions are still evident in the city. In January, members of Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias and the federal police held up posters of Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in a main Mosul square.</p>
<p>“That was not a wise choice,” an outraged Hibbu said. “We gave a lot of martyrs fighting Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, and now they’re putting up pictures of Khomeini!”</p>
<p>The challenges of creating sectarian harmony were also evident on the outskirts of Mosul. Sh’ite militiamen who stood guard along a road leading to a garbage dump said they and many other militiamen have no intention of leaving the city.</p>
<p>“I am just concerned with security,” one of the men, Jameel Khodr, who was holding an AK-47, told Reuters. Like other militiamen, he was determined that the militias keep control of as much of the area as possible. “We have enough weapons. We have machineguns. Rocket-propelled grenades.”</p>
<p>As Hibbu strives to bridge divisions and rebuild the city, he is under no illusions about the difficulties.</p>
<p>“Iraq is truthfully a divided country. The people are divided, though officially, we’re not divided,” he said as he sat in his office, pensive at the start of what he knew would be a long day. He even wondered whether Mosul and the surrounding areas should split away from Baghdad and become autonomous.</p>
<p>“Everyone should be helping reconstruct the liberated areas. Because in Iraq, we endured terrorists from around the world.” He listed various countries that played a part in his city’s ruin, from Iran to the United States. “They all ended up in Mosul, where the coalition waged war against them and destroyed Mosul.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Raya Jalabi and Michael Georgy. Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad. Editing By Richard Woods</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A 24-year-old man suspected of a series of deadly bombings around Austin, Texas, blew himself up early on Wednesday as police closed in on him, police officials said.</p> FILE PHOTO: Law enforcement personnel investigate an incident that they said involved an incendiary device in the 9800 block of Brodie Lane in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 20, 2018.REUTERS/Loren Elliott
<p>Police had tracked the suspect to a hotel near Austin, the state’s capital city, and were following his vehicle when he pulled to the side of the road and detonated a device, killing himself, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters near the scene.</p>
<p>“The suspect is deceased and has significant injuries from a blast that occurred from detonating a bomb inside his vehicle,” Manley told reporters. He said the suspect was white, but declined to provide his name.</p>
<p>Two Austin police officers were approaching the vehicle when the suspect set off his device. One officer fired at the vehicle and the other sustained a minor injury when the bomb went off, Manley said.</p>
<p>Police had urged residents of the area to treat packages with suspicion during the bombing campaign, and Manley warned residents not to let their guard down yet, since investigators were not sure whether the suspect had placed or sent more bombs.</p>
<p>The bombing killed two people and injured at least five others, unnerving residents of Austin, a city of some 1 million people. The first bombings occurred as the state capital was hosting the annual South By Southwest music, film and technology festival.</p>
<p>The first three devices were parcel bombs dropped off in front of homes around Austin neighborhoods. A fourth went off on Sunday night, apparently detonated with a trip wire, and one exploded inside a FedEx facility on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Live television images showed large numbers of police vehicles at the reported location of the bomber’s death, along a major highway in Round Rock, Texas, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Austin.</p>
<p>The series of bombings began on March 2 and bewildered law enforcement officials, who by Sunday began taking the unusual step of issuing a public call for the suspected serial bomber to get in touch and explain why he was carrying out the bombings.</p>
<p>The first two bombs killed black men, raising fears that they were part of a hate crime, but investigators said the later, more random blasts made that less likely.</p>
<p>Manley said investigators still had no clear idea of what prompted the suspect to carry out the bombing.</p>
<p>“We do not understand what motivated him to do what he did,” Manley said.</p>
<p>Police had tracked him to a hotel north of Austin before he drove away, leading to the final confrontation, Manley said.</p>
<p>“We don’t know if he was on his way to deliver another bomb,” Manley said. “He had one with him and that’s what he detonated as we approached.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Jonathan Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Scott Malone; editing by Larrhy King</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - German conglomerate Bayer won EU antitrust approval on Wednesday for its $62.5 billion buy of U.S. peer Monsanto, the last of a trio of mega mergers that will reshape the agrochemicals industry.</p> European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager holds a news conference at the EU Commission's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
<p>The tie-up is set to create a company with control of more than a quarter of the world’s seed and pesticides market.</p>
<p>Driven by shifting weather patterns, competition in grain exports and a faltering global farm economy, Dow and Dupont, and ChemChina [CNNCC.UL] and Syngenta had earlier led the wave of consolidation in the sector.</p>
<p>Environmental and farming groups have opposed all three deals, worried about their power and their advantage in digital farming data, which can tell farmers how and when to till, sow, spray, fertilize and pick crops based on algorithms.</p>
<p>The European Commission said Bayer addressed its concerns with its offer to sell a swathe of assets to boost rival BASF confirming a Reuters story on Feb. 28.</p> European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager holds a news conference at the EU Commission's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
<p>“Our decision ensures that there will be effective competition and innovation in seeds, pesticides and digital agriculture markets also after this merger,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.</p>
<p>“In particular, we have made sure that the number of global players actively competing in these markets stays the same.”</p> Slideshow (2 Images)
<p>Bayer has already reached a deal to sell certain seed and herbicide assets for 5.9 billion euros ($7.2 billion) to BASF and to give it a license to its global digital farming data. It will also divest its vegetable seeds business to BASF.</p>
<p>The Commission is due to decide on the BASF deal by April 16.</p>
<p>China has given conditional approval to the Bayer and Monsanto deal, which has won the green light in Brazil. It is currently being reviewed by U.S. and Russia antitrust authorities.</p>
<p>Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Robin Emmott</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | BRIEF-CAS Group Delivers Letter To The Stockholders Of Aviragen Bloody scenes of life under IS haunt Mosul returnees Special Report: This man is trying to rebuild Mosul. He needs help - lots of it Texas bomber suspect kills self as police close in, officials say Bayer wins EU approval for $62.5 billion Monsanto buy | false | https://reuters.com/article/brief-cas-group-delivers-letter-to-the-s/brief-cas-group-delivers-letter-to-the-stockholders-of-aviragen-idUSFWN1PJ11R | 2018-01-24 | 2least
| BRIEF-CAS Group Delivers Letter To The Stockholders Of Aviragen Bloody scenes of life under IS haunt Mosul returnees Special Report: This man is trying to rebuild Mosul. He needs help - lots of it Texas bomber suspect kills self as police close in, officials say Bayer wins EU approval for $62.5 billion Monsanto buy
<p>Jan 24 (Reuters) - Aviragen Therapeutics Inc:</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP DELIVERS LETTER TO THE STOCKHOLDERS OF AVIRAGEN</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP SAYS PROPOSED MERGER BETWEEN AVIRAGEN AND VAXART NOT IN BEST INTERESTS OF STOCKHOLDERS OF AVIRAGEN</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP - “BELIEVE VAXART’S TRUE VALUE IS LOWER THAN THAT INDICATED IN PROPOSED MERGER”</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP SAYS “‍BELIEVE VAXART’S TRUE VALUE IS LOWER THAN THAT INDICATED IN PROPOSED MERGER AND THAT VAXART IS NOT READY TO BE A PUBLIC COMPANY”​</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP - DIGIRAD CORP, EAST HILL MANAGEMENT, THOMAS CLAY (COLLECTIVELY CAS GROUP) OWN ABOUT 8.3 PERCENT OF OUTSTANDING AVIRAGEN SHARES</p>
<p>* CAS GROUP - HAS NOMINATED A SLATE OF DIRECTORS FOR AVIRAGEN’S BOARD Source text for Eikon: Further company coverage:</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - For residents of the Old City, returning to Mosul is an exercise in trying to forget.</p> Moayad stands in front of the market stall where he sells second-hand jeans in al-Nabi market in the east Mosul, Iraq, January 11, 2018. REUTERS/Raya Jalabi
<p>Its streets bear the scars of the horrors they survived – either living under Islamic State’s (IS) draconian rule or during nine months of brutal fighting, as the U.S.-led coalition battled to recapture the city from the jihadists.</p>
<p>“This corner is where Daesh whipped my sons for talking out of turn,” said Um Abdullah, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State, walking around the neighborhood she returned to in January. “And this corner is where they killed my father for trying to stop them.”</p>
<p>The spot was meters away from her home in the Bab al-Jadeed district. Though the front door had been blown off its hinges, the house remained standing unlike most others on the street. Where there were once 40 families living, there are now only three.</p>
<p>Um Abdullah says she returned reluctantly to the area, which has no electricity and no running water, because conditions were nevertheless better than the refugee camp where she had lived before.</p>
<p>A few streets away, Um Russil said she had also recently returned to the area, where her husband had been wounded in an air strike.</p>
<p>“Some of our neighbors don’t want to return – they say they are scarred by what they went through and can’t come back,” she said. “But we had to come back ... we had no choice.”</p>
<p>Prior to the move back, Um Russil had been living in the eastern part of Mosul, Islamic State’s main base in Iraq which suffered heavy damage from bombing and fighting.</p> FORCED UNDERGROUND
<p>Many residents of the Old City were among the last to leave Mosul. As the fighting intensified in the spring of 2017, the militants retreated further inwards, to the densely packed buildings of the historic quarter. They took over entire homes, turning them into makeshift bases, forcing families underground.</p>
<p>“We lived for three months in the cellar, before they liberated our areas on July 7,” said Moayad, 45.</p>
<p>He was forced to live - along with his mother, his children and grandchildren - in his small, windowless basement by Russian-speaking Islamic State fighters who took over his home in the Zanjili district last spring.</p>
<p>“They had everything they needed,” said Moayad, who declined to give his full name. He added that without clean drinking water or food to eat, his family survived on flour mixed with saline water he stole from IS fighters’ medical kits.</p>
<p>He was jaundiced and starving when Iraqi security forces cleared his street and evacuated civilians who had been living under intense shelling for months.</p>
<p>It wasn’t always like this. When Islamic State first came to the city, they were mostly welcomed by the predominantly Sunni residents, some of whom – at least at first – were sympathetic to their cause.</p>
<p>“Nothing really changed at first,” said Moayad, a market trader who sells second hand clothes. “We could still move around, go to the market, walk in the streets and everyone would greet each other and chit-chat, even the new people in their strange clothes.”</p>
<p>Many residents were relieved to gain reprieve from the Shi’ite-led government forces that they say treated them badly, and happier still to get a break from car bombs that had dominated since al Qaeda, Islamic State’s predecessor, fomented a years-long insurgency.</p> CLEAN STREETS AND BRUTALITY
<p>Islamic State quickly set about building the apparatus of its so-called caliphate, including establishing a new local government. Some of the city’s employees left Mosul, current municipality head Abdelsattar al-Hibbu told Reuters.</p>
<p>But most stayed and were either forced to work for or willingly joined the new regime.</p>
<p>The militants ensured streets were cleaned and roads were paved. Some residents said the Islamic State’s administration, run by a French-Morrocan jihadi, was more efficient than the previous regime. The militants subsidized services and food for some of the city’s poor.</p>
<p>But they also imposed a system of oppressive religious taxes and issued a series of decrees covering all aspects of public and private life. Punishments ranged from chopped hands to beheadings, a spectrum of unfettered violence which turned many initial supporters away.</p>
<p>“You lived in constant fear of getting in trouble with the religious police or a senior fighter walking by,” said Moayad, who said crimes could be as small as smoking to wearing the wrong clothing.</p>
<p>As the war began and later intensified, residents of the Old City were prevented from leaving, serving as human shields for the dwindling numbers of IS fighters.</p>
<p>“They killed four people who tried to escape the neighborhood right outside my house,” said Moayad, recalling the scene.</p>
<p>“And they did it publicly to scare people into staying. We weren’t allowed to remove the bodies until they started decomposing, to scare us.”</p>
<p>Editing by Cassell Bryan-Low</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) - Perched atop a mound of rubble, Abdelsattar al-Hibbu surveyed what remained of his second-floor office: twisted iron and centuries-old stone reduced to dust by an airstrike.</p> FILE PHOTO - Abdelsattar al-Hibbu, municipality chief of Mosul, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Mosul, Iraq, January 9, 2018. REUTERS/Ari Jalal
<p>“I used to look out at the river from my window,” Hibbu said wistfully, recalling how the nine-month battle that defeated Islamic State militants in Mosul last year destroyed tens of thousands of buildings. “Now look at it.”</p>
<p>Hibbu is the municipality chief of Mosul and faces the titanic task of rebuilding Iraq’s second largest city from the ruins of war. It is a mega-project that could take years and require billions of dollars – yet his administration is strapped for cash.</p>
<p>“What are we supposed to do, dig money out of the ground?” asked Hibbu, a tall, broad man in his mid-forties who is fond of recounting his city’s storied past as a center of culture and learning.</p>
<p>His daily struggles reflect the challenges facing a city seen as vital to efforts to stabilize Iraq. Once home to about two million inhabitants, Mosul now has an estimated 700,000 of its population displaced and needs at least $2 billion of reconstruction, according to federal government estimates. Before the war it had an administrative budget of $80 million a year; now it doesn’t know how to pay its bills.</p>
<p>In mid-January Hibbu told Reuters he didn’t have a budget for 2018 yet, but that the city needed $75 million just to maintain basic services. He thought he might get $10 million from the Ministry of the Municipalities and Public Works, a federal government agency in Baghdad that oversees municipal governments. Nor is he expecting much from the provincial government, which once provided Mosul with about $60 million a year. It’s in disarray after the governor was suspended in an investigation into alleged corruption and the torturing of journalists. The governor denies any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>What scares Hibbu and Western officials is that the devastation and lack of help may reignite old sectarian grievances.</p>
<p>Mosul’s predominantly Sunni population had for years complained they were marginalized by the Shi’ite-led central government, treated like second class citizens and deprived of decent jobs and senior positions in the security forces. Those resentments led many of Mosul’s Sunnis to welcome Islamic State when it captured the city in 2014 and called for war against Iraq’s majority Shi’ites.</p>
<p>Hibbu, a Sunni himself, wants to avoid conditions that could enable a new group of militants to exploit frustration with the central government and pose another security threat.</p>
<p>“If Baghdad doesn’t properly invest in the reconstruction of Mosul, we could get something worse” than Islamic State, said Hibbu. “This lack of foresight is going to have very negative consequences.”</p>
<p>Lise Grande, until recently the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq who oversaw the U.N.’s stabilization program tasked with servicing immediate humanitarian needs, takes a similar view. “If we don’t stabilize these areas quickly, violent extremism might emerge again, and the gains against ISIL (Islamic State) could be lost,” she told Reuters.</p> Related Coverage
<a href="/article/us-iraq-mosul-official-help/international-help-for-iraq-idUSKBN1GX19I" type="external">International help for Iraq</a>
<p>The Baghdad government did not respond to Reuters requests for comment on the reconstruction of Mosul and the festering tensions.</p>
<p>For Hibbu, it’s an uphill struggle. People show up at his office at all hours making endless demands. State employees who have not been paid in months. City workers who need more vehicles to clear the garbage that is piling up. Factory officials desperate for fuel. Even a shepherd seeking help to transport his animals through the city center.</p>
<p>Many people in the city feel abandoned. Some areas are dotted with dirt-covered women and children, scouring the rubble for scrap metal they can sell. At one rubbish dump in December, an elderly woman rooted through a pile of fetid garbage for anything salvageable. “At least under Daesh” - an Arabic acronym for Islamic State - “we were treated better and weren’t reduced to picking garbage,” she said.</p> DESERTED BAZAARS
<p>Hibbu portrays himself as a wheeler-dealer who can handle just about anything after a career as a municipality official that began 17 years ago under Saddam Hussein. During the subsequent al-Qaeda insurgency, local officials, including him, were targeted. Hibbu faced three assassination attempts and still feels pain from the wounds. Two bullets are still lodged in his lower back, he said.</p>
<p>He works an average of 18 hours a day, often sleeping on a mattress he keeps in his office, and the stress sometimes gets to him. One moment he has guests in his office and charms them over glasses of sweet tea, the next he yells down the telephone at employees or argues with people lobbying for help.</p>
<p>The Tigris River, which flows through the city, is a demarcation line in the task of reconstruction. To the east, which escaped the worst of the fighting, much of life has returned to normal: Markets are busy, classrooms are full and traffic is constant.</p>
<p>The picture is much bleaker to the west, where militants drew the advancing forces into door-to-door combat in the Old City, a warren of narrow streets dating back centuries. Officials estimate that 40,000 homes were destroyed in West Mosul. Civilian life has only just begun to trickle in once more.</p>
<p>According to Hibbu, of the 200,000 residents of the Old City, only 1,000 families have returned – or roughly 5,000 people. Many of those displaced are still living in refugee camps or have piled into East Mosul, putting additional strain on already stretched infrastructure.</p>
<p>The United Nations estimates there are 10 million tons of rubble in Mosul overall, and the Old City’s streets are still knee-deep with debris. Children’s clothes, university textbooks and human remains are scattered between mangled doorways and sheets of corrugated iron, the detritus of life in a city half-destroyed.</p>
<p>Taller buildings, home to snipers and makeshift bomb factories during the battle, are heaps of collapsed concrete. The bazaars have been turned inside out, their scorched or dust-coated contents strewn outside pummeled shops that once sold everything from CDs to saffron and second-hand clocks.</p> FILE PHOTO - Abdelsattar al-Hibbu, municipality chief of Mosul, is seen in Mosul, Iraq, January 9, 2018. REUTERS/Ari Jalal
<p>Massive cranes are perched in the main square, clearing rubble and bullet-pocked cars, and knocking down unstable structures. Men sweep dust and pick up trash.</p>
<p>“Every month we advance about 100 meters into the Old City,” Hibbu said of rubble-clearing efforts there, walking through the bazaars one morning in mid-January. “It’s slow going, but that’s all we can do with the resources we have right now.”</p>
<p>To help places such as Mosul, the Baghdad government set up a body called ReFAATO – The Reconstruction Fund for Areas Affected by Terroristic Operations. Fadhel Abdel Amir, an adviser to the Ministry of Municipalities, which is a partner in ReFAATO, said the fund was allocated $400 million last year in the federal budget. But only $120 million was actually transferred to the fund - and that money was for all liberated areas of Iraq, not just Mosul, Abdel Amir said.</p>
<p>According to Hibbu, Mosul received the equivalent of just $252,000 from ReFAATO for 2017. “That’s about what we need to spend every hour,” Hibbu said, frustrated. “It’s not fair on the people of Mosul.” The central government in Baghdad declined to comment.</p>
<p>Hibbu says the municipality currently has 1,500 employees but needs 10,000. Much of its machinery was stolen or destroyed by Islamic State. About 970 machines, worth some $350 million, were taken or wrecked, he says, and the city has been left with only two specialized bulldozers small enough for clearing residential side streets.</p>
<p>To survive, the city has been racking up debts and relying on the patience of workers. The municipality owes $7 million to contractors and workers it hired in 2017, Hibbu said. “We’re four months late paying the salaries of our laborers.”</p>
<p>Fuel supplies are also short. On Mosul’s outskirts is a plant making asphalt vital for reconstruction. Its manager, Wafar Younis Zanoon, said the plant needs 5,000 liters of fuel per day but secures only 3,000 liters about twice a week. “We have to close three days a week,” he said.</p>
<p>It is people like Um Russil, a mother of two, who came back to her home in the Bab al Jadeed neighborhood of the Old City in October, that Hibbu needs to reassure. The municipal chief was eager to show that her street and nearby ones had been cleared of rubble. But there was no water or electricity anywhere in the neighborhood.</p> Slideshow (18 Images)
<p>Um Russil asked Hibbu to speed up the delivery of basic services to her and three other families who have returned to her street. “I’m too embarrassed to ask anything from you,” she said as she pulled at her dirt-covered dress. “But our lives were destroyed by Daesh … Right now, we just need running water.” Hibbu, clad in a smart suit, instructed a deputy from his 20-person entourage to look into the delay.</p>
<p>Some barely scratch a living as they suffer quietly in half-demolished homes. On a typical day before the war, a trader named Moayad, who declined to give his full name, used to earn $10 a day selling used jeans. Now, he says he can hardly make $1 a week.</p>
<p>“How am I ever going to make any money to rebuild my home?” he asked on a cold day in mid-January. His eldest son was killed in an airstrike during the war, leaving him to take care of his son’s wife and five children.</p>
<p>He said he had to borrow $25 from his sister just to buy a tarpaulin and some cement blocks to shelter his extended family of 13. He fears that even if aid money does arrive, it will not reach people like him.</p>
<p>“The best solution would be if the international donors and the coalition gave money directly to us, to residents, to rebuild our own homes and our own city,” said Moayad. “Because you know the second the money goes into government hands, we’re never going to see a dinar.”</p> “NOT A WISE CHOICE”
<p>Early this year, the central government and Mosul officials approved a plan intended to ameliorate sectarian tensions and police the city more effectively. The federal police and the powerful Shi’ite militias that have been providing security since the city’s liberation on July 10 were supposed to be phased out in favor of an army unit led by Najm al-Jabouri, a popular general from a large Sunni tribe.</p>
<p>Iraqi and Western officials had agreed to this arrangement to help displaced Sunni civilians feel safe enough to move back to the city. The Shi’ite militias were accused throughout the war of extra-judicial killings of Sunnis suspected of backing Islamic State. However, the plan has been indefinitely delayed, according to military and government sources, due to an increase in violence across liberated areas.</p>
<p>Sectarian tensions are still evident in the city. In January, members of Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias and the federal police held up posters of Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in a main Mosul square.</p>
<p>“That was not a wise choice,” an outraged Hibbu said. “We gave a lot of martyrs fighting Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, and now they’re putting up pictures of Khomeini!”</p>
<p>The challenges of creating sectarian harmony were also evident on the outskirts of Mosul. Sh’ite militiamen who stood guard along a road leading to a garbage dump said they and many other militiamen have no intention of leaving the city.</p>
<p>“I am just concerned with security,” one of the men, Jameel Khodr, who was holding an AK-47, told Reuters. Like other militiamen, he was determined that the militias keep control of as much of the area as possible. “We have enough weapons. We have machineguns. Rocket-propelled grenades.”</p>
<p>As Hibbu strives to bridge divisions and rebuild the city, he is under no illusions about the difficulties.</p>
<p>“Iraq is truthfully a divided country. The people are divided, though officially, we’re not divided,” he said as he sat in his office, pensive at the start of what he knew would be a long day. He even wondered whether Mosul and the surrounding areas should split away from Baghdad and become autonomous.</p>
<p>“Everyone should be helping reconstruct the liberated areas. Because in Iraq, we endured terrorists from around the world.” He listed various countries that played a part in his city’s ruin, from Iran to the United States. “They all ended up in Mosul, where the coalition waged war against them and destroyed Mosul.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Raya Jalabi and Michael Georgy. Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad. Editing By Richard Woods</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A 24-year-old man suspected of a series of deadly bombings around Austin, Texas, blew himself up early on Wednesday as police closed in on him, police officials said.</p> FILE PHOTO: Law enforcement personnel investigate an incident that they said involved an incendiary device in the 9800 block of Brodie Lane in Austin, Texas, U.S., March 20, 2018.REUTERS/Loren Elliott
<p>Police had tracked the suspect to a hotel near Austin, the state’s capital city, and were following his vehicle when he pulled to the side of the road and detonated a device, killing himself, Austin Police Chief Brian Manley told reporters near the scene.</p>
<p>“The suspect is deceased and has significant injuries from a blast that occurred from detonating a bomb inside his vehicle,” Manley told reporters. He said the suspect was white, but declined to provide his name.</p>
<p>Two Austin police officers were approaching the vehicle when the suspect set off his device. One officer fired at the vehicle and the other sustained a minor injury when the bomb went off, Manley said.</p>
<p>Police had urged residents of the area to treat packages with suspicion during the bombing campaign, and Manley warned residents not to let their guard down yet, since investigators were not sure whether the suspect had placed or sent more bombs.</p>
<p>The bombing killed two people and injured at least five others, unnerving residents of Austin, a city of some 1 million people. The first bombings occurred as the state capital was hosting the annual South By Southwest music, film and technology festival.</p>
<p>The first three devices were parcel bombs dropped off in front of homes around Austin neighborhoods. A fourth went off on Sunday night, apparently detonated with a trip wire, and one exploded inside a FedEx facility on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Live television images showed large numbers of police vehicles at the reported location of the bomber’s death, along a major highway in Round Rock, Texas, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Austin.</p>
<p>The series of bombings began on March 2 and bewildered law enforcement officials, who by Sunday began taking the unusual step of issuing a public call for the suspected serial bomber to get in touch and explain why he was carrying out the bombings.</p>
<p>The first two bombs killed black men, raising fears that they were part of a hate crime, but investigators said the later, more random blasts made that less likely.</p>
<p>Manley said investigators still had no clear idea of what prompted the suspect to carry out the bombing.</p>
<p>“We do not understand what motivated him to do what he did,” Manley said.</p>
<p>Police had tracked him to a hotel north of Austin before he drove away, leading to the final confrontation, Manley said.</p>
<p>“We don’t know if he was on his way to deliver another bomb,” Manley said. “He had one with him and that’s what he detonated as we approached.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Jonathan Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Writing by Scott Malone; editing by Larrhy King</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BRUSSELS (Reuters) - German conglomerate Bayer won EU antitrust approval on Wednesday for its $62.5 billion buy of U.S. peer Monsanto, the last of a trio of mega mergers that will reshape the agrochemicals industry.</p> European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager holds a news conference at the EU Commission's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
<p>The tie-up is set to create a company with control of more than a quarter of the world’s seed and pesticides market.</p>
<p>Driven by shifting weather patterns, competition in grain exports and a faltering global farm economy, Dow and Dupont, and ChemChina [CNNCC.UL] and Syngenta had earlier led the wave of consolidation in the sector.</p>
<p>Environmental and farming groups have opposed all three deals, worried about their power and their advantage in digital farming data, which can tell farmers how and when to till, sow, spray, fertilize and pick crops based on algorithms.</p>
<p>The European Commission said Bayer addressed its concerns with its offer to sell a swathe of assets to boost rival BASF confirming a Reuters story on Feb. 28.</p> European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager holds a news conference at the EU Commission's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 21, 2018. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
<p>“Our decision ensures that there will be effective competition and innovation in seeds, pesticides and digital agriculture markets also after this merger,” European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.</p>
<p>“In particular, we have made sure that the number of global players actively competing in these markets stays the same.”</p> Slideshow (2 Images)
<p>Bayer has already reached a deal to sell certain seed and herbicide assets for 5.9 billion euros ($7.2 billion) to BASF and to give it a license to its global digital farming data. It will also divest its vegetable seeds business to BASF.</p>
<p>The Commission is due to decide on the BASF deal by April 16.</p>
<p>China has given conditional approval to the Bayer and Monsanto deal, which has won the green light in Brazil. It is currently being reviewed by U.S. and Russia antitrust authorities.</p>
<p>Reporting by Foo Yun Chee, editing by Robin Emmott</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a> | 599,784 |
<p>Is it brave to wear pants while female? Apparently, Hollywood thinks it is.</p>
<p>On Sunday, Actress Evan Rachel Wood wore an expensive pantsuit to the Golden Globes. When asked about her allegedly daring look, the " <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld_(TV_series)" type="external">Westworld</a>" actress explained her heroism: Courageous Wood wore her pricey pants to send a message to young girls seemingly mandated to wear dresses that they too can wear pants—not that there's anything wrong with dresses, quickly added the actress far too "woke" to slip up and offend the Dress Lobby.</p>
<p>“I’ve been to the Globes six times and I’ve worn a dress every time,” Wood told E! News. “I love dresses — I’m not trying to protest dresses — but I wanted to make sure that young girls and women knew that they aren’t a requirement, and that you don’t have to wear one if you don’t want to. And to just be yourself, because your worth is more than that.”</p>
<p />
<p>#Hero. Someone get this chick a presidential Medal of Freedom, ASAP. (Rumor has it, they are just <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/12/politics/biden-awarded-presidential-medal-of-freedom/" type="external">giving them away</a> at the White House anyway.)</p>
<p>Is this what Hollywood feminism has come to? As <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2017/01/12/5-women-showed-evan-rachel-wood-wearing-suits-red-carpet/" type="external">noted</a>by The Federalist's Inez Feltscher, is Wood so out of touch that she doesn't even realize that regular women wear pants all the time, like all day, every day? Further, are feminists really going to pretend that women are victims because they are somehow magically "forced" into wearing insanely expensive dresses at an insanely expensive award show full of self-congratulation?</p>
<p>Give me a break. The struggle is not real.</p>
<p>"Just be yourself, because your worth is more than that.”</p>
<p>Evan Rachel Wood</p>
<p>Feltscher even complied a list of women who have worn pants to previous award shows to drive home the glaring this-is-not-heroic point; Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Streisand, Diana Ross, Diane Keaton and Madonna all made the list. They should all receive bravery points too, apparently.</p>
<p>Can't feminist feigning victimhood just find another <a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/courses/" type="external">Everyday Feminism brainwashing course</a> to take in their alone time and shut up already?</p> | Is It 'Brave' For Women To Wear Pants? | true | https://dailywire.com/news/12395/it-brave-women-wear-pants-amanda-prestigiacomo | 2017-01-13 | 0right
| Is It 'Brave' For Women To Wear Pants?
<p>Is it brave to wear pants while female? Apparently, Hollywood thinks it is.</p>
<p>On Sunday, Actress Evan Rachel Wood wore an expensive pantsuit to the Golden Globes. When asked about her allegedly daring look, the " <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westworld_(TV_series)" type="external">Westworld</a>" actress explained her heroism: Courageous Wood wore her pricey pants to send a message to young girls seemingly mandated to wear dresses that they too can wear pants—not that there's anything wrong with dresses, quickly added the actress far too "woke" to slip up and offend the Dress Lobby.</p>
<p>“I’ve been to the Globes six times and I’ve worn a dress every time,” Wood told E! News. “I love dresses — I’m not trying to protest dresses — but I wanted to make sure that young girls and women knew that they aren’t a requirement, and that you don’t have to wear one if you don’t want to. And to just be yourself, because your worth is more than that.”</p>
<p />
<p>#Hero. Someone get this chick a presidential Medal of Freedom, ASAP. (Rumor has it, they are just <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/12/politics/biden-awarded-presidential-medal-of-freedom/" type="external">giving them away</a> at the White House anyway.)</p>
<p>Is this what Hollywood feminism has come to? As <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2017/01/12/5-women-showed-evan-rachel-wood-wearing-suits-red-carpet/" type="external">noted</a>by The Federalist's Inez Feltscher, is Wood so out of touch that she doesn't even realize that regular women wear pants all the time, like all day, every day? Further, are feminists really going to pretend that women are victims because they are somehow magically "forced" into wearing insanely expensive dresses at an insanely expensive award show full of self-congratulation?</p>
<p>Give me a break. The struggle is not real.</p>
<p>"Just be yourself, because your worth is more than that.”</p>
<p>Evan Rachel Wood</p>
<p>Feltscher even complied a list of women who have worn pants to previous award shows to drive home the glaring this-is-not-heroic point; Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Streisand, Diana Ross, Diane Keaton and Madonna all made the list. They should all receive bravery points too, apparently.</p>
<p>Can't feminist feigning victimhood just find another <a href="http://everydayfeminism.com/courses/" type="external">Everyday Feminism brainwashing course</a> to take in their alone time and shut up already?</p> | 599,785 |
<p>Rick Perry says the U.S. is at risk because “our spending on defense has declined 21 percent over four years.” But that includes war funding, which has sharply declined now that U.S. combat troops are out of Iraq and leaving Afghanistan.</p>
<p>The base defense budget, which does not include war funding, has declined by a more modest 6 percent (12 percent when adjusted for inflation) from a&#160;post-World War II high set four years ago in fiscal year 2010.</p>
<p>The Texas governor, who is <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/NHWLV/43dda9ff6c4347c09d7ecdb8d0d1cdea/Article_2014-11-10-NH--GOP-2016-Perry/id-13f36874deef48f88fdcd3d33f7188bd" type="external">considering running for president</a>, talked about defense cuts in speeches on <a href="http://www.reaganfoundation.org/pasteventdetail.aspx?p=PE40002PGE&amp;h1=7&amp;h2=13&amp;sw=&amp;lm=programandevents&amp;args_a=cms&amp;args_b=888&amp;argsb=N&amp;tx=3116" type="external">Oct. 27</a> at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and <a href="http://nhjournal.com/perry-insists-hes-still-at-least-six-months-away-from-a-decision-on-2016-run/" type="external">Nov. 10</a> in New Hampshire (typically home of the <a href="http://www.nh.gov/nhinfo/primacy.html" type="external">first presidential primary</a>).</p>
<p>At the Reagan Library, he warned that a “hollowing out of our military” will invite U.S. enemies to attack “at home and overseas” (beginning at the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s03QD9uHSHg&amp;list=UUEJi23qnygQHE5UeLXoV_JQ" type="external">17:27 mark of the library’s video</a>).</p>
<p>Perry, Oct. 27: When you see the military buildup of China, the depletion of our own military forces, with a reduction of spending of some 21 percent in the last four years, how can you not think of a previous era soon after the end of the war in Vietnam, and wonder if we’re not once again inviting threats to our interests at home and overseas by allowing the hollowing out of our military.</p>
<p>He repeated the 21 percent figure when <a href="http://nhpr.org/post/perry-tests-2016-waters-addresses-charges-keystone-pipeline-border-security" type="external">speaking at an event in New Hampshire</a> celebrating the founding of the U.S. Marines. He again cited the steep decline in defense spending in the context of threats abroad.</p>
<p>Perry, Nov. 10: Today, our spending on defense has declined 21 percent over four years. Today, threats are not in retreat, they are on the rise — from Russia’s aggression in Ukraine to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, to the emergence of ISIS and the continued struggle to secure Afghanistan.</p>
<p>We asked the governor’s office how he arrived at the 21 percent figure, and it cited <a href="http://www.csbaonline.org/publications/2014/09/analysis-of-the-fy2015-defense-budget/" type="external">an analysis of the fiscal year 2015 defense budget</a> released in September by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.</p>
<p>Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Sept. 4: Adjusting for inflation (using the GDP price index), the base DoD budget grew 61 percent from its most recent low in FY 1998 to its most recent high in FY 2010 — higher than the previous peak in FY 1985 of $552 billion in FY 2015 dollars. Since FY 2010, however, the base defense budget has fallen by 12 percent in real terms through FY 2014. When war funding is included, the total DoD budget has fallen by 21 percent since FY 2010.</p>
<p>First, let’s note that the 21 percent cited by Perry includes war funding — a category of funding that the Pentagon calls overseas contingency operations, or OCO.</p>
<p>Fiscal year 2010 — the baseline used in the report and cited by Perry — began on Oct. 1, 2009. At the time, the U.S. was fighting two wars. Overseas contingency operations cost&#160; <a href="http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2015/fy2015_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf" type="external">$162.4 billion in fiscal 2010</a> to help support <a href="http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2010/fy2010_BudgetBriefing.pdf" type="external">168,000 troops</a> in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to defense budget documents.</p>
<p>But U.S. combat troops <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/iraq" type="external">left Iraq in December 2011,</a> and combat operations are winding down in Afghanistan and will end by December of this year. President Obama has announced that the U.S. will leave a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-to-leave-9800-us-troops-in-afghanistan-senior-official-says/2014/05/27/57f37e72-e5b2-11e3-a86b-362fd5443d19_story.html" type="external">residual force of 9,800 in Afghanistan</a>.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the U.S. in fiscal 2014 spent $85.2 billion in war funding — roughly half what it did in 2010. The administration <a href="http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2015/amendment/FY15_OCO_Congressional_Briefing.pdf" type="external">has requested $59 billion for fiscal 2015</a>, which began Oct. 1.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.csbaonline.org/about/people/tharrison/" type="external">Todd Harrison</a>, the author of the report cited by Perry, says “the base budget is a more appropriate measure to use if the point is to show how much the military has been ‘hollowed out.’ ”</p>
<p>The base defense budget declined 6 percent in the last four years, from $527.9 billion in fiscal 2010 to $496 billion in fiscal 2014, according to the <a href="http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2015/fy2015_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf" type="external">fiscal year 2015 budget overview</a> released in March by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer. (See Figure 1-2 in chapter one, page 4.) Adjusted for inflation, the base budget was down 12 percent in four years, according to Harrison’s report.</p>
<p>But, as Harrison’s report also showed, the decline in base defense funding over the last four years is from a post-World War II record amount. Harrison analyzed defense funding since fiscal 1948 and found that the base defense budget adjusted for inflation peaked in fiscal year 2010.</p>
<p>There is no question that total defense spending (including war funding) and the base defense budget (without the war funding) are down compared with four years ago. And <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-no-2-urges-end-u-budget-cut-131652929--business.html" type="external">Pentagon officials are among those</a> who aren’t happy about it. But Perry’s selective use of budget data distorts the scope of the cuts by comparing today’s total defense spending with fiscal year 2010, a year when the U.S. was fighting two wars and had a base defense budget that reached a post-World War II high.</p>
<p>— Eugene Kiely, with Lauren Shapiro</p> | Rick Perry’s Talking Point on Defense Cuts | false | https://factcheck.org/2014/11/rick-perrys-talking-point-on-defense-cuts/ | 2014-11-14 | 2least
| Rick Perry’s Talking Point on Defense Cuts
<p>Rick Perry says the U.S. is at risk because “our spending on defense has declined 21 percent over four years.” But that includes war funding, which has sharply declined now that U.S. combat troops are out of Iraq and leaving Afghanistan.</p>
<p>The base defense budget, which does not include war funding, has declined by a more modest 6 percent (12 percent when adjusted for inflation) from a&#160;post-World War II high set four years ago in fiscal year 2010.</p>
<p>The Texas governor, who is <a href="http://hosted2.ap.org/NHWLV/43dda9ff6c4347c09d7ecdb8d0d1cdea/Article_2014-11-10-NH--GOP-2016-Perry/id-13f36874deef48f88fdcd3d33f7188bd" type="external">considering running for president</a>, talked about defense cuts in speeches on <a href="http://www.reaganfoundation.org/pasteventdetail.aspx?p=PE40002PGE&amp;h1=7&amp;h2=13&amp;sw=&amp;lm=programandevents&amp;args_a=cms&amp;args_b=888&amp;argsb=N&amp;tx=3116" type="external">Oct. 27</a> at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and <a href="http://nhjournal.com/perry-insists-hes-still-at-least-six-months-away-from-a-decision-on-2016-run/" type="external">Nov. 10</a> in New Hampshire (typically home of the <a href="http://www.nh.gov/nhinfo/primacy.html" type="external">first presidential primary</a>).</p>
<p>At the Reagan Library, he warned that a “hollowing out of our military” will invite U.S. enemies to attack “at home and overseas” (beginning at the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s03QD9uHSHg&amp;list=UUEJi23qnygQHE5UeLXoV_JQ" type="external">17:27 mark of the library’s video</a>).</p>
<p>Perry, Oct. 27: When you see the military buildup of China, the depletion of our own military forces, with a reduction of spending of some 21 percent in the last four years, how can you not think of a previous era soon after the end of the war in Vietnam, and wonder if we’re not once again inviting threats to our interests at home and overseas by allowing the hollowing out of our military.</p>
<p>He repeated the 21 percent figure when <a href="http://nhpr.org/post/perry-tests-2016-waters-addresses-charges-keystone-pipeline-border-security" type="external">speaking at an event in New Hampshire</a> celebrating the founding of the U.S. Marines. He again cited the steep decline in defense spending in the context of threats abroad.</p>
<p>Perry, Nov. 10: Today, our spending on defense has declined 21 percent over four years. Today, threats are not in retreat, they are on the rise — from Russia’s aggression in Ukraine to Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons, to the emergence of ISIS and the continued struggle to secure Afghanistan.</p>
<p>We asked the governor’s office how he arrived at the 21 percent figure, and it cited <a href="http://www.csbaonline.org/publications/2014/09/analysis-of-the-fy2015-defense-budget/" type="external">an analysis of the fiscal year 2015 defense budget</a> released in September by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.</p>
<p>Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Sept. 4: Adjusting for inflation (using the GDP price index), the base DoD budget grew 61 percent from its most recent low in FY 1998 to its most recent high in FY 2010 — higher than the previous peak in FY 1985 of $552 billion in FY 2015 dollars. Since FY 2010, however, the base defense budget has fallen by 12 percent in real terms through FY 2014. When war funding is included, the total DoD budget has fallen by 21 percent since FY 2010.</p>
<p>First, let’s note that the 21 percent cited by Perry includes war funding — a category of funding that the Pentagon calls overseas contingency operations, or OCO.</p>
<p>Fiscal year 2010 — the baseline used in the report and cited by Perry — began on Oct. 1, 2009. At the time, the U.S. was fighting two wars. Overseas contingency operations cost&#160; <a href="http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2015/fy2015_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf" type="external">$162.4 billion in fiscal 2010</a> to help support <a href="http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2010/fy2010_BudgetBriefing.pdf" type="external">168,000 troops</a> in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to defense budget documents.</p>
<p>But U.S. combat troops <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/iraq" type="external">left Iraq in December 2011,</a> and combat operations are winding down in Afghanistan and will end by December of this year. President Obama has announced that the U.S. will leave a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-to-leave-9800-us-troops-in-afghanistan-senior-official-says/2014/05/27/57f37e72-e5b2-11e3-a86b-362fd5443d19_story.html" type="external">residual force of 9,800 in Afghanistan</a>.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, the U.S. in fiscal 2014 spent $85.2 billion in war funding — roughly half what it did in 2010. The administration <a href="http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2015/amendment/FY15_OCO_Congressional_Briefing.pdf" type="external">has requested $59 billion for fiscal 2015</a>, which began Oct. 1.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.csbaonline.org/about/people/tharrison/" type="external">Todd Harrison</a>, the author of the report cited by Perry, says “the base budget is a more appropriate measure to use if the point is to show how much the military has been ‘hollowed out.’ ”</p>
<p>The base defense budget declined 6 percent in the last four years, from $527.9 billion in fiscal 2010 to $496 billion in fiscal 2014, according to the <a href="http://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/Documents/defbudget/fy2015/fy2015_Budget_Request_Overview_Book.pdf" type="external">fiscal year 2015 budget overview</a> released in March by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)/Chief Financial Officer. (See Figure 1-2 in chapter one, page 4.) Adjusted for inflation, the base budget was down 12 percent in four years, according to Harrison’s report.</p>
<p>But, as Harrison’s report also showed, the decline in base defense funding over the last four years is from a post-World War II record amount. Harrison analyzed defense funding since fiscal 1948 and found that the base defense budget adjusted for inflation peaked in fiscal year 2010.</p>
<p>There is no question that total defense spending (including war funding) and the base defense budget (without the war funding) are down compared with four years ago. And <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-no-2-urges-end-u-budget-cut-131652929--business.html" type="external">Pentagon officials are among those</a> who aren’t happy about it. But Perry’s selective use of budget data distorts the scope of the cuts by comparing today’s total defense spending with fiscal year 2010, a year when the U.S. was fighting two wars and had a base defense budget that reached a post-World War II high.</p>
<p>— Eugene Kiely, with Lauren Shapiro</p> | 599,786 |
<p>Dec. 7 (UPI) — White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said there has been “no official decision made” on if the United States will take part in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.</p>
<p>Sanders made the comments on Thursday <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/12/07/Watch-live-Sarah-Sanders-gives-White-House-briefing/3601512670199/" type="external">during an on-camera press briefing</a>, casting doubt on whether Americans would compete at the Olympics. Soon after, Sanders walked back that statement on Twitter, saying the U.S. “looks forward” to the Games.</p>
<p>“UPDATE: The U.S. <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/938849891652161536" type="external">looks forward to participating</a> in the Winter Olympics in South Korea,” Sanders tweeted. “The protection of Americans is our top priority and we are engaged with the South Koreans and other partner nations to secure the venues.</p>
<p>Sanders’ speculation on U.S. participation in the Winter Olympics, scheduled to begin Feb. 9 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, followed similar doubt shared by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Nikki_Haley/" type="external">Nikki Haley</a>.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Haley told Fox News that it <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/12/07/South-Korea-welcomes-Russias-Olympics-announcement/5751512665352/?utm_source=sec&amp;utm_campaign=sl&amp;utm_medium=5" type="external">was an “open question”</a> if the United States would participate in the games.</p>
<p>“There is an open question,” Haley said. “I have not heard anything about that. But I do know, in the talks that we have, whether it’s Jerusalem, whether it’s <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/North_Korea/" type="external">North Korea</a>, it’s always about how to we protect the U.S. citizens in the area. So those are conversations that are happening daily.”</p>
<p>Sanders said nothing is “official,” when addressing Haley’s comments on Thursday.</p>
<p>“Look, that wasn’t exactly what the ambassador said. No official decision has been made on that,” Sanders told reporters. “We will keep you guys posted as those decisions are made. Look, I know that the goal is to do so, but that will be a decision made closer to the time. I think that’s an interagency process but I think, ultimately, the President would certainly weight in. But again, that’s something that he would take into account…probably a number of the stakeholders that would be involved.”</p>
<p>Despite government officials’ speculation that the U.S. national team may not participate, U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Mark_Jones/" type="external">Mark Jones</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/white-house-says-no-official-decision-yet-on-us-competing-in-korean-olympics/2017/12/07/7b75b1e2-db7e-11e7-b1a8-62589434a581_story.html?utm_term=.6f9023cf190b" type="external">told the Washington Post</a> that his organization is planning on attending the Games.</p>
<p>UPDATE: The U.S. looks forward to participating in the Winter Olympics in South Korea. The protection of Americans is our top priority and we are engaged with the South Koreans and other partner nations to secure the venues.</p>
<p>— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/938849891652161536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 7, 2017</a></p>
<p>“We have not had any discussions, either internally or with our government partners, about the possibility of not taking teams to the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” he said.</p>
<p>The International Olympic Committee banned the entire Russian Olympic team from the games earlier this week over a doping scandal. The ruling came after a yearlong <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/12/05/IOC-bans-Russia-from-2018-Olympics-over-doping/6821512498052/" type="external">investigation into Russian athletes.</a></p> | Olympics: White House walks back statement that Team USA may not compete | false | https://newsline.com/olympics-white-house-walks-back-statement-that-team-usa-may-not-compete/ | 2017-12-07 | 1right-center
| Olympics: White House walks back statement that Team USA may not compete
<p>Dec. 7 (UPI) — White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said there has been “no official decision made” on if the United States will take part in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.</p>
<p>Sanders made the comments on Thursday <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2017/12/07/Watch-live-Sarah-Sanders-gives-White-House-briefing/3601512670199/" type="external">during an on-camera press briefing</a>, casting doubt on whether Americans would compete at the Olympics. Soon after, Sanders walked back that statement on Twitter, saying the U.S. “looks forward” to the Games.</p>
<p>“UPDATE: The U.S. <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/938849891652161536" type="external">looks forward to participating</a> in the Winter Olympics in South Korea,” Sanders tweeted. “The protection of Americans is our top priority and we are engaged with the South Koreans and other partner nations to secure the venues.</p>
<p>Sanders’ speculation on U.S. participation in the Winter Olympics, scheduled to begin Feb. 9 in Pyeongchang, South Korea, followed similar doubt shared by U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Nikki_Haley/" type="external">Nikki Haley</a>.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Haley told Fox News that it <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/12/07/South-Korea-welcomes-Russias-Olympics-announcement/5751512665352/?utm_source=sec&amp;utm_campaign=sl&amp;utm_medium=5" type="external">was an “open question”</a> if the United States would participate in the games.</p>
<p>“There is an open question,” Haley said. “I have not heard anything about that. But I do know, in the talks that we have, whether it’s Jerusalem, whether it’s <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/North_Korea/" type="external">North Korea</a>, it’s always about how to we protect the U.S. citizens in the area. So those are conversations that are happening daily.”</p>
<p>Sanders said nothing is “official,” when addressing Haley’s comments on Thursday.</p>
<p>“Look, that wasn’t exactly what the ambassador said. No official decision has been made on that,” Sanders told reporters. “We will keep you guys posted as those decisions are made. Look, I know that the goal is to do so, but that will be a decision made closer to the time. I think that’s an interagency process but I think, ultimately, the President would certainly weight in. But again, that’s something that he would take into account…probably a number of the stakeholders that would be involved.”</p>
<p>Despite government officials’ speculation that the U.S. national team may not participate, U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Mark_Jones/" type="external">Mark Jones</a> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/white-house-says-no-official-decision-yet-on-us-competing-in-korean-olympics/2017/12/07/7b75b1e2-db7e-11e7-b1a8-62589434a581_story.html?utm_term=.6f9023cf190b" type="external">told the Washington Post</a> that his organization is planning on attending the Games.</p>
<p>UPDATE: The U.S. looks forward to participating in the Winter Olympics in South Korea. The protection of Americans is our top priority and we are engaged with the South Koreans and other partner nations to secure the venues.</p>
<p>— Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) <a href="https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/938849891652161536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">December 7, 2017</a></p>
<p>“We have not had any discussions, either internally or with our government partners, about the possibility of not taking teams to the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games,” he said.</p>
<p>The International Olympic Committee banned the entire Russian Olympic team from the games earlier this week over a doping scandal. The ruling came after a yearlong <a href="https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2017/12/05/IOC-bans-Russia-from-2018-Olympics-over-doping/6821512498052/" type="external">investigation into Russian athletes.</a></p> | 599,787 |
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<p />
<p>Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission member Richard Alward said there is a stepped-up focus on the issue, and the agency's reclamation rules are outdated.</p>
<p>The current rules don't require companies to document a site's vegetation before disturbing it and restore it to its previous condition, Alward said. He said state regulation of the industry needs to meet the same requirements set for coal mines.</p>
<p>"I think given our understanding of ecological processes and services that functioning ecosystems provide to people and wildlife, we shouldn't be trailing behind coal mining regulations from the 1980s," Alward said.</p>
<p>A report by the commission found that about 45,000 wells are eligible for final reclamation, and nearly 60 percent have passed final reclamation inspection.</p>
<p>There are still about 18,500 locations that the agency needs to inspect, including about 12,000 sites with wells that either were dry from the start, or produced before being plugged. Another 6,500 remaining sites are what the commission calls abandoned locations, sites that were never drilled, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported ( <a href="http://tinyurl.com/hqe6zrp)." type="external">http://tinyurl.com/hqe6zrp).</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Margaret Ash, manager of the agency's field inspection unit, said the agency's rules are rigorous, but some rules need to be clarified, including properly protecting topsoil and addressing weed control. There are also issues with reclamation waiver requests from surface owners and requiring commitments for reclamation to begin.</p>
<p>Alward said he understands and supports the agency's desire to prioritize acting on issues directly affecting the public health, safety and welfare, but he said reclamation is also important.</p>
<p>Supporters of the new rules say they prevent growth of weeds that can spread into a farmer's fields or pose a wildfire threat, and they could also promote the growth of wildflowers needed by bees and other pollinators important to agriculture. Pads can also be converted back to cropland and provide habitat for wildlife.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Daily Sentinel, <a href="http://www.gjsentinel.com" type="external">http://www.gjsentinel.com</a></p> | Concern mounts over idle natural gas drilling pads | false | https://abqjournal.com/700435/concern-mounts-over-idle-natural-gas-drilling-pads.html | 2least
| Concern mounts over idle natural gas drilling pads
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission member Richard Alward said there is a stepped-up focus on the issue, and the agency's reclamation rules are outdated.</p>
<p>The current rules don't require companies to document a site's vegetation before disturbing it and restore it to its previous condition, Alward said. He said state regulation of the industry needs to meet the same requirements set for coal mines.</p>
<p>"I think given our understanding of ecological processes and services that functioning ecosystems provide to people and wildlife, we shouldn't be trailing behind coal mining regulations from the 1980s," Alward said.</p>
<p>A report by the commission found that about 45,000 wells are eligible for final reclamation, and nearly 60 percent have passed final reclamation inspection.</p>
<p>There are still about 18,500 locations that the agency needs to inspect, including about 12,000 sites with wells that either were dry from the start, or produced before being plugged. Another 6,500 remaining sites are what the commission calls abandoned locations, sites that were never drilled, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported ( <a href="http://tinyurl.com/hqe6zrp)." type="external">http://tinyurl.com/hqe6zrp).</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Margaret Ash, manager of the agency's field inspection unit, said the agency's rules are rigorous, but some rules need to be clarified, including properly protecting topsoil and addressing weed control. There are also issues with reclamation waiver requests from surface owners and requiring commitments for reclamation to begin.</p>
<p>Alward said he understands and supports the agency's desire to prioritize acting on issues directly affecting the public health, safety and welfare, but he said reclamation is also important.</p>
<p>Supporters of the new rules say they prevent growth of weeds that can spread into a farmer's fields or pose a wildfire threat, and they could also promote the growth of wildflowers needed by bees and other pollinators important to agriculture. Pads can also be converted back to cropland and provide habitat for wildlife.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Daily Sentinel, <a href="http://www.gjsentinel.com" type="external">http://www.gjsentinel.com</a></p> | 599,788 |
|
<p>ROANOKE, Va. — The Glebe, one of four retirement centers owned by Virginia Baptist Homes, voluntarily filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia, Roanoke Division on June 28.</p>
<p>Randall Robinson, president of Virginia Baptist Homes, stressed, “Neither VBH nor the three other communities are part of the Chapter 11 filing.”</p>
<p>Robinson also made clear that the restructuring “will allow us to continue to pay all critical vendors and give us the breathing room to operate on a ‘business-as-usual’ basis while we restructure our debt.”</p>
<p />
<p>In connection with the filing, the not-for-profit company also announced that it had received a commitment for debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) financing. At the time of the filing, The Glebe had assets of $57 million and liabilities in excess of $80 million.</p>
<p>“We want to assure our residents and their families of our intention to maintain full staffing and provide all customary services, at the same high level of quality that they have come to expect, during our reorganization,” said Robinson. “Our goal is for The Glebe to emerge from Chapter 11 as a financially viable community that will continue its mission of effectively serving the diverse needs of our residents.”</p>
<p>Opened in 2005, The Glebe consists of 338,000 square feet of space located on 65 acres just north of Daleville in&#160; Botetourt&#160; County. The community currently has 196 residents in its independent living cottages and apartments, assisted living center and health care center offering 24-hour supervision from licensed nursing and health care personnel.</p>
<p>With a current occupancy rate of approximately 72 percent, the community employs approximately 190 individuals, including administrative, marketing, housekeeping, dining, maintenance, and resident services personnel. Since October 2008, operations, finance and marketing at The Glebe and three other VBH communities have been directed by CRSA/LCS Management, LLC, which oversees 21 retirement communities in 12 states.</p>
<p>In its court filing, The Glebe noted that “the confluence of several events” led it to seek Chapter 11 protection. The document cited construction delays, the recessive economy and the declining housing market&#160; which combined to cause less than anticipated occupancy rates from 2005 to 2007.</p>
<p>Among the events affecting The Glebe’s ability to pay its loans was a decision by the State Corporation Commission last year to bar it from charging a one-time entrance fee to residents. Fees had ranged from $123,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to $324,000 for a two-bedroom cottage, according to court documents. In addition to the fees, monthly rents range from $2,400 to $3,865.</p>
<p>The entrance fees have for years been a part of Virginia Baptist Homes’ economic strategy after it had experienced a financial crisis during the early 1980s due to a preponderance of benevolence admissions that left VBH with a negative cash flow for a period of years. At that time, Virginia Baptist churches gave significantly to rescue the Homes from economic disaster.</p>
<p>According to a report in the Roanoke Times, The Glebe unsuccessfully petitioned the SCC to lift the ban last year.</p>
<p>The Association of Glebe Residents Inc., is now petitioning the regulatory agency to remove the ban, arguing that the best way to protect the elderly tenants’ investment in The Glebe is to allow it to collect the fees and pay down its debt, according to&#160; Carter “Chip” Magee, an attorney who represents the residents’ association.</p>
<p>The SCC could rule on the residents’ petition later this year. Meanwhile, 20 new residents have moved into The Glebe and signed agreements promising to pay the entrance fees if the SCC lifts the ban. Lifting the ban would immediately make $5.3 million in fees available to The Glebe, according to its bankruptcy filing.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">Jim White</a> is editor of the Religious Herald.</p> | Virginia Baptist Homes’ Glebe files for bankruptcy protection in court | false | https://baptistnews.com/article/virginiabaptisthomesglebefilesforbankruptcyprotectionincourt/ | 3left-center
| Virginia Baptist Homes’ Glebe files for bankruptcy protection in court
<p>ROANOKE, Va. — The Glebe, one of four retirement centers owned by Virginia Baptist Homes, voluntarily filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Virginia, Roanoke Division on June 28.</p>
<p>Randall Robinson, president of Virginia Baptist Homes, stressed, “Neither VBH nor the three other communities are part of the Chapter 11 filing.”</p>
<p>Robinson also made clear that the restructuring “will allow us to continue to pay all critical vendors and give us the breathing room to operate on a ‘business-as-usual’ basis while we restructure our debt.”</p>
<p />
<p>In connection with the filing, the not-for-profit company also announced that it had received a commitment for debtor-in-possession (“DIP”) financing. At the time of the filing, The Glebe had assets of $57 million and liabilities in excess of $80 million.</p>
<p>“We want to assure our residents and their families of our intention to maintain full staffing and provide all customary services, at the same high level of quality that they have come to expect, during our reorganization,” said Robinson. “Our goal is for The Glebe to emerge from Chapter 11 as a financially viable community that will continue its mission of effectively serving the diverse needs of our residents.”</p>
<p>Opened in 2005, The Glebe consists of 338,000 square feet of space located on 65 acres just north of Daleville in&#160; Botetourt&#160; County. The community currently has 196 residents in its independent living cottages and apartments, assisted living center and health care center offering 24-hour supervision from licensed nursing and health care personnel.</p>
<p>With a current occupancy rate of approximately 72 percent, the community employs approximately 190 individuals, including administrative, marketing, housekeeping, dining, maintenance, and resident services personnel. Since October 2008, operations, finance and marketing at The Glebe and three other VBH communities have been directed by CRSA/LCS Management, LLC, which oversees 21 retirement communities in 12 states.</p>
<p>In its court filing, The Glebe noted that “the confluence of several events” led it to seek Chapter 11 protection. The document cited construction delays, the recessive economy and the declining housing market&#160; which combined to cause less than anticipated occupancy rates from 2005 to 2007.</p>
<p>Among the events affecting The Glebe’s ability to pay its loans was a decision by the State Corporation Commission last year to bar it from charging a one-time entrance fee to residents. Fees had ranged from $123,000 for a one-bedroom apartment to $324,000 for a two-bedroom cottage, according to court documents. In addition to the fees, monthly rents range from $2,400 to $3,865.</p>
<p>The entrance fees have for years been a part of Virginia Baptist Homes’ economic strategy after it had experienced a financial crisis during the early 1980s due to a preponderance of benevolence admissions that left VBH with a negative cash flow for a period of years. At that time, Virginia Baptist churches gave significantly to rescue the Homes from economic disaster.</p>
<p>According to a report in the Roanoke Times, The Glebe unsuccessfully petitioned the SCC to lift the ban last year.</p>
<p>The Association of Glebe Residents Inc., is now petitioning the regulatory agency to remove the ban, arguing that the best way to protect the elderly tenants’ investment in The Glebe is to allow it to collect the fees and pay down its debt, according to&#160; Carter “Chip” Magee, an attorney who represents the residents’ association.</p>
<p>The SCC could rule on the residents’ petition later this year. Meanwhile, 20 new residents have moved into The Glebe and signed agreements promising to pay the entrance fees if the SCC lifts the ban. Lifting the ban would immediately make $5.3 million in fees available to The Glebe, according to its bankruptcy filing.</p>
<p><a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">Jim White</a> is editor of the Religious Herald.</p> | 599,789 |
|
<p />
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dick Gregory, the comedian and activist and who broke racial barriers in the 1960s and used his humor to spread messages of social justice and nutritional health, has died. He was 84.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Gregory died late Saturday in Washington, D.C. after being hospitalized for about a week, his son Christian Gregory told The Associated Press. He had suffered a severe bacterial infection.</p>
<p>As one of the first black standup comedians to find success with white audiences, in the early 1960s, Gregory rose from an impoverished childhood in St. Louis to win a college track scholarship and become a celebrated satirist who deftly commented upon racial divisions at the dawn of the civil rights movement.</p>
<p>"Where else in the world but America," he joked, "could I have lived in the worst neighborhoods, attended the worst schools, rode in the back of the bus, and get paid $5,000 a week just for talking about it?"</p>
<p>Gregory's sharp commentary soon led him into civil rights activism, where his ability to woo audiences through humor helped bring national attention to fledgling efforts at integration and social equality for blacks.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey tweeted, "Dick Gregory's unflinching honesty &amp; courage, inspired us to fight, live, laugh &amp; love despite it all." A tweet by actress/comedian Whoopi Goldberg said, "About being black in America Dick Gregory has passed away, Condolences to his family and to us who won't have his insight 2 lean on R.I.P"</p>
<p>Gregory briefly sought political office, running unsuccessfully for mayor of Chicago in 1966 and U.S. president in 1968, when he got 200,000 votes as the Peace and Freedom party candidate. In the late '60s, he befriended John Lennon and was among the voices heard on Lennon's anti-war anthem "Give Peace a Chance," recorded in the Montreal hotel room where Lennon and Yoko Ono were staging a "bed-in" for peace.</p>
<p>An admirer of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Gregory embraced nonviolence and became a vegetarian and marathon runner.</p>
<p>He preached about the transformative powers of prayer and good health. Once an overweight smoker and drinker, he became a trim, energetic proponent of liquid meals and raw food diets. In the late 1980s, he developed and distributed products for the popular Slim-Safe Bahamian Diet.</p>
<p>When diagnosed with lymphoma in 2000, he fought it with herbs, exercise and vitamins. It went in remission a few years later.</p>
<p>He took a break from performing in comedy clubs, saying the alcohol and smoke in the clubs were unhealthy and focused on lecturing and writing more than a dozen books, including an autobiography and a memoir.</p>
<p>Gregory went without solid food for weeks to draw attention to a wide range of causes, including Middle East peace, American hostages in Iran, animal rights, police brutality, the Equal Rights Amendment for women and to support pop singer Michael Jackson when he was charged with sexual molestation in 2004.</p>
<p>"We thought I was going to be a great athlete, and we were wrong, and I thought I was going to be a great entertainer, and that wasn't it either. I'm going to be an American Citizen. First class," he once said.</p>
<p>Richard Claxton Gregory was born in 1932, the second of six children. His father abandoned the family, leaving his mother poor and struggling. Though the family often went without food or electricity, Gregory's intellect and hard work quickly earned him honors, and he attended the mostly white Southern Illinois University.</p>
<p>"In high school I was fighting being broke and on relief," he wrote in his 1963 book. "But in college, I was fighting being Negro."</p>
<p>He started winning talent contests for his comedy, which he continued in the Army. After he was discharged, he struggled to break into the standup circuit in Chicago, working odd jobs as a postal clerk and car washer to survive. His breakthrough came in 1961, when he was asked to fill in for another comedian at Chicago's Playboy Club. His audience, mostly white Southern businessmen, heckled him with racist gibes, but he stuck it out for hours and left them howling.</p>
<p>That job was supposed to be a one-night gig, but lasted two months -- and landed him a profile in Time magazine and a spot on "The Tonight Show."</p>
<p>Vogue magazine, in February 1962, likened him to Will Rogers and Fred Allen: "bright and funny and topical ... (with) a way of making the editorials in The New York Times seem the cinch stuff from which smash night-club routines are rightfully made." ''I've got to go up there as an individual first, a Negro second," he said in Phil Berger's book, "The Last Laugh: The World of Stand-up Comics." ''I've got to be a colored funny man, not a funny colored man."</p>
<p>His political passions were never far from his mind -- and they hurt his comedy career. The nation was grappling with the civil rights movement, and it was not at all clear that racial integration could be achieved. At protest marches, he was repeatedly beaten and jailed.</p>
<p>He remained active on the comedy scene until recently, when he fell ill and canceled an Aug. 9 show in San Jose, California, followed by an Aug. 15 appearance in Atlanta. On social media, he wrote that he felt energized by the messages from his well-wishers, and said he was looking to get back on stage because he had a lot to say about the racial tension brought on by the gathering of hate groups in Virginia.</p>
<p>"We have so much work still to be done, the ugly reality on the news this weekend proves just that," he wrote.</p>
<p>He is survived by his wife, Lillian, and 10 children.</p> | Comedian, civil rights activist Dick Gregory dies at 84 | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/20/comedian-civil-rights-activist-dick-gregory-dies-at-84.html | 2017-08-20 | 0right
| Comedian, civil rights activist Dick Gregory dies at 84
<p />
<p>LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dick Gregory, the comedian and activist and who broke racial barriers in the 1960s and used his humor to spread messages of social justice and nutritional health, has died. He was 84.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Gregory died late Saturday in Washington, D.C. after being hospitalized for about a week, his son Christian Gregory told The Associated Press. He had suffered a severe bacterial infection.</p>
<p>As one of the first black standup comedians to find success with white audiences, in the early 1960s, Gregory rose from an impoverished childhood in St. Louis to win a college track scholarship and become a celebrated satirist who deftly commented upon racial divisions at the dawn of the civil rights movement.</p>
<p>"Where else in the world but America," he joked, "could I have lived in the worst neighborhoods, attended the worst schools, rode in the back of the bus, and get paid $5,000 a week just for talking about it?"</p>
<p>Gregory's sharp commentary soon led him into civil rights activism, where his ability to woo audiences through humor helped bring national attention to fledgling efforts at integration and social equality for blacks.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey tweeted, "Dick Gregory's unflinching honesty &amp; courage, inspired us to fight, live, laugh &amp; love despite it all." A tweet by actress/comedian Whoopi Goldberg said, "About being black in America Dick Gregory has passed away, Condolences to his family and to us who won't have his insight 2 lean on R.I.P"</p>
<p>Gregory briefly sought political office, running unsuccessfully for mayor of Chicago in 1966 and U.S. president in 1968, when he got 200,000 votes as the Peace and Freedom party candidate. In the late '60s, he befriended John Lennon and was among the voices heard on Lennon's anti-war anthem "Give Peace a Chance," recorded in the Montreal hotel room where Lennon and Yoko Ono were staging a "bed-in" for peace.</p>
<p>An admirer of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., Gregory embraced nonviolence and became a vegetarian and marathon runner.</p>
<p>He preached about the transformative powers of prayer and good health. Once an overweight smoker and drinker, he became a trim, energetic proponent of liquid meals and raw food diets. In the late 1980s, he developed and distributed products for the popular Slim-Safe Bahamian Diet.</p>
<p>When diagnosed with lymphoma in 2000, he fought it with herbs, exercise and vitamins. It went in remission a few years later.</p>
<p>He took a break from performing in comedy clubs, saying the alcohol and smoke in the clubs were unhealthy and focused on lecturing and writing more than a dozen books, including an autobiography and a memoir.</p>
<p>Gregory went without solid food for weeks to draw attention to a wide range of causes, including Middle East peace, American hostages in Iran, animal rights, police brutality, the Equal Rights Amendment for women and to support pop singer Michael Jackson when he was charged with sexual molestation in 2004.</p>
<p>"We thought I was going to be a great athlete, and we were wrong, and I thought I was going to be a great entertainer, and that wasn't it either. I'm going to be an American Citizen. First class," he once said.</p>
<p>Richard Claxton Gregory was born in 1932, the second of six children. His father abandoned the family, leaving his mother poor and struggling. Though the family often went without food or electricity, Gregory's intellect and hard work quickly earned him honors, and he attended the mostly white Southern Illinois University.</p>
<p>"In high school I was fighting being broke and on relief," he wrote in his 1963 book. "But in college, I was fighting being Negro."</p>
<p>He started winning talent contests for his comedy, which he continued in the Army. After he was discharged, he struggled to break into the standup circuit in Chicago, working odd jobs as a postal clerk and car washer to survive. His breakthrough came in 1961, when he was asked to fill in for another comedian at Chicago's Playboy Club. His audience, mostly white Southern businessmen, heckled him with racist gibes, but he stuck it out for hours and left them howling.</p>
<p>That job was supposed to be a one-night gig, but lasted two months -- and landed him a profile in Time magazine and a spot on "The Tonight Show."</p>
<p>Vogue magazine, in February 1962, likened him to Will Rogers and Fred Allen: "bright and funny and topical ... (with) a way of making the editorials in The New York Times seem the cinch stuff from which smash night-club routines are rightfully made." ''I've got to go up there as an individual first, a Negro second," he said in Phil Berger's book, "The Last Laugh: The World of Stand-up Comics." ''I've got to be a colored funny man, not a funny colored man."</p>
<p>His political passions were never far from his mind -- and they hurt his comedy career. The nation was grappling with the civil rights movement, and it was not at all clear that racial integration could be achieved. At protest marches, he was repeatedly beaten and jailed.</p>
<p>He remained active on the comedy scene until recently, when he fell ill and canceled an Aug. 9 show in San Jose, California, followed by an Aug. 15 appearance in Atlanta. On social media, he wrote that he felt energized by the messages from his well-wishers, and said he was looking to get back on stage because he had a lot to say about the racial tension brought on by the gathering of hate groups in Virginia.</p>
<p>"We have so much work still to be done, the ugly reality on the news this weekend proves just that," he wrote.</p>
<p>He is survived by his wife, Lillian, and 10 children.</p> | 599,790 |
<p>Editor's note: President Obama has extended clemency to an unparalleled number of people convicted of nonviolent drug-law violations, a program unlikely to be prioritized by the next president.&#160;AlterNet&#160;and The Influence&#160;have partnered on a series profiling people impacted by the program, as time runs out for inmates hoping to get their sentences commuted.</p>
<p>On August 3, Donella Harriel was watching a sports game in the TV room of the Federal Correctional Institution in Aliceville, Alabama, when her unit manager came in and told her to come to her office.</p>
<p>“She said I better be knocking her door down at 11:45. I was like, OMG, is my family okay?"</p>
<p>“Your family is fine,” the manager said.</p>
<p>With no idea what was going on, Harriel went to the office at 11:45 as instructed. She found the whole unit team waiting there. Then the phone rang, and they put it on speaker. It was her attorneys, with unbelievable news:&#160;Harriel would&#160;soon be walking out of prison—she’d officially been granted clemency after serving 13 years of a 22-year sentence.</p>
<p>“I was so stunned, overwhelmed with gratitude and full of belief that God really is huge,” she says. “All I could think about is going to call my kids and mother... Nothing could have prepared me for that moment.”</p>
<p>In her 13 years of detention, she saw her kids twice: once during her 11th year in prison, and again this July. “They couldn't afford to come to Texas where I was located,” Harriel says.</p>
<p>She went away when they were small. Now they’re 15 and 21.</p>
<p>"She's my mommy!" Harriel's daughter Jerrica Harriel tells me by&#160;text. "She left when I was nine. I remember some but I didn't get to grow with her and vice versa, so there's things we still have to discover about each other, things we didn't experience together and things that she should have taught me.&#160;But I know it's not her fault and I'm not blaming her, because things happen. I do love her and wish I knew her better though."</p>
<p>Jerrica says her younger brother, who was two when their mother went away, barely knows her.</p>
<p>"So he knows of and about but he doesn't know a mother as he should, ya know?"</p>
<p>She says the family is excited that her mom will be closer, and glad she has gotten her act together.</p>
<p>"I appreciate her for it because it's gotten her to where she is today, which is a step closer to her family!"</p>
<p>Donella Harriel&#160;could&#160;technically be living closer to her family in Port St. Lucie, Florida right now: Her official release date is June 2017, but prisoners tend to be released into <a href="//theinfluence.org/this-man-sold-meth-to-pay-for-his-sons-lifesaving-transplant-obama-gave-him-clemency-but-his-ordeal-continues-in-a-halfway-house/" type="external">halfway houses</a>&#160;six months or so before their official release date. Instead, she’s still incarcerated, for reasons that illustrate the tangled relationship between federal and state jurisdictions in mandatory minimum sentencing.</p>
<p>Her federal sentence—for possession with intent to sell cocaine base (crack)—was enhanced to 22 years in part because of a prior state charge in Florida. Since her federal conviction was a violation of her probation from&#160;that&#160;charge, there’s a hold on her release in Martin County, Florida, a so-called detainer, which prevents a prisoner's release.</p>
<p>As well as keeping Harriel&#160;from being in a halfway house right now, it also means that when she walks out of federal prison in June 2017, Martin County authorities will take her into custody, move her back to Florida and hold a hearing to decide if she owes the state more time behind bars.</p>
<p>“It's stopping me from going to the halfway house, as well as the organization that Obama has that picks us up from prison and take us shopping for clothes etc, then to meet our families and out to eat before going to the halfway house,” Harriel writes.</p>
<p>Guy Blackwell, a retired assistant attorney general (Tennessee), has asked Assistant U.S. Attorney General&#160; <a href="//archive.tcpalm.com/news/gov-rick-scott-appoints-nita-denton-to-19th-circuit-judicial-nominating-commission-ep-630624818-335523031.html" type="external">Nita Denton</a>, a Republican appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the 19th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, to lift the detainer in Harriel’s case.</p>
<p>“I am a retired U.S. Assistant Attorney General and simply am trying to help someone who seems to have been sufficiently punished and appears to have a positive future,” Blackwell wrote to Denton’s office. He pointed out that dropping the detainer would save Martin County the cost of transporting her from federal to state custody.</p>
<p>“It’s a shame this has happened,” Blackwell tells me over the phone. He decided to help prisoners get their sentences reduced after seeing the damage wreaked by mandatory minimums in his 30 years as a prosecutor. He had a few phone calls with Denton’s office, but couldn’t convince them to drop the detainer.</p>
<p>“She has a detainer because she violated her probation,” Nita Denton says over the phone. Asked if she plans to advise that Harriel be released, she replies, “I have not made any decision on what’s going to happen until she’s returned on detainer to the state of Florida.”</p>
<p>Though President Obama has commuted the sentences of a record&#160;774 people, mostly nonviolent drug offenders—surely big news in the criminal justice world—Denton claims to&#160;know little about it.&#160;“I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with that program because we don’t deal with it on the state level, other than what I read in the paper, but other than that....“</p>
<p>“People need to see how these challenges we face aren’t helping us with re-entry,” Harriel writes, referring to Denton. “If Obama could forgive me and see my growth, why couldn’t she?”</p>
<p>&#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; ***</p>
<p>“Dear Donella, I wanted to personally inform you that I am granting your application for commutation,” President Barack Obama wrote Harriel in a letter dated August 3. “I believe in your ability to prove the doubters wrong, and change your life for the better. So good luck, and Godspeed.”</p>
<p>His faith in her is warranted. In 13 years behind bars, Harriel did not&#160;have a single official disciplinary action taken against her. That’s not to suggest that only model prisoners deserve a second chance, but still, it’s pretty remarkable.</p>
<p>“It is&#160;very&#160;difficult to have that kind of clean record for someone that’s been in custody that long,” Blackwell says. “If you’re in there 13 years, there’s [usually] gonna be something negative. You say something to someone, get in the middle of something someone else started, and it’s really easy to get a demerit, a black mark, that’s gonna be on the record.”</p>
<p>Harriel's two priors stem from what she describes as a troubled time in her life. She ran away from home when she was 18, “and some guys took me in.” She and other young women took cruise ships to and from the Bahamas, smuggling drugs in exchange for money and shelter. She got busted, incurring her first charge.</p>
<p>Five years later, police found a family member’s drugs in her home; though she wasn’t there at the time, she was still arrested. The federal charge that landed her an enhanced 22-year sentence, thanks to the two priors, came when a state trooper found drugs in&#160;her boyfriend’s underwear.&#160;</p>
<p>“I was driving my boyfriend from Florida to North Carolina and when I stopped in South Carolina for some gas, a state trooper was there,” Harriel writes. “He followed me throughout the store and waited until I made my purchase and pumped my gas. Then he followed me to the interstate to pull me over not even a mile away from the gas station (for speeding, he says). Then, we were searched and because they found drugs in my boyfriend's boxers, I was charged with conspiracy.”</p>
<p>It's the kind of guilt-by-association case that is all-too-familiar among America’s incarcerated,&#160;particularly&#160; <a href="//theinfluence.org/i-got-a-24-year-prison-sentence-for-mdma-my-husband-made-its-time-for-obama-to-step-up-clemencies/" type="external">women prisoners</a>.</p>
<p>Donella Harriel's clean record and 13 years behind federal bars should make a compelling case for her freedom in Florida, but it depends on the judge, and the recommendation of the state's attorney.</p>
<p>Despite her ongoing troubles she is still grateful to Obama, whose intervention will mean—if&#160;she can get that detainer taken care of—that she gets to be with her family nine years sooner than she expected.</p>
<p>“I will never forget it and I will live every day of my life with thankfulness,” she says, “knowing that I was one of the chosen ones.”</p>
<p>Tana Ganeva is a reporter covering criminal justice, drug policy and homelessness. Follow her on Twitter&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/TanaGaneva" type="external">@TanaGaneva</a>.</p> | 'If Obama Can Forgive Me, Why Can’t She?' Woman Whose Sentence Was Commuted Still in Jail Thanks to Florida Prosecutor | true | http://alternet.org/news-amp-politics/if-obama-can-forgive-me-why-cant-she-getting-your-sentence-commuted-doesnt-mean | 2016-10-16 | 4left
| 'If Obama Can Forgive Me, Why Can’t She?' Woman Whose Sentence Was Commuted Still in Jail Thanks to Florida Prosecutor
<p>Editor's note: President Obama has extended clemency to an unparalleled number of people convicted of nonviolent drug-law violations, a program unlikely to be prioritized by the next president.&#160;AlterNet&#160;and The Influence&#160;have partnered on a series profiling people impacted by the program, as time runs out for inmates hoping to get their sentences commuted.</p>
<p>On August 3, Donella Harriel was watching a sports game in the TV room of the Federal Correctional Institution in Aliceville, Alabama, when her unit manager came in and told her to come to her office.</p>
<p>“She said I better be knocking her door down at 11:45. I was like, OMG, is my family okay?"</p>
<p>“Your family is fine,” the manager said.</p>
<p>With no idea what was going on, Harriel went to the office at 11:45 as instructed. She found the whole unit team waiting there. Then the phone rang, and they put it on speaker. It was her attorneys, with unbelievable news:&#160;Harriel would&#160;soon be walking out of prison—she’d officially been granted clemency after serving 13 years of a 22-year sentence.</p>
<p>“I was so stunned, overwhelmed with gratitude and full of belief that God really is huge,” she says. “All I could think about is going to call my kids and mother... Nothing could have prepared me for that moment.”</p>
<p>In her 13 years of detention, she saw her kids twice: once during her 11th year in prison, and again this July. “They couldn't afford to come to Texas where I was located,” Harriel says.</p>
<p>She went away when they were small. Now they’re 15 and 21.</p>
<p>"She's my mommy!" Harriel's daughter Jerrica Harriel tells me by&#160;text. "She left when I was nine. I remember some but I didn't get to grow with her and vice versa, so there's things we still have to discover about each other, things we didn't experience together and things that she should have taught me.&#160;But I know it's not her fault and I'm not blaming her, because things happen. I do love her and wish I knew her better though."</p>
<p>Jerrica says her younger brother, who was two when their mother went away, barely knows her.</p>
<p>"So he knows of and about but he doesn't know a mother as he should, ya know?"</p>
<p>She says the family is excited that her mom will be closer, and glad she has gotten her act together.</p>
<p>"I appreciate her for it because it's gotten her to where she is today, which is a step closer to her family!"</p>
<p>Donella Harriel&#160;could&#160;technically be living closer to her family in Port St. Lucie, Florida right now: Her official release date is June 2017, but prisoners tend to be released into <a href="//theinfluence.org/this-man-sold-meth-to-pay-for-his-sons-lifesaving-transplant-obama-gave-him-clemency-but-his-ordeal-continues-in-a-halfway-house/" type="external">halfway houses</a>&#160;six months or so before their official release date. Instead, she’s still incarcerated, for reasons that illustrate the tangled relationship between federal and state jurisdictions in mandatory minimum sentencing.</p>
<p>Her federal sentence—for possession with intent to sell cocaine base (crack)—was enhanced to 22 years in part because of a prior state charge in Florida. Since her federal conviction was a violation of her probation from&#160;that&#160;charge, there’s a hold on her release in Martin County, Florida, a so-called detainer, which prevents a prisoner's release.</p>
<p>As well as keeping Harriel&#160;from being in a halfway house right now, it also means that when she walks out of federal prison in June 2017, Martin County authorities will take her into custody, move her back to Florida and hold a hearing to decide if she owes the state more time behind bars.</p>
<p>“It's stopping me from going to the halfway house, as well as the organization that Obama has that picks us up from prison and take us shopping for clothes etc, then to meet our families and out to eat before going to the halfway house,” Harriel writes.</p>
<p>Guy Blackwell, a retired assistant attorney general (Tennessee), has asked Assistant U.S. Attorney General&#160; <a href="//archive.tcpalm.com/news/gov-rick-scott-appoints-nita-denton-to-19th-circuit-judicial-nominating-commission-ep-630624818-335523031.html" type="external">Nita Denton</a>, a Republican appointed by Gov. Rick Scott to the 19th Circuit Judicial Nominating Commission, to lift the detainer in Harriel’s case.</p>
<p>“I am a retired U.S. Assistant Attorney General and simply am trying to help someone who seems to have been sufficiently punished and appears to have a positive future,” Blackwell wrote to Denton’s office. He pointed out that dropping the detainer would save Martin County the cost of transporting her from federal to state custody.</p>
<p>“It’s a shame this has happened,” Blackwell tells me over the phone. He decided to help prisoners get their sentences reduced after seeing the damage wreaked by mandatory minimums in his 30 years as a prosecutor. He had a few phone calls with Denton’s office, but couldn’t convince them to drop the detainer.</p>
<p>“She has a detainer because she violated her probation,” Nita Denton says over the phone. Asked if she plans to advise that Harriel be released, she replies, “I have not made any decision on what’s going to happen until she’s returned on detainer to the state of Florida.”</p>
<p>Though President Obama has commuted the sentences of a record&#160;774 people, mostly nonviolent drug offenders—surely big news in the criminal justice world—Denton claims to&#160;know little about it.&#160;“I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with that program because we don’t deal with it on the state level, other than what I read in the paper, but other than that....“</p>
<p>“People need to see how these challenges we face aren’t helping us with re-entry,” Harriel writes, referring to Denton. “If Obama could forgive me and see my growth, why couldn’t she?”</p>
<p>&#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; ***</p>
<p>“Dear Donella, I wanted to personally inform you that I am granting your application for commutation,” President Barack Obama wrote Harriel in a letter dated August 3. “I believe in your ability to prove the doubters wrong, and change your life for the better. So good luck, and Godspeed.”</p>
<p>His faith in her is warranted. In 13 years behind bars, Harriel did not&#160;have a single official disciplinary action taken against her. That’s not to suggest that only model prisoners deserve a second chance, but still, it’s pretty remarkable.</p>
<p>“It is&#160;very&#160;difficult to have that kind of clean record for someone that’s been in custody that long,” Blackwell says. “If you’re in there 13 years, there’s [usually] gonna be something negative. You say something to someone, get in the middle of something someone else started, and it’s really easy to get a demerit, a black mark, that’s gonna be on the record.”</p>
<p>Harriel's two priors stem from what she describes as a troubled time in her life. She ran away from home when she was 18, “and some guys took me in.” She and other young women took cruise ships to and from the Bahamas, smuggling drugs in exchange for money and shelter. She got busted, incurring her first charge.</p>
<p>Five years later, police found a family member’s drugs in her home; though she wasn’t there at the time, she was still arrested. The federal charge that landed her an enhanced 22-year sentence, thanks to the two priors, came when a state trooper found drugs in&#160;her boyfriend’s underwear.&#160;</p>
<p>“I was driving my boyfriend from Florida to North Carolina and when I stopped in South Carolina for some gas, a state trooper was there,” Harriel writes. “He followed me throughout the store and waited until I made my purchase and pumped my gas. Then he followed me to the interstate to pull me over not even a mile away from the gas station (for speeding, he says). Then, we were searched and because they found drugs in my boyfriend's boxers, I was charged with conspiracy.”</p>
<p>It's the kind of guilt-by-association case that is all-too-familiar among America’s incarcerated,&#160;particularly&#160; <a href="//theinfluence.org/i-got-a-24-year-prison-sentence-for-mdma-my-husband-made-its-time-for-obama-to-step-up-clemencies/" type="external">women prisoners</a>.</p>
<p>Donella Harriel's clean record and 13 years behind federal bars should make a compelling case for her freedom in Florida, but it depends on the judge, and the recommendation of the state's attorney.</p>
<p>Despite her ongoing troubles she is still grateful to Obama, whose intervention will mean—if&#160;she can get that detainer taken care of—that she gets to be with her family nine years sooner than she expected.</p>
<p>“I will never forget it and I will live every day of my life with thankfulness,” she says, “knowing that I was one of the chosen ones.”</p>
<p>Tana Ganeva is a reporter covering criminal justice, drug policy and homelessness. Follow her on Twitter&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/TanaGaneva" type="external">@TanaGaneva</a>.</p> | 599,791 |
<p>Massachusetts tax collections for July totaled nearly $1.6 billion, starting off the new fiscal year modestly ahead of expectations.</p>
<p>Revenue Commissioner Amy Pitter said the preliminary revenue number is about $12 million - or just under 1 percent - more than the state took in during July last year.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Pitter said total tax collections for the month were also $11 million above the monthly estimate based on the fiscal year 2015 revenue estimate of $24.4 billion.</p>
<p>She said the July surplus was mainly due to corporate and business tax payments, which came in better than expected, offsetting lower collections in estate tax and income tax payments with bills and returns.</p>
<p>Pitter said July is typically a small tax collection month with no quarterly estimated payments due for most businesses and individuals.</p> | Massachusetts begins new fiscal year by collecting nearly $1.6 billion in taxes | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/08/06/massachusetts-begins-new-fiscal-year-by-collecting-nearly-16-billion-in-taxes.html | 2016-03-09 | 0right
| Massachusetts begins new fiscal year by collecting nearly $1.6 billion in taxes
<p>Massachusetts tax collections for July totaled nearly $1.6 billion, starting off the new fiscal year modestly ahead of expectations.</p>
<p>Revenue Commissioner Amy Pitter said the preliminary revenue number is about $12 million - or just under 1 percent - more than the state took in during July last year.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Pitter said total tax collections for the month were also $11 million above the monthly estimate based on the fiscal year 2015 revenue estimate of $24.4 billion.</p>
<p>She said the July surplus was mainly due to corporate and business tax payments, which came in better than expected, offsetting lower collections in estate tax and income tax payments with bills and returns.</p>
<p>Pitter said July is typically a small tax collection month with no quarterly estimated payments due for most businesses and individuals.</p> | 599,792 |
<p>John Lukacs in his monograph, June 1941: Hitler and Stalin, reports that “the best military experts throughout the world predicted the defeat of the Soviet Union within a few weeks, or within two months at the most” following Hitler’s invasion of Russia on June 22, 1941.</p>
<p>While the superb German military machine made an excellent showing, by the beginning of 1943 its offensive capability was exhausted and the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad. Germany lost the war one and one-half years before the US could manage the invasion of Normandy. If HItler had not depleted the German Army in Russia, a US invasion of Normandy could not have been contemplated.</p>
<p>Lukacs concerns himself with unintended consequences of June 22, 1941. It is not too early, or too late, to concern ourselves with the unintended consequences of March 20, 2003.</p>
<p>Four and one-quarter years ago the Pentagon and its neoconservative advisors and media propagandists promised Americans a “cakewalk” war of 3 to 6 weeks duration. Six weeks later on May 2, 2003, in history’s most ill-advised propaganda stunt, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, whose tower was adorned with a banner declaring “Mission Accomplished,” and announced the end to major combat operations in Iraq.</p>
<p>In fact, the war had hardly begun. Four years later with the failure in June 2007 of President Bush’s desperate last measure–“the surge”–US offensive capability is exhausted. The US military can do no more and has less control of the situation than ever.</p>
<p>Perhaps the clearest indication that the war in Iraq is no longer under American control is Turkey’s announcement of plans to invade northern Iraq, the home of the Iraqi Kurds. As June 2007 came to an end, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul announced that if US or Iraqi forces did not eliminate the Kurdish guerrillas that were attacking Turkey, the Turkish Army would move into northern Iraq to deal with the situation.</p>
<p>Foreign Minister Gul was unequivocal: “The military plans have been worked out in the finest detail. The government knows these plans and agrees with them. If neither the Iraqi government nor the US occupying forces can do this [crush the guerrillas], we will take our own decision and implement it.”</p>
<p>This ultimatum puts President Bush in an impossible situation. Neither the Iraqi government nor the US military have the means to deal with Kurdish guerrillas in their mountain strongholds. The US military cannot even occupy Baghdad. The Iraqi government exists in name only and can be found only in its offices located inside the fortified and US-protected Green Zone in Baghdad. Moreover, to the extent that the in-name-only Iraqi government has any support, it comes from the Kurds in northern Iraq.</p>
<p>The rest of Iraq is controlled by Sunni insurgents and Shi’ite militias. Even Basra in the south has been abandoned to the Shi’ite militias by Bush’s British ally.</p>
<p>The over-stretched American Empire hasn’t any troops to send to northern Iraq. NATO, whose charter was to defend Western Europe from Soviet invasion should have been disbanded two decades ago. Today NATO functions as an auxiliary US force and has been sent to Afghanistan, where it is being defeated like the British and Russians before it.</p>
<p>In the midst of this unmanageable chaos, vice president Cheney, Bush’s former UN ambassador John Bolton and large numbers of Christian and Jewish Zionists are demanding that the US attack Iran, and Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon.</p>
<p>The unintended consequences of the “cakewalk war” are already far outside the Bush administration’s ability to manage and will plague future governments for many years. For the administration to initiate new acts of aggression in the MIddle East would go beyond recklessness to insanity.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | From Cakewalk to Quicksand | true | https://counterpunch.org/2007/07/02/from-cakewalk-to-quicksand/ | 2007-07-02 | 4left
| From Cakewalk to Quicksand
<p>John Lukacs in his monograph, June 1941: Hitler and Stalin, reports that “the best military experts throughout the world predicted the defeat of the Soviet Union within a few weeks, or within two months at the most” following Hitler’s invasion of Russia on June 22, 1941.</p>
<p>While the superb German military machine made an excellent showing, by the beginning of 1943 its offensive capability was exhausted and the Germans were defeated at Stalingrad. Germany lost the war one and one-half years before the US could manage the invasion of Normandy. If HItler had not depleted the German Army in Russia, a US invasion of Normandy could not have been contemplated.</p>
<p>Lukacs concerns himself with unintended consequences of June 22, 1941. It is not too early, or too late, to concern ourselves with the unintended consequences of March 20, 2003.</p>
<p>Four and one-quarter years ago the Pentagon and its neoconservative advisors and media propagandists promised Americans a “cakewalk” war of 3 to 6 weeks duration. Six weeks later on May 2, 2003, in history’s most ill-advised propaganda stunt, President Bush landed on the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, whose tower was adorned with a banner declaring “Mission Accomplished,” and announced the end to major combat operations in Iraq.</p>
<p>In fact, the war had hardly begun. Four years later with the failure in June 2007 of President Bush’s desperate last measure–“the surge”–US offensive capability is exhausted. The US military can do no more and has less control of the situation than ever.</p>
<p>Perhaps the clearest indication that the war in Iraq is no longer under American control is Turkey’s announcement of plans to invade northern Iraq, the home of the Iraqi Kurds. As June 2007 came to an end, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul announced that if US or Iraqi forces did not eliminate the Kurdish guerrillas that were attacking Turkey, the Turkish Army would move into northern Iraq to deal with the situation.</p>
<p>Foreign Minister Gul was unequivocal: “The military plans have been worked out in the finest detail. The government knows these plans and agrees with them. If neither the Iraqi government nor the US occupying forces can do this [crush the guerrillas], we will take our own decision and implement it.”</p>
<p>This ultimatum puts President Bush in an impossible situation. Neither the Iraqi government nor the US military have the means to deal with Kurdish guerrillas in their mountain strongholds. The US military cannot even occupy Baghdad. The Iraqi government exists in name only and can be found only in its offices located inside the fortified and US-protected Green Zone in Baghdad. Moreover, to the extent that the in-name-only Iraqi government has any support, it comes from the Kurds in northern Iraq.</p>
<p>The rest of Iraq is controlled by Sunni insurgents and Shi’ite militias. Even Basra in the south has been abandoned to the Shi’ite militias by Bush’s British ally.</p>
<p>The over-stretched American Empire hasn’t any troops to send to northern Iraq. NATO, whose charter was to defend Western Europe from Soviet invasion should have been disbanded two decades ago. Today NATO functions as an auxiliary US force and has been sent to Afghanistan, where it is being defeated like the British and Russians before it.</p>
<p>In the midst of this unmanageable chaos, vice president Cheney, Bush’s former UN ambassador John Bolton and large numbers of Christian and Jewish Zionists are demanding that the US attack Iran, and Syria, and Hezbollah in Lebanon.</p>
<p>The unintended consequences of the “cakewalk war” are already far outside the Bush administration’s ability to manage and will plague future governments for many years. For the administration to initiate new acts of aggression in the MIddle East would go beyond recklessness to insanity.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p> | 599,793 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The lab disputes parts of the report, including the audit’s finding that the flex-fuel vehicles cost LANL more to obtain than conventional cars and trucks.</p>
<p>But the lab and the audit report agree that there’s been a “one size fits all policy” at DOE that resulted in hundreds of flex-fuel vehicles at Los Alamos despite the fact that the nearest vendor of ethanol fuel is about 25 miles away in the Pojoaque area.</p>
<p>The October report found that the Department of Energy, of which LANL is part, had policies “that did not reflect the need for procedures to locate AFVs (alternative fuel vehicles) near alternative fueling sites.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>LANL has had a tanker truck bringing ethanol fuel to Los Alamos to fill 65 flex-fuel security vehicles. The labor, maintenance and repair costs for the truck alone were $60,000 in 2012, the audit states.</p>
<p>A lab official said the tanker truck was used because the lab wanted to do its best to comply with a national directive to use more alternative fuels. He said the lab uses about 500,000 gallons of fuel a year and about 40,000 gallons are E-85, a blend that is 85 percent ethanol.</p>
<p>The report also says that for LANL and the Bonneville Power Administration based in Portland, Ore., DOE spent at least $700,000 extra to acquire AFVs instead of conventional vehicles. But by using gasoline in the AFVs, the two agencies failed to obtain “the environmental benefits or further Departmental goals of increasing alternative fuel use and reducing petroleum use.”</p>
<p>The lab official who spoke to the Journal said there is no extra cost for flex-fuel vehicles when LANL leases cars and trucks from the General Services Administration and that the lab gets its fleet from the GSA based on availability.</p>
<p>The inspector general’s report was intended to sample three DOE sites to determine compliance with a 2009 presidential order calling for a reduction of the use of fossil fuels by using AFVs, optimizing the use of vehicle fleets and reducing petroleum consumption.</p>
<p>The audit was also undertaken in part because of DOE’s “prominent role in encouraging U.S. efforts to reduce petroleum consumption,” the report says. In addition, the audit notes, the 2005 Energy Policy Act requires agencies to fill flex-fuel vehicles only with alternative fuels unless the Energy Department grants a waiver.</p>
<p>In the case of Los Alamos, DOE granted requested waivers for 482 of 486 flex-fuel vehicles in 2011, “citing a lack of alternative fuel availability.”</p>
<p>“Although technically permitted, the waivers provided in these cases appeared to frustrate the Department’s stated goal of reducing the use of fossil fuels and associated emissions,” the audit states.</p>
<p>Los Alamos has the biggest vehicle fleet in the DOE complex, with 1,556 cars and trucks.</p>
<p>In contrast to LANL and Bonneville, the audit says, the DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina “maintained an appropriately sized fleet of AFVs that could be supported by the availability of alternative fuels.” Savannah River has made ethanol about 27 percent of its fuel consumption, the audit states.</p>
<p>In 2009, LANL received a National Nuclear Security Administration “environmental stewardship” award for expanding its flex-fuel fleet and using the tanker truck to bring in ethanol for the security vehicles with ethanol because there were no local vendors.</p>
<p />
<p /> | LANL flex-fuel program panned | false | https://abqjournal.com/297023/lanl-flexfuel-program-panned.html | 2013-11-08 | 2least
| LANL flex-fuel program panned
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The lab disputes parts of the report, including the audit’s finding that the flex-fuel vehicles cost LANL more to obtain than conventional cars and trucks.</p>
<p>But the lab and the audit report agree that there’s been a “one size fits all policy” at DOE that resulted in hundreds of flex-fuel vehicles at Los Alamos despite the fact that the nearest vendor of ethanol fuel is about 25 miles away in the Pojoaque area.</p>
<p>The October report found that the Department of Energy, of which LANL is part, had policies “that did not reflect the need for procedures to locate AFVs (alternative fuel vehicles) near alternative fueling sites.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>LANL has had a tanker truck bringing ethanol fuel to Los Alamos to fill 65 flex-fuel security vehicles. The labor, maintenance and repair costs for the truck alone were $60,000 in 2012, the audit states.</p>
<p>A lab official said the tanker truck was used because the lab wanted to do its best to comply with a national directive to use more alternative fuels. He said the lab uses about 500,000 gallons of fuel a year and about 40,000 gallons are E-85, a blend that is 85 percent ethanol.</p>
<p>The report also says that for LANL and the Bonneville Power Administration based in Portland, Ore., DOE spent at least $700,000 extra to acquire AFVs instead of conventional vehicles. But by using gasoline in the AFVs, the two agencies failed to obtain “the environmental benefits or further Departmental goals of increasing alternative fuel use and reducing petroleum use.”</p>
<p>The lab official who spoke to the Journal said there is no extra cost for flex-fuel vehicles when LANL leases cars and trucks from the General Services Administration and that the lab gets its fleet from the GSA based on availability.</p>
<p>The inspector general’s report was intended to sample three DOE sites to determine compliance with a 2009 presidential order calling for a reduction of the use of fossil fuels by using AFVs, optimizing the use of vehicle fleets and reducing petroleum consumption.</p>
<p>The audit was also undertaken in part because of DOE’s “prominent role in encouraging U.S. efforts to reduce petroleum consumption,” the report says. In addition, the audit notes, the 2005 Energy Policy Act requires agencies to fill flex-fuel vehicles only with alternative fuels unless the Energy Department grants a waiver.</p>
<p>In the case of Los Alamos, DOE granted requested waivers for 482 of 486 flex-fuel vehicles in 2011, “citing a lack of alternative fuel availability.”</p>
<p>“Although technically permitted, the waivers provided in these cases appeared to frustrate the Department’s stated goal of reducing the use of fossil fuels and associated emissions,” the audit states.</p>
<p>Los Alamos has the biggest vehicle fleet in the DOE complex, with 1,556 cars and trucks.</p>
<p>In contrast to LANL and Bonneville, the audit says, the DOE’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina “maintained an appropriately sized fleet of AFVs that could be supported by the availability of alternative fuels.” Savannah River has made ethanol about 27 percent of its fuel consumption, the audit states.</p>
<p>In 2009, LANL received a National Nuclear Security Administration “environmental stewardship” award for expanding its flex-fuel fleet and using the tanker truck to bring in ethanol for the security vehicles with ethanol because there were no local vendors.</p>
<p />
<p /> | 599,794 |
<p>U.S. securities regulators could file an enforcement action against hedge fund manager Philip Falcone as soon as this week, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The news agency reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently authorized the filing of a lawsuit against Falcone, who notified investors in his Harbinger Capital Partners fund about a year ago that he was being investigated by regulators.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>SEC officials did not immediately comment on the report. Falcone could not be reached for comment.</p>
<p>Matthew Dontzin, an attorney for Falcone, issued a statement saying the manager would fight any lawsuit,</p>
<p>The lawyer added that if the SEC filed a lawsuit, any allegations of improprieties against Falcone "are supported neither by the facts nor the law."</p>
<p>The SEC has been investigating a number of issues involving the manager, including a $113 million loan he took from the hedge fund to pay his own taxes. The loan has since been paid back with interest.</p>
<p>Regulators are looking into the trading by the hedge fund in bonds of MAXX Holdings Inc.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Falcone told investors in his $4 billion fund that U.S. regulators had informed him he may have violated securities laws by engaging in market manipulation in those bonds.</p>
<p>Falcone was at one point the toast of the hedge fund industry largely because of highly lucrative trades he made betting on the collapse of the housing market. But the fund has fallen on hard times after he made a big and audacious bet on a telecom startup called LightSquared which filed for bankruptcy protection in May.</p> | Harbinger's Falcone Could Face SEC Lawsuit: Report | true | http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/06/26/harbinger-falcone-could-face-sec-lawsuit-report.html | 2016-03-03 | 0right
| Harbinger's Falcone Could Face SEC Lawsuit: Report
<p>U.S. securities regulators could file an enforcement action against hedge fund manager Philip Falcone as soon as this week, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The news agency reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently authorized the filing of a lawsuit against Falcone, who notified investors in his Harbinger Capital Partners fund about a year ago that he was being investigated by regulators.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>SEC officials did not immediately comment on the report. Falcone could not be reached for comment.</p>
<p>Matthew Dontzin, an attorney for Falcone, issued a statement saying the manager would fight any lawsuit,</p>
<p>The lawyer added that if the SEC filed a lawsuit, any allegations of improprieties against Falcone "are supported neither by the facts nor the law."</p>
<p>The SEC has been investigating a number of issues involving the manager, including a $113 million loan he took from the hedge fund to pay his own taxes. The loan has since been paid back with interest.</p>
<p>Regulators are looking into the trading by the hedge fund in bonds of MAXX Holdings Inc.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Earlier this year, Falcone told investors in his $4 billion fund that U.S. regulators had informed him he may have violated securities laws by engaging in market manipulation in those bonds.</p>
<p>Falcone was at one point the toast of the hedge fund industry largely because of highly lucrative trades he made betting on the collapse of the housing market. But the fund has fallen on hard times after he made a big and audacious bet on a telecom startup called LightSquared which filed for bankruptcy protection in May.</p> | 599,795 |
<p>AMANDA AT THE SAUNA, HOTEL SAVOY 1994 Cibachrome photograph 30 x 40 inches 76.2 x 101.6 centimeters Edition of 15 CR# GL.19061</p>
<p>DOUBLE RED BARBARA (THE JEWISH JACKIE SERIES) 1993 Silkscreen ink and acrylic on canvas, diptych 45 x 36 inches (each) 114.3 x 91.4 centimeters (each) CR# DK.19370</p>
<p>UNTITLED 1982 Color photograph 38 x 24 inches 96.5 x 61 centimeters Edition 6/10 CR# SH.18950.6</p>
<p>BOUFFANT PRIDE 2003 Handmade collage, cutout, painting and photogravure on rag paper 13 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches 34.3 x 26.6 centimeters Edition of 20 CR# EA.19039</p>
<p>TOUGH TITTY: FROM THE LIZ TAYLOR SERIES (CANDID SHOT) 1999 Acrylic on canvas 90 x 80 inches 228.6 x 203.2 centimeters CR# KB.19123</p>
<p>A-E-I-O-U AND SOMETIMES Y 2009 Rhinestone, acrylic and enamel on panel 24 x 20 inches (each) 61 x 50.8 centimeters (each) CR# MT.19314</p>
<p>THE WOMAN WHO FAILED TO BE SHEHRAZADE 2008 Acrylic, embroidery and gel medium on canvas 62 x 68 inches 157.5 x 172.7 centimeters CR# GA.19450</p>
<p>NICOLE, POTRERO HILL 2006 Archival pigment print on cotton rag paper mounted to plexiglass 40 x 50 inches 101.6 x 127 centimeters Edition 5/6 CR# KG.19138.5</p>
<p>THE LURE OF DISILLUSION 2008 Oil on canvas 85 x 45 inches 215.9 x 114.3 centimeters CR# AD.19064</p>
<p>OLIVIA 1975 Oil on canvas 54 x 34 inches 137.2 x 86.4 centimeters CR# NE.13197</p>
<p>PARI 2008 Type C Print and ink 72 x 49 1/2 inches 182.9 x 125.7 centimeters Edition 3/5 CR# SN.19321.3</p>
<p>BLONDE FIGURE LYING 2008 Water resin, coated with beeswax, human hair 77 x 36 x 10.2 inches 195.6 x 91.4 x 25.9 centimeters CR# VB.18951</p>
<p>ANNA 2009 Oil on linen 16 1/4 x 13 inches 41.3 x 33 centimeters CR# CJ.18885</p>
<p>SEARCHER 2009 Acrylic and oil on canvas 110 1/4 x 80 inches 280 x 203 centimeters CR# 19063</p>
<p>VENUS AFTER SCHOOL 1992 Gelatin silver print 20 x 24 inches 50.8 x 61 centimeters Edition 20/25 CR# SM.19026.20</p> | The Female Gaze | true | https://thedailybeast.com/the-female-gaze-1 | 2018-10-03 | 4left
| The Female Gaze
<p>AMANDA AT THE SAUNA, HOTEL SAVOY 1994 Cibachrome photograph 30 x 40 inches 76.2 x 101.6 centimeters Edition of 15 CR# GL.19061</p>
<p>DOUBLE RED BARBARA (THE JEWISH JACKIE SERIES) 1993 Silkscreen ink and acrylic on canvas, diptych 45 x 36 inches (each) 114.3 x 91.4 centimeters (each) CR# DK.19370</p>
<p>UNTITLED 1982 Color photograph 38 x 24 inches 96.5 x 61 centimeters Edition 6/10 CR# SH.18950.6</p>
<p>BOUFFANT PRIDE 2003 Handmade collage, cutout, painting and photogravure on rag paper 13 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches 34.3 x 26.6 centimeters Edition of 20 CR# EA.19039</p>
<p>TOUGH TITTY: FROM THE LIZ TAYLOR SERIES (CANDID SHOT) 1999 Acrylic on canvas 90 x 80 inches 228.6 x 203.2 centimeters CR# KB.19123</p>
<p>A-E-I-O-U AND SOMETIMES Y 2009 Rhinestone, acrylic and enamel on panel 24 x 20 inches (each) 61 x 50.8 centimeters (each) CR# MT.19314</p>
<p>THE WOMAN WHO FAILED TO BE SHEHRAZADE 2008 Acrylic, embroidery and gel medium on canvas 62 x 68 inches 157.5 x 172.7 centimeters CR# GA.19450</p>
<p>NICOLE, POTRERO HILL 2006 Archival pigment print on cotton rag paper mounted to plexiglass 40 x 50 inches 101.6 x 127 centimeters Edition 5/6 CR# KG.19138.5</p>
<p>THE LURE OF DISILLUSION 2008 Oil on canvas 85 x 45 inches 215.9 x 114.3 centimeters CR# AD.19064</p>
<p>OLIVIA 1975 Oil on canvas 54 x 34 inches 137.2 x 86.4 centimeters CR# NE.13197</p>
<p>PARI 2008 Type C Print and ink 72 x 49 1/2 inches 182.9 x 125.7 centimeters Edition 3/5 CR# SN.19321.3</p>
<p>BLONDE FIGURE LYING 2008 Water resin, coated with beeswax, human hair 77 x 36 x 10.2 inches 195.6 x 91.4 x 25.9 centimeters CR# VB.18951</p>
<p>ANNA 2009 Oil on linen 16 1/4 x 13 inches 41.3 x 33 centimeters CR# CJ.18885</p>
<p>SEARCHER 2009 Acrylic and oil on canvas 110 1/4 x 80 inches 280 x 203 centimeters CR# 19063</p>
<p>VENUS AFTER SCHOOL 1992 Gelatin silver print 20 x 24 inches 50.8 x 61 centimeters Edition 20/25 CR# SM.19026.20</p> | 599,796 |
<p>Crushed by Chinese competition and feeling betrayed by mainstream politicians, workers in the hills of eastern Ohio are embracing Donald Trump and his tough talk on trade.</p>
<p>For decades, they and others living across the Ohio River in West Virginia found work in coal mines and at a local aluminum plant — union jobs, with good pay and generous benefits.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But those jobs are going, if not gone.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>EDITOR'S NOTE — This is part of Divided America, AP's ongoing exploration of the economic, social and political divisions in American society.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Coal is being wiped out by stricter environmental rules and competition from cheap natural gas. The Ormet aluminum plant? It's out of business, doomed by China's domination of the global aluminum market.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In an angry election year, some of America's angriest voters live in places like Monroe County where local economies have been punished by price competition with China. Their frustration has fueled support for the Republican presidential nominee, with his belligerent rhetoric about the need to outsmart America's economic rivals, tear up unfair trade deals and re-establish America as the world's dominant player.</p>
<p>"This is Trump country," says John Saunders, an official with the United Steelworkers in nearby Martins Ferry, Ohio.</p>
<p>The disaster that's unfolded here isn't obvious at first glance, not in a region known as the Switzerland of Ohio for its forested, rolling hills. In tiny Hannibal (population: 411), stately two-story homes overlook lawns that roll toward the banks of the Ohio. Nearby Woodsfield, seat of Monroe County, Ohio, looks like Main Street USA, its downtown dominated by a red brick courthouse displaying one of the world's biggest clocks.</p>
<p>But the misery is real. Monroe County's unemployment rate is Ohio's highest at 10.2 percent. Families have moved out to find work. The number of children in the local school district is down 223, or nearly 10 percent, since 2013.</p>
<p>"You're going to have to travel to find a job," says Fran Poole, whose husband, Cecil, worked at the Ormet plant here for 37 years before being laid off when it closed.</p>
<p>Some laid-off workers chose to retire early. Others found work in the energy business, only to see those jobs melt away, too, as oil and gas prices fell. Some are doing odd jobs — cutting grass, hauling gravel.</p>
<p>Much of the damage to this region can be traced to China's decision to become self-sufficient in aluminum production. Aluminum is used in construction and auto manufacturing, aerospace and consumer-product packaging. The surge in its production reflected a broader Chinese strategy: pour money into manufacturing to add jobs and accelerate economic growth.</p>
<p>Fueled by government subsidies and cheap loans from state-owned banks, Chinese aluminum producers went into overdrive: In 2000, the United States had produced a world-beating 15 percent of all aluminum, China just 11 percent. By 2015, China had escalated its output nearly 1,200 percent — and held 55 percent of the world's share.</p>
<p>As Chinese aluminum flooded the world, prices collapsed. A pound of raw aluminum now fetches 74 cents — down from $1.25 five years ago. U.S. production has tumbled 56 percent since 2000, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. And America's share of world aluminum is below 3 percent.</p>
<p>Since 2011, U.S. aluminum companies have closed or idled nine of the 14 U.S. smelters, where aluminum oxide is turned into raw aluminum. Two surviving plants are running at half capacity or less. In Massena, New York; Columbia Falls, Montana; New Madrid, Missouri, plants have folded, idled production or laid off workers.</p>
<p>Hundreds of workers in New Madrid lost their jobs when Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. sought bankruptcy protection in February.</p>
<p>"If you take metal prices back to where they were before China started flooding the market, you're looking at somewhere between 90 cents and $1.10 a pound," says Cameron Redd, a laid-off Noranda employee. At those prices, he says, the Noranda plant still "would be hiring."</p>
<p>Relief hasn't come. At this month's G-20 summit, U.S. and Chinese officials agreed to work together to reduce overproduction of aluminum, but the Chinese have long balked at cutting aluminum output — and jobs.</p>
<p>"They don't want unemployment," says Michael Komesaroff of Urandaline Investments, and Australian consulting firm.</p>
<p>Longtime residents recall how vital the Ormet plant here was for the area's economy and for supporting middle-class lifestyles. Workers regularly vacationed and bought houses and boats and all-terrain vehicles to tear up the Ohio countryside.</p>
<p>"If you didn't go to college or the military, you went to the coal mines or Ormet," says Bill Long, a former Ormet laborer who is a supervisor at the county's Department of Job and Family Services.</p>
<p>The plant used to burn more electricity than all of Pittsburgh. For nearly six decades, barges plied the Ohio River and trains clacked alongside State Highway 7, bearing Ormet aluminum to customers across America.</p>
<p>The factory drew workers from the hills of West Virginia and eastern Ohio, paying them about $40,000 a year before overtime. Overtime was "sporadic," recalls Carl Davis, a former Ormet worker who is now a Monroe County commissioner. "But a few were known to gross around $100,000."</p>
<p>"Even though the work was hard back then, it was best job I had ever had, and the most money I'd ever had my hands on," says Francis Blackstone, a 70-year-old Ormet retiree. "And the benefits were just unheard of" — including free health care.</p>
<p>"We were all family," says Danny Isaly, an Ormet worker who became the plant's head of industrial relations. "Everybody had a relative here."</p>
<p>After the plant closed, Isaly received unemployment benefits until they ran out. Then he retired at age 59.</p>
<p>Niagara Worldwide bought the 1,600-acre complex at auction in 2014 after Ormet Corp. sought bankruptcy protection. Dan Gerovac is overseeing the plant's destruction for Niagara. He and his crew are clearing the site in hopes of selling it to another industrial company. They are breaking down equipment — including the pots where aluminum oxide was turned into aluminum at temperatures of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit — for sale as scrap metal.</p>
<p>"No aluminum will be made here anymore," Gerovac says.</p>
<p>Through most of the 2000s — aside from a sharp drop during the Great Recession — world aluminum prices had withstood the surge in supply from China. China's own economy was growing so fast its demand for aluminum was nearly insatiable. Then its economy decelerated after 2010, and aluminum prices plunged.</p>
<p>Desperate, Ormet and the Steelworkers union sought to renegotiate electricity prices from the local utility, AEP Ohio. In 2012 and 2013, they urged Gov. John Kasich to lean on the state utility commission to help. Kasich wouldn't intervene, leaving the decision to the commission.</p>
<p>The plant went out of business.</p>
<p>Aluminum prices were so low the plant might not have survived anyway. But Kasich's refusal to intervene helps explain why animosity for the governor runs high in these parts. In the March Republican presidential primary, Monroe County overwhelmingly backed Trump and rejected Kasich, who otherwise won his home state handily.</p>
<p>"He just shunned us," Danny Isaly says.</p>
<p>Trump is viewed as a champion to many here who say America's political leaders have stood by while competition from China and other countries has wrecked communities like Hannibal.</p>
<p>"He says what a lot of people would like to say," says Cecil Poole, who feels the national Democratic Party has abandoned blue-collar workers. Trump's pledge to "Make America Great Again" resonates with those who feel they've lost their place in the middle class.</p>
<p>In a way, some of the laid-off Ormet workers were fortunate for a time. When the plant closed two years ago, the region was enjoying an energy boom. Oil and gas companies were fracking in the Marcellus Shale formation, from upstate New York through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia. They needed drivers, electricians, welders.</p>
<p>Poole, 62, and out of work after nearly four decades at Ormet, got a commercial driver's license and found work hauling supplies for energy companies. He earned about what he made at Ormet, though he had to work twice as many hours for it. And Poole found the work exhausting. He traveled overnight and slept in his rig.</p>
<p>"It was tough on the old body," he says.</p>
<p>He retired in June.</p>
<p>The fracking boom, it turned out, didn't produce as many jobs as people here had hoped. The energy companies often brought in experienced oil-field workers. Then, energy prices started tumbling, and fracking work dried up.</p>
<p>Now, job openings are scarce, the pay and benefits no match for what Ormet offered.</p>
<p>"It's embarrassing what's out there," says Bill Long, who counsels the unemployed.</p>
<p>Peeking out from one jobseeker's file in his office is an application for a position at Dairy Queen. Long says some of the old Ormet workers seem in denial about their prospects. He recently ran into one.</p>
<p>"He said, 'I keep hoping the plant's going to fire back up,'" Long recalls. "I said, 'That's not going to happen, buddy.'"</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP video: http://bit.ly/2ctieWO</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Paul Wiseman on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PaulWisemanAP</p> | DIVIDED AMERICA: Losing out to China, workers embrace Trump | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/14/divided-america-losing-out-to-china-workers-embrace-trump.html | 2016-09-14 | 0right
| DIVIDED AMERICA: Losing out to China, workers embrace Trump
<p>Crushed by Chinese competition and feeling betrayed by mainstream politicians, workers in the hills of eastern Ohio are embracing Donald Trump and his tough talk on trade.</p>
<p>For decades, they and others living across the Ohio River in West Virginia found work in coal mines and at a local aluminum plant — union jobs, with good pay and generous benefits.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>But those jobs are going, if not gone.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>EDITOR'S NOTE — This is part of Divided America, AP's ongoing exploration of the economic, social and political divisions in American society.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Coal is being wiped out by stricter environmental rules and competition from cheap natural gas. The Ormet aluminum plant? It's out of business, doomed by China's domination of the global aluminum market.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>In an angry election year, some of America's angriest voters live in places like Monroe County where local economies have been punished by price competition with China. Their frustration has fueled support for the Republican presidential nominee, with his belligerent rhetoric about the need to outsmart America's economic rivals, tear up unfair trade deals and re-establish America as the world's dominant player.</p>
<p>"This is Trump country," says John Saunders, an official with the United Steelworkers in nearby Martins Ferry, Ohio.</p>
<p>The disaster that's unfolded here isn't obvious at first glance, not in a region known as the Switzerland of Ohio for its forested, rolling hills. In tiny Hannibal (population: 411), stately two-story homes overlook lawns that roll toward the banks of the Ohio. Nearby Woodsfield, seat of Monroe County, Ohio, looks like Main Street USA, its downtown dominated by a red brick courthouse displaying one of the world's biggest clocks.</p>
<p>But the misery is real. Monroe County's unemployment rate is Ohio's highest at 10.2 percent. Families have moved out to find work. The number of children in the local school district is down 223, or nearly 10 percent, since 2013.</p>
<p>"You're going to have to travel to find a job," says Fran Poole, whose husband, Cecil, worked at the Ormet plant here for 37 years before being laid off when it closed.</p>
<p>Some laid-off workers chose to retire early. Others found work in the energy business, only to see those jobs melt away, too, as oil and gas prices fell. Some are doing odd jobs — cutting grass, hauling gravel.</p>
<p>Much of the damage to this region can be traced to China's decision to become self-sufficient in aluminum production. Aluminum is used in construction and auto manufacturing, aerospace and consumer-product packaging. The surge in its production reflected a broader Chinese strategy: pour money into manufacturing to add jobs and accelerate economic growth.</p>
<p>Fueled by government subsidies and cheap loans from state-owned banks, Chinese aluminum producers went into overdrive: In 2000, the United States had produced a world-beating 15 percent of all aluminum, China just 11 percent. By 2015, China had escalated its output nearly 1,200 percent — and held 55 percent of the world's share.</p>
<p>As Chinese aluminum flooded the world, prices collapsed. A pound of raw aluminum now fetches 74 cents — down from $1.25 five years ago. U.S. production has tumbled 56 percent since 2000, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. And America's share of world aluminum is below 3 percent.</p>
<p>Since 2011, U.S. aluminum companies have closed or idled nine of the 14 U.S. smelters, where aluminum oxide is turned into raw aluminum. Two surviving plants are running at half capacity or less. In Massena, New York; Columbia Falls, Montana; New Madrid, Missouri, plants have folded, idled production or laid off workers.</p>
<p>Hundreds of workers in New Madrid lost their jobs when Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. sought bankruptcy protection in February.</p>
<p>"If you take metal prices back to where they were before China started flooding the market, you're looking at somewhere between 90 cents and $1.10 a pound," says Cameron Redd, a laid-off Noranda employee. At those prices, he says, the Noranda plant still "would be hiring."</p>
<p>Relief hasn't come. At this month's G-20 summit, U.S. and Chinese officials agreed to work together to reduce overproduction of aluminum, but the Chinese have long balked at cutting aluminum output — and jobs.</p>
<p>"They don't want unemployment," says Michael Komesaroff of Urandaline Investments, and Australian consulting firm.</p>
<p>Longtime residents recall how vital the Ormet plant here was for the area's economy and for supporting middle-class lifestyles. Workers regularly vacationed and bought houses and boats and all-terrain vehicles to tear up the Ohio countryside.</p>
<p>"If you didn't go to college or the military, you went to the coal mines or Ormet," says Bill Long, a former Ormet laborer who is a supervisor at the county's Department of Job and Family Services.</p>
<p>The plant used to burn more electricity than all of Pittsburgh. For nearly six decades, barges plied the Ohio River and trains clacked alongside State Highway 7, bearing Ormet aluminum to customers across America.</p>
<p>The factory drew workers from the hills of West Virginia and eastern Ohio, paying them about $40,000 a year before overtime. Overtime was "sporadic," recalls Carl Davis, a former Ormet worker who is now a Monroe County commissioner. "But a few were known to gross around $100,000."</p>
<p>"Even though the work was hard back then, it was best job I had ever had, and the most money I'd ever had my hands on," says Francis Blackstone, a 70-year-old Ormet retiree. "And the benefits were just unheard of" — including free health care.</p>
<p>"We were all family," says Danny Isaly, an Ormet worker who became the plant's head of industrial relations. "Everybody had a relative here."</p>
<p>After the plant closed, Isaly received unemployment benefits until they ran out. Then he retired at age 59.</p>
<p>Niagara Worldwide bought the 1,600-acre complex at auction in 2014 after Ormet Corp. sought bankruptcy protection. Dan Gerovac is overseeing the plant's destruction for Niagara. He and his crew are clearing the site in hopes of selling it to another industrial company. They are breaking down equipment — including the pots where aluminum oxide was turned into aluminum at temperatures of 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit — for sale as scrap metal.</p>
<p>"No aluminum will be made here anymore," Gerovac says.</p>
<p>Through most of the 2000s — aside from a sharp drop during the Great Recession — world aluminum prices had withstood the surge in supply from China. China's own economy was growing so fast its demand for aluminum was nearly insatiable. Then its economy decelerated after 2010, and aluminum prices plunged.</p>
<p>Desperate, Ormet and the Steelworkers union sought to renegotiate electricity prices from the local utility, AEP Ohio. In 2012 and 2013, they urged Gov. John Kasich to lean on the state utility commission to help. Kasich wouldn't intervene, leaving the decision to the commission.</p>
<p>The plant went out of business.</p>
<p>Aluminum prices were so low the plant might not have survived anyway. But Kasich's refusal to intervene helps explain why animosity for the governor runs high in these parts. In the March Republican presidential primary, Monroe County overwhelmingly backed Trump and rejected Kasich, who otherwise won his home state handily.</p>
<p>"He just shunned us," Danny Isaly says.</p>
<p>Trump is viewed as a champion to many here who say America's political leaders have stood by while competition from China and other countries has wrecked communities like Hannibal.</p>
<p>"He says what a lot of people would like to say," says Cecil Poole, who feels the national Democratic Party has abandoned blue-collar workers. Trump's pledge to "Make America Great Again" resonates with those who feel they've lost their place in the middle class.</p>
<p>In a way, some of the laid-off Ormet workers were fortunate for a time. When the plant closed two years ago, the region was enjoying an energy boom. Oil and gas companies were fracking in the Marcellus Shale formation, from upstate New York through Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and West Virginia. They needed drivers, electricians, welders.</p>
<p>Poole, 62, and out of work after nearly four decades at Ormet, got a commercial driver's license and found work hauling supplies for energy companies. He earned about what he made at Ormet, though he had to work twice as many hours for it. And Poole found the work exhausting. He traveled overnight and slept in his rig.</p>
<p>"It was tough on the old body," he says.</p>
<p>He retired in June.</p>
<p>The fracking boom, it turned out, didn't produce as many jobs as people here had hoped. The energy companies often brought in experienced oil-field workers. Then, energy prices started tumbling, and fracking work dried up.</p>
<p>Now, job openings are scarce, the pay and benefits no match for what Ormet offered.</p>
<p>"It's embarrassing what's out there," says Bill Long, who counsels the unemployed.</p>
<p>Peeking out from one jobseeker's file in his office is an application for a position at Dairy Queen. Long says some of the old Ormet workers seem in denial about their prospects. He recently ran into one.</p>
<p>"He said, 'I keep hoping the plant's going to fire back up,'" Long recalls. "I said, 'That's not going to happen, buddy.'"</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP video: http://bit.ly/2ctieWO</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Paul Wiseman on Twitter at https://twitter.com/PaulWisemanAP</p> | 599,797 |
<p>European stocks inched higher around midday on Thursday, although trading was choppy as investors avoided taking big bets before ECB chief Mario Draghi's press conference.</p>
<p>The European Central Bank is seen keeping interest rates on hold, with the decision due at 1145 GMT, and investors will focus on Draghi's briefing and whether he will try to dampen expectations of an interest rate rise.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>European money market rates have recently risen on strong economic data and anticipation of the U.S. Federal Reserve scaling back its quantitative easing programme.</p>
<p>At 1037 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.3 percent at 1,219.21 points, after hitting its highest level since Aug. 26.</p>
<p>"People are waiting for cues from the central banks, and there is just no real trend on the market at the moment," said Guillaume Dumans, co-head of research firm 2Bremans.</p>
<p>"There are always good intraday levels, but this is for short-term tactical moves and we recommend staying liquid."</p>
<p>The market continued to find support in a recent wave of M&amp;A, with Telecom Italia surging 5.6 percent on renewed deal speculation.</p>
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<p>Italian daily la Repubblica reported on Thursday that Executive Chairman Franco Bernabe plans to propose to the board a reserved capital increase to bring in a new investor, while MF daily mentioned a number of options including a possible offer by AT&amp;T and a merger with Spain's Telefonica</p>
<p>The FTSEurofirst 300 is up 10 percent since late June, although the index has lost steam in the past two weeks as concerns over Syria and Fed policy prompted investors to book profits.</p>
<p>Talks on how to deal with Syria's civil war were likely to dominate the G20 meeting of the world's major nations in Russia on Thursday.</p>
<p>Despite the risks seen for equities in the short term, Christophe Jaubert, CIO hedge fund strategies at Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions, sees more room on the upside in the medium term.</p>
<p>"Equities is the best asset class at the moment. U.S. stocks are starting to trade a bit above 'fair value' however, but European shares are definitely attractive," he said.</p>
<p>"All in all, fundamentals are back in the spotlight and that's what will drive the market, instead of the big macro fears of the past few years. Stock pickers thrive again."</p> | European Shares Hold onto Gains After ECB Decision | true | http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2013/09/05/european-shares-tick-up-ahead-ecb.html | 2016-03-06 | 0right
| European Shares Hold onto Gains After ECB Decision
<p>European stocks inched higher around midday on Thursday, although trading was choppy as investors avoided taking big bets before ECB chief Mario Draghi's press conference.</p>
<p>The European Central Bank is seen keeping interest rates on hold, with the decision due at 1145 GMT, and investors will focus on Draghi's briefing and whether he will try to dampen expectations of an interest rate rise.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>European money market rates have recently risen on strong economic data and anticipation of the U.S. Federal Reserve scaling back its quantitative easing programme.</p>
<p>At 1037 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was up 0.3 percent at 1,219.21 points, after hitting its highest level since Aug. 26.</p>
<p>"People are waiting for cues from the central banks, and there is just no real trend on the market at the moment," said Guillaume Dumans, co-head of research firm 2Bremans.</p>
<p>"There are always good intraday levels, but this is for short-term tactical moves and we recommend staying liquid."</p>
<p>The market continued to find support in a recent wave of M&amp;A, with Telecom Italia surging 5.6 percent on renewed deal speculation.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Italian daily la Repubblica reported on Thursday that Executive Chairman Franco Bernabe plans to propose to the board a reserved capital increase to bring in a new investor, while MF daily mentioned a number of options including a possible offer by AT&amp;T and a merger with Spain's Telefonica</p>
<p>The FTSEurofirst 300 is up 10 percent since late June, although the index has lost steam in the past two weeks as concerns over Syria and Fed policy prompted investors to book profits.</p>
<p>Talks on how to deal with Syria's civil war were likely to dominate the G20 meeting of the world's major nations in Russia on Thursday.</p>
<p>Despite the risks seen for equities in the short term, Christophe Jaubert, CIO hedge fund strategies at Rothschild HDF Investment Solutions, sees more room on the upside in the medium term.</p>
<p>"Equities is the best asset class at the moment. U.S. stocks are starting to trade a bit above 'fair value' however, but European shares are definitely attractive," he said.</p>
<p>"All in all, fundamentals are back in the spotlight and that's what will drive the market, instead of the big macro fears of the past few years. Stock pickers thrive again."</p> | 599,798 |
<p />
<p>Dallas Morning News/WFAA: <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/011104dnmethaagob.26b3a73.html" type="external">Longtime News Director Raised the Bar at Channel 8</a>Houston Chronicle: <a href="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2347128" type="external">Longtime TV News Executive Haag Dead at 69</a>News8 Austin/Associated Press: <a href="http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/?SecID=278&amp;ArID=94700" type="external">Longtime TV News Executive Marty Haag Dies</a>Columbia Journalism Review: <a href="http://archives.cjr.org/year/94/1/lonestar.asp" type="external">Bright Spot in the Lone Star State</a>University of North Texas Hall of Honor:For the Love of Journalism <a href="" type="internal">Tribute by Nann Goplerud, Executive Producer of Special Projects, WFAA-TV</a>&#160; <a href="http://www.legacy.com/Guestbook.asp?Page=Guestbook&amp;PersonID=1791423" type="external">Add your tribute to the Legacy guestbook set up for Marty Haag</a>Marty Haag, one of the most important&#160;forces&#160;in&#160;local television news, <a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040110/nysa017_1.html" type="external">died Saturday</a>.&#160;Haag, 69,&#160;is survived by his wife and three sons.&#160;He&#160;was News Director of WFAA-TV in Dallas for 16 years, and later served as VP/News of Belo Corporation until he retired in 2000."Marty Haag personified journalism in the highest sense," said Robert W. Decherd, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Belo. "Marty was a news executive of unparalleled ability, creativity and integrity whose belief in fairness framed a deep understanding of the role of a free press in American democracy." "I will try to live up to his journalistic values and remember the wisdom he shared with me," said Paula Madison, KNBC President &amp; General Manager and NBC/Telemundo Los Angeles Regional GM."It's very difficult for me to accept that a man who I love so deeply and so dearly is not physically here anymore. So many people have benefitted from Marty and from his teachings. I certainly did." "He's always going to be Yoda and I'm one of his Jedi knights. He always laughed when I referred to him and us that way," Madison said.Among&#160;Haag's many honors was a George Foster Peabody Award for his contributions to journalism and broadcasting.The Peabody Awards honored him for a lifetime of achievement in 2000. Louise Benjamin, who was then interim director of the Peabody Awards, said <a href="http://www.peabody.uga.edu/news/pressrelease.asp?ID=56" type="external">Haag "helped establish high ethical standards and quality reporting at both local and network news levels."</a> After retirement, Haag worked as a consultant and taught several journalism courses at Southern Methodist University. He was a voice for tough journalism and&#160;ethics.&#160;He was a mentor, teacher, boss, coach, and friend to hundreds of broadcast journalists. He was a friend of The Poynter Institute and taught with us many times. We will miss him.The funeral service for Marty Haag will be Tuesday, January 13, at&#160;2 p.m.&#160;at the First Presbyterian Church in Dallas.&#160;The Church is located at 408 Park Ave., Dallas, Texas, 72501.&gt;&gt; <a href="" type="internal">Read tribute by Nann Goplerud, Executive Producer of Special Projects, WFAA-TV</a> &gt;&gt; <a href="http://www.legacy.com/Guestbook.asp?Page=Guestbook&amp;PersonID=1791423" type="external">Add your tribute to the Legacy guestbook set up for Marty Haag.</a></p> | Longtime News Director Marty Haag Dead at 69 | false | https://poynter.org/news/longtime-news-director-marty-haag-dead-69 | 2004-01-11 | 2least
| Longtime News Director Marty Haag Dead at 69
<p />
<p>Dallas Morning News/WFAA: <a href="http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/011104dnmethaagob.26b3a73.html" type="external">Longtime News Director Raised the Bar at Channel 8</a>Houston Chronicle: <a href="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2347128" type="external">Longtime TV News Executive Haag Dead at 69</a>News8 Austin/Associated Press: <a href="http://www.news8austin.com/content/your_news/?SecID=278&amp;ArID=94700" type="external">Longtime TV News Executive Marty Haag Dies</a>Columbia Journalism Review: <a href="http://archives.cjr.org/year/94/1/lonestar.asp" type="external">Bright Spot in the Lone Star State</a>University of North Texas Hall of Honor:For the Love of Journalism <a href="" type="internal">Tribute by Nann Goplerud, Executive Producer of Special Projects, WFAA-TV</a>&#160; <a href="http://www.legacy.com/Guestbook.asp?Page=Guestbook&amp;PersonID=1791423" type="external">Add your tribute to the Legacy guestbook set up for Marty Haag</a>Marty Haag, one of the most important&#160;forces&#160;in&#160;local television news, <a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040110/nysa017_1.html" type="external">died Saturday</a>.&#160;Haag, 69,&#160;is survived by his wife and three sons.&#160;He&#160;was News Director of WFAA-TV in Dallas for 16 years, and later served as VP/News of Belo Corporation until he retired in 2000."Marty Haag personified journalism in the highest sense," said Robert W. Decherd, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Belo. "Marty was a news executive of unparalleled ability, creativity and integrity whose belief in fairness framed a deep understanding of the role of a free press in American democracy." "I will try to live up to his journalistic values and remember the wisdom he shared with me," said Paula Madison, KNBC President &amp; General Manager and NBC/Telemundo Los Angeles Regional GM."It's very difficult for me to accept that a man who I love so deeply and so dearly is not physically here anymore. So many people have benefitted from Marty and from his teachings. I certainly did." "He's always going to be Yoda and I'm one of his Jedi knights. He always laughed when I referred to him and us that way," Madison said.Among&#160;Haag's many honors was a George Foster Peabody Award for his contributions to journalism and broadcasting.The Peabody Awards honored him for a lifetime of achievement in 2000. Louise Benjamin, who was then interim director of the Peabody Awards, said <a href="http://www.peabody.uga.edu/news/pressrelease.asp?ID=56" type="external">Haag "helped establish high ethical standards and quality reporting at both local and network news levels."</a> After retirement, Haag worked as a consultant and taught several journalism courses at Southern Methodist University. He was a voice for tough journalism and&#160;ethics.&#160;He was a mentor, teacher, boss, coach, and friend to hundreds of broadcast journalists. He was a friend of The Poynter Institute and taught with us many times. We will miss him.The funeral service for Marty Haag will be Tuesday, January 13, at&#160;2 p.m.&#160;at the First Presbyterian Church in Dallas.&#160;The Church is located at 408 Park Ave., Dallas, Texas, 72501.&gt;&gt; <a href="" type="internal">Read tribute by Nann Goplerud, Executive Producer of Special Projects, WFAA-TV</a> &gt;&gt; <a href="http://www.legacy.com/Guestbook.asp?Page=Guestbook&amp;PersonID=1791423" type="external">Add your tribute to the Legacy guestbook set up for Marty Haag.</a></p> | 599,799 |
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