news_text
stringlengths 0
312k
| title
stringlengths 0
11.1k
| hyperpartisan
bool 2
classes | url
stringlengths 20
344
| published_at
stringlengths 0
10
| bias
class label 5
classes | text
stringlengths 19
312k
| uid
int64 0
600k
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
<p>Barry Manilow says he didn’t hear a single negative reaction to coming out two years ago. (Photo courtesy MGM National Harbor)</p>
<p>Barry Manilow</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Theater at MGM National Harbor</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>101 MGM National Ave.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Oxon Hill, Md.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>July 24-25</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>7:30 p.m.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>$76-309</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://mgm.theaternationalharbor.com" type="external">mgm.theaternationalharbor.com</a></p>
<p>In 2015, news that Barry Manilow was married to Garry Kief, his manager and partner of now 40 years, broke in several publications, and any fears the singer had about what it would mean to his career and how his fans would react were quickly put to rest.</p>
<p>With performances scheduled at the Theater at MGM National Harbor, July 24-25, Manilow took some time out of his busy schedule to talk about his shows, his storied career and the headlines asserting that he was gay.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON BLADE: What were the emotions you felt once you decided to come out? Was there a sense of relief once you saw how your fans reacted?</p>
<p>BARRY MANILOW: Over the years, they have told me and showed me how much they care about me, not just the music. I’ve felt that from the very beginning. I have been in a loving relationship for 40 years and I would have been very surprised if they didn’t cheer and weren’t happy for me, and of course they did. They reacted just as I had hoped they would. I never saw one negative response. Everyone was very happy for me.</p>
<p>BLADE: You and Garry have been together for almost four decades now. At a time when many couples don’t last, especially those in the public eye, what’s the secret to your long-lasting relationship?</p>
<p>MANILOW: Respect and privacy. We’ve been together going on 40 years and it’s a great relationship, just like any marriage. I grew up around people who were not really in love, with lots of arguing and screaming and I never really saw people respect and love people. Surprisingly enough, this worked out. Garry manages me and I do my work, he does his work, and we’re in great shape. We’ve both handled ourselves as gentlemen and we’re very proud of each other.</p>
<p>BLADE: Last year you announced your “One Last Time” tour, retiring from touring but promising not to give up on performing. You’re sticking to your word by playing gigs here and there, including your shows next week at National Harbor.&#160;</p>
<p>MANILOW: I always said I would do one-nighters. I have no plans to retire. I’m doing weekends now and then. I had to get off the road. It keeps me away from home for weeks and sometimes months at a time and I’ll never do that again. Shows like these, I’m totally fine with doing. The band and I may need to do an extra-long sound check, but we’ve worked together for so long and know all the songs so well, it’s no problem.</p>
<p>BLADE: What can you preview about what fans can expect from the performance?</p>
<p>MANILOW: For many years, I was able to do album cuts and special material and little by little, as the years went by, I could tell the audience wants the songs they grew up with, or that their parents played for them and whenever I tried to do anything else, I could feel that they weren’t as happy as when I did the big hits. I’m doing as many of the hits as I can possibly squeeze into the show.</p>
<p>BLADE: What was the genesis behind your latest release, “This Is My Town: Songs of New York,” and as a New Yorker yourself, how important an album was this for you?</p>
<p>MANILOW: I like to make albums that have ideas to them. The days of me doing 10 love songs that have nothing to do with one another, I stopped doing that years ago. I did a Big Band album, I did a show tunes album, I did a decades series and I always wanted to do a tribute to my home town of New York. There were so many great songs that I decided to do a medley of a handful of them because I loved them all but didn’t have enough space for everything.</p>
<p>BLADE: What is your songwriting process like? What inspires you to write?</p>
<p>MANILOW: If I started to chase the trend machine, it would drive me nuts. I do what feels good. I write a melody and then send it to my brilliant lyricists and then we talk it through. Or, we do it together. I’m one of these guys who work on demand. I work when I have a project. I’ve tried the other way — writing a song for no reason at all, and I love them all, but they wind up in my trunk and I never use them because they don’t fit on the next album. I stopped doing that.</p>
<p>BLADE: Your stepfather, Willie Murphy, had a big influence on your music career. How did he help shape your musical tastes?</p>
<p>MANILOW: He brought with him a stack of albums that may have well been a stack of gold, because I didn’t know much music. I was raised by my grandparents and my mother, and my mother was into the pop music of the day on the radio, which didn’t really turn me on, and my grandparents were into the old Russian folk songs. When Willie Murphy came into my life with that stack of albums, there was music — great Broadway albums and great classical albums, Frank Sinatra, Nelson Riddle — and for a 13-year-old kid to hear that for the first time, it was a life-changing moment for me. I didn’t know music like that existed.</p>
<p>BLADE: Are there still musical goals out there that you want to experiment with and try?</p>
<p>MANILOW: Always. The well hasn’t run dry yet. I always have the next idea. I have three ideas in the pipeline now. That’s how I keep young and energetic. You will never find me sitting in front of the TV set. It’s my suggestion to all those people who are getting on — don’t just sit and watch TV, figure out something to do and do it.</p>
<p>BLADE: What is it that keeps you coming back to the stage time and time again?</p>
<p>MANILOW: Garry’s told me, “You can’t cure cancer but you can make them forget about it for 90 minutes.” That’s what I’m seeing out there. These people are so happy and having such a great time singing these songs and listening to me do my cornball jokes and playing my music, that they do forget the craziness going on out there in the world. That’s the part that keeps me coming back.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Barry Manilow</a> <a href="" type="internal">Garry Kief</a> <a href="" type="internal">MGM National Harbor</a> <a href="" type="internal">Willie Murphy</a></p>
|
Two-night-stand with Barry Manilow
| false |
http://washingtonblade.com/2017/07/19/two-night-stand-barry-manilow/
| 3left-center
|
Two-night-stand with Barry Manilow
<p>Barry Manilow says he didn’t hear a single negative reaction to coming out two years ago. (Photo courtesy MGM National Harbor)</p>
<p>Barry Manilow</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Theater at MGM National Harbor</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>101 MGM National Ave.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Oxon Hill, Md.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>July 24-25</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>7:30 p.m.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>$76-309</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://mgm.theaternationalharbor.com" type="external">mgm.theaternationalharbor.com</a></p>
<p>In 2015, news that Barry Manilow was married to Garry Kief, his manager and partner of now 40 years, broke in several publications, and any fears the singer had about what it would mean to his career and how his fans would react were quickly put to rest.</p>
<p>With performances scheduled at the Theater at MGM National Harbor, July 24-25, Manilow took some time out of his busy schedule to talk about his shows, his storied career and the headlines asserting that he was gay.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON BLADE: What were the emotions you felt once you decided to come out? Was there a sense of relief once you saw how your fans reacted?</p>
<p>BARRY MANILOW: Over the years, they have told me and showed me how much they care about me, not just the music. I’ve felt that from the very beginning. I have been in a loving relationship for 40 years and I would have been very surprised if they didn’t cheer and weren’t happy for me, and of course they did. They reacted just as I had hoped they would. I never saw one negative response. Everyone was very happy for me.</p>
<p>BLADE: You and Garry have been together for almost four decades now. At a time when many couples don’t last, especially those in the public eye, what’s the secret to your long-lasting relationship?</p>
<p>MANILOW: Respect and privacy. We’ve been together going on 40 years and it’s a great relationship, just like any marriage. I grew up around people who were not really in love, with lots of arguing and screaming and I never really saw people respect and love people. Surprisingly enough, this worked out. Garry manages me and I do my work, he does his work, and we’re in great shape. We’ve both handled ourselves as gentlemen and we’re very proud of each other.</p>
<p>BLADE: Last year you announced your “One Last Time” tour, retiring from touring but promising not to give up on performing. You’re sticking to your word by playing gigs here and there, including your shows next week at National Harbor.&#160;</p>
<p>MANILOW: I always said I would do one-nighters. I have no plans to retire. I’m doing weekends now and then. I had to get off the road. It keeps me away from home for weeks and sometimes months at a time and I’ll never do that again. Shows like these, I’m totally fine with doing. The band and I may need to do an extra-long sound check, but we’ve worked together for so long and know all the songs so well, it’s no problem.</p>
<p>BLADE: What can you preview about what fans can expect from the performance?</p>
<p>MANILOW: For many years, I was able to do album cuts and special material and little by little, as the years went by, I could tell the audience wants the songs they grew up with, or that their parents played for them and whenever I tried to do anything else, I could feel that they weren’t as happy as when I did the big hits. I’m doing as many of the hits as I can possibly squeeze into the show.</p>
<p>BLADE: What was the genesis behind your latest release, “This Is My Town: Songs of New York,” and as a New Yorker yourself, how important an album was this for you?</p>
<p>MANILOW: I like to make albums that have ideas to them. The days of me doing 10 love songs that have nothing to do with one another, I stopped doing that years ago. I did a Big Band album, I did a show tunes album, I did a decades series and I always wanted to do a tribute to my home town of New York. There were so many great songs that I decided to do a medley of a handful of them because I loved them all but didn’t have enough space for everything.</p>
<p>BLADE: What is your songwriting process like? What inspires you to write?</p>
<p>MANILOW: If I started to chase the trend machine, it would drive me nuts. I do what feels good. I write a melody and then send it to my brilliant lyricists and then we talk it through. Or, we do it together. I’m one of these guys who work on demand. I work when I have a project. I’ve tried the other way — writing a song for no reason at all, and I love them all, but they wind up in my trunk and I never use them because they don’t fit on the next album. I stopped doing that.</p>
<p>BLADE: Your stepfather, Willie Murphy, had a big influence on your music career. How did he help shape your musical tastes?</p>
<p>MANILOW: He brought with him a stack of albums that may have well been a stack of gold, because I didn’t know much music. I was raised by my grandparents and my mother, and my mother was into the pop music of the day on the radio, which didn’t really turn me on, and my grandparents were into the old Russian folk songs. When Willie Murphy came into my life with that stack of albums, there was music — great Broadway albums and great classical albums, Frank Sinatra, Nelson Riddle — and for a 13-year-old kid to hear that for the first time, it was a life-changing moment for me. I didn’t know music like that existed.</p>
<p>BLADE: Are there still musical goals out there that you want to experiment with and try?</p>
<p>MANILOW: Always. The well hasn’t run dry yet. I always have the next idea. I have three ideas in the pipeline now. That’s how I keep young and energetic. You will never find me sitting in front of the TV set. It’s my suggestion to all those people who are getting on — don’t just sit and watch TV, figure out something to do and do it.</p>
<p>BLADE: What is it that keeps you coming back to the stage time and time again?</p>
<p>MANILOW: Garry’s told me, “You can’t cure cancer but you can make them forget about it for 90 minutes.” That’s what I’m seeing out there. These people are so happy and having such a great time singing these songs and listening to me do my cornball jokes and playing my music, that they do forget the craziness going on out there in the world. That’s the part that keeps me coming back.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Barry Manilow</a> <a href="" type="internal">Garry Kief</a> <a href="" type="internal">MGM National Harbor</a> <a href="" type="internal">Willie Murphy</a></p>
| 6,000 |
|
<p>NELSON, New Zealand (AP) — The West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl Friday in the first of three Twenty20 cricket internationals against New Zealand.</p>
<p>Tim Southee will captain New Zealand in an international match for the first time, taking over from Kane Williamson, who is being rested but will return for the second and third matches.</p>
<p>New Zealand named allrounders Seth Rance and Anaru Kitchen to make their T20 international debuts.</p>
<p>West Indies captain Carlos Braithwaite said he chose to bowl because it was his team's "strongest suit." The West Indies were beaten 2-0 in the two-test series and 3-0 in the three-match one-day series in New Zealand, but as two-time world Twenty20 champions are more at home in the shortened format.</p>
<p>Braithwaite said the tourists had named their strongest team, although Kieron Powell, Sunil Narine and Marlon Samuels were not available for this tour.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Ross Taylor, Tom Bruce, Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Seth Rance, Tim Southee (captain), Ish Sodhi, Anaru Kitchen.</p>
<p>West Indies: Chris Gayle, Chadwick Walton, Andre Fletcher, Shai Hope, Jason Mohammed, Rovman Powell, Carlos Braithwaite (captain), Ashley Nurse, Samuel Badree, Jerome Taylor, Keswick Williams.</p>
<p>Umpires: Chris Brown and Wayne Knights, New Zealand.</p>
<p>TV umpire: Shaun Haig, New Zealand. Match referee: Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe.</p>
<p>NELSON, New Zealand (AP) — The West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl Friday in the first of three Twenty20 cricket internationals against New Zealand.</p>
<p>Tim Southee will captain New Zealand in an international match for the first time, taking over from Kane Williamson, who is being rested but will return for the second and third matches.</p>
<p>New Zealand named allrounders Seth Rance and Anaru Kitchen to make their T20 international debuts.</p>
<p>West Indies captain Carlos Braithwaite said he chose to bowl because it was his team's "strongest suit." The West Indies were beaten 2-0 in the two-test series and 3-0 in the three-match one-day series in New Zealand, but as two-time world Twenty20 champions are more at home in the shortened format.</p>
<p>Braithwaite said the tourists had named their strongest team, although Kieron Powell, Sunil Narine and Marlon Samuels were not available for this tour.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Ross Taylor, Tom Bruce, Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Seth Rance, Tim Southee (captain), Ish Sodhi, Anaru Kitchen.</p>
<p>West Indies: Chris Gayle, Chadwick Walton, Andre Fletcher, Shai Hope, Jason Mohammed, Rovman Powell, Carlos Braithwaite (captain), Ashley Nurse, Samuel Badree, Jerome Taylor, Keswick Williams.</p>
<p>Umpires: Chris Brown and Wayne Knights, New Zealand.</p>
<p>TV umpire: Shaun Haig, New Zealand. Match referee: Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe.</p>
|
West Indies win toss, bowl in 1st T20 vs New Zealand
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/cbbbb5e8d17649a68b1db6151e6aa0dd
|
2017-12-29
| 2least
|
West Indies win toss, bowl in 1st T20 vs New Zealand
<p>NELSON, New Zealand (AP) — The West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl Friday in the first of three Twenty20 cricket internationals against New Zealand.</p>
<p>Tim Southee will captain New Zealand in an international match for the first time, taking over from Kane Williamson, who is being rested but will return for the second and third matches.</p>
<p>New Zealand named allrounders Seth Rance and Anaru Kitchen to make their T20 international debuts.</p>
<p>West Indies captain Carlos Braithwaite said he chose to bowl because it was his team's "strongest suit." The West Indies were beaten 2-0 in the two-test series and 3-0 in the three-match one-day series in New Zealand, but as two-time world Twenty20 champions are more at home in the shortened format.</p>
<p>Braithwaite said the tourists had named their strongest team, although Kieron Powell, Sunil Narine and Marlon Samuels were not available for this tour.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Ross Taylor, Tom Bruce, Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Seth Rance, Tim Southee (captain), Ish Sodhi, Anaru Kitchen.</p>
<p>West Indies: Chris Gayle, Chadwick Walton, Andre Fletcher, Shai Hope, Jason Mohammed, Rovman Powell, Carlos Braithwaite (captain), Ashley Nurse, Samuel Badree, Jerome Taylor, Keswick Williams.</p>
<p>Umpires: Chris Brown and Wayne Knights, New Zealand.</p>
<p>TV umpire: Shaun Haig, New Zealand. Match referee: Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe.</p>
<p>NELSON, New Zealand (AP) — The West Indies won the toss and chose to bowl Friday in the first of three Twenty20 cricket internationals against New Zealand.</p>
<p>Tim Southee will captain New Zealand in an international match for the first time, taking over from Kane Williamson, who is being rested but will return for the second and third matches.</p>
<p>New Zealand named allrounders Seth Rance and Anaru Kitchen to make their T20 international debuts.</p>
<p>West Indies captain Carlos Braithwaite said he chose to bowl because it was his team's "strongest suit." The West Indies were beaten 2-0 in the two-test series and 3-0 in the three-match one-day series in New Zealand, but as two-time world Twenty20 champions are more at home in the shortened format.</p>
<p>Braithwaite said the tourists had named their strongest team, although Kieron Powell, Sunil Narine and Marlon Samuels were not available for this tour.</p>
<p>____</p>
<p>New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Colin Munro, Glenn Phillips, Ross Taylor, Tom Bruce, Mitchell Santner, Doug Bracewell, Seth Rance, Tim Southee (captain), Ish Sodhi, Anaru Kitchen.</p>
<p>West Indies: Chris Gayle, Chadwick Walton, Andre Fletcher, Shai Hope, Jason Mohammed, Rovman Powell, Carlos Braithwaite (captain), Ashley Nurse, Samuel Badree, Jerome Taylor, Keswick Williams.</p>
<p>Umpires: Chris Brown and Wayne Knights, New Zealand.</p>
<p>TV umpire: Shaun Haig, New Zealand. Match referee: Andy Pycroft, Zimbabwe.</p>
| 6,001 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A wet and blustery storm along the East Coast made driving hazardous and tangled up hundreds of flights Wednesday but didn’t cause the all-out gridlock many Thanksgiving travelers had feared.</p>
<p>Many travelers marveled at how orderly and anxiety-free the airports were during what is typically one of the busiest days of the year.</p>
<p>One big question lingered in New York: Will high winds ground Snoopy and the other giant cartoon-character balloons at the Macy’s parade on Thanksgiving Day?</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The storm for the most part unleashed wind-driven rain along the Northeast’s heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor from Richmond, Va., to the tip of Maine.</p>
<p>Emerging from the weather gauntlet was Katie Fleisher, who made it by car from Portsmouth, N.H., through rain and fog to Boston’s Logan Airport with little trouble and discovered to her amazement that the panicked, cranky crowds she expected were nonexistent.</p>
<p>“We thought it would be busier here. But there’ve been no lines and it has been really quiet all morning,” said Fleisher, whose plan was to fly to Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>“Our flight is still on time, but we are checking the app every couple of minutes,” she said. “We are nervous as we are traveling with two 1-year-olds and any extra time on a plane would be horrible.”</p>
<p>The storm was expected to drop around 6 inches of snow in parts of West Virginia and western Pennsylvania and up to a foot in a pocket of upstate New York.</p>
<p>Damaging winds gusting up to 60 mph were expected to rip through Boston and other coastal areas.</p>
<p>Those winds could prevent the giant balloons from taking flight this year at the Macy’s parade. Safety rules that specify wind speeds were enacted in New York after a spectator was killed in 1997 in an accident involving an out-of-control balloon.</p>
<p>Flight cancellations piled up at East Coast hubs. By midday Wednesday, around 250 flights had been canceled, according to the tracking website FlightAware.com.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But that was a tiny fraction of the nearly 32,000 flights that were scheduled to, from or within the U.S. on Wednesday, the site said. And the weather in many places was improving as the day wore on.</p>
<p>Most of the cancellations involved Newark, N.J., Philadelphia and New York’s LaGuardia Airport.</p>
<p>The longest delays affected Philadelphia-bound flights, which were being held at their points of origin for an average of about two hours because of the weather, according to the website.</p>
<p>The Philadelphia area was under a flood watch, with 2 to 3 inches of rain forecast before falling temperatures turn precipitation to snow.</p>
<p>Roads there were snarled. A deadly multivehicle crash that authorities said happened when a car hit standing water and spun out of control closed the westbound lanes of the Schuylkill Expressway for a while, and the eastbound lanes were shut down for several hours because of flooding.</p>
<p>The storm, which developed in the West over the weekend, has been blamed for at least 11 deaths, five of them in Texas.</p>
<p>But as it moved east, it wasn’t as bad as feared.</p>
<p>“This is a fairly typical storm for this time of year,” said Chris Vaccaro of the National Weather Service. “Obviously, it’s ill-timed because you have a lot of rain and snowfall in areas where people are trying to move around town or fly or drive out of town. … But fortunately, we’re at this point going to start seeing a steady improvement in conditions across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.”</p>
<p>More than 43 million people are expected to travel over the long holiday weekend, according to AAA. About 39 million of those will be on the roads, while more than 3 million people are expected to fly.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Rain, snow hit East during Thanksgiving rush
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/310516/rain-snow-hit-east-during-thanksgiving-rush.html
| 2least
|
Rain, snow hit East during Thanksgiving rush
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A wet and blustery storm along the East Coast made driving hazardous and tangled up hundreds of flights Wednesday but didn’t cause the all-out gridlock many Thanksgiving travelers had feared.</p>
<p>Many travelers marveled at how orderly and anxiety-free the airports were during what is typically one of the busiest days of the year.</p>
<p>One big question lingered in New York: Will high winds ground Snoopy and the other giant cartoon-character balloons at the Macy’s parade on Thanksgiving Day?</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The storm for the most part unleashed wind-driven rain along the Northeast’s heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor from Richmond, Va., to the tip of Maine.</p>
<p>Emerging from the weather gauntlet was Katie Fleisher, who made it by car from Portsmouth, N.H., through rain and fog to Boston’s Logan Airport with little trouble and discovered to her amazement that the panicked, cranky crowds she expected were nonexistent.</p>
<p>“We thought it would be busier here. But there’ve been no lines and it has been really quiet all morning,” said Fleisher, whose plan was to fly to Pittsburgh.</p>
<p>“Our flight is still on time, but we are checking the app every couple of minutes,” she said. “We are nervous as we are traveling with two 1-year-olds and any extra time on a plane would be horrible.”</p>
<p>The storm was expected to drop around 6 inches of snow in parts of West Virginia and western Pennsylvania and up to a foot in a pocket of upstate New York.</p>
<p>Damaging winds gusting up to 60 mph were expected to rip through Boston and other coastal areas.</p>
<p>Those winds could prevent the giant balloons from taking flight this year at the Macy’s parade. Safety rules that specify wind speeds were enacted in New York after a spectator was killed in 1997 in an accident involving an out-of-control balloon.</p>
<p>Flight cancellations piled up at East Coast hubs. By midday Wednesday, around 250 flights had been canceled, according to the tracking website FlightAware.com.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But that was a tiny fraction of the nearly 32,000 flights that were scheduled to, from or within the U.S. on Wednesday, the site said. And the weather in many places was improving as the day wore on.</p>
<p>Most of the cancellations involved Newark, N.J., Philadelphia and New York’s LaGuardia Airport.</p>
<p>The longest delays affected Philadelphia-bound flights, which were being held at their points of origin for an average of about two hours because of the weather, according to the website.</p>
<p>The Philadelphia area was under a flood watch, with 2 to 3 inches of rain forecast before falling temperatures turn precipitation to snow.</p>
<p>Roads there were snarled. A deadly multivehicle crash that authorities said happened when a car hit standing water and spun out of control closed the westbound lanes of the Schuylkill Expressway for a while, and the eastbound lanes were shut down for several hours because of flooding.</p>
<p>The storm, which developed in the West over the weekend, has been blamed for at least 11 deaths, five of them in Texas.</p>
<p>But as it moved east, it wasn’t as bad as feared.</p>
<p>“This is a fairly typical storm for this time of year,” said Chris Vaccaro of the National Weather Service. “Obviously, it’s ill-timed because you have a lot of rain and snowfall in areas where people are trying to move around town or fly or drive out of town. … But fortunately, we’re at this point going to start seeing a steady improvement in conditions across the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.”</p>
<p>More than 43 million people are expected to travel over the long holiday weekend, according to AAA. About 39 million of those will be on the roads, while more than 3 million people are expected to fly.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,002 |
|
<p>The San Diego area is the newest front in California's statewide battle against raging wildfires after a new blaze erupted there late Thursday.</p>
<p>The inferno extended six square miles in a matter of hours, burning dozens of houses as it ripped through the small city of Fallbrook and its tightly packed Rancho Monserate Country Club community.</p>
<p>Firefighters in Ventura, California 130 miles north were also scrambling Friday to contain largest and most devastating wildfire in the state, which has obliterated 430 buildings.</p>
<p>The so-called Thomas Fire has expanded to 180 square miles since starting Monday, while other fire crews had curbed enough of a conflagration near Los Angeles to lift most evacuation orders there.</p>
<p>Dry, hot, windy conditions across California this week have produced a number of fire this week, and conditions there are extreme for any season, especially so near to winter.</p>
<p><a href="https://apnews.com/2a40340afec94fc68a0668e14b1812dd/Flames-engulf-semi-rural-San-Diego-area-in-newest-wildfires" type="external">The Associated Press</a> contributed to this report.</p>
|
The San Diego area became the newest front in the fight against California's wildfires
| false |
https://circa.com/story/2017/12/08/nation/san-diego-area-newest-front-in-california-wildfires
|
2017-12-08
| 1right-center
|
The San Diego area became the newest front in the fight against California's wildfires
<p>The San Diego area is the newest front in California's statewide battle against raging wildfires after a new blaze erupted there late Thursday.</p>
<p>The inferno extended six square miles in a matter of hours, burning dozens of houses as it ripped through the small city of Fallbrook and its tightly packed Rancho Monserate Country Club community.</p>
<p>Firefighters in Ventura, California 130 miles north were also scrambling Friday to contain largest and most devastating wildfire in the state, which has obliterated 430 buildings.</p>
<p>The so-called Thomas Fire has expanded to 180 square miles since starting Monday, while other fire crews had curbed enough of a conflagration near Los Angeles to lift most evacuation orders there.</p>
<p>Dry, hot, windy conditions across California this week have produced a number of fire this week, and conditions there are extreme for any season, especially so near to winter.</p>
<p><a href="https://apnews.com/2a40340afec94fc68a0668e14b1812dd/Flames-engulf-semi-rural-San-Diego-area-in-newest-wildfires" type="external">The Associated Press</a> contributed to this report.</p>
| 6,003 |
<p>Strikebreakers have come a long way from their origins as goons with billy clubs. In South Korea, police commandos dropped from helicopters to try to end a car factory sit-in in Pyeongtaek, where laid-off employees have occupied their former workplace and are demanding their jobs back.</p>
<p>The BBC:</p>
<p>South Korean police commandos have dropped from helicopters to try to end a factory sit-in by sacked workers demanding to keep their jobs.</p>
<p>More than 500 workers have occupied the main car plant of Ssangyong Motors for more than 10 weeks.</p>
<p />
<p>For a second day, police battled laid-off workers armed with metal rods and throwing projectiles.</p>
<p>Ssangyong is under court-approved bankruptcy protection and is trying to cut thousands of jobs to stay afloat.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8185877.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p>
|
21st Century Strikebreakers Raid S. Korea Plant
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/21st-century-strikebreakers-raid-s-korea-plant/
|
2009-08-05
| 4left
|
21st Century Strikebreakers Raid S. Korea Plant
<p>Strikebreakers have come a long way from their origins as goons with billy clubs. In South Korea, police commandos dropped from helicopters to try to end a car factory sit-in in Pyeongtaek, where laid-off employees have occupied their former workplace and are demanding their jobs back.</p>
<p>The BBC:</p>
<p>South Korean police commandos have dropped from helicopters to try to end a factory sit-in by sacked workers demanding to keep their jobs.</p>
<p>More than 500 workers have occupied the main car plant of Ssangyong Motors for more than 10 weeks.</p>
<p />
<p>For a second day, police battled laid-off workers armed with metal rods and throwing projectiles.</p>
<p>Ssangyong is under court-approved bankruptcy protection and is trying to cut thousands of jobs to stay afloat.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8185877.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p>
| 6,004 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The corporate corruption they claim needing to be changed is just an extension of the political corruption caused by an excessive ruling government.</p>
<p>That is precisely why Sander's popularity is dead wrong for America.</p>
<p>The progressives ruling the Democratic party have brainwashed its' followers into believing more government will solve the problems noted by Ortiz y Pino - tax shelters for big business, terrorism, climate change, income inequality.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>All of these issues are playing cards for politicians in establishing their own personal agendas. They are all an extension of special interests and find their pleasure with political hacks in both ruling parties.</p>
<p>So Sanders' solution and Ortiz y Pino's endorsement will only aggravate the problem.</p>
<p>Limited government has always been the foundation for individual success in life. Government restricts personal freedoms that otherwise could be used for personal achievement.</p>
<p>How else can one explain the immense popularity of America upon its independence? People from around the world were not giving up everything to relocate to the Soviet Union!</p>
<p>Socialism always sounds good to those who have been convinced that their plight in life can be changed if only they would invest their life and goods into another person.</p>
<p>Individualism is the key to success in life, not collectivism.</p>
<p>The power ingrained in our constitution is that individual freedoms are given through Divine appointment and it is the function of a governed people to protect those freedoms.</p>
<p>Yet, when misappropriated through power and greed, government policy will always fail. Simply because when government strives to protect the right of one class of people, it takes away the rights of another class.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Class warfare is the most important tool used to change societal culture. Those who perpetrate this are doing so for personal gain.</p>
<p>Believe me, if Ortiz y Pino believes our middle class has shrunk in this country, wait until the socialistic ideas of Sanders are in full play and there is no longer any middle class.</p>
<p>The poor will become poorer and government officials will be at the wealthy top.</p>
<p>Socialism never works to lift people, it only demoralizes and defeats them. If Ortiz y Pino and his liberal party were serious about improving the lot of the citizenry, they would strive limit government's power.</p>
<p>As Mark Twain said, "It is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled."</p>
<p />
|
Sanders' supporters are missing an important point
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/760652/sanders-supporters-are-missing-an-important-point.html
| 2least
|
Sanders' supporters are missing an important point
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The corporate corruption they claim needing to be changed is just an extension of the political corruption caused by an excessive ruling government.</p>
<p>That is precisely why Sander's popularity is dead wrong for America.</p>
<p>The progressives ruling the Democratic party have brainwashed its' followers into believing more government will solve the problems noted by Ortiz y Pino - tax shelters for big business, terrorism, climate change, income inequality.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>All of these issues are playing cards for politicians in establishing their own personal agendas. They are all an extension of special interests and find their pleasure with political hacks in both ruling parties.</p>
<p>So Sanders' solution and Ortiz y Pino's endorsement will only aggravate the problem.</p>
<p>Limited government has always been the foundation for individual success in life. Government restricts personal freedoms that otherwise could be used for personal achievement.</p>
<p>How else can one explain the immense popularity of America upon its independence? People from around the world were not giving up everything to relocate to the Soviet Union!</p>
<p>Socialism always sounds good to those who have been convinced that their plight in life can be changed if only they would invest their life and goods into another person.</p>
<p>Individualism is the key to success in life, not collectivism.</p>
<p>The power ingrained in our constitution is that individual freedoms are given through Divine appointment and it is the function of a governed people to protect those freedoms.</p>
<p>Yet, when misappropriated through power and greed, government policy will always fail. Simply because when government strives to protect the right of one class of people, it takes away the rights of another class.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Class warfare is the most important tool used to change societal culture. Those who perpetrate this are doing so for personal gain.</p>
<p>Believe me, if Ortiz y Pino believes our middle class has shrunk in this country, wait until the socialistic ideas of Sanders are in full play and there is no longer any middle class.</p>
<p>The poor will become poorer and government officials will be at the wealthy top.</p>
<p>Socialism never works to lift people, it only demoralizes and defeats them. If Ortiz y Pino and his liberal party were serious about improving the lot of the citizenry, they would strive limit government's power.</p>
<p>As Mark Twain said, "It is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled."</p>
<p />
| 6,005 |
|
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>For the Denver Broncos, the NFL’s toughest finish is even more rugged — they’re in a scrap for a playoff spot, just for a chance to defend their Super Bowl title.</p>
<p>The Titans used the NFL’s third-best rushing attack to control the first half and jump out to a 13-point lead, then held on to beat Denver 13-10 Sunday for their biggest win in years.</p>
<p>“To come out here and put ourselves in position for the AFC South and to beat the defending Super Bowl champions, who have been doing their thing all year, and for us to come out here and really shut them down, that was definitely gratifying,” Titans linebacker Brian Orakpo said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Now tied with Houston, the Titans (7-6) hadn’t been tied for the division lead this late in a season since winning the AFC South wire-to-wire in 2008. It’s a big turnaround for a franchise that drafted Marcus Mariota at No. 2 overall in 2015 before winding up with the No. 1 overall pick, which they traded away to help rebuild.</p>
<p>“We’re doing what we haven’t done in years, and let’s get over those and start talking about other things that everyone says we can’t do that our team is accomplishing,” Titans coach Mike Mularkey said.</p>
<p>Denver (8-5) hosts New England next, the first of three final opponents who all are 10-game winners already.</p>
<p>“I mean the schedule’s nasty, but we can win those games,” Denver linebacker DeMarcus Ware said.</p>
<p>Here are some things to know about the Titans’ big win over Denver:</p>
<p>GROUNDED TITANS</p>
<p>Mariota had the worst passing day of his career in a game he finished, throwing for only 88 yards. But he also ran for 38 more. Best of all, he didn’t turn the ball over to mark the Titans’ fourth straight game without a turnover. It’s the first time they’ve gone four games without a turnover since the start of the 2013 season, and this is the first game they’ve won without Mariota throwing a touchdown pass. Mariota snapped an eight-game streak with multiple TD passes.</p>
<p>“That is how it is going to be sometimes,” Mariota said. “We had to grind it out a little bit on offense, you know, make plays when we needed to and guys did.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>SIEMIAN’S BACK</p>
<p>Trevor Siemian returned and threw for 334 yards, his third 300-yard passing game of his career. He also had a 3-yard TD pass to Emmanuel Sanders in the fourth quarter trying to rally Denver. But his fourth-down pass on the second play of the quarter was incomplete as Denver turned it over on downs. The Broncos also settled for a 34-yard field goal from Brandon McManus after a sack backed them up from first-and-goal at the Titans 7.</p>
<p>Denver also had the ball needing only a field goal to force overtime when A.J. Derby lost a fumble with 53 seconds left after catching a pass from Siemian.</p>
<p>BATTLE ROYALE</p>
<p>Denver star cornerback Aqib Talib promised after the game to fight Titans wide receiver Harry Douglas when they meet at the office of the agent they share. Talib remained upset over Douglas’ low block of teammate Chris Harris Jr. and tangled with Douglas on the Titans’ sideline on the next play, sparking a scrum that ended with Talib penalized for unnecessary roughness and with his helmet missing. Harris also wants Douglas fined for what he called an illegal hit. Douglas defended himself, saying film study would’ve shown he cut blocks in run support.</p>
<p>TITANS’ OFFENSIVE LINE</p>
<p>The Titans have young tackles in third-year player Taylor Lewan at left and rookie Jack Conklin, the eighth pick overall, at right. They gave up a sack to Shane Ray, giving the Denver linebacker his 10th career sack. Ware also got a sack, breaking a tie with Richard Dent and John Randle for eighth all-time with the 138 ½ sack of his career. But Tennessee ran for 138 of its 180 yards in the first half in jumping out to a 13-0 halftime lead.</p>
<p>FORSETT’S FUMBLE</p>
<p>The Broncos plucked Justin Forsett off waivers earlier this week to help run the ball, and he got the first carry for Denver. And fumbled . That was Forsett’s first fumble lost since 2009, a span of 950 consecutive touches without a fumble lost. Forsett ran six times for 17 yards.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">http://www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL." type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL.</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Teresa M. Walker at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/teresamwalker" type="external">www.twitter.com/teresamwalker</a></p>
|
Titans tied atop AFC South after edging Denver Broncos 13-10
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/906876/titans-tied-atop-afc-south-after-edging-denver-broncos-13-10.html
|
2016-12-12
| 2least
|
Titans tied atop AFC South after edging Denver Broncos 13-10
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>For the Denver Broncos, the NFL’s toughest finish is even more rugged — they’re in a scrap for a playoff spot, just for a chance to defend their Super Bowl title.</p>
<p>The Titans used the NFL’s third-best rushing attack to control the first half and jump out to a 13-point lead, then held on to beat Denver 13-10 Sunday for their biggest win in years.</p>
<p>“To come out here and put ourselves in position for the AFC South and to beat the defending Super Bowl champions, who have been doing their thing all year, and for us to come out here and really shut them down, that was definitely gratifying,” Titans linebacker Brian Orakpo said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Now tied with Houston, the Titans (7-6) hadn’t been tied for the division lead this late in a season since winning the AFC South wire-to-wire in 2008. It’s a big turnaround for a franchise that drafted Marcus Mariota at No. 2 overall in 2015 before winding up with the No. 1 overall pick, which they traded away to help rebuild.</p>
<p>“We’re doing what we haven’t done in years, and let’s get over those and start talking about other things that everyone says we can’t do that our team is accomplishing,” Titans coach Mike Mularkey said.</p>
<p>Denver (8-5) hosts New England next, the first of three final opponents who all are 10-game winners already.</p>
<p>“I mean the schedule’s nasty, but we can win those games,” Denver linebacker DeMarcus Ware said.</p>
<p>Here are some things to know about the Titans’ big win over Denver:</p>
<p>GROUNDED TITANS</p>
<p>Mariota had the worst passing day of his career in a game he finished, throwing for only 88 yards. But he also ran for 38 more. Best of all, he didn’t turn the ball over to mark the Titans’ fourth straight game without a turnover. It’s the first time they’ve gone four games without a turnover since the start of the 2013 season, and this is the first game they’ve won without Mariota throwing a touchdown pass. Mariota snapped an eight-game streak with multiple TD passes.</p>
<p>“That is how it is going to be sometimes,” Mariota said. “We had to grind it out a little bit on offense, you know, make plays when we needed to and guys did.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>SIEMIAN’S BACK</p>
<p>Trevor Siemian returned and threw for 334 yards, his third 300-yard passing game of his career. He also had a 3-yard TD pass to Emmanuel Sanders in the fourth quarter trying to rally Denver. But his fourth-down pass on the second play of the quarter was incomplete as Denver turned it over on downs. The Broncos also settled for a 34-yard field goal from Brandon McManus after a sack backed them up from first-and-goal at the Titans 7.</p>
<p>Denver also had the ball needing only a field goal to force overtime when A.J. Derby lost a fumble with 53 seconds left after catching a pass from Siemian.</p>
<p>BATTLE ROYALE</p>
<p>Denver star cornerback Aqib Talib promised after the game to fight Titans wide receiver Harry Douglas when they meet at the office of the agent they share. Talib remained upset over Douglas’ low block of teammate Chris Harris Jr. and tangled with Douglas on the Titans’ sideline on the next play, sparking a scrum that ended with Talib penalized for unnecessary roughness and with his helmet missing. Harris also wants Douglas fined for what he called an illegal hit. Douglas defended himself, saying film study would’ve shown he cut blocks in run support.</p>
<p>TITANS’ OFFENSIVE LINE</p>
<p>The Titans have young tackles in third-year player Taylor Lewan at left and rookie Jack Conklin, the eighth pick overall, at right. They gave up a sack to Shane Ray, giving the Denver linebacker his 10th career sack. Ware also got a sack, breaking a tie with Richard Dent and John Randle for eighth all-time with the 138 ½ sack of his career. But Tennessee ran for 138 of its 180 yards in the first half in jumping out to a 13-0 halftime lead.</p>
<p>FORSETT’S FUMBLE</p>
<p>The Broncos plucked Justin Forsett off waivers earlier this week to help run the ball, and he got the first carry for Denver. And fumbled . That was Forsett’s first fumble lost since 2009, a span of 950 consecutive touches without a fumble lost. Forsett ran six times for 17 yards.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">http://www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL." type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL.</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Teresa M. Walker at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/teresamwalker" type="external">www.twitter.com/teresamwalker</a></p>
| 6,006 |
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery’s “Pick 3 Evening” game were:</p>
<p>2-5-5, Wild: 6</p>
<p>(two, five, five; Wild: six)</p>
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery’s “Pick 3 Evening” game were:</p>
<p>2-5-5, Wild: 6</p>
<p>(two, five, five; Wild: six)</p>
|
Winning numbers drawn in ‘Pick 3 Evening’ game
| false |
https://apnews.com/261e741ccbdc43d18f17b2a74757ecf5
|
2018-01-19
| 2least
|
Winning numbers drawn in ‘Pick 3 Evening’ game
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery’s “Pick 3 Evening” game were:</p>
<p>2-5-5, Wild: 6</p>
<p>(two, five, five; Wild: six)</p>
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Thursday evening’s drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery’s “Pick 3 Evening” game were:</p>
<p>2-5-5, Wild: 6</p>
<p>(two, five, five; Wild: six)</p>
| 6,007 |
<p />
<p>Al's Morning Meeting reader Brooke Whitney, who works at WFMJ-TV in &#160;Youngstown, Ohio, told me about <a href="http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/" type="external">recyclemania, a competition between 49 colleges and universities</a> nationwide that runs through April 9.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The <a href="http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/overview.htm" type="external">competition Web site</a> says:</p>
<p>Despite their recycling successes, certain on-campus facilities tend to produce most of campus waste. In particular, residence halls and dinning halls have been the largest producers of campus waste -- from 30 to 70 percent of campus trash. Data from waste audits conducted at these buildings suggest that up to half of all residence hall trash is recyclable.</p>
<p>The competition started as a rivalry between the recycling mangers at Ohio's Miami University and Ohio University to see who could recycle the most stuff from their residence halls and dining rooms in a 10-week period.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/results-2004.htm" type="external">Miami University won last year</a> by recycling more than 58 pounds of material per student. Dartmouth College was second.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/orbital_debris_050202.html" type="external">Space.com published an interesting story</a> about the phenomenal amount of space junk floating around above the earth.</p>
<p>Here's the heavenly clutter count as of December 29, 2004.</p>
<p>There were 9,233 objects large enough to be tracked and catalogued by the USSTRATCOM Space Surveillance Network. Of this total there were 2,927 payloads, along with 6,306 object classed as rocket bodies and debris.</p>
<p>That's the stats as listed in the January issue of <a href="http://sn-callisto.jsc.nasa.gov/newsletter/newsletter.html" type="external">The Orbital Debris Quarterly News</a>, issued by the NASA Johnson Space Center Orbital Debris Program Office in Houston, Texas.</p>
<p>A good bit of the space junk burns up upon reentering Earth's atmosphere. But sometimes it survives -- and in the not too distant future we have a big problem called Hubble awaiting re-entry. Space.com says:</p>
<p>So far this month there have been a couple of U.S. Delta rocket stages that have reentered, as well as a Russian Proton motor. (See a photo at <a href="http://tinyurl.com/4gesn" type="external">http://tinyurl.com/4gesn</a>)</p>
<p>All this is small stuff compared to something big coming in on its own -- like the Hubble Space Telescope. There's good reason why an eventual "controlled" re-entry is being planned for that orbiting eye on the universe.</p>
<p>Orbital debris analysts have figured out the risk to humans down below if Hubble should plow through the Earth's atmosphere in an uncontrolled manner.</p>
<p>At least two tons (2,055 kilograms) of the estimated 26,000 pounds (11,792 kilograms) of the observatory would survive the plummet from space. Such a fall would produce a debris track that stretches over 755 miles (1,220 kilometers) in length. The analysis suggests that the risk posed to the human population in the year 2020 is 1:250 -- a risk that exceeds NASA's own safety standard.</p>
<p />
<p>Let's celebrate some success. The speed of the decline of new AIDS cases is almost as astonishing as its onset. The <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/10794451.htm?1c" type="external">San Jose Mercury News</a> says few urban epidemics have reversed themselves with such speed. The Merc, (which you can read after you plow through the unbelievably annoying registration pages), says:</p>
<p>Though AIDS has diminished in the gay male community, where it first struck, many communities remain at high risk -- particularly African-Americans, Latinos and the young. "They don't believe they are vulnerable,'' said [ Robert ] Smart.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/nyregion/30aids.html" type="external">The New York Times</a>&#160;says AIDS among infants, which only a decade ago took the lives of hundreds of babies a year, may be on the verge of being eliminated in the United States.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.avert.org/usastaty.htm" type="external">Avert.org has a year by year</a> chronicle of this disease.</p>
<p />
<p>Kaiser's <a href="http://www.statehealthfacts.org/cgi-bin/healthfacts.cgi?action=compare&amp;welcome=1&amp;category=HIV/AIDS" type="external">StateHealthFacts.org</a> provides these new figures to help you localize the story.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.postgazette.com/pg/05033/451386.stm" type="external">The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</a> found that "42 of the city's 50 highest-paid workers last year were firefighters, all making more than $100,000, largely through overtime payments that more than doubled their base wages. The top six made more than $120,000."</p>
<p>The problem is partly that the fire department is so understaffed that it calls back firefighters routinely to fill shifts.</p>
<p>What would you learn about your town if you looked?</p>
<p>Here is a story from&#160; <a href="http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050130/SPECIAL12/501300371/1002" type="external">The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.)</a> that goes beyond the "murder rate is going up." It is a good example of how to go beyond the "what" to the "so what?"</p>
<p>The paper looked at what it could find out about who actually died. It discovered that:</p>
<p>...at least half of the victims had prior criminal records. Seventy percent of the homicides, or 37, occurred in low-income areas that surround downtown.</p>
<p>Forty-two victims were black, nine were white and one was an East Indian man."Once you are associated with drugs and violence, the community people do not really sympathize with you as a victim, even in a homicide," said Jimmy Bell, a Jackson State University criminologist. "There is an apathy in this community because people have been desensitized by violence. With three TV stations and the newspaper playing up killings, people expect it to happen and don't see much hope for changing things."Most victims were gunned down. Some were stabbed. Some were beaten.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>I am <a href="http://www.chiff.com/a/Valentines-Survival-Guide.htm" type="external">seeing a good bit more</a> on this topic than I have in years past. I am not sure why but it is an interesting subject.</p>
<p>Do single, unattached folks hate Valentine's Day? If there is such a sentiment, there has to be a way somebody will cash in on that.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/citysearch/feature/507/?cslink=cs_bars_nightlife_5_0" type="external">SignonSanDiego.com has some advice</a> for singles on Valentine's Day.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59349-2004Nov18.html" type="external">The Washington Post</a> recently produced a large package of stories and online articles about the huge problem of phishing -- stealing identities by fooling people. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/technology/articles/phishingtest.html" type="external">Take this quiz for starters</a> and see if you can identify the phish ads.</p>
<p />
<p>I usually am pretty bored by the "Are bloggers journalists?" debate. But soon it may matter.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0202/p03s02-usju.html" type="external">The Christian Science Monitor</a> reported:</p>
<p>Now in California, a court will soon decide whether bloggers have the same legal protections as journalists under "shield" laws that protect reporters from revealing their sources. Among Apple's targets is a 19-year-old blogger who twice recently leaked information about new company products weeks before Apple unveiled the products themselves.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Probably not. But what if Mom fact-checks and posts the letter on her blog for thousands of people to read? Is she a journalist then? Courts may make the final call.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>We are always looking for your great ideas. <a href="" type="internal">Send Al</a> a few sentences and hot links.</p>
<p>Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts, and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed, and a link will be provided, whenever possible.</p>
|
Friday Edition: Colleges in Recyclemania
| false |
https://poynter.org/news/friday-edition-colleges-recyclemania
|
2005-02-02
| 2least
|
Friday Edition: Colleges in Recyclemania
<p />
<p>Al's Morning Meeting reader Brooke Whitney, who works at WFMJ-TV in &#160;Youngstown, Ohio, told me about <a href="http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/" type="external">recyclemania, a competition between 49 colleges and universities</a> nationwide that runs through April 9.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The <a href="http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/overview.htm" type="external">competition Web site</a> says:</p>
<p>Despite their recycling successes, certain on-campus facilities tend to produce most of campus waste. In particular, residence halls and dinning halls have been the largest producers of campus waste -- from 30 to 70 percent of campus trash. Data from waste audits conducted at these buildings suggest that up to half of all residence hall trash is recyclable.</p>
<p>The competition started as a rivalry between the recycling mangers at Ohio's Miami University and Ohio University to see who could recycle the most stuff from their residence halls and dining rooms in a 10-week period.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/results-2004.htm" type="external">Miami University won last year</a> by recycling more than 58 pounds of material per student. Dartmouth College was second.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/orbital_debris_050202.html" type="external">Space.com published an interesting story</a> about the phenomenal amount of space junk floating around above the earth.</p>
<p>Here's the heavenly clutter count as of December 29, 2004.</p>
<p>There were 9,233 objects large enough to be tracked and catalogued by the USSTRATCOM Space Surveillance Network. Of this total there were 2,927 payloads, along with 6,306 object classed as rocket bodies and debris.</p>
<p>That's the stats as listed in the January issue of <a href="http://sn-callisto.jsc.nasa.gov/newsletter/newsletter.html" type="external">The Orbital Debris Quarterly News</a>, issued by the NASA Johnson Space Center Orbital Debris Program Office in Houston, Texas.</p>
<p>A good bit of the space junk burns up upon reentering Earth's atmosphere. But sometimes it survives -- and in the not too distant future we have a big problem called Hubble awaiting re-entry. Space.com says:</p>
<p>So far this month there have been a couple of U.S. Delta rocket stages that have reentered, as well as a Russian Proton motor. (See a photo at <a href="http://tinyurl.com/4gesn" type="external">http://tinyurl.com/4gesn</a>)</p>
<p>All this is small stuff compared to something big coming in on its own -- like the Hubble Space Telescope. There's good reason why an eventual "controlled" re-entry is being planned for that orbiting eye on the universe.</p>
<p>Orbital debris analysts have figured out the risk to humans down below if Hubble should plow through the Earth's atmosphere in an uncontrolled manner.</p>
<p>At least two tons (2,055 kilograms) of the estimated 26,000 pounds (11,792 kilograms) of the observatory would survive the plummet from space. Such a fall would produce a debris track that stretches over 755 miles (1,220 kilometers) in length. The analysis suggests that the risk posed to the human population in the year 2020 is 1:250 -- a risk that exceeds NASA's own safety standard.</p>
<p />
<p>Let's celebrate some success. The speed of the decline of new AIDS cases is almost as astonishing as its onset. The <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/10794451.htm?1c" type="external">San Jose Mercury News</a> says few urban epidemics have reversed themselves with such speed. The Merc, (which you can read after you plow through the unbelievably annoying registration pages), says:</p>
<p>Though AIDS has diminished in the gay male community, where it first struck, many communities remain at high risk -- particularly African-Americans, Latinos and the young. "They don't believe they are vulnerable,'' said [ Robert ] Smart.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/30/nyregion/30aids.html" type="external">The New York Times</a>&#160;says AIDS among infants, which only a decade ago took the lives of hundreds of babies a year, may be on the verge of being eliminated in the United States.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.avert.org/usastaty.htm" type="external">Avert.org has a year by year</a> chronicle of this disease.</p>
<p />
<p>Kaiser's <a href="http://www.statehealthfacts.org/cgi-bin/healthfacts.cgi?action=compare&amp;welcome=1&amp;category=HIV/AIDS" type="external">StateHealthFacts.org</a> provides these new figures to help you localize the story.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.postgazette.com/pg/05033/451386.stm" type="external">The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</a> found that "42 of the city's 50 highest-paid workers last year were firefighters, all making more than $100,000, largely through overtime payments that more than doubled their base wages. The top six made more than $120,000."</p>
<p>The problem is partly that the fire department is so understaffed that it calls back firefighters routinely to fill shifts.</p>
<p>What would you learn about your town if you looked?</p>
<p>Here is a story from&#160; <a href="http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050130/SPECIAL12/501300371/1002" type="external">The Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, Miss.)</a> that goes beyond the "murder rate is going up." It is a good example of how to go beyond the "what" to the "so what?"</p>
<p>The paper looked at what it could find out about who actually died. It discovered that:</p>
<p>...at least half of the victims had prior criminal records. Seventy percent of the homicides, or 37, occurred in low-income areas that surround downtown.</p>
<p>Forty-two victims were black, nine were white and one was an East Indian man."Once you are associated with drugs and violence, the community people do not really sympathize with you as a victim, even in a homicide," said Jimmy Bell, a Jackson State University criminologist. "There is an apathy in this community because people have been desensitized by violence. With three TV stations and the newspaper playing up killings, people expect it to happen and don't see much hope for changing things."Most victims were gunned down. Some were stabbed. Some were beaten.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>I am <a href="http://www.chiff.com/a/Valentines-Survival-Guide.htm" type="external">seeing a good bit more</a> on this topic than I have in years past. I am not sure why but it is an interesting subject.</p>
<p>Do single, unattached folks hate Valentine's Day? If there is such a sentiment, there has to be a way somebody will cash in on that.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.signonsandiego.com/citysearch/feature/507/?cslink=cs_bars_nightlife_5_0" type="external">SignonSanDiego.com has some advice</a> for singles on Valentine's Day.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59349-2004Nov18.html" type="external">The Washington Post</a> recently produced a large package of stories and online articles about the huge problem of phishing -- stealing identities by fooling people. <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/technology/articles/phishingtest.html" type="external">Take this quiz for starters</a> and see if you can identify the phish ads.</p>
<p />
<p>I usually am pretty bored by the "Are bloggers journalists?" debate. But soon it may matter.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0202/p03s02-usju.html" type="external">The Christian Science Monitor</a> reported:</p>
<p>Now in California, a court will soon decide whether bloggers have the same legal protections as journalists under "shield" laws that protect reporters from revealing their sources. Among Apple's targets is a 19-year-old blogger who twice recently leaked information about new company products weeks before Apple unveiled the products themselves.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Probably not. But what if Mom fact-checks and posts the letter on her blog for thousands of people to read? Is she a journalist then? Courts may make the final call.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>We are always looking for your great ideas. <a href="" type="internal">Send Al</a> a few sentences and hot links.</p>
<p>Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts, and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed, and a link will be provided, whenever possible.</p>
| 6,008 |
<p />
<p>Cyber attacks targeting the internet infrastructure provider Dyn disrupted service on major sites such as Twitter and Spotify on Friday, mainly affecting users on the U.S. East Coast.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It was not immediately clear who was responsible. Officials told Reuters that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were both investigating.</p>
<p>The disruptions come at a time of unprecedented fears about the cyber threat in the United States, where hackers have breached political organizations and election agencies.</p>
<p>Homeland Security last week issued a warning about a powerful new approach for blocking access to websites - hackers infecting routers, printers, smart TVs and other connected devices with malware that turns them into "bot" armies that overwhelm website servers in distributed denial of service attacks.</p>
<p>Dyn said it had resolved one attack, which disrupted operations for about two hours, but disclosed a second attack a few hours later that was causing further disruptions.</p>
<p>In addition to the social network Twitter and music-streamer Spotify, the discussion site Reddit, hospitality booking service Airbnb and The Verge news site were among companies whose services were disrupted on Friday.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Amazon.com Inc's web services division, one of the world's biggest cloud computing companies, also reported a related outage, which it said was resolved early Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>Dyn is a Manchester, New Hampshire-based provider of services for managing domain name servers (DNS), which act as switchboards connecting internet traffic. Requests to access sites are transmitted through DNS servers that direct them to computers that host websites.</p>
<p>Its customers include some of the world's biggest corporations and Internet firms, such as Pfizer, Visa, Netflix and Twitter, SoundCloud and BT.</p>
<p>Dyn said it was still trying to determine how the attack led to the outage but that its first priority was restoring service.</p>
<p>Attacking a large DNS provider can create massive disruptions because such firms are responsible for forwarding large volumes of internet traffic.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in Frankurt, Joseph Menn in San Francisco and Malathi Nayak in New York, Jeff Mason and Mark Hsenball in Washington; Editing by Bill Trott)</p>
|
Hackers Hit Popular Tech Sites
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/21/hackers-hit-popular-tech-sites.html
|
2016-10-21
| 0right
|
Hackers Hit Popular Tech Sites
<p />
<p>Cyber attacks targeting the internet infrastructure provider Dyn disrupted service on major sites such as Twitter and Spotify on Friday, mainly affecting users on the U.S. East Coast.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It was not immediately clear who was responsible. Officials told Reuters that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were both investigating.</p>
<p>The disruptions come at a time of unprecedented fears about the cyber threat in the United States, where hackers have breached political organizations and election agencies.</p>
<p>Homeland Security last week issued a warning about a powerful new approach for blocking access to websites - hackers infecting routers, printers, smart TVs and other connected devices with malware that turns them into "bot" armies that overwhelm website servers in distributed denial of service attacks.</p>
<p>Dyn said it had resolved one attack, which disrupted operations for about two hours, but disclosed a second attack a few hours later that was causing further disruptions.</p>
<p>In addition to the social network Twitter and music-streamer Spotify, the discussion site Reddit, hospitality booking service Airbnb and The Verge news site were among companies whose services were disrupted on Friday.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Amazon.com Inc's web services division, one of the world's biggest cloud computing companies, also reported a related outage, which it said was resolved early Friday afternoon.</p>
<p>Dyn is a Manchester, New Hampshire-based provider of services for managing domain name servers (DNS), which act as switchboards connecting internet traffic. Requests to access sites are transmitted through DNS servers that direct them to computers that host websites.</p>
<p>Its customers include some of the world's biggest corporations and Internet firms, such as Pfizer, Visa, Netflix and Twitter, SoundCloud and BT.</p>
<p>Dyn said it was still trying to determine how the attack led to the outage but that its first priority was restoring service.</p>
<p>Attacking a large DNS provider can create massive disruptions because such firms are responsible for forwarding large volumes of internet traffic.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by Eric Auchard in Frankurt, Joseph Menn in San Francisco and Malathi Nayak in New York, Jeff Mason and Mark Hsenball in Washington; Editing by Bill Trott)</p>
| 6,009 |
<p>Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., is “contemplating” whether he will seek a third term in 2018, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/11/bob-corker-considers-retiring-242553" type="external">Politico reports</a>.</p>
<p>Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday, “I think everyone in the Volunteer State knows, as they did in 2012, that running for re-election has never been an automatic for me. While we are in a strong position, I am still contemplating the future and will make a decision at the appropriate time.”</p>
<p>He added that his record of making deals in the Senate, such as introducing a bill allowing a vote on the Iran nuclear deal and his work on the 2013 immigration reform bill, could result in a primary challenge.</p>
<p>“After spending a lifetime in business, I ran for mayor of Chattanooga as a civic endeavor, and I continue to do what I do because I wholeheartedly believe in public service,” he said. “That approach allows me to truly throw myself into the job and make decisions based on what I believe is best for Tennessee and our country without thinking about the next election or the next potential opportunity.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/11/politics/bob-corker-future/index.html" type="external">He made a similar statement last week to CNN</a>.</p>
<p>“As far as what am I going to do in the future, I’m still contemplating the future,” Corker said. “It’s a tremendous privilege to do what I do, and to weigh in on the big issues . . .&#160;But I have not decided what I’m going to do in the future.”</p>
<p>Despite his misgivings, many Republicans think Corker will run again. He raised $6.5 million by the end of June, and retains Ward Baker, who ran the GOP’s Senate campaign arm last year, as a consultant.</p>
|
Corker Considering Retirement Next Year
| false |
https://newsline.com/corker-considering-retirement-next-year/
|
2017-09-11
| 1right-center
|
Corker Considering Retirement Next Year
<p>Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., is “contemplating” whether he will seek a third term in 2018, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/11/bob-corker-considers-retiring-242553" type="external">Politico reports</a>.</p>
<p>Corker, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday, “I think everyone in the Volunteer State knows, as they did in 2012, that running for re-election has never been an automatic for me. While we are in a strong position, I am still contemplating the future and will make a decision at the appropriate time.”</p>
<p>He added that his record of making deals in the Senate, such as introducing a bill allowing a vote on the Iran nuclear deal and his work on the 2013 immigration reform bill, could result in a primary challenge.</p>
<p>“After spending a lifetime in business, I ran for mayor of Chattanooga as a civic endeavor, and I continue to do what I do because I wholeheartedly believe in public service,” he said. “That approach allows me to truly throw myself into the job and make decisions based on what I believe is best for Tennessee and our country without thinking about the next election or the next potential opportunity.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/11/politics/bob-corker-future/index.html" type="external">He made a similar statement last week to CNN</a>.</p>
<p>“As far as what am I going to do in the future, I’m still contemplating the future,” Corker said. “It’s a tremendous privilege to do what I do, and to weigh in on the big issues . . .&#160;But I have not decided what I’m going to do in the future.”</p>
<p>Despite his misgivings, many Republicans think Corker will run again. He raised $6.5 million by the end of June, and retains Ward Baker, who ran the GOP’s Senate campaign arm last year, as a consultant.</p>
| 6,010 |
<p>As much as we love Fridays, knowing that it's almost Friday is just as sweet. When you wake up on a Thursday morning knowing that that weekend is almost here, you can't help but bust a move, much like these kids do when the music hits.</p>
<p>People tend to find it pretty adorable when kids get into some innocent mischief. The same can't be said when adults get into the same kind of mischief.</p>
|
These kids know what it's like to wake up and realize it's almost Friday
| false |
https://circa.com/story/2017/09/28/humor/these-kids-know-what-its-like-to-wake-up-and-realize-its-almost-friday
|
2017-09-28
| 1right-center
|
These kids know what it's like to wake up and realize it's almost Friday
<p>As much as we love Fridays, knowing that it's almost Friday is just as sweet. When you wake up on a Thursday morning knowing that that weekend is almost here, you can't help but bust a move, much like these kids do when the music hits.</p>
<p>People tend to find it pretty adorable when kids get into some innocent mischief. The same can't be said when adults get into the same kind of mischief.</p>
| 6,011 |
<p />
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of IT hyperconverged infrastructure company Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX) have gotten crushed today, down by 20% as of 12 p.m. EST, after the company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings alongside soft guidance.</p>
<p>Revenue in the fiscal second quarter jumped 77% to $182.2 million, with billings increasing 59% to $227.4 million. That top line beat the consensus estimate of $178.3 million. The company posted a non-GAAP net loss of $0.28 per share, which was also better than the loss of $0.35 per share that analysts were expecting.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>CEO Dheeraj Pandey added, "Our journey has taken us from an unknown upstart to a well-established enterprise IT brand approaching a $1 billion annualized billings run-rate in just five years of selling." Nutanix now has 5,380 end customers after adding 900 during the quarter.</p>
<p>Nutanix, which <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/30/nutanix-incs-blockbuster-debut-shows-tech-is-back.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">went public in September Opens a New Window.</a>, also named Wendy M. Pfeiffer as its new CIO during the quarter. Guidance for the fiscal third quarter is what spooked investors. Revenue is expected to be in the range of $180 million to $190 million, with an adjusted gross margin of 57% to 58%. The company forecasts a non-GAAP net loss of $0.45 to $0.48 per share. That means Nutanix will need to stretch to hit the high end of its guidance to meet the consensus of $188.5 million in sales, while the bottom-line forecast is well below the $0.35-per-share adjusted net loss that the market is expecting.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Nutanix, Inc.When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=f8480851-5cec-4c52-b574-b69d672d8476&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 Nutanix, Inc. 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=f8480851-5cec-4c52-b574-b69d672d8476&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/TMFNewCow/info.aspx" type="external">Evan Niu, CFA Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
Why Nutanix Shares Got Crushed Today
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/03/03/why-nutanix-shares-got-crushed-today.html
|
2017-03-16
| 0right
|
Why Nutanix Shares Got Crushed Today
<p />
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Shares of IT hyperconverged infrastructure company Nutanix (NASDAQ: NTNX) have gotten crushed today, down by 20% as of 12 p.m. EST, after the company reported fiscal second-quarter earnings alongside soft guidance.</p>
<p>Revenue in the fiscal second quarter jumped 77% to $182.2 million, with billings increasing 59% to $227.4 million. That top line beat the consensus estimate of $178.3 million. The company posted a non-GAAP net loss of $0.28 per share, which was also better than the loss of $0.35 per share that analysts were expecting.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>CEO Dheeraj Pandey added, "Our journey has taken us from an unknown upstart to a well-established enterprise IT brand approaching a $1 billion annualized billings run-rate in just five years of selling." Nutanix now has 5,380 end customers after adding 900 during the quarter.</p>
<p>Nutanix, which <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/09/30/nutanix-incs-blockbuster-debut-shows-tech-is-back.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">went public in September Opens a New Window.</a>, also named Wendy M. Pfeiffer as its new CIO during the quarter. Guidance for the fiscal third quarter is what spooked investors. Revenue is expected to be in the range of $180 million to $190 million, with an adjusted gross margin of 57% to 58%. The company forecasts a non-GAAP net loss of $0.45 to $0.48 per share. That means Nutanix will need to stretch to hit the high end of its guidance to meet the consensus of $188.5 million in sales, while the bottom-line forecast is well below the $0.35-per-share adjusted net loss that the market is expecting.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Nutanix, Inc.When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=f8480851-5cec-4c52-b574-b69d672d8476&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 Nutanix, Inc. 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=f8480851-5cec-4c52-b574-b69d672d8476&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/TMFNewCow/info.aspx" type="external">Evan Niu, CFA Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 6,012 |
<p>Photo by Emmanuel DYAN | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>Donald Trump’s official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is an embarrassment. A salutary embarrassment.</p>
<p>It’s a clumsy, all-too-obvious unmasking of decades of bipartisan U.S. policy whose contempt for Palestinians has been cloaked with a smile and a handshake.</p>
<p>As such, it’s an embarrassment for the Zionist political and media elite that prefers to operate behind smiles and handshakes, and <a href="" type="internal">not flaunt</a> their power.</p>
<p>It’s an embarrassment to liberal Zionists and “peace process” promoters everywhere—in the American political parties and media, in European conservative and social democrat governments, and in Jewish Zionist organizations. For fifty years, they have laser-focused attention on the post-’67 “occupation,” and done all that they can [nothing concrete], in solidarity with the Israeli Jewish peace movement [dwindling to insignificance in an increasingly fascistic political culture], to end the occupation [ minimize its cost to the Jewish state, ‘cause “no concessions, no withdrawals, no Palestinian state” is already proclaimed Israeli policy].</p>
<p>It’s an embarrassment to the Arab monarchs and the Palestinian Authority functionaries, who for decades have collaborated in the task of subduing Palestinian rage as Israel went about its colonizing project, holding out the promise that the good American Daddy and his kinder, gentler Israeli Jewish progeny would one day reward the Palestinians for their good behavior.</p>
<p>It’s an embarrassment to those liberals who want to portray Donald Trump as a uniquely evil interloper imposed on American politics by a foreign power, rather than understand him as the product of an American political culture that they helped to create while obtusely refusing to recognize what they were doing.</p>
<p>The only parties who are not embarrassed are the “hard”—that is, intellectually honest and consistent—Zionists in Israel and the United States (many liberal Democrats included) and Donald Trump himself, who is immune to embarrassment.</p>
<p>All this embarrassment provides a fine example of the positive repercussions of the “Trump-effect” that I discussed in <a href="" type="internal">a previous essay</a>, which is steadily eroding the thin remaining patina of America’s “soft power” in the world, an essential support of the Euro-American imperialist alliance.</p>
<p>After all, Israel’s relentless Judaization of East Jerusalem, consistent with its long-held declaration of sovereignty over the entire city, was proceeding swimmingly, with only the feeblest occasional murmurs of protest, accompanied by massive countervailing deliveries of arms and money, from the peace-process-loving governments of Europe and America. Trump’s gratuitous, self-aggrandizing gesture, by unmasking that as the de facto acceptance of annexation that it is, only brings unwanted attention to the whole rotten game, and to the hypocrisy of those governments especially.</p>
<p>Good riddance to the pretense! As Noura Erakat <a href="" type="internal">says</a>: “Trump has removed the emperor’s clothes to reveal the farce of the peace process…[He] has finally ended the United States’ double-speak and should have ended any faith that the US will deliver Palestinian independence or that Israel is interested in giving up its territorial holdings captured in war.” And <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/after-jerusalem-the-us-can-no-longer-pretend-to-be-an-honest-broker-of-peace/" type="external">Rashid Khalidi</a>: “Trump may have inadvertently cleared the air. He may have smashed a rotten status quo of US ‘peace processing’ that has served only to entrench and legitimize Israel’s military occupation and colonization of Palestinian land for a quarter-century.”</p>
<p>In other words, Trump has suddenly and single-handedly destroyed American’s pose as the “honest broker” in the Middle east and the Solomonic arbiter of world affairs in general, in a way that forces the European and Palestinian political leaders to make an explicit break from what is now declared American policy. For now, of course, that break is rhetorical, but should it remain so—if European and Palestinian leaders do not work a political strategy independent of, and in opposition to, the United States—there will be no denying their capitulation and servility.</p>
<p>Indeed, Europe, in the person of the German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, has already <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/us-will-never-be-same-after-trump-germany-says-735881" type="external">laid down</a> the markers for itself: “Germany can no longer simply react to U.S. policy but must establish its own position…even after Trump leaves the White House, relations with the U.S. will never be the same.” Even after Trump leaves the White House. This is a recognition that the American regime—not just Trump, but precisely what he is the culmination of—is not a trustworthy and reliable partner for the management of global capitalist stability. This is what Trump is wreaking. And it’s a very good thing.</p>
<p>As excessive and gratuitous as Trump’s Jerusalem announcement was, there is no question that it is the culmination of American politics. It is the perfect example of how Trump is the symptom not the cause of long-festering political rot, the product not the antithesis of American political culture. His recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is the fulfillment, exactly as Trump says, of a promise that’s been de rigueur for presidential candidates, and of the demand of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Embassy_Act" type="external">law</a> (Jerusalem&#160;Embassy Act of 1995) passed twenty-two years ago by overwhelming majorities in both Houses of Congress. Just six months ago, the Senate—including Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Kamala Harris, and Bernie Sanders— <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-resolution/176?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Jerusalem%22%5D%7D&amp;r=12" type="external">voted 90-0</a> &#160;to demand that Trump “abide by its provisions.” Schumer, who <a href="" type="internal">believes</a> he’s on a mission from God to be the guardian of Israel, had last week <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/363465-schumer-advised-trump-on-declaring-jerusalem-as-israels-capital" type="external">criticized</a> Trump for his “indecisiveness” about declaring Jerusalem the “undivided capital of Israel” and moving the embassy.</p>
<p>Who can forget the scene at the 2012 Democratic Convention, when an amendment to the platform declaring Jerusalem the Israeli capital was adopted against the clear opposition of the majority? That was shoved down the party’s throat by Obama, who had it shoved down his throat by AIPAC. (It was language Obama had removed from the platform, which AIPAC browbeat him into restoring.) As I discussed in <a href="" type="internal">a post</a> at the time, the blithely ignored floor vote was a display of Stalinist party discipline for which Obama was congratulated by an MSNBC roundtable including O’Donnell, Maddow, and Sharpton.</p>
<p>It was Obama, too, who (after becoming first American President to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/president-obama-secretly-approved-transfer-of-bunker-buster-bombs-to-israel" type="external">give bunker-buster bombs</a> to Israel. He did that secretly, because he didn’t want it to be known that his really brave and progressive and highly-publicized peace-process demand that Israel stop settlement construction in exchange for such gifts, which Israel of course ignored, was another empty American bluff. And it was Obama who, in 2013, became the first American President to <a href="" type="internal">demand</a> that “Palestinians must recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state.” That was a new, gratuitous and excessive <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinians-and-jewish-state/13323" type="external">demand</a> at the time, foisted on everyone by Netanyahu and AIPAC because they knew it would be unacceptable to the Palestinians. Obama’s adoption of that requirement, which has become locked into American policy, was no less damaging to the ostensible peace-process, with its infinitely-receding goalpost, than Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, and perhaps more contemptuous of the Palestinians. It’s the equivalent of demanding that “Native Americans must recognize that America is a White Man’s state.”</p>
<p>Really. Think about it.</p>
<p>So, whatever the problem is with declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, it’s not Trump’s. It’s America’s. It’s a problem the Democrats share responsibility for, and will not get us out of.</p>
<p>Past Prologue</p>
<p>Let’s name it clearly: It’s America’s problem with Zionism.</p>
<p>After the “You must accept the Jewish State” insult and the “You must accept Jerusalem as capital of the Jewish State” insult, can we dispense with the diversions? Can we recognize that the problem isn’t how many settlers are in which part of which city, or how long and where exactly the wall should be located, or the Green Line or the Blue Line, or, indeed, the “occupation”? Let’s, without any more fear or hesitation, name and critique the fundamental problem: Zionism.</p>
<p>Zionism is a colonialist project. Israel is a colonial-settler state. The fault lies in colonialism—you know, that thing where a group of people, who want the land somebody else is living on, take it. By subjugating, expelling, and/or exterminating the indigenous population. That’s what has to be named and opposed. Every other problem in the context is a derivative of that.</p>
<p>Zionism has the particular distinction of being the last major initiation of a blatant settler-colonial project. It was possible at the end of WWII (1945-8) because racism and ethno-supremacist colonialism were still integral parts of the Western worldview. The great world powers could still blithely dismiss the lives, land, and humanity of an Arab population as dispensable—secondary both to the aspirations of the largely European Jews who formed the Zionist vanguard and to the guilty consciences of European gentiles. It was compensatory colonialism, with the compensation paid by an expendable third(world) people.</p>
<p>In the post-WWII, post-holocaust context, Zionism had the further peculiar distinction of being able to conjure about itself an aura of virtue that effectively occluded the blatant injustice of the colonialism it is. Thanks to the consistent and intensive Zionist influence on Euro-American political, media, and cultural institutions, that aura has enshrouded Zionism for Westerners’ eyes for 69 years, long past colonialism’s sell-by date. That aura of virtue is what makes breaking up with Zionism so hard to do, for so many, to this day.</p>
<p>I’ve discussed more of the history and arguments about this in a <a href="" type="internal">previous essay</a>. At this point, there is so much information available from so many channels, including Israeli scholars, that supporters of Israel who are intellectually-honest have a hard time denying that the Zionist conquest of Palestine was colonialist ethnic cleansing, and Israel a colonial state. Liberal Americans know very well that, if such a project were to be proposed today, they would denounce and reject it—no ifs, ands or buts. Today, any person of a modern, secular, liberal cast of mind recognizes the abolition and rejection of colonialism as one of history’s irrefutably progressive milestones, and would see any attempt at colonial conquest as an unacceptable historical crime.</p>
<p>Yet that is exactly what Israel is doing. Israel is exactly that attempt.</p>
<p>“Attempt” is an important word here. Zionists want to think all the nasty work of ethnic cleansing is in the ancent (1948) or at worst early-modern (1967 when liberal Zionists grudgingly acknowledge, colonial aggression was certainly past its sell-by date) past. They present Israel, whatever its nasty origins, as a finished historical product: a liberal democracy filled with juice bars and tech startups—which would be stable and progressive, if only the fanatical Arabs/Muslims would leave it alone.</p>
<p>Indeed, a favorite Zionists argument I’ve heard delivered as if it’s a killing rhetorical blow packed with irrefutable historical realism, is some version of: “So what, you’re a colonizer, too. American Indians!” Gotcha!</p>
<p>It baffles me that anyone thinks that’s an effective argument. Accepting the damining admission that the relationship between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs today is analogous to that between European settlers and Native Americans from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century (and leaving the ethics or that aside), one might start a reply with the following:</p>
<p>Being historically realist and all, we have to recognize that, tragically, over those four centuries, the Native American population was so completely ravaged that it now constitutes less than 1% of the population. If Native Americans were now the <a href="http://blogs.forward.com/jj-goldberg/184245/jews-now-minority-in-israel-and-territories/" type="external">majority</a> of the population in North America under white settler control; if they were engaged in a fierce resistance struggle to prevent being expelled or exterminated; if they had the support of hundreds of millions of their neighbors, as well as of populations and governments throughout the world, as well as of an established international ideological and legal framework that forbade and denounced the colonial project the white settlers were still trying to complete (while demanding that everyone recognize America as the White Man’s State)—then you would have a relevant analogy.</p>
<p>Sorry, but the Zionist project, Israel, is not finished. It is quite unfinished and precarious, and Israeli leaders know it.&#160;</p>
<p>Back to the Future</p>
<p>This is so because the Palestinians are not defeated and have not surrendered. Too few of them have been exterminated; they have not been expelled far enough away; they have not been thoroughly enough subjugated. The existence and resistance of Palestinians put the lie to the idea that Israel is a stable, finished state and that the dirty work of Zionist colonialism is in the past. As the rallying cry of many Zionists in Israel today has it, they still have to “ <a href="" type="internal">finish ’48</a>.”</p>
<p>Israel is profoundly insecure. Not because of any external military threat, but because of the presence of the Palestinians. Their defiant presence is an intrinsic threat to the Zionist project.&#160; External threats—whether ideological or economic or military, whether from specific countries or from the international community—derive from the presence of the Palestinians and what that implies about the legitimacy of the Zionist project in an anti-colonial, anti-apartheid world.</p>
<p>Every attack on Gaza, Lebanon, or Syria, all the hair-pulling anxiety over Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, and where the next war will just have to be, and how many Palestinians can be dispossessed or expelled how quickly before somebody in the world—especially Americans, and most especially American Jews—starts to push back, demonstrates that Israel is an unfinished colonial project that hasn’t quite figured out how to achieve the final submission of its colonial subjects. It was as true in 1999, when Edward Said <a href="" type="internal">said</a> it, as it was in 1948, and as it is now: “the contest is as alive as ever.”</p>
<p>Indeed, the famous loaded question “Does Israel have a right to exist?” is posed by Zionists so insistently precisely because it is an unsettled question about the future. It’s not only about past events—whether Zionists back in the day had the right to establish the colonial entity they did, but also about a present, aspirational practice—whether they now have the right to establish the colonial entity they would like to. The question, really—and those hard-core, “finish ‘48” Zionists know it—is: Will Israel exist?</p>
<p>The question is also asking us: “Do you agree that it is right for Zionists to be establishing a colonial-settler Jewish State, ethnic cleansing and all?” Are you going to sign on for that?</p>
<p>Israel will only be finished and stable if it achieves that. One can argue that it’s almost there or that it’s a long way off, but done it ain’t.</p>
<p>That’s why we should take the opportunity that Trump’s latest embarrassment of American policy gives us to exit for good the phony two-state peace-process paradigm, to forthrightly name and reject Zionism and the colonialism it is. We need to go back to the future, to a proposal for a single, if bi-national, secular democratic state, a de-colonized polity in the territory of historic Palestine, where Arabs and Jews can live in peace and equality. Something along the lines of the “secular, democratic state” the PLO called for in 1968 and the “full secular democracy” that Edward Said championed again in 1999.</p>
<p>Love It Loud</p>
<p>To be sure: I am not sanguine about this. The political way forward is not clear.</p>
<p>On the one hand, the exhaustion of the peace process and the Palestinian Authority is now a done deal, as I hope everyone now recognizes. At least as important, the de-legitimization of Zionism, is already well-advanced. Politically and ideologically, the actions and discourse of Israel and its partisans themselves do as much as anything to discredit Zionism. And, despite its being kept in the cultural shadows, more Americans are aware of the problems with the dominant Zionist narrative. The BDS movement is strong and growing.&#160; On American campuses today, Zionism is losing the all-important ideological battle, especially in the crucial constituency of young Jewish-Americans, and the effects of that are radiating throughout the culture. The reality of this effect is demonstrated by the increased anxiety among the guardians of Zionism, with their increasing efforts to censor and suppress criticism of Israel, to define anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism, and to outlaw anti-Zionism and the BDS movement. The arc of history is not bending toward Zionist colonialism.</p>
<p>To wax ironic, Zionism’s fatal weakness may be the effect of its greatest strength—its tenacious entwinement in our political culture, which is hard to overstate. We live in a country where powerful politicians and the wealthy donors who control them proclaim their fealty to Israel; where Israeli officials enjoy veto power over candidates for office <a href="" type="internal">down to the level of State Assembly</a>. where the Secretary of State gives a “ <a href="" type="internal">devoutly Zionist</a>” speech and is still criticized for not being obsequious enough to Israel, where the Vice-President <a href="" type="internal">declares</a> “I am a Zionist,” and where a President who was excoriated for avoiding service in the American army can <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/bill-clinton-says-he-would-fight-and-die-for-israel-1.37929" type="external">say</a> “I would personally grab a rifle, get in a ditch, and fight and die” for Israel, and nobody bats an eyelash.</p>
<p>Really, think about it.</p>
<p>Perhaps most vomit-inducing in the present context, it’s a country where the Congress has just overwhelmingly passed a <a href="https://israelpalestinenews.org/strange-sad-saga-taylor-force-act/#update" type="external">bill</a> de-funding the Palestinian Authority (except, at Israeli insistence, the PA security forces) if they give any support to any family member of a Palestinian convicted of what Israel calls “terrorism” (and others would call anti-colonial resistance), and at the same time that Congress allows the great charitable organization, The Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), to collect <a href="" type="internal">$50 million a night</a>, tax-free to itself and tax-deductible to its donors. All that money is needed, over and above the $3.7+ billion the U.S. gives Israel every year, in order to provide extra-comfortable “well-being facilities” for the beleaguered Israeli “coed infantry units” who have the tough job of dragging Palestinian families from their homes and blowing them up—those families the PA is now forbidden to support. Friends of the IDF galas are hosted in New York by Republican billionaire Sheldon Adelson, and in Los Angeles by Democratic billionaire Haim Saban, and <a href="" type="internal">entertained</a> by celebrities like Seal and Israeli-born KISS-er, Gene Simmons (Chaim Witz). Bi-partisanship rocks.</p>
<p>America has become a Zionist country. And it shows. And it’s discomfiting. For the most powerful people and institutions in the United States, Zionism has become a core component of American ideology and politics, married, like nothing else is, to capitalism and imperialism as a co-equal existential imperative.</p>
<p>It’s a peculiar relationship because capitalism and imperialism do not need Zionism, and may even be weakened by it. Zionism is a surplus oppression. The excessiveness and gratuity of Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem, which so many people recognize, is only a reflection of the excessiveness and gratuity of Zionism itself, which too many people have for too long taken for granted.</p>
<p>Dragging people from their homes and blowing them up is excessive, an atrocity too far. A partner whose addicted to such behavior will inevitably create trouble for the capitalist-imperialist family, which has enough problems of its own to deal with. It’s the U.S who insists, excessively, on including Zionism in a polyamorous arrangement, and who is, as can be expected in such cases, losing its mind over this misplaced affection, and endangering the core relationship.</p>
<p>This is what the German FM and other members of the European Frist Wives’ Club see in Trump’s Jerusalem declaration. This is what a lot of people see in all the state-destroying, jihadi-chaos-creating aggression from Iraq to Syria and heading toward Iran—all of which makes no sense until you understand that the American project throughout has been an overcomplicated ménage-à-trois: capitalism-imperialism-Zionism.</p>
<p>As Shoshana Bryen <a href="" type="internal">says</a>: “The United States military, then, is a Zionist institution.” Bryen is herself a perfect example of the intimate relations between Israel and the American military, having made the rounds as former Director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA,, the prime meeting spot where Israelis entice senior American officers to see the world as Israel does), and as a lecturer at the National Defense University and the U.S. Army War College.</p>
<p>The hope is that it’s all becoming too obvious and too much—an embarrassment of too many riches for Zionism. It’s why Hillary Clinton’s campaign <a href="" type="internal">decided</a> not to highlight—except to donors—her passionate love for Israel: “We shouldn’t have Israel at public events. Especially dem (Democratic) activists…. What about this as a base, and then she can drop in Israel when she’s with donors.” While the donors and elite still swoon, the arc of the Democratic base is bending away from Zionism—and the Zionists know it.&#160;</p>
<p>There Is No Time</p>
<p>On the other hand, we have to recognize the persistent weaknesses of the Palestinians, who suffer constant, horrendous, human and material losses every day at the hands of a Zionist colonial machine. Israel, the Jewish State, has already established an apartheid regime, the late stage of colonialism, and has made clear that it is determined to extend that as far and as long as it can, with all necessary force. The illusion that America would do something to stop or reverse this has been finally shattered. Though it’s stance may be changing, thanks to the likes of Trump, and it is a medium- to long-term weak spot for Israel, the “international community” still grants Israel effective impunity.</p>
<p>The Arab countries? Ha! Saudi Arabia, the Gulf monarchies, and Egypt will supply the rope and tie the knot. The staunchest Arab supporters of Palestine—Iraq, Libya, and Syria—just happen to be the countries ravaged by that United States military institution. A weakened Syria and (non-Arab) Iran may give some assistance, but really, nobody’s coming to save the Palestinians.</p>
<p>External support in the way of boycott and sanctions will help also, but significant victories can only come from organized resistance by Palestinians themselves. The Palestinian political leadership which, as Noura Erakat says, “has abandoned confrontation with Israel as a matter of policy” would have to be changed. New leadership would have to emerge that renounces Oslo and forges a militant struggle for equal political and social rights, a multi-level strategy of resistance against colonialism and apartheid. This will be very tough, in a community that’s been ground down for decades by the Israeli-PA security apparatus, and the collaborationist mindset and economic interests that support it.</p>
<p>To be thoroughly frank: though militant non-violent civilian resistance must be the core of struggle, it has to be backed by some kind of armed power. The ANC’s victorious fight against South African apartheid was not confined to “terrorist” Nelson Mandela’s prison cell; his comrades were busy outside. A movement to defeat colonialism and apartheid must demonstrate the capacity not only to take punishment, but also to inflict it, to hurt the forces and institutions imposing Zionist oppression and to disrupt the normalcy of Zionist daily life. Everywhere, enemies of the IDF. No “well-being” respite. No justice, no peace. That is the only way victory over colonialism and apartheid ever has, or ever will be, won.</p>
<p>Since the Zionists’ founding spasm of brutal ethnic cleansing—expelling over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs while killing thousands of others—and since colonialism fell into disgrace, Israel has been constrained to pursue further ethnic cleansing in a fitful series of measures, with levels of brutality adjusted for various international political and ideological exigencies. But it has not ceased to probe those limits. Israel is working very hard to compress political time and make it suddenly possible again to exterminate or expel enough Palestinians (we’re talking at least tens of thousands) to stabilize Israel for most of a century. That’s one of the things Israel’s, and its American patron’s, support of jihadi chaos in the region, as well as its attempt to foment war with Iran, is all about. The fat lady hasn’t sung, but the orchestra is in full swing. The Palestinians don’t have forever to stop the music.</p>
<p>So, there’s no room for false hope or assumptions of inevitable victory. There’s an opportunity now for a successful fight to defeat Zionism, pitched precisely as struggle against colonialism and apartheid, and it must be seized quickly. It is also not impossible for Zionism to defeat the Palestinians in some effectively irreversible way, as it keeps trying to do.</p>
<p>It’s just the case—the practical, utterly realistic political case—that nothing, not a thing, can be gained by trying to revive the zombie two-state peace process that has been killed over and over again by the U.S. and Israel themselves. To seal the deal, Donald Trump just drove a stake through its heart. There is no two-state solution. There is only one state: either the one colonial, apartheid state that’s coalescing now, or the one democratic state of equal rights that justice demands.</p>
<p>For American left allies of Palestine, it’s time, past time, to clearly reject, not just the occupation of Jerusalem or the West Bank, but Zionism tout court.</p>
<p>Back to the future it is. Liberal Zionists like to imagine ’48 is finished in some democratically acceptable way. Militant Zionists know they still have to finish ’48 as ruthlessly as possible. Principled anti-Zionists—that is, principled anti-colonialists—have to work very hard to make sure that ‘48 ends in failure, and that Israel never becomes the finished colonial project it wishes to be.</p>
|
Zionism in the Light of Jerusalem
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2017/12/13/zionism-in-the-light-of-jerusalem/
|
2017-12-13
| 4left
|
Zionism in the Light of Jerusalem
<p>Photo by Emmanuel DYAN | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>Donald Trump’s official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is an embarrassment. A salutary embarrassment.</p>
<p>It’s a clumsy, all-too-obvious unmasking of decades of bipartisan U.S. policy whose contempt for Palestinians has been cloaked with a smile and a handshake.</p>
<p>As such, it’s an embarrassment for the Zionist political and media elite that prefers to operate behind smiles and handshakes, and <a href="" type="internal">not flaunt</a> their power.</p>
<p>It’s an embarrassment to liberal Zionists and “peace process” promoters everywhere—in the American political parties and media, in European conservative and social democrat governments, and in Jewish Zionist organizations. For fifty years, they have laser-focused attention on the post-’67 “occupation,” and done all that they can [nothing concrete], in solidarity with the Israeli Jewish peace movement [dwindling to insignificance in an increasingly fascistic political culture], to end the occupation [ minimize its cost to the Jewish state, ‘cause “no concessions, no withdrawals, no Palestinian state” is already proclaimed Israeli policy].</p>
<p>It’s an embarrassment to the Arab monarchs and the Palestinian Authority functionaries, who for decades have collaborated in the task of subduing Palestinian rage as Israel went about its colonizing project, holding out the promise that the good American Daddy and his kinder, gentler Israeli Jewish progeny would one day reward the Palestinians for their good behavior.</p>
<p>It’s an embarrassment to those liberals who want to portray Donald Trump as a uniquely evil interloper imposed on American politics by a foreign power, rather than understand him as the product of an American political culture that they helped to create while obtusely refusing to recognize what they were doing.</p>
<p>The only parties who are not embarrassed are the “hard”—that is, intellectually honest and consistent—Zionists in Israel and the United States (many liberal Democrats included) and Donald Trump himself, who is immune to embarrassment.</p>
<p>All this embarrassment provides a fine example of the positive repercussions of the “Trump-effect” that I discussed in <a href="" type="internal">a previous essay</a>, which is steadily eroding the thin remaining patina of America’s “soft power” in the world, an essential support of the Euro-American imperialist alliance.</p>
<p>After all, Israel’s relentless Judaization of East Jerusalem, consistent with its long-held declaration of sovereignty over the entire city, was proceeding swimmingly, with only the feeblest occasional murmurs of protest, accompanied by massive countervailing deliveries of arms and money, from the peace-process-loving governments of Europe and America. Trump’s gratuitous, self-aggrandizing gesture, by unmasking that as the de facto acceptance of annexation that it is, only brings unwanted attention to the whole rotten game, and to the hypocrisy of those governments especially.</p>
<p>Good riddance to the pretense! As Noura Erakat <a href="" type="internal">says</a>: “Trump has removed the emperor’s clothes to reveal the farce of the peace process…[He] has finally ended the United States’ double-speak and should have ended any faith that the US will deliver Palestinian independence or that Israel is interested in giving up its territorial holdings captured in war.” And <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/after-jerusalem-the-us-can-no-longer-pretend-to-be-an-honest-broker-of-peace/" type="external">Rashid Khalidi</a>: “Trump may have inadvertently cleared the air. He may have smashed a rotten status quo of US ‘peace processing’ that has served only to entrench and legitimize Israel’s military occupation and colonization of Palestinian land for a quarter-century.”</p>
<p>In other words, Trump has suddenly and single-handedly destroyed American’s pose as the “honest broker” in the Middle east and the Solomonic arbiter of world affairs in general, in a way that forces the European and Palestinian political leaders to make an explicit break from what is now declared American policy. For now, of course, that break is rhetorical, but should it remain so—if European and Palestinian leaders do not work a political strategy independent of, and in opposition to, the United States—there will be no denying their capitulation and servility.</p>
<p>Indeed, Europe, in the person of the German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, has already <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/us-will-never-be-same-after-trump-germany-says-735881" type="external">laid down</a> the markers for itself: “Germany can no longer simply react to U.S. policy but must establish its own position…even after Trump leaves the White House, relations with the U.S. will never be the same.” Even after Trump leaves the White House. This is a recognition that the American regime—not just Trump, but precisely what he is the culmination of—is not a trustworthy and reliable partner for the management of global capitalist stability. This is what Trump is wreaking. And it’s a very good thing.</p>
<p>As excessive and gratuitous as Trump’s Jerusalem announcement was, there is no question that it is the culmination of American politics. It is the perfect example of how Trump is the symptom not the cause of long-festering political rot, the product not the antithesis of American political culture. His recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel is the fulfillment, exactly as Trump says, of a promise that’s been de rigueur for presidential candidates, and of the demand of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Embassy_Act" type="external">law</a> (Jerusalem&#160;Embassy Act of 1995) passed twenty-two years ago by overwhelming majorities in both Houses of Congress. Just six months ago, the Senate—including Chuck Schumer, Dianne Feinstein, Kamala Harris, and Bernie Sanders— <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-resolution/176?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22Jerusalem%22%5D%7D&amp;r=12" type="external">voted 90-0</a> &#160;to demand that Trump “abide by its provisions.” Schumer, who <a href="" type="internal">believes</a> he’s on a mission from God to be the guardian of Israel, had last week <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/363465-schumer-advised-trump-on-declaring-jerusalem-as-israels-capital" type="external">criticized</a> Trump for his “indecisiveness” about declaring Jerusalem the “undivided capital of Israel” and moving the embassy.</p>
<p>Who can forget the scene at the 2012 Democratic Convention, when an amendment to the platform declaring Jerusalem the Israeli capital was adopted against the clear opposition of the majority? That was shoved down the party’s throat by Obama, who had it shoved down his throat by AIPAC. (It was language Obama had removed from the platform, which AIPAC browbeat him into restoring.) As I discussed in <a href="" type="internal">a post</a> at the time, the blithely ignored floor vote was a display of Stalinist party discipline for which Obama was congratulated by an MSNBC roundtable including O’Donnell, Maddow, and Sharpton.</p>
<p>It was Obama, too, who (after becoming first American President to <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/president-obama-secretly-approved-transfer-of-bunker-buster-bombs-to-israel" type="external">give bunker-buster bombs</a> to Israel. He did that secretly, because he didn’t want it to be known that his really brave and progressive and highly-publicized peace-process demand that Israel stop settlement construction in exchange for such gifts, which Israel of course ignored, was another empty American bluff. And it was Obama who, in 2013, became the first American President to <a href="" type="internal">demand</a> that “Palestinians must recognize that Israel will be a Jewish state.” That was a new, gratuitous and excessive <a href="http://electronicintifada.net/content/palestinians-and-jewish-state/13323" type="external">demand</a> at the time, foisted on everyone by Netanyahu and AIPAC because they knew it would be unacceptable to the Palestinians. Obama’s adoption of that requirement, which has become locked into American policy, was no less damaging to the ostensible peace-process, with its infinitely-receding goalpost, than Trump’s Jerusalem declaration, and perhaps more contemptuous of the Palestinians. It’s the equivalent of demanding that “Native Americans must recognize that America is a White Man’s state.”</p>
<p>Really. Think about it.</p>
<p>So, whatever the problem is with declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, it’s not Trump’s. It’s America’s. It’s a problem the Democrats share responsibility for, and will not get us out of.</p>
<p>Past Prologue</p>
<p>Let’s name it clearly: It’s America’s problem with Zionism.</p>
<p>After the “You must accept the Jewish State” insult and the “You must accept Jerusalem as capital of the Jewish State” insult, can we dispense with the diversions? Can we recognize that the problem isn’t how many settlers are in which part of which city, or how long and where exactly the wall should be located, or the Green Line or the Blue Line, or, indeed, the “occupation”? Let’s, without any more fear or hesitation, name and critique the fundamental problem: Zionism.</p>
<p>Zionism is a colonialist project. Israel is a colonial-settler state. The fault lies in colonialism—you know, that thing where a group of people, who want the land somebody else is living on, take it. By subjugating, expelling, and/or exterminating the indigenous population. That’s what has to be named and opposed. Every other problem in the context is a derivative of that.</p>
<p>Zionism has the particular distinction of being the last major initiation of a blatant settler-colonial project. It was possible at the end of WWII (1945-8) because racism and ethno-supremacist colonialism were still integral parts of the Western worldview. The great world powers could still blithely dismiss the lives, land, and humanity of an Arab population as dispensable—secondary both to the aspirations of the largely European Jews who formed the Zionist vanguard and to the guilty consciences of European gentiles. It was compensatory colonialism, with the compensation paid by an expendable third(world) people.</p>
<p>In the post-WWII, post-holocaust context, Zionism had the further peculiar distinction of being able to conjure about itself an aura of virtue that effectively occluded the blatant injustice of the colonialism it is. Thanks to the consistent and intensive Zionist influence on Euro-American political, media, and cultural institutions, that aura has enshrouded Zionism for Westerners’ eyes for 69 years, long past colonialism’s sell-by date. That aura of virtue is what makes breaking up with Zionism so hard to do, for so many, to this day.</p>
<p>I’ve discussed more of the history and arguments about this in a <a href="" type="internal">previous essay</a>. At this point, there is so much information available from so many channels, including Israeli scholars, that supporters of Israel who are intellectually-honest have a hard time denying that the Zionist conquest of Palestine was colonialist ethnic cleansing, and Israel a colonial state. Liberal Americans know very well that, if such a project were to be proposed today, they would denounce and reject it—no ifs, ands or buts. Today, any person of a modern, secular, liberal cast of mind recognizes the abolition and rejection of colonialism as one of history’s irrefutably progressive milestones, and would see any attempt at colonial conquest as an unacceptable historical crime.</p>
<p>Yet that is exactly what Israel is doing. Israel is exactly that attempt.</p>
<p>“Attempt” is an important word here. Zionists want to think all the nasty work of ethnic cleansing is in the ancent (1948) or at worst early-modern (1967 when liberal Zionists grudgingly acknowledge, colonial aggression was certainly past its sell-by date) past. They present Israel, whatever its nasty origins, as a finished historical product: a liberal democracy filled with juice bars and tech startups—which would be stable and progressive, if only the fanatical Arabs/Muslims would leave it alone.</p>
<p>Indeed, a favorite Zionists argument I’ve heard delivered as if it’s a killing rhetorical blow packed with irrefutable historical realism, is some version of: “So what, you’re a colonizer, too. American Indians!” Gotcha!</p>
<p>It baffles me that anyone thinks that’s an effective argument. Accepting the damining admission that the relationship between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Arabs today is analogous to that between European settlers and Native Americans from the fifteenth to the nineteenth century (and leaving the ethics or that aside), one might start a reply with the following:</p>
<p>Being historically realist and all, we have to recognize that, tragically, over those four centuries, the Native American population was so completely ravaged that it now constitutes less than 1% of the population. If Native Americans were now the <a href="http://blogs.forward.com/jj-goldberg/184245/jews-now-minority-in-israel-and-territories/" type="external">majority</a> of the population in North America under white settler control; if they were engaged in a fierce resistance struggle to prevent being expelled or exterminated; if they had the support of hundreds of millions of their neighbors, as well as of populations and governments throughout the world, as well as of an established international ideological and legal framework that forbade and denounced the colonial project the white settlers were still trying to complete (while demanding that everyone recognize America as the White Man’s State)—then you would have a relevant analogy.</p>
<p>Sorry, but the Zionist project, Israel, is not finished. It is quite unfinished and precarious, and Israeli leaders know it.&#160;</p>
<p>Back to the Future</p>
<p>This is so because the Palestinians are not defeated and have not surrendered. Too few of them have been exterminated; they have not been expelled far enough away; they have not been thoroughly enough subjugated. The existence and resistance of Palestinians put the lie to the idea that Israel is a stable, finished state and that the dirty work of Zionist colonialism is in the past. As the rallying cry of many Zionists in Israel today has it, they still have to “ <a href="" type="internal">finish ’48</a>.”</p>
<p>Israel is profoundly insecure. Not because of any external military threat, but because of the presence of the Palestinians. Their defiant presence is an intrinsic threat to the Zionist project.&#160; External threats—whether ideological or economic or military, whether from specific countries or from the international community—derive from the presence of the Palestinians and what that implies about the legitimacy of the Zionist project in an anti-colonial, anti-apartheid world.</p>
<p>Every attack on Gaza, Lebanon, or Syria, all the hair-pulling anxiety over Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, and where the next war will just have to be, and how many Palestinians can be dispossessed or expelled how quickly before somebody in the world—especially Americans, and most especially American Jews—starts to push back, demonstrates that Israel is an unfinished colonial project that hasn’t quite figured out how to achieve the final submission of its colonial subjects. It was as true in 1999, when Edward Said <a href="" type="internal">said</a> it, as it was in 1948, and as it is now: “the contest is as alive as ever.”</p>
<p>Indeed, the famous loaded question “Does Israel have a right to exist?” is posed by Zionists so insistently precisely because it is an unsettled question about the future. It’s not only about past events—whether Zionists back in the day had the right to establish the colonial entity they did, but also about a present, aspirational practice—whether they now have the right to establish the colonial entity they would like to. The question, really—and those hard-core, “finish ‘48” Zionists know it—is: Will Israel exist?</p>
<p>The question is also asking us: “Do you agree that it is right for Zionists to be establishing a colonial-settler Jewish State, ethnic cleansing and all?” Are you going to sign on for that?</p>
<p>Israel will only be finished and stable if it achieves that. One can argue that it’s almost there or that it’s a long way off, but done it ain’t.</p>
<p>That’s why we should take the opportunity that Trump’s latest embarrassment of American policy gives us to exit for good the phony two-state peace-process paradigm, to forthrightly name and reject Zionism and the colonialism it is. We need to go back to the future, to a proposal for a single, if bi-national, secular democratic state, a de-colonized polity in the territory of historic Palestine, where Arabs and Jews can live in peace and equality. Something along the lines of the “secular, democratic state” the PLO called for in 1968 and the “full secular democracy” that Edward Said championed again in 1999.</p>
<p>Love It Loud</p>
<p>To be sure: I am not sanguine about this. The political way forward is not clear.</p>
<p>On the one hand, the exhaustion of the peace process and the Palestinian Authority is now a done deal, as I hope everyone now recognizes. At least as important, the de-legitimization of Zionism, is already well-advanced. Politically and ideologically, the actions and discourse of Israel and its partisans themselves do as much as anything to discredit Zionism. And, despite its being kept in the cultural shadows, more Americans are aware of the problems with the dominant Zionist narrative. The BDS movement is strong and growing.&#160; On American campuses today, Zionism is losing the all-important ideological battle, especially in the crucial constituency of young Jewish-Americans, and the effects of that are radiating throughout the culture. The reality of this effect is demonstrated by the increased anxiety among the guardians of Zionism, with their increasing efforts to censor and suppress criticism of Israel, to define anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism, and to outlaw anti-Zionism and the BDS movement. The arc of history is not bending toward Zionist colonialism.</p>
<p>To wax ironic, Zionism’s fatal weakness may be the effect of its greatest strength—its tenacious entwinement in our political culture, which is hard to overstate. We live in a country where powerful politicians and the wealthy donors who control them proclaim their fealty to Israel; where Israeli officials enjoy veto power over candidates for office <a href="" type="internal">down to the level of State Assembly</a>. where the Secretary of State gives a “ <a href="" type="internal">devoutly Zionist</a>” speech and is still criticized for not being obsequious enough to Israel, where the Vice-President <a href="" type="internal">declares</a> “I am a Zionist,” and where a President who was excoriated for avoiding service in the American army can <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/bill-clinton-says-he-would-fight-and-die-for-israel-1.37929" type="external">say</a> “I would personally grab a rifle, get in a ditch, and fight and die” for Israel, and nobody bats an eyelash.</p>
<p>Really, think about it.</p>
<p>Perhaps most vomit-inducing in the present context, it’s a country where the Congress has just overwhelmingly passed a <a href="https://israelpalestinenews.org/strange-sad-saga-taylor-force-act/#update" type="external">bill</a> de-funding the Palestinian Authority (except, at Israeli insistence, the PA security forces) if they give any support to any family member of a Palestinian convicted of what Israel calls “terrorism” (and others would call anti-colonial resistance), and at the same time that Congress allows the great charitable organization, The Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), to collect <a href="" type="internal">$50 million a night</a>, tax-free to itself and tax-deductible to its donors. All that money is needed, over and above the $3.7+ billion the U.S. gives Israel every year, in order to provide extra-comfortable “well-being facilities” for the beleaguered Israeli “coed infantry units” who have the tough job of dragging Palestinian families from their homes and blowing them up—those families the PA is now forbidden to support. Friends of the IDF galas are hosted in New York by Republican billionaire Sheldon Adelson, and in Los Angeles by Democratic billionaire Haim Saban, and <a href="" type="internal">entertained</a> by celebrities like Seal and Israeli-born KISS-er, Gene Simmons (Chaim Witz). Bi-partisanship rocks.</p>
<p>America has become a Zionist country. And it shows. And it’s discomfiting. For the most powerful people and institutions in the United States, Zionism has become a core component of American ideology and politics, married, like nothing else is, to capitalism and imperialism as a co-equal existential imperative.</p>
<p>It’s a peculiar relationship because capitalism and imperialism do not need Zionism, and may even be weakened by it. Zionism is a surplus oppression. The excessiveness and gratuity of Trump’s declaration on Jerusalem, which so many people recognize, is only a reflection of the excessiveness and gratuity of Zionism itself, which too many people have for too long taken for granted.</p>
<p>Dragging people from their homes and blowing them up is excessive, an atrocity too far. A partner whose addicted to such behavior will inevitably create trouble for the capitalist-imperialist family, which has enough problems of its own to deal with. It’s the U.S who insists, excessively, on including Zionism in a polyamorous arrangement, and who is, as can be expected in such cases, losing its mind over this misplaced affection, and endangering the core relationship.</p>
<p>This is what the German FM and other members of the European Frist Wives’ Club see in Trump’s Jerusalem declaration. This is what a lot of people see in all the state-destroying, jihadi-chaos-creating aggression from Iraq to Syria and heading toward Iran—all of which makes no sense until you understand that the American project throughout has been an overcomplicated ménage-à-trois: capitalism-imperialism-Zionism.</p>
<p>As Shoshana Bryen <a href="" type="internal">says</a>: “The United States military, then, is a Zionist institution.” Bryen is herself a perfect example of the intimate relations between Israel and the American military, having made the rounds as former Director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA,, the prime meeting spot where Israelis entice senior American officers to see the world as Israel does), and as a lecturer at the National Defense University and the U.S. Army War College.</p>
<p>The hope is that it’s all becoming too obvious and too much—an embarrassment of too many riches for Zionism. It’s why Hillary Clinton’s campaign <a href="" type="internal">decided</a> not to highlight—except to donors—her passionate love for Israel: “We shouldn’t have Israel at public events. Especially dem (Democratic) activists…. What about this as a base, and then she can drop in Israel when she’s with donors.” While the donors and elite still swoon, the arc of the Democratic base is bending away from Zionism—and the Zionists know it.&#160;</p>
<p>There Is No Time</p>
<p>On the other hand, we have to recognize the persistent weaknesses of the Palestinians, who suffer constant, horrendous, human and material losses every day at the hands of a Zionist colonial machine. Israel, the Jewish State, has already established an apartheid regime, the late stage of colonialism, and has made clear that it is determined to extend that as far and as long as it can, with all necessary force. The illusion that America would do something to stop or reverse this has been finally shattered. Though it’s stance may be changing, thanks to the likes of Trump, and it is a medium- to long-term weak spot for Israel, the “international community” still grants Israel effective impunity.</p>
<p>The Arab countries? Ha! Saudi Arabia, the Gulf monarchies, and Egypt will supply the rope and tie the knot. The staunchest Arab supporters of Palestine—Iraq, Libya, and Syria—just happen to be the countries ravaged by that United States military institution. A weakened Syria and (non-Arab) Iran may give some assistance, but really, nobody’s coming to save the Palestinians.</p>
<p>External support in the way of boycott and sanctions will help also, but significant victories can only come from organized resistance by Palestinians themselves. The Palestinian political leadership which, as Noura Erakat says, “has abandoned confrontation with Israel as a matter of policy” would have to be changed. New leadership would have to emerge that renounces Oslo and forges a militant struggle for equal political and social rights, a multi-level strategy of resistance against colonialism and apartheid. This will be very tough, in a community that’s been ground down for decades by the Israeli-PA security apparatus, and the collaborationist mindset and economic interests that support it.</p>
<p>To be thoroughly frank: though militant non-violent civilian resistance must be the core of struggle, it has to be backed by some kind of armed power. The ANC’s victorious fight against South African apartheid was not confined to “terrorist” Nelson Mandela’s prison cell; his comrades were busy outside. A movement to defeat colonialism and apartheid must demonstrate the capacity not only to take punishment, but also to inflict it, to hurt the forces and institutions imposing Zionist oppression and to disrupt the normalcy of Zionist daily life. Everywhere, enemies of the IDF. No “well-being” respite. No justice, no peace. That is the only way victory over colonialism and apartheid ever has, or ever will be, won.</p>
<p>Since the Zionists’ founding spasm of brutal ethnic cleansing—expelling over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs while killing thousands of others—and since colonialism fell into disgrace, Israel has been constrained to pursue further ethnic cleansing in a fitful series of measures, with levels of brutality adjusted for various international political and ideological exigencies. But it has not ceased to probe those limits. Israel is working very hard to compress political time and make it suddenly possible again to exterminate or expel enough Palestinians (we’re talking at least tens of thousands) to stabilize Israel for most of a century. That’s one of the things Israel’s, and its American patron’s, support of jihadi chaos in the region, as well as its attempt to foment war with Iran, is all about. The fat lady hasn’t sung, but the orchestra is in full swing. The Palestinians don’t have forever to stop the music.</p>
<p>So, there’s no room for false hope or assumptions of inevitable victory. There’s an opportunity now for a successful fight to defeat Zionism, pitched precisely as struggle against colonialism and apartheid, and it must be seized quickly. It is also not impossible for Zionism to defeat the Palestinians in some effectively irreversible way, as it keeps trying to do.</p>
<p>It’s just the case—the practical, utterly realistic political case—that nothing, not a thing, can be gained by trying to revive the zombie two-state peace process that has been killed over and over again by the U.S. and Israel themselves. To seal the deal, Donald Trump just drove a stake through its heart. There is no two-state solution. There is only one state: either the one colonial, apartheid state that’s coalescing now, or the one democratic state of equal rights that justice demands.</p>
<p>For American left allies of Palestine, it’s time, past time, to clearly reject, not just the occupation of Jerusalem or the West Bank, but Zionism tout court.</p>
<p>Back to the future it is. Liberal Zionists like to imagine ’48 is finished in some democratically acceptable way. Militant Zionists know they still have to finish ’48 as ruthlessly as possible. Principled anti-Zionists—that is, principled anti-colonialists—have to work very hard to make sure that ‘48 ends in failure, and that Israel never becomes the finished colonial project it wishes to be.</p>
| 6,013 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>FARMINGTON (AP) — Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly is expected to sign a bill this week that would increase the tribe’s sales tax by 1 percent.</p>
<p>The Farmington Daily Times reports that the Navajo Nation Council passed the bill last week.</p>
<p>Money from the increase would go toward education and energy development.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The increase from 4 percent to 5 percent would begin in January.</p>
<p>Shelly spokesman Erny Zah says the sales tax should help decrease the tribe’s dependency on federal funding.</p>
<p>Zah says the tribe receives more than 75 percent of its funding from the federal government.</p>
|
Navajo Nation To Hike Sales Tax 1%
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/140784/navajo-nation-to-hike-sales-tax-1.html
| 2least
|
Navajo Nation To Hike Sales Tax 1%
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>FARMINGTON (AP) — Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly is expected to sign a bill this week that would increase the tribe’s sales tax by 1 percent.</p>
<p>The Farmington Daily Times reports that the Navajo Nation Council passed the bill last week.</p>
<p>Money from the increase would go toward education and energy development.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The increase from 4 percent to 5 percent would begin in January.</p>
<p>Shelly spokesman Erny Zah says the sales tax should help decrease the tribe’s dependency on federal funding.</p>
<p>Zah says the tribe receives more than 75 percent of its funding from the federal government.</p>
| 6,014 |
|
<p>Vanity Fair has chosen its successor to longtime editor-in-chief Graydon Carter.</p>
<p>Radhika Jones, who for the past year has been editorial director of the books department at The New York Times, will join Vanity Fair on Dec. 11. Carter, editor in chief since 1992, announced earlier this year that he was stepping down.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In a statement Monday, CEO Bob Sauerberg of parent company Conde Nast said that Jones was an "exceptionally talented editor" who would combine "distinctive journalism with culture and humor." Jones, 44, has previously worked at Time and The Paris Review. She tweeted Monday that she was "honored and excited" to follow Carter.</p>
|
Radhika Jones will be new Vanity Fair editor-in-chief
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/13/radhika-jones-will-be-new-vanity-fair-editor-in-chief.html
|
2017-11-13
| 0right
|
Radhika Jones will be new Vanity Fair editor-in-chief
<p>Vanity Fair has chosen its successor to longtime editor-in-chief Graydon Carter.</p>
<p>Radhika Jones, who for the past year has been editorial director of the books department at The New York Times, will join Vanity Fair on Dec. 11. Carter, editor in chief since 1992, announced earlier this year that he was stepping down.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In a statement Monday, CEO Bob Sauerberg of parent company Conde Nast said that Jones was an "exceptionally talented editor" who would combine "distinctive journalism with culture and humor." Jones, 44, has previously worked at Time and The Paris Review. She tweeted Monday that she was "honored and excited" to follow Carter.</p>
| 6,015 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Update: The ISC has published comments received. Title changed to reflect this.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The universe of members of the public who will want to read comments being submitted to the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission on its proposal for administration of Rio Grande Compact water relinquishment credits is probably small. But it is not zero. And it includes me.</p>
<p>The comment period on the proposed rules expired Friday. Last week, I called the ISC and asked for comments that had been submitted to date. I was told the plan was to make all the comments public at the close of business Friday on the ISC web site, coinciding with the end of the public comment period. I frankly think that’s problematic. Once they’re submitted, they’re a public document. But I was busy, and didn’t have the time to drop everything and launch a public records fight for something I knew I would get in a couple of days anyway. Or at least something I thought I would get in a couple of days anyway.</p>
<p>This morning, I checked <a href="http://www.ose.state.nm.us/isc_rio_grande_compact_RelinquishmentCredit.html" type="external">the ISC web site</a> to see that they’re still not posted.</p>
<p>Thankfully, the ever-helpful Janet Jarratt, chair of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District board, has taken it on her own initiative to publish a bunch of them <a href="http://www.jjwater.info/iscinteldeal.html" type="external">on her personal web site</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
|
ISC Publishes Comments on Water Rules
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/3644/isc-publishes-comments-on-water-rules.html
| 2least
|
ISC Publishes Comments on Water Rules
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Update: The ISC has published comments received. Title changed to reflect this.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The universe of members of the public who will want to read comments being submitted to the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission on its proposal for administration of Rio Grande Compact water relinquishment credits is probably small. But it is not zero. And it includes me.</p>
<p>The comment period on the proposed rules expired Friday. Last week, I called the ISC and asked for comments that had been submitted to date. I was told the plan was to make all the comments public at the close of business Friday on the ISC web site, coinciding with the end of the public comment period. I frankly think that’s problematic. Once they’re submitted, they’re a public document. But I was busy, and didn’t have the time to drop everything and launch a public records fight for something I knew I would get in a couple of days anyway. Or at least something I thought I would get in a couple of days anyway.</p>
<p>This morning, I checked <a href="http://www.ose.state.nm.us/isc_rio_grande_compact_RelinquishmentCredit.html" type="external">the ISC web site</a> to see that they’re still not posted.</p>
<p>Thankfully, the ever-helpful Janet Jarratt, chair of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District board, has taken it on her own initiative to publish a bunch of them <a href="http://www.jjwater.info/iscinteldeal.html" type="external">on her personal web site</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
| 6,016 |
|
<p>I am having trouble getting into this essay on the war on critical thinking. I cannot figure out whether it is dumb or ignorant.&#160;&#160;My mother would say that the people conducting the war are malditos, mean.&#160;The reality is that the criminalization of rational thought goes beyond being dumb, ignorant or just plain mean.</p>
<p>Because the consequences are so calculated and far reaching, it is important to break it down so everyone can understand it and where we are headed.</p>
<p>Fascism did not start on February 27, 1933 with the burning of the Reichstag building in Berlin; it did not begin with the building of concentration camps after the fire. It was all planned and a strategy of division, doubt, and fear simply bore fruit at this point.</p>
<p>Hitler summed up his strategy; he sowed the seeds of “mental confusion, contradiction of feelings, indecision, [and] panic.”</p>
<p>Were the German people dumb, ignorant or just plain malditos?&#160;&#160;Some were all of the above.</p>
<p>Hitler and his gang set out to stamp out all vestiges of freedom and decency in German society. It is a story goes back to the early 1920’s and was formed after great forethought.</p>
<p>It used symbols such as the black swastika within the white circle, triggering images of hate toward Jews.&#160;&#160;Similarly, the Tea Party movement uses the flag with the circle of stars, the border and the tea kettle to nurture fear and hate.</p>
<p>The process of “mental confusion, contradiction of feelings, indecision, panic” follow a blueprint. You watch Tea Party rallies play to mobs that identify with a distorted sense of nationalism; the speakers playing to the fears of the dumb, ignorant and malditos.</p>
<p>In the United States, the Tea Party has been taken over by corporate interests. The involvement of the Koch brothers is well documented.&#160;&#160;Like the Nazis it has integrated friendly media such as Fox News and a network of right-wing radio talk shows that include scores of hate-mongers such as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage who are supported by dozens of other radio hosts and guests.</p>
<p>The message is redundant.</p>
<p>In Germany it was the fear of attacks from without – the invasion of aliens from within — who would infect their racial purity and rob them of the bounties of the German Nation. The Tea Party following a similar plan has substituted the word “illegal alien” for Jew.</p>
<p>The excesses are discernible even at this early stage. One can see the parallels with the Tea Party’s alliances with so-called Minutemen who can justify the murder of a nine-year old Mexican girl, Briseña Flores.</p>
<p>These parallels hit me over the head when I read my friend Devon Peña’s blog, one of the more intelligence on the internet.&#160;&#160;Devon is one of the few Chicano intellectuals that I know who thinks outside the box.</p>
<p>(See Devon G. Peña,&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;“ <a href="" type="internal">Fear &amp; Loathing in Texas: State Republican Party Seeks to Ban Critical Thinking in Public Schools Platform Prohibits Teach Higher Order Thinking Skills</a>,” July 1, 2012)</p>
<p>Peña’s blog follows the Texas State Board of Education and its adoption of high school social studies and history curriculum standards. The Texas body is a collection of extremists who mirror the fanaticism of the gaggle in Phoenix.</p>
<p>In 2010, it attempted to adopt standards which declared war on the truth. It began with the ridiculous rationale that the Constitution did not provide for the separation of church and state. They said that the words were not in the Constitution. Telling they did not bother to read the Federalist Papers.</p>
<p>Conservatives insisted that the U.S. government be referred to as a “constitutional republic,” rather than “democratic.”</p>
<p>The new standards required students to study how global organizations such as the United Nations undermine U.S. sovereignty.</p>
<p>Efforts of the Texas American Civil Liberties Union failed to rein in the State Board of Education and politicized what was taught to Texas school children.</p>
<p>Back to Hitler’s take on education: “Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented.” In Mein Kampf he stated “Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round.”</p>
<p>The Nazi party did not openly purge existing professors if they conformed. It implemented a plan to transform the profession by controlling entry and promotion within it. Teachers could either conform or resign.</p>
<p>The Nazis also moved to block the negative influence of parents and traditional culture. The Party moved to revise history. It saw that the problem that the teaching of history was not guided and taught by Nazi standards – the truth did not matter.</p>
<p>Enter the 2012 Texas Republican Party Platform:</p>
<p>“Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”</p>
<p>Peña asks, “Where does this Republican fear of critical thinking come from?” He deduces:&#160;&#160;&#160;“HB2281, the law banning the teaching of Chicana/o Studies in public schools, or that Texas public schools are now filled with a majority [Latino].” The motivating factor was that Latino students now make up just over 50 percent of Texas schools.</p>
<p>John Huppenthal, the Arizona Superintendent of Schools, appearing on Fox News Latino, said, “this toxic thing [critical thinking] starts from, the universities.” Proponents of HB 2281 see critical thinking as “un-American and a threat to Western civilization and culture….”</p>
<p>This dumb, ignorant, and mean spirited movement is spreading, following the same path as the anti-immigrant movement.</p>
<p>In Tennessee Tea Party groups introduced a proposal to take minorities out of American history textbooks. It also proposed to remove negative portrayals of the wealthy white men and references to them as slaveholders or mention of the Indian genocide.</p>
<p>Rep. Michele Bachmann once claimed that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to end slavery. But, her saying so does not make it true.</p>
<p>Why has the struggle in Texas then been less intense than in Arizona? There are a lot of factors. It is not that Texas politicos are less dumb, ignorant or malditos, but that with the size of Arizona you can get a lot more bang for your buck. The Kochs, ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), and the prison, gun, and charter school interests have hijacked the Republican Party and silenced the Democratic Party and most progressives in the state. In Texas you have a critical mass of Latino elected officials that can put a brake on extreme legislation, although some creeps through.</p>
<p>The perfect storm occurred in Arizona, and the effects are now spreading elsewhere.</p>
<p>What is this straw man called critical thinking?</p>
<p>It is nothing new; it was not invented by Mexican Americans to overthrow the government. It simply is a method of teaching to engage the learner and motivate her to learn and understand concepts. It is nothing new. Most civilizations engaged in it. American law schools which some say are the bastions of conservative thought use the Socratic Method, which is called the case book method. Cases are studied, analyzed and the student seeks to learn the law rather than to repeat it.</p>
<p>Throughout history critical thinking has been a threat to tyrants.</p>
<p>It was used extensively in the early Christian Church where communities studied the early writings of prophets. The Gnostics used this method extensively, and they were purged.</p>
<p>In recent times educational reformers like John Dewey have differentiated between training and education. The object of education was to engage the student in inquiry in a search for the truth.</p>
<p>The criminalization of rational thought is of concern.</p>
<p>On July 4, 2012, The Chicago Tribune reported the experience of a University of Chicago undergraduate volunteer at a Southside school. He posed the question to the class: “Why do we need laws?”</p>
<p>Immediately, nearly all 12 hands shot up. “To make sure people don’t go around being mean,” one student said. Another said: “We need laws because this world is falling apart. It’s going crazy.”</p>
<p>Here the volunteer was acting as a coach, much like on a football team when players engage in the subversive process of critical thinking in critiquing game film.</p>
<p>This article is not into name calling. People are dumb, ignorant and mean, but they are also greedy as the movie “Wall Street” so graphically points out.</p>
<p>Greedy people want power and they don’t strive for it&#160;&#160;solely because they are dumb, ignorant or mean. They do it because they are able to manipulate others to follow them against their own self-interests.</p>
<p>I am not saying that we are the same as Nazi Germany in 1933 or 1939; however, there are parallels to its development in 1921.&#160;&#160;We have to remember that Hitler came to power because of massive U.S. and German financial and industrial collaboration.</p>
<p>American automaker Henry Ford invested in Hitler’s&#160;&#160;rise as did the late US Senator Prescott Bush, Averill Harriman, the Dulles brothers, German steel magnate Fritz Thyssen, and chemical manufacturer I.G. Farben, among a score of others. They helped finance Hitler. Why? Because they were dumb, ignorant and/or mean? No, because they profited.</p>
<p>The drive to make more profits makes critical thinking and the preservation of a historical record a threat.</p>
<p>Please click on to the link and support</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Sean Arce and José González Under Attack</a></p>
<p>RODOLFO ACUÑA, a professor emeritus at California State University Northridge, has published 20 books and over 200 public and scholarly articles. He is the founding chair of the first Chicano Studies Dept which today offers 166 sections per semester in Chicano Studies. His history book&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Occupied America</a>&#160;has been banned in Arizona. In solidarity with Mexican Americans in Tucson, he has organized fundraisers and support groups to ground zero and written over two dozen articles exposing efforts there to nullify the U.S. Constitution.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Criminalizing Thinking
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2012/07/05/criminalizing-thinking/
|
2012-07-05
| 4left
|
Criminalizing Thinking
<p>I am having trouble getting into this essay on the war on critical thinking. I cannot figure out whether it is dumb or ignorant.&#160;&#160;My mother would say that the people conducting the war are malditos, mean.&#160;The reality is that the criminalization of rational thought goes beyond being dumb, ignorant or just plain mean.</p>
<p>Because the consequences are so calculated and far reaching, it is important to break it down so everyone can understand it and where we are headed.</p>
<p>Fascism did not start on February 27, 1933 with the burning of the Reichstag building in Berlin; it did not begin with the building of concentration camps after the fire. It was all planned and a strategy of division, doubt, and fear simply bore fruit at this point.</p>
<p>Hitler summed up his strategy; he sowed the seeds of “mental confusion, contradiction of feelings, indecision, [and] panic.”</p>
<p>Were the German people dumb, ignorant or just plain malditos?&#160;&#160;Some were all of the above.</p>
<p>Hitler and his gang set out to stamp out all vestiges of freedom and decency in German society. It is a story goes back to the early 1920’s and was formed after great forethought.</p>
<p>It used symbols such as the black swastika within the white circle, triggering images of hate toward Jews.&#160;&#160;Similarly, the Tea Party movement uses the flag with the circle of stars, the border and the tea kettle to nurture fear and hate.</p>
<p>The process of “mental confusion, contradiction of feelings, indecision, panic” follow a blueprint. You watch Tea Party rallies play to mobs that identify with a distorted sense of nationalism; the speakers playing to the fears of the dumb, ignorant and malditos.</p>
<p>In the United States, the Tea Party has been taken over by corporate interests. The involvement of the Koch brothers is well documented.&#160;&#160;Like the Nazis it has integrated friendly media such as Fox News and a network of right-wing radio talk shows that include scores of hate-mongers such as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage who are supported by dozens of other radio hosts and guests.</p>
<p>The message is redundant.</p>
<p>In Germany it was the fear of attacks from without – the invasion of aliens from within — who would infect their racial purity and rob them of the bounties of the German Nation. The Tea Party following a similar plan has substituted the word “illegal alien” for Jew.</p>
<p>The excesses are discernible even at this early stage. One can see the parallels with the Tea Party’s alliances with so-called Minutemen who can justify the murder of a nine-year old Mexican girl, Briseña Flores.</p>
<p>These parallels hit me over the head when I read my friend Devon Peña’s blog, one of the more intelligence on the internet.&#160;&#160;Devon is one of the few Chicano intellectuals that I know who thinks outside the box.</p>
<p>(See Devon G. Peña,&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;“ <a href="" type="internal">Fear &amp; Loathing in Texas: State Republican Party Seeks to Ban Critical Thinking in Public Schools Platform Prohibits Teach Higher Order Thinking Skills</a>,” July 1, 2012)</p>
<p>Peña’s blog follows the Texas State Board of Education and its adoption of high school social studies and history curriculum standards. The Texas body is a collection of extremists who mirror the fanaticism of the gaggle in Phoenix.</p>
<p>In 2010, it attempted to adopt standards which declared war on the truth. It began with the ridiculous rationale that the Constitution did not provide for the separation of church and state. They said that the words were not in the Constitution. Telling they did not bother to read the Federalist Papers.</p>
<p>Conservatives insisted that the U.S. government be referred to as a “constitutional republic,” rather than “democratic.”</p>
<p>The new standards required students to study how global organizations such as the United Nations undermine U.S. sovereignty.</p>
<p>Efforts of the Texas American Civil Liberties Union failed to rein in the State Board of Education and politicized what was taught to Texas school children.</p>
<p>Back to Hitler’s take on education: “Universal education is the most corroding and disintegrating poison that liberalism has ever invented.” In Mein Kampf he stated “Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round.”</p>
<p>The Nazi party did not openly purge existing professors if they conformed. It implemented a plan to transform the profession by controlling entry and promotion within it. Teachers could either conform or resign.</p>
<p>The Nazis also moved to block the negative influence of parents and traditional culture. The Party moved to revise history. It saw that the problem that the teaching of history was not guided and taught by Nazi standards – the truth did not matter.</p>
<p>Enter the 2012 Texas Republican Party Platform:</p>
<p>“Knowledge-Based Education – We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority.”</p>
<p>Peña asks, “Where does this Republican fear of critical thinking come from?” He deduces:&#160;&#160;&#160;“HB2281, the law banning the teaching of Chicana/o Studies in public schools, or that Texas public schools are now filled with a majority [Latino].” The motivating factor was that Latino students now make up just over 50 percent of Texas schools.</p>
<p>John Huppenthal, the Arizona Superintendent of Schools, appearing on Fox News Latino, said, “this toxic thing [critical thinking] starts from, the universities.” Proponents of HB 2281 see critical thinking as “un-American and a threat to Western civilization and culture….”</p>
<p>This dumb, ignorant, and mean spirited movement is spreading, following the same path as the anti-immigrant movement.</p>
<p>In Tennessee Tea Party groups introduced a proposal to take minorities out of American history textbooks. It also proposed to remove negative portrayals of the wealthy white men and references to them as slaveholders or mention of the Indian genocide.</p>
<p>Rep. Michele Bachmann once claimed that the Founding Fathers “worked tirelessly” to end slavery. But, her saying so does not make it true.</p>
<p>Why has the struggle in Texas then been less intense than in Arizona? There are a lot of factors. It is not that Texas politicos are less dumb, ignorant or malditos, but that with the size of Arizona you can get a lot more bang for your buck. The Kochs, ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), and the prison, gun, and charter school interests have hijacked the Republican Party and silenced the Democratic Party and most progressives in the state. In Texas you have a critical mass of Latino elected officials that can put a brake on extreme legislation, although some creeps through.</p>
<p>The perfect storm occurred in Arizona, and the effects are now spreading elsewhere.</p>
<p>What is this straw man called critical thinking?</p>
<p>It is nothing new; it was not invented by Mexican Americans to overthrow the government. It simply is a method of teaching to engage the learner and motivate her to learn and understand concepts. It is nothing new. Most civilizations engaged in it. American law schools which some say are the bastions of conservative thought use the Socratic Method, which is called the case book method. Cases are studied, analyzed and the student seeks to learn the law rather than to repeat it.</p>
<p>Throughout history critical thinking has been a threat to tyrants.</p>
<p>It was used extensively in the early Christian Church where communities studied the early writings of prophets. The Gnostics used this method extensively, and they were purged.</p>
<p>In recent times educational reformers like John Dewey have differentiated between training and education. The object of education was to engage the student in inquiry in a search for the truth.</p>
<p>The criminalization of rational thought is of concern.</p>
<p>On July 4, 2012, The Chicago Tribune reported the experience of a University of Chicago undergraduate volunteer at a Southside school. He posed the question to the class: “Why do we need laws?”</p>
<p>Immediately, nearly all 12 hands shot up. “To make sure people don’t go around being mean,” one student said. Another said: “We need laws because this world is falling apart. It’s going crazy.”</p>
<p>Here the volunteer was acting as a coach, much like on a football team when players engage in the subversive process of critical thinking in critiquing game film.</p>
<p>This article is not into name calling. People are dumb, ignorant and mean, but they are also greedy as the movie “Wall Street” so graphically points out.</p>
<p>Greedy people want power and they don’t strive for it&#160;&#160;solely because they are dumb, ignorant or mean. They do it because they are able to manipulate others to follow them against their own self-interests.</p>
<p>I am not saying that we are the same as Nazi Germany in 1933 or 1939; however, there are parallels to its development in 1921.&#160;&#160;We have to remember that Hitler came to power because of massive U.S. and German financial and industrial collaboration.</p>
<p>American automaker Henry Ford invested in Hitler’s&#160;&#160;rise as did the late US Senator Prescott Bush, Averill Harriman, the Dulles brothers, German steel magnate Fritz Thyssen, and chemical manufacturer I.G. Farben, among a score of others. They helped finance Hitler. Why? Because they were dumb, ignorant and/or mean? No, because they profited.</p>
<p>The drive to make more profits makes critical thinking and the preservation of a historical record a threat.</p>
<p>Please click on to the link and support</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Sean Arce and José González Under Attack</a></p>
<p>RODOLFO ACUÑA, a professor emeritus at California State University Northridge, has published 20 books and over 200 public and scholarly articles. He is the founding chair of the first Chicano Studies Dept which today offers 166 sections per semester in Chicano Studies. His history book&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Occupied America</a>&#160;has been banned in Arizona. In solidarity with Mexican Americans in Tucson, he has organized fundraisers and support groups to ground zero and written over two dozen articles exposing efforts there to nullify the U.S. Constitution.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,017 |
<p />
<p>The 2016 North American International Auto Show in Detroit rolled out the red carpet for new sports cars, luxury vehicles and pickup trucks from the industry’s biggest players.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It was a big show for high-end brands like Buick and Lexus, while Honda (NYSE:HMC) made a splash with a new midsize truck. Here’s a breakdown of five show-stopping vehicles in Detroit:</p>
<p>The Lexus LC 500 is a fast, powerful, rear-wheel drive sports coupe. It gets a 5.0-liter V8 engine that generates 467 horsepower, and Lexus says the LC 500 can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than 4.5 seconds.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The LC 500 grabbed the spotlight during the second day of unveilings in Detroit. Toyota (NYSE:TM) created the LC 500 to sit atop the Lexus lineup, giving dealers a new halo car to attract high-end shoppers.</p>
<p>“A few years ago, we decided to guide the future of the brand with products that had more passion and distinction in the luxury market,” said Akio Toyoda, Chief Branding Officer and Master Driver for Lexus. “This flagship luxury coupe’s proportions, stunning design and performance make a strong statement about our brand’s emotional direction and will grow the Lexus luxury appeal globally.”</p>
<p>Fans will have to wait until the spring of 2017 to buy one, and it won’t come cheap. Prices will start at just under $100,000. Lexus also plans on selling just 400 LC 500s per month in America.</p>
<p>An early star of the Detroit Auto Show was the Buick Avista, a sporty concept car that made its debut at a General Motors (NYSE:GM) event on Sunday. While Buick has no current plans to actually make it, the Avista is another car that teases Buick’s future.</p>
<p>The Avista is a low-slung coupe with 2+2 seating and rear-wheel drive. A 3.0-liter V6 engine gives the Avista plenty of muscle at 400 horsepower. Buick also turned heads for its styling, reminiscent of the premium brand’s Avenir concept at the 2015 show.</p>
<p>Buick plans to launch seven new or redesigned models over the next three years. In 2016 alone, Buick will start selling the redesigned 2017 LaCrosse sedan, the 2016 Cascada convertible and the 2017 Envision crossover that GM will build at a plant in China. Buick hopes the new direction will reverse last year’s 2.6% sales decline.</p>
<p>The all-new 2017 GMC Acadia will be the latest luxury crossover to hit the market when it arrives at dealers in the spring. GMC says it created a smaller Acadia to put more room between the midsize SUV and its larger sibling, the full-size Yukon. GMC shaved 700 pounds off the Acadia, which increased fuel efficiency. GM estimates the standard four-cylinder engine will get 28 miles per gallon on the highway.</p>
<p>GMC also touts interior technology and storage. All three rows of seating have USB ports, and a new pull-out drawer in the rear of the center console can house electronic devices and small toys. A rear seat alert is standard, reminding drivers when a person or item is in the second- or third-row seats.</p>
<p>The high-end Denali trim adds chrome accents and exclusive six-spoke wheels.</p>
<p>The first-generation Acadia had a long run. GMC introduced the Acadia for the 2007 model year, and the SUV got a facelift for 2013. Even though it is one of the older vehicles in GM’s portfolio, the popular Acadia recorded a sales record last year.</p>
<p>The 2017 S90 brings another jolt of enthusiasm to Volvo, whose XC90 SUV was named North American Truck/Utility of the Year at the Detroit Auto Show.</p>
<p>The S90 will be packed with semi-autonomous driving technology. Volvo says Pilot Assist, a standard feature, gives gentle steering inputs to keep the car inside its lane. Under the hood is a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, while an optional hybrid powertrain delivers 410 horsepower.</p>
<p>Volvo’s newest premium sedan will go on sale in June, and prices are expected to start in the $40,000 range. It will compete with luxury heavyweights such as the BMW 5-series and Mercedes-Benz E-class.</p>
<p>Volvo says the S90 highlights its commitment to the U.S. market. Company officials want the S90 to bring even more people to the Swedish brand’s showrooms after U.S. sales jumped 24% year-over-year in 2015. Volvo recently broke ground in Charleston, S.C., where it will build its first North American factory.</p>
<p>Honda is bringing back the Ridgeline after revamping the midsize pickup truck. The 2017 version, which should go on sale later this year, will be powered by a V6 engine and offers all-wheel drive capability. The Ridgeline borrows the platform that Honda uses for its Odyssey minivan and Pilot crossover.</p>
<p>Honda also created some new exterior features such as an in-bed audio system—a first for pickup trucks—and a dual-action tailgate that can be opened like a car door.</p>
<p>The Ridgeline is re-entering a stronger midsize truck segment. Detroit’s Big Three all stopped making smaller trucks, but GM jumped back into the market with new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon models in late 2014. Toyota’s redesigned 2016 Tacoma, which was unveiled at last year’s Detroit Auto Show, just went on sale.</p>
<p>Honda will build the Ridgeline at the Japanese company’s plant in Alabama.</p>
|
The 5 Hottest Cars at the Detroit Auto Show
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/01/13/5-hottest-cars-at-detroit-auto-show.html
|
2016-03-05
| 0right
|
The 5 Hottest Cars at the Detroit Auto Show
<p />
<p>The 2016 North American International Auto Show in Detroit rolled out the red carpet for new sports cars, luxury vehicles and pickup trucks from the industry’s biggest players.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>It was a big show for high-end brands like Buick and Lexus, while Honda (NYSE:HMC) made a splash with a new midsize truck. Here’s a breakdown of five show-stopping vehicles in Detroit:</p>
<p>The Lexus LC 500 is a fast, powerful, rear-wheel drive sports coupe. It gets a 5.0-liter V8 engine that generates 467 horsepower, and Lexus says the LC 500 can go from zero to 60 miles per hour in less than 4.5 seconds.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The LC 500 grabbed the spotlight during the second day of unveilings in Detroit. Toyota (NYSE:TM) created the LC 500 to sit atop the Lexus lineup, giving dealers a new halo car to attract high-end shoppers.</p>
<p>“A few years ago, we decided to guide the future of the brand with products that had more passion and distinction in the luxury market,” said Akio Toyoda, Chief Branding Officer and Master Driver for Lexus. “This flagship luxury coupe’s proportions, stunning design and performance make a strong statement about our brand’s emotional direction and will grow the Lexus luxury appeal globally.”</p>
<p>Fans will have to wait until the spring of 2017 to buy one, and it won’t come cheap. Prices will start at just under $100,000. Lexus also plans on selling just 400 LC 500s per month in America.</p>
<p>An early star of the Detroit Auto Show was the Buick Avista, a sporty concept car that made its debut at a General Motors (NYSE:GM) event on Sunday. While Buick has no current plans to actually make it, the Avista is another car that teases Buick’s future.</p>
<p>The Avista is a low-slung coupe with 2+2 seating and rear-wheel drive. A 3.0-liter V6 engine gives the Avista plenty of muscle at 400 horsepower. Buick also turned heads for its styling, reminiscent of the premium brand’s Avenir concept at the 2015 show.</p>
<p>Buick plans to launch seven new or redesigned models over the next three years. In 2016 alone, Buick will start selling the redesigned 2017 LaCrosse sedan, the 2016 Cascada convertible and the 2017 Envision crossover that GM will build at a plant in China. Buick hopes the new direction will reverse last year’s 2.6% sales decline.</p>
<p>The all-new 2017 GMC Acadia will be the latest luxury crossover to hit the market when it arrives at dealers in the spring. GMC says it created a smaller Acadia to put more room between the midsize SUV and its larger sibling, the full-size Yukon. GMC shaved 700 pounds off the Acadia, which increased fuel efficiency. GM estimates the standard four-cylinder engine will get 28 miles per gallon on the highway.</p>
<p>GMC also touts interior technology and storage. All three rows of seating have USB ports, and a new pull-out drawer in the rear of the center console can house electronic devices and small toys. A rear seat alert is standard, reminding drivers when a person or item is in the second- or third-row seats.</p>
<p>The high-end Denali trim adds chrome accents and exclusive six-spoke wheels.</p>
<p>The first-generation Acadia had a long run. GMC introduced the Acadia for the 2007 model year, and the SUV got a facelift for 2013. Even though it is one of the older vehicles in GM’s portfolio, the popular Acadia recorded a sales record last year.</p>
<p>The 2017 S90 brings another jolt of enthusiasm to Volvo, whose XC90 SUV was named North American Truck/Utility of the Year at the Detroit Auto Show.</p>
<p>The S90 will be packed with semi-autonomous driving technology. Volvo says Pilot Assist, a standard feature, gives gentle steering inputs to keep the car inside its lane. Under the hood is a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, while an optional hybrid powertrain delivers 410 horsepower.</p>
<p>Volvo’s newest premium sedan will go on sale in June, and prices are expected to start in the $40,000 range. It will compete with luxury heavyweights such as the BMW 5-series and Mercedes-Benz E-class.</p>
<p>Volvo says the S90 highlights its commitment to the U.S. market. Company officials want the S90 to bring even more people to the Swedish brand’s showrooms after U.S. sales jumped 24% year-over-year in 2015. Volvo recently broke ground in Charleston, S.C., where it will build its first North American factory.</p>
<p>Honda is bringing back the Ridgeline after revamping the midsize pickup truck. The 2017 version, which should go on sale later this year, will be powered by a V6 engine and offers all-wheel drive capability. The Ridgeline borrows the platform that Honda uses for its Odyssey minivan and Pilot crossover.</p>
<p>Honda also created some new exterior features such as an in-bed audio system—a first for pickup trucks—and a dual-action tailgate that can be opened like a car door.</p>
<p>The Ridgeline is re-entering a stronger midsize truck segment. Detroit’s Big Three all stopped making smaller trucks, but GM jumped back into the market with new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon models in late 2014. Toyota’s redesigned 2016 Tacoma, which was unveiled at last year’s Detroit Auto Show, just went on sale.</p>
<p>Honda will build the Ridgeline at the Japanese company’s plant in Alabama.</p>
| 6,018 |
<p />
<p>Brazil opened a formal complaint against Canada at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday, accusing the country of distorting the global aerospace industry with subsidies for planemaker Bombardier Inc .</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Brazil has threatened for months to open the WTO dispute, arguing that support for Bombardier's new CSeries was undercutting the market for commercial jets made by Brazilian rival Embraer SA .</p>
<p>The case builds on decades of antagonism between the two regional jet makers and echoes arguments in the world's largest trade dispute, a transatlantic spat over government support for Boeing Co and Airbus Group SE .</p>
<p>Brazil's action came on the heels of fresh support for Bombardier on Tuesday in the form of interest-free loans worth C$373 million ($283 million) from the Canadian government. Canada's Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the loans complied with WTO rules and the government would defend itself against litigation.</p>
<p>Brazil's Foreign Ministry criticized "at least $2.5 billion in government support" for the Canadian planemaker last year and a senior official said the complaint would include the loans announced on Tuesday.</p>
<p>"It is the understanding of Brazil that these Canadian subsidies artificially affect international competitiveness," the ministry said in a statement.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The province of Quebec, where Bombardier is based, injected $1 billion into the company's CSeries program last year. The province's largest pension fund also invested $1.5 billion in the company's rail unit.</p>
<p>Embraer Chief Executive Officer Paulo Cesar Silva said in a statement that the ongoing cash injections "have not only been fundamental in the development and survival of the CSeries program, but have also allowed Bombardier to offer its aircraft at artificially low prices."</p>
<p>STEEP DELTA DISCOUNT</p>
<p>Last year, Bombardier scored an order from Delta Air Lines Inc for 75 CSeries jets, worth some $5.6 billion at list prices, beating out Embraer's competing E-Jets with below break-even prices, according to the Brazilians.</p>
<p>Two sources familiar with the deal said Bombardier offered a roughly two-thirds discount to win the order, its biggest to date for the fledgling CSeries program.</p>
<p>Bombardier booked a $500 million "onerous contract" charge related to that Delta order and a separate deal with Air Canada .</p>
<p>Carlos Cozendey, undersecretary for economic affairs at Brazil's Foreign Ministry, said that subsidies had been key in helping Bombardier win the Delta contract and could influence more sales campaigns this year.</p>
<p>Bombardier pushed back on Wednesday, calling the government support a standard practice in the global aerospace industry.</p>
<p>"All forms of support provided to Bombardier, including the repayable program contributions announced by the federal government yesterday and the investment from the Quebec government... are fully compliant with Canada's international trade obligations," Bombardier said in a statement.</p>
<p>The company compared that funding to loans for Embraer from Brazil's state development bank BNDES and an investment by the Brazilian Air Force in Embraer's new military cargo jet.</p>
<p>"The aerospace industry is heavily subsidized around the world," said lawyer Renata Amaral, head of the international trade practice at Brazilian firm Barral M Jorge &amp; Associates. "The problem is when subsidies reach a degree that starts creating distortions in the market."</p>
<p>Amaral, who has advised Brazil on previous WTO cases, said that a decision on the current dispute was likely to stretch into 2018.</p>
<p>Both countries now have up to 60 days to try to settle the dispute before the WTO convenes a panel of experts to help make a ruling in the case.</p>
<p>BUILDING ON PRECEDENT</p>
<p>The latest WTO standoff follows nearly a decade of sparring between Brazil and Canada over state financing for Embraer and Bombardier's exports in the 1990s.</p>
<p>However, the current dispute is closer in substance to the clash between the United States and the European Union over allegedly unfair support for Boeing and Airbus.</p>
<p>Brazil will aim to build on a partial U.S. victory in that case, which focused on comparing public financing for aircraft development with private-sector benchmarks to determine whether the loans constituted improper subsidies.</p>
<p>The WTO ruled that loans to Airbus were unfair but stopped short of putting them in the worst category of "prohibited" aid. The dispute, which started more than a decade ago, has still not completed a lengthy WTO compliance process.</p>
<p>Cozendey, of Brazil's foreign ministry, said that precedent strengthened the argument against Canadian subsidies.</p>
<p>Brazil will argue that some of Canada's measures are "prohibited" under international trade law, while others are not illegal per se but are "actionable" because the scale of the subsidies are disrupting competition, Cozendey said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Brad Haynes in Sao Paulo and Alonso Soto in Brasilia; Additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Daniel Flynn, Nick Zieminski and Lisa Shumaker)</p>
|
Brazil challenges Canada at WTO over Bombardier funding
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/08/brazil-challenges-canada-at-wto-over-bombardier-funding.html
|
2017-02-09
| 0right
|
Brazil challenges Canada at WTO over Bombardier funding
<p />
<p>Brazil opened a formal complaint against Canada at the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Wednesday, accusing the country of distorting the global aerospace industry with subsidies for planemaker Bombardier Inc .</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Brazil has threatened for months to open the WTO dispute, arguing that support for Bombardier's new CSeries was undercutting the market for commercial jets made by Brazilian rival Embraer SA .</p>
<p>The case builds on decades of antagonism between the two regional jet makers and echoes arguments in the world's largest trade dispute, a transatlantic spat over government support for Boeing Co and Airbus Group SE .</p>
<p>Brazil's action came on the heels of fresh support for Bombardier on Tuesday in the form of interest-free loans worth C$373 million ($283 million) from the Canadian government. Canada's Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said the loans complied with WTO rules and the government would defend itself against litigation.</p>
<p>Brazil's Foreign Ministry criticized "at least $2.5 billion in government support" for the Canadian planemaker last year and a senior official said the complaint would include the loans announced on Tuesday.</p>
<p>"It is the understanding of Brazil that these Canadian subsidies artificially affect international competitiveness," the ministry said in a statement.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The province of Quebec, where Bombardier is based, injected $1 billion into the company's CSeries program last year. The province's largest pension fund also invested $1.5 billion in the company's rail unit.</p>
<p>Embraer Chief Executive Officer Paulo Cesar Silva said in a statement that the ongoing cash injections "have not only been fundamental in the development and survival of the CSeries program, but have also allowed Bombardier to offer its aircraft at artificially low prices."</p>
<p>STEEP DELTA DISCOUNT</p>
<p>Last year, Bombardier scored an order from Delta Air Lines Inc for 75 CSeries jets, worth some $5.6 billion at list prices, beating out Embraer's competing E-Jets with below break-even prices, according to the Brazilians.</p>
<p>Two sources familiar with the deal said Bombardier offered a roughly two-thirds discount to win the order, its biggest to date for the fledgling CSeries program.</p>
<p>Bombardier booked a $500 million "onerous contract" charge related to that Delta order and a separate deal with Air Canada .</p>
<p>Carlos Cozendey, undersecretary for economic affairs at Brazil's Foreign Ministry, said that subsidies had been key in helping Bombardier win the Delta contract and could influence more sales campaigns this year.</p>
<p>Bombardier pushed back on Wednesday, calling the government support a standard practice in the global aerospace industry.</p>
<p>"All forms of support provided to Bombardier, including the repayable program contributions announced by the federal government yesterday and the investment from the Quebec government... are fully compliant with Canada's international trade obligations," Bombardier said in a statement.</p>
<p>The company compared that funding to loans for Embraer from Brazil's state development bank BNDES and an investment by the Brazilian Air Force in Embraer's new military cargo jet.</p>
<p>"The aerospace industry is heavily subsidized around the world," said lawyer Renata Amaral, head of the international trade practice at Brazilian firm Barral M Jorge &amp; Associates. "The problem is when subsidies reach a degree that starts creating distortions in the market."</p>
<p>Amaral, who has advised Brazil on previous WTO cases, said that a decision on the current dispute was likely to stretch into 2018.</p>
<p>Both countries now have up to 60 days to try to settle the dispute before the WTO convenes a panel of experts to help make a ruling in the case.</p>
<p>BUILDING ON PRECEDENT</p>
<p>The latest WTO standoff follows nearly a decade of sparring between Brazil and Canada over state financing for Embraer and Bombardier's exports in the 1990s.</p>
<p>However, the current dispute is closer in substance to the clash between the United States and the European Union over allegedly unfair support for Boeing and Airbus.</p>
<p>Brazil will aim to build on a partial U.S. victory in that case, which focused on comparing public financing for aircraft development with private-sector benchmarks to determine whether the loans constituted improper subsidies.</p>
<p>The WTO ruled that loans to Airbus were unfair but stopped short of putting them in the worst category of "prohibited" aid. The dispute, which started more than a decade ago, has still not completed a lengthy WTO compliance process.</p>
<p>Cozendey, of Brazil's foreign ministry, said that precedent strengthened the argument against Canadian subsidies.</p>
<p>Brazil will argue that some of Canada's measures are "prohibited" under international trade law, while others are not illegal per se but are "actionable" because the scale of the subsidies are disrupting competition, Cozendey said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Brad Haynes in Sao Paulo and Alonso Soto in Brasilia; Additional reporting by Allison Lampert in Montreal and Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Daniel Flynn, Nick Zieminski and Lisa Shumaker)</p>
| 6,019 |
<p>French industrial group Schneider Electric SE has agreed to take control of British engineering software provider Aveva Group PLC, expanding the global reach of the technology offerings of the two operators.</p>
<p>Under the deal, announced in a joint statement Tuesday, Schneider will fold its software assets into Aveva's operations and pay the U.K. company more than GBP550 million ($710.4 million) in exchange for a 60% stake in the combined entity, in a so-called reverse takeover. Aveva would also distribute GBP100 million to shareholders following the deal's completion.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Aveva, with a current market value of about GBP1.2 billion, would maintain its listing on the London Stock Exchange and remain headquartered in Cambridge, U.K.</p>
<p>Schneider has already targeted U.K. software companies in the past to bolster its industrial software business. In 2013, it agreed to acquire Invensys PLC for GBP3.31 billion to better compete against rivals such as Siemens AG, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Rockwell Automation Inc. The combination would offer it opportunities to cut costs and access new customers.</p>
<p>"Through increased scale and complementary footprint the transaction will generate synergies that will benefit customers and shareholders alike," said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Schneider's chief executive.</p>
<p>Spun out of Cambridge University in 1967, Aveva provides engineering software to owners, operators and engineering contractors that operate in the power, oil-and-gas, marine and paper and pulp sectors, among others. It employs more than 1,700 people across 30 countries. Its other main markets include power, petrochemical and chemicals.</p>
<p>The deal comes at a time when Aveva is trying to reduce it reliance on the slowing oil-and-gas and marine markets. For the year ended March 31, Aveva boosted revenue by 7% to GBP215.8 million from the prior year, benefiting in part from currency moves. Discounting that, revenue was down 3.8%.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Schneider's software is used to help manage manufacturing processes, design tools and train plant crews. It services an array of industries ranging from transportation to its largest market of food and beverages and pharmaceuticals, which generated about 16% of the company's annual software revenue.</p>
<p>The combination will also give Aveva greater access to the U.S. market, where Schneider's software business generates almost half of its annual sales. Aveva generates the bulk of its revenue in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.</p>
<p>"Aveva will significantly expand its scale and product portfolio, increase its capabilities in the owner operator market, diversify its end user markets and increase its geographic exposure to the North American market," said Aveva Chairman Philip Aiken.</p>
<p>The planned transaction is similar to the structure of the companies' previous attempt to merge their industrial software businesses in July 2015. Then, Schneider had agreed to combine its software assets with those of Aveva and pay GBP550 million in exchange for a 53.5% stake in the enlarged group. However, the deal collapsed after the two sides couldn't agree on final terms.</p>
<p>Write to Ben Dummett at [email protected] and Nick Kostov at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 05, 2017 03:21 ET (07:21 GMT)</p>
|
Schneider Electric Takes Control of U.K. Software Firm Aveva
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/09/05/schneider-electric-takes-control-u-k-software-firm-aveva.html
|
2017-09-05
| 0right
|
Schneider Electric Takes Control of U.K. Software Firm Aveva
<p>French industrial group Schneider Electric SE has agreed to take control of British engineering software provider Aveva Group PLC, expanding the global reach of the technology offerings of the two operators.</p>
<p>Under the deal, announced in a joint statement Tuesday, Schneider will fold its software assets into Aveva's operations and pay the U.K. company more than GBP550 million ($710.4 million) in exchange for a 60% stake in the combined entity, in a so-called reverse takeover. Aveva would also distribute GBP100 million to shareholders following the deal's completion.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Aveva, with a current market value of about GBP1.2 billion, would maintain its listing on the London Stock Exchange and remain headquartered in Cambridge, U.K.</p>
<p>Schneider has already targeted U.K. software companies in the past to bolster its industrial software business. In 2013, it agreed to acquire Invensys PLC for GBP3.31 billion to better compete against rivals such as Siemens AG, Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and Rockwell Automation Inc. The combination would offer it opportunities to cut costs and access new customers.</p>
<p>"Through increased scale and complementary footprint the transaction will generate synergies that will benefit customers and shareholders alike," said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Schneider's chief executive.</p>
<p>Spun out of Cambridge University in 1967, Aveva provides engineering software to owners, operators and engineering contractors that operate in the power, oil-and-gas, marine and paper and pulp sectors, among others. It employs more than 1,700 people across 30 countries. Its other main markets include power, petrochemical and chemicals.</p>
<p>The deal comes at a time when Aveva is trying to reduce it reliance on the slowing oil-and-gas and marine markets. For the year ended March 31, Aveva boosted revenue by 7% to GBP215.8 million from the prior year, benefiting in part from currency moves. Discounting that, revenue was down 3.8%.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Schneider's software is used to help manage manufacturing processes, design tools and train plant crews. It services an array of industries ranging from transportation to its largest market of food and beverages and pharmaceuticals, which generated about 16% of the company's annual software revenue.</p>
<p>The combination will also give Aveva greater access to the U.S. market, where Schneider's software business generates almost half of its annual sales. Aveva generates the bulk of its revenue in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.</p>
<p>"Aveva will significantly expand its scale and product portfolio, increase its capabilities in the owner operator market, diversify its end user markets and increase its geographic exposure to the North American market," said Aveva Chairman Philip Aiken.</p>
<p>The planned transaction is similar to the structure of the companies' previous attempt to merge their industrial software businesses in July 2015. Then, Schneider had agreed to combine its software assets with those of Aveva and pay GBP550 million in exchange for a 53.5% stake in the enlarged group. However, the deal collapsed after the two sides couldn't agree on final terms.</p>
<p>Write to Ben Dummett at [email protected] and Nick Kostov at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 05, 2017 03:21 ET (07:21 GMT)</p>
| 6,020 |
<p>Reserve goaltender Petr Mrazek posted his second consecutive shutout and the Detroit Red Wings downed the slumping New Jersey Devils 3-0 on Monday night at the Prudential Center.</p>
<p>Mrazek turned aside 37 shots while notching his third shutout of the season. He blanked Chicago 4-0 on Jan. 14. The Red Wings lost their last two games with Jimmy Howard in goal.</p>
<p>Mrazek became the first Wings goaltender to record back-to-back shutouts since Dominik Hasek in January 2008.</p>
<p>Cory Schneider stopped 27 shots for the Devils, who have lost eight of the last 10 games.</p>
<p>Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist for the Wings while Tyler Bertuzzi and David Booth also scored. Andreas Athanasiou recorded two assists.</p>
<p>Detroit led 1-0 after the first period. Schneider stopped Larkin’s backhander but Bertuzzi was left unchecked and knocked in the rebound 6:36 into the game.</p>
<p>It was Bertuzzi’s second career goal. His other goal came against Chicago on Jan. 14.</p>
<p>The Red Wings had a 12-11 edge in shots on goal and neither side was whistled for a penalty during the period.</p>
<p>That changed dramatically, as the teams had a combined five power plays during the second period. However, all those opportunities were wasted.</p>
<p>Booth gave the Wings a two-goal lead with 1:48 remaining in the period. Jonathan Ericsson skated past the blue line and sent a short pass to Booth, whose slapshot from the point deflected off a Devils stick and over Schneider’s right shoulder. Booth increased his season total to four goals.</p>
<p>Mrazek robbed Brian Boyle with a skate save on a point-blank shot during a power play early in the third.</p>
<p>Larkin fired in his eighth goal from the left circle at the 11:02 mark of the third to make it 3-0. The officials originally ruled no goal but changed the call after replays showed the puck hit inside the crossbar.</p>
<p>Forwards Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Luke Glendening and defenseman Trevor Daley missed the game for Detroit due to injuries. Forwards Brian Gibbons and Taylor Hall and defenseman Mirco Mueller sat out for New Jersey.</p>
<p>—Field Level Media</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Australian cricket supremo James Sutherland had harsh words on Tuesday for the test trio being sent home after the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town, saying they faced “significant” sanctions, but there was one term he refused to use - ‘cheat’.</p> Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft arrives at Cape Town International Airport, South Africa March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham
<p>Pressed at a packed news conference, Sutherland would only say the disgraced players - captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft - had broken the rules.</p>
<p>Contrary to Australian media reports, coach Darren Lehmann was not involved in the plot, hatched during the lunch break on Saturday, to scuff up the ball with a small piece of improvised sand paper and had no prior knowledge of it, Sutherland said.</p>
<p>Lehmann, a no-nonsense former player under whom Australia’s test side has gained a reputation for pushing the limits of sporting acceptability, would continue in his position under his current contract, Cricket Australia’s CEO added.</p> Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft arrives at Cape Town International Airport, South Africa March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham
<p>“It’s not a good day for Australian cricket,” said Sutherland, who flew into South Africa on Tuesday morning to sort out the imbroglio sparked by Saturday’s incident. “It was not in the laws of the game and not in the spirit of the game.”</p>
<p>Smith and Warner have been stripped of their leadership positions and all three will now leave the tour in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal, which has shaken the sport and cut to the quick Australia’s “play hard but fair” psyche.</p>
<p>The 25-year-old Bancroft was caught on camera shoving the sticky yellow tape, which he used to pick up rough granules off the pitch, into the front of his trousers when he believed he had been spotted by the umpires during the third test.</p>
<p>Echoing comments from the London-based Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), guardians of the ‘spirit of cricket’ gentleman’s code that is supposed to guide the ethos of game, Sutherland said Australia and others must take a long look in the mirror.</p>
<p>“Winning is important but not at the expense of the laws or the spirit of the game,” Sutherland said.</p> Slideshow (10 Images) TROUBLED SERIES
<p>While the four-match series, which South Africa lead 2-1 heading into the final test starting on Friday in South Africa’s commercial capital, has produced sensational cricket, it has been marred by on- and off-field altercations between players.</p>
<p>In the first test in Durban, Warner become involved in an off-field fracas with South Africa wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, and in the following game fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was cited for nudging Smith with his shoulder after capturing his wicket.</p>
<p>Initially banned for two games, Rabada was cleared on appeal in time for the crunch Cape Town test, with the series level.</p>
<p>Tim Paine, appointed as the new Australia captain in place of Smith, faces a huge task in picking up his shattered side, not least after the 322-run drubbing they received in Cape Town at the hands of Rabada and veteran paceman Morne Morkel.</p>
<p>The squad has been bolstered by batsmen Matthew Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns, but they will barely have time to acclimatize before Friday’s fourth test in Johannesburg.</p>
<p>Australia’s pre-meditated attempt to tamper with the ball, and thus make it swing more in the air, has drawn condemnation from around the world, with ball-tampering a serious breach of the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct.</p>
<p>However, the damage done to sports-mad Australia’s esteem is arguably far greater, with everybody from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull down piling in to express their outrage.</p>
<p>Australian media are speculating that the three players could receive lengthy bans, of particular concern to Warner, who at the age of 31 is in the latter stages of his career.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Mark Gleeson and Nick Said in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat is hoping to emerge as a surprise contender at next week’s U.S. Masters following a string of consistent performances over the last two months.</p> Mar 24, 2018; Austin, TX, USA; Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand plays against Charles Howell III of the United States during the fourth round of the WGC - Dell Technologies Match Play golf tournament at Austin Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
<p>The 28-year-old has been in blistering form since winning the World Super 6 Perth title in February and Richard Mille Brunei Championships earlier this month.</p>
<p>With momentum on his side, Aphibarnrat recorded a tied-fifth finish in the WGC-Mexico Championships before being beaten in last week’s WGC-Dell Match Play in Texas in the quarter finals by eventual winner Bubba Watson.</p>
<p>His performances in the last four months of the season saw him jump from 160th in the world into the top 50 and the result at Texas moved him up to a career-high 29th.</p>
<p>“The way I fought to qualify for the Masters is amazing. Now I want to show the world an Asian can surprise and contend in a major,” he told the Asian Tour website.</p>
<p>“I’ve been comfortable with the way I’ve been playing. I’m feeling very confident and I’ve putted very well lately. I look forward to playing in Augusta. I will try to go earlier and try and feel comfortable on the greens.”</p>
<p>It will be Aphibarnrat’s second appearance at the Augusta National after securing a credible tied-15th on his Masters debut in 2016, his best result at a major so far.</p>
<p>“The goal now is to try and stay inside the top 30 and hopefully earn a PGA Tour card,” he said.</p>
<p>“I will give it my best at The Masters because I have such good memories there. Augusta is a golf course which suits my game and I’ve been playing very well so hopefully it will be another week which I will remember.”</p>
<p>The Masters will be played from April 5-8.</p>
<p>Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Susan Fenton</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - A British Volvo Ocean Race crew member who fell overboard in the Southern Ocean is presumed lost at sea, organizers said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>John Fisher, 47, had been competing with Hong Kong entry Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag on leg seven of the race from Auckland to Itajai in Brazil and was reported missing in extremely rough seas on Monday.</p>
<p>The 65-foot yacht’s location was some 1,400 nautical miles west of Cape Horn, and 1,200 miles from the nearest safe landfall in South America. The nearest competitors were 200 miles away downwind.</p>
<p>Fisher, a Sydney-Hobart veteran who was born in Southampton but based in Adelaide, had been on watch and was wearing appropriate survival gear.</p>
<p>“Given the cold water temperature and the extreme sea state, along with the time that has now passed since he went overboard, we must now presume that John has been lost at sea,” race president Richard Brisius said in a statement.</p>
<p>“The crew is, of course, emotionally and physically drained after what they have just experienced. Our sole focus now is to provide all the support and assistance that we can to the team,” he added.</p>
<p>Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag had carried out a search for several hours before heading in a north-easterly direction with the weather deteriorating and conditions challenging.</p>
<p>A ship had been diverted to the scene but remained more than a day away.</p>
<p>The 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race started from Alicante, Spain, on Oct. 22 and covers 45,000 nautical miles (83,000 km) around the world, featuring a total of 12 host ports. It ends in The Hague, Netherlands, at the end of June.</p>
<p>There has already been one fatal accident involving the race, with Vestas 11th Hour Racing withdrawing from the fourth leg in January after a collision with a fishing boat on the approach to Hong Kong.</p>
<p>One member of the fishing vessel’s crew died after being taken to hospital by helicopter.</p>
<p>Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by John O'Brien</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - The New York Yacht Club will compete as “American Magic” in challenging for the next America’s Cup in New Zealand in 2021, they announced on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The name, adopted by the club and Bella Mente Quantum Racing Association, harks back to the 19th century origins of the oldest trophy in international sport.</p>
<p>“America” was the first boat to win the Cup in 1851, and “Magic” the first to defend it in 1870. The New York Yacht Club was founded in 1844.</p>
<p>“American Magic builds on the legacy of those two yachts,” said Philip Lotz, commodore of the New York Yacht Club, in a statement.</p>
<p>“The name embodies the mission of our campaign, which is to win the Cup and in the process build the foundation for a stronger competitive sailing culture in the United States.”</p>
<p>The team expects to establish its primary base in Newport, Rhode island.</p>
<p>The 36th edition of the America’s Cup is set to be sailed off Auckland in fully foiling 75-foot monohull boats, a departure from the catamarans used during the 2017 competition in Bermuda.</p>
<p>New Zealand crushed Oracle Team USA last June with a stunning 7-1 victory in Bermuda’s Great Sound.</p>
<p>Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
|
Mrazek stars in 37-save shutout of Devils Cricket: Australia trio sent home after ball-tampering scandal, coach stays Thailand's in-form golfer Aphibarnrat ready to spring Masters surprise Sailing: British Volvo Ocean Race crew member lost at sea Sailing: 'American Magic' to challenge for 2021 America's Cup
| false |
https://reuters.com/article/icehockey-nhl-njd-det-recap/mrazek-stars-in-37-save-shutout-of-devils-idUSMTZEE1NZMXMHU
|
2018-01-23
| 2least
|
Mrazek stars in 37-save shutout of Devils Cricket: Australia trio sent home after ball-tampering scandal, coach stays Thailand's in-form golfer Aphibarnrat ready to spring Masters surprise Sailing: British Volvo Ocean Race crew member lost at sea Sailing: 'American Magic' to challenge for 2021 America's Cup
<p>Reserve goaltender Petr Mrazek posted his second consecutive shutout and the Detroit Red Wings downed the slumping New Jersey Devils 3-0 on Monday night at the Prudential Center.</p>
<p>Mrazek turned aside 37 shots while notching his third shutout of the season. He blanked Chicago 4-0 on Jan. 14. The Red Wings lost their last two games with Jimmy Howard in goal.</p>
<p>Mrazek became the first Wings goaltender to record back-to-back shutouts since Dominik Hasek in January 2008.</p>
<p>Cory Schneider stopped 27 shots for the Devils, who have lost eight of the last 10 games.</p>
<p>Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist for the Wings while Tyler Bertuzzi and David Booth also scored. Andreas Athanasiou recorded two assists.</p>
<p>Detroit led 1-0 after the first period. Schneider stopped Larkin’s backhander but Bertuzzi was left unchecked and knocked in the rebound 6:36 into the game.</p>
<p>It was Bertuzzi’s second career goal. His other goal came against Chicago on Jan. 14.</p>
<p>The Red Wings had a 12-11 edge in shots on goal and neither side was whistled for a penalty during the period.</p>
<p>That changed dramatically, as the teams had a combined five power plays during the second period. However, all those opportunities were wasted.</p>
<p>Booth gave the Wings a two-goal lead with 1:48 remaining in the period. Jonathan Ericsson skated past the blue line and sent a short pass to Booth, whose slapshot from the point deflected off a Devils stick and over Schneider’s right shoulder. Booth increased his season total to four goals.</p>
<p>Mrazek robbed Brian Boyle with a skate save on a point-blank shot during a power play early in the third.</p>
<p>Larkin fired in his eighth goal from the left circle at the 11:02 mark of the third to make it 3-0. The officials originally ruled no goal but changed the call after replays showed the puck hit inside the crossbar.</p>
<p>Forwards Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Luke Glendening and defenseman Trevor Daley missed the game for Detroit due to injuries. Forwards Brian Gibbons and Taylor Hall and defenseman Mirco Mueller sat out for New Jersey.</p>
<p>—Field Level Media</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Australian cricket supremo James Sutherland had harsh words on Tuesday for the test trio being sent home after the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town, saying they faced “significant” sanctions, but there was one term he refused to use - ‘cheat’.</p> Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft arrives at Cape Town International Airport, South Africa March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham
<p>Pressed at a packed news conference, Sutherland would only say the disgraced players - captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft - had broken the rules.</p>
<p>Contrary to Australian media reports, coach Darren Lehmann was not involved in the plot, hatched during the lunch break on Saturday, to scuff up the ball with a small piece of improvised sand paper and had no prior knowledge of it, Sutherland said.</p>
<p>Lehmann, a no-nonsense former player under whom Australia’s test side has gained a reputation for pushing the limits of sporting acceptability, would continue in his position under his current contract, Cricket Australia’s CEO added.</p> Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft arrives at Cape Town International Airport, South Africa March 27, 2018. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham
<p>“It’s not a good day for Australian cricket,” said Sutherland, who flew into South Africa on Tuesday morning to sort out the imbroglio sparked by Saturday’s incident. “It was not in the laws of the game and not in the spirit of the game.”</p>
<p>Smith and Warner have been stripped of their leadership positions and all three will now leave the tour in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal, which has shaken the sport and cut to the quick Australia’s “play hard but fair” psyche.</p>
<p>The 25-year-old Bancroft was caught on camera shoving the sticky yellow tape, which he used to pick up rough granules off the pitch, into the front of his trousers when he believed he had been spotted by the umpires during the third test.</p>
<p>Echoing comments from the London-based Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), guardians of the ‘spirit of cricket’ gentleman’s code that is supposed to guide the ethos of game, Sutherland said Australia and others must take a long look in the mirror.</p>
<p>“Winning is important but not at the expense of the laws or the spirit of the game,” Sutherland said.</p> Slideshow (10 Images) TROUBLED SERIES
<p>While the four-match series, which South Africa lead 2-1 heading into the final test starting on Friday in South Africa’s commercial capital, has produced sensational cricket, it has been marred by on- and off-field altercations between players.</p>
<p>In the first test in Durban, Warner become involved in an off-field fracas with South Africa wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock, and in the following game fast bowler Kagiso Rabada was cited for nudging Smith with his shoulder after capturing his wicket.</p>
<p>Initially banned for two games, Rabada was cleared on appeal in time for the crunch Cape Town test, with the series level.</p>
<p>Tim Paine, appointed as the new Australia captain in place of Smith, faces a huge task in picking up his shattered side, not least after the 322-run drubbing they received in Cape Town at the hands of Rabada and veteran paceman Morne Morkel.</p>
<p>The squad has been bolstered by batsmen Matthew Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns, but they will barely have time to acclimatize before Friday’s fourth test in Johannesburg.</p>
<p>Australia’s pre-meditated attempt to tamper with the ball, and thus make it swing more in the air, has drawn condemnation from around the world, with ball-tampering a serious breach of the International Cricket Council’s code of conduct.</p>
<p>However, the damage done to sports-mad Australia’s esteem is arguably far greater, with everybody from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull down piling in to express their outrage.</p>
<p>Australian media are speculating that the three players could receive lengthy bans, of particular concern to Warner, who at the age of 31 is in the latter stages of his career.</p>
<p>Additional reporting by Mark Gleeson and Nick Said in Cape Town; Editing by Ken Ferris</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat is hoping to emerge as a surprise contender at next week’s U.S. Masters following a string of consistent performances over the last two months.</p> Mar 24, 2018; Austin, TX, USA; Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand plays against Charles Howell III of the United States during the fourth round of the WGC - Dell Technologies Match Play golf tournament at Austin Country Club. Mandatory Credit: Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
<p>The 28-year-old has been in blistering form since winning the World Super 6 Perth title in February and Richard Mille Brunei Championships earlier this month.</p>
<p>With momentum on his side, Aphibarnrat recorded a tied-fifth finish in the WGC-Mexico Championships before being beaten in last week’s WGC-Dell Match Play in Texas in the quarter finals by eventual winner Bubba Watson.</p>
<p>His performances in the last four months of the season saw him jump from 160th in the world into the top 50 and the result at Texas moved him up to a career-high 29th.</p>
<p>“The way I fought to qualify for the Masters is amazing. Now I want to show the world an Asian can surprise and contend in a major,” he told the Asian Tour website.</p>
<p>“I’ve been comfortable with the way I’ve been playing. I’m feeling very confident and I’ve putted very well lately. I look forward to playing in Augusta. I will try to go earlier and try and feel comfortable on the greens.”</p>
<p>It will be Aphibarnrat’s second appearance at the Augusta National after securing a credible tied-15th on his Masters debut in 2016, his best result at a major so far.</p>
<p>“The goal now is to try and stay inside the top 30 and hopefully earn a PGA Tour card,” he said.</p>
<p>“I will give it my best at The Masters because I have such good memories there. Augusta is a golf course which suits my game and I’ve been playing very well so hopefully it will be another week which I will remember.”</p>
<p>The Masters will be played from April 5-8.</p>
<p>Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Susan Fenton</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>LONDON (Reuters) - A British Volvo Ocean Race crew member who fell overboard in the Southern Ocean is presumed lost at sea, organizers said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>John Fisher, 47, had been competing with Hong Kong entry Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag on leg seven of the race from Auckland to Itajai in Brazil and was reported missing in extremely rough seas on Monday.</p>
<p>The 65-foot yacht’s location was some 1,400 nautical miles west of Cape Horn, and 1,200 miles from the nearest safe landfall in South America. The nearest competitors were 200 miles away downwind.</p>
<p>Fisher, a Sydney-Hobart veteran who was born in Southampton but based in Adelaide, had been on watch and was wearing appropriate survival gear.</p>
<p>“Given the cold water temperature and the extreme sea state, along with the time that has now passed since he went overboard, we must now presume that John has been lost at sea,” race president Richard Brisius said in a statement.</p>
<p>“The crew is, of course, emotionally and physically drained after what they have just experienced. Our sole focus now is to provide all the support and assistance that we can to the team,” he added.</p>
<p>Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag had carried out a search for several hours before heading in a north-easterly direction with the weather deteriorating and conditions challenging.</p>
<p>A ship had been diverted to the scene but remained more than a day away.</p>
<p>The 2017-18 Volvo Ocean Race started from Alicante, Spain, on Oct. 22 and covers 45,000 nautical miles (83,000 km) around the world, featuring a total of 12 host ports. It ends in The Hague, Netherlands, at the end of June.</p>
<p>There has already been one fatal accident involving the race, with Vestas 11th Hour Racing withdrawing from the fourth leg in January after a collision with a fishing boat on the approach to Hong Kong.</p>
<p>One member of the fishing vessel’s crew died after being taken to hospital by helicopter.</p>
<p>Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by John O'Brien</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - The New York Yacht Club will compete as “American Magic” in challenging for the next America’s Cup in New Zealand in 2021, they announced on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The name, adopted by the club and Bella Mente Quantum Racing Association, harks back to the 19th century origins of the oldest trophy in international sport.</p>
<p>“America” was the first boat to win the Cup in 1851, and “Magic” the first to defend it in 1870. The New York Yacht Club was founded in 1844.</p>
<p>“American Magic builds on the legacy of those two yachts,” said Philip Lotz, commodore of the New York Yacht Club, in a statement.</p>
<p>“The name embodies the mission of our campaign, which is to win the Cup and in the process build the foundation for a stronger competitive sailing culture in the United States.”</p>
<p>The team expects to establish its primary base in Newport, Rhode island.</p>
<p>The 36th edition of the America’s Cup is set to be sailed off Auckland in fully foiling 75-foot monohull boats, a departure from the catamarans used during the 2017 competition in Bermuda.</p>
<p>New Zealand crushed Oracle Team USA last June with a stunning 7-1 victory in Bermuda’s Great Sound.</p>
<p>Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Ed Osmond</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
| 6,021 |
<p>Political organizations, particularly those committed to radical change, face their greatest tests in times of crisis. In 1914, German social democracy, the international socialist movement’s crown jewel, was brought to its knees by its inability to confront the outbreak of World War I.</p>
<p>Two decades later, German Communism’s ultra-leftism proved similarly impotent in the face of the <a href="" type="internal">growing Nazi threat</a>, and Europe’s most powerful labor movement was decimated within a couple of years.</p>
<p>Drawing direct historical parallels between 2016 and 1914 or 1933 would be mistaken — but it is fair to say that Die Linke, the largest force on the German left, is now facing the biggest test in its ten-year history.</p>
<p>The ongoing European refugee crisis is forcing the party to meet complicated political challenges. In the process, it has revealed many of Die Linke’s latent weaknesses and contradictions.</p>
<p>Rather than exploiting the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/Christian-Democratic-Union-political-party-Germany" type="external">Christian Democratic Union</a>– <a href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/Social-Democratic-Party-of-Germany" type="external">Social Democratic Party</a> (CDU-SDP) coalition’s increasingly vulnerable position, Die Linke is being pulled by wider social forces, unable to articulate a coherent political response, let alone intervene effectively, around the refugee question.</p>
<p>The impact of Die Linke’s ambiguous political and strategic messaging — necessitated by its disparate composition — as well as ongoing stagnation and decline in its activist and political infrastructure have finally been made obvious.</p>
|
Die Linke: Ten Years On
| true |
https://jacobinmag.com/2016/06/die-linke-germany-left-refugees-merkel-socialists/
|
2018-10-07
| 4left
|
Die Linke: Ten Years On
<p>Political organizations, particularly those committed to radical change, face their greatest tests in times of crisis. In 1914, German social democracy, the international socialist movement’s crown jewel, was brought to its knees by its inability to confront the outbreak of World War I.</p>
<p>Two decades later, German Communism’s ultra-leftism proved similarly impotent in the face of the <a href="" type="internal">growing Nazi threat</a>, and Europe’s most powerful labor movement was decimated within a couple of years.</p>
<p>Drawing direct historical parallels between 2016 and 1914 or 1933 would be mistaken — but it is fair to say that Die Linke, the largest force on the German left, is now facing the biggest test in its ten-year history.</p>
<p>The ongoing European refugee crisis is forcing the party to meet complicated political challenges. In the process, it has revealed many of Die Linke’s latent weaknesses and contradictions.</p>
<p>Rather than exploiting the <a href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/Christian-Democratic-Union-political-party-Germany" type="external">Christian Democratic Union</a>– <a href="http://www.britannica.com/topic/Social-Democratic-Party-of-Germany" type="external">Social Democratic Party</a> (CDU-SDP) coalition’s increasingly vulnerable position, Die Linke is being pulled by wider social forces, unable to articulate a coherent political response, let alone intervene effectively, around the refugee question.</p>
<p>The impact of Die Linke’s ambiguous political and strategic messaging — necessitated by its disparate composition — as well as ongoing stagnation and decline in its activist and political infrastructure have finally been made obvious.</p>
| 6,022 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed a bill into law to renew a foreign intelligence surveillance program, announcing his action in the latest in a series of confusing tweets about the spy program.</p>
<p>Trump's tweet on Jan. 11 created chaos in the House just before it voted to reauthorize what is known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He linked the intelligence program to a dossier that alleges his presidential campaign had ties to Russia.</p>
<p>That caused people to wonder if he didn't support the program that allows U.S. spy agencies to collect intelligence on foreign targets abroad.</p>
<p>"This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?" the presidential tweet said.</p>
<p>Trump and other Republicans have alleged that Obama administration officials improperly shared the identities of Trump presidential transition team members mentioned in intelligence reports. Democrats say there is no evidence that happened.</p>
<p>Shortly before the House vote, and after conferring with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Trump did an apparent about-face.</p>
<p>"This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land," he tweeted. "We need it! Get smart!"</p>
<p>In his tweet announcing that he has just signed the bill, Trump wrote: "This is NOT the same FISA law that was so wrongly abused during the election. I will always do the right thing for our country and put the safety of the American people first!"</p>
<p>There are no obvious links between the dossier Trump spoke of, which includes salacious but unsubstantiated allegations against him, and the reauthorization of the spying program, or between the program and Trump's oft-repeated claims that the Obama administration conducted surveillance on Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed a bill into law to renew a foreign intelligence surveillance program, announcing his action in the latest in a series of confusing tweets about the spy program.</p>
<p>Trump's tweet on Jan. 11 created chaos in the House just before it voted to reauthorize what is known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He linked the intelligence program to a dossier that alleges his presidential campaign had ties to Russia.</p>
<p>That caused people to wonder if he didn't support the program that allows U.S. spy agencies to collect intelligence on foreign targets abroad.</p>
<p>"This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?" the presidential tweet said.</p>
<p>Trump and other Republicans have alleged that Obama administration officials improperly shared the identities of Trump presidential transition team members mentioned in intelligence reports. Democrats say there is no evidence that happened.</p>
<p>Shortly before the House vote, and after conferring with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Trump did an apparent about-face.</p>
<p>"This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land," he tweeted. "We need it! Get smart!"</p>
<p>In his tweet announcing that he has just signed the bill, Trump wrote: "This is NOT the same FISA law that was so wrongly abused during the election. I will always do the right thing for our country and put the safety of the American people first!"</p>
<p>There are no obvious links between the dossier Trump spoke of, which includes salacious but unsubstantiated allegations against him, and the reauthorization of the spying program, or between the program and Trump's oft-repeated claims that the Obama administration conducted surveillance on Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.</p>
|
Trump signs surveillance law after confusing tweets
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/077b8a0f34354149ac2b55ce533f203a
|
2018-01-19
| 2least
|
Trump signs surveillance law after confusing tweets
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed a bill into law to renew a foreign intelligence surveillance program, announcing his action in the latest in a series of confusing tweets about the spy program.</p>
<p>Trump's tweet on Jan. 11 created chaos in the House just before it voted to reauthorize what is known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He linked the intelligence program to a dossier that alleges his presidential campaign had ties to Russia.</p>
<p>That caused people to wonder if he didn't support the program that allows U.S. spy agencies to collect intelligence on foreign targets abroad.</p>
<p>"This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?" the presidential tweet said.</p>
<p>Trump and other Republicans have alleged that Obama administration officials improperly shared the identities of Trump presidential transition team members mentioned in intelligence reports. Democrats say there is no evidence that happened.</p>
<p>Shortly before the House vote, and after conferring with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Trump did an apparent about-face.</p>
<p>"This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land," he tweeted. "We need it! Get smart!"</p>
<p>In his tweet announcing that he has just signed the bill, Trump wrote: "This is NOT the same FISA law that was so wrongly abused during the election. I will always do the right thing for our country and put the safety of the American people first!"</p>
<p>There are no obvious links between the dossier Trump spoke of, which includes salacious but unsubstantiated allegations against him, and the reauthorization of the spying program, or between the program and Trump's oft-repeated claims that the Obama administration conducted surveillance on Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Friday signed a bill into law to renew a foreign intelligence surveillance program, announcing his action in the latest in a series of confusing tweets about the spy program.</p>
<p>Trump's tweet on Jan. 11 created chaos in the House just before it voted to reauthorize what is known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He linked the intelligence program to a dossier that alleges his presidential campaign had ties to Russia.</p>
<p>That caused people to wonder if he didn't support the program that allows U.S. spy agencies to collect intelligence on foreign targets abroad.</p>
<p>"This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?" the presidential tweet said.</p>
<p>Trump and other Republicans have alleged that Obama administration officials improperly shared the identities of Trump presidential transition team members mentioned in intelligence reports. Democrats say there is no evidence that happened.</p>
<p>Shortly before the House vote, and after conferring with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Trump did an apparent about-face.</p>
<p>"This vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land," he tweeted. "We need it! Get smart!"</p>
<p>In his tweet announcing that he has just signed the bill, Trump wrote: "This is NOT the same FISA law that was so wrongly abused during the election. I will always do the right thing for our country and put the safety of the American people first!"</p>
<p>There are no obvious links between the dossier Trump spoke of, which includes salacious but unsubstantiated allegations against him, and the reauthorization of the spying program, or between the program and Trump's oft-repeated claims that the Obama administration conducted surveillance on Trump Tower during the presidential campaign.</p>
| 6,023 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Take-Two Interactive.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) has posted stellar gains over the past year, with shares trading up roughly 70% over the stretch. The company has benefited from strong performance for its core software lineup, increasing digital sales, and a promising upcoming release slate. And it appears to be on track to continue benefiting from favorable trends in the video game industry.</p>
<p>While Take-Two has been on a serious roll, big gains raise the question of what the remainder of 2017 will hold for the stock, and whether it's too late to see significant upside. Let's take a look at what 2017 might hold for Take-Two and what the company's performance will depend upon.</p>
<p>Looking at price-to-earnings ratios, Take-Two is the most expensive of the major video game publisher stocks, with a forward P/E of roughly 31, compared to 22 for Electronic Arts(NASDAQ: EA) and 23 for Activision Blizzard(NASDAQ: ATVI). On the other hand, Take-Two's price-to-sales ratio of 3.4 compares favorably against Activision's P/S of 5.1 and EA's P/S of 5.8, and the company still has significant deferred revenue to waiting to be recorded.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Take-Two remains more dependent on a single franchise (Grand Theft Auto) than either of its larger competitors, but the rise of recurring revenue generated by Grand Theft Auto V'sonline mode and the strengthening of the company's overall lineup have created business momentum that appears to be sustainable.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/TTWO/free_cash_flow" type="external">TTWO Free Cash Flow (Quarterly)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>The free cash flow spikes shown in the graph above during 2008 and 2013 stemmed from the release of mainline Grand Theft Autoentries, but the company's most recent quarter actually achieved higher FCF than the 2008 peak without the debut of a new title in the company's core franchise. Take-Two appears to have turned a major corner when it comes to performance during periods that are not in close proximity to the release of aGrand Theft Autogame.</p>
<p>Grand Theft Auto Vhas proved to be a monster hit with incredible staying power, shipping more than 75 million copies since the first versions of the game debuted in 2013, and will continue to be a major factor in Take-Two's stock performance this year. Continued engagement with the game's online mode has done a great deal to boost the company's performance, and, based on statements that the mode is still growing engagement and bookings, it looks like the game will continue to deliver strong sales. Overperformance or underperformance on that front will likely be reflected in the company's share price.</p>
<p>As for new releases, Take-Two stock will probably be most affected by sales ofRed Dead Redemption 2, which is scheduled for a fall release. Expectations for the title are high. The last entry in the series shipped roughly 15 million copies, and Cowen &amp; Company is targeting for the upcoming sequel to move 15 million copies -- with a note that its estimate could be conservative. With Take-Two's share price at record levels, even slight underperformance for the game could result in significant sell-offs, but the game's developer has a strong track record of delivering quality releases, and the title also looks poised to benefit from the introduction of an online model similar to the one inGrand Theft Auto V.</p>
<p>The company'sNBA 2Kbasketballfranchise is also seeing positive momentum, with the last entry in the series now expected to become the best-selling sports title in company history and spurring strong in-game content sales. Take-Two's recent third-quarter report showed that recurrent consumer spending within the series increased 56% over the prior-year period. Reviews and audience reception forNBA 2K17proved to bevery strong, and Electronic Arts' competingNBA Liveseries continues to be a virtual non-entity, so it's reasonable to expect that Take-Two's basketball franchise can continue to grow this year.</p>
<p>The company could also benefit from a successful rollout of its recently announced e-sports league for theNBA 2Kseries, with live events and sponsorship deals creating new revenue streams and media coverage working to promote the series.</p>
<p>Take-Two expects that roughly 25% of its current-generation console games will be purchased digitally in the current fiscal year -- an impressive figure, but one that also leaves room for growth down the line. Because the publisher doesn't have to deal with physical production expenses for digital copies of its software and because direct-to-consumer sales mean that retailers don't take a cut, increasing digital sales should continue to have beneficial effects on margins. Digital bookings for the fiscal year ending March 31 are expected to have increased 20% over the prior year, and continued growth on this front could continue to push its stock higher in 2017.</p>
<p>Take-Two also has substantial growth opportunities in free-to-play games. The latest mobile entries in core properties including NBA 2KandWWE 2Khave posted record sales and engagement, andtherecent acquisition of mobile developer Social Point should help to increase mobile output and improve Take-Two's ability to leverage other core franchises outside of console and PC platforms. Social Point is already profitable (the company recorded EBITDA of $19.9 million on revenue of $90.8 million in calendar 2016) and has multiple successful gaming properties, so the purchase looks to have an immediately beneficial impact on earnings in addition to creating growth opportunities down the line.</p>
<p>Take-Two stock's strong performance over the last several years makes it more risky to buy in at current prices, and it's not wise to count on share price gains matching those from the last couple of years. However, the company still has avenues to outperformance and remains a solid long-term investment. With its core properties looking strong, an increasingly diversified business, and industry momentum providing tailwinds, Take-Two looks like it can continue to deliver wins for investors this year and further down the line.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Electronic ArtsWhen 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=3e8b0b0f-6837-436c-9ba7-2a0c6a698566&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 Electronic Arts 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=3e8b0b0f-6837-436c-9ba7-2a0c6a698566&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/keithnoonan/info.aspx" type="external">Keith Noonan Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive. The Motley Fool recommends Electronic Arts. 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>
|
Will Take-Two Interactive Stock Continue Its Incredible Run in 2017?
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/23/will-take-two-interactive-stock-continue-its-incredible-run-in-2017.html
|
2017-03-16
| 0right
|
Will Take-Two Interactive Stock Continue Its Incredible Run in 2017?
<p />
<p>Image source: Take-Two Interactive.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Video game publisher Take-Two Interactive (NASDAQ: TTWO) has posted stellar gains over the past year, with shares trading up roughly 70% over the stretch. The company has benefited from strong performance for its core software lineup, increasing digital sales, and a promising upcoming release slate. And it appears to be on track to continue benefiting from favorable trends in the video game industry.</p>
<p>While Take-Two has been on a serious roll, big gains raise the question of what the remainder of 2017 will hold for the stock, and whether it's too late to see significant upside. Let's take a look at what 2017 might hold for Take-Two and what the company's performance will depend upon.</p>
<p>Looking at price-to-earnings ratios, Take-Two is the most expensive of the major video game publisher stocks, with a forward P/E of roughly 31, compared to 22 for Electronic Arts(NASDAQ: EA) and 23 for Activision Blizzard(NASDAQ: ATVI). On the other hand, Take-Two's price-to-sales ratio of 3.4 compares favorably against Activision's P/S of 5.1 and EA's P/S of 5.8, and the company still has significant deferred revenue to waiting to be recorded.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Take-Two remains more dependent on a single franchise (Grand Theft Auto) than either of its larger competitors, but the rise of recurring revenue generated by Grand Theft Auto V'sonline mode and the strengthening of the company's overall lineup have created business momentum that appears to be sustainable.</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/companies/TTWO/free_cash_flow" type="external">TTWO Free Cash Flow (Quarterly)</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>The free cash flow spikes shown in the graph above during 2008 and 2013 stemmed from the release of mainline Grand Theft Autoentries, but the company's most recent quarter actually achieved higher FCF than the 2008 peak without the debut of a new title in the company's core franchise. Take-Two appears to have turned a major corner when it comes to performance during periods that are not in close proximity to the release of aGrand Theft Autogame.</p>
<p>Grand Theft Auto Vhas proved to be a monster hit with incredible staying power, shipping more than 75 million copies since the first versions of the game debuted in 2013, and will continue to be a major factor in Take-Two's stock performance this year. Continued engagement with the game's online mode has done a great deal to boost the company's performance, and, based on statements that the mode is still growing engagement and bookings, it looks like the game will continue to deliver strong sales. Overperformance or underperformance on that front will likely be reflected in the company's share price.</p>
<p>As for new releases, Take-Two stock will probably be most affected by sales ofRed Dead Redemption 2, which is scheduled for a fall release. Expectations for the title are high. The last entry in the series shipped roughly 15 million copies, and Cowen &amp; Company is targeting for the upcoming sequel to move 15 million copies -- with a note that its estimate could be conservative. With Take-Two's share price at record levels, even slight underperformance for the game could result in significant sell-offs, but the game's developer has a strong track record of delivering quality releases, and the title also looks poised to benefit from the introduction of an online model similar to the one inGrand Theft Auto V.</p>
<p>The company'sNBA 2Kbasketballfranchise is also seeing positive momentum, with the last entry in the series now expected to become the best-selling sports title in company history and spurring strong in-game content sales. Take-Two's recent third-quarter report showed that recurrent consumer spending within the series increased 56% over the prior-year period. Reviews and audience reception forNBA 2K17proved to bevery strong, and Electronic Arts' competingNBA Liveseries continues to be a virtual non-entity, so it's reasonable to expect that Take-Two's basketball franchise can continue to grow this year.</p>
<p>The company could also benefit from a successful rollout of its recently announced e-sports league for theNBA 2Kseries, with live events and sponsorship deals creating new revenue streams and media coverage working to promote the series.</p>
<p>Take-Two expects that roughly 25% of its current-generation console games will be purchased digitally in the current fiscal year -- an impressive figure, but one that also leaves room for growth down the line. Because the publisher doesn't have to deal with physical production expenses for digital copies of its software and because direct-to-consumer sales mean that retailers don't take a cut, increasing digital sales should continue to have beneficial effects on margins. Digital bookings for the fiscal year ending March 31 are expected to have increased 20% over the prior year, and continued growth on this front could continue to push its stock higher in 2017.</p>
<p>Take-Two also has substantial growth opportunities in free-to-play games. The latest mobile entries in core properties including NBA 2KandWWE 2Khave posted record sales and engagement, andtherecent acquisition of mobile developer Social Point should help to increase mobile output and improve Take-Two's ability to leverage other core franchises outside of console and PC platforms. Social Point is already profitable (the company recorded EBITDA of $19.9 million on revenue of $90.8 million in calendar 2016) and has multiple successful gaming properties, so the purchase looks to have an immediately beneficial impact on earnings in addition to creating growth opportunities down the line.</p>
<p>Take-Two stock's strong performance over the last several years makes it more risky to buy in at current prices, and it's not wise to count on share price gains matching those from the last couple of years. However, the company still has avenues to outperformance and remains a solid long-term investment. With its core properties looking strong, an increasingly diversified business, and industry momentum providing tailwinds, Take-Two looks like it can continue to deliver wins for investors this year and further down the line.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Electronic ArtsWhen 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=3e8b0b0f-6837-436c-9ba7-2a0c6a698566&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 Electronic Arts 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=3e8b0b0f-6837-436c-9ba7-2a0c6a698566&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/keithnoonan/info.aspx" type="external">Keith Noonan Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Activision Blizzard and Take-Two Interactive. The Motley Fool recommends Electronic Arts. 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>
| 6,024 |
<p>SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Yemen's Shiite rebels at war with a Saudi-led coalition said they fired a ballistic missile Friday targeting a military camp in the southwestern Saudi city of Najran, but the kingdom said its air defenses intercepted the projectile.</p>
<p>The rebel announcement, carried by the rebel-run Al-Masirah TV, said it had conducted a "successful" firing of a short-range ballistic missile and that it hit its target in Saudi Arabia with "high accuracy." The rebel officials, cited by Al-Masirah, did not provide more details on the missile.</p>
<p>The Saudi-led coalition, meanwhile, said in a statement carried by the kingdom's official news agency SPA that it had "intercepted and destroyed" the missile.</p>
<p>It added that there was "minor damage" to the private property of a Saudi citizen due to missile parts that dispersed once the missile was intercepted but that there were no deaths.</p>
<p>The rebels later said they fired another missile targeting Saudi-backed forces along Yemen's western coast.</p>
<p>The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, have previously fired missiles targeting the Saudi mainland, including the capital, Riyadh, the city's international airport and a royal palace - all of which were intercepted by Saudi forces.</p>
<p>The coalition backs Yemen's internationally recognized government and has been at war with the Iran-backed Houthis since March 2015. The U.S.-backed coalition has repeatedly accused Saudi rival Iran of arming the rebels.</p>
<p>In December, the United States said it has "undeniable" evidence that Tehran is violating international law. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley showed off missile parts to cameras at a military base near Washington, saying the projectile was supplied by Iran and launched by Yemen's Houthis at the airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.</p>
<p>Iran dismissed it as a "fake and fabricated" claim. Tehran denies arming Yemen's rebels in the war with Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>The nearly three-year stalemated war in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 3 million, damaged critical infrastructure, fuelled a cholera outbreak and pushed the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of famine.</p>
<p>SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Yemen's Shiite rebels at war with a Saudi-led coalition said they fired a ballistic missile Friday targeting a military camp in the southwestern Saudi city of Najran, but the kingdom said its air defenses intercepted the projectile.</p>
<p>The rebel announcement, carried by the rebel-run Al-Masirah TV, said it had conducted a "successful" firing of a short-range ballistic missile and that it hit its target in Saudi Arabia with "high accuracy." The rebel officials, cited by Al-Masirah, did not provide more details on the missile.</p>
<p>The Saudi-led coalition, meanwhile, said in a statement carried by the kingdom's official news agency SPA that it had "intercepted and destroyed" the missile.</p>
<p>It added that there was "minor damage" to the private property of a Saudi citizen due to missile parts that dispersed once the missile was intercepted but that there were no deaths.</p>
<p>The rebels later said they fired another missile targeting Saudi-backed forces along Yemen's western coast.</p>
<p>The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, have previously fired missiles targeting the Saudi mainland, including the capital, Riyadh, the city's international airport and a royal palace - all of which were intercepted by Saudi forces.</p>
<p>The coalition backs Yemen's internationally recognized government and has been at war with the Iran-backed Houthis since March 2015. The U.S.-backed coalition has repeatedly accused Saudi rival Iran of arming the rebels.</p>
<p>In December, the United States said it has "undeniable" evidence that Tehran is violating international law. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley showed off missile parts to cameras at a military base near Washington, saying the projectile was supplied by Iran and launched by Yemen's Houthis at the airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.</p>
<p>Iran dismissed it as a "fake and fabricated" claim. Tehran denies arming Yemen's rebels in the war with Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>The nearly three-year stalemated war in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 3 million, damaged critical infrastructure, fuelled a cholera outbreak and pushed the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of famine.</p>
|
Yemen's rebels say they fired missile at Saudi military camp
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/e4dfa410d5a740eba160c02645464f88
|
2018-01-05
| 2least
|
Yemen's rebels say they fired missile at Saudi military camp
<p>SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Yemen's Shiite rebels at war with a Saudi-led coalition said they fired a ballistic missile Friday targeting a military camp in the southwestern Saudi city of Najran, but the kingdom said its air defenses intercepted the projectile.</p>
<p>The rebel announcement, carried by the rebel-run Al-Masirah TV, said it had conducted a "successful" firing of a short-range ballistic missile and that it hit its target in Saudi Arabia with "high accuracy." The rebel officials, cited by Al-Masirah, did not provide more details on the missile.</p>
<p>The Saudi-led coalition, meanwhile, said in a statement carried by the kingdom's official news agency SPA that it had "intercepted and destroyed" the missile.</p>
<p>It added that there was "minor damage" to the private property of a Saudi citizen due to missile parts that dispersed once the missile was intercepted but that there were no deaths.</p>
<p>The rebels later said they fired another missile targeting Saudi-backed forces along Yemen's western coast.</p>
<p>The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, have previously fired missiles targeting the Saudi mainland, including the capital, Riyadh, the city's international airport and a royal palace - all of which were intercepted by Saudi forces.</p>
<p>The coalition backs Yemen's internationally recognized government and has been at war with the Iran-backed Houthis since March 2015. The U.S.-backed coalition has repeatedly accused Saudi rival Iran of arming the rebels.</p>
<p>In December, the United States said it has "undeniable" evidence that Tehran is violating international law. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley showed off missile parts to cameras at a military base near Washington, saying the projectile was supplied by Iran and launched by Yemen's Houthis at the airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.</p>
<p>Iran dismissed it as a "fake and fabricated" claim. Tehran denies arming Yemen's rebels in the war with Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>The nearly three-year stalemated war in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 3 million, damaged critical infrastructure, fuelled a cholera outbreak and pushed the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of famine.</p>
<p>SANAA, Yemen (AP) - Yemen's Shiite rebels at war with a Saudi-led coalition said they fired a ballistic missile Friday targeting a military camp in the southwestern Saudi city of Najran, but the kingdom said its air defenses intercepted the projectile.</p>
<p>The rebel announcement, carried by the rebel-run Al-Masirah TV, said it had conducted a "successful" firing of a short-range ballistic missile and that it hit its target in Saudi Arabia with "high accuracy." The rebel officials, cited by Al-Masirah, did not provide more details on the missile.</p>
<p>The Saudi-led coalition, meanwhile, said in a statement carried by the kingdom's official news agency SPA that it had "intercepted and destroyed" the missile.</p>
<p>It added that there was "minor damage" to the private property of a Saudi citizen due to missile parts that dispersed once the missile was intercepted but that there were no deaths.</p>
<p>The rebels later said they fired another missile targeting Saudi-backed forces along Yemen's western coast.</p>
<p>The Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, have previously fired missiles targeting the Saudi mainland, including the capital, Riyadh, the city's international airport and a royal palace - all of which were intercepted by Saudi forces.</p>
<p>The coalition backs Yemen's internationally recognized government and has been at war with the Iran-backed Houthis since March 2015. The U.S.-backed coalition has repeatedly accused Saudi rival Iran of arming the rebels.</p>
<p>In December, the United States said it has "undeniable" evidence that Tehran is violating international law. U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley showed off missile parts to cameras at a military base near Washington, saying the projectile was supplied by Iran and launched by Yemen's Houthis at the airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.</p>
<p>Iran dismissed it as a "fake and fabricated" claim. Tehran denies arming Yemen's rebels in the war with Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>The nearly three-year stalemated war in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced 3 million, damaged critical infrastructure, fuelled a cholera outbreak and pushed the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of famine.</p>
| 6,025 |
<p>Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Newscom via ZUMA</p>
<p />
<p>Mick Mulvaney, the ultra-conservative South Carolina congressman whom Donald Trump has tapped to be his budget director, has questioned whether the federal government should spend any money on scientific research.</p>
<p>If confirmed by the Senate to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Mulvaney, a deficit hawk who <a href="" type="internal">recently spoke</a> before a chapter of the right-wing-fringe John Birch Society, would be in charge of crafting Trump’s budget and overseeing the functioning of federal agencies. One thing he seems to believe the budget and the agencies should not be funding is research into diseases like the Zika virus.</p>
<p>Two weeks before Congress finally passed more than $1 billion to fight the spread of Zika and its effects, Mulvaney questioned whether the government should fund any scientific research. “[D]o we need government-funded research at all,” he wrote in a Facebook post on September 9 unearthed by the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge. Mulvaney appears to have deleted his Facebook page since then.</p>
<p>In the post, he justified his position on government-funded research by questioning the scientific consensus that Zika causes the birth defect microcephaly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/s0413-zika-microcephaly.html" type="external">concluded</a> in April that the Zika virus causes microcephaly and other defects. But Mulvaney wrote:</p>
<p>And before you inundate me with pictures of children with birth defects, consider this:</p>
<p>Brazil’s microcephaly epidemic continues to pose a mystery — if Zika is the culprit, why are there no similar epidemics in countries also hit hard by the virus? In Brazil, the microcephaly rate soared with more than 1,500 confirmed cases. But in Colombia, a recent study of nearly 12,000 pregnant women infected with Zika found zero microcephaly cases. If Zika is to blame for microcephaly, where are the missing cases? According to a new report from the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI), the number of missing cases in Colombia and elsewhere raises serious questions about the assumed connection between Zika and microcephaly.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/health/colombia-zika-microcephaly.html" type="external">New York Times,</a> the relatively low rate of microcephaly in Colombia has indeed puzzled some researchers, who point to the fact that many women likely delayed pregnancy or had abortions when testing revealed the birth defect. But that doesn’t change the scientific consensus linking Zika to microcephaly.</p>
<p>Here’s the full post from Mulvaney:</p>
<p />
|
Trump’s Pick for Budget Director Isn’t Sure the Government Should Fund Scientific Research
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/12/trumps-pick-budget-director-isnt-sure-government-should-fund-scientific-research/
|
2016-12-19
| 4left
|
Trump’s Pick for Budget Director Isn’t Sure the Government Should Fund Scientific Research
<p>Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Newscom via ZUMA</p>
<p />
<p>Mick Mulvaney, the ultra-conservative South Carolina congressman whom Donald Trump has tapped to be his budget director, has questioned whether the federal government should spend any money on scientific research.</p>
<p>If confirmed by the Senate to lead the Office of Management and Budget, Mulvaney, a deficit hawk who <a href="" type="internal">recently spoke</a> before a chapter of the right-wing-fringe John Birch Society, would be in charge of crafting Trump’s budget and overseeing the functioning of federal agencies. One thing he seems to believe the budget and the agencies should not be funding is research into diseases like the Zika virus.</p>
<p>Two weeks before Congress finally passed more than $1 billion to fight the spread of Zika and its effects, Mulvaney questioned whether the government should fund any scientific research. “[D]o we need government-funded research at all,” he wrote in a Facebook post on September 9 unearthed by the Democratic opposition research group American Bridge. Mulvaney appears to have deleted his Facebook page since then.</p>
<p>In the post, he justified his position on government-funded research by questioning the scientific consensus that Zika causes the birth defect microcephaly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2016/s0413-zika-microcephaly.html" type="external">concluded</a> in April that the Zika virus causes microcephaly and other defects. But Mulvaney wrote:</p>
<p>And before you inundate me with pictures of children with birth defects, consider this:</p>
<p>Brazil’s microcephaly epidemic continues to pose a mystery — if Zika is the culprit, why are there no similar epidemics in countries also hit hard by the virus? In Brazil, the microcephaly rate soared with more than 1,500 confirmed cases. But in Colombia, a recent study of nearly 12,000 pregnant women infected with Zika found zero microcephaly cases. If Zika is to blame for microcephaly, where are the missing cases? According to a new report from the New England Complex Systems Institute (NECSI), the number of missing cases in Colombia and elsewhere raises serious questions about the assumed connection between Zika and microcephaly.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/health/colombia-zika-microcephaly.html" type="external">New York Times,</a> the relatively low rate of microcephaly in Colombia has indeed puzzled some researchers, who point to the fact that many women likely delayed pregnancy or had abortions when testing revealed the birth defect. But that doesn’t change the scientific consensus linking Zika to microcephaly.</p>
<p>Here’s the full post from Mulvaney:</p>
<p />
| 6,026 |
<p>EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a climate denier, is launching&#160;an initiative at the agency&#160;to challenge scientists' near-universal consensus on climate science by having experts debate scientific studies, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060056858" type="external">E&amp;E News</a> reported Friday.</p>
<p>The initiative&#160;will include "red team, blue team" exercises to perform "at-length evaluation of U.S. climate science," an anonymous administration&#160;official told E&amp;E News. The term "red team, blue team" is used by the military to describe exercises&#160;aimed at finding vulnerabilities, and it was <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-red-team-exercise-would-strengthen-climate-science-1492728579" type="external">popularized</a> as a way to debate climate science by Wall Street Journal columnist Steven Koonin.</p>
<p>"The administrator believes that we will be able to recruit the best in the fields which study climate and will organize a specific process in which these individuals - provide back-and-forth critique of specific new reports on climate science," the official told E&amp;E News.</p>
<p>Pruitt has previously said that he would support such a&#160;debate over climate science at the EPA, but this report is the first indication that he's moving toward starting one. The agency did not immediately respond Friday to TPM's request for comment.</p>
<p>He told Breitbart News earlier in June that he would like to facilitate this type of debate at the EPA.</p>
<p>"What the American people deserve, I think, is a true, legitimate, peer-reviewed, objective, transparent discussion about CO2," <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/06/07/epas-scott-pruitt-wants-to-set-up-opposing-teams-to-debate-climate-change-science/?utm_term=.6ac79a4c99ea" type="external">he said</a>.</p>
<p>Though Pruitt reportedly has&#160;started this initiative, it's not clear that he'll try to challenge the endangerment finding, the EPA determination that greenhouse gas emissions damage the climate, which the agency has used&#160;to justify regulation of greenhouse gases, per E&amp;E News' report. Pruitt&#160; <a href="" type="internal">vowed</a>&#160;that he would not touch the endangerment finding during his confirmation hearing earlier this year.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Pruitt Is Reportedly Starting An EPA Initiative To Challenge Climate Science
| true |
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/pruitt-epa-climate-science-critique
| 4left
|
Pruitt Is Reportedly Starting An EPA Initiative To Challenge Climate Science
<p>EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, a climate denier, is launching&#160;an initiative at the agency&#160;to challenge scientists' near-universal consensus on climate science by having experts debate scientific studies, <a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060056858" type="external">E&amp;E News</a> reported Friday.</p>
<p>The initiative&#160;will include "red team, blue team" exercises to perform "at-length evaluation of U.S. climate science," an anonymous administration&#160;official told E&amp;E News. The term "red team, blue team" is used by the military to describe exercises&#160;aimed at finding vulnerabilities, and it was <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-red-team-exercise-would-strengthen-climate-science-1492728579" type="external">popularized</a> as a way to debate climate science by Wall Street Journal columnist Steven Koonin.</p>
<p>"The administrator believes that we will be able to recruit the best in the fields which study climate and will organize a specific process in which these individuals - provide back-and-forth critique of specific new reports on climate science," the official told E&amp;E News.</p>
<p>Pruitt has previously said that he would support such a&#160;debate over climate science at the EPA, but this report is the first indication that he's moving toward starting one. The agency did not immediately respond Friday to TPM's request for comment.</p>
<p>He told Breitbart News earlier in June that he would like to facilitate this type of debate at the EPA.</p>
<p>"What the American people deserve, I think, is a true, legitimate, peer-reviewed, objective, transparent discussion about CO2," <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2017/06/07/epas-scott-pruitt-wants-to-set-up-opposing-teams-to-debate-climate-change-science/?utm_term=.6ac79a4c99ea" type="external">he said</a>.</p>
<p>Though Pruitt reportedly has&#160;started this initiative, it's not clear that he'll try to challenge the endangerment finding, the EPA determination that greenhouse gas emissions damage the climate, which the agency has used&#160;to justify regulation of greenhouse gases, per E&amp;E News' report. Pruitt&#160; <a href="" type="internal">vowed</a>&#160;that he would not touch the endangerment finding during his confirmation hearing earlier this year.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,027 |
|
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>On Election Day 2016, Democrats suffered a devastating and shocking loss. A year later, they’re still sorting through the wreckage. The infighting, the divisive personalities and the questions about how it happened are still front and center, threatening to hold the party back in elections on Tuesday and into next year’s midterms.</p>
<p>Hillary Clinton is on a tour promoting her book on last year’s campaign, entitled “What Happened.” The man she defeated in the party’s presidential primaries, Bernie Sanders, and former Vice President Joe Biden are the two top possible presidential contenders in 2020. And just in time for a crucial race for Virginia governor, the Democratic National Committee’s former chairwoman, Donna Brazile, last week reopened the wounds over whether the party tilted the primary in Clinton’s favor.</p>
<p>“2016 may be the first year on record that is actually 23 months long,” said Jesse Ferguson, a former Clinton campaign aide.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Ferguson, like many Democrats, is aware of the danger in dwelling on the past. He noted that, after Republicans failed to defeat Barack Obama in 2012, the GOP commissioned an “autopsy” that argued the party should moderate its stands on immigration to win growing minority communities. Really? Trump promptly won the next presidential election on a hardline immigration platform.</p>
<p>“The biggest mistake we’d make is figuring out how we would have succeeded in 2016 rather than how we can succeed in 2018 and 2020,” Ferguson said.</p>
<p>Trump isn’t making moving on easy. During the campaign, he gleefully stoked the Sanders-Clinton division, touting hacked DNC emails that purported to show how party leaders tilted the primary toward Clinton. He hasn’t let up much, now arguing that federal prosecutors should be investigating this collusion rather than his own campaign’s possible coordination with Russia, whom intelligence officials blame for the DNC hack.</p>
<p>The president is pouring salt in what may be the party’s deepest wound. Sanders supporters pushed their own candidate to lead the DNC this winter, but Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota was narrowly defeated by former Labor Secretary Tom Perez and now is Perez’s deputy.</p>
<p>Perez’s predecessor was Brazile, who is now is promoting her own book about last year’s election — and her take on the race is rattling Democrats. She claims she thought about trying to replace Clinton with Biden after the Democratic nominee fainted in September. And Brazile says a fundraising agreement between the Clinton campaign and the DNC gave the candidate too much control over party resources.</p>
<p>Some Democrats were dismayed to see this division re-emerge just days before a critical race for Virginia governor where the party’s candidate is in a tight race.</p>
<p>“We have a president who his dismantling every institution that we hold dear,” said Robert Becker, a senior adviser to Sanders’ presidential race, who was not critical of Brazile’s timing but wants recriminations to end. “It’s time to bury this hatchet. We need to get into the business of winning some elections here.”</p>
<p>The party has several big choices to make. Some argue for a greater focus on white voters who didn’t graduate from college, a demographic that swung sharply to Trump, especially in the Rust Belt states that handed the president his Electoral College margin of victory. Others contend the party has to reach out to more affluent, college-educated whites who may lean conservative but are disgusted by Trump. Still others call for an intense focus on young, black and Latino voters to turbocharge the base of the party.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We’re only talking about 2016 in a way that will help us in 2018,” said Rebecca Katz, a New York-based Democratic strategist who has advocated for the party bringing in more liberal voters. “If we’re going to win in 2018, we have to get our base out to the polls.”</p>
<p>There have been some promising signs on that front.</p>
<p>Democrats have a shot at capturing the House majority next year, thanks to GOP retirements and solid recruitment of candidates in competitive seats. The Democrats need to flip 24 seats to win control of the House, and their top targets are the 23 districts where Clinton prevailed over Trump last year. The Senate poses a greater challenge, with 10 Democrats seeking re-election in states Trump won.</p>
<p>The party is awash in new candidates and money is pouring in for its House races. According to an analysis by the publication Roll Call, 16 Democratic challengers outraised Republican incumbents in the most recent quarter.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Republicans are engaged in their own brutal infighting. Two retiring senators have warned that Trump is a danger. Former presidential counselor Steve Bannon is seeking primary challengers to other GOP senators. The Republicans’ legislative agenda is at risk of complete collapse, and speculation swirls that prominent Republicans like Ohio Gov. John Kasich could take Trump on in 2020.</p>
<p>The Democrats have dozens of elected officials thinking about the presidential race, but two party elders loom over the field — Sanders, 76, and Biden, 74. Still, Democrats argue that, unlike last election, no candidate has an obvious advantage with the party establishment. “No one is freezing the field this time around,” strategist Jim Manley said.</p>
<p>Jeff Weaver, who was Sanders’ 2016 campaign manager, argues that the splits in the party are just the latest version of a battle that’s been raging ever since the 1990s between liberal activists and a more centrist establishment. “It keeps bubbling up, and until that’s addressed it’s going to keep bubbling up and continue to affect elections,” Weaver said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.</p>
|
Democrats try to look forward but are still haunted by 2016
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1089078/democrats-try-to-look-forward-but-are-still-haunted-by-2016.html
|
2017-11-07
| 2least
|
Democrats try to look forward but are still haunted by 2016
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>On Election Day 2016, Democrats suffered a devastating and shocking loss. A year later, they’re still sorting through the wreckage. The infighting, the divisive personalities and the questions about how it happened are still front and center, threatening to hold the party back in elections on Tuesday and into next year’s midterms.</p>
<p>Hillary Clinton is on a tour promoting her book on last year’s campaign, entitled “What Happened.” The man she defeated in the party’s presidential primaries, Bernie Sanders, and former Vice President Joe Biden are the two top possible presidential contenders in 2020. And just in time for a crucial race for Virginia governor, the Democratic National Committee’s former chairwoman, Donna Brazile, last week reopened the wounds over whether the party tilted the primary in Clinton’s favor.</p>
<p>“2016 may be the first year on record that is actually 23 months long,” said Jesse Ferguson, a former Clinton campaign aide.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Ferguson, like many Democrats, is aware of the danger in dwelling on the past. He noted that, after Republicans failed to defeat Barack Obama in 2012, the GOP commissioned an “autopsy” that argued the party should moderate its stands on immigration to win growing minority communities. Really? Trump promptly won the next presidential election on a hardline immigration platform.</p>
<p>“The biggest mistake we’d make is figuring out how we would have succeeded in 2016 rather than how we can succeed in 2018 and 2020,” Ferguson said.</p>
<p>Trump isn’t making moving on easy. During the campaign, he gleefully stoked the Sanders-Clinton division, touting hacked DNC emails that purported to show how party leaders tilted the primary toward Clinton. He hasn’t let up much, now arguing that federal prosecutors should be investigating this collusion rather than his own campaign’s possible coordination with Russia, whom intelligence officials blame for the DNC hack.</p>
<p>The president is pouring salt in what may be the party’s deepest wound. Sanders supporters pushed their own candidate to lead the DNC this winter, but Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota was narrowly defeated by former Labor Secretary Tom Perez and now is Perez’s deputy.</p>
<p>Perez’s predecessor was Brazile, who is now is promoting her own book about last year’s election — and her take on the race is rattling Democrats. She claims she thought about trying to replace Clinton with Biden after the Democratic nominee fainted in September. And Brazile says a fundraising agreement between the Clinton campaign and the DNC gave the candidate too much control over party resources.</p>
<p>Some Democrats were dismayed to see this division re-emerge just days before a critical race for Virginia governor where the party’s candidate is in a tight race.</p>
<p>“We have a president who his dismantling every institution that we hold dear,” said Robert Becker, a senior adviser to Sanders’ presidential race, who was not critical of Brazile’s timing but wants recriminations to end. “It’s time to bury this hatchet. We need to get into the business of winning some elections here.”</p>
<p>The party has several big choices to make. Some argue for a greater focus on white voters who didn’t graduate from college, a demographic that swung sharply to Trump, especially in the Rust Belt states that handed the president his Electoral College margin of victory. Others contend the party has to reach out to more affluent, college-educated whites who may lean conservative but are disgusted by Trump. Still others call for an intense focus on young, black and Latino voters to turbocharge the base of the party.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We’re only talking about 2016 in a way that will help us in 2018,” said Rebecca Katz, a New York-based Democratic strategist who has advocated for the party bringing in more liberal voters. “If we’re going to win in 2018, we have to get our base out to the polls.”</p>
<p>There have been some promising signs on that front.</p>
<p>Democrats have a shot at capturing the House majority next year, thanks to GOP retirements and solid recruitment of candidates in competitive seats. The Democrats need to flip 24 seats to win control of the House, and their top targets are the 23 districts where Clinton prevailed over Trump last year. The Senate poses a greater challenge, with 10 Democrats seeking re-election in states Trump won.</p>
<p>The party is awash in new candidates and money is pouring in for its House races. According to an analysis by the publication Roll Call, 16 Democratic challengers outraised Republican incumbents in the most recent quarter.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Republicans are engaged in their own brutal infighting. Two retiring senators have warned that Trump is a danger. Former presidential counselor Steve Bannon is seeking primary challengers to other GOP senators. The Republicans’ legislative agenda is at risk of complete collapse, and speculation swirls that prominent Republicans like Ohio Gov. John Kasich could take Trump on in 2020.</p>
<p>The Democrats have dozens of elected officials thinking about the presidential race, but two party elders loom over the field — Sanders, 76, and Biden, 74. Still, Democrats argue that, unlike last election, no candidate has an obvious advantage with the party establishment. “No one is freezing the field this time around,” strategist Jim Manley said.</p>
<p>Jeff Weaver, who was Sanders’ 2016 campaign manager, argues that the splits in the party are just the latest version of a battle that’s been raging ever since the 1990s between liberal activists and a more centrist establishment. “It keeps bubbling up, and until that’s addressed it’s going to keep bubbling up and continue to affect elections,” Weaver said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Associated Press writer Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.</p>
| 6,028 |
<p />
<p>In recent months, as politicians, pundits, and military officials have debated the causes of the precipitous decline in violence in Iraq, some prominent terrorism experts (including <a href="/news/featurex/2007/03/iraq_effect_6.html" type="external">Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank</a> in the March/April 2007 issue of Mother Jones) have begun warning that the relative calm may be giving way to a new threat—a fresh generation of Al Qaeda, battle-hardened in Iraq and bent on exporting what they’ve learned to new fronts.</p>
<p>Such a diaspora has precedent. In the mid-1980s, thousands of jihadis from North Africa and the Middle East flooded into Afghanistan to fight the Soviets—Osama bin Laden and his original corps of lieutenants among them. These so-called “Afghan Arabs” made up a relatively small portion of the anti-Soviet mujahideen, but their influence would ultimately eclipse their number. Experts disagree over their impact on the outcome of the fighting (the conventional wisdom holds that it was marginal at best), but their very participation in the Afghan jihad, regardless of their effect on the battlefield, forged a mythology around which Al Qaeda would coalesce: not only had it defeated the Soviet Union, but it delivered the lethal blow that caused the Soviet bloc to collapse. Emboldened by their perceived success in Afghanistan, thousands of Afghan Arabs returned to their home countries after the Soviet withdrawal, intent on continuing the jihad.</p>
<p>In Iraq, foreign fighters are also few in number, accounting for just 10 percent of Al Qaeda in Iraq’s (AQI’s) personnel, according to Bruce Hoffman, a counterterrorism expert at Georgetown University. “We’re also talking about much smaller numbers than the Afghan Arabs,” he says. “Those were in the thousands or maybe in the tens of thousands. Here we’re talking about survivors, probably in the hundreds.” But this cadre of survivors, says Hoffman, could make their presence felt on distant battlefields, as did the Afghan Arabs before them in places like Bosnia and Algeria. “No matter how relatively small the number of foreign jihadis who may be fighting/have fought in Iraq,” he observes, “having been bloodied in battle there, they will possess the experience, cachet, and credibility useful for both jihadi recruitment and operational purposes elsewhere.”</p>
<p>This already seems to be the case in Afghanistan. According to the Washington Post, infiltration of foreign fighters into Iraq has declined from 110 per month in mid-2007 to as few as 20 per month in July 2008. Meanwhile, Islamic extremist websites have begun urging new recruits to head for Afghanistan rather than Iraq. In July, the Post reported that as many as 15 senior AQI leaders had transited through Iran on their way to Afghanistan. While it’s difficult to draw a direct connection, the corresponding increase in violence in Afghanistan over the same period seems to indicate that insurgents, recognizing defeat in Iraq, have shifted their focus. For the first time since March 2003, Afghanistan is claiming more lives: 121 coalition forces since July, versus 71 in Iraq during that same period.</p>
<p>Analysts are divided over what the increased violence in Afghanistan signifies. Regarding the transfer of AQI fighters from one theater of operations to another, Marc Sageman, terrorism scholar in residence at the New York City Police Department, is skeptical. “I don’t take it very seriously,” he says. “That’s not the nature of Al Qaeda. This is not an army with a general staff; it’s basically guys who go somewhere to fight. If they’re killed, they’re killed. If they escape, they escape. There’s really no real strategy.” He also notes that while the tactics used by AQI may be migrating to Afghanistan, there’s “not that much back and forth because these guys are vulnerable when they travel.” Brian Fishman, director of research at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, acknowledges that analysts “don’t have a really good sense of how big a problem this is.” Nevertheless, “everybody’s been worried about this from the beginning because of the legacy of the Afghan Arabs.” Foreign fighters who can no longer get into Iraq are “winding up in Lebanon,” says Fishman. “Some of them are probably hanging around in Syria, and others are getting redirected to other areas like Somalia and Afghanistan and Pakistan.” A July 2008 report released by the Combating Terrorism Center notes that suicide bombers trained in Iraq hit US targets in Jordan in 2005, while others have been apprehended while plotting attacks in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>Despite debate over the extent to which AQI fighters are dispersing to new battlefields, there’s little question that the organization’s methods are increasingly being employed outside of Iraq. The number of suicide attacks, for example, rare in Afghanistan and Pakistan before 9/11, has grown exponentially; according to Pakistan’s intelligence service, in the first eight months of this year, there were 28 suicide attacks in Pakistan and 36 in Afghanistan, together claiming over 900 lives. (During that same period, for the first time, suicide bombers killed more people in Pakistan than in Iraq: 471 versus 463.) “Whether or not the actual people migrate, the tactics and techniques are [migrating], and they’re going to change the nature of warfare,” says Hoffman. “The people coming from Iraq have expertise almost across the board in insurgency, from suicide tactics to force-on-force attacks to sophisticated standoff attacks with remote-controlled missiles or rockets to IED types of technologies. It just means that the learning curve for insurgents is now short, and they’re able to learn from previous experience and adapt almost immediately, almost in real time.”</p>
<p>Fishman agrees, adding that veteran AQI fighters are, as a rule, probably more skilled than their Afghan Arab predecessors. “If you’ve been fighting in Iraq, you probably had a much more intense experience,” he says, acquiring skills that are more easily transferable to urban environments than those learned by the Afghan Arabs fighting the Soviets in the mountains. “Being able to operate and run a covert network in an urban environment, understanding how to avoid intelligence detection…If you survived this long being in Iraq, you probably picked some of that up. And those are the kinds of intense skills that are not only useful in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but they’re useful if you want to operate in Amman or Cairo or Paris.”</p>
<p>Photo used under a Creative Commons license from <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/" type="external">Army.mil</a>.</p>
<p />
|
Al Qaeda in Iraq’s Deadly Diaspora
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/10/al-qaeda-iraqs-deadly-diaspora/
|
2008-10-23
| 4left
|
Al Qaeda in Iraq’s Deadly Diaspora
<p />
<p>In recent months, as politicians, pundits, and military officials have debated the causes of the precipitous decline in violence in Iraq, some prominent terrorism experts (including <a href="/news/featurex/2007/03/iraq_effect_6.html" type="external">Peter Bergen and Paul Cruickshank</a> in the March/April 2007 issue of Mother Jones) have begun warning that the relative calm may be giving way to a new threat—a fresh generation of Al Qaeda, battle-hardened in Iraq and bent on exporting what they’ve learned to new fronts.</p>
<p>Such a diaspora has precedent. In the mid-1980s, thousands of jihadis from North Africa and the Middle East flooded into Afghanistan to fight the Soviets—Osama bin Laden and his original corps of lieutenants among them. These so-called “Afghan Arabs” made up a relatively small portion of the anti-Soviet mujahideen, but their influence would ultimately eclipse their number. Experts disagree over their impact on the outcome of the fighting (the conventional wisdom holds that it was marginal at best), but their very participation in the Afghan jihad, regardless of their effect on the battlefield, forged a mythology around which Al Qaeda would coalesce: not only had it defeated the Soviet Union, but it delivered the lethal blow that caused the Soviet bloc to collapse. Emboldened by their perceived success in Afghanistan, thousands of Afghan Arabs returned to their home countries after the Soviet withdrawal, intent on continuing the jihad.</p>
<p>In Iraq, foreign fighters are also few in number, accounting for just 10 percent of Al Qaeda in Iraq’s (AQI’s) personnel, according to Bruce Hoffman, a counterterrorism expert at Georgetown University. “We’re also talking about much smaller numbers than the Afghan Arabs,” he says. “Those were in the thousands or maybe in the tens of thousands. Here we’re talking about survivors, probably in the hundreds.” But this cadre of survivors, says Hoffman, could make their presence felt on distant battlefields, as did the Afghan Arabs before them in places like Bosnia and Algeria. “No matter how relatively small the number of foreign jihadis who may be fighting/have fought in Iraq,” he observes, “having been bloodied in battle there, they will possess the experience, cachet, and credibility useful for both jihadi recruitment and operational purposes elsewhere.”</p>
<p>This already seems to be the case in Afghanistan. According to the Washington Post, infiltration of foreign fighters into Iraq has declined from 110 per month in mid-2007 to as few as 20 per month in July 2008. Meanwhile, Islamic extremist websites have begun urging new recruits to head for Afghanistan rather than Iraq. In July, the Post reported that as many as 15 senior AQI leaders had transited through Iran on their way to Afghanistan. While it’s difficult to draw a direct connection, the corresponding increase in violence in Afghanistan over the same period seems to indicate that insurgents, recognizing defeat in Iraq, have shifted their focus. For the first time since March 2003, Afghanistan is claiming more lives: 121 coalition forces since July, versus 71 in Iraq during that same period.</p>
<p>Analysts are divided over what the increased violence in Afghanistan signifies. Regarding the transfer of AQI fighters from one theater of operations to another, Marc Sageman, terrorism scholar in residence at the New York City Police Department, is skeptical. “I don’t take it very seriously,” he says. “That’s not the nature of Al Qaeda. This is not an army with a general staff; it’s basically guys who go somewhere to fight. If they’re killed, they’re killed. If they escape, they escape. There’s really no real strategy.” He also notes that while the tactics used by AQI may be migrating to Afghanistan, there’s “not that much back and forth because these guys are vulnerable when they travel.” Brian Fishman, director of research at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, acknowledges that analysts “don’t have a really good sense of how big a problem this is.” Nevertheless, “everybody’s been worried about this from the beginning because of the legacy of the Afghan Arabs.” Foreign fighters who can no longer get into Iraq are “winding up in Lebanon,” says Fishman. “Some of them are probably hanging around in Syria, and others are getting redirected to other areas like Somalia and Afghanistan and Pakistan.” A July 2008 report released by the Combating Terrorism Center notes that suicide bombers trained in Iraq hit US targets in Jordan in 2005, while others have been apprehended while plotting attacks in Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom.</p>
<p>Despite debate over the extent to which AQI fighters are dispersing to new battlefields, there’s little question that the organization’s methods are increasingly being employed outside of Iraq. The number of suicide attacks, for example, rare in Afghanistan and Pakistan before 9/11, has grown exponentially; according to Pakistan’s intelligence service, in the first eight months of this year, there were 28 suicide attacks in Pakistan and 36 in Afghanistan, together claiming over 900 lives. (During that same period, for the first time, suicide bombers killed more people in Pakistan than in Iraq: 471 versus 463.) “Whether or not the actual people migrate, the tactics and techniques are [migrating], and they’re going to change the nature of warfare,” says Hoffman. “The people coming from Iraq have expertise almost across the board in insurgency, from suicide tactics to force-on-force attacks to sophisticated standoff attacks with remote-controlled missiles or rockets to IED types of technologies. It just means that the learning curve for insurgents is now short, and they’re able to learn from previous experience and adapt almost immediately, almost in real time.”</p>
<p>Fishman agrees, adding that veteran AQI fighters are, as a rule, probably more skilled than their Afghan Arab predecessors. “If you’ve been fighting in Iraq, you probably had a much more intense experience,” he says, acquiring skills that are more easily transferable to urban environments than those learned by the Afghan Arabs fighting the Soviets in the mountains. “Being able to operate and run a covert network in an urban environment, understanding how to avoid intelligence detection…If you survived this long being in Iraq, you probably picked some of that up. And those are the kinds of intense skills that are not only useful in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but they’re useful if you want to operate in Amman or Cairo or Paris.”</p>
<p>Photo used under a Creative Commons license from <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/" type="external">Army.mil</a>.</p>
<p />
| 6,029 |
<p>McCain has repeatedly claimed that Obama would raise tax rates for 23 million small-business owners. It’s a false and preposterously inflated figure.</p>
<p>We find that the overwhelming majority of those small-business owners would see no increase, because they earn too little to be affected. Obama’s tax proposal would raise rates only on couples making more than $250,000 or singles earning more than $200,000.</p>
<p>McCain argues that Obama’s proposed increase is a job-killer. He has a point. It’s true that increasing taxes on those at the top would leave them less money for other purposes, including investment and hiring in the case of business owners. But the number of business owners who would see their rates go up would be only a small fraction of what McCain says. Many would see their taxes go down.</p>
<p>Sen. John McCain has been making this false claim over and over, starting with a&#160; <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/Speeches/4c980d5b-dfd3-40a3-9663-7d14df1f1468.htm" type="external">July 7 speech</a> announcing his "jobs for America" plan:</p>
<p>McCain, July 7: Senator Obama’s tax increases will hurt the economy even more, and destroy jobs across this country. If you are one of the 23 million small-business owners in America who files as an individual rate payer, Senator Obama is going to raise your tax rates.</p>
<p>He repeated it in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070801465.html" type="external">an address</a> to the League of United Latin American Citizens the next day:</p>
<p>McCain, July 8: Keeping individual rates low isn’t intended as a favor to wealthy Americans. 23 million small-business owners pay those rates, and taking more money from them deprives them of the capital they need to invest and grow and hire.</p>
<p>He said it again at a <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/Speeches/1e04960e-141f-4cb2-9c99-133f7c179a62.htm" type="external">campaign event</a> July 9:</p>
<p>McCain, July 9: If you are one of the 23 million small-business owners in America who files as an individual rate payer, Senator Obama is willing to raise your tax rates.</p>
<p>And he repeated it in the first of a planned series of <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/07/mccains_july_12_radio_address.html" type="external">radio addresses</a> July 12:</p>
<p>McCain, July 12: If you are one of the 23 million small-business owners who files as an individual rate payer, watch out&#160;– because as your business grows, my opponent proposes to raise your taxes.</p>
<p>But repeating a falsehood doesn’t make it true. McCain’s 23 million claim is a bogus figure.</p>
<p>Outdated, Inflated, Inapplicable</p>
<p>To justify the 23 million figure, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers referred us to a press release by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which refers to "23 million small business owners" without citing a source. That is actually an outdated <a href="http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/smallbus.html" type="external">count</a> of all the businesses in the United States, produced by the U.S. Census for 2002, when the Economic Census counted a total of 23,343,821 business firms of all sizes. Of those, 16,845 firms employed 500 persons or more, which still leaves just over 23.3 million classified as "small" by the widely accepted definition that we will use here.</p>
<p>That figure is six years out of date. The U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy <a href="http://app1.sba.gov/faqs/faqIndexAll.cfm?areaid=24" type="external">estimates</a> the total number of "small" firms with fewer than 500 workers reached 26.8 million in 2006. That’s the most recent estimate. But it is also inflated. Since the total U.S. population was just under 300 million in 2006, it would mean that one in every 11 Americans&#160;– men, women and children – is a "small-business owner."</p>
<p>It turns out, SBA’s estimate includes more than 20 million <a href="http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/us88_05.pdf" type="external">"nonemployer" firms</a>, an unknown number of them sideline or hobby businesses run by persons who actually make their living some other way. Census and SBA count as a "small business" <a href="http://www.census.gov/epcd/nonemployer/view/covmeth.htm" type="external">anyone who reported as little as $1,000 of business receipts</a>. By that very broad definition, John McCain himself is a "small-business owner," because <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/downloads/mccainfinancial/final/2007_FedReturn.pdf" type="external">his tax return</a> shows Schedule C income from book royalties. For that matter, Barack Obama would also be a small-business owner, by virtue of his book income. As would President Bush and Vice President Cheney, as we pointed out in 2004. Of the 26.8 million that SBA counts as "small businesses," fewer than 6 million are actually <a href="http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/us88_05.pdf" type="external">"employer firms"</a> with any payroll.</p>
<p>From this, we must conclude that to arrive at his 23 million figure, McCain is counting mostly "business owners" with no workers, including those who simply report small amounts of income from sideline or freelance work. McCain is arguing that Obama’s tax increase would "destroy jobs," but he’s counting mostly firms that don’t produce any.</p>
<p>That in itself is seriously misleading. If McCain wants to focus on the effects of Obama’s plan on employment, he would do better to confine his count to employers&#160;– the just under 6 million firms that actually have workers. And even that figure wouldn’t be applicable because Obama’s tax increase wouldn’t fall on all employers, only on those in the top two income tax brackets.</p>
<p>1. These small businesses are subject to Sen. Obama’s pay or play health care plan: The tax will either be in the form of health insurance to workers or cash to the government.</p>
<p>2. Further, even giving Obama the benefit of the doubt, if they make over $250,000 and file as individuals or have capital gain or dividends, their taxes go up, as Obama has promised.</p>
<p>Note <a href="http://www.uschamber.com/sb/summit/2008/award/default" type="external">US Chamber cites 23 million figure</a>: "The U.S. Chamber is proud to pay special tribute to some of its most valued constituents: America’s 23 million small business owners."</p>
<p>McCain’s Non-explanation</p>
<p>McCain cannot justify his 23 million claim. We asked McCain spokesman Brian Rogers for substantiation and received the statement that we reprint here. We find it simply won’t do.</p>
<p>Rogers starts by saying that Obama’s health care proposal to provide coverage for uninsured workers would amount to a "tax," either in the form of higher costs for covering employees or "cash to the government." But McCain was talking about income tax rates, not higher business costs. That’s not justifying McCain’s claim; that’s trying to change the subject.</p>
<p>Furthermore – as we’ve just seen&#160;– the vast majority of those that McCain is counting as small-business owners have no employees and wouldn’t encounter any added costs for covering workers. Obama’s plan wouldn’t apply to every small employer, either. It <a href="http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/" type="external">says</a>: "Small employers that meet certain revenue thresholds will be exempt." Also, after Rogers sent his message, Obama <a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13343373.htm" type="external">announced</a> July 13 that he is proposing to grant $6 billion per year in tax credits for small businesses that provide health insurance plans, covering up to half the cost of premiums paid to cover employees.</p>
<p>As for actual income tax rates, which is what McCain keeps talking about, Rogers says "if they make over $250,000 and file as individuals … their taxes go up." But&#160; this leaves out all but a very small fraction of those McCain counts as small-business owners. Rogers also says taxes will go up if small-business owners "have capital gains or dividends," but Obama’s proposal would not increase rates on capital gains or dividends for couples making under $250,000, or singles making under about $200,000, regardless of whether they are classified as small-business owners or not.</p>
<p>How Many Would Actually Pay More?</p>
<p>McCain is right about one thing. Many small-business owners would indeed see their taxes go up if Obama is elected and raises the top income-tax rates. According to <a href="http://www.411sbfacts.com/sbpoll-tables-res.php?POLLID=0055&amp;QID=00000001702&amp;KT_back=1" type="external">a survey from the National Federation of Independent Businesses</a>, about eight out of 10 small-business owners responding to the poll report that they are organized legally in a way that would require them to pay taxes on their business income as individuals, rather than as a corporation. But since Obama’s plan wouldn’t affect those making less than $250,000 for couples, or about $200,000 for singles, we need to estimate how many would fall into those high-income categories.</p>
<p>Obama’s plan, according to his economic policy director Jason Furman, would return the top two federal income-tax rates to what they were before Bush lowered them. In addition, Obama would adjust the income-tax brackets to ensure that no married couple making under $250,000 or single filer making under $200,000 would pay the top rates.</p>
<p>The actual number of business owners who would be affected turns out to be well under a million, and the number of employers would be even less. Based on the number of taxpayers who now report any sort of business income on their returns, the&#160;Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?DocID=1854" type="external">projects</a> that 663,608 taxpayers with business income, or business losses, will fall into the top two tax brackets in 2009, when any Obama tax changes would first take effect. Not all of those can properly be called "small-business owners," however. Some are farmers. Many are lawyers, accountants or other professionals who get some of their income in the form of partnership distributions. Others may be passive investors in real-estate partnerships or similar investment arrangements and not really persons who own and manage a business.</p>
<p>It is also not clear how many who report business income actually employ any workers. In 2004, the Tax Policy Center <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/newsevents/archive_enews.cfm?template=enews_093004_archive#2" type="external">found</a> that hundreds of thousands of individual taxpayers who had business income from partnerships or subchapter-S corporations (whose owners pay taxes as individuals) did not claim any tax deductions for employee expenses. For all these reasons we judge that the actual number of small-business employers who would face higher tax rates under Obama is probably far below 663,608, and certainly a far cry from McCain’s ridiculously inflated 23 million figure.</p>
<p>Lower Taxes for Many</p>
<p>While Obama’s plan would raise rates at the top, it also would grant what he calls a “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. Since this credit would not begin to phase down for couples making less than $150,000, we judge it likely that many, if not most of the 23 million that McCain counts as "small-business owners" would likely get tax reductions.</p>
<p>An Echo of Bush</p>
<p>McCain’s claim struck us as wildly improbable the first time we heard it because we <a href="" type="internal">debunked</a> a much less expansive claim that President Bush made about John Kerry in 2004. Bush ran&#160;a TV ad saying that Kerry’s proposal to raise taxes on persons making more than $200,000 a year would affect 900,000 small-business owners. We found Bush’s number to be far too high. We noted that Bush was counting as a "small-business owner" anyone who reported even $1 of business or partnership income, regardless of how the taxpayer made their living. At that time, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/newsevents/archive_enews.cfm?template=enews_093004_archive#2" type="external">estimated</a> that a total of 471,000 small-business employers could be affected.</p>
<p>– by Brooks Jackson</p>
<p />
<p>CQ Transcripts. " <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070801465.html" type="external">McCain Addresses the League of United Latin American Citizens</a>." washingtonpost.com, 8 July 2008.</p>
<p>John McCain 2008. " <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/Speeches/1e04960e-141f-4cb2-9c99-133f7c179a62.htm" type="external">Remarks by John McCain at his Ohio Town Hall Meeting</a>,"&#160; 9 July 2008.</p>
<p>John McCain 2008. " <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/663e05cf-504a-4223-8658-d540705259ba.htm" type="external">John McCain’s Weekly Radio Address</a>," 12 July 2008.</p>
<p>U.S. Census Bureau. " <a href="http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/smallbus.html" type="external">Statistics about Business Size (including Small Business) from the U.S. Census Bureau</a>," Web site accessed 14 July 2008.</p>
<p>Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration. " <a href="http://app1.sba.gov/faqs/faqIndexAll.cfm?areaid=24" type="external">Frequently Asked Questions; How many small businesses are there?</a>" Web site accessed 14 July 2008.</p>
<p>Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration. " <a href="http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/us88_05.pdf" type="external">Private Firms, Establishments, Employment, Annual Payroll and Receipts by Firm Size, 1988-2005</a>," accessed 14 July 2008.</p>
<p>U.C. Census Bureau. " <a href="http://www.census.gov/epcd/nonemployer/view/covmeth.htm" type="external">Nonemployer statistics: Coverage and Methodolog</a>y," accessed 14 July 2008.</p>
<p>Claudia Parsons. " <a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13343373.htm" type="external">Obama proposes small business tax credits for health.</a>" Reuters, 14 July 2008.</p>
<p>Table T08-0164 " <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?DocID=1854" type="external">Distribution of Tax Units with Business Income by Statutory Marginal Tax Rate, Assuming Extension and Indexation of the 2007 AMT Patch, 2009</a>" Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, 20 May 2008.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/newsevents/archive_enews.cfm?template=enews_093004_archive#2" type="external">Kerry tax plan and small business</a>." Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, 14 Sept. 2004.</p>
|
McCain’s Small-Business Bunk
| false |
https://factcheck.org/2008/07/mccains-small-business-bunk/
|
2008-07-14
| 2least
|
McCain’s Small-Business Bunk
<p>McCain has repeatedly claimed that Obama would raise tax rates for 23 million small-business owners. It’s a false and preposterously inflated figure.</p>
<p>We find that the overwhelming majority of those small-business owners would see no increase, because they earn too little to be affected. Obama’s tax proposal would raise rates only on couples making more than $250,000 or singles earning more than $200,000.</p>
<p>McCain argues that Obama’s proposed increase is a job-killer. He has a point. It’s true that increasing taxes on those at the top would leave them less money for other purposes, including investment and hiring in the case of business owners. But the number of business owners who would see their rates go up would be only a small fraction of what McCain says. Many would see their taxes go down.</p>
<p>Sen. John McCain has been making this false claim over and over, starting with a&#160; <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/Speeches/4c980d5b-dfd3-40a3-9663-7d14df1f1468.htm" type="external">July 7 speech</a> announcing his "jobs for America" plan:</p>
<p>McCain, July 7: Senator Obama’s tax increases will hurt the economy even more, and destroy jobs across this country. If you are one of the 23 million small-business owners in America who files as an individual rate payer, Senator Obama is going to raise your tax rates.</p>
<p>He repeated it in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070801465.html" type="external">an address</a> to the League of United Latin American Citizens the next day:</p>
<p>McCain, July 8: Keeping individual rates low isn’t intended as a favor to wealthy Americans. 23 million small-business owners pay those rates, and taking more money from them deprives them of the capital they need to invest and grow and hire.</p>
<p>He said it again at a <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/Speeches/1e04960e-141f-4cb2-9c99-133f7c179a62.htm" type="external">campaign event</a> July 9:</p>
<p>McCain, July 9: If you are one of the 23 million small-business owners in America who files as an individual rate payer, Senator Obama is willing to raise your tax rates.</p>
<p>And he repeated it in the first of a planned series of <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/07/mccains_july_12_radio_address.html" type="external">radio addresses</a> July 12:</p>
<p>McCain, July 12: If you are one of the 23 million small-business owners who files as an individual rate payer, watch out&#160;– because as your business grows, my opponent proposes to raise your taxes.</p>
<p>But repeating a falsehood doesn’t make it true. McCain’s 23 million claim is a bogus figure.</p>
<p>Outdated, Inflated, Inapplicable</p>
<p>To justify the 23 million figure, McCain spokesman Brian Rogers referred us to a press release by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which refers to "23 million small business owners" without citing a source. That is actually an outdated <a href="http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/smallbus.html" type="external">count</a> of all the businesses in the United States, produced by the U.S. Census for 2002, when the Economic Census counted a total of 23,343,821 business firms of all sizes. Of those, 16,845 firms employed 500 persons or more, which still leaves just over 23.3 million classified as "small" by the widely accepted definition that we will use here.</p>
<p>That figure is six years out of date. The U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy <a href="http://app1.sba.gov/faqs/faqIndexAll.cfm?areaid=24" type="external">estimates</a> the total number of "small" firms with fewer than 500 workers reached 26.8 million in 2006. That’s the most recent estimate. But it is also inflated. Since the total U.S. population was just under 300 million in 2006, it would mean that one in every 11 Americans&#160;– men, women and children – is a "small-business owner."</p>
<p>It turns out, SBA’s estimate includes more than 20 million <a href="http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/us88_05.pdf" type="external">"nonemployer" firms</a>, an unknown number of them sideline or hobby businesses run by persons who actually make their living some other way. Census and SBA count as a "small business" <a href="http://www.census.gov/epcd/nonemployer/view/covmeth.htm" type="external">anyone who reported as little as $1,000 of business receipts</a>. By that very broad definition, John McCain himself is a "small-business owner," because <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/downloads/mccainfinancial/final/2007_FedReturn.pdf" type="external">his tax return</a> shows Schedule C income from book royalties. For that matter, Barack Obama would also be a small-business owner, by virtue of his book income. As would President Bush and Vice President Cheney, as we pointed out in 2004. Of the 26.8 million that SBA counts as "small businesses," fewer than 6 million are actually <a href="http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/us88_05.pdf" type="external">"employer firms"</a> with any payroll.</p>
<p>From this, we must conclude that to arrive at his 23 million figure, McCain is counting mostly "business owners" with no workers, including those who simply report small amounts of income from sideline or freelance work. McCain is arguing that Obama’s tax increase would "destroy jobs," but he’s counting mostly firms that don’t produce any.</p>
<p>That in itself is seriously misleading. If McCain wants to focus on the effects of Obama’s plan on employment, he would do better to confine his count to employers&#160;– the just under 6 million firms that actually have workers. And even that figure wouldn’t be applicable because Obama’s tax increase wouldn’t fall on all employers, only on those in the top two income tax brackets.</p>
<p>1. These small businesses are subject to Sen. Obama’s pay or play health care plan: The tax will either be in the form of health insurance to workers or cash to the government.</p>
<p>2. Further, even giving Obama the benefit of the doubt, if they make over $250,000 and file as individuals or have capital gain or dividends, their taxes go up, as Obama has promised.</p>
<p>Note <a href="http://www.uschamber.com/sb/summit/2008/award/default" type="external">US Chamber cites 23 million figure</a>: "The U.S. Chamber is proud to pay special tribute to some of its most valued constituents: America’s 23 million small business owners."</p>
<p>McCain’s Non-explanation</p>
<p>McCain cannot justify his 23 million claim. We asked McCain spokesman Brian Rogers for substantiation and received the statement that we reprint here. We find it simply won’t do.</p>
<p>Rogers starts by saying that Obama’s health care proposal to provide coverage for uninsured workers would amount to a "tax," either in the form of higher costs for covering employees or "cash to the government." But McCain was talking about income tax rates, not higher business costs. That’s not justifying McCain’s claim; that’s trying to change the subject.</p>
<p>Furthermore – as we’ve just seen&#160;– the vast majority of those that McCain is counting as small-business owners have no employees and wouldn’t encounter any added costs for covering workers. Obama’s plan wouldn’t apply to every small employer, either. It <a href="http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/" type="external">says</a>: "Small employers that meet certain revenue thresholds will be exempt." Also, after Rogers sent his message, Obama <a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13343373.htm" type="external">announced</a> July 13 that he is proposing to grant $6 billion per year in tax credits for small businesses that provide health insurance plans, covering up to half the cost of premiums paid to cover employees.</p>
<p>As for actual income tax rates, which is what McCain keeps talking about, Rogers says "if they make over $250,000 and file as individuals … their taxes go up." But&#160; this leaves out all but a very small fraction of those McCain counts as small-business owners. Rogers also says taxes will go up if small-business owners "have capital gains or dividends," but Obama’s proposal would not increase rates on capital gains or dividends for couples making under $250,000, or singles making under about $200,000, regardless of whether they are classified as small-business owners or not.</p>
<p>How Many Would Actually Pay More?</p>
<p>McCain is right about one thing. Many small-business owners would indeed see their taxes go up if Obama is elected and raises the top income-tax rates. According to <a href="http://www.411sbfacts.com/sbpoll-tables-res.php?POLLID=0055&amp;QID=00000001702&amp;KT_back=1" type="external">a survey from the National Federation of Independent Businesses</a>, about eight out of 10 small-business owners responding to the poll report that they are organized legally in a way that would require them to pay taxes on their business income as individuals, rather than as a corporation. But since Obama’s plan wouldn’t affect those making less than $250,000 for couples, or about $200,000 for singles, we need to estimate how many would fall into those high-income categories.</p>
<p>Obama’s plan, according to his economic policy director Jason Furman, would return the top two federal income-tax rates to what they were before Bush lowered them. In addition, Obama would adjust the income-tax brackets to ensure that no married couple making under $250,000 or single filer making under $200,000 would pay the top rates.</p>
<p>The actual number of business owners who would be affected turns out to be well under a million, and the number of employers would be even less. Based on the number of taxpayers who now report any sort of business income on their returns, the&#160;Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?DocID=1854" type="external">projects</a> that 663,608 taxpayers with business income, or business losses, will fall into the top two tax brackets in 2009, when any Obama tax changes would first take effect. Not all of those can properly be called "small-business owners," however. Some are farmers. Many are lawyers, accountants or other professionals who get some of their income in the form of partnership distributions. Others may be passive investors in real-estate partnerships or similar investment arrangements and not really persons who own and manage a business.</p>
<p>It is also not clear how many who report business income actually employ any workers. In 2004, the Tax Policy Center <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/newsevents/archive_enews.cfm?template=enews_093004_archive#2" type="external">found</a> that hundreds of thousands of individual taxpayers who had business income from partnerships or subchapter-S corporations (whose owners pay taxes as individuals) did not claim any tax deductions for employee expenses. For all these reasons we judge that the actual number of small-business employers who would face higher tax rates under Obama is probably far below 663,608, and certainly a far cry from McCain’s ridiculously inflated 23 million figure.</p>
<p>Lower Taxes for Many</p>
<p>While Obama’s plan would raise rates at the top, it also would grant what he calls a “Making Work Pay” tax credit of up to $500 per person, or $1,000 per working family. Since this credit would not begin to phase down for couples making less than $150,000, we judge it likely that many, if not most of the 23 million that McCain counts as "small-business owners" would likely get tax reductions.</p>
<p>An Echo of Bush</p>
<p>McCain’s claim struck us as wildly improbable the first time we heard it because we <a href="" type="internal">debunked</a> a much less expansive claim that President Bush made about John Kerry in 2004. Bush ran&#160;a TV ad saying that Kerry’s proposal to raise taxes on persons making more than $200,000 a year would affect 900,000 small-business owners. We found Bush’s number to be far too high. We noted that Bush was counting as a "small-business owner" anyone who reported even $1 of business or partnership income, regardless of how the taxpayer made their living. At that time, the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/newsevents/archive_enews.cfm?template=enews_093004_archive#2" type="external">estimated</a> that a total of 471,000 small-business employers could be affected.</p>
<p>– by Brooks Jackson</p>
<p />
<p>CQ Transcripts. " <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/08/AR2008070801465.html" type="external">McCain Addresses the League of United Latin American Citizens</a>." washingtonpost.com, 8 July 2008.</p>
<p>John McCain 2008. " <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/Speeches/1e04960e-141f-4cb2-9c99-133f7c179a62.htm" type="external">Remarks by John McCain at his Ohio Town Hall Meeting</a>,"&#160; 9 July 2008.</p>
<p>John McCain 2008. " <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/News/PressReleases/663e05cf-504a-4223-8658-d540705259ba.htm" type="external">John McCain’s Weekly Radio Address</a>," 12 July 2008.</p>
<p>U.S. Census Bureau. " <a href="http://www.census.gov/epcd/www/smallbus.html" type="external">Statistics about Business Size (including Small Business) from the U.S. Census Bureau</a>," Web site accessed 14 July 2008.</p>
<p>Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration. " <a href="http://app1.sba.gov/faqs/faqIndexAll.cfm?areaid=24" type="external">Frequently Asked Questions; How many small businesses are there?</a>" Web site accessed 14 July 2008.</p>
<p>Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration. " <a href="http://www.sba.gov/advo/research/us88_05.pdf" type="external">Private Firms, Establishments, Employment, Annual Payroll and Receipts by Firm Size, 1988-2005</a>," accessed 14 July 2008.</p>
<p>U.C. Census Bureau. " <a href="http://www.census.gov/epcd/nonemployer/view/covmeth.htm" type="external">Nonemployer statistics: Coverage and Methodolog</a>y," accessed 14 July 2008.</p>
<p>Claudia Parsons. " <a href="http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N13343373.htm" type="external">Obama proposes small business tax credits for health.</a>" Reuters, 14 July 2008.</p>
<p>Table T08-0164 " <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?DocID=1854" type="external">Distribution of Tax Units with Business Income by Statutory Marginal Tax Rate, Assuming Extension and Indexation of the 2007 AMT Patch, 2009</a>" Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, 20 May 2008.</p>
<p>" <a href="http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/newsevents/archive_enews.cfm?template=enews_093004_archive#2" type="external">Kerry tax plan and small business</a>." Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, 14 Sept. 2004.</p>
| 6,030 |
<p />
<p>Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) is still experiencing some growing pains. The electric car maker reported second-quarter results that included a steeper loss and fewer vehicle deliveries than planned, thanks to production hiccups.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla said it remains on track to meet its previously announced goal of delivering about 50,000 Model S sedans and Model X crossovers in the second half of 2016. But the most recent quarter was a bumpy ride.</p>
<p>“We were in production hell for the first six months of the year,” CEO Elon Musk told analysts during Tesla’s earnings call.</p>
<p>Tesla booked a quarterly loss that grew 60% to $293 million, or $2.09 a share. Revenue jumped 33% to $1.27 billion. On an adjusted basis, Tesla’s loss was $1.06 a share, worse than Wall Street’s forecast for a 52-cent loss.</p>
<p>Although it set a company record by producing 18,435 vehicles in the quarter, Tesla shipped a lower-than-expected 14,402 vehicles to customers while it wrestled with ongoing Model X delays. Musk mostly pinned the tough slog on suppliers.</p>
<p>“Then we just managed to climb out of hell basically partway through June. Now the production line is humming, and our suppliers mostly have their [expletive] together. There’s a few that don’t. One I’m going to be visiting on Saturday personally to figure out what the hell’s going on there,” he said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>But the Model X has been on the assembly lines for nearly a year. What seemed like a short-term, launch-related headache is starting to look like a longer-term problem stemming from the Model X’s design. The Model X has proven to be a complicated build. Certain features, particularly the utility vehicle’s gull-wing doors and second-row seats, have thrown a wrench into the process.</p>
<p>“At some point, we’ll be at the one-year anniversary of production, and Tesla is still falling behind production levels that Musk himself set,” said Karl Brauer, a senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book.</p>
<p>Musk noted that Tesla had 5,150 vehicles in transit at the end of the quarter, suggesting that production picked up late in June. Tesla exited the second quarter making 2,000 vehicles per week. The production rate is projected to reach 2,400 vehicles per week by the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>Tesla hopes to work through any delays before it begins the rollout of the Model 3, Tesla’s first non-luxury car. The Model 3, which will start at $35,000, is already a big hit with Tesla fans. A week after reservations opened on March 31, Tesla accepted more than 325,000 orders. On Thursday, Tesla said 373,000 customers placed orders as of May. The sedan is scheduled to go on sale in late 2017.</p>
<p>The success of the Model 3 during its pre-order phase spurred Tesla to accelerate its plans to produce 500,000 vehicles annually. Tesla now wants to meet that target by 2018, two years sooner compared to its original timeline.</p>
<p>A key factor in Tesla’s ability to meet that mark is the Gigafactory, a massive battery plant in Nevada. Tesla reiterated that Gigafactory production will support the Model 3 next year.</p>
<p>The Model 3 should be an easier car to build, since its features are less complicated than the Model X, Brauer said. However, Tesla is looking for a sharp increase in production on its way to making half a million vehicles per year.</p>
<p>“A lot of that clashes with the current reality,” Brauer added, “but maybe [Musk] will change that reality between now and then.”</p>
<p>Beyond its struggles at the factory, Tesla dealt with other turmoil during the quarter. U.S. federal regulators opened an investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot semi-autonomous driving system, which was activated at the time of a fatal crash in Florida. Musk has assured customers that Autopilot is safe to use.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal said Tesla was under investigation at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was evaluating whether the company violated securities laws by failing to disclose the crash to investors.</p>
|
Why is Tesla Stuck in 'Production Hell'?
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/04/why-is-tesla-stuck-in-production-hell.html
|
2016-08-04
| 0right
|
Why is Tesla Stuck in 'Production Hell'?
<p />
<p>Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) is still experiencing some growing pains. The electric car maker reported second-quarter results that included a steeper loss and fewer vehicle deliveries than planned, thanks to production hiccups.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Palo Alto, Calif.-based Tesla said it remains on track to meet its previously announced goal of delivering about 50,000 Model S sedans and Model X crossovers in the second half of 2016. But the most recent quarter was a bumpy ride.</p>
<p>“We were in production hell for the first six months of the year,” CEO Elon Musk told analysts during Tesla’s earnings call.</p>
<p>Tesla booked a quarterly loss that grew 60% to $293 million, or $2.09 a share. Revenue jumped 33% to $1.27 billion. On an adjusted basis, Tesla’s loss was $1.06 a share, worse than Wall Street’s forecast for a 52-cent loss.</p>
<p>Although it set a company record by producing 18,435 vehicles in the quarter, Tesla shipped a lower-than-expected 14,402 vehicles to customers while it wrestled with ongoing Model X delays. Musk mostly pinned the tough slog on suppliers.</p>
<p>“Then we just managed to climb out of hell basically partway through June. Now the production line is humming, and our suppliers mostly have their [expletive] together. There’s a few that don’t. One I’m going to be visiting on Saturday personally to figure out what the hell’s going on there,” he said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>But the Model X has been on the assembly lines for nearly a year. What seemed like a short-term, launch-related headache is starting to look like a longer-term problem stemming from the Model X’s design. The Model X has proven to be a complicated build. Certain features, particularly the utility vehicle’s gull-wing doors and second-row seats, have thrown a wrench into the process.</p>
<p>“At some point, we’ll be at the one-year anniversary of production, and Tesla is still falling behind production levels that Musk himself set,” said Karl Brauer, a senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book.</p>
<p>Musk noted that Tesla had 5,150 vehicles in transit at the end of the quarter, suggesting that production picked up late in June. Tesla exited the second quarter making 2,000 vehicles per week. The production rate is projected to reach 2,400 vehicles per week by the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>Tesla hopes to work through any delays before it begins the rollout of the Model 3, Tesla’s first non-luxury car. The Model 3, which will start at $35,000, is already a big hit with Tesla fans. A week after reservations opened on March 31, Tesla accepted more than 325,000 orders. On Thursday, Tesla said 373,000 customers placed orders as of May. The sedan is scheduled to go on sale in late 2017.</p>
<p>The success of the Model 3 during its pre-order phase spurred Tesla to accelerate its plans to produce 500,000 vehicles annually. Tesla now wants to meet that target by 2018, two years sooner compared to its original timeline.</p>
<p>A key factor in Tesla’s ability to meet that mark is the Gigafactory, a massive battery plant in Nevada. Tesla reiterated that Gigafactory production will support the Model 3 next year.</p>
<p>The Model 3 should be an easier car to build, since its features are less complicated than the Model X, Brauer said. However, Tesla is looking for a sharp increase in production on its way to making half a million vehicles per year.</p>
<p>“A lot of that clashes with the current reality,” Brauer added, “but maybe [Musk] will change that reality between now and then.”</p>
<p>Beyond its struggles at the factory, Tesla dealt with other turmoil during the quarter. U.S. federal regulators opened an investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot semi-autonomous driving system, which was activated at the time of a fatal crash in Florida. Musk has assured customers that Autopilot is safe to use.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal said Tesla was under investigation at the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was evaluating whether the company violated securities laws by failing to disclose the crash to investors.</p>
| 6,031 |
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 5 Evening" game were:</p>
<p>4-1-8-9-2, Wild: 4</p>
<p>(four, one, eight, nine, two; Wild: four)</p>
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 5 Evening" game were:</p>
<p>4-1-8-9-2, Wild: 4</p>
<p>(four, one, eight, nine, two; Wild: four)</p>
|
Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 5 Evening' game
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/f668a5df26b4465eb93c2014ae32d203
|
2018-01-06
| 2least
|
Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 5 Evening' game
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 5 Evening" game were:</p>
<p>4-1-8-9-2, Wild: 4</p>
<p>(four, one, eight, nine, two; Wild: four)</p>
<p>HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Friday evening's drawing of the Pennsylvania Lottery's "Pick 5 Evening" game were:</p>
<p>4-1-8-9-2, Wild: 4</p>
<p>(four, one, eight, nine, two; Wild: four)</p>
| 6,032 |
<p>HONOLULU (AP) — Two sacred Torah scrolls have been stolen from a Jewish synagogue in Honolulu.</p>
<p>The Sanctuary at Chabad of Hawaii said the scrolls were stolen either Saturday or Sunday. The synagogue is offering $5,000 for the safe return of the scrolls, which are handwritten copies of the Torah, the holiest book in the Jewish religion.</p>
<p>The scrolls weigh about 40 pounds (18 kilograms) and are valued at $50,000 each.</p>
<p>Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky says a synagogue cannot have a service without a Torah.</p>
<p>One of the Torahs survived the Holocaust and the other was purchased in memory of a boy who died in the community.</p>
<p>The synagogue and Jewish educational center said police have been contacted. They're concerned the items will be smuggled off island for sale on the black market.</p>
<p>HONOLULU (AP) — Two sacred Torah scrolls have been stolen from a Jewish synagogue in Honolulu.</p>
<p>The Sanctuary at Chabad of Hawaii said the scrolls were stolen either Saturday or Sunday. The synagogue is offering $5,000 for the safe return of the scrolls, which are handwritten copies of the Torah, the holiest book in the Jewish religion.</p>
<p>The scrolls weigh about 40 pounds (18 kilograms) and are valued at $50,000 each.</p>
<p>Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky says a synagogue cannot have a service without a Torah.</p>
<p>One of the Torahs survived the Holocaust and the other was purchased in memory of a boy who died in the community.</p>
<p>The synagogue and Jewish educational center said police have been contacted. They're concerned the items will be smuggled off island for sale on the black market.</p>
|
Sacred Torah scrolls stolen from Jewish synagogue in Hawaii
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/515489e5a562486a97c4fe65c903bb55
|
2018-01-24
| 2least
|
Sacred Torah scrolls stolen from Jewish synagogue in Hawaii
<p>HONOLULU (AP) — Two sacred Torah scrolls have been stolen from a Jewish synagogue in Honolulu.</p>
<p>The Sanctuary at Chabad of Hawaii said the scrolls were stolen either Saturday or Sunday. The synagogue is offering $5,000 for the safe return of the scrolls, which are handwritten copies of the Torah, the holiest book in the Jewish religion.</p>
<p>The scrolls weigh about 40 pounds (18 kilograms) and are valued at $50,000 each.</p>
<p>Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky says a synagogue cannot have a service without a Torah.</p>
<p>One of the Torahs survived the Holocaust and the other was purchased in memory of a boy who died in the community.</p>
<p>The synagogue and Jewish educational center said police have been contacted. They're concerned the items will be smuggled off island for sale on the black market.</p>
<p>HONOLULU (AP) — Two sacred Torah scrolls have been stolen from a Jewish synagogue in Honolulu.</p>
<p>The Sanctuary at Chabad of Hawaii said the scrolls were stolen either Saturday or Sunday. The synagogue is offering $5,000 for the safe return of the scrolls, which are handwritten copies of the Torah, the holiest book in the Jewish religion.</p>
<p>The scrolls weigh about 40 pounds (18 kilograms) and are valued at $50,000 each.</p>
<p>Rabbi Itchel Krasnjansky says a synagogue cannot have a service without a Torah.</p>
<p>One of the Torahs survived the Holocaust and the other was purchased in memory of a boy who died in the community.</p>
<p>The synagogue and Jewish educational center said police have been contacted. They're concerned the items will be smuggled off island for sale on the black market.</p>
| 6,033 |
<p>Mary Altaffer/AP</p>
<p>Competition between the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees over their respective investigations into the Trump campaign and Russia has grown fierce, with the panels taking dueling approaches to witnesses in a bid to win first crack at questioning them.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort submitted to a closed-door session with Intelligence Committee staff, but only after the&#160;committee agreed to Manafort’s request to sharply limit the scope of the interview.&#160;“The meeting was conducted at the request of Manafort’s legal team,” says a person familiar with the interactions, “for the sole purpose of providing information related to the recently disclosed June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower.” Manafort also turned over notes he took during that now infamous gathering where he, Donald Trump Jr., and Jared Kushner met&#160;with several Russians, including a Kremlin-linked lawyer who promised to provide damaging information on Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>That approach diverges with the Judiciary Committee’s. Republican Chairman Chuck Grassley told Mother Jones&#160;that his committee refused Manafort’s offer to come in for an interview this week only under the same narrow conditions. Grassley said he backed the panel’s Democratic leader, Dianne Feinstein, who rejected interviewing Manafort with any topics taken off the table. “That didn’t satisfy her so we didn’t do it,” Grassley says. “Feinstein and I are working together.”</p>
<p>The Judiciary Committee went through an array of postures on Manafort in recent days, listing him as a witness, along with Donald Trump Jr., for a public hearing; subpoenaing him; and then withdrawing the subpoena and negotiating terms for a later interview. But Grassley suggested the machinations amount to a tougher stance than the Intelligence panel has taken. He also suggested witnesses or their attorneys were using the competition between the two investigative panels to seek more favorable interview terms. “We can’t mess around with back and forth and playing off one committee against another,” Grassley said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The Republican chairman’s remarks underscore the growing role of his committee in the Russia investigation—even as Grassley has pursued matters that <a href="" type="internal">appear aimed at providing political cover</a> for the White House. Intelligence Committee leaders have&#160; <a href="" type="internal">described</a>&#160;their probe as focused on Russian interference, not collusion. And Judiciary’s investigation at first&#160; <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/19/politics/senate-judiciary-committee-investigation/index.html" type="external">appeared</a> more focused on President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. But those distinctions are mostly rhetorical: For months, both panels&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/us/politics/senate-intelligence-committee-burr-warner-russia-investigation.html?_r=0" type="external">have each</a>&#160; <a href="https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4C204926-4C20-4D4D-9928-D18025A78A65" type="external">asserted</a>&#160; <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/335366-senators-locked-in-turf-battle-over-russia-probes" type="external">that</a> their jurisdiction should make them the lead panel on investigating Russian meddling and related issues.</p>
<p>The limited scope of Manafort’s interview with Intelligence staffers meant that Manafort did not face questions about his past <a href="https://www.apnews.com/122ae0b5848345faa88108a03de40c5a" type="external">work</a> for a Russian oligarch or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/us/politics/trump-campaign-chiefs-firm-got-17-million-from-pro-russia-party.html?_r=0" type="external">a Ukrainian party</a>with close ties to Putin. Also off the table were Manafort’s <a href="https://apnews.com/c01989a47ee5421593ba1b301ec07813" type="external">failure</a>&#160;to&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/us/politics/paul-manafort-resigns-donald-trump.html" type="external">register</a> as foreign lobbyist,&#160; <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-25/behind-manafort-s-loans-chopper-pilot-who-flew-into-trump-orbit" type="external">large loans</a> he received after leaving the Trump campaign, his massive <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/paul-manafort-russia-trump.html" type="external">debts</a> to Russian interests, allegations he used foreign bank <a href="https://www.apnews.com/d43ef4166da6400ab45140978854bbbb" type="external">accounts</a> and <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ex-trump-adviser-paul-manafort-investigated-for-possible-money-laundering-report-2017-07-20" type="external">real estate</a> purchases to <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/manafort-linked-accounts-cyprus-raised-red-flag-n739156" type="external">launder</a> money, his efforts to&#160; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trump-campaign-guts-gops-anti-russia-stance-on-ukraine/2016/07/18/98adb3b0-4cf3-11e6-a7d8-13d06b37f256_story.html?utm_term=.41bb0177a4c1" type="external">weaken</a>&#160;anti-Russia language in the Republican Party platform, and any other still undisclosed contacts&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/us/politics/russia-trump-manafort-flynn.html" type="external">he may have had</a> with Russian agents during the campaign.&#160;</p>
<p>Still, Manafort committed to future meetings with Intelligence staff and members “to address the many other areas of inquiry of interest to the committee,” according to the source familiar with the negotiations. In brief separate interviews with Mother Jones, Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) said they were confident Manafort would cooperate and potentially appear for a public hearing.</p>
<p>“Manafort has made himself available every time we’ve asked,” Burr said.</p>
<p>“We expect all the principal figures to come back and members on both sides will have a chance to question them,” Warner said. “That is still our working assumption.”</p>
<p>A spokesman for Manafort and his lead attorney, Reginald&#160;Brown, declined to comment.</p>
<p>Some lawmakers suggest both the Judiciary and Intelligence committees are compromising too readily with witnesses. “Too much of this stuff is being done behind closed doors,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-Vt.), a former Judiciary Chairman, and the longest serving current senator, tells&#160;Mother Jones. Leahy says staff interviews can be useful, but that they can also delay vital public hearings, where witnesses can always assert Fifth Amendment rights if they’re reluctant.</p>
<p>“There should be no limitations,” Leahy says. “I don’t see where the Senate or the public gains anything from that.”</p>
|
How the Senate’s Two Russia Probes Are Dueling Over Key Witnesses
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2017/07/senate-investigations-paul-manafort/
|
2017-07-27
| 4left
|
How the Senate’s Two Russia Probes Are Dueling Over Key Witnesses
<p>Mary Altaffer/AP</p>
<p>Competition between the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees over their respective investigations into the Trump campaign and Russia has grown fierce, with the panels taking dueling approaches to witnesses in a bid to win first crack at questioning them.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort submitted to a closed-door session with Intelligence Committee staff, but only after the&#160;committee agreed to Manafort’s request to sharply limit the scope of the interview.&#160;“The meeting was conducted at the request of Manafort’s legal team,” says a person familiar with the interactions, “for the sole purpose of providing information related to the recently disclosed June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower.” Manafort also turned over notes he took during that now infamous gathering where he, Donald Trump Jr., and Jared Kushner met&#160;with several Russians, including a Kremlin-linked lawyer who promised to provide damaging information on Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>That approach diverges with the Judiciary Committee’s. Republican Chairman Chuck Grassley told Mother Jones&#160;that his committee refused Manafort’s offer to come in for an interview this week only under the same narrow conditions. Grassley said he backed the panel’s Democratic leader, Dianne Feinstein, who rejected interviewing Manafort with any topics taken off the table. “That didn’t satisfy her so we didn’t do it,” Grassley says. “Feinstein and I are working together.”</p>
<p>The Judiciary Committee went through an array of postures on Manafort in recent days, listing him as a witness, along with Donald Trump Jr., for a public hearing; subpoenaing him; and then withdrawing the subpoena and negotiating terms for a later interview. But Grassley suggested the machinations amount to a tougher stance than the Intelligence panel has taken. He also suggested witnesses or their attorneys were using the competition between the two investigative panels to seek more favorable interview terms. “We can’t mess around with back and forth and playing off one committee against another,” Grassley said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>The Republican chairman’s remarks underscore the growing role of his committee in the Russia investigation—even as Grassley has pursued matters that <a href="" type="internal">appear aimed at providing political cover</a> for the White House. Intelligence Committee leaders have&#160; <a href="" type="internal">described</a>&#160;their probe as focused on Russian interference, not collusion. And Judiciary’s investigation at first&#160; <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/19/politics/senate-judiciary-committee-investigation/index.html" type="external">appeared</a> more focused on President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. But those distinctions are mostly rhetorical: For months, both panels&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/us/politics/senate-intelligence-committee-burr-warner-russia-investigation.html?_r=0" type="external">have each</a>&#160; <a href="https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=4C204926-4C20-4D4D-9928-D18025A78A65" type="external">asserted</a>&#160; <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/335366-senators-locked-in-turf-battle-over-russia-probes" type="external">that</a> their jurisdiction should make them the lead panel on investigating Russian meddling and related issues.</p>
<p>The limited scope of Manafort’s interview with Intelligence staffers meant that Manafort did not face questions about his past <a href="https://www.apnews.com/122ae0b5848345faa88108a03de40c5a" type="external">work</a> for a Russian oligarch or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/us/politics/trump-campaign-chiefs-firm-got-17-million-from-pro-russia-party.html?_r=0" type="external">a Ukrainian party</a>with close ties to Putin. Also off the table were Manafort’s <a href="https://apnews.com/c01989a47ee5421593ba1b301ec07813" type="external">failure</a>&#160;to&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/20/us/politics/paul-manafort-resigns-donald-trump.html" type="external">register</a> as foreign lobbyist,&#160; <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-25/behind-manafort-s-loans-chopper-pilot-who-flew-into-trump-orbit" type="external">large loans</a> he received after leaving the Trump campaign, his massive <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/19/us/politics/paul-manafort-russia-trump.html" type="external">debts</a> to Russian interests, allegations he used foreign bank <a href="https://www.apnews.com/d43ef4166da6400ab45140978854bbbb" type="external">accounts</a> and <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ex-trump-adviser-paul-manafort-investigated-for-possible-money-laundering-report-2017-07-20" type="external">real estate</a> purchases to <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/manafort-linked-accounts-cyprus-raised-red-flag-n739156" type="external">launder</a> money, his efforts to&#160; <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/trump-campaign-guts-gops-anti-russia-stance-on-ukraine/2016/07/18/98adb3b0-4cf3-11e6-a7d8-13d06b37f256_story.html?utm_term=.41bb0177a4c1" type="external">weaken</a>&#160;anti-Russia language in the Republican Party platform, and any other still undisclosed contacts&#160; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/us/politics/russia-trump-manafort-flynn.html" type="external">he may have had</a> with Russian agents during the campaign.&#160;</p>
<p>Still, Manafort committed to future meetings with Intelligence staff and members “to address the many other areas of inquiry of interest to the committee,” according to the source familiar with the negotiations. In brief separate interviews with Mother Jones, Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) said they were confident Manafort would cooperate and potentially appear for a public hearing.</p>
<p>“Manafort has made himself available every time we’ve asked,” Burr said.</p>
<p>“We expect all the principal figures to come back and members on both sides will have a chance to question them,” Warner said. “That is still our working assumption.”</p>
<p>A spokesman for Manafort and his lead attorney, Reginald&#160;Brown, declined to comment.</p>
<p>Some lawmakers suggest both the Judiciary and Intelligence committees are compromising too readily with witnesses. “Too much of this stuff is being done behind closed doors,” Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-Vt.), a former Judiciary Chairman, and the longest serving current senator, tells&#160;Mother Jones. Leahy says staff interviews can be useful, but that they can also delay vital public hearings, where witnesses can always assert Fifth Amendment rights if they’re reluctant.</p>
<p>“There should be no limitations,” Leahy says. “I don’t see where the Senate or the public gains anything from that.”</p>
| 6,034 |
<p>Kansas – When former Topeka police officer Jeremy Carlisle-Simons made the unlawful arrest in September 2014 that would lead to his departure from the force, he threw an uncooperative subject to the ground, screamed obscenities and pounded his fist into the man’s back.</p>
<p>The city of Topeka would pay $50,000 for his actions, contributing to more than $400,000 in total settlements and claims related to police activity since 2010.</p>
<p>As the threat of a civil lawsuit influences the city’s response to the fatal police shooting in September of Dominique White, a Kansas Open Records Act request by The Topeka Capital-Journal revealed dozens of payments ranging from $300,000 for a notorious shooting involving off-duty Topeka police officers to $16 for a driver’s license taken by an officer and never returned. The police department also agreed to provide a video of the Carlisle-Simons arrest, which hasn’t been seen publicly until now.</p>
<p>The video shows officers responding to a 911 hangup in the 1200 block of S.W. Washburn, where they confront Arthur Morris and Jeanie Becerra in their backyard. Carlisle-Simons tells a verbally combative Morris that police received a call from neighbors about a disturbance, which wasn’t true.</p>
<p>As shouting intensifies between Morris and Carlisle-Simons, the officer takes Morris to the ground and attempts to handcuff him. Face down with one hand cuffed, Morris resists attempts to cuff the other.</p>
<p>“Give me your goddamn arm, (expletive),” Carlisle-Simons says before repeatedly punching the man’s back.</p>
<p>Morris was arrested and convicted of disobeying a police order, disturbing the peace, assault on a law enforcement officer and interfering with law enforcement. Becerra was arrested in connection with disobeying a police officer and interference with law enforcement.</p>
<p>Their convictions were vacated after body camera video showed the police account wasn’t accurate.</p>
<p>Six months after the incident, Morris and Becerra filed a claim with the city, alleging they were assaulted, officers lacked probable cause to make the arrests and officers lied during court testimony. The Topeka City Council approved the payment.</p>
<p>Across all departments, the city since 2010 has paid more than $1 million in settlements and tort and medical claims. Additionally, the city has spent about $1 million to retain outside counsel to litigate cases. Hundreds of claims were rejected, and some from this year are pending.</p>
<p>Records show the city has paid $332,244 for two settlements and $76,078 for 44 claims involving police.</p>
<p>On Friday, the city showed video of police shooting White to his father, who has been named administrator of White’s estate in court documents that also indicate he has authority to pursue evidence for a possible wrongful death case. Gillian Cassell-Stiga, the attorney for White’s family, said she asked the city to maintain all documents related to White’s death.</p>
<p>“It’s pretty standard in any potential case to send a notice to preserve evidence,” Cassell-Stiga said in an email.</p>
<p>‘Unacceptable behavior’</p>
<p>The Capital-Journal filed open records requests in 2015 and 2016 to view body camera video of Carlisle-Simons, but those requests were denied.</p>
<p>At those times, Topeka Police Department legal adviser Luther Ganieany said releasing video could interfere with an investigation under review by the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office. In response to renewed efforts by The Capital-Journal to view the video following the White shooting, District Attorney Mike Kagay, who took office in January, confirmed his predecessor declined to file charges against Carlisle-Simons, who resigned while under investigation.</p>
<p>“I think that one of the things that needs to be kept in mind here (is) all the people involved in this process are no longer,” said interim TPD chief Bill Cochran. “Chad Taylor was the D.A. Chad Sublet was the city attorney. (James) Brown was the chief. The officer that was in question has resigned from the agency. I think those are important things to keep in mind.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
WATCH: Video Shows Kansas Police Officer’s Use of Force in Unlawful Arrest
| false |
https://studionewsnetwork.com/police-videos/watch-video-shows-kansas-police-officers-use-force-unlawful-arrest/
|
2017-12-19
| 3left-center
|
WATCH: Video Shows Kansas Police Officer’s Use of Force in Unlawful Arrest
<p>Kansas – When former Topeka police officer Jeremy Carlisle-Simons made the unlawful arrest in September 2014 that would lead to his departure from the force, he threw an uncooperative subject to the ground, screamed obscenities and pounded his fist into the man’s back.</p>
<p>The city of Topeka would pay $50,000 for his actions, contributing to more than $400,000 in total settlements and claims related to police activity since 2010.</p>
<p>As the threat of a civil lawsuit influences the city’s response to the fatal police shooting in September of Dominique White, a Kansas Open Records Act request by The Topeka Capital-Journal revealed dozens of payments ranging from $300,000 for a notorious shooting involving off-duty Topeka police officers to $16 for a driver’s license taken by an officer and never returned. The police department also agreed to provide a video of the Carlisle-Simons arrest, which hasn’t been seen publicly until now.</p>
<p>The video shows officers responding to a 911 hangup in the 1200 block of S.W. Washburn, where they confront Arthur Morris and Jeanie Becerra in their backyard. Carlisle-Simons tells a verbally combative Morris that police received a call from neighbors about a disturbance, which wasn’t true.</p>
<p>As shouting intensifies between Morris and Carlisle-Simons, the officer takes Morris to the ground and attempts to handcuff him. Face down with one hand cuffed, Morris resists attempts to cuff the other.</p>
<p>“Give me your goddamn arm, (expletive),” Carlisle-Simons says before repeatedly punching the man’s back.</p>
<p>Morris was arrested and convicted of disobeying a police order, disturbing the peace, assault on a law enforcement officer and interfering with law enforcement. Becerra was arrested in connection with disobeying a police officer and interference with law enforcement.</p>
<p>Their convictions were vacated after body camera video showed the police account wasn’t accurate.</p>
<p>Six months after the incident, Morris and Becerra filed a claim with the city, alleging they were assaulted, officers lacked probable cause to make the arrests and officers lied during court testimony. The Topeka City Council approved the payment.</p>
<p>Across all departments, the city since 2010 has paid more than $1 million in settlements and tort and medical claims. Additionally, the city has spent about $1 million to retain outside counsel to litigate cases. Hundreds of claims were rejected, and some from this year are pending.</p>
<p>Records show the city has paid $332,244 for two settlements and $76,078 for 44 claims involving police.</p>
<p>On Friday, the city showed video of police shooting White to his father, who has been named administrator of White’s estate in court documents that also indicate he has authority to pursue evidence for a possible wrongful death case. Gillian Cassell-Stiga, the attorney for White’s family, said she asked the city to maintain all documents related to White’s death.</p>
<p>“It’s pretty standard in any potential case to send a notice to preserve evidence,” Cassell-Stiga said in an email.</p>
<p>‘Unacceptable behavior’</p>
<p>The Capital-Journal filed open records requests in 2015 and 2016 to view body camera video of Carlisle-Simons, but those requests were denied.</p>
<p>At those times, Topeka Police Department legal adviser Luther Ganieany said releasing video could interfere with an investigation under review by the Shawnee County District Attorney’s Office. In response to renewed efforts by The Capital-Journal to view the video following the White shooting, District Attorney Mike Kagay, who took office in January, confirmed his predecessor declined to file charges against Carlisle-Simons, who resigned while under investigation.</p>
<p>“I think that one of the things that needs to be kept in mind here (is) all the people involved in this process are no longer,” said interim TPD chief Bill Cochran. “Chad Taylor was the D.A. Chad Sublet was the city attorney. (James) Brown was the chief. The officer that was in question has resigned from the agency. I think those are important things to keep in mind.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,035 |
<p />
<p>Barack Obama has captured the lion’s share of visible support among scientists, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/322/5902/658" type="external">reports AAAS</a>. “It’s an enthusiasm chasm,” says Michael Stebbins, president of the <a href="http://sefora.org/" type="external">Scientists and Engineers for America Action Fund</a>, which created a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/AVoteForScience" type="external">YouTube channel</a> for scientists to explain their choice. As of press time, 22 videos have been posted, all by Obama supporters.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Bernice Durand, a physicist who worked for antiwar candidate Eugene McCarthy in 1968, has jumped back into the political fray for Obama. Since September, she’s worked with more than three dozen scientists who’ve placed articles or letters in 50-plus newspapers in 20 states, most of them considered still up for grabs. The scientists have also appeared on radio shows and been interviewed by reporters covering the campaign. “On issues of science,” says Durand, “on support for research, and on [Obama’s] interactions with the scientific community, there’s no contest compared to McCain,” she says.</p>
<p>Nothing like the disaster of the past 8 years and <a href="/commentary/tomdispatch/2008/09/sarah-palins-holy-war-on-nature.html" type="external">the potential for so much worse</a> to motivate scientists to finally step out from behind the wall of science and claim their rightful—and much needed—voices in society.</p>
<p><a href="http://julia.whitty.googlepages.com/home" type="external">Julia Whitty</a> is Mother Jones’ environmental correspondent, <a href="http://julia.whitty.googlepages.com/juliawhittylectures" type="external">lecturer</a>, and 2008 winner of the <a href="http://julia.whitty.googlepages.com/penusaliteraryaward" type="external">PEN USA Literary Award</a>, the <a href="http://www.kiriyamaprize.org/pressroom/2008/pr_040108.html" type="external">Kiriyama Prize</a> and the <a href="http://www.research.amnh.org/burroughs/medal_award_list.html" type="external">John Burroughs Medal</a>.</p>
<p />
|
Scientists Vote Obama
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/11/scientists-vote-obama/
|
2008-11-04
| 4left
|
Scientists Vote Obama
<p />
<p>Barack Obama has captured the lion’s share of visible support among scientists, <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/322/5902/658" type="external">reports AAAS</a>. “It’s an enthusiasm chasm,” says Michael Stebbins, president of the <a href="http://sefora.org/" type="external">Scientists and Engineers for America Action Fund</a>, which created a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/AVoteForScience" type="external">YouTube channel</a> for scientists to explain their choice. As of press time, 22 videos have been posted, all by Obama supporters.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Bernice Durand, a physicist who worked for antiwar candidate Eugene McCarthy in 1968, has jumped back into the political fray for Obama. Since September, she’s worked with more than three dozen scientists who’ve placed articles or letters in 50-plus newspapers in 20 states, most of them considered still up for grabs. The scientists have also appeared on radio shows and been interviewed by reporters covering the campaign. “On issues of science,” says Durand, “on support for research, and on [Obama’s] interactions with the scientific community, there’s no contest compared to McCain,” she says.</p>
<p>Nothing like the disaster of the past 8 years and <a href="/commentary/tomdispatch/2008/09/sarah-palins-holy-war-on-nature.html" type="external">the potential for so much worse</a> to motivate scientists to finally step out from behind the wall of science and claim their rightful—and much needed—voices in society.</p>
<p><a href="http://julia.whitty.googlepages.com/home" type="external">Julia Whitty</a> is Mother Jones’ environmental correspondent, <a href="http://julia.whitty.googlepages.com/juliawhittylectures" type="external">lecturer</a>, and 2008 winner of the <a href="http://julia.whitty.googlepages.com/penusaliteraryaward" type="external">PEN USA Literary Award</a>, the <a href="http://www.kiriyamaprize.org/pressroom/2008/pr_040108.html" type="external">Kiriyama Prize</a> and the <a href="http://www.research.amnh.org/burroughs/medal_award_list.html" type="external">John Burroughs Medal</a>.</p>
<p />
| 6,036 |
<p><a href="http://www.calnewsroom.com/2014/11/05/sandra-fluke-headed-for-defeat-in-ca-state-senate-race/" type="external">Sandra Fluke</a>, the women’s rights activist who became a darling of the left after her national spat with conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, is expected to lose her campaign for State Senate.</p>
<p>Shortly after midnight with&#160;35.8 percent of precincts reporting,&#160;Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board Member Ben Allen held a nearly 2-1 lead over the Georgetown Law School graduate in the 26th Senate District. The Torrance-based seat was previously held by moderate Democrat Ted Lieu, who was winning his campaign to replace&#160;retiring Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Beverly Hills.</p>
<p>In February 2012, Fluke testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in support of a contraception mandate. Following that testimony, Limbaugh mocked the liberal activist on his nationally-syndicated radio program, calling her “a slut.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The 26th Senate district is exclusively in Los Angeles County and spans coastal communities from Santa Monica to the South Bay Peninsula. Democrats hold a commanding edge in voter registration, with independents outnumbering Republicans, according to voter registration information from Political Data, California’s largest provider of voter information. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, Brown carried the region by 22 percentage points.</p>
<p>In the June 3rd primary, Fluke and Allen finished&#160;atop a crowded field of&#160;seven Democrats and one non-partisan candidate. Without any Republicans in the race,&#160;law professor Seth Stodder, the lone non-partisan candidate, seemed&#160;almost guaranteed to be the top vote-getter in the first round in June.</p>
<p>However, Fluke wooed liberals in the&#160;coastal Los Angeles district with her national name recognition and <a href="http://www.dailybreeze.com/government-and-politics/20141104/election-2014-ben-allen-leads-sandra-fluke-in-early-voting-in-state-senate-race-to-represent-coastal-south-bay" type="external">more than $1 million</a> in campaign spending.</p>
|
State Senate 26: Sandra Fluke losing to Ben Allen
| false |
https://calwatchdog.com/2014/11/05/state-senate-26-sandra-fluke-losing-to-ben-allen/
|
2018-11-20
| 3left-center
|
State Senate 26: Sandra Fluke losing to Ben Allen
<p><a href="http://www.calnewsroom.com/2014/11/05/sandra-fluke-headed-for-defeat-in-ca-state-senate-race/" type="external">Sandra Fluke</a>, the women’s rights activist who became a darling of the left after her national spat with conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, is expected to lose her campaign for State Senate.</p>
<p>Shortly after midnight with&#160;35.8 percent of precincts reporting,&#160;Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board Member Ben Allen held a nearly 2-1 lead over the Georgetown Law School graduate in the 26th Senate District. The Torrance-based seat was previously held by moderate Democrat Ted Lieu, who was winning his campaign to replace&#160;retiring Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Beverly Hills.</p>
<p>In February 2012, Fluke testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in support of a contraception mandate. Following that testimony, Limbaugh mocked the liberal activist on his nationally-syndicated radio program, calling her “a slut.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The 26th Senate district is exclusively in Los Angeles County and spans coastal communities from Santa Monica to the South Bay Peninsula. Democrats hold a commanding edge in voter registration, with independents outnumbering Republicans, according to voter registration information from Political Data, California’s largest provider of voter information. In the 2010 gubernatorial election, Brown carried the region by 22 percentage points.</p>
<p>In the June 3rd primary, Fluke and Allen finished&#160;atop a crowded field of&#160;seven Democrats and one non-partisan candidate. Without any Republicans in the race,&#160;law professor Seth Stodder, the lone non-partisan candidate, seemed&#160;almost guaranteed to be the top vote-getter in the first round in June.</p>
<p>However, Fluke wooed liberals in the&#160;coastal Los Angeles district with her national name recognition and <a href="http://www.dailybreeze.com/government-and-politics/20141104/election-2014-ben-allen-leads-sandra-fluke-in-early-voting-in-state-senate-race-to-represent-coastal-south-bay" type="external">more than $1 million</a> in campaign spending.</p>
| 6,037 |
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-2874744/stock-photo-silicon-valley-office-park-mountain-view-california.html?src=BkVfNMLQQbBdukjDvq1jaQ-1-22"&gt;Hank Shiffman&lt;/a&gt;/Shutterstock</p>
<p />
<p>The wars of the future will be fought over clichés.</p>
<p>Last week, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/23/ten-things-that-arent-panaceas/" type="external">WonkBlog</a>‘s Brad Plumer took aim at one of the soundbite industry’s most pernicious crutches—describing a good-but-not-gamechanging thing as “not a panacea.” Plumer was right to criticize “not a panacea,” but “nondescript office park” and “nondescript office building,” are just as common—and just as bad. Office buildings and office parks are as a rule architecturally bland, so there’s no reason to point it out. Moreover, there’s nothing counterintuitive about an interesting project that’s housed in a boring building. If news reports are any guide, interesting projects are often housed in boring buildings.</p>
<p>In the interest of killing this cliché, here is a comprehensive list of all the things the New York Times has reported are housed in a “nondescript” office space:</p>
<p>Ban clichés.</p>
<p />
|
Stop Calling Office Parks “Nondescript”
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/stop-calling-office-parks-nondescript/
|
2014-01-30
| 4left
|
Stop Calling Office Parks “Nondescript”
<p>&lt;a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-2874744/stock-photo-silicon-valley-office-park-mountain-view-california.html?src=BkVfNMLQQbBdukjDvq1jaQ-1-22"&gt;Hank Shiffman&lt;/a&gt;/Shutterstock</p>
<p />
<p>The wars of the future will be fought over clichés.</p>
<p>Last week, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/23/ten-things-that-arent-panaceas/" type="external">WonkBlog</a>‘s Brad Plumer took aim at one of the soundbite industry’s most pernicious crutches—describing a good-but-not-gamechanging thing as “not a panacea.” Plumer was right to criticize “not a panacea,” but “nondescript office park” and “nondescript office building,” are just as common—and just as bad. Office buildings and office parks are as a rule architecturally bland, so there’s no reason to point it out. Moreover, there’s nothing counterintuitive about an interesting project that’s housed in a boring building. If news reports are any guide, interesting projects are often housed in boring buildings.</p>
<p>In the interest of killing this cliché, here is a comprehensive list of all the things the New York Times has reported are housed in a “nondescript” office space:</p>
<p>Ban clichés.</p>
<p />
| 6,038 |
<p>Secretary of State&#160; <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/01/277493.htm" type="external">Rex Tillerson gave a talk</a>&#160;Wednesday at the right wing Hoover Institution that hovers over Stanford University, in which he committed to a Forever War in Syria. The talk was a mishmash of incompatible talking points and full of inaccurate and tendentious assertions, but its most troubling feature was the determination to keep US troops in Eastern Syria over the long haul.</p>
<p>Some 60% of career diplomats have fled the State Department in the past year, as Tillerson seems intent on destroying the institution he leads. The lack of any real expertise on Syria is obvious in his erroneous talking points.</p>
<p>Tillerson laid out five strategic goals in Syria, what he called “end states”:</p>
<p>First, ISIS and al-Qaida in Syria suffer an enduring defeat, do not present a threat to the homeland, and do not resurface in a new form; that Syria never again serves as a platform or safe haven for terrorists to organize, recruit, finance, train and carry out attacks on American citizens at home or abroad or against our allies.</p>
<p />
<p>Second, the underlying conflict between the Syrian people and the Assad regime is resolved through a UN-led political process prescribed in UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and a stable, unified, independent Syria, under post-Assad leadership, is functioning as a state.</p>
<p>Third, Iranian influence in Syria is diminished, their dreams of a northern arch are denied, and Syria’s neighbors are secure from all threats emanating from Syria.</p>
<p>Fourth, conditions are created so that the refugees and IDPs can begin to safely and voluntarily return to Syria.</p>
<p>And fifth, Syria is free of weapons of mass destruction.</p>
<p>The problem is that most of these goals cannot be attained at all, and several of them can be attained only if others are not.</p>
<p>The United States only has some 2,000 special forces operatives in eastern Syria, which is not a big enough force to police the country against rump ISIL cells. US troops are embedded with the leftist Kurdish YPG militia, which is friendly to the US at the moment and hates ISIL, and which has done the heavy lifting in defeating ISIL in Raqqa Province (along with contributions to its south in Deir al-Zor from al-Assad’s Syrian Arab Army). The YPG can be depended upon to fight ISIL wherever it crops up, but only in areas adjacent to its population and power base in the Jazira, of northeastern Syria.</p>
<p>Since the al-Assad regime has won the civil war, it does not feel it needs to make a grand political compromise with the rebels, who only have three significant pockets of resistance left: Idlib Province in the north, the East Ghouta neighborhood in the vicinity of Damascus, and Deraa south of the capital. All together, these three account for about 2 million people. The YPG Kurds of the north and northeast constitute another 2 million, but they are not rebels against the regime per se and probably would be willing to rejoin Syria if it were reformulated as a federal state with substantial states’ rights. They also now rule over about a million Arab Syrians in Raqqa. So the remnants of the rebels rule about 11 percent of the some 18 million Syrians still inside the country. The YPG Kurds have about 16 percent of the population. That is 27%. Let’s say there are rebel pockets amounting to another 3%, giving the regime 70% of the population. Tillerson says Damascus only rules half the territory, but that statistic is irrelevant since the eastern desert is thinly populated It is like the US government losing control of Wyoming, which is a big place but, no offense, few people live there. And remember that the 11% that is Kurds, while they are not under government control, have been willing to cooperate with the Syrian Arab Army against the Arab fundamentalists and would likely do a deal with Damascus if the US left.</p>
<p>Not only does the al-Assad regime have 70% of the population (and potentially 81%), but it has all the major urban centers that account for most of the economy–Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Latakia, and Damascus. It has the major port, Latakia, and can blockade rural hinterland pockets in Idlib and Deraa.</p>
<p>Tillerson’s depiction of the al-Assad regime as having only half the cards is simply incorrect, and it leads him to over-estimate the strength of the American hand. Al-Assad does not have to go under these circumstances, and will not. In fact, the survival of the Idlib, East Ghouta and Deraa pockets is in serious doubt. Over 120,000 people have fled north toward Turkey from the current Idlib campaign just in the past month.</p>
<p>The United States has no lever to reduce Iranian influence in Syria.</p>
<p>Syria does not have weapons of mass destruction. The Russians helped sequester or destroy most of its chemical weapons, which is what this weaselly term means. It still has a small storehouse of sarin gas, about which the US probably can do nothing. Where the regime uses it in mopping up rebel pockets, as it did last spring, the Trump administration has shown that it will intervene with missile attacks. These strikes, however, had no follow-through and are relatively ineffectual.</p>
<p>As for the return of the Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, that process has already begun as the al-Assad regime has reestablished control over much of the economically productive parts of the country.&#160; <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/12/27/world/social-issues-world/syrian-refugees-lebanon-drop-1-million-first-time-since-2014-unhcr/#.WmAx70tOmL0" type="external">Several thousand refugees</a>&#160;have returned from Lebanon in the past three months.</p>
<p>What will interfere in that process is the US keeping the pot boiling by promoting continued instability in Syria.</p>
<p>I can’t go into all the contradictions in this policy. Tillerson names al-Qaeda in the northwest as another target for US intervention. But complains about the regimes operations against the al-Qaeda affiliate there! When attacking the Damascus regime, Tillerson lionizes the rebels who rose up against it. But he downplays that some of them became extremists except when casting about for some reason to stay in Syria.</p>
<p>Tillerson tried to mollify Turkey, but did not really address Ankara’s outrage about his plans to create a permanent 30,000 strong US-armed Kurdish militia in Syria. He said that this plan has been overblown in the press, and simply aims at training Kurds to patrol the border with Iraq and prevent ISIL from returning. But if he is planning to train and arm 30,000 such border police, well, that is precisely what Turkey was complaining about.</p>
<p>The Trump administration is playing an extremely dangerous game here. Those US troops in eastern Syria are sitting ducks if Turkey turns on them. They are far from any support base (if you exclude Incirlik in Turkey, Baghdad’s Command, with only 6,000 troops, is the closest). They are surrounded by hostile forces–Hizbullah, Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the Syrian Arab Army, Iraqi Shiite militias, and potentially the Turkish army and intelligence. And no one among the neighbors with the possible exception of Baghdad wants them there.</p>
<p>This policy is a mishmash, and premised on fake statistics and contradictory goals.</p>
<p>——–</p>
<p>Related video:</p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/3a5p1rnJefk" type="external">AP: “Tillerson: U.S. Military Will Remain In Syria”</a></p>
<p />
|
Trump Administration Commits to Forever War Against Iran in Syria
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/trump-administration-commits-forever-war-iran-syria/
|
2018-01-18
| 4left
|
Trump Administration Commits to Forever War Against Iran in Syria
<p>Secretary of State&#160; <a href="https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2018/01/277493.htm" type="external">Rex Tillerson gave a talk</a>&#160;Wednesday at the right wing Hoover Institution that hovers over Stanford University, in which he committed to a Forever War in Syria. The talk was a mishmash of incompatible talking points and full of inaccurate and tendentious assertions, but its most troubling feature was the determination to keep US troops in Eastern Syria over the long haul.</p>
<p>Some 60% of career diplomats have fled the State Department in the past year, as Tillerson seems intent on destroying the institution he leads. The lack of any real expertise on Syria is obvious in his erroneous talking points.</p>
<p>Tillerson laid out five strategic goals in Syria, what he called “end states”:</p>
<p>First, ISIS and al-Qaida in Syria suffer an enduring defeat, do not present a threat to the homeland, and do not resurface in a new form; that Syria never again serves as a platform or safe haven for terrorists to organize, recruit, finance, train and carry out attacks on American citizens at home or abroad or against our allies.</p>
<p />
<p>Second, the underlying conflict between the Syrian people and the Assad regime is resolved through a UN-led political process prescribed in UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and a stable, unified, independent Syria, under post-Assad leadership, is functioning as a state.</p>
<p>Third, Iranian influence in Syria is diminished, their dreams of a northern arch are denied, and Syria’s neighbors are secure from all threats emanating from Syria.</p>
<p>Fourth, conditions are created so that the refugees and IDPs can begin to safely and voluntarily return to Syria.</p>
<p>And fifth, Syria is free of weapons of mass destruction.</p>
<p>The problem is that most of these goals cannot be attained at all, and several of them can be attained only if others are not.</p>
<p>The United States only has some 2,000 special forces operatives in eastern Syria, which is not a big enough force to police the country against rump ISIL cells. US troops are embedded with the leftist Kurdish YPG militia, which is friendly to the US at the moment and hates ISIL, and which has done the heavy lifting in defeating ISIL in Raqqa Province (along with contributions to its south in Deir al-Zor from al-Assad’s Syrian Arab Army). The YPG can be depended upon to fight ISIL wherever it crops up, but only in areas adjacent to its population and power base in the Jazira, of northeastern Syria.</p>
<p>Since the al-Assad regime has won the civil war, it does not feel it needs to make a grand political compromise with the rebels, who only have three significant pockets of resistance left: Idlib Province in the north, the East Ghouta neighborhood in the vicinity of Damascus, and Deraa south of the capital. All together, these three account for about 2 million people. The YPG Kurds of the north and northeast constitute another 2 million, but they are not rebels against the regime per se and probably would be willing to rejoin Syria if it were reformulated as a federal state with substantial states’ rights. They also now rule over about a million Arab Syrians in Raqqa. So the remnants of the rebels rule about 11 percent of the some 18 million Syrians still inside the country. The YPG Kurds have about 16 percent of the population. That is 27%. Let’s say there are rebel pockets amounting to another 3%, giving the regime 70% of the population. Tillerson says Damascus only rules half the territory, but that statistic is irrelevant since the eastern desert is thinly populated It is like the US government losing control of Wyoming, which is a big place but, no offense, few people live there. And remember that the 11% that is Kurds, while they are not under government control, have been willing to cooperate with the Syrian Arab Army against the Arab fundamentalists and would likely do a deal with Damascus if the US left.</p>
<p>Not only does the al-Assad regime have 70% of the population (and potentially 81%), but it has all the major urban centers that account for most of the economy–Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Latakia, and Damascus. It has the major port, Latakia, and can blockade rural hinterland pockets in Idlib and Deraa.</p>
<p>Tillerson’s depiction of the al-Assad regime as having only half the cards is simply incorrect, and it leads him to over-estimate the strength of the American hand. Al-Assad does not have to go under these circumstances, and will not. In fact, the survival of the Idlib, East Ghouta and Deraa pockets is in serious doubt. Over 120,000 people have fled north toward Turkey from the current Idlib campaign just in the past month.</p>
<p>The United States has no lever to reduce Iranian influence in Syria.</p>
<p>Syria does not have weapons of mass destruction. The Russians helped sequester or destroy most of its chemical weapons, which is what this weaselly term means. It still has a small storehouse of sarin gas, about which the US probably can do nothing. Where the regime uses it in mopping up rebel pockets, as it did last spring, the Trump administration has shown that it will intervene with missile attacks. These strikes, however, had no follow-through and are relatively ineffectual.</p>
<p>As for the return of the Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey, that process has already begun as the al-Assad regime has reestablished control over much of the economically productive parts of the country.&#160; <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/12/27/world/social-issues-world/syrian-refugees-lebanon-drop-1-million-first-time-since-2014-unhcr/#.WmAx70tOmL0" type="external">Several thousand refugees</a>&#160;have returned from Lebanon in the past three months.</p>
<p>What will interfere in that process is the US keeping the pot boiling by promoting continued instability in Syria.</p>
<p>I can’t go into all the contradictions in this policy. Tillerson names al-Qaeda in the northwest as another target for US intervention. But complains about the regimes operations against the al-Qaeda affiliate there! When attacking the Damascus regime, Tillerson lionizes the rebels who rose up against it. But he downplays that some of them became extremists except when casting about for some reason to stay in Syria.</p>
<p>Tillerson tried to mollify Turkey, but did not really address Ankara’s outrage about his plans to create a permanent 30,000 strong US-armed Kurdish militia in Syria. He said that this plan has been overblown in the press, and simply aims at training Kurds to patrol the border with Iraq and prevent ISIL from returning. But if he is planning to train and arm 30,000 such border police, well, that is precisely what Turkey was complaining about.</p>
<p>The Trump administration is playing an extremely dangerous game here. Those US troops in eastern Syria are sitting ducks if Turkey turns on them. They are far from any support base (if you exclude Incirlik in Turkey, Baghdad’s Command, with only 6,000 troops, is the closest). They are surrounded by hostile forces–Hizbullah, Iranian Revolutionary Guards, the Syrian Arab Army, Iraqi Shiite militias, and potentially the Turkish army and intelligence. And no one among the neighbors with the possible exception of Baghdad wants them there.</p>
<p>This policy is a mishmash, and premised on fake statistics and contradictory goals.</p>
<p>——–</p>
<p>Related video:</p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/3a5p1rnJefk" type="external">AP: “Tillerson: U.S. Military Will Remain In Syria”</a></p>
<p />
| 6,039 |
<p>By my measure, in the <a href="" type="internal">death race</a> to see who can turn their credibility into the finest of dust, it looks as though CNN ( <a href="" type="internal">which is Hitler</a>) anchor Jake Tapper has taken the lead against <a href="" type="internal">the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza</a>. Tuesday afternoon on "The Lead," Tapper looked equal parts furious and frustrated as Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson tried not to laugh in his face as the left-wing anchor once again gave racist David Duke a national platform.</p>
<p>Then Tapper just outright lied…</p>
<p>After Pierson blasted Tapper over his bizarre David Duke-fetish, Pierson added:</p>
<p>People who want to control the border are labeled racists and bigots. People who want to stop ISIS from coming into their communities are called Islamophobic.</p>
<p>Tapper replied with this bright, shining, snarky whopper:</p>
<p>Katrina… no one has called people who don’t want ISIS to move into their neighborhood Islamophobic. That has never happened in the history of the world.</p>
<p>What Tapper is doing here is what I call "Peak Phony Fact-Checking." It is the devious and deceptive art of hyper-literalism. Everyone, including Tapper (who is many things but not stupid), knows what Pierson meant -- she's talking about everyday Americans rightly concerned over these un-vetted refugees coming in from failed terrorist states. ISIS has promised to seed these refugees with its own fighters and has done so successfully (and tragically) in Europe.</p>
<p>We know Pierson meant this because she says so right after Tapper tells his "history of the world" lie.</p>
<p>Watch the video. It is GLORIOUS.</p>
<p>Note how Tapper talks over her when Pierson clarifies her point with this, "That is absolutely what they are talking about. If you speak out against bringing in Syrian refugees you are a bigot."</p>
<p>Tapper talks over her because he doesn't want her to be allowed to make her point, which of course is 100% accurate.</p>
<p>It is simply a fact that Americans concerned with ISIS sneaking a terrorist-fighter into their neighborhood have been smeared as racist and Islamophobic.</p>
<p>It is simply a fact that Americans concerned with ISIS sneaking a terrorist-fighter into their neighborhood have been smeared as racist and Islamophobic. Obama and Hillary's zeal to import these refugees from failed states where they cannot be vetted, has every reasonable person concerned, and it is also a fact that Tapper's own employer, CNN ( <a href="http://therightscoop.com/pathetic-cnn-commentator-equates-american-christians-to-the-muslim-brotherhood/" type="external">which is Hitler</a>), has led the charge in smearing these everyday citizens.</p>
<p>One example…</p>
<p>Here is CNN ( <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/politics/thomas-dimassimo-donald-trump-protester-interview/" type="external">which is Hitler</a>) anchor Chris Cuomo back in November. He outright compared everyday Americans to Nazi-era anti-Semites:</p>
<p>[Trump] is playing into a “Us versus Them” mentality. Look at the numbers on the Syrian refugees. Look at what the American people say [Only 28% support Obama’s plan to resettle 10,000 Syrian refuges]. We haven’t seen numbers like this in America since 1938, when people were obviously desperate, obviously running for their lives; and yet the fear of what they may mean to the United States overcame any of the rationality of that fear in and of itself. Fifty-three percent are with him. Fifty-three percent believe it’s “Us versus Them,” and Donald plays into it very well, he believes it as much as they do.</p>
<p>Cuomo is referring to a poll from 1938 that showed 61% of Americans wanted Jewish refugees <a href="http://www.snopes.com/2015/11/17/harvard-crimson-jewish-refugees/" type="external">sent back to Nazi Germany</a>. It should be noted that the comparison is apples and oranges. Refusing these Jews was naked anti-Semitism. No one was concerned with terrorist-Nazis slipping in with them.</p>
<p>In service to Hillary Clinton, Jake Tapper, once one of our only credible newsmen, has <a href="" type="internal">repeatedly</a> debased <a href="" type="internal">himself</a>.</p>
<p>Sad!</p>
<p>See the Matrix</p>
<p>Donald Trump and his campaign have repeatedly denounced racist David Duke. Repeatedly! So why does CNN ( <a href="http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2012/04/06/cnn-walks-it-back-oops-zimmerman-didnt-say-coon-he-said-it-was-cold" type="external">which is Hitler</a>) keep bringing him up? There are two reasons.</p>
<p>CNN (which is Hitler) is never happier than when a predominantly black neighborhood goes up in flames.</p>
<p>1. Obviously to damage Trump through smear-by-association, which is once again allowed in the post-President WrightAyers era. The second reason is even more hideous.</p>
<p>2. Since the arrival of Jeff Zucker, CNN ( <a href="" type="internal">which is Hitler</a>) has fully committed itself to fomenting an era of racial division and political violence. David Duke was a forgotten figure. He was on the proverbial ash-bin of history where all racist garbage belongs. It is CNN ( <a href="" type="internal">which is Hitler</a>), it is Tapper and his ilk, who are intentionally rehabilitating this scumbag as a national figure. CNN ( <a href="" type="internal">which is Hitler</a>) is never happier than when a predominantly black neighborhood goes up in flames.</p>
<p>By once again making Duke a prominent national figure, CNN ( <a href="" type="internal">which is Hitler</a>) furthers that wicked political goal.</p>
<p>CNN is evil, and…</p>
<p>Evil's gunna evil.</p>
<p>Follow John Nolte on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/NolteNC" type="external">@NolteNC</a></p>
|
Jake Tapper Tells the Biggest Lie 'In the History of the World'
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/9143/jake-tapper-tells-biggest-lie-history-world-john-nolte
|
2016-09-14
| 0right
|
Jake Tapper Tells the Biggest Lie 'In the History of the World'
<p>By my measure, in the <a href="" type="internal">death race</a> to see who can turn their credibility into the finest of dust, it looks as though CNN ( <a href="" type="internal">which is Hitler</a>) anchor Jake Tapper has taken the lead against <a href="" type="internal">the Washington Post's Chris Cillizza</a>. Tuesday afternoon on "The Lead," Tapper looked equal parts furious and frustrated as Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson tried not to laugh in his face as the left-wing anchor once again gave racist David Duke a national platform.</p>
<p>Then Tapper just outright lied…</p>
<p>After Pierson blasted Tapper over his bizarre David Duke-fetish, Pierson added:</p>
<p>People who want to control the border are labeled racists and bigots. People who want to stop ISIS from coming into their communities are called Islamophobic.</p>
<p>Tapper replied with this bright, shining, snarky whopper:</p>
<p>Katrina… no one has called people who don’t want ISIS to move into their neighborhood Islamophobic. That has never happened in the history of the world.</p>
<p>What Tapper is doing here is what I call "Peak Phony Fact-Checking." It is the devious and deceptive art of hyper-literalism. Everyone, including Tapper (who is many things but not stupid), knows what Pierson meant -- she's talking about everyday Americans rightly concerned over these un-vetted refugees coming in from failed terrorist states. ISIS has promised to seed these refugees with its own fighters and has done so successfully (and tragically) in Europe.</p>
<p>We know Pierson meant this because she says so right after Tapper tells his "history of the world" lie.</p>
<p>Watch the video. It is GLORIOUS.</p>
<p>Note how Tapper talks over her when Pierson clarifies her point with this, "That is absolutely what they are talking about. If you speak out against bringing in Syrian refugees you are a bigot."</p>
<p>Tapper talks over her because he doesn't want her to be allowed to make her point, which of course is 100% accurate.</p>
<p>It is simply a fact that Americans concerned with ISIS sneaking a terrorist-fighter into their neighborhood have been smeared as racist and Islamophobic.</p>
<p>It is simply a fact that Americans concerned with ISIS sneaking a terrorist-fighter into their neighborhood have been smeared as racist and Islamophobic. Obama and Hillary's zeal to import these refugees from failed states where they cannot be vetted, has every reasonable person concerned, and it is also a fact that Tapper's own employer, CNN ( <a href="http://therightscoop.com/pathetic-cnn-commentator-equates-american-christians-to-the-muslim-brotherhood/" type="external">which is Hitler</a>), has led the charge in smearing these everyday citizens.</p>
<p>One example…</p>
<p>Here is CNN ( <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/13/politics/thomas-dimassimo-donald-trump-protester-interview/" type="external">which is Hitler</a>) anchor Chris Cuomo back in November. He outright compared everyday Americans to Nazi-era anti-Semites:</p>
<p>[Trump] is playing into a “Us versus Them” mentality. Look at the numbers on the Syrian refugees. Look at what the American people say [Only 28% support Obama’s plan to resettle 10,000 Syrian refuges]. We haven’t seen numbers like this in America since 1938, when people were obviously desperate, obviously running for their lives; and yet the fear of what they may mean to the United States overcame any of the rationality of that fear in and of itself. Fifty-three percent are with him. Fifty-three percent believe it’s “Us versus Them,” and Donald plays into it very well, he believes it as much as they do.</p>
<p>Cuomo is referring to a poll from 1938 that showed 61% of Americans wanted Jewish refugees <a href="http://www.snopes.com/2015/11/17/harvard-crimson-jewish-refugees/" type="external">sent back to Nazi Germany</a>. It should be noted that the comparison is apples and oranges. Refusing these Jews was naked anti-Semitism. No one was concerned with terrorist-Nazis slipping in with them.</p>
<p>In service to Hillary Clinton, Jake Tapper, once one of our only credible newsmen, has <a href="" type="internal">repeatedly</a> debased <a href="" type="internal">himself</a>.</p>
<p>Sad!</p>
<p>See the Matrix</p>
<p>Donald Trump and his campaign have repeatedly denounced racist David Duke. Repeatedly! So why does CNN ( <a href="http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2012/04/06/cnn-walks-it-back-oops-zimmerman-didnt-say-coon-he-said-it-was-cold" type="external">which is Hitler</a>) keep bringing him up? There are two reasons.</p>
<p>CNN (which is Hitler) is never happier than when a predominantly black neighborhood goes up in flames.</p>
<p>1. Obviously to damage Trump through smear-by-association, which is once again allowed in the post-President WrightAyers era. The second reason is even more hideous.</p>
<p>2. Since the arrival of Jeff Zucker, CNN ( <a href="" type="internal">which is Hitler</a>) has fully committed itself to fomenting an era of racial division and political violence. David Duke was a forgotten figure. He was on the proverbial ash-bin of history where all racist garbage belongs. It is CNN ( <a href="" type="internal">which is Hitler</a>), it is Tapper and his ilk, who are intentionally rehabilitating this scumbag as a national figure. CNN ( <a href="" type="internal">which is Hitler</a>) is never happier than when a predominantly black neighborhood goes up in flames.</p>
<p>By once again making Duke a prominent national figure, CNN ( <a href="" type="internal">which is Hitler</a>) furthers that wicked political goal.</p>
<p>CNN is evil, and…</p>
<p>Evil's gunna evil.</p>
<p>Follow John Nolte on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/NolteNC" type="external">@NolteNC</a></p>
| 6,040 |
<p>AUSTIN, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 27, 2016: U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks to a large crowd of over 10,000 people at the Circuit of the Americas.Photo Credit: David Gilder/Shutterstock</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/bernie-sanders" type="external">Bernie Sanders</a>&#160;has criticised the Democratic party’s current direction as “an absolute failure” in a speech at the People’s Summit in Chicago.</p>
<p>Speaking to a crowd of 4,000 activists, Sanders hailed the “enormous progress in advancing the progressive agenda”, saying the increasing&#160; <a href="//www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/majority-senate-democrats-bernie-sanders-15-minimum-wage-bill_us_592709ebe4b0265790f5f2d0" type="external">House and Senate support</a>&#160;for a $15 minimum wage and the opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership showed the success of the movement.</p>
<p>But the Vermont senator said that establishment&#160; <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/democrats" type="external">Democrats</a>&#160;were standing in the way of further progress.</p>
<p>“The current model and the current strategy of the Democratic party is an absolute failure,” Sanders said.</p>
<p>“The Democratic party needs fundamental change. What it needs is to open up its doors to working people, and young people, and older people who are prepared to fight for social and economic justice.</p>
<p>“The Democratic party must understand what side it is on. And that cannot be the side of Wall Street, or the fossil fuel industry, or the drug companies.”</p>
<p>Sanders’s speech was rapturously received at the&#160; <a href="https://www.thepeoplessummit.org/" type="external">People’s Summit</a>, a gathering of some of the most influential progressive activists and organizations in the country.</p>
<p>There had been an urgency to the event on Friday and Saturday around building on the momentum of Sanders’s presidential campaign, with a focus on encouraging people from different backgrounds to run for office around the country.</p>
<p>Against that backdrop, Sanders’s criticism of the Democratic party as out-of-touch and elitist appeared to ring true for activists at the summit, including those who are planning to run for office for the first time in the coming months.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/225597/brandy-h-m-brooks-progressive-power-for-the-people-of-montgomery-county" type="external">Brandy Brooks</a>, who is running in the Democratic primary for the Montgomery County council in Maryland, told the Guardian that until recently she “didn’t think politics was for someone like me”.</p>
<p>“I am a short, black, slightly overweight-ish woman,” Brooks said.</p>
<p>“I’m not a person who’s been in law, not a person who’s ever run for office, I’m not hooked up with party infrastructure.”</p>
<p>Brooks is running on a progressive agenda that includes providing better housing for those in need, improving public transport and increasing the wage. She said her run for office was inspired, in part, as a response to Trump’s victory, but that she also felt an obligation to show other people of color what was possible – and in doing so create the kind of diversity Sanders addressed in his speech.</p>
<p>“I’m running because communities around the county have been told to think of themselves as not enough. As not worth anything. I am running first and foremost to counter that,” Brooks said.</p>
<p>One purpose of the summit, which is in its second year, is to provide training to people, such as Brooks, who want to run for office. A session called “down-ballot revolutionaries” featured Khalid Kamau, a Black Lives Matter activist&#160; <a href="//www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/khalid-kamau-bernie-sanders-south-fulton-city-council_us_58f77c2de4b05b9d613f086d" type="external">who was elected to city council</a>&#160;in South Fulton, Georgia, in April.</p>
<p>Kamau, who Sanders name-checked in his speech, was backed by Our Revolution and People for Bernie – two of the co-hosts of the People’s Summit – and said that was crucial to his success.</p>
<p>“If you can get backing from groups, revolutionaries from around the world will donate money and make phone calls,” Kamau said.</p>
<p>Other organizations are providing political hopefuls with more hands-on support.&#160; <a href="https://peoplesaction.org/about/values/" type="external">People’s Action</a>, an activist group with a presence in more than 35 states, offers training on how to run for office. Laurel Wales, deputy director of movement politics at People’s Action, said the number of people wanting to run had increased dramatically since Donald Trump became president.</p>
<p>“After the election of Trump I went to Pennsylvania to do a training,” she said. “We were originally going to set the training cap at 30, and we had over 85 people show up.”</p>
<p>While a desire to negate Trump’s policies has been a big motivator, Wales said the president had inspired people in other ways.</p>
<p>“With Trump, it’s like: ‘If he could run and win, then I can too.’”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MarthaLugoforAuroraCityCouncil/" type="external">Martha Lugo</a>&#160;is among the beneficiaries of that People’s Action training. Lugo, who is running as a Democrat for city council in Aurora, Colorado, said it “took a while to wake up and look up” in terms of becoming involved in politics.</p>
<p>She said she was inspired to run, in part, by the white-dominated city council in Aurora – a city where 28.9% of the population are Hispanic and 15.7% African American.</p>
<p>“You look at folks and think why isn’t there anybody on this city council who looks like me? Who looks Latino, who looks African American?” she said.</p>
|
Bernie Sanders Lambasts 'Absolute Failure' of Democratic Party's Strategy
| true |
http://alternet.org/human-rights/bernie-sanders-lambasts-absolute-failure-democratic-partys-strategy
|
2017-06-11
| 4left
|
Bernie Sanders Lambasts 'Absolute Failure' of Democratic Party's Strategy
<p>AUSTIN, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 27, 2016: U.S. presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks to a large crowd of over 10,000 people at the Circuit of the Americas.Photo Credit: David Gilder/Shutterstock</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/bernie-sanders" type="external">Bernie Sanders</a>&#160;has criticised the Democratic party’s current direction as “an absolute failure” in a speech at the People’s Summit in Chicago.</p>
<p>Speaking to a crowd of 4,000 activists, Sanders hailed the “enormous progress in advancing the progressive agenda”, saying the increasing&#160; <a href="//www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/majority-senate-democrats-bernie-sanders-15-minimum-wage-bill_us_592709ebe4b0265790f5f2d0" type="external">House and Senate support</a>&#160;for a $15 minimum wage and the opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership showed the success of the movement.</p>
<p>But the Vermont senator said that establishment&#160; <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/democrats" type="external">Democrats</a>&#160;were standing in the way of further progress.</p>
<p>“The current model and the current strategy of the Democratic party is an absolute failure,” Sanders said.</p>
<p>“The Democratic party needs fundamental change. What it needs is to open up its doors to working people, and young people, and older people who are prepared to fight for social and economic justice.</p>
<p>“The Democratic party must understand what side it is on. And that cannot be the side of Wall Street, or the fossil fuel industry, or the drug companies.”</p>
<p>Sanders’s speech was rapturously received at the&#160; <a href="https://www.thepeoplessummit.org/" type="external">People’s Summit</a>, a gathering of some of the most influential progressive activists and organizations in the country.</p>
<p>There had been an urgency to the event on Friday and Saturday around building on the momentum of Sanders’s presidential campaign, with a focus on encouraging people from different backgrounds to run for office around the country.</p>
<p>Against that backdrop, Sanders’s criticism of the Democratic party as out-of-touch and elitist appeared to ring true for activists at the summit, including those who are planning to run for office for the first time in the coming months.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.crowdpac.com/campaigns/225597/brandy-h-m-brooks-progressive-power-for-the-people-of-montgomery-county" type="external">Brandy Brooks</a>, who is running in the Democratic primary for the Montgomery County council in Maryland, told the Guardian that until recently she “didn’t think politics was for someone like me”.</p>
<p>“I am a short, black, slightly overweight-ish woman,” Brooks said.</p>
<p>“I’m not a person who’s been in law, not a person who’s ever run for office, I’m not hooked up with party infrastructure.”</p>
<p>Brooks is running on a progressive agenda that includes providing better housing for those in need, improving public transport and increasing the wage. She said her run for office was inspired, in part, as a response to Trump’s victory, but that she also felt an obligation to show other people of color what was possible – and in doing so create the kind of diversity Sanders addressed in his speech.</p>
<p>“I’m running because communities around the county have been told to think of themselves as not enough. As not worth anything. I am running first and foremost to counter that,” Brooks said.</p>
<p>One purpose of the summit, which is in its second year, is to provide training to people, such as Brooks, who want to run for office. A session called “down-ballot revolutionaries” featured Khalid Kamau, a Black Lives Matter activist&#160; <a href="//www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/khalid-kamau-bernie-sanders-south-fulton-city-council_us_58f77c2de4b05b9d613f086d" type="external">who was elected to city council</a>&#160;in South Fulton, Georgia, in April.</p>
<p>Kamau, who Sanders name-checked in his speech, was backed by Our Revolution and People for Bernie – two of the co-hosts of the People’s Summit – and said that was crucial to his success.</p>
<p>“If you can get backing from groups, revolutionaries from around the world will donate money and make phone calls,” Kamau said.</p>
<p>Other organizations are providing political hopefuls with more hands-on support.&#160; <a href="https://peoplesaction.org/about/values/" type="external">People’s Action</a>, an activist group with a presence in more than 35 states, offers training on how to run for office. Laurel Wales, deputy director of movement politics at People’s Action, said the number of people wanting to run had increased dramatically since Donald Trump became president.</p>
<p>“After the election of Trump I went to Pennsylvania to do a training,” she said. “We were originally going to set the training cap at 30, and we had over 85 people show up.”</p>
<p>While a desire to negate Trump’s policies has been a big motivator, Wales said the president had inspired people in other ways.</p>
<p>“With Trump, it’s like: ‘If he could run and win, then I can too.’”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MarthaLugoforAuroraCityCouncil/" type="external">Martha Lugo</a>&#160;is among the beneficiaries of that People’s Action training. Lugo, who is running as a Democrat for city council in Aurora, Colorado, said it “took a while to wake up and look up” in terms of becoming involved in politics.</p>
<p>She said she was inspired to run, in part, by the white-dominated city council in Aurora – a city where 28.9% of the population are Hispanic and 15.7% African American.</p>
<p>“You look at folks and think why isn’t there anybody on this city council who looks like me? Who looks Latino, who looks African American?” she said.</p>
| 6,041 |
<p>"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." - Thomas Jefferson, July 4, 1776</p>
<p>"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." - Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 19, 1863</p>
<p>"When was America all about everyone being equal?” - Florida contractor and Gingrich fundraiser Mary Forristall, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/floridas-primary-colors-the-whole-palette-of-humanity/2012/01/27/gIQAUczaYQ_story_2.html" type="external">quoted in the Washington Post</a> on Jan. 28, 2012</p>
<p>There you have it: America's great political debate summarized in three quotes. Forristall is not the first conservative, and definitely won't be the last, to dislike equality. Our history is littered with a surprising number of quotes just like it. Most of us think the ideas of Jefferson and Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. firmly planted equality in American soil and made it as apple-pie all-American as you could imagine, but the debate goes on. From Alexander Hamilton to John C. Calhoun to the Social Darwinists of the 1880s to Ayn Rand, William Buckley, and Jesse Helms of the last century and the tea partiers of this, there has been a long line of conservatives who are appalled and terrified by the idea of equality. There are a lot of remarkably blunt quotes on how absurd the idea of equality is from all kinds of conservatives which I featured in my book, "The Progressive Revolution: How the Best of America Came To Be."</p>
<p>When conservatives want to be a little less overt about their disdain for the notion of equality, they will say that, of course they believe in equality of opportunity, they just oppose equality of results. Besides being a ridiculous straw man (no one I have ever met has argued for absolute "equality of results,” or the idea that it isn't fine for people to get rewarded when they build and sell great products), they almost always immediately undercut their own argument by proposing cuts in student grants and loans, public education, Head Start and child health programs that get kids off to a better start in life. They are all for equality, they say, but never want to extend equal protections under the law to new classes of people being discriminated against. They support equality but don’t care if people with illnesses or pre-existing conditions can’t get health care coverage. They are for equal rights under the law but support eliminating funding for legal services, and allowing bankers who commit financial fraud to skate by without ever being investigated. They think equality is wonderful, but are indignant that progressives ask that millionaires and billionaires pay at least as high a tax rate as their secretaries.</p>
<p>Conservatives are on the defensive on equality issues to a degree they haven’t been in at least four decades, and they are flailing around pretty badly trying to defend their patrons in the 1 percent. More straw men are being created than in the Land of Oz. The Washington Post has had two big pieces in their editorial pages the last two days with conservative writers desperately trying to defend wealthy people from having to pay a fair share of taxes.</p>
<p>First up, with the lead editorial on the front page of The Washington Post Sunday Outlook section, was a piece by James Q. Wilson with the monster-sized headline “ <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/angry-about-inequality-dont-blame-the-rich/2012/01/03/gIQA9S2fTQ_story.html?tid=pm_pop" type="external">Don’t Blame the Rich</a>.” The Post’s sub-headline was “Scholar James Q. Wilson argues that taxing the wealthy won’t end poverty.” Straw man number one: I’d be hard pressed to ascertain what progressives were blaming “the rich” for. I, appropriately, blame a lot of the big Wall Street bankers for crashing the economy through financial fraud, forcing the rest of us to bail them out, and then whining because we don’t love them anymore. Likewise, I blame oil and coal companies for polluting the air and threatening the earth with catastrophic climate change. I blame health insurance companies for dropping millions of people out of coverage when they get sick. I blame big business execs who outsource jobs from America so they can pay slave wages in China and Third World countries. But I have nothing against rich people generally.</p>
<p>If you are a manufacturer who has created a great product and employs a lot of people to make it while paying them a decent wage and making sure they have health benefits, and gets rich as a result, I have nothing but love for you. If you are a small business owner that provides amazing service for your community and gets rich as a result, that is tremendous. If you are a community banker who gives small business and home and auto loans to the people in your community, and make great money, God bless you. If you run a website that produces great content with a huge audience, and you reap the rewards, wonderful. I blame entrepreneurs like that for nothing, and am thrilled for their success. But I still want to see them, and everyone with the ability to, pay their fair share of taxes.</p>
<p>Straw man number two: I have never heard anyone say that taxing the wealthy, all by itself, would end poverty. There are many different ways we can attack the poverty problem, and a lot of them do require money, some of it private and some of it public, but poverty is not going to end overnight or be solved by any one policy measure. But what could taxing the wealthy more do? Help reduce the federal deficit, pay for more schools, repair the schools we have in so many places that are falling apart, hire more and better teachers. It could rebuild our roads, highways, sewer systems, bridges, and the rest of our crumbling infrastructure. It could make sure the entire nation has access to high speed broadband internet service, pay for more research and development, invest in more prenatal care, early childhood programs, Head Start, and quality child care. There are many other needs this country has, and taxing the wealthy at a fairer rate would definitely help us pay for all those things. But you know what else? It is also a matter of simple fairness and justice: People with wealth got wealthy in part because of the blessings of this country, and they ought to pay their fair share to support it.</p>
<p>Straw man number three: Progressives want to tax the rich only to help the poor. Now I will admit something here: Being the lefty freak that I am, I do actually care about helping poor people. Although I don’t believe all the theological teachings of my childhood, I do still believe that the Jesus of the Gospels was right when he said we would ultimately be judged on how we treated “the least of these,” and in general those with less than us. And I think it is also just good public policy: When you help lift poor people up, give them opportunities for a better life, you make our country stronger as a whole. But the conservatives’ goal in saying the only point of taxing the rich is to help the poor is to divide poor people from the middle class. The fact is that while the safety net for the poorest among us is tattered and in need of repair, there is very little safety net at all for the middle class. It is the middle class that built this country, and when the gap between us and the wealthiest keeps growing exponentially, the middle class gets crushed. Poor people are in trouble in this country but the middle class is as hard-pressed as it has been since the 1930s.Their wages are stagnant, their homes have crashed in value, and they have groceries, energy, health care, and college tuition costs rising. Their kids’ schools have been falling apart and seeing teacher layoffs, fire and police services keep getting pared back, roads have big potholes that never seem to get fixed and bridges are in danger of collapse because the wealthiest in society aren’t paying their fair share in taxes. This issue of fundamental fairness and vast economic inequality is not just about helping the poor; it really is about helping the entire 99 percent.</p>
<p>Wilson’s opinion piece ignores a wide range of recent research showing social mobility slowing down dramatically in America and being far worse than most industrialized countries, and he is remarkably selective about the data he does use—using statistics more than once that mysteriously only go up to 2006, before the collapse of the last few years, and ignoring data from more recent years that shows how income inequality has gone up in most Western countries, but by far the most here. He makes a special point, of course, in noting that inequality has gone down in Greece, while never mentioning how much stronger than ours the economies have been of several European countries (including Germany, Denmark, and Sweden) who have far better income inequality numbers.</p>
<p>Then there is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/buffett-tax-and-truth-in-numbers/2012/01/29/gIQAikL5aQ_story.html" type="external">Robert Samuelson</a>’s piece. He adds a fourth straw man to Wilson’s big three: that passing the Buffett Tax wouldn’t solve the deficit problem. Well, no, Mr. Samuelson, but it would help. No one who supports the Buffett tax has argued that if we just passed that and did nothing else, all our federal deficit problems (or the deficit in public investment for education, infrastructure, and all the rest for that matter) would magically go away. To solve all those problems, you would also need to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, close all the unproductive corporate tax loopholes, end the deduction for million dollar-plus homes, stop subsidizing oil companies and big corporate agribusiness, impose a tax on Wall Street speculation, cut wasteful defense spending, create a robust public option in health care, negotiate with drug companies on Medicare Part D, and reform federal contracting policy. Oh, and start creating economic growth and new jobs at the rate Bill Clinton did in the 1990s. You do all that stuff and the deficit gets solved pretty easily, but I’m guessing a hard-line conservative like Samuelson would oppose almost all of those policies.</p>
<p>Samuelson concludes his article by saying this: “But recognize that the anti-wealthy populist rhetoric is mostly political expediency. It distracts from the serious issues the country faces—creating jobs and closing long term budget deficits. The anti-rich backlash is growing; a Pew poll finds 66 percent of Americans see strong conflicts between rich and poor, up from 47 percent in 2009. Pandering to this is easier than dealing with the future.” Not seeing that the richest 400 families in America have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans is a “serious issue” and one of the most tragic flaws of conservatism. This kind of imbalance creates a country that looks far more like the Third World than like America in her mid-20th Century glory years. And you will never create big numbers of jobs or curb long-term deficits without a prosperous and expanding middle class. To suggest that those of us who care about issues of economic equity are pandering, or—another one of my all-time favorite straw men— <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/12/news/economy/romney_envy/index.htm" type="external">are envious of the rich</a>—suggests a fundamental lack of understanding about either good economic policy or our nation’s history. I’m not envious of the rich; I’d just like the rest of us not to be crushed by their greed.</p>
<p>The truth that we are all created equal is indeed self-evident. America was in fact conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all of us are created equal. And if a certain small sector of our economy grows so much richer and more powerful than the rest of us, it strikes at the heart of the America we used to be, and are supposed to be.</p>
|
The Great Debate: America And Equality
| true |
http://crooksandliars.com/mike-lux/great-debate-america-and-equality
|
2012-02-01
| 4left
|
The Great Debate: America And Equality
<p>"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..." - Thomas Jefferson, July 4, 1776</p>
<p>"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." - Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 19, 1863</p>
<p>"When was America all about everyone being equal?” - Florida contractor and Gingrich fundraiser Mary Forristall, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/floridas-primary-colors-the-whole-palette-of-humanity/2012/01/27/gIQAUczaYQ_story_2.html" type="external">quoted in the Washington Post</a> on Jan. 28, 2012</p>
<p>There you have it: America's great political debate summarized in three quotes. Forristall is not the first conservative, and definitely won't be the last, to dislike equality. Our history is littered with a surprising number of quotes just like it. Most of us think the ideas of Jefferson and Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. firmly planted equality in American soil and made it as apple-pie all-American as you could imagine, but the debate goes on. From Alexander Hamilton to John C. Calhoun to the Social Darwinists of the 1880s to Ayn Rand, William Buckley, and Jesse Helms of the last century and the tea partiers of this, there has been a long line of conservatives who are appalled and terrified by the idea of equality. There are a lot of remarkably blunt quotes on how absurd the idea of equality is from all kinds of conservatives which I featured in my book, "The Progressive Revolution: How the Best of America Came To Be."</p>
<p>When conservatives want to be a little less overt about their disdain for the notion of equality, they will say that, of course they believe in equality of opportunity, they just oppose equality of results. Besides being a ridiculous straw man (no one I have ever met has argued for absolute "equality of results,” or the idea that it isn't fine for people to get rewarded when they build and sell great products), they almost always immediately undercut their own argument by proposing cuts in student grants and loans, public education, Head Start and child health programs that get kids off to a better start in life. They are all for equality, they say, but never want to extend equal protections under the law to new classes of people being discriminated against. They support equality but don’t care if people with illnesses or pre-existing conditions can’t get health care coverage. They are for equal rights under the law but support eliminating funding for legal services, and allowing bankers who commit financial fraud to skate by without ever being investigated. They think equality is wonderful, but are indignant that progressives ask that millionaires and billionaires pay at least as high a tax rate as their secretaries.</p>
<p>Conservatives are on the defensive on equality issues to a degree they haven’t been in at least four decades, and they are flailing around pretty badly trying to defend their patrons in the 1 percent. More straw men are being created than in the Land of Oz. The Washington Post has had two big pieces in their editorial pages the last two days with conservative writers desperately trying to defend wealthy people from having to pay a fair share of taxes.</p>
<p>First up, with the lead editorial on the front page of The Washington Post Sunday Outlook section, was a piece by James Q. Wilson with the monster-sized headline “ <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/angry-about-inequality-dont-blame-the-rich/2012/01/03/gIQA9S2fTQ_story.html?tid=pm_pop" type="external">Don’t Blame the Rich</a>.” The Post’s sub-headline was “Scholar James Q. Wilson argues that taxing the wealthy won’t end poverty.” Straw man number one: I’d be hard pressed to ascertain what progressives were blaming “the rich” for. I, appropriately, blame a lot of the big Wall Street bankers for crashing the economy through financial fraud, forcing the rest of us to bail them out, and then whining because we don’t love them anymore. Likewise, I blame oil and coal companies for polluting the air and threatening the earth with catastrophic climate change. I blame health insurance companies for dropping millions of people out of coverage when they get sick. I blame big business execs who outsource jobs from America so they can pay slave wages in China and Third World countries. But I have nothing against rich people generally.</p>
<p>If you are a manufacturer who has created a great product and employs a lot of people to make it while paying them a decent wage and making sure they have health benefits, and gets rich as a result, I have nothing but love for you. If you are a small business owner that provides amazing service for your community and gets rich as a result, that is tremendous. If you are a community banker who gives small business and home and auto loans to the people in your community, and make great money, God bless you. If you run a website that produces great content with a huge audience, and you reap the rewards, wonderful. I blame entrepreneurs like that for nothing, and am thrilled for their success. But I still want to see them, and everyone with the ability to, pay their fair share of taxes.</p>
<p>Straw man number two: I have never heard anyone say that taxing the wealthy, all by itself, would end poverty. There are many different ways we can attack the poverty problem, and a lot of them do require money, some of it private and some of it public, but poverty is not going to end overnight or be solved by any one policy measure. But what could taxing the wealthy more do? Help reduce the federal deficit, pay for more schools, repair the schools we have in so many places that are falling apart, hire more and better teachers. It could rebuild our roads, highways, sewer systems, bridges, and the rest of our crumbling infrastructure. It could make sure the entire nation has access to high speed broadband internet service, pay for more research and development, invest in more prenatal care, early childhood programs, Head Start, and quality child care. There are many other needs this country has, and taxing the wealthy at a fairer rate would definitely help us pay for all those things. But you know what else? It is also a matter of simple fairness and justice: People with wealth got wealthy in part because of the blessings of this country, and they ought to pay their fair share to support it.</p>
<p>Straw man number three: Progressives want to tax the rich only to help the poor. Now I will admit something here: Being the lefty freak that I am, I do actually care about helping poor people. Although I don’t believe all the theological teachings of my childhood, I do still believe that the Jesus of the Gospels was right when he said we would ultimately be judged on how we treated “the least of these,” and in general those with less than us. And I think it is also just good public policy: When you help lift poor people up, give them opportunities for a better life, you make our country stronger as a whole. But the conservatives’ goal in saying the only point of taxing the rich is to help the poor is to divide poor people from the middle class. The fact is that while the safety net for the poorest among us is tattered and in need of repair, there is very little safety net at all for the middle class. It is the middle class that built this country, and when the gap between us and the wealthiest keeps growing exponentially, the middle class gets crushed. Poor people are in trouble in this country but the middle class is as hard-pressed as it has been since the 1930s.Their wages are stagnant, their homes have crashed in value, and they have groceries, energy, health care, and college tuition costs rising. Their kids’ schools have been falling apart and seeing teacher layoffs, fire and police services keep getting pared back, roads have big potholes that never seem to get fixed and bridges are in danger of collapse because the wealthiest in society aren’t paying their fair share in taxes. This issue of fundamental fairness and vast economic inequality is not just about helping the poor; it really is about helping the entire 99 percent.</p>
<p>Wilson’s opinion piece ignores a wide range of recent research showing social mobility slowing down dramatically in America and being far worse than most industrialized countries, and he is remarkably selective about the data he does use—using statistics more than once that mysteriously only go up to 2006, before the collapse of the last few years, and ignoring data from more recent years that shows how income inequality has gone up in most Western countries, but by far the most here. He makes a special point, of course, in noting that inequality has gone down in Greece, while never mentioning how much stronger than ours the economies have been of several European countries (including Germany, Denmark, and Sweden) who have far better income inequality numbers.</p>
<p>Then there is <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/buffett-tax-and-truth-in-numbers/2012/01/29/gIQAikL5aQ_story.html" type="external">Robert Samuelson</a>’s piece. He adds a fourth straw man to Wilson’s big three: that passing the Buffett Tax wouldn’t solve the deficit problem. Well, no, Mr. Samuelson, but it would help. No one who supports the Buffett tax has argued that if we just passed that and did nothing else, all our federal deficit problems (or the deficit in public investment for education, infrastructure, and all the rest for that matter) would magically go away. To solve all those problems, you would also need to end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, close all the unproductive corporate tax loopholes, end the deduction for million dollar-plus homes, stop subsidizing oil companies and big corporate agribusiness, impose a tax on Wall Street speculation, cut wasteful defense spending, create a robust public option in health care, negotiate with drug companies on Medicare Part D, and reform federal contracting policy. Oh, and start creating economic growth and new jobs at the rate Bill Clinton did in the 1990s. You do all that stuff and the deficit gets solved pretty easily, but I’m guessing a hard-line conservative like Samuelson would oppose almost all of those policies.</p>
<p>Samuelson concludes his article by saying this: “But recognize that the anti-wealthy populist rhetoric is mostly political expediency. It distracts from the serious issues the country faces—creating jobs and closing long term budget deficits. The anti-rich backlash is growing; a Pew poll finds 66 percent of Americans see strong conflicts between rich and poor, up from 47 percent in 2009. Pandering to this is easier than dealing with the future.” Not seeing that the richest 400 families in America have more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans is a “serious issue” and one of the most tragic flaws of conservatism. This kind of imbalance creates a country that looks far more like the Third World than like America in her mid-20th Century glory years. And you will never create big numbers of jobs or curb long-term deficits without a prosperous and expanding middle class. To suggest that those of us who care about issues of economic equity are pandering, or—another one of my all-time favorite straw men— <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/12/news/economy/romney_envy/index.htm" type="external">are envious of the rich</a>—suggests a fundamental lack of understanding about either good economic policy or our nation’s history. I’m not envious of the rich; I’d just like the rest of us not to be crushed by their greed.</p>
<p>The truth that we are all created equal is indeed self-evident. America was in fact conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all of us are created equal. And if a certain small sector of our economy grows so much richer and more powerful than the rest of us, it strikes at the heart of the America we used to be, and are supposed to be.</p>
| 6,042 |
<p>There's confidence in Washington that peace talks with the Taliban will begin in the coming days.</p>
<p>They were supposed to begin Thursday in Doha, Qatar, but a blazing diplomatic row between Washington and Kabul got in the way.</p>
<p>The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai was incensed over the way the Taliban opened their first international office in Doha on Tuesday.</p>
<p>They raised the flag of the old Taliban state, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and even put the name on a plaque outside the building that houses their new office, a comfortable villa in Doha's diplomatic district.</p>
<p>Kabul took that to mean the Taliban were presenting this as an embassy of a legitimate government-in-waiting, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool.</p>
<p>Sources in Washington say the Taliban had given assurances they would not do this.</p>
<p>And pressure on the Taliban from their Qatari hosts has forced them to remove the plaque and the flag.</p>
<p>"But the pole is still there," says Maqbool. "We looked through a gap in the wall, and they've shortened the flagpole, but the flag is still flying."</p>
<p>Maqbool says US officials in Doha are confident Karzai is back on board, but the prospects for a rapid start of the talks are not looking good, he adds.</p>
|
Following Taliban Flag Raising in Qatar, Low Expectations for Afghan Peace Talks
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2013-06-20/following-taliban-flag-raising-qatar-low-expectations-afghan-peace-talks
|
2013-06-20
| 3left-center
|
Following Taliban Flag Raising in Qatar, Low Expectations for Afghan Peace Talks
<p>There's confidence in Washington that peace talks with the Taliban will begin in the coming days.</p>
<p>They were supposed to begin Thursday in Doha, Qatar, but a blazing diplomatic row between Washington and Kabul got in the way.</p>
<p>The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai was incensed over the way the Taliban opened their first international office in Doha on Tuesday.</p>
<p>They raised the flag of the old Taliban state, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and even put the name on a plaque outside the building that houses their new office, a comfortable villa in Doha's diplomatic district.</p>
<p>Kabul took that to mean the Taliban were presenting this as an embassy of a legitimate government-in-waiting, says the BBC's Aleem Maqbool.</p>
<p>Sources in Washington say the Taliban had given assurances they would not do this.</p>
<p>And pressure on the Taliban from their Qatari hosts has forced them to remove the plaque and the flag.</p>
<p>"But the pole is still there," says Maqbool. "We looked through a gap in the wall, and they've shortened the flagpole, but the flag is still flying."</p>
<p>Maqbool says US officials in Doha are confident Karzai is back on board, but the prospects for a rapid start of the talks are not looking good, he adds.</p>
| 6,043 |
<p>PHOENIX (AP) - A Texas man is facing charges for allegedly buying videos an Arizona woman made of her molesting two young children.</p>
<p>The Arizona Attorney General's Office said Friday that a grand jury has indicted Robert Canales on five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of molestation of a child and three counts of sexual conduct with a minor.</p>
<p>He was released on $150,000 bond.</p>
<p>According to the indictment, the 31-year-old communicated with Keri Harwood, of New River, between last May and August about buying the videos, which were emailed to him.</p>
<p>Authorities arrested Canales at his parents? Sugar Land home and extradited him last month.</p>
<p>His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.</p>
<p>It was not immediately known if Canales had an attorney.</p>
<p>The 28-year-old Harwood is facing similar charges.</p>
<p>PHOENIX (AP) - A Texas man is facing charges for allegedly buying videos an Arizona woman made of her molesting two young children.</p>
<p>The Arizona Attorney General's Office said Friday that a grand jury has indicted Robert Canales on five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of molestation of a child and three counts of sexual conduct with a minor.</p>
<p>He was released on $150,000 bond.</p>
<p>According to the indictment, the 31-year-old communicated with Keri Harwood, of New River, between last May and August about buying the videos, which were emailed to him.</p>
<p>Authorities arrested Canales at his parents? Sugar Land home and extradited him last month.</p>
<p>His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.</p>
<p>It was not immediately known if Canales had an attorney.</p>
<p>The 28-year-old Harwood is facing similar charges.</p>
|
Texas man indicted for buying child porn videos from Arizona
| false |
https://apnews.com/38ee93bf83774a27bc8904f2f5a0e52a
|
2018-01-05
| 2least
|
Texas man indicted for buying child porn videos from Arizona
<p>PHOENIX (AP) - A Texas man is facing charges for allegedly buying videos an Arizona woman made of her molesting two young children.</p>
<p>The Arizona Attorney General's Office said Friday that a grand jury has indicted Robert Canales on five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of molestation of a child and three counts of sexual conduct with a minor.</p>
<p>He was released on $150,000 bond.</p>
<p>According to the indictment, the 31-year-old communicated with Keri Harwood, of New River, between last May and August about buying the videos, which were emailed to him.</p>
<p>Authorities arrested Canales at his parents? Sugar Land home and extradited him last month.</p>
<p>His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.</p>
<p>It was not immediately known if Canales had an attorney.</p>
<p>The 28-year-old Harwood is facing similar charges.</p>
<p>PHOENIX (AP) - A Texas man is facing charges for allegedly buying videos an Arizona woman made of her molesting two young children.</p>
<p>The Arizona Attorney General's Office said Friday that a grand jury has indicted Robert Canales on five counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, two counts of molestation of a child and three counts of sexual conduct with a minor.</p>
<p>He was released on $150,000 bond.</p>
<p>According to the indictment, the 31-year-old communicated with Keri Harwood, of New River, between last May and August about buying the videos, which were emailed to him.</p>
<p>Authorities arrested Canales at his parents? Sugar Land home and extradited him last month.</p>
<p>His arraignment is scheduled for Tuesday.</p>
<p>It was not immediately known if Canales had an attorney.</p>
<p>The 28-year-old Harwood is facing similar charges.</p>
| 6,044 |
<p>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Australian Open, with her wild-card entry reallocated to Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia.</p>
<p>Open organizers announced Azarenka's withdrawal in a social media post on Monday, a week before the tournament begins.</p>
<p>"It's unfortunate that (Azarenka) is unable to travel to Australia," organizers posted on Twitter, quoting tournament director Craig Tiley. The Australian Open, "is her favorite tournament and she's looking forward to returning to Melbourne next year."</p>
<p>Azarenka, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, has been involved in a custody dispute involving her son Leo, who was born in 2016.</p>
<p>She hasn't competed anywhere since Wimbledon, where she lost in the fourth round on July 10.</p>
<p>Former No. 1-ranked Azarenka played only six matches in 2017, and her year-ending ranking plummeted to No. 208.</p>
<p>Australian Open organizers last month granted her a wild card, with Tiley saying at the time: "Vika's current situation is obviously very difficult for her and we have reached out to offer any support we can."</p>
<p>Azarenka was initially scheduled to make a return to competitive tennis in New Zealand last week, but withdrew from that tournament as well.</p>
<p>The Australian Open starts next Monday at Melbourne Park.</p>
<p>Defending champion Serena Williams has already withdrawn, saying her game wasn't back to a level where she believed she could contend for the title just four months after giving birth to her first child.</p>
<p>Tomljanovic will play in the Australian Open main draw a fourth time. Her best result is the second round.</p>
<p>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Australian Open, with her wild-card entry reallocated to Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia.</p>
<p>Open organizers announced Azarenka's withdrawal in a social media post on Monday, a week before the tournament begins.</p>
<p>"It's unfortunate that (Azarenka) is unable to travel to Australia," organizers posted on Twitter, quoting tournament director Craig Tiley. The Australian Open, "is her favorite tournament and she's looking forward to returning to Melbourne next year."</p>
<p>Azarenka, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, has been involved in a custody dispute involving her son Leo, who was born in 2016.</p>
<p>She hasn't competed anywhere since Wimbledon, where she lost in the fourth round on July 10.</p>
<p>Former No. 1-ranked Azarenka played only six matches in 2017, and her year-ending ranking plummeted to No. 208.</p>
<p>Australian Open organizers last month granted her a wild card, with Tiley saying at the time: "Vika's current situation is obviously very difficult for her and we have reached out to offer any support we can."</p>
<p>Azarenka was initially scheduled to make a return to competitive tennis in New Zealand last week, but withdrew from that tournament as well.</p>
<p>The Australian Open starts next Monday at Melbourne Park.</p>
<p>Defending champion Serena Williams has already withdrawn, saying her game wasn't back to a level where she believed she could contend for the title just four months after giving birth to her first child.</p>
<p>Tomljanovic will play in the Australian Open main draw a fourth time. Her best result is the second round.</p>
|
Former champion Azarenka withdraws from Australian Open
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/d08855c68ca1442aae5e929a62bd4882
|
2018-01-08
| 2least
|
Former champion Azarenka withdraws from Australian Open
<p>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Australian Open, with her wild-card entry reallocated to Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia.</p>
<p>Open organizers announced Azarenka's withdrawal in a social media post on Monday, a week before the tournament begins.</p>
<p>"It's unfortunate that (Azarenka) is unable to travel to Australia," organizers posted on Twitter, quoting tournament director Craig Tiley. The Australian Open, "is her favorite tournament and she's looking forward to returning to Melbourne next year."</p>
<p>Azarenka, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, has been involved in a custody dispute involving her son Leo, who was born in 2016.</p>
<p>She hasn't competed anywhere since Wimbledon, where she lost in the fourth round on July 10.</p>
<p>Former No. 1-ranked Azarenka played only six matches in 2017, and her year-ending ranking plummeted to No. 208.</p>
<p>Australian Open organizers last month granted her a wild card, with Tiley saying at the time: "Vika's current situation is obviously very difficult for her and we have reached out to offer any support we can."</p>
<p>Azarenka was initially scheduled to make a return to competitive tennis in New Zealand last week, but withdrew from that tournament as well.</p>
<p>The Australian Open starts next Monday at Melbourne Park.</p>
<p>Defending champion Serena Williams has already withdrawn, saying her game wasn't back to a level where she believed she could contend for the title just four months after giving birth to her first child.</p>
<p>Tomljanovic will play in the Australian Open main draw a fourth time. Her best result is the second round.</p>
<p>MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) - Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka has withdrawn from the Australian Open, with her wild-card entry reallocated to Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia.</p>
<p>Open organizers announced Azarenka's withdrawal in a social media post on Monday, a week before the tournament begins.</p>
<p>"It's unfortunate that (Azarenka) is unable to travel to Australia," organizers posted on Twitter, quoting tournament director Craig Tiley. The Australian Open, "is her favorite tournament and she's looking forward to returning to Melbourne next year."</p>
<p>Azarenka, who won the Australian Open in 2012 and 2013, has been involved in a custody dispute involving her son Leo, who was born in 2016.</p>
<p>She hasn't competed anywhere since Wimbledon, where she lost in the fourth round on July 10.</p>
<p>Former No. 1-ranked Azarenka played only six matches in 2017, and her year-ending ranking plummeted to No. 208.</p>
<p>Australian Open organizers last month granted her a wild card, with Tiley saying at the time: "Vika's current situation is obviously very difficult for her and we have reached out to offer any support we can."</p>
<p>Azarenka was initially scheduled to make a return to competitive tennis in New Zealand last week, but withdrew from that tournament as well.</p>
<p>The Australian Open starts next Monday at Melbourne Park.</p>
<p>Defending champion Serena Williams has already withdrawn, saying her game wasn't back to a level where she believed she could contend for the title just four months after giving birth to her first child.</p>
<p>Tomljanovic will play in the Australian Open main draw a fourth time. Her best result is the second round.</p>
| 6,045 |
<p>Barack Obama is betraying his promise of change and is in danger of becoming just another political hack.</p>
<p>Yes, just like former maverick John McCain, who has refashioned himself as a mindless rubber stamp for the most inane policies of the miserably failed Bush administration. Both candidates are embracing, rather than challenging, the fundamental irrationality of Bush’s “war on terror,” which substitutes hysteria for rational analysis in appraising the dangers the country faces.</p>
<p>Terrorism is a social pathology that needs to be excised with the surgical precision of detective work, inspired by a high level of international cooperation, the very opposite of the unilateral war metaphor that recruits new generations of terrorists in the wake of the massive armies we dispatch. At a time when we desperately need a president to remind us we have nothing to fear but fear itself, we are increasingly being treated to a presidential campaign driven by fear.</p>
<p>Both candidates supported the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which has everything to do with violating the basic freedoms of our citizens and nothing to do with making them safer. There was no shortage of alarming intelligence warning the Bush administration of the impending 9/11 attacks, but rather an utter lack of competency in evaluating the abundance of evidence.</p>
<p />
<p>To use the failure of the president to pay attention to his daily-briefing warning of an impending attack as an excuse for shredding the fundamental rights of our citizens is appallingly illogical. Providing legal protection to the government and the telecommunications giants for unfettered spying on the people does not represent the change we desperately need.</p>
<p>Nor does the battle of the warmongers that has dominated the discussion of foreign policy in the past week. Obama has one-upped McCain’s bluff to win in Iraq by raising the prospect of an even more deadly quagmire in Afghanistan. If his goal was to remind us that Democrats have been more often the party of irrational wars than the Republicans, he has succeeded all too well.</p>
<p>Whereas Dwight Eisenhower refused to wage war against Vietnam and Cuba, it was John Kennedy, that charmer of change, who launched both of those military disasters. And then there was that crafty “progressive” Lyndon Baines Johnson, who in order to defeat Barry Goldwater, the right-wing menace of his day, lied about a nonexistent attack in the Gulf of Tonkin to justify escalating a war that killed almost 59,000 Americans and 3.4 million Indochinese.</p>
<p>Even less noticed is the responsibility of Democrats for the mess in Afghanistan, which provided the incubator for the 9/11 attacks. It was under Jimmy Carter, highly admired as an ex-president, that the specter of modern Islamic fanaticism erupted, largely as a monster of our own creation when we supported Muslim fanatics in Afghanistan against the Soviets.</p>
<p>Carter’s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, when asked in a January 1998 interview with the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur whether he regretted “having given arms and advice to future terrorists,” replied: “What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?”</p>
<p>I was reminded of that horrid stain on the record of Democratic stewardship of our foreign policy while cleaning out my garage last week. I came across a 1996 press release from the publisher of “From the Shadows — The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War,” written by current Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, the ultimate insider, who was on Carter’s National Security Council staff. The publisher’s book promo boasts that thanks to Gates, who ran the CIA for many years, we learn of “Carter’s never-before-revealed covert support to Afghan mujahedeen — six months before the Soviets invaded.”</p>
<p>In short, the Democratic president baldly lied to us when he justified support for the Muslim fanatics in Afghanistan who were battling the secular government in Kabul as a necessary Cold War response to a Soviet invasion. That Gates’ account is accurate was affirmed in a blurb for the book by none other than Brzezinski, hailing it as “a most impressive achievement … especially pertaining to the U.S. policy on Afghanistan.”</p>
<p>It is hardly reassuring that Brzezinski has resurfaced in presidential politics, this time as an occasional adviser to Barack Obama, or that there is talk that Obama, in a burst of bipartisan enthusiasm, might ask Gates to stay on as defense secretary.</p>
<p>At this point, I throw up my hands and plead with the candidate who I hoped would be that much-needed agent of change: Please prove me wrong.</p>
<p>Robert Scheer is author of a new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0446505277?tag=truthdig20-20&amp;camp=14573&amp;creative=327641&amp;linkCode=as1&amp;creativeASIN=0446505277&amp;adid=0EGD2D64MHHRC8BX8TWM&amp;" type="external">“The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America.”</a></p>
|
Obama on the Brink
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/obama-on-the-brink/
|
2008-07-23
| 4left
|
Obama on the Brink
<p>Barack Obama is betraying his promise of change and is in danger of becoming just another political hack.</p>
<p>Yes, just like former maverick John McCain, who has refashioned himself as a mindless rubber stamp for the most inane policies of the miserably failed Bush administration. Both candidates are embracing, rather than challenging, the fundamental irrationality of Bush’s “war on terror,” which substitutes hysteria for rational analysis in appraising the dangers the country faces.</p>
<p>Terrorism is a social pathology that needs to be excised with the surgical precision of detective work, inspired by a high level of international cooperation, the very opposite of the unilateral war metaphor that recruits new generations of terrorists in the wake of the massive armies we dispatch. At a time when we desperately need a president to remind us we have nothing to fear but fear itself, we are increasingly being treated to a presidential campaign driven by fear.</p>
<p>Both candidates supported the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which has everything to do with violating the basic freedoms of our citizens and nothing to do with making them safer. There was no shortage of alarming intelligence warning the Bush administration of the impending 9/11 attacks, but rather an utter lack of competency in evaluating the abundance of evidence.</p>
<p />
<p>To use the failure of the president to pay attention to his daily-briefing warning of an impending attack as an excuse for shredding the fundamental rights of our citizens is appallingly illogical. Providing legal protection to the government and the telecommunications giants for unfettered spying on the people does not represent the change we desperately need.</p>
<p>Nor does the battle of the warmongers that has dominated the discussion of foreign policy in the past week. Obama has one-upped McCain’s bluff to win in Iraq by raising the prospect of an even more deadly quagmire in Afghanistan. If his goal was to remind us that Democrats have been more often the party of irrational wars than the Republicans, he has succeeded all too well.</p>
<p>Whereas Dwight Eisenhower refused to wage war against Vietnam and Cuba, it was John Kennedy, that charmer of change, who launched both of those military disasters. And then there was that crafty “progressive” Lyndon Baines Johnson, who in order to defeat Barry Goldwater, the right-wing menace of his day, lied about a nonexistent attack in the Gulf of Tonkin to justify escalating a war that killed almost 59,000 Americans and 3.4 million Indochinese.</p>
<p>Even less noticed is the responsibility of Democrats for the mess in Afghanistan, which provided the incubator for the 9/11 attacks. It was under Jimmy Carter, highly admired as an ex-president, that the specter of modern Islamic fanaticism erupted, largely as a monster of our own creation when we supported Muslim fanatics in Afghanistan against the Soviets.</p>
<p>Carter’s national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, when asked in a January 1998 interview with the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur whether he regretted “having given arms and advice to future terrorists,” replied: “What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the Cold War?”</p>
<p>I was reminded of that horrid stain on the record of Democratic stewardship of our foreign policy while cleaning out my garage last week. I came across a 1996 press release from the publisher of “From the Shadows — The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War,” written by current Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, the ultimate insider, who was on Carter’s National Security Council staff. The publisher’s book promo boasts that thanks to Gates, who ran the CIA for many years, we learn of “Carter’s never-before-revealed covert support to Afghan mujahedeen — six months before the Soviets invaded.”</p>
<p>In short, the Democratic president baldly lied to us when he justified support for the Muslim fanatics in Afghanistan who were battling the secular government in Kabul as a necessary Cold War response to a Soviet invasion. That Gates’ account is accurate was affirmed in a blurb for the book by none other than Brzezinski, hailing it as “a most impressive achievement … especially pertaining to the U.S. policy on Afghanistan.”</p>
<p>It is hardly reassuring that Brzezinski has resurfaced in presidential politics, this time as an occasional adviser to Barack Obama, or that there is talk that Obama, in a burst of bipartisan enthusiasm, might ask Gates to stay on as defense secretary.</p>
<p>At this point, I throw up my hands and plead with the candidate who I hoped would be that much-needed agent of change: Please prove me wrong.</p>
<p>Robert Scheer is author of a new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0446505277?tag=truthdig20-20&amp;camp=14573&amp;creative=327641&amp;linkCode=as1&amp;creativeASIN=0446505277&amp;adid=0EGD2D64MHHRC8BX8TWM&amp;" type="external">“The Pornography of Power: How Defense Hawks Hijacked 9/11 and Weakened America.”</a></p>
| 6,046 |
<p>Aug. 19 (UPI) — Virginia Gov. <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Terry_McAuliffe/" type="external">Terry McAuliffe</a> has signed an executive order to temporarily suspend demonstrations from taking place at a statue of Confederate Gen. <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Robert_E._Lee/" type="external">Robert E. Lee</a> in Richmond.</p>
<p>The potential removal of a Lee statue in Charlottesville inspired <a href="https://www.upi.com/Protester-killed-at-Charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally/8841502557178/" type="external">a protest last weekend attended by</a> white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ku_Klux_Klan/" type="external">Ku Klux Klan</a>, under the banner of a rally called “Unite the Right.” The demonstrations turned violent, eventually resulting in the death of one counter-protester and two state police troopers, who died when their helicopter crashed into a nearby field.</p>
<p><a href="http://governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/newsarticle?articleId=20966" type="external">McAuliffe said in a statement</a> that he issued the executive order after hearing about the possibility of similar rallies taking place in the future at the Lee monument in Richmond.</p>
<p>His order temporarily prevents demonstrators from acquiring permits to rally at the Richmond Lee monument.</p>
<p>“In spite of weeks of preparation, the city of Charlottesville was the target of an act of domestic terrorism that cost one woman her life, and had a helicopter accident lead to the deaths of two state troopers,” McAuliffe said. “In the aftermath of this tragedy, several groups have requested permits to hold similar-styled events at the Lee Monument in Richmond. State and local officials need to get ahead of this problem, so that we have the proper legal protections in place to allow for peaceful demonstrations, but without putting citizens and property at risk.”</p>
<p>In the coming months, a release from McAuliffe’s office said, a state task force will work with the Department of General Services to make new regulations on how to manage crowds like those that convened in Charlottesville last weekend.</p>
<p>The release said McAuliffe wants to weight those safety concerns with demonstrators’ First Amendment rights to assemble.</p>
<p>Current demonstration rules at the Richmond Lee monument, which is located in a residential neighborhood in the capital city’s downtown, present “serious threats to both traffic and private property,” the release said.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/mcauliffe-temporarily-bars-demonstrations-at-lee-monument-in-richmond-citing/article_ca535e12-fdab-5ec4-a7ce-3d557936d24e.html" type="external">The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported</a> that the city and capitol police officers were on watch at the monument Friday night, citing rumors of a possible protest.</p>
<p>“This is a temporary suspension, issued with the singular purpose of creating failsafe regulations to preserve the health and well-being of our citizens and ensuring that nothing like what occurred in Charlottesville happens again,” McAuliffe said.</p>
|
Va. Gov. McAuliffe: No protests at Lee monument in Richmond for now
| false |
https://newsline.com/va-gov-mcauliffe-no-protests-at-lee-monument-in-richmond-for-now/
|
2017-08-19
| 1right-center
|
Va. Gov. McAuliffe: No protests at Lee monument in Richmond for now
<p>Aug. 19 (UPI) — Virginia Gov. <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Terry_McAuliffe/" type="external">Terry McAuliffe</a> has signed an executive order to temporarily suspend demonstrations from taking place at a statue of Confederate Gen. <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Robert_E._Lee/" type="external">Robert E. Lee</a> in Richmond.</p>
<p>The potential removal of a Lee statue in Charlottesville inspired <a href="https://www.upi.com/Protester-killed-at-Charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally/8841502557178/" type="external">a protest last weekend attended by</a> white nationalists, neo-Nazis and members of the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ku_Klux_Klan/" type="external">Ku Klux Klan</a>, under the banner of a rally called “Unite the Right.” The demonstrations turned violent, eventually resulting in the death of one counter-protester and two state police troopers, who died when their helicopter crashed into a nearby field.</p>
<p><a href="http://governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/newsarticle?articleId=20966" type="external">McAuliffe said in a statement</a> that he issued the executive order after hearing about the possibility of similar rallies taking place in the future at the Lee monument in Richmond.</p>
<p>His order temporarily prevents demonstrators from acquiring permits to rally at the Richmond Lee monument.</p>
<p>“In spite of weeks of preparation, the city of Charlottesville was the target of an act of domestic terrorism that cost one woman her life, and had a helicopter accident lead to the deaths of two state troopers,” McAuliffe said. “In the aftermath of this tragedy, several groups have requested permits to hold similar-styled events at the Lee Monument in Richmond. State and local officials need to get ahead of this problem, so that we have the proper legal protections in place to allow for peaceful demonstrations, but without putting citizens and property at risk.”</p>
<p>In the coming months, a release from McAuliffe’s office said, a state task force will work with the Department of General Services to make new regulations on how to manage crowds like those that convened in Charlottesville last weekend.</p>
<p>The release said McAuliffe wants to weight those safety concerns with demonstrators’ First Amendment rights to assemble.</p>
<p>Current demonstration rules at the Richmond Lee monument, which is located in a residential neighborhood in the capital city’s downtown, present “serious threats to both traffic and private property,” the release said.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/mcauliffe-temporarily-bars-demonstrations-at-lee-monument-in-richmond-citing/article_ca535e12-fdab-5ec4-a7ce-3d557936d24e.html" type="external">The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported</a> that the city and capitol police officers were on watch at the monument Friday night, citing rumors of a possible protest.</p>
<p>“This is a temporary suspension, issued with the singular purpose of creating failsafe regulations to preserve the health and well-being of our citizens and ensuring that nothing like what occurred in Charlottesville happens again,” McAuliffe said.</p>
| 6,047 |
<p>So you had your annual <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/08/16/you-got-a-bad-performance-review-now-what.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">performance review Opens a New Window.</a> at work, and it didn't go as well as expected. Maybe your boss had a lot of criticism. Or perhaps it's not that you did anything wrong, per se, but rather, you simply didn't push yourself hard enough to achieve results. No matter your circumstances, if you want 2018 to be the year your career really takes off, here are a few items to add to your must-do list.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>If you work for a large company, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. So if you really want to <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/09/20/do-these-things-to-stand-out-at-work.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">stand out Opens a New Window.</a> next year, and thus increase your chances of climbing the corporate ladder, you'll need to show your management team that you have the ability to take the lead on major projects and run with it. As the new year kicks off, you're likely to see a host of initiatives come to the table. Grab one. And then do it again, and another time after that. Prove that you're a natural leader, and you'll likely be rewarded for it.</p>
<p>Though modesty is a good quality in theory, there comes a point when it's not such a great idea to downplay your successes at work. Next year, make a point of highlighting your personal wins so that your boss not only takes notice, but also takes them into consideration when deciding whether you'll get promoted. Of course, this isn't to say you should toot your own horn at every possible opportunity. But if, say, you put together a marketing brochure and get great feedback from your sales team, you shouldn't hesitate to tell your boss how much everyone gushed over your work.</p>
<p>Whether you're speaking in front of a couple of people or a much larger crowd, presenting successfully is often a matter of strategy and practice. If your presentations have been average thus far, make 2018 the year you really hone them. Work on making eye contact with your audience, and boost your graphics skills to give the folks you're speaking to something compelling to look at. Learning how to really <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/07/02/5-tips-to-nail-your-big-presentation.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">nail presentations Opens a New Window.</a> will give you the edge you need to get ahead.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Nobody wants to be that person who balks at an ambitious request. But if you maintain the habit of agreeing to do things and falling short because those requests are unreasonable in nature, you're only going to end up hurting your career. Next year, pledge to push back when people come to you with impossible demands. If, for example, you're booked solid for the remainder of the week, and you're asked to take on another big assignment, be clear about your predicament, and ask to either bow out gracefully, or have something else taken off your plate. It's natural to want to come off as the resident superhero, but if you take on too much, you risk letting everyone down -- not to mention stressing yourself out to an unhealthy degree.</p>
<p>It's hard to know what your boss is thinking -- and how your performance stacks up -- if you hardly ever get a chance to sit down and talk to him. Next year, pledge to be more proactive in soliciting manager feedback. Send your boss emails as necessary to gauge his reaction to your work, or ask to set up a recurring <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/08/18/weekly-one-on-one-meetings-productive-or-a-waste-o.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">one-on-one meeting Opens a New Window.</a> so that you both have a chance to regularly hash things out. Knowing how your boss feels about you and the work you're doing will help you get ahead of issues that, if left unaddressed, might hold your career back.</p>
<p>We all want to be as successful as possible at work. If 2017 didn't go the way you planned, then it's time to move on and focus on the future. With any luck, 2018 will be the year you land a promotion, get a nice raise, or achieve whatever other goal you've been working toward.</p>
<p>The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after.&#160; <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?aid=8727&amp;source=irreditxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
5 Things to Do Differently at Work Next Year
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/12/03/5-things-to-do-differently-at-work-next-year.html
|
2017-12-03
| 0right
|
5 Things to Do Differently at Work Next Year
<p>So you had your annual <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/08/16/you-got-a-bad-performance-review-now-what.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">performance review Opens a New Window.</a> at work, and it didn't go as well as expected. Maybe your boss had a lot of criticism. Or perhaps it's not that you did anything wrong, per se, but rather, you simply didn't push yourself hard enough to achieve results. No matter your circumstances, if you want 2018 to be the year your career really takes off, here are a few items to add to your must-do list.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>If you work for a large company, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. So if you really want to <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/09/20/do-these-things-to-stand-out-at-work.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">stand out Opens a New Window.</a> next year, and thus increase your chances of climbing the corporate ladder, you'll need to show your management team that you have the ability to take the lead on major projects and run with it. As the new year kicks off, you're likely to see a host of initiatives come to the table. Grab one. And then do it again, and another time after that. Prove that you're a natural leader, and you'll likely be rewarded for it.</p>
<p>Though modesty is a good quality in theory, there comes a point when it's not such a great idea to downplay your successes at work. Next year, make a point of highlighting your personal wins so that your boss not only takes notice, but also takes them into consideration when deciding whether you'll get promoted. Of course, this isn't to say you should toot your own horn at every possible opportunity. But if, say, you put together a marketing brochure and get great feedback from your sales team, you shouldn't hesitate to tell your boss how much everyone gushed over your work.</p>
<p>Whether you're speaking in front of a couple of people or a much larger crowd, presenting successfully is often a matter of strategy and practice. If your presentations have been average thus far, make 2018 the year you really hone them. Work on making eye contact with your audience, and boost your graphics skills to give the folks you're speaking to something compelling to look at. Learning how to really <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/07/02/5-tips-to-nail-your-big-presentation.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">nail presentations Opens a New Window.</a> will give you the edge you need to get ahead.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Nobody wants to be that person who balks at an ambitious request. But if you maintain the habit of agreeing to do things and falling short because those requests are unreasonable in nature, you're only going to end up hurting your career. Next year, pledge to push back when people come to you with impossible demands. If, for example, you're booked solid for the remainder of the week, and you're asked to take on another big assignment, be clear about your predicament, and ask to either bow out gracefully, or have something else taken off your plate. It's natural to want to come off as the resident superhero, but if you take on too much, you risk letting everyone down -- not to mention stressing yourself out to an unhealthy degree.</p>
<p>It's hard to know what your boss is thinking -- and how your performance stacks up -- if you hardly ever get a chance to sit down and talk to him. Next year, pledge to be more proactive in soliciting manager feedback. Send your boss emails as necessary to gauge his reaction to your work, or ask to set up a recurring <a href="https://www.fool.com/careers/2017/08/18/weekly-one-on-one-meetings-productive-or-a-waste-o.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">one-on-one meeting Opens a New Window.</a> so that you both have a chance to regularly hash things out. Knowing how your boss feels about you and the work you're doing will help you get ahead of issues that, if left unaddressed, might hold your career back.</p>
<p>We all want to be as successful as possible at work. If 2017 didn't go the way you planned, then it's time to move on and focus on the future. With any luck, 2018 will be the year you land a promotion, get a nice raise, or achieve whatever other goal you've been working toward.</p>
<p>The $16,122 Social Security bonus most retirees completely overlook If you're like most Americans, you're a few years (or more) behind on your retirement savings. But a handful of little-known "Social Security secrets" could help ensure a boost in your retirement income. For example: one easy trick could pay you as much as $16,122 more... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after.&#160; <a href="http://www.fool.com/mms/mark/ecap-foolcom-social-security?aid=8727&amp;source=irreditxt0000002&amp;ftm_cam=ryr-ss-intro-report&amp;ftm_pit=3186&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Simply click here to discover how to learn more about these strategies Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=0869443e-d4a3-11e7-99db-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 6,048 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The South Korean players each shot their second straight 3-under 69 at Miramar.</p>
<p>They also each had only one bogey, Jang on the par-4 15th when she got a chip only halfway to the hole and missed a 20-footer, and Park on the par-4 16th when she drove into a bunker and came up well short of the green in two.</p>
<p>“This week is more like just be patient is very important, because weather is so bad and the golf condition so bad, too,” the 24-year-old Jang said. “That’s why I’m just hitting fairway, the green. Very important this week. Yep, this weather, this score.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Canada’s Brooke Henderson (71) was a stroke back along with China’s Shanshan Feng (69), South Korea’s So Yeon Ryu (68) and South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace (70). Defending champion Lydia Ko was tied for 18th at 1 under after a 73. The top-ranked New Zealander won by nine strokes last year, and has four LPGA Tour victories this year.</p>
<p>Park prepared for the conditions heading into the Asian Swing.</p>
<p>“I expect a lot of rain, so I had practice,” the 29-year-old Park said, “It’s about just one week, but I had a lot of practice with the trajectory. Different kind of shot from the range, which is a lot of help this week also. So, that’s why I hit it a lot close today even with the wind and the rain.”</p>
<p>Ryu also came prepared.</p>
<p>“I’ve been working on having a low ball shape” Ryu said. “I’ve been practicing like low ball and high ball, so I had no problem to control the low one. Luckily, all shots worked pretty well, so I didn’t have any like major miss shots. … Only one bogey with this weather is pretty positive.”</p>
<p>Park and Jang each have two LPGA Tour victories. Jang won early this season Florida and Singapore, and Park won events in 2011 and 2013.</p>
<p>Park played the first seven holes in 4 under in the worst conditions of the round. She set up birdies with irons to 4 feet on No. 1, a foot on No. 4, and 4 feet on No. 6, ran in an 18-footer on No. 7, and saved par on No. 8 with a 20-foot putt.</p>
<p>“Always difficult with wind,” Park said. “I have to play every single shot really careful and more think about. Makes more tired. So hard to focusing end of the hole. That’s why I tried to.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Jang also played well in the bad early conditions, hitting to 3 feet on the par-3 third and making another birdie on the par-5 sixth. She made an 18-footer on 10, and chipped to a foot on the par-5 12th.</p>
<p>“Just say, ‘Trust yourself. You great player. Just be patient. Middle of the green is fine. Two-putt is pretty good. Par score is pretty good,'” Jang said.</p>
<p>The 19-year-old Henderson has two victories this year, winning the major KPMG Women’s PGA in June. She plans to play all six week on the Asian Swing, a journey that started in China with a fourth-place tie, and will take her to South Korea, back to China, and then to Malaysia and Japan.</p>
<p>Japan’s Sakura Yokomine , the first-round leader after a 67, had a 75 to drop into a tie for 10th at 2 under. American Paula Creamer, a stroke back entering the day, also was 2 under after a 75.</p>
<p>Home favorite Yani Tseng was tied for 65th at 8 over, following an opening 79 with a 73. She won the inaugural event in 2011 at Sunrise, and took the last of her 15 LPGA Tour titles in March 2012.</p>
<p>U.S. Women’s Open champion Brittany Lang was another shot back after rounds of 75 and 78.</p>
|
Park, Jang share LPGA Tour lead in Taiwan
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/862583/park-jang-share-lpga-tour-lead-in-taiwan.html
| 2least
|
Park, Jang share LPGA Tour lead in Taiwan
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The South Korean players each shot their second straight 3-under 69 at Miramar.</p>
<p>They also each had only one bogey, Jang on the par-4 15th when she got a chip only halfway to the hole and missed a 20-footer, and Park on the par-4 16th when she drove into a bunker and came up well short of the green in two.</p>
<p>“This week is more like just be patient is very important, because weather is so bad and the golf condition so bad, too,” the 24-year-old Jang said. “That’s why I’m just hitting fairway, the green. Very important this week. Yep, this weather, this score.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Canada’s Brooke Henderson (71) was a stroke back along with China’s Shanshan Feng (69), South Korea’s So Yeon Ryu (68) and South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace (70). Defending champion Lydia Ko was tied for 18th at 1 under after a 73. The top-ranked New Zealander won by nine strokes last year, and has four LPGA Tour victories this year.</p>
<p>Park prepared for the conditions heading into the Asian Swing.</p>
<p>“I expect a lot of rain, so I had practice,” the 29-year-old Park said, “It’s about just one week, but I had a lot of practice with the trajectory. Different kind of shot from the range, which is a lot of help this week also. So, that’s why I hit it a lot close today even with the wind and the rain.”</p>
<p>Ryu also came prepared.</p>
<p>“I’ve been working on having a low ball shape” Ryu said. “I’ve been practicing like low ball and high ball, so I had no problem to control the low one. Luckily, all shots worked pretty well, so I didn’t have any like major miss shots. … Only one bogey with this weather is pretty positive.”</p>
<p>Park and Jang each have two LPGA Tour victories. Jang won early this season Florida and Singapore, and Park won events in 2011 and 2013.</p>
<p>Park played the first seven holes in 4 under in the worst conditions of the round. She set up birdies with irons to 4 feet on No. 1, a foot on No. 4, and 4 feet on No. 6, ran in an 18-footer on No. 7, and saved par on No. 8 with a 20-foot putt.</p>
<p>“Always difficult with wind,” Park said. “I have to play every single shot really careful and more think about. Makes more tired. So hard to focusing end of the hole. That’s why I tried to.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Jang also played well in the bad early conditions, hitting to 3 feet on the par-3 third and making another birdie on the par-5 sixth. She made an 18-footer on 10, and chipped to a foot on the par-5 12th.</p>
<p>“Just say, ‘Trust yourself. You great player. Just be patient. Middle of the green is fine. Two-putt is pretty good. Par score is pretty good,'” Jang said.</p>
<p>The 19-year-old Henderson has two victories this year, winning the major KPMG Women’s PGA in June. She plans to play all six week on the Asian Swing, a journey that started in China with a fourth-place tie, and will take her to South Korea, back to China, and then to Malaysia and Japan.</p>
<p>Japan’s Sakura Yokomine , the first-round leader after a 67, had a 75 to drop into a tie for 10th at 2 under. American Paula Creamer, a stroke back entering the day, also was 2 under after a 75.</p>
<p>Home favorite Yani Tseng was tied for 65th at 8 over, following an opening 79 with a 73. She won the inaugural event in 2011 at Sunrise, and took the last of her 15 LPGA Tour titles in March 2012.</p>
<p>U.S. Women’s Open champion Brittany Lang was another shot back after rounds of 75 and 78.</p>
| 6,049 |
|
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Authorities said a Houston man attempted to damage or destroy a Confederate statue at a Houston park with the use of explosives. He has been arrested and will face charges.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Federal prosecutors has charged 25-year-old Andrew Schneck with attempting to maliciously damage or destroy property which is receiving federal financial assistance and therefore should be protected.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>A Houston park ranger on Saturday caught Schneck kneeling by a statue of Richard Dowling, a lieutenant in the Confederate army, located in Hermann Park. Schneck was caught with two boxes with duct tape and wires and with a bottle containing a liquid made up of compounds used as explosives. The ranger then requested Schneck to place the boxes on the ground. The suspect allegedly then took a drink from the plastic bottle but immediately spit it on the ground.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The ranger also noticed a timer and wires inside the box, and alerted the Houston Police Department (HPD) about it. The clear liquid was ordered tested and found to contain explosive substances. Authorities believe the items Schneck possessed were capable of producing a viable explosive device.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Authorities also say Schneck conducts chemistry experiments in his Houston home.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Houston receives federal financial assistance for the maintenance of Hermann Park where the General Dowling Monument is located.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>If convicted, Schneck faces a minimum of five and up to 40 years in federal prison and a possible maximum fine of $250,000.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Schneck also has a previous record in 2014 where he received five years of probation after pleading guilty in 2014 to improperly storing explosive materials.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Source:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="http://breaking911.com/breaking-news-feds-arrest-man-bomb-plot-confederate-monument-houston/" type="external">breaking911.com/breaking-news-feds-arrest-man-bomb-plot-confederate-monument-houston</a></p>
|
Texas Man Tries to Plant Bomb in Confederate Statue
| true |
http://thegoldwater.com/news/6988-Texas-Man-Tries-to-Plant-Bomb-in-Confederate-Statue
|
2017-08-21
| 0right
|
Texas Man Tries to Plant Bomb in Confederate Statue
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Authorities said a Houston man attempted to damage or destroy a Confederate statue at a Houston park with the use of explosives. He has been arrested and will face charges.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Federal prosecutors has charged 25-year-old Andrew Schneck with attempting to maliciously damage or destroy property which is receiving federal financial assistance and therefore should be protected.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>A Houston park ranger on Saturday caught Schneck kneeling by a statue of Richard Dowling, a lieutenant in the Confederate army, located in Hermann Park. Schneck was caught with two boxes with duct tape and wires and with a bottle containing a liquid made up of compounds used as explosives. The ranger then requested Schneck to place the boxes on the ground. The suspect allegedly then took a drink from the plastic bottle but immediately spit it on the ground.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>The ranger also noticed a timer and wires inside the box, and alerted the Houston Police Department (HPD) about it. The clear liquid was ordered tested and found to contain explosive substances. Authorities believe the items Schneck possessed were capable of producing a viable explosive device.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Authorities also say Schneck conducts chemistry experiments in his Houston home.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Houston receives federal financial assistance for the maintenance of Hermann Park where the General Dowling Monument is located.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>If convicted, Schneck faces a minimum of five and up to 40 years in federal prison and a possible maximum fine of $250,000.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Schneck also has a previous record in 2014 where he received five years of probation after pleading guilty in 2014 to improperly storing explosive materials.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Source:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="http://breaking911.com/breaking-news-feds-arrest-man-bomb-plot-confederate-monument-houston/" type="external">breaking911.com/breaking-news-feds-arrest-man-bomb-plot-confederate-monument-houston</a></p>
| 6,050 |
<p />
<p>The main reason we can’t get a health reform bill enacted is because the pharmaceutical and insurance industries aren’t happy with their&#160;piece of the action. This despite the fact that&#160;when politicians talk about cutting costs,&#160;what they really mean is cutting&#160;services to us&#160;so these two big industries can enhance their profitability.</p>
<p>One reason drug companies need additional revenue is because employee whistleblowers have found the nerve to report the industry’s crooked business practices—leading to multi-million dollar payouts to injured patients plus fines for legal violations. “I was trained to do things and did things that were blatantly illegal,” David Franklin, a Parke-Davis whistle-blower, told the Boston Globe in 2003. “I knew my job was to falsely gain physicians’ trust and trade on my graduate degree. If he was a cardiologist, I was an expert in cardiology. If he was a neurologist, I was an expert in neurology.” Under the False Claims Act, whistleblowers themselves stand to make millions of dollars for turning in their bosses.</p>
<p>But in the end we’re the ones who pay for drug company malfeasance—in the form of higher prices. And when it comes to health care reform, we’ll pick up the tab for their underhanded dealings in the form of reduced medical care—especially in the Medicare program—negotiated by our representatives in the name of fiscal restraint.</p>
<p>In early November the <a href="http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009911040356" type="external">Indianapolis Star</a>ran down some of the big payouts by the drug companies:</p>
<p>In January, Eli Lilly and Co. agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle charges it illegally promoted its antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa, for unapproved uses. Nine whistle-blowers, former Lilly employees, split about $100 million of the settlement as their reward.</p>
<p>In September, Pfizer said it would pay $2.3 billion to settle charges that it illegally promoted numerous drugs, including the painkiller Bextra. Six whistle-blowers split about $102 million.</p>
<p>In October, AstraZeneca reached a $520 million agreement to settle investigations into illegal marketing of its psychiatric drug, Seroquel. Several whistle-blowers will split an undisclosed amount of money.</p>
<p>And last week, in a courtroom in Trenton, N.J., the latest case began, as a former sales worker at Janssen (owned by Johnson &amp; Johnson) testified she was fired in 2004 for complaining about what she considered pressure to illegally promote the antipsychotic drug Risperdal for unapproved uses.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, more than 1,000 active whistle-blower cases are backlogged at the Department of Justice, and about 200 of them deal with drug companies.</p>
<p>Of the top 20 False Claims Act cases, measured by the amount of money recovered, 12 involved judgments or settlements against pharmaceutical companies, accounting for billions of dollars in recoveries.</p>
<p>None of the fines or settlements resulting from these cases will hurt the profitability&#160;of Big Pharma, which consistently ranks as one of the top two or three most profitable industries in the United States in <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/performers/industries/profits/" type="external">Fortune 500 rankings</a>. In 2008, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/industries/21/index.html" type="external">according to Fortune</a>, profits of the top 10 drugmakers alone came to $50 billion—and that, of course, is after the <a href="http://unsilentgeneration.com/2009/08/06/1539/" type="external">huge payouts to corporate executives</a>.</p>
<p />
|
How We Pay for Big Pharma’s Malpractice
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/11/how-we-pay-big-pharmas-malpractice/
|
2009-11-20
| 4left
|
How We Pay for Big Pharma’s Malpractice
<p />
<p>The main reason we can’t get a health reform bill enacted is because the pharmaceutical and insurance industries aren’t happy with their&#160;piece of the action. This despite the fact that&#160;when politicians talk about cutting costs,&#160;what they really mean is cutting&#160;services to us&#160;so these two big industries can enhance their profitability.</p>
<p>One reason drug companies need additional revenue is because employee whistleblowers have found the nerve to report the industry’s crooked business practices—leading to multi-million dollar payouts to injured patients plus fines for legal violations. “I was trained to do things and did things that were blatantly illegal,” David Franklin, a Parke-Davis whistle-blower, told the Boston Globe in 2003. “I knew my job was to falsely gain physicians’ trust and trade on my graduate degree. If he was a cardiologist, I was an expert in cardiology. If he was a neurologist, I was an expert in neurology.” Under the False Claims Act, whistleblowers themselves stand to make millions of dollars for turning in their bosses.</p>
<p>But in the end we’re the ones who pay for drug company malfeasance—in the form of higher prices. And when it comes to health care reform, we’ll pick up the tab for their underhanded dealings in the form of reduced medical care—especially in the Medicare program—negotiated by our representatives in the name of fiscal restraint.</p>
<p>In early November the <a href="http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009911040356" type="external">Indianapolis Star</a>ran down some of the big payouts by the drug companies:</p>
<p>In January, Eli Lilly and Co. agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle charges it illegally promoted its antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa, for unapproved uses. Nine whistle-blowers, former Lilly employees, split about $100 million of the settlement as their reward.</p>
<p>In September, Pfizer said it would pay $2.3 billion to settle charges that it illegally promoted numerous drugs, including the painkiller Bextra. Six whistle-blowers split about $102 million.</p>
<p>In October, AstraZeneca reached a $520 million agreement to settle investigations into illegal marketing of its psychiatric drug, Seroquel. Several whistle-blowers will split an undisclosed amount of money.</p>
<p>And last week, in a courtroom in Trenton, N.J., the latest case began, as a former sales worker at Janssen (owned by Johnson &amp; Johnson) testified she was fired in 2004 for complaining about what she considered pressure to illegally promote the antipsychotic drug Risperdal for unapproved uses.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, more than 1,000 active whistle-blower cases are backlogged at the Department of Justice, and about 200 of them deal with drug companies.</p>
<p>Of the top 20 False Claims Act cases, measured by the amount of money recovered, 12 involved judgments or settlements against pharmaceutical companies, accounting for billions of dollars in recoveries.</p>
<p>None of the fines or settlements resulting from these cases will hurt the profitability&#160;of Big Pharma, which consistently ranks as one of the top two or three most profitable industries in the United States in <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/performers/industries/profits/" type="external">Fortune 500 rankings</a>. In 2008, <a href="http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2009/industries/21/index.html" type="external">according to Fortune</a>, profits of the top 10 drugmakers alone came to $50 billion—and that, of course, is after the <a href="http://unsilentgeneration.com/2009/08/06/1539/" type="external">huge payouts to corporate executives</a>.</p>
<p />
| 6,051 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>She won.</p>
<p>Kevin Schultz, a Pojoaque Pueblo police officer, and his wife, Cheryl Schultz, before he died Aug. 17, 2002. His wife has fought for workers’ compensation benefits for him and other law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, whether on or off the clock. (Courtesy of Cheryl Schultz)</p>
<p>After hearing the news from her attorney Tuesday, she posted a story about the favorable Court of Appeals opinion on Facebook and wrote simply: “It’s over.”</p>
<p>But there was nothing simple about what Cheryl Schultz and her attorney, George Weeth, had been through.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There were a couple of situations there when I was just done, I can’t do this anymore,” Schultz said. “It was exhausting.”</p>
<p>Weeth, too, admits a couple of times he thought about quitting.</p>
<p>They didn’t.</p>
<p>And it’s a good thing. What they fought for will almost certainly benefit other families of fallen and wounded law enforcement officers both in New Mexico and elsewhere, because the Court of Appeals opinion practically shouts what many of us have felt all along: that an officer is not off the clock when he or she is needed to protect and to serve.</p>
<p>That had been at the crux of the biggest legal battle Cheryl Schultz had waged – though there were certainly others she faced since her husband’s death Aug. 17, 2002. On that sunny Sunday, she and her husband were chaperons for a church outing on the upper Rio Grande near Pilar when a 12-year-old boy fell into the swirling waters.</p>
<p>Kevin Schultz, packing his service revolver, his badge and his pager as he did even on his days off, did not hesitate. He jumped in to save the boy, heaving the unconscious child onto the shore but unable to save himself. He was 44. For his heroism, he received a number of posthumous honors, including the U.S. Coast Guard’s Silver Lifesaving Medal and the Medal of Valor from Pojoaque Pueblo. His name was engraved on both the New Mexico Department of Public Safety’s memorial wall in Santa Fe and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>All those awards, all those officials – including Pojoaque Gov. George Rivera, then the pueblo’s lieutenant governor – praised Kevin Schultz for his selfless act in the line of duty.</p>
<p>But when it came to workers’ compensation benefits, well, no, suddenly his death did not “arise out of and in the course of” his job. Suddenly, Pojoaque Police Chief John Garcia (who, according to testimony, promised to file for the benefits but didn’t), Workers’ Compensation Judge Helen Stirling and New Mexico Mutual Casualty Co. were not convinced that Kevin Schultz’s last heroic deed was “within the course and scope of his employment.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He was off-duty, they argued. He was outside his jurisdiction, not in uniform and hadn’t even been trained to conduct a swift-water rescue.</p>
<p>All these years later, the Court of Appeals told them they were wrong.</p>
<p>“If it is our expectation as a society that police officers put themselves in harm’s way, sometimes irrespective of their on-duty status, then it should also be our expectation that such officers be compensated when they are injured in the course of doing so,” wrote New Mexico Court of Appeals Judge Cynthia Fry.</p>
<p>Weeth said the court’s opinion is the first he is aware of in the country to broadly declare that officers who respond to an emergency while they are off duty should be treated as if they were on duty.</p>
<p>“Had Kevin checked a manual or called for backup or simply said, ‘I’m off duty,’ that child would not be alive today,” he said.</p>
<p>Richard Shane, attorney for the Pojoaque police and New Mexico Mutual Insurance Co., declined to comment, saying he had not had time to digest the 26-page opinion and had not conferred with his clients.</p>
<p>Pojoaque Pueblo issued this statement: “Gov. Rivera has consistently supported the efforts of Cheryl to pursue workers’ compensation benefits on behalf of her late husband. The pueblo’s insurance carrier has handled the claim and proceeded in accordance with our policy provisions. We are looking now at the court’s decision. Kevin’s death greatly impacted the pueblo, most importantly the officers who served with him, and we believe his efforts to save a young boy from drowning were nothing short of heroic.”</p>
<p>Garcia is no longer police chief.</p>
<p>I’ve been writing about Cheryl Schultz’s battle since 2010, and each time she has made it clear that her fight was not about money (she stands to receive an estimated $307,755, which will come in handy for a single mom with a son, Kaegan, now 19 and at the University of New Mexico).</p>
<p>“I wanted something that would help other families,” said Schultz, now the Western regional trustee for Concerns of Police Survivors. “But I also wanted people to know that Kevin did not make a wrong choice by deciding to save somebody’s life.”</p>
<p>A couple of years ago, Schultz was offered what her attorney calls “real money” to quietly settle the case.</p>
<p>“All the pressure was on her to take the easy route, take some money,” Weeth said. “But she had a bigger goal.”</p>
<p>No one would have faulted her had she taken the money and run – except her.</p>
<p>“I had to do what could let me sleep at night,” she said. “Taking that money wasn’t right. Quitting wasn’t right. The only option was to go forward, and that’s what I did.”</p>
<p>Which is to say that in the Schultz family, there are two heroes.</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 <a href="http://twitter.com/jolinegkg" type="external">@jolinegkg</a>. Go to <a href="" type="internal">ABQjournal.com/letters/new</a> to submit a letter to the editor.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Responding to the call of duty: Win for a widow
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/253340/responding-to-the-call-of-duty-win-for-a-widow.html
|
2013-08-26
| 2least
|
Responding to the call of duty: Win for a widow
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>She won.</p>
<p>Kevin Schultz, a Pojoaque Pueblo police officer, and his wife, Cheryl Schultz, before he died Aug. 17, 2002. His wife has fought for workers’ compensation benefits for him and other law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty, whether on or off the clock. (Courtesy of Cheryl Schultz)</p>
<p>After hearing the news from her attorney Tuesday, she posted a story about the favorable Court of Appeals opinion on Facebook and wrote simply: “It’s over.”</p>
<p>But there was nothing simple about what Cheryl Schultz and her attorney, George Weeth, had been through.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“There were a couple of situations there when I was just done, I can’t do this anymore,” Schultz said. “It was exhausting.”</p>
<p>Weeth, too, admits a couple of times he thought about quitting.</p>
<p>They didn’t.</p>
<p>And it’s a good thing. What they fought for will almost certainly benefit other families of fallen and wounded law enforcement officers both in New Mexico and elsewhere, because the Court of Appeals opinion practically shouts what many of us have felt all along: that an officer is not off the clock when he or she is needed to protect and to serve.</p>
<p>That had been at the crux of the biggest legal battle Cheryl Schultz had waged – though there were certainly others she faced since her husband’s death Aug. 17, 2002. On that sunny Sunday, she and her husband were chaperons for a church outing on the upper Rio Grande near Pilar when a 12-year-old boy fell into the swirling waters.</p>
<p>Kevin Schultz, packing his service revolver, his badge and his pager as he did even on his days off, did not hesitate. He jumped in to save the boy, heaving the unconscious child onto the shore but unable to save himself. He was 44. For his heroism, he received a number of posthumous honors, including the U.S. Coast Guard’s Silver Lifesaving Medal and the Medal of Valor from Pojoaque Pueblo. His name was engraved on both the New Mexico Department of Public Safety’s memorial wall in Santa Fe and the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C.</p>
<p>All those awards, all those officials – including Pojoaque Gov. George Rivera, then the pueblo’s lieutenant governor – praised Kevin Schultz for his selfless act in the line of duty.</p>
<p>But when it came to workers’ compensation benefits, well, no, suddenly his death did not “arise out of and in the course of” his job. Suddenly, Pojoaque Police Chief John Garcia (who, according to testimony, promised to file for the benefits but didn’t), Workers’ Compensation Judge Helen Stirling and New Mexico Mutual Casualty Co. were not convinced that Kevin Schultz’s last heroic deed was “within the course and scope of his employment.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He was off-duty, they argued. He was outside his jurisdiction, not in uniform and hadn’t even been trained to conduct a swift-water rescue.</p>
<p>All these years later, the Court of Appeals told them they were wrong.</p>
<p>“If it is our expectation as a society that police officers put themselves in harm’s way, sometimes irrespective of their on-duty status, then it should also be our expectation that such officers be compensated when they are injured in the course of doing so,” wrote New Mexico Court of Appeals Judge Cynthia Fry.</p>
<p>Weeth said the court’s opinion is the first he is aware of in the country to broadly declare that officers who respond to an emergency while they are off duty should be treated as if they were on duty.</p>
<p>“Had Kevin checked a manual or called for backup or simply said, ‘I’m off duty,’ that child would not be alive today,” he said.</p>
<p>Richard Shane, attorney for the Pojoaque police and New Mexico Mutual Insurance Co., declined to comment, saying he had not had time to digest the 26-page opinion and had not conferred with his clients.</p>
<p>Pojoaque Pueblo issued this statement: “Gov. Rivera has consistently supported the efforts of Cheryl to pursue workers’ compensation benefits on behalf of her late husband. The pueblo’s insurance carrier has handled the claim and proceeded in accordance with our policy provisions. We are looking now at the court’s decision. Kevin’s death greatly impacted the pueblo, most importantly the officers who served with him, and we believe his efforts to save a young boy from drowning were nothing short of heroic.”</p>
<p>Garcia is no longer police chief.</p>
<p>I’ve been writing about Cheryl Schultz’s battle since 2010, and each time she has made it clear that her fight was not about money (she stands to receive an estimated $307,755, which will come in handy for a single mom with a son, Kaegan, now 19 and at the University of New Mexico).</p>
<p>“I wanted something that would help other families,” said Schultz, now the Western regional trustee for Concerns of Police Survivors. “But I also wanted people to know that Kevin did not make a wrong choice by deciding to save somebody’s life.”</p>
<p>A couple of years ago, Schultz was offered what her attorney calls “real money” to quietly settle the case.</p>
<p>“All the pressure was on her to take the easy route, take some money,” Weeth said. “But she had a bigger goal.”</p>
<p>No one would have faulted her had she taken the money and run – except her.</p>
<p>“I had to do what could let me sleep at night,” she said. “Taking that money wasn’t right. Quitting wasn’t right. The only option was to go forward, and that’s what I did.”</p>
<p>Which is to say that in the Schultz family, there are two heroes.</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 <a href="http://twitter.com/jolinegkg" type="external">@jolinegkg</a>. Go to <a href="" type="internal">ABQjournal.com/letters/new</a> to submit a letter to the editor.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,052 |
<p>Published time: 25 Jul, 2017 17:07</p>
<p>All 100 Vatican City fountains, including two Baroque masterpieces in St Peter’s Square, will be shut off in the coming days as a drought sweeps Rome and other parts of Italy.</p>
<p>Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said it was the first time the Vatican could recall turning off all of its fountains and reflected Pope Francis’ views on the environment.</p>
<p>“This decision is very much in line with the pope’s thinking on ecology: you can’t waste and sometimes you have to be willing to make a sacrifice,” he told Reuters.</p>
<p>“This is the Vatican’s way of living [in] solidarity with Rome, trying to help Rome get through this crisis,” Burke added.</p>
<p>While the decision is likely to upset summer tourists who look forward to viewing the Vatican’s famed fountains, water conservation is being widely encouraged as Rome’s authorities consider the introduction of strict water rations.</p>
<p>Rome’s water reserves have dwindled greatly with the capital experiencing an average of 73 percent less rainfall across June and July. Italy also experienced its third driest spring in 60 years this year.</p>
<p>A ban on withdrawing water from Lake Bracciano has already been agreed and will kick in from on July 28.</p>
<p>“The truth is Lake Bracciano has fallen too much and we risk an environmental disaster,” Nicola Zingaretti, the President of the local Lazio region, told Tgcom24 TV station, as cited by Reuters, adding that “it is a tragedy.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/170660-pope-exploiting-nature-sin/" type="external">READ MORE: Exploiting nature ‘sin’ of our time –&#160;Pope</a></p>
<p>“I would like to invite Donald Trump here to let him see what it means not to respect climate accords,” he added, referring to the US president’s decision to pull his country out of the 2015 Paris Accord.</p>
<p>The Vatican’s decision to shut off their fountains is just the latest show of support from the state and Pope Francis on environmental issues.</p>
<p>In 2016, at the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Francis described climate change as a sin and said it was the result of a “selfish” system driven by “profit at any price.”</p>
<p>“The world’s poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact,” he said.</p>
|
Pope shuts off Vatican fountains for first time in living memory as Rome hit with drought
| false |
https://newsline.com/pope-shuts-off-vatican-fountains-for-first-time-in-living-memory-as-rome-hit-with-drought/
|
2017-07-25
| 1right-center
|
Pope shuts off Vatican fountains for first time in living memory as Rome hit with drought
<p>Published time: 25 Jul, 2017 17:07</p>
<p>All 100 Vatican City fountains, including two Baroque masterpieces in St Peter’s Square, will be shut off in the coming days as a drought sweeps Rome and other parts of Italy.</p>
<p>Vatican spokesman Greg Burke said it was the first time the Vatican could recall turning off all of its fountains and reflected Pope Francis’ views on the environment.</p>
<p>“This decision is very much in line with the pope’s thinking on ecology: you can’t waste and sometimes you have to be willing to make a sacrifice,” he told Reuters.</p>
<p>“This is the Vatican’s way of living [in] solidarity with Rome, trying to help Rome get through this crisis,” Burke added.</p>
<p>While the decision is likely to upset summer tourists who look forward to viewing the Vatican’s famed fountains, water conservation is being widely encouraged as Rome’s authorities consider the introduction of strict water rations.</p>
<p>Rome’s water reserves have dwindled greatly with the capital experiencing an average of 73 percent less rainfall across June and July. Italy also experienced its third driest spring in 60 years this year.</p>
<p>A ban on withdrawing water from Lake Bracciano has already been agreed and will kick in from on July 28.</p>
<p>“The truth is Lake Bracciano has fallen too much and we risk an environmental disaster,” Nicola Zingaretti, the President of the local Lazio region, told Tgcom24 TV station, as cited by Reuters, adding that “it is a tragedy.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/170660-pope-exploiting-nature-sin/" type="external">READ MORE: Exploiting nature ‘sin’ of our time –&#160;Pope</a></p>
<p>“I would like to invite Donald Trump here to let him see what it means not to respect climate accords,” he added, referring to the US president’s decision to pull his country out of the 2015 Paris Accord.</p>
<p>The Vatican’s decision to shut off their fountains is just the latest show of support from the state and Pope Francis on environmental issues.</p>
<p>In 2016, at the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Francis described climate change as a sin and said it was the result of a “selfish” system driven by “profit at any price.”</p>
<p>“The world’s poor, though least responsible for climate change, are most vulnerable and already suffering its impact,” he said.</p>
| 6,053 |
<p>SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota prison inmate serving a life sentence for first-degree manslaughter has died after a long illness.</p>
<p>The state Department of Corrections says 79-year-old Robert Brim died Sunday at a Sioux Falls hospital. An autopsy is planned.</p>
<p>Brim received the life sentence in 1958 for shooting Irene Stoeser, who was pregnant at the time. Stoeser’s 3-year-old daughter also was shot and killed during the incident, but Brim was charged only with the death of Irene Stoeser. A 4-year-old son was also injured.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/man-convicted-of-1958-stanley-county-murder-dies-in-prison/" type="external">KCCR</a> reports Brim was employed by Stoeser and her husband on their farm near Hayes in Stanley County.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KCCR-AM, <a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/" type="external">http://www.todayskccr.com/</a></p>
<p>SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota prison inmate serving a life sentence for first-degree manslaughter has died after a long illness.</p>
<p>The state Department of Corrections says 79-year-old Robert Brim died Sunday at a Sioux Falls hospital. An autopsy is planned.</p>
<p>Brim received the life sentence in 1958 for shooting Irene Stoeser, who was pregnant at the time. Stoeser’s 3-year-old daughter also was shot and killed during the incident, but Brim was charged only with the death of Irene Stoeser. A 4-year-old son was also injured.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/man-convicted-of-1958-stanley-county-murder-dies-in-prison/" type="external">KCCR</a> reports Brim was employed by Stoeser and her husband on their farm near Hayes in Stanley County.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KCCR-AM, <a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/" type="external">http://www.todayskccr.com/</a></p>
|
South Dakota inmate serving life term dies in hospital
| false |
https://apnews.com/309fd801c6424358af35052d0d660bff
|
2018-01-08
| 2least
|
South Dakota inmate serving life term dies in hospital
<p>SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota prison inmate serving a life sentence for first-degree manslaughter has died after a long illness.</p>
<p>The state Department of Corrections says 79-year-old Robert Brim died Sunday at a Sioux Falls hospital. An autopsy is planned.</p>
<p>Brim received the life sentence in 1958 for shooting Irene Stoeser, who was pregnant at the time. Stoeser’s 3-year-old daughter also was shot and killed during the incident, but Brim was charged only with the death of Irene Stoeser. A 4-year-old son was also injured.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/man-convicted-of-1958-stanley-county-murder-dies-in-prison/" type="external">KCCR</a> reports Brim was employed by Stoeser and her husband on their farm near Hayes in Stanley County.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KCCR-AM, <a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/" type="external">http://www.todayskccr.com/</a></p>
<p>SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota prison inmate serving a life sentence for first-degree manslaughter has died after a long illness.</p>
<p>The state Department of Corrections says 79-year-old Robert Brim died Sunday at a Sioux Falls hospital. An autopsy is planned.</p>
<p>Brim received the life sentence in 1958 for shooting Irene Stoeser, who was pregnant at the time. Stoeser’s 3-year-old daughter also was shot and killed during the incident, but Brim was charged only with the death of Irene Stoeser. A 4-year-old son was also injured.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/man-convicted-of-1958-stanley-county-murder-dies-in-prison/" type="external">KCCR</a> reports Brim was employed by Stoeser and her husband on their farm near Hayes in Stanley County.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: KCCR-AM, <a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.todayskccr.com/" type="external">http://www.todayskccr.com/</a></p>
| 6,054 |
<p>The last couple of weeks have been eventful for the folks behind the Invisible Children charity, what with the near-instant worldwide fame that came from their “Kony 2012” viral video campaign and the ensuing backlash. Now a strange new development has occurred: One of the group’s co-founders was arrested Thursday in an alleged public display of drunkenness and engagement in some autoerotic activity. –KA</p>
<p>NBC San Diego:</p>
<p>Jason Russell, 33, was allegedly found masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and possibly under the influence of something, according to Lt. Andra Brown. He was detained at the intersection of Ingraham Street and Riviera Road.</p>
<p>Brown said Russell was acting very strange.</p>
<p />
<p>Police said they received several calls yesterday at 11:30 a.m. of a man in various stages of undress, running through traffic and screaming. Police described him as “in his underwear.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/jason-russell-san-diego-invisible-children-kony-2012-142970255.html" type="external">Read more</a></p>
|
Invisible Children Co-Founder Arrested on Suspicion of Public Drunkenness, Masturbation
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/invisible-children-co-founder-arrested-on-suspicion-of-public-drunkenness-masturbation/
|
2012-03-17
| 4left
|
Invisible Children Co-Founder Arrested on Suspicion of Public Drunkenness, Masturbation
<p>The last couple of weeks have been eventful for the folks behind the Invisible Children charity, what with the near-instant worldwide fame that came from their “Kony 2012” viral video campaign and the ensuing backlash. Now a strange new development has occurred: One of the group’s co-founders was arrested Thursday in an alleged public display of drunkenness and engagement in some autoerotic activity. –KA</p>
<p>NBC San Diego:</p>
<p>Jason Russell, 33, was allegedly found masturbating in public, vandalizing cars and possibly under the influence of something, according to Lt. Andra Brown. He was detained at the intersection of Ingraham Street and Riviera Road.</p>
<p>Brown said Russell was acting very strange.</p>
<p />
<p>Police said they received several calls yesterday at 11:30 a.m. of a man in various stages of undress, running through traffic and screaming. Police described him as “in his underwear.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/jason-russell-san-diego-invisible-children-kony-2012-142970255.html" type="external">Read more</a></p>
| 6,055 |
<p>The big three U.S. light-lager brands -- Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite -- are all losing volume as consumers shift to craft and Mexican import beers as well as to wine and spirits.</p>
<p>Molson Coors Brewing Co., which makes Miller Lite and Coors Light, said Wednesday that its U.S. sales-to-retailers volume fell 2.9% in the third quarter, compared with the year-earlier period, thanks largely to declines in the two light-beer brands. Anheuser-Busch InBev NV said last week that Bud Light, the No. 1 U.S. beer brand by volume, fared even worse, losing almost a full percentage point of market share in the three months to Sept. 30.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Combined, the country's top two brewers sold 2.6 million fewer barrels over that period, according to Beer Marketer's Insights. "That's a shocker," the industry tracker wrote Wednesday.</p>
<p>"I think it's safe to say that the industry had a tough summer," Gavin Hattersley, chief executive of Molson Coors's U.S. business unit MillerCoors, said on a call with analysts Wednesday.</p>
<p>The downward slide of American lagers isn't new. But according to Molson Coors, demand has been even more sluggish than anticipated amid a spate of hurricanes, discounted prices on spirits and changes in consumer behavior.</p>
<p>"Millennials are going out less," Mr. Hattersley said.</p>
<p>Retail store sales of Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite are down 5.7%, 3.6% and 1.6%, respectively, this year through Oct. 21, according to Nielsen data compiled by Beer Marketer's Insights. From 2010 through 2016, overall volumes in the light-lager category fell 14% to 65 million barrels.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The silver lining, at least for Molson Coors, is that both Miller Lite and Coors Light are gaining share on market leader Bud Light.</p>
<p>"We're very pleased with our performance with Miller Lite, in particular, " Molson Coors CEO Mark Hunter said. "It's doing well in a declining segment."</p>
<p>The company's craft-style Blue Moon beer is performing well, executives said, and Molson Coors has high hopes for Sol, a brand it acquired from Heineken earlier this year to get in on the booming U.S. sales of Mexican imports, such as Corona and Modelo, distributed by competitor Constellation Brands Inc.</p>
<p>It's too soon to say how well Sol is doing, Mr. Hattersley said, noting that Molson Coors began selling it in October.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Denver-based Molson Coors has a team looking at the potential impact legalized cannabis could have on its beer sales, as well as possible opportunities for investment, Mr. Hunter said. Constellation Brands said earlier this week that it is taking a 9.9% stake in Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth Corp. and plans to develop nonalcoholic, marijuana-infused beverages.</p>
<p>"I think the important thing is to make sure we don't get caught in some sort of adrenaline rush," Mr. Hunter said, noting that the beer industry has seen "relatively healthy" sales in Colorado since recreational marijuana use was legalized there.</p>
<p>Write to Jennifer Maloney at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 01, 2017 15:15 ET (19:15 GMT)</p>
|
Light Beer Weighs Down Brewers' Results
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/11/01/light-beer-weighs-down-brewers-results.html
|
2017-11-01
| 0right
|
Light Beer Weighs Down Brewers' Results
<p>The big three U.S. light-lager brands -- Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite -- are all losing volume as consumers shift to craft and Mexican import beers as well as to wine and spirits.</p>
<p>Molson Coors Brewing Co., which makes Miller Lite and Coors Light, said Wednesday that its U.S. sales-to-retailers volume fell 2.9% in the third quarter, compared with the year-earlier period, thanks largely to declines in the two light-beer brands. Anheuser-Busch InBev NV said last week that Bud Light, the No. 1 U.S. beer brand by volume, fared even worse, losing almost a full percentage point of market share in the three months to Sept. 30.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Combined, the country's top two brewers sold 2.6 million fewer barrels over that period, according to Beer Marketer's Insights. "That's a shocker," the industry tracker wrote Wednesday.</p>
<p>"I think it's safe to say that the industry had a tough summer," Gavin Hattersley, chief executive of Molson Coors's U.S. business unit MillerCoors, said on a call with analysts Wednesday.</p>
<p>The downward slide of American lagers isn't new. But according to Molson Coors, demand has been even more sluggish than anticipated amid a spate of hurricanes, discounted prices on spirits and changes in consumer behavior.</p>
<p>"Millennials are going out less," Mr. Hattersley said.</p>
<p>Retail store sales of Bud Light, Coors Light and Miller Lite are down 5.7%, 3.6% and 1.6%, respectively, this year through Oct. 21, according to Nielsen data compiled by Beer Marketer's Insights. From 2010 through 2016, overall volumes in the light-lager category fell 14% to 65 million barrels.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The silver lining, at least for Molson Coors, is that both Miller Lite and Coors Light are gaining share on market leader Bud Light.</p>
<p>"We're very pleased with our performance with Miller Lite, in particular, " Molson Coors CEO Mark Hunter said. "It's doing well in a declining segment."</p>
<p>The company's craft-style Blue Moon beer is performing well, executives said, and Molson Coors has high hopes for Sol, a brand it acquired from Heineken earlier this year to get in on the booming U.S. sales of Mexican imports, such as Corona and Modelo, distributed by competitor Constellation Brands Inc.</p>
<p>It's too soon to say how well Sol is doing, Mr. Hattersley said, noting that Molson Coors began selling it in October.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Denver-based Molson Coors has a team looking at the potential impact legalized cannabis could have on its beer sales, as well as possible opportunities for investment, Mr. Hunter said. Constellation Brands said earlier this week that it is taking a 9.9% stake in Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth Corp. and plans to develop nonalcoholic, marijuana-infused beverages.</p>
<p>"I think the important thing is to make sure we don't get caught in some sort of adrenaline rush," Mr. Hunter said, noting that the beer industry has seen "relatively healthy" sales in Colorado since recreational marijuana use was legalized there.</p>
<p>Write to Jennifer Maloney at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>November 01, 2017 15:15 ET (19:15 GMT)</p>
| 6,056 |
<p>Yes, you will soon be able to take a cruise to Cuba.</p>
<p>Just don't call it, um, tourism.</p>
<p>The travel industry is celebrating ahead of the formal restoration of US-Cuban diplomatic relations on July 20. Although Americans have been banned from visiting Cuba as tourists, the travel industry is finding ways around it.</p>
<p>Beginning next May, you might even be able to sail to Cuba on a cruise ship. Carnival Corporation's newest cruise line, <a href="http://www.fathom.org/" type="external">fathom</a>, plans to offer excursions that won't qualify as leisure. "This is a totally differentiated travel experience. We've built an entirely new category we're calling social impact travel," says fathom president Tara Russell.</p>
<p>Russell says for Carnival, social impact means "having both a human and an environmental benefit to communities and customers."</p>
<p>The ship and its amenities will vary from Carnival's other cruise vessels. "The ship that we've purposed... specifically as the first ship for fathom, is a small ship, so only 700 passengers. It actually doesn't have a casino, and it won't have Broadway on board," Russell says.</p>
<p>So what does social impact look like for 700 travelers aboard a cruise ship? "At this point, the only thing we know for sure is that we will be offering cultural immersion and education," Russell says. "It's too soon to say whether service will be involved."</p>
<p>Russell says they're still in discussions with the Cuban government — besides determining what activities the passengers will engage in, they still need to establish which ports the ship can visit.</p>
<p>"We see 11 ports of promise [in Cuba], but it's too soon to say which we will visit," Russell says.</p>
<p>Despite uncertainties, Russell says that they expect more detail in the coming months. Meanwhile, fathom is taking reservations with a fully refundable deposit.</p>
|
Tourist cruise ships headed from US to Cuba. But, don't call it tourism.
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2015-07-08/standard-tourism-wont-fly-social-impact-cruising-will
|
2015-07-08
| 3left-center
|
Tourist cruise ships headed from US to Cuba. But, don't call it tourism.
<p>Yes, you will soon be able to take a cruise to Cuba.</p>
<p>Just don't call it, um, tourism.</p>
<p>The travel industry is celebrating ahead of the formal restoration of US-Cuban diplomatic relations on July 20. Although Americans have been banned from visiting Cuba as tourists, the travel industry is finding ways around it.</p>
<p>Beginning next May, you might even be able to sail to Cuba on a cruise ship. Carnival Corporation's newest cruise line, <a href="http://www.fathom.org/" type="external">fathom</a>, plans to offer excursions that won't qualify as leisure. "This is a totally differentiated travel experience. We've built an entirely new category we're calling social impact travel," says fathom president Tara Russell.</p>
<p>Russell says for Carnival, social impact means "having both a human and an environmental benefit to communities and customers."</p>
<p>The ship and its amenities will vary from Carnival's other cruise vessels. "The ship that we've purposed... specifically as the first ship for fathom, is a small ship, so only 700 passengers. It actually doesn't have a casino, and it won't have Broadway on board," Russell says.</p>
<p>So what does social impact look like for 700 travelers aboard a cruise ship? "At this point, the only thing we know for sure is that we will be offering cultural immersion and education," Russell says. "It's too soon to say whether service will be involved."</p>
<p>Russell says they're still in discussions with the Cuban government — besides determining what activities the passengers will engage in, they still need to establish which ports the ship can visit.</p>
<p>"We see 11 ports of promise [in Cuba], but it's too soon to say which we will visit," Russell says.</p>
<p>Despite uncertainties, Russell says that they expect more detail in the coming months. Meanwhile, fathom is taking reservations with a fully refundable deposit.</p>
| 6,057 |
<p />
<p>Image source: stevepb via Pixabay.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What:Shares of Medivation were up more than 10% as of 3:00 p.m. ET after the cancer-focusedbiopharmaceutical company reported its fourth-quarter earnings.</p>
<p>So what:Sales of its cancer medication Xtandi continue to grow strongly. Medivation's collaboration partnerAstellas Pharmareported $315.9 million in U.S. sales of Xtandi, up 37% versus the same time last year. Growth outside the U.S. was even stronger and came in at $231 million, up83%.</p>
<p>Remember that Medivation records Xtandi revenuein three different ways: U.S. collaboration revenue, ex-U.S. collaboration revenue, and up-front and milestone payments.</p>
<p>Here's how those results came in for the quarter:</p>
<p>In total, GAAP collaboration revenue for the period came in at $377 million, up 35% from the year-ago period and was ahead of the $371.9 million that analysts were expecting. However, moving forward, it said that it will not be earning more milestone payments from Astellas -- the $175 million it recorded during the period would be its last.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Stripping out the milestone payments revenue came in at $202.7 million, up strongly from the $133.4 million that it reported in the year-ago period. That allowed Medivation to report non-GAAP net income of $49.5 million or $0.29 per diluted share, which was $0.05 higher than analysts were expecting.</p>
<p>The company also confirmed that its supplemental new drug application to expand the labelling of Xtandi has been accepted by the Food and Drug Administration. The agency gave the companies a PDUFA date of Oct. 22, 2016.</p>
<p>The beat on revenue and earnings per share appear to be the reasons that shares are soaring today.</p>
<p>Now what:To keep sales of Xtandi going strong in 2016 the company announced that it increased its specialty sales force more than 40% during the quarter. The company believes that will allow it to more effectively target the roughly 80% of prostate cancer drug prescribing urologists that have yet to write a prescription for Xtandi.</p>
<p>In total, Medivation offered up the following guidance for 2016:</p>
<p>For reference, the company reported non-GAAP collaboration revenue of $695 million in 2015 and non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.01, so the midpoint of its ranges represents growth of roughly 35%. That's roughly in line with what the market was expecting, as analysts were projecting revenue of $910 million and $1.35 in earnings.</p>
<p>Given the solid quarterly numbers and the upbeat forecast, it's hard to blame the market for feeling bullish about Medivation's stock today.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/26/medivation-inc-stock-is-rising-today-heres-why.aspx" type="external">Medivation Inc. Stock Is Rising Today -- Here's Why Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Brian Feroldi Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
Medivation Inc. Stock Is Rising Today -- Here's Why
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/02/26/medivation-inc-stock-is-rising-today-here-why.html
|
2016-03-27
| 0right
|
Medivation Inc. Stock Is Rising Today -- Here's Why
<p />
<p>Image source: stevepb via Pixabay.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What:Shares of Medivation were up more than 10% as of 3:00 p.m. ET after the cancer-focusedbiopharmaceutical company reported its fourth-quarter earnings.</p>
<p>So what:Sales of its cancer medication Xtandi continue to grow strongly. Medivation's collaboration partnerAstellas Pharmareported $315.9 million in U.S. sales of Xtandi, up 37% versus the same time last year. Growth outside the U.S. was even stronger and came in at $231 million, up83%.</p>
<p>Remember that Medivation records Xtandi revenuein three different ways: U.S. collaboration revenue, ex-U.S. collaboration revenue, and up-front and milestone payments.</p>
<p>Here's how those results came in for the quarter:</p>
<p>In total, GAAP collaboration revenue for the period came in at $377 million, up 35% from the year-ago period and was ahead of the $371.9 million that analysts were expecting. However, moving forward, it said that it will not be earning more milestone payments from Astellas -- the $175 million it recorded during the period would be its last.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Stripping out the milestone payments revenue came in at $202.7 million, up strongly from the $133.4 million that it reported in the year-ago period. That allowed Medivation to report non-GAAP net income of $49.5 million or $0.29 per diluted share, which was $0.05 higher than analysts were expecting.</p>
<p>The company also confirmed that its supplemental new drug application to expand the labelling of Xtandi has been accepted by the Food and Drug Administration. The agency gave the companies a PDUFA date of Oct. 22, 2016.</p>
<p>The beat on revenue and earnings per share appear to be the reasons that shares are soaring today.</p>
<p>Now what:To keep sales of Xtandi going strong in 2016 the company announced that it increased its specialty sales force more than 40% during the quarter. The company believes that will allow it to more effectively target the roughly 80% of prostate cancer drug prescribing urologists that have yet to write a prescription for Xtandi.</p>
<p>In total, Medivation offered up the following guidance for 2016:</p>
<p>For reference, the company reported non-GAAP collaboration revenue of $695 million in 2015 and non-GAAP earnings per share of $1.01, so the midpoint of its ranges represents growth of roughly 35%. That's roughly in line with what the market was expecting, as analysts were projecting revenue of $910 million and $1.35 in earnings.</p>
<p>Given the solid quarterly numbers and the upbeat forecast, it's hard to blame the market for feeling bullish about Medivation's stock today.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/26/medivation-inc-stock-is-rising-today-heres-why.aspx" type="external">Medivation Inc. Stock Is Rising Today -- Here's Why Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Brian Feroldi Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 6,058 |
<p>Sony's fiscal first quarter profit nearly quadrupled from a year earlier, boosted by its lucrative image sensor and other businesses and highlighting a gradual recovery at the Japanese electronics and entertainment company.</p>
<p>Sony Corp. reported Tuesday an 80.9 billion yen ($735 million) April-June profit, up dramatically from 21.2 billion yen the same period a year ago.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Quarterly sales gained 15 percent to 1.86 trillion yen ($16.9 billion).</p>
<p>Sony, whose sprawling business spans finance, movies, video games and consumer electronics, is seeing better results at its various units, including games, imaging products, semiconductors and home-entertainment systems.</p>
<p>Sony, which makes the Spider-Man series movies and the PlayStation 4 game console, stuck to its annual forecast for a 255 billion yen ($2.3 billion) profit, up dramatically from 73 billion yen posted the previous fiscal year.</p>
<p>Also helping Sony's bottom line was the absence of the damage it suffered from the April 2016 earthquake in southwestern Japan that shut down its semiconductor plant, and gains from insurance recoveries related to that quake, it said.</p>
<p>Sony was long an iconic Japanese brand, symbolizing the nation's spectacular rise after its defeat in World War II, but it fell behind powerful rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea and Apple of the U.S. in flat-panel TVs, smart devices and other gadgets.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The Tokyo-based company has found it hard to do well constantly in all its sectors, but it has shifted to focusing on businesses where it can turn a profit. It has been reshaping its business by focusing on high-end cameras and video games and selling assets, including its Vaio personal computer business. Its TV division lost money for years but has recently recovered.</p>
<p>PlayStation 4 sales and the contribution from Sony's Virtual Reality headsets have helped rebuild Sony's reputation for combining technology and entertainment prowess.</p>
<p>Sony's computer chip sector has also fared relatively well recently on the growth of image sensor sales for mobile products.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama</p>
<p>Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama</p>
|
Sony sees recovery with a nearly quadrupling of profit
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/08/01/sony-sees-recovery-with-nearly-quadrupling-profit.html
|
2017-08-01
| 0right
|
Sony sees recovery with a nearly quadrupling of profit
<p>Sony's fiscal first quarter profit nearly quadrupled from a year earlier, boosted by its lucrative image sensor and other businesses and highlighting a gradual recovery at the Japanese electronics and entertainment company.</p>
<p>Sony Corp. reported Tuesday an 80.9 billion yen ($735 million) April-June profit, up dramatically from 21.2 billion yen the same period a year ago.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Quarterly sales gained 15 percent to 1.86 trillion yen ($16.9 billion).</p>
<p>Sony, whose sprawling business spans finance, movies, video games and consumer electronics, is seeing better results at its various units, including games, imaging products, semiconductors and home-entertainment systems.</p>
<p>Sony, which makes the Spider-Man series movies and the PlayStation 4 game console, stuck to its annual forecast for a 255 billion yen ($2.3 billion) profit, up dramatically from 73 billion yen posted the previous fiscal year.</p>
<p>Also helping Sony's bottom line was the absence of the damage it suffered from the April 2016 earthquake in southwestern Japan that shut down its semiconductor plant, and gains from insurance recoveries related to that quake, it said.</p>
<p>Sony was long an iconic Japanese brand, symbolizing the nation's spectacular rise after its defeat in World War II, but it fell behind powerful rivals like Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea and Apple of the U.S. in flat-panel TVs, smart devices and other gadgets.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The Tokyo-based company has found it hard to do well constantly in all its sectors, but it has shifted to focusing on businesses where it can turn a profit. It has been reshaping its business by focusing on high-end cameras and video games and selling assets, including its Vaio personal computer business. Its TV division lost money for years but has recently recovered.</p>
<p>PlayStation 4 sales and the contribution from Sony's Virtual Reality headsets have helped rebuild Sony's reputation for combining technology and entertainment prowess.</p>
<p>Sony's computer chip sector has also fared relatively well recently on the growth of image sensor sales for mobile products.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama</p>
<p>Her work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/yuri%20kageyama</p>
| 6,059 |
<p>By <a href="http://johnpilger.com/articles/australia-beckons-a-war-with-china" type="external">John Pilger / JohnPilger.com</a></p>
<p>An Australian army recruitment poster from World War I. ( <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Australia#/media/File:Trumpetcallsa.jpg" type="external">Norman Lindsay / Library of Congress</a>)</p>
<p>Australia is sleep-walking into a confrontation with China. Wars can happen suddenly in an atmosphere of mistrust and provocation, especially if a minor power, like Australia, abandons its independence for an “alliance” with an unstable superpower.</p>
<p />
<p>The United States is at a critical moment. Having exported its all-powerful manufacturing base, run down its industry and reduced millions of its once-hopeful people to poverty, the principal American power today is brute force. When Donald Trump launched his missile attack on Syria—following his bombing of a mosque and a school—he was having dinner in Florida with the president of China, Xi Jinping.</p>
<p>READ: <a href="" type="internal">The Pandora’s Box of War</a></p>
<p>Trump’s attack on Syria had little to do with chemical weapons. It was, above all, to show his detractors and doubters in Washington’s war-making institutions—the Pentagon, the CIA, the Congress—how tough he was and prepared to risk a war with Russia. He had spilled blood in Syria, a Russian protectorate; he was surely now on the team. The attack was also meant to say directly to President Xi, his dinner guest: This is how we deal with those who challenge the top dog.</p>
<p>China has long received this message. In its rise as the world’s biggest trader and manufacturer, China has been encircled by 400 U.S. military bases—a provocation described by a former Pentagon strategist as “a perfect noose.”</p>
<p>This is not Trump’s doing. In 2011, then-President Barack Obama flew to Australia to declare, in an address to its Parliament, what became known as the “pivot to Asia”: the biggest buildup of U.S. air and naval forces in the Asia Pacific region since World War II. The target was China. America had a new and entirely unnecessary enemy. Today, low-draft U.S. warships, missiles, bombers and drones operate on China’s doorstep.</p>
<p>In July, one of the biggest U.S.-led naval exercises ever staged, the biennial Operation Talisman Sabre, will rehearse a blockade of the sea lanes through which run China’s commercial lifelines. Based on an air-sea battle plan for war with China, which prescribes a preemptive “blinding” attack, this “war game” will be played by Australia.</p>
<p>This is not urgent news. Rather, the news is the “threat” that China poses to “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea by building airstrips on disputed reefs and islets. The reason why—the “noose”—is almost never mentioned.</p>
<p>Australia in the 21st century has no enemies. Not even a melancholy colonial imagination that conjured Asia falling down on us as if by the force of gravity can conjure a single contemporary enemy. No one wants to bomb or occupy Australia. Well, not yet.</p>
<p>As Australian political, military and intelligence establishments are integrated into the war plans of a growing American obsession—the shift of trading, banking and development power to the east—Australia is making an enemy it never bargained for. A front line has already been marked at Pine Gap, the spy base the CIA set up near Alice Springs in the 1960s, which targets America’s enemies—beckoning, of course, massive retaliation.</p>
<p>Last October, the opposition Labor Party’s defense spokesman, Richard Marles, delighted the U.S. admirals and generals at a conference in Hawaii by demanding that Australian naval commanders should have the authority to provoke nuclear-armed China in the disputed South China Sea. What is it about some Australian politicians whose obsequiousness takes charge of their senses?</p>
<p>While the coalition government of Malcolm Turnbull has resisted such a clear and present danger, at least for now, it is building a $195 billion war arsenal, one of the biggest on earth—including more than $15 billion to be spent on American F-35 fighters already distinguished as hi-tech turkeys. Clearly, this is aimed at China.</p>
<p>This view of Australia’s region is shrouded by silence. Dissenters are few, or frightened. Anti-China witch hunts are not uncommon. Indeed, who, apart from former Prime Minister Paul Keating, speaks out with an unambiguous warning? Who tells Australians that, in response to the “noose” around it, China has almost certainly increased its nuclear weapons posture from low alert to high alert?</p>
<p>And who utters the heresy that Australians should not have to “choose” between America and China: that we should, for the first time in our history, be truly modern and independent of all great power, that we should play a thoughtful, imaginative, non-provocative, diplomatic role to help prevent a catastrophe and so protect “our interests,” which are the lives of people?</p>
<p>John Pilger is an Australian-British journalist based in London. Pilger’s website is <a href="http://johnpilger.com/" type="external">johnpilger.com</a>. His new film, “The Coming War on China,” is available in the U.S. from <a href="http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/" type="external">bullfrogfilms.com</a>.</p>
|
The U.S. May Be Pushing Australia Into War With China
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/the-u-s-may-be-pushing-australia-into-war-with-china/
|
2017-04-13
| 4left
|
The U.S. May Be Pushing Australia Into War With China
<p>By <a href="http://johnpilger.com/articles/australia-beckons-a-war-with-china" type="external">John Pilger / JohnPilger.com</a></p>
<p>An Australian army recruitment poster from World War I. ( <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_Australia#/media/File:Trumpetcallsa.jpg" type="external">Norman Lindsay / Library of Congress</a>)</p>
<p>Australia is sleep-walking into a confrontation with China. Wars can happen suddenly in an atmosphere of mistrust and provocation, especially if a minor power, like Australia, abandons its independence for an “alliance” with an unstable superpower.</p>
<p />
<p>The United States is at a critical moment. Having exported its all-powerful manufacturing base, run down its industry and reduced millions of its once-hopeful people to poverty, the principal American power today is brute force. When Donald Trump launched his missile attack on Syria—following his bombing of a mosque and a school—he was having dinner in Florida with the president of China, Xi Jinping.</p>
<p>READ: <a href="" type="internal">The Pandora’s Box of War</a></p>
<p>Trump’s attack on Syria had little to do with chemical weapons. It was, above all, to show his detractors and doubters in Washington’s war-making institutions—the Pentagon, the CIA, the Congress—how tough he was and prepared to risk a war with Russia. He had spilled blood in Syria, a Russian protectorate; he was surely now on the team. The attack was also meant to say directly to President Xi, his dinner guest: This is how we deal with those who challenge the top dog.</p>
<p>China has long received this message. In its rise as the world’s biggest trader and manufacturer, China has been encircled by 400 U.S. military bases—a provocation described by a former Pentagon strategist as “a perfect noose.”</p>
<p>This is not Trump’s doing. In 2011, then-President Barack Obama flew to Australia to declare, in an address to its Parliament, what became known as the “pivot to Asia”: the biggest buildup of U.S. air and naval forces in the Asia Pacific region since World War II. The target was China. America had a new and entirely unnecessary enemy. Today, low-draft U.S. warships, missiles, bombers and drones operate on China’s doorstep.</p>
<p>In July, one of the biggest U.S.-led naval exercises ever staged, the biennial Operation Talisman Sabre, will rehearse a blockade of the sea lanes through which run China’s commercial lifelines. Based on an air-sea battle plan for war with China, which prescribes a preemptive “blinding” attack, this “war game” will be played by Australia.</p>
<p>This is not urgent news. Rather, the news is the “threat” that China poses to “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea by building airstrips on disputed reefs and islets. The reason why—the “noose”—is almost never mentioned.</p>
<p>Australia in the 21st century has no enemies. Not even a melancholy colonial imagination that conjured Asia falling down on us as if by the force of gravity can conjure a single contemporary enemy. No one wants to bomb or occupy Australia. Well, not yet.</p>
<p>As Australian political, military and intelligence establishments are integrated into the war plans of a growing American obsession—the shift of trading, banking and development power to the east—Australia is making an enemy it never bargained for. A front line has already been marked at Pine Gap, the spy base the CIA set up near Alice Springs in the 1960s, which targets America’s enemies—beckoning, of course, massive retaliation.</p>
<p>Last October, the opposition Labor Party’s defense spokesman, Richard Marles, delighted the U.S. admirals and generals at a conference in Hawaii by demanding that Australian naval commanders should have the authority to provoke nuclear-armed China in the disputed South China Sea. What is it about some Australian politicians whose obsequiousness takes charge of their senses?</p>
<p>While the coalition government of Malcolm Turnbull has resisted such a clear and present danger, at least for now, it is building a $195 billion war arsenal, one of the biggest on earth—including more than $15 billion to be spent on American F-35 fighters already distinguished as hi-tech turkeys. Clearly, this is aimed at China.</p>
<p>This view of Australia’s region is shrouded by silence. Dissenters are few, or frightened. Anti-China witch hunts are not uncommon. Indeed, who, apart from former Prime Minister Paul Keating, speaks out with an unambiguous warning? Who tells Australians that, in response to the “noose” around it, China has almost certainly increased its nuclear weapons posture from low alert to high alert?</p>
<p>And who utters the heresy that Australians should not have to “choose” between America and China: that we should, for the first time in our history, be truly modern and independent of all great power, that we should play a thoughtful, imaginative, non-provocative, diplomatic role to help prevent a catastrophe and so protect “our interests,” which are the lives of people?</p>
<p>John Pilger is an Australian-British journalist based in London. Pilger’s website is <a href="http://johnpilger.com/" type="external">johnpilger.com</a>. His new film, “The Coming War on China,” is available in the U.S. from <a href="http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/" type="external">bullfrogfilms.com</a>.</p>
| 6,060 |
<p>Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has escalated his battle with ISIS in Libya by sending in Egypt’s special forces, <a href="http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=21f_1424274183&amp;comments=1" type="external">which are considered some of the best in the world.</a></p>
<p>Egyptian special forces have allegedly launched a ground attack in Libya’s Islamic State-held Derna capturing dozens of Islamist militants, according to Egyptian and Libyan reports.</p>
<p>Ansa news agency cited unnamed local sources as saying that an Egyptian commando stormed the eastern Libyan town, a stronghold of the Islamic State (Isis) there, “capturing 55 Daesh [IS] militants”.</p>
<p>The Libyan National Army wrote on its Facebook page that Egyptian forces in coordination with the local army stormed IS camp in Derna, “killing a large number of IS militants and capturing several terrorists including Egyptians, foreigners and Arabs”.</p>
<p>An Egyptian newspaper, ElWatan News, reported that several jihadists were killed in the operation.</p>
<p>I suspect that the <a href="" type="internal">only jobs program</a> Sisi is interested in providing ISIS involves the funeral industry.</p>
<p>You might think that such a robust response to the terror group that has threatened President Obama would be winning all sorts of support from the White House.</p>
<p>Sadly…not so much.</p>
<p />
<p>An Italian analyst, Giovanni Giacalone, <a href="http://english.pravda.ru/world/africa/19-02-2015/129869-usa_egypt_libya_isis-0/" type="external">files this report</a>:</p>
<p>The Obama Administration immediately condemned the Egyptian and Emirate attacks in retaliation for the slaughter of the Christian Copts. According to Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby, the U.S. believes the crisis in Libya must be solved politically and without outside interference:</p>
<p>“We discourage other nations from taking a part in Libya’s issues through violence,” Kirby said. “We want the issues solved in Libya to be done peacefully and through good governance and politics and not violence.” [1]</p>
<p>At this point it is more than legitimate to raise a question: why would the United States be allowed to strike wherever they want, such as Iraq for instance, while other countries like Egypt, who are facing eminent threats, shouldn’t be authorized to attack?</p>
<p>…At this point it is not hard to understand why Obama does not want to support Egypt and does not want other state-actors to attack jihadists in Libya. The US Administration discourages any type of military intervention, which is the same message that has been given to Italy by the Arabic website of the Muslim Brotherhood.</p>
<p>Italians are deeply concerned about <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/02/19/italy-prepares-for-potential-isis-air-attack/" type="external">ISIS activities in Libya</a>.</p>
<p>According to recent reports, the Italian Secret Service fears an air attack by ISIS, compounding the already existent danger of terrorist infiltration among with throngs of immigrants coming to Italy by boat from neighboring Libya.</p>
<p>Several days ago, the air defense system went into high alert after the secret service sent a notice.</p>
<p>The notice spoke of aircraft prepared to take off from Sirte and able to strike the Italian peninsula. Though this has not yet occurred, tensions remain high because of the strong risk of an attack carried out by “lone wolves” as occurred in Paris and in Copenhagen.</p>
<p>Rumors that American representatives were planning talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders in Qatar <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/US-official-says-no-US-talks-with-Taliban-in-Qatar-391541" type="external">have been officially denied</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Abdullah <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2015/02/27/jordan-goes-all-against-isis-how-long-306093.html" type="external">has continued his strikes on ISIS targets</a>:</p>
<p>The young monarch’s response has been so fierce that some in Washington now speculate that Jordan could become the new leader of a Sunni Arab alliance against ISIS and even introduce ground troops into the battle.</p>
<p>King Abdullah apparently has the same jobs program for ISIS that Sisi has.</p>
<p>(Featured Image: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU7yRScI6R4" type="external">SISI vs ISIS</a>, RT video)</p>
|
Egypt Commandos Strike ISIS Hard in Libya
| true |
http://legalinsurrection.com/2015/02/egypt-commandos-strike-isis-hard-in-libya/
|
2015-02-20
| 0right
|
Egypt Commandos Strike ISIS Hard in Libya
<p>Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has escalated his battle with ISIS in Libya by sending in Egypt’s special forces, <a href="http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=21f_1424274183&amp;comments=1" type="external">which are considered some of the best in the world.</a></p>
<p>Egyptian special forces have allegedly launched a ground attack in Libya’s Islamic State-held Derna capturing dozens of Islamist militants, according to Egyptian and Libyan reports.</p>
<p>Ansa news agency cited unnamed local sources as saying that an Egyptian commando stormed the eastern Libyan town, a stronghold of the Islamic State (Isis) there, “capturing 55 Daesh [IS] militants”.</p>
<p>The Libyan National Army wrote on its Facebook page that Egyptian forces in coordination with the local army stormed IS camp in Derna, “killing a large number of IS militants and capturing several terrorists including Egyptians, foreigners and Arabs”.</p>
<p>An Egyptian newspaper, ElWatan News, reported that several jihadists were killed in the operation.</p>
<p>I suspect that the <a href="" type="internal">only jobs program</a> Sisi is interested in providing ISIS involves the funeral industry.</p>
<p>You might think that such a robust response to the terror group that has threatened President Obama would be winning all sorts of support from the White House.</p>
<p>Sadly…not so much.</p>
<p />
<p>An Italian analyst, Giovanni Giacalone, <a href="http://english.pravda.ru/world/africa/19-02-2015/129869-usa_egypt_libya_isis-0/" type="external">files this report</a>:</p>
<p>The Obama Administration immediately condemned the Egyptian and Emirate attacks in retaliation for the slaughter of the Christian Copts. According to Pentagon spokesman Navy Rear Admiral John Kirby, the U.S. believes the crisis in Libya must be solved politically and without outside interference:</p>
<p>“We discourage other nations from taking a part in Libya’s issues through violence,” Kirby said. “We want the issues solved in Libya to be done peacefully and through good governance and politics and not violence.” [1]</p>
<p>At this point it is more than legitimate to raise a question: why would the United States be allowed to strike wherever they want, such as Iraq for instance, while other countries like Egypt, who are facing eminent threats, shouldn’t be authorized to attack?</p>
<p>…At this point it is not hard to understand why Obama does not want to support Egypt and does not want other state-actors to attack jihadists in Libya. The US Administration discourages any type of military intervention, which is the same message that has been given to Italy by the Arabic website of the Muslim Brotherhood.</p>
<p>Italians are deeply concerned about <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/02/19/italy-prepares-for-potential-isis-air-attack/" type="external">ISIS activities in Libya</a>.</p>
<p>According to recent reports, the Italian Secret Service fears an air attack by ISIS, compounding the already existent danger of terrorist infiltration among with throngs of immigrants coming to Italy by boat from neighboring Libya.</p>
<p>Several days ago, the air defense system went into high alert after the secret service sent a notice.</p>
<p>The notice spoke of aircraft prepared to take off from Sirte and able to strike the Italian peninsula. Though this has not yet occurred, tensions remain high because of the strong risk of an attack carried out by “lone wolves” as occurred in Paris and in Copenhagen.</p>
<p>Rumors that American representatives were planning talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders in Qatar <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/US-official-says-no-US-talks-with-Taliban-in-Qatar-391541" type="external">have been officially denied</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Jordan’s King Abdullah <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2015/02/27/jordan-goes-all-against-isis-how-long-306093.html" type="external">has continued his strikes on ISIS targets</a>:</p>
<p>The young monarch’s response has been so fierce that some in Washington now speculate that Jordan could become the new leader of a Sunni Arab alliance against ISIS and even introduce ground troops into the battle.</p>
<p>King Abdullah apparently has the same jobs program for ISIS that Sisi has.</p>
<p>(Featured Image: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yU7yRScI6R4" type="external">SISI vs ISIS</a>, RT video)</p>
| 6,061 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>A Valencia County grand jury has indicted 48-year-old Jorge Villavicencio of Meadow Lake on numerous felony charges for alleging trying to set his house on fire after a fight with his wife in May, the <a href="http://www.news-bulletin.com/nb/index.php/news/2547-Indictment-alleges-fire-was-attempt-to-kill-family.html" type="external">Valencia County News-Bulletin</a> reported.</p>
<p>Villavicencio is charged with two counts of assault with intent to commit a violent felony against a household member, another count of assault with intent to commit a violent felony, child abuse, arson, criminal damage to property and attempted aggravated arson, the News-Bulletin said.</p>
<p>Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Trujillo said Villavicencio got into a fight with his wife at a Meadow Lake residence, left the house to get a five-gallon can of gasoline, then returned and set a vehicle near the front of the house ablaze, along with three other vehicles and a recreational vehicle, which all were engulfed in flames, the paper reported.</p>
<p>Villavicencio’s wife, their 8-year-old son and his 32-year-old stepson, who all were inside the house when the fires were set, all were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and released, Trujillo said.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
|
6:45am — Meadow Lake Man Indicted for Trying To Set Family Afire
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/8409/645am-meadow-lake-man-indicted-for-trying-to-set-family-afire.html
| 2least
|
6:45am — Meadow Lake Man Indicted for Trying To Set Family Afire
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>A Valencia County grand jury has indicted 48-year-old Jorge Villavicencio of Meadow Lake on numerous felony charges for alleging trying to set his house on fire after a fight with his wife in May, the <a href="http://www.news-bulletin.com/nb/index.php/news/2547-Indictment-alleges-fire-was-attempt-to-kill-family.html" type="external">Valencia County News-Bulletin</a> reported.</p>
<p>Villavicencio is charged with two counts of assault with intent to commit a violent felony against a household member, another count of assault with intent to commit a violent felony, child abuse, arson, criminal damage to property and attempted aggravated arson, the News-Bulletin said.</p>
<p>Sheriff’s Deputy Chris Trujillo said Villavicencio got into a fight with his wife at a Meadow Lake residence, left the house to get a five-gallon can of gasoline, then returned and set a vehicle near the front of the house ablaze, along with three other vehicles and a recreational vehicle, which all were engulfed in flames, the paper reported.</p>
<p>Villavicencio’s wife, their 8-year-old son and his 32-year-old stepson, who all were inside the house when the fires were set, all were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation and released, Trujillo said.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
| 6,062 |
|
<p>Forty-seven percent of Americans still disapprove of the Affordable Care Act championed and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, according to the <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/poll-47-disapprove-of-health-care-law/?hp" type="external">latest New York Times/CBS News poll</a>, released today.</p>
<p>The poll came out just as the law went before the Supreme Court for the next three days. The justices will hear arguments on whether it is constitutional or not, in a challenge brought by 26 states.</p>
<p>The poll, conducted by <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57404342-503544/poll-47-disapprove-of-obama-health-care-law/" type="external">The New York Times and CBS News</a> from last Wednesday to Sunday, illustrates that the Obama administration has not succeeded in making its case to the public about this signature piece of domestic legislation.</p>
<p>Of those polled, 36 percent approved of the health care law, while 47 percent were opposed. Of those who had strong opinions, nearly twice as many strongly disapproved of the legislation (30 percent) as approved of it (16 percent).</p>
<p>The poll fell mostly along partisan lines, with Democrats approving of the law, while Republicans and Tea Party supporters disapproved. <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/poll-47-disapprove-of-health-care-law/?hp" type="external">The Times said</a>, "Disapproval peaks among people who call themselves very conservative, with more than 8 in 10 opposing the law."</p>
<p>More on GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120325/supreme-court-constitutionality-health-care-reform" type="external">Supreme Court prepares to decide constitutionality of health care law</a></p>
<p>Outside the Supreme Court, people lined up for days, waiting to get into the hearings, and as the arguments started on Monday there were protesters both for and against the law holding signs and chanting, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-healthcare-supporters-protesters-gather-outside-supreme-court-over-healthcare-20120326,0,2588930.story" type="external">according to The Los Angeles Times</a>.</p>
<p>As a measure of how seriously this case is being handled, the amount of time given for arguments - six hours each day for three days - is the longest argument in more than 40 years, <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/03/26/149218060/4-questions-that-could-make-or-break-the-health-care-law" type="external">according to NPR</a>.</p>
<p>More on GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120227/affordable-care-act-unconstitutional-voters-gallup" type="external">Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, most voters believe: poll</a></p>
<p>On Monday, the justices will decide whether the health care law can even be considered yet, because of an 1867 law called the Tax Anti-Injunction Act, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/day-one-of-obamacare-arguments/2012/03/26/gIQADFitbS_blog.html" type="external">reported The Washington Post</a>. The Anti-Injunction Act says that someone has to pay a tax before challenging its constitutionality, and in this case it would apply to the health care law's penalty for not having insurance, which doesn't come into effect until 2015.</p>
<p>Once the court has decided they can consider the health care law, they will focus on whether the individual mandate, which induces people to buy health care, is constitutional, whether other major provisions in the law that guarantee health care coverage will also fall if the individual mandate does, and whether Medicaid expansion in the law coerces states into participating, <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/03/26/149218060/4-questions-that-could-make-or-break-the-health-care-law" type="external">according to NPR</a>.</p>
<p>More on GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/120213/3d-printing-stepping-stone-creating-human-tissue-and-body-parts" type="external">3D printing: A stepping stone to new human tissue and body parts</a></p>
|
Obama health care: 47% disapprove in latest poll
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2012-03-26/obama-health-care-47-disapprove-latest-poll
|
2012-03-26
| 3left-center
|
Obama health care: 47% disapprove in latest poll
<p>Forty-seven percent of Americans still disapprove of the Affordable Care Act championed and signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010, according to the <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/poll-47-disapprove-of-health-care-law/?hp" type="external">latest New York Times/CBS News poll</a>, released today.</p>
<p>The poll came out just as the law went before the Supreme Court for the next three days. The justices will hear arguments on whether it is constitutional or not, in a challenge brought by 26 states.</p>
<p>The poll, conducted by <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57404342-503544/poll-47-disapprove-of-obama-health-care-law/" type="external">The New York Times and CBS News</a> from last Wednesday to Sunday, illustrates that the Obama administration has not succeeded in making its case to the public about this signature piece of domestic legislation.</p>
<p>Of those polled, 36 percent approved of the health care law, while 47 percent were opposed. Of those who had strong opinions, nearly twice as many strongly disapproved of the legislation (30 percent) as approved of it (16 percent).</p>
<p>The poll fell mostly along partisan lines, with Democrats approving of the law, while Republicans and Tea Party supporters disapproved. <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/poll-47-disapprove-of-health-care-law/?hp" type="external">The Times said</a>, "Disapproval peaks among people who call themselves very conservative, with more than 8 in 10 opposing the law."</p>
<p>More on GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120325/supreme-court-constitutionality-health-care-reform" type="external">Supreme Court prepares to decide constitutionality of health care law</a></p>
<p>Outside the Supreme Court, people lined up for days, waiting to get into the hearings, and as the arguments started on Monday there were protesters both for and against the law holding signs and chanting, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-healthcare-supporters-protesters-gather-outside-supreme-court-over-healthcare-20120326,0,2588930.story" type="external">according to The Los Angeles Times</a>.</p>
<p>As a measure of how seriously this case is being handled, the amount of time given for arguments - six hours each day for three days - is the longest argument in more than 40 years, <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/03/26/149218060/4-questions-that-could-make-or-break-the-health-care-law" type="external">according to NPR</a>.</p>
<p>More on GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/120227/affordable-care-act-unconstitutional-voters-gallup" type="external">Affordable Care Act unconstitutional, most voters believe: poll</a></p>
<p>On Monday, the justices will decide whether the health care law can even be considered yet, because of an 1867 law called the Tax Anti-Injunction Act, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/day-one-of-obamacare-arguments/2012/03/26/gIQADFitbS_blog.html" type="external">reported The Washington Post</a>. The Anti-Injunction Act says that someone has to pay a tax before challenging its constitutionality, and in this case it would apply to the health care law's penalty for not having insurance, which doesn't come into effect until 2015.</p>
<p>Once the court has decided they can consider the health care law, they will focus on whether the individual mandate, which induces people to buy health care, is constitutional, whether other major provisions in the law that guarantee health care coverage will also fall if the individual mandate does, and whether Medicaid expansion in the law coerces states into participating, <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/03/26/149218060/4-questions-that-could-make-or-break-the-health-care-law" type="external">according to NPR</a>.</p>
<p>More on GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/120213/3d-printing-stepping-stone-creating-human-tissue-and-body-parts" type="external">3D printing: A stepping stone to new human tissue and body parts</a></p>
| 6,063 |
<p>Getting himself <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/investigations/daniel-bice/2018/01/02/former-sheriff-david-clarke-temporarily-blocked-twitter-after-after-he-called-media-taste-their-own/997146001/" type="external">briefly banned</a> from Twitter made us wonder whether <a href="" type="internal">David A. Clarke Jr.</a>, the provocative <a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump</a> supporter and former Milwaukee County sheriff, had tweeted anything lately that we should fact check.</p>
<p>He had.</p>
<p>On Dec. 30, 2017, Clarke <a href="https://twitter.com/SheriffClarke/status/947201898075115520" type="external">tweeted this</a>:</p>
<p>LYING Lib media spreads FAKE NEWS about me and @realDonaldTrump to fool their liberal followers into believing LIES because as Mrs. Bill Clinton once said, "Look, the average DEMOCRAT VOTER is just plain STUPID. They’re easy to manipulate." Classic!</p>
<p>Clarke included with his tweet an image that pictures Clinton, the alleged quote and a reference to a book originally published in 2004 by <a href="" type="internal">Dick Morris</a>. Morris was an adviser to President <a href="" type="internal">Bill Clinton</a>, Hillary Clinton’s husband, and later became an ardent Hillary Clinton basher.</p>
<p>So, Clarke claims that <a href="" type="internal">Hillary Clinton</a>, the Democratic nominee for president in 2016, once said "the average Democrat voter is just plain stupid, they’re easy to manipulate."</p>
<p>Do you remember any news headlines about that?</p>
<p>Catching up with Clarke</p>
<p>Despite being a staunch conservative, Clarke ran as a Democrat for sheriff in heavily Democratic Milwaukee County. He held the post from 2002, eventually becoming a favorite of conservatives across the country as he spoke out on national issues, until <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2017/08/31/david-a-clarke-jr-resigns-milwaukee-county-sheriff/622302001/" type="external">resigning</a> in August 2017. Then he took his current job, as a senior adviser with the pro-Trump America First Action Super PAC. Clarke had been a surrogate for Trump during Trump’s 2016 campaign against Clinton.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/02/politics/sheriff-david-clarke-twitter/index.html" type="external">CNN reported</a> on Jan. 2, 2018, that days earlier, Clarke was temporarily blocked from tweeting after Twitter user complaints alerted the company that three of his messages violated Twitter’s terms of service. Clarke was placed in read-only mode until he deleted three tweets that seemed to call for violence against members of the media.</p>
<p>In one of the deleted tweets, Clarke said:</p>
<p>When LYING LIB MEDIA makes up FAKE NEWS to smear me, the ANTIDOTE is to go right at them. Punch them in the nose &amp; MAKE THEM TASTE THEIR OWN BLOOD. Nothing gets a bully like LYING LIB MEDIA"S attention better than to give them a taste of their own blood #neverbackdown.</p>
<p>Claim against Clinton</p>
<p>The quote Clarke attributes to Clinton was among those featured in a March 2016 <a href="" type="internal">PolitiFact National article</a> that was headlined, "7 Hillary Clinton quotes on the Internet that are complete fakes."</p>
<p>Which doesn’t get Clarke’s claim off to a good start.</p>
<p>The article said Snopes.com had debunked the alleged quote. The <a href="https://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-stupid-quote/" type="external">Snopes fact check</a>, originally published in December 2015, rated the quote false, saying:</p>
<p>This statement was not uttered by Hillary Clinton, nor was it published in the 2005 book Rewriting History by Dick Morris as something she ostensibly said. We found no record of this quote in any major publication or news account. In fact, the first mention of this item came in October 2015, more than a decade after Morris’ book was published, on a Tumblr page dedicated to generating fake Hillary Clinton quotes.</p>
<p>In addition, Morris told us by email that the quote attributed to Clinton is "not true."</p>
<p>Indeed, had the quote been real, it would have caused a storm of news coverage.</p>
<p>Clarke did not respond to our emails and phone call.</p>
<p>Our rating</p>
<p>Clarke says that Hillary Clinton once said "the average Democrat voter is just plain stupid, they’re easy to manipulate."</p>
<p>Not only is there no evidence to confirm the alleged quote, which surfaced on a site dedicated to generating fake Clinton quotes, it had been debunked two years earlier.</p>
<p>That makes Clarke’s statement false and ridiculous -- Pants on Fire.</p>
|
Despite David Clarke's tweet, no evidence Hillary Clinton ever called Democratic voters 'stupid'
| false |
http://politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2018/jan/05/david-clarke-jr/despite-david-clarkes-tweet-no-evidence-hillary-cl/
|
2018-01-05
| 2least
|
Despite David Clarke's tweet, no evidence Hillary Clinton ever called Democratic voters 'stupid'
<p>Getting himself <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/investigations/daniel-bice/2018/01/02/former-sheriff-david-clarke-temporarily-blocked-twitter-after-after-he-called-media-taste-their-own/997146001/" type="external">briefly banned</a> from Twitter made us wonder whether <a href="" type="internal">David A. Clarke Jr.</a>, the provocative <a href="" type="internal">Donald Trump</a> supporter and former Milwaukee County sheriff, had tweeted anything lately that we should fact check.</p>
<p>He had.</p>
<p>On Dec. 30, 2017, Clarke <a href="https://twitter.com/SheriffClarke/status/947201898075115520" type="external">tweeted this</a>:</p>
<p>LYING Lib media spreads FAKE NEWS about me and @realDonaldTrump to fool their liberal followers into believing LIES because as Mrs. Bill Clinton once said, "Look, the average DEMOCRAT VOTER is just plain STUPID. They’re easy to manipulate." Classic!</p>
<p>Clarke included with his tweet an image that pictures Clinton, the alleged quote and a reference to a book originally published in 2004 by <a href="" type="internal">Dick Morris</a>. Morris was an adviser to President <a href="" type="internal">Bill Clinton</a>, Hillary Clinton’s husband, and later became an ardent Hillary Clinton basher.</p>
<p>So, Clarke claims that <a href="" type="internal">Hillary Clinton</a>, the Democratic nominee for president in 2016, once said "the average Democrat voter is just plain stupid, they’re easy to manipulate."</p>
<p>Do you remember any news headlines about that?</p>
<p>Catching up with Clarke</p>
<p>Despite being a staunch conservative, Clarke ran as a Democrat for sheriff in heavily Democratic Milwaukee County. He held the post from 2002, eventually becoming a favorite of conservatives across the country as he spoke out on national issues, until <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/milwaukee/2017/08/31/david-a-clarke-jr-resigns-milwaukee-county-sheriff/622302001/" type="external">resigning</a> in August 2017. Then he took his current job, as a senior adviser with the pro-Trump America First Action Super PAC. Clarke had been a surrogate for Trump during Trump’s 2016 campaign against Clinton.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/02/politics/sheriff-david-clarke-twitter/index.html" type="external">CNN reported</a> on Jan. 2, 2018, that days earlier, Clarke was temporarily blocked from tweeting after Twitter user complaints alerted the company that three of his messages violated Twitter’s terms of service. Clarke was placed in read-only mode until he deleted three tweets that seemed to call for violence against members of the media.</p>
<p>In one of the deleted tweets, Clarke said:</p>
<p>When LYING LIB MEDIA makes up FAKE NEWS to smear me, the ANTIDOTE is to go right at them. Punch them in the nose &amp; MAKE THEM TASTE THEIR OWN BLOOD. Nothing gets a bully like LYING LIB MEDIA"S attention better than to give them a taste of their own blood #neverbackdown.</p>
<p>Claim against Clinton</p>
<p>The quote Clarke attributes to Clinton was among those featured in a March 2016 <a href="" type="internal">PolitiFact National article</a> that was headlined, "7 Hillary Clinton quotes on the Internet that are complete fakes."</p>
<p>Which doesn’t get Clarke’s claim off to a good start.</p>
<p>The article said Snopes.com had debunked the alleged quote. The <a href="https://www.snopes.com/hillary-clinton-stupid-quote/" type="external">Snopes fact check</a>, originally published in December 2015, rated the quote false, saying:</p>
<p>This statement was not uttered by Hillary Clinton, nor was it published in the 2005 book Rewriting History by Dick Morris as something she ostensibly said. We found no record of this quote in any major publication or news account. In fact, the first mention of this item came in October 2015, more than a decade after Morris’ book was published, on a Tumblr page dedicated to generating fake Hillary Clinton quotes.</p>
<p>In addition, Morris told us by email that the quote attributed to Clinton is "not true."</p>
<p>Indeed, had the quote been real, it would have caused a storm of news coverage.</p>
<p>Clarke did not respond to our emails and phone call.</p>
<p>Our rating</p>
<p>Clarke says that Hillary Clinton once said "the average Democrat voter is just plain stupid, they’re easy to manipulate."</p>
<p>Not only is there no evidence to confirm the alleged quote, which surfaced on a site dedicated to generating fake Clinton quotes, it had been debunked two years earlier.</p>
<p>That makes Clarke’s statement false and ridiculous -- Pants on Fire.</p>
| 6,064 |
<p>It has been a while since the hapless prisoners of the United States, those being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as “enemy combatants,” have been in the news. The last rush of publicity in the spring had to do with plans to build execution chambers and try them in secret with government prosecutors and defense attorneys. Then Blair got feisty and wanted the British subjects held there not to face death. Alright, Bush said, we won’t shoot your guys, out of gratitude for your putting your asses on the line for us in Iraq.</p>
<p>Then there was the news of the juveniles held there–we now find that some were as young as 13. We have not heard of their fates yet, only that they were held separately from adults and are being “schooled.” That’s a new twist on the Administration’s “no child left behind” policy, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Few Americans care about the prisoners, captured in Afghanistan and brought to Cuba about 18 months ago. Hell, they must have been up to no good, or they would not be here. That is about what Rumsfeld says, too. They might not be “terrorists,” but they are troublemakers.</p>
<p>Previous efforts to get some legal relief for these men–to require that they be charged and tried or freed, to provide them with attorneys, to provide them with meaningful contact with families–were stopped at the courthouse door. A federal judge said, in one of the more idiotic catch-22 lines of logic, that they were not on American soil, so they could have no access to American courts. Forget that we control Guantanamo Bay. So the prisoners are in a legal nether world–subject only to the ad hoc, ex post facto regulations Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz make up as they go along.</p>
<p>But the Center for Constitutional Rights is trying once to get the plight of these men before the U.S. legal system.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, the Center for Constitutional Rights asked the Supreme Court to review the controversial decision by the DC Circuit denying counsel to alleged terrorists being detained by the United States at its naval base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The issue presented in the case, Rasul v. Bush, is whether enemy combatants being tried in military tribunals are entitled to any of the due process rights to which they would be entitled in U.S. courts. The Court has already rejected one petition to review the case, on procedural grounds. Its decision on this petition is expected this fall.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
The Forgotten Prisoners of Guantanamo
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2003/09/05/the-forgotten-prisoners-of-guantanamo/
|
2003-09-05
| 4left
|
The Forgotten Prisoners of Guantanamo
<p>It has been a while since the hapless prisoners of the United States, those being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba as “enemy combatants,” have been in the news. The last rush of publicity in the spring had to do with plans to build execution chambers and try them in secret with government prosecutors and defense attorneys. Then Blair got feisty and wanted the British subjects held there not to face death. Alright, Bush said, we won’t shoot your guys, out of gratitude for your putting your asses on the line for us in Iraq.</p>
<p>Then there was the news of the juveniles held there–we now find that some were as young as 13. We have not heard of their fates yet, only that they were held separately from adults and are being “schooled.” That’s a new twist on the Administration’s “no child left behind” policy, isn’t it?</p>
<p>Few Americans care about the prisoners, captured in Afghanistan and brought to Cuba about 18 months ago. Hell, they must have been up to no good, or they would not be here. That is about what Rumsfeld says, too. They might not be “terrorists,” but they are troublemakers.</p>
<p>Previous efforts to get some legal relief for these men–to require that they be charged and tried or freed, to provide them with attorneys, to provide them with meaningful contact with families–were stopped at the courthouse door. A federal judge said, in one of the more idiotic catch-22 lines of logic, that they were not on American soil, so they could have no access to American courts. Forget that we control Guantanamo Bay. So the prisoners are in a legal nether world–subject only to the ad hoc, ex post facto regulations Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz make up as they go along.</p>
<p>But the Center for Constitutional Rights is trying once to get the plight of these men before the U.S. legal system.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, the Center for Constitutional Rights asked the Supreme Court to review the controversial decision by the DC Circuit denying counsel to alleged terrorists being detained by the United States at its naval base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The issue presented in the case, Rasul v. Bush, is whether enemy combatants being tried in military tribunals are entitled to any of the due process rights to which they would be entitled in U.S. courts. The Court has already rejected one petition to review the case, on procedural grounds. Its decision on this petition is expected this fall.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,065 |
<p>Whether he passes reforms or not, President Obama’s mass surveillance program has made him the closest thing we have to Big Brother. Will his top lieutenants, Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, take that funk with them into the next election?</p>
<p>Neither Biden nor Clinton has declared an intention to run in 2016, but both Obama administration veterans have made sure they could if they want to. <a href="http://www.boston.com/2013/08/12/biden-keeps-his-name-the-game-for/rjy1juohR4iAIxDHzND7UI/story.html" type="external">The Associated Press</a> has a report this week on Biden’s behind-the-scenes operation to stay in play: “Three years out from the next presidential election, the vice president is polishing his connections and racking up favors in all the right states to ensure he stays part of the conversation, keeping his name near the top of a list of likely contenders even if the prime spot seems to have already been claimed by Hillary Rodham Clinton.”</p>
<p>Both Biden and Clinton squared off in the 2008 Democratic primary, and the victor of that contest, Barack Obama, would go on to offer his former rivals key posts in his new administration. They may have been the most famous faces in and around the White House other than the president and his wife, Michelle.</p>
<p>More importantly, Biden and Clinton were billed as valued advisers with high clearance. Both were present in the situation room during the live feed of the fatal raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It is not unreasonable to suspect that they also both knew about the NSA’s mass surveillance of domestic and international communications.</p>
<p />
<p>So here’s the question: Would you vote for someone who knew about such surveillance and didn’t say anything?</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Peter Z. Scheer</a></p>
|
Would You Vote for Someone Who Kept Quiet About NSA Spying?
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/would-you-vote-for-someone-who-kept-quiet-about-nsa-spying/
|
2013-08-14
| 4left
|
Would You Vote for Someone Who Kept Quiet About NSA Spying?
<p>Whether he passes reforms or not, President Obama’s mass surveillance program has made him the closest thing we have to Big Brother. Will his top lieutenants, Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, take that funk with them into the next election?</p>
<p>Neither Biden nor Clinton has declared an intention to run in 2016, but both Obama administration veterans have made sure they could if they want to. <a href="http://www.boston.com/2013/08/12/biden-keeps-his-name-the-game-for/rjy1juohR4iAIxDHzND7UI/story.html" type="external">The Associated Press</a> has a report this week on Biden’s behind-the-scenes operation to stay in play: “Three years out from the next presidential election, the vice president is polishing his connections and racking up favors in all the right states to ensure he stays part of the conversation, keeping his name near the top of a list of likely contenders even if the prime spot seems to have already been claimed by Hillary Rodham Clinton.”</p>
<p>Both Biden and Clinton squared off in the 2008 Democratic primary, and the victor of that contest, Barack Obama, would go on to offer his former rivals key posts in his new administration. They may have been the most famous faces in and around the White House other than the president and his wife, Michelle.</p>
<p>More importantly, Biden and Clinton were billed as valued advisers with high clearance. Both were present in the situation room during the live feed of the fatal raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It is not unreasonable to suspect that they also both knew about the NSA’s mass surveillance of domestic and international communications.</p>
<p />
<p>So here’s the question: Would you vote for someone who knew about such surveillance and didn’t say anything?</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Peter Z. Scheer</a></p>
| 6,066 |
<p />
<p>Regarding my recent <a href="/washington_dispatch/2008/06/investigation-update-three-days-in-rome.html" type="external">articles</a> on <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/06/8784_sons_of_iran_co.html" type="external">signs</a> of a federal investigation seemingly looking at at least one Pentagon official, a colleague reminded me of the following. That the Defense Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency did forward a crimes report to the Justice Department on the question of who leaked to Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi the allegation that the U.S. had broken Iran’s communications codes in Iraq, a detail which Chalabi allegedly shared with his Iranian intelligence interlocutor.</p>
<p>For instance, revisit this Newsweek <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/53824/output/print" type="external">piece</a>:</p>
<p>NEWSWEEK has learned that the National Security Agency first uncovered evidence indicating Chalabi’s possible compromises of U.S. intelligence and sent a criminal referral to the FBI requesting an investigation into the alleged leak to Iran. A similar referral was sent to the FBI by the Defense Intelligence Agency, which until recently was responsible for managing Pentagon payments to Chalabi’s group and for supervising its intelligence-collection efforts.</p>
<p>Last week, U.S. intelligence officials requested that NEWSWEEK and several other media organizations refrain from publishing some details about what kind of intelligence information Chalabi and the INC were alleged to have given to the Iranians. After some details surfaced in print and TV reports earlier this week, however, officials withdrew their requests, leading to a spate of media reports alleging that Chalabi or one of his associates told the Iranians that U.S. intelligence had cracked a secret code system used by the Iranian intelligence service. U.S. political activists close to Chalabi have told reporters in recent days that Chalabi learned about the codebreaking in Baghdad from a drunken U.S. official.</p>
<p>The evidence that Chalabi had compromised U.S. codebreaking was disclosed to President Bush and Vice President Cheney several weeks ago and was a factor in the decision to raid the INC’s headquarters in Baghdad last month. It also influenced high-level Bush administration efforts to distance the administration in recent days from Chalabi, who had once been viewed by Pentagon civilians as a favored candidate to replace Saddam Hussein as Iraq’s government leader. …</p>
<p>Officials of the NSA and DIA declined to comment. But law-enforcement sources confirmed that the FBI has opened an investigation into the codebreaking leak. The investigation will look into whether Chalabi or his group supplied information about U.S. codebreaking efforts to the Iranians. But, given that Chalabi is not a U.S. citizen and does not have a U.S. security clearance, the more critical issue for investigators will be to find out who in the U.S. government might have leaked such highly sensitive information to Chalabi and the INC, some officials say. Law-enforcement sources indicated that the American investigation will likely focus on whether sensitive information might have been leaked to Chalabi by officials in either the Pentagon or the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. …</p>
<p>(Though this article indicates it was updated in October 2007, I believe it was originally published in May 2004.) I am told that a report in the Wall Street Journal a couple years back confirmed this investigation was still active.</p>
<p>Stay tuned.</p>
<p />
|
Federal Investigations of Pentagon Intrigues: Don’t Forget the Chalabi Leak
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2008/06/federal-investigations-pentagon-intrigues-dont-forget-chalabi-leak/
|
2008-06-26
| 4left
|
Federal Investigations of Pentagon Intrigues: Don’t Forget the Chalabi Leak
<p />
<p>Regarding my recent <a href="/washington_dispatch/2008/06/investigation-update-three-days-in-rome.html" type="external">articles</a> on <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2008/06/8784_sons_of_iran_co.html" type="external">signs</a> of a federal investigation seemingly looking at at least one Pentagon official, a colleague reminded me of the following. That the Defense Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency did forward a crimes report to the Justice Department on the question of who leaked to Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi the allegation that the U.S. had broken Iran’s communications codes in Iraq, a detail which Chalabi allegedly shared with his Iranian intelligence interlocutor.</p>
<p>For instance, revisit this Newsweek <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/53824/output/print" type="external">piece</a>:</p>
<p>NEWSWEEK has learned that the National Security Agency first uncovered evidence indicating Chalabi’s possible compromises of U.S. intelligence and sent a criminal referral to the FBI requesting an investigation into the alleged leak to Iran. A similar referral was sent to the FBI by the Defense Intelligence Agency, which until recently was responsible for managing Pentagon payments to Chalabi’s group and for supervising its intelligence-collection efforts.</p>
<p>Last week, U.S. intelligence officials requested that NEWSWEEK and several other media organizations refrain from publishing some details about what kind of intelligence information Chalabi and the INC were alleged to have given to the Iranians. After some details surfaced in print and TV reports earlier this week, however, officials withdrew their requests, leading to a spate of media reports alleging that Chalabi or one of his associates told the Iranians that U.S. intelligence had cracked a secret code system used by the Iranian intelligence service. U.S. political activists close to Chalabi have told reporters in recent days that Chalabi learned about the codebreaking in Baghdad from a drunken U.S. official.</p>
<p>The evidence that Chalabi had compromised U.S. codebreaking was disclosed to President Bush and Vice President Cheney several weeks ago and was a factor in the decision to raid the INC’s headquarters in Baghdad last month. It also influenced high-level Bush administration efforts to distance the administration in recent days from Chalabi, who had once been viewed by Pentagon civilians as a favored candidate to replace Saddam Hussein as Iraq’s government leader. …</p>
<p>Officials of the NSA and DIA declined to comment. But law-enforcement sources confirmed that the FBI has opened an investigation into the codebreaking leak. The investigation will look into whether Chalabi or his group supplied information about U.S. codebreaking efforts to the Iranians. But, given that Chalabi is not a U.S. citizen and does not have a U.S. security clearance, the more critical issue for investigators will be to find out who in the U.S. government might have leaked such highly sensitive information to Chalabi and the INC, some officials say. Law-enforcement sources indicated that the American investigation will likely focus on whether sensitive information might have been leaked to Chalabi by officials in either the Pentagon or the U.S. Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. …</p>
<p>(Though this article indicates it was updated in October 2007, I believe it was originally published in May 2004.) I am told that a report in the Wall Street Journal a couple years back confirmed this investigation was still active.</p>
<p>Stay tuned.</p>
<p />
| 6,067 |
<p>Now, I’ve covered “ <a href="https://twitter.com/FunDipDan" type="external">FunDip Dan</a>” here before. He’s a <a href="" type="internal">radio producer out of Detroit</a>. My radio producer. Full disclosure, he’s not a small guy. As a matter of fact, you could argue that at 350+lbs, he’s kind of a big guy. But he didn’t let that get in the way of his epic, completely logical rant this week that is now going viral.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>That’s right. FunDip Dan, hates <a href="" type="internal">“fat pride.”</a> Even though he admits to being overweight, he’s not happy about it. What makes him even more unhappy, or dare I say, angry, is when fat people parade themselves proudly, demanding that they be praised for their size.</p>
<p>“Pride is something that you’re supposed to take in something you’ve accomplished. Like I learned how to play a song on the bass, I can take pride in that… I did a good job or I painted a picture or I sculpted a sculpture, I can take pride in that.”</p>
<p>“You can’t take pride in the crap&#160;you were born into! Or the fact that you ate 16 pizzas and two pots of coffee in a Thursday evening…. there’s nothing to take pride in when it comes to things that are just happenstance.”</p>
<p>He went on to acknowledge the comparison between <a href="" type="internal">“gay pride.”</a></p>
<p>“Yeah I don’t understand that either. White pride, black pride, gay pride. I don’t get any of that. It’s not something you built. You didn’t BUILD THAT! It just happened.”</p>
<p>It’s a very self-deprecating, but very insightful rant that’s certainly worth a listen. Not only will it have you rolling on the floor, but you may have to reconsider your own false pridefulness.</p>
<p>Go,&#160; <a href="http://twitter.com/FunDipDan" type="external">FunDip</a>!</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
|
Epic Rant Against ‘Fat Pride’ From An Unlikely Hero…
| true |
http://louderwithcrowder.com/epic-rant-against-fat-pride-from-an-unlikely-hero/
|
2015-06-02
| 0right
|
Epic Rant Against ‘Fat Pride’ From An Unlikely Hero…
<p>Now, I’ve covered “ <a href="https://twitter.com/FunDipDan" type="external">FunDip Dan</a>” here before. He’s a <a href="" type="internal">radio producer out of Detroit</a>. My radio producer. Full disclosure, he’s not a small guy. As a matter of fact, you could argue that at 350+lbs, he’s kind of a big guy. But he didn’t let that get in the way of his epic, completely logical rant this week that is now going viral.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>That’s right. FunDip Dan, hates <a href="" type="internal">“fat pride.”</a> Even though he admits to being overweight, he’s not happy about it. What makes him even more unhappy, or dare I say, angry, is when fat people parade themselves proudly, demanding that they be praised for their size.</p>
<p>“Pride is something that you’re supposed to take in something you’ve accomplished. Like I learned how to play a song on the bass, I can take pride in that… I did a good job or I painted a picture or I sculpted a sculpture, I can take pride in that.”</p>
<p>“You can’t take pride in the crap&#160;you were born into! Or the fact that you ate 16 pizzas and two pots of coffee in a Thursday evening…. there’s nothing to take pride in when it comes to things that are just happenstance.”</p>
<p>He went on to acknowledge the comparison between <a href="" type="internal">“gay pride.”</a></p>
<p>“Yeah I don’t understand that either. White pride, black pride, gay pride. I don’t get any of that. It’s not something you built. You didn’t BUILD THAT! It just happened.”</p>
<p>It’s a very self-deprecating, but very insightful rant that’s certainly worth a listen. Not only will it have you rolling on the floor, but you may have to reconsider your own false pridefulness.</p>
<p>Go,&#160; <a href="http://twitter.com/FunDipDan" type="external">FunDip</a>!</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
| 6,068 |
<p>By Madeline Chambers</p>
<p>BERLIN (Reuters) – The leader of Bavaria’s conservatives threw his weight behind an alliance with Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) on Sunday, adding to momentum for a new ‘grand coalition’ to break the political deadlock in Europe’s biggest economy.</p>
<p>Conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose fourth term was plunged into doubt a week ago when three-way coalition talks with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens collapsed, was handed a political lifeline by the SPD on Friday.</p>
<p>Under intense pressure to preserve stability and avoid new elections, the SPD reversed its position and agreed to talk to Merkel, raising the prospect of a new grand coalition, which has ruled for the last four years, or a minority government.</p>
<p>“An alliance of the conservatives and SPD is the best option for Germany – better, anyway than a coalition with the Free Democrats and Greens, new elections or a minority government,” Horst Seehofer, head of Bavaria’s CSU, told Bild am Sonntag.</p>
<p>Several European leaders have stressed the importance of getting a stable German government in place quickly so that the bloc can discuss its future, including Brexit and proposals by French President Emmanuel Macron on euro zone reforms.</p>
<p>Merkel says Berlin can do business as things stands as she is leading an acting government with most of her former ministers, including SPD ones, still in post until a new coalition is formed.</p>
<p>She said on Saturday she would pursue a grand coalition and an Emnid poll showed on Sunday that 52 percent of Germans backed a grand coalition. Support for Merkel’s conservative bloc was up 2 points at 33 percent from a week ago and the SPD was up 1 point at 22 percent.</p>
<p>The youth wing of Merkel’s conservatives raised pressure on the parties to get a deal done by Christmas.</p>
<p>“If there is no coalition agreement between the conservatives and SPD by then, the negotiations will be seen as having failed,” said the Junge Union, reported Bild am Sonntag.</p>
<p>The head of the group told the paper if the SPD did not agree, then conservatives should pursue a minority government.</p>
<p>This is an option Merkel is not keen on due to its inherent instability but commentators have said one possibility could be for the conservatives and Greens to form a minority government with the SPD supporting at least some policies.</p>
<p>The Greens agreed on Saturday that they were open to joining a minority government.</p>
<p>Merkel, whose conservatives won most parliamentary seats in a Sept. 24 vote but bled support to the far-right, has already set out some of her priorities. She wants to maintain sound finances in Germany, cut some taxes and invest in digital infrastructure.</p>
<p>She has to keep Bavaria’s CSU on board by sticking to a tougher migrant policy which may also help win back conservatives who switched to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which opposed her open-door migrant policy.</p>
<p>The SPD, who hit their lowest post-war level in the election and had vowed to go into opposition to regroup, also need to get some of their policy ideas through.</p>
<p>To try to secure party unity, leader Martin Schulz has promised members a vote on talks and senior SPD members have outlined their conditions, including investment in education and homes, changes in health insurance and no cap on asylum seekers.</p>
<p>In a foretaste of the forthcoming wrangling, Seehofer warned that the SPD must not set too many conditions. “There will not be a grand coalition at any price,” he said.</p>
|
Bavaria boss backs SPD tie-up as consensus grows for German grand coalition
| false |
https://newsline.com/bavaria-boss-backs-spd-tie-up-as-consensus-grows-for-german-grand-coalition/
|
2017-11-26
| 1right-center
|
Bavaria boss backs SPD tie-up as consensus grows for German grand coalition
<p>By Madeline Chambers</p>
<p>BERLIN (Reuters) – The leader of Bavaria’s conservatives threw his weight behind an alliance with Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) on Sunday, adding to momentum for a new ‘grand coalition’ to break the political deadlock in Europe’s biggest economy.</p>
<p>Conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose fourth term was plunged into doubt a week ago when three-way coalition talks with the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens collapsed, was handed a political lifeline by the SPD on Friday.</p>
<p>Under intense pressure to preserve stability and avoid new elections, the SPD reversed its position and agreed to talk to Merkel, raising the prospect of a new grand coalition, which has ruled for the last four years, or a minority government.</p>
<p>“An alliance of the conservatives and SPD is the best option for Germany – better, anyway than a coalition with the Free Democrats and Greens, new elections or a minority government,” Horst Seehofer, head of Bavaria’s CSU, told Bild am Sonntag.</p>
<p>Several European leaders have stressed the importance of getting a stable German government in place quickly so that the bloc can discuss its future, including Brexit and proposals by French President Emmanuel Macron on euro zone reforms.</p>
<p>Merkel says Berlin can do business as things stands as she is leading an acting government with most of her former ministers, including SPD ones, still in post until a new coalition is formed.</p>
<p>She said on Saturday she would pursue a grand coalition and an Emnid poll showed on Sunday that 52 percent of Germans backed a grand coalition. Support for Merkel’s conservative bloc was up 2 points at 33 percent from a week ago and the SPD was up 1 point at 22 percent.</p>
<p>The youth wing of Merkel’s conservatives raised pressure on the parties to get a deal done by Christmas.</p>
<p>“If there is no coalition agreement between the conservatives and SPD by then, the negotiations will be seen as having failed,” said the Junge Union, reported Bild am Sonntag.</p>
<p>The head of the group told the paper if the SPD did not agree, then conservatives should pursue a minority government.</p>
<p>This is an option Merkel is not keen on due to its inherent instability but commentators have said one possibility could be for the conservatives and Greens to form a minority government with the SPD supporting at least some policies.</p>
<p>The Greens agreed on Saturday that they were open to joining a minority government.</p>
<p>Merkel, whose conservatives won most parliamentary seats in a Sept. 24 vote but bled support to the far-right, has already set out some of her priorities. She wants to maintain sound finances in Germany, cut some taxes and invest in digital infrastructure.</p>
<p>She has to keep Bavaria’s CSU on board by sticking to a tougher migrant policy which may also help win back conservatives who switched to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) which opposed her open-door migrant policy.</p>
<p>The SPD, who hit their lowest post-war level in the election and had vowed to go into opposition to regroup, also need to get some of their policy ideas through.</p>
<p>To try to secure party unity, leader Martin Schulz has promised members a vote on talks and senior SPD members have outlined their conditions, including investment in education and homes, changes in health insurance and no cap on asylum seekers.</p>
<p>In a foretaste of the forthcoming wrangling, Seehofer warned that the SPD must not set too many conditions. “There will not be a grand coalition at any price,” he said.</p>
| 6,069 |
<p>If you live in Calgary and own a home, you may be subject to different land use by-laws depending on which neighbourhood you live in.</p>
<p />
<p>Calgary Land Use ByLaws have been in effect since 1913 but changes have been made over the years. In 2002, a review commenced to accommodate significant population increases and complexities that come with unique planning issues. As a result, different rules are at play when it comes to property bylaws. In particular, bylaws falling under 2P80 that came into effect in 1980, IP2007 implemented in 2007 and ‘Direct Control Districts’ which are under a specific set of rules that override conventional Land Use Bylaws.</p>
<p>The number of districts has increased substantially; from 1996 to 2000 alone, <a href="" type="internal">City Council</a> approved 454 of these zones compared with just 191 conventional districts. Springbank Hill in Ward 6 is under partial District Control zoning with some boundaries occurring on the same street between neighbours. An example of different treatment of the two might be driveway widths aren’t regulated and widening doesn’t require a permit in District zones. Permits can cost around $400, and can be accepted or rejected by the city.</p>
<p>Land use bylaws are a necessary planning tool to regulate the development of land in a growing city like Calgary. But we all pay property taxes based on home assessments and City Council approved <a href="" type="internal">tax rates</a>.</p>
<p>Residences in Direct Control districts seem to have an advantage over others and Springbank Hill is just one example.</p>
<p>Specific bylaws in unique circumstances is one thing, but why should some neighbourhoods have an advantage over others?</p>
|
Land use by-laws can mean unequal property rights for some Calgary homeowners
| true |
http://therebel.media/land_use_by_laws_can_mean_unequal_property_rights_for_some_calgary_homeowners
|
2016-05-23
| 0right
|
Land use by-laws can mean unequal property rights for some Calgary homeowners
<p>If you live in Calgary and own a home, you may be subject to different land use by-laws depending on which neighbourhood you live in.</p>
<p />
<p>Calgary Land Use ByLaws have been in effect since 1913 but changes have been made over the years. In 2002, a review commenced to accommodate significant population increases and complexities that come with unique planning issues. As a result, different rules are at play when it comes to property bylaws. In particular, bylaws falling under 2P80 that came into effect in 1980, IP2007 implemented in 2007 and ‘Direct Control Districts’ which are under a specific set of rules that override conventional Land Use Bylaws.</p>
<p>The number of districts has increased substantially; from 1996 to 2000 alone, <a href="" type="internal">City Council</a> approved 454 of these zones compared with just 191 conventional districts. Springbank Hill in Ward 6 is under partial District Control zoning with some boundaries occurring on the same street between neighbours. An example of different treatment of the two might be driveway widths aren’t regulated and widening doesn’t require a permit in District zones. Permits can cost around $400, and can be accepted or rejected by the city.</p>
<p>Land use bylaws are a necessary planning tool to regulate the development of land in a growing city like Calgary. But we all pay property taxes based on home assessments and City Council approved <a href="" type="internal">tax rates</a>.</p>
<p>Residences in Direct Control districts seem to have an advantage over others and Springbank Hill is just one example.</p>
<p>Specific bylaws in unique circumstances is one thing, but why should some neighbourhoods have an advantage over others?</p>
| 6,070 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Susan Stanojevic listens to a question during testimony Monday in District Court. She is suing Janet Neal, the wife of Lobo men’s basketball coach Craig Neal, over an altercation after a high-stakes high school basketball game in February 2013. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The wife of the Lobo men’s basketball coach and a former Eldorado High School vice principal have reached a confidential settlement, announced Tuesday in District Court, of a lawsuit that resulted from a contentious high school basketball game in February 2013.</p>
<p>The Tuesday morning announcement in Judge Valerie Huling’s courtroom ended the jury trial that began Monday. The lawsuit arose after Janet Neal, wife of Lobo men’s basketball coach Craig Neal, and former Eldorado High School vice principal Susan Stanojevic got into a confrontation after a district game at Sandia High School. Stanojevic claimed Neal jerked her by the arm and was so close when she shouted at her that Neal “spit in my face,” she testified during the trial Monday.</p>
<p>Stanojevic said the altercation made her feel unsafe and insecure at her job as assistant principal of discipline and attendance for 10th- and 11th-graders at Eldorado. She has since taken a job as principal of Los Lunas Middle School, a transfer that came with a pay raise, she said. She sought unspecified damages for “emotional, physical and psychological distress” she claims to have suffered after the altercation.</p>
<p>J. NEAL: Settlement is confidential</p>
<p>Stanojevic said Janet Neal grabbed her at the game to criticize her for reporting Neal to Eldorado’s principal for cursing at the referees at a January 2013 game, in which Neal’s son, Cullen, was playing. She told jurors that Neal shouted, “This is bulls***! Open your eyes, ref!” which she said is a violation of the school’s conduct policy for parents and players.</p>
<p>Neal’s attorney, Michael Danoff, declined to comment on the terms of the settlement. “A confidential settlement was reached,” Danoff said in a brief phone interview. The attorney for Stanojevic, Donald Gilpin, could not be reached for comment.</p>
<p>Gilpin, during Monday’s morning hearing, called Stanojevic’s psychologist to testify about her patient’s psychological condition in the aftermath of the disagreement. Dr. Birgitta Gabel said Stanojevic talked exclusively about the affair with Neal at her next session with Gabel, and she said Stanojevic cried a lot and expressed a “sense of vulnerability.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>During cross-examination, Danoff questioned Gabel about Stanojevic’s anxiety level before and after treatment. He also said that, for all the distress Stanojevic is claiming in the civil lawsuit, the basketball game and Neal rarely, if ever, come up in Gabel’s notes from their sessions.</p>
<p>Gabel said it was clear to her that the altercation negatively impacted Stanojevic’s emotional state, even if she acknowledged that Stanojevic entered and exited treatment with a “low” level of anxiety.</p>
<p>The settlement was unexpected, as Gilpin had said the trial was likely to end Tuesday afternoon, and jury deliberation was scheduled to last through today.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Lobo coach’s wife, principal settle lawsuit after altercation
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/546091/lobo-coachs-wife-principal-settle-lawsuit-after-altercation.html
|
2015-02-24
| 2least
|
Lobo coach’s wife, principal settle lawsuit after altercation
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Susan Stanojevic listens to a question during testimony Monday in District Court. She is suing Janet Neal, the wife of Lobo men’s basketball coach Craig Neal, over an altercation after a high-stakes high school basketball game in February 2013. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The wife of the Lobo men’s basketball coach and a former Eldorado High School vice principal have reached a confidential settlement, announced Tuesday in District Court, of a lawsuit that resulted from a contentious high school basketball game in February 2013.</p>
<p>The Tuesday morning announcement in Judge Valerie Huling’s courtroom ended the jury trial that began Monday. The lawsuit arose after Janet Neal, wife of Lobo men’s basketball coach Craig Neal, and former Eldorado High School vice principal Susan Stanojevic got into a confrontation after a district game at Sandia High School. Stanojevic claimed Neal jerked her by the arm and was so close when she shouted at her that Neal “spit in my face,” she testified during the trial Monday.</p>
<p>Stanojevic said the altercation made her feel unsafe and insecure at her job as assistant principal of discipline and attendance for 10th- and 11th-graders at Eldorado. She has since taken a job as principal of Los Lunas Middle School, a transfer that came with a pay raise, she said. She sought unspecified damages for “emotional, physical and psychological distress” she claims to have suffered after the altercation.</p>
<p>J. NEAL: Settlement is confidential</p>
<p>Stanojevic said Janet Neal grabbed her at the game to criticize her for reporting Neal to Eldorado’s principal for cursing at the referees at a January 2013 game, in which Neal’s son, Cullen, was playing. She told jurors that Neal shouted, “This is bulls***! Open your eyes, ref!” which she said is a violation of the school’s conduct policy for parents and players.</p>
<p>Neal’s attorney, Michael Danoff, declined to comment on the terms of the settlement. “A confidential settlement was reached,” Danoff said in a brief phone interview. The attorney for Stanojevic, Donald Gilpin, could not be reached for comment.</p>
<p>Gilpin, during Monday’s morning hearing, called Stanojevic’s psychologist to testify about her patient’s psychological condition in the aftermath of the disagreement. Dr. Birgitta Gabel said Stanojevic talked exclusively about the affair with Neal at her next session with Gabel, and she said Stanojevic cried a lot and expressed a “sense of vulnerability.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>During cross-examination, Danoff questioned Gabel about Stanojevic’s anxiety level before and after treatment. He also said that, for all the distress Stanojevic is claiming in the civil lawsuit, the basketball game and Neal rarely, if ever, come up in Gabel’s notes from their sessions.</p>
<p>Gabel said it was clear to her that the altercation negatively impacted Stanojevic’s emotional state, even if she acknowledged that Stanojevic entered and exited treatment with a “low” level of anxiety.</p>
<p>The settlement was unexpected, as Gilpin had said the trial was likely to end Tuesday afternoon, and jury deliberation was scheduled to last through today.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,071 |
<p>By Mary Lynn F. JonesPresstime Published: October 2005 Excerpt:</p>
<p>Yet, according to many in the newspaper industry, the greatest threat to the future of investigative reporting may be the newspaper industry itself. "Many newsrooms are working with fewer people," says Butch Ward, a distinguished fellow at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, who helped lead a three-day watchdog journalism workshop there in May. "And most of them are pressing the remaining staff to increase story count. Experience shows newsrooms that emphasize production often abandon serious investigative journalism." <a href="http://www.naa.org/Presstime/PTArtPage.cfm?AID=7222" type="external">More of this article...</a> <a href="http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&amp;ned=us&amp;q=%22Butch+ward%22&amp;btnG=Search+News" type="external">Search Google News for more quotes by Butch Ward...</a></p>
|
Investigative Reporting: Dog Days of Summer
| false |
https://poynter.org/news/investigative-reporting-dog-days-summer
|
2005-10-07
| 2least
|
Investigative Reporting: Dog Days of Summer
<p>By Mary Lynn F. JonesPresstime Published: October 2005 Excerpt:</p>
<p>Yet, according to many in the newspaper industry, the greatest threat to the future of investigative reporting may be the newspaper industry itself. "Many newsrooms are working with fewer people," says Butch Ward, a distinguished fellow at The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, who helped lead a three-day watchdog journalism workshop there in May. "And most of them are pressing the remaining staff to increase story count. Experience shows newsrooms that emphasize production often abandon serious investigative journalism." <a href="http://www.naa.org/Presstime/PTArtPage.cfm?AID=7222" type="external">More of this article...</a> <a href="http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&amp;ned=us&amp;q=%22Butch+ward%22&amp;btnG=Search+News" type="external">Search Google News for more quotes by Butch Ward...</a></p>
| 6,072 |
<p>Livestock futures were mixed as traders searched for seasonal lows.</p>
<p>Lean hog futures for October rose before giving back most gains to close 0.1% higher at 61.4 cents a pound at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Later-month contracts were also higher.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Cattle futures, meanwhile, fell. CME most-active October live cattle futures dropped 0.7% to $1.054 a pound.</p>
<p>Both markets have been rattled by concerns about oversupply in recent weeks, pushing prices for wholesale red meat and slaughter-ready livestock down since peaking earlier this summer. Some analysts say markets now have room for a bounce.</p>
<p>Hog futures are at an unusually wide discount to the CME's lean hog index, which tracks the cash market. The index was at 75.68 cents a pound as of Wednesday, almost 15 cents higher than the October futures contract. Analysts say those will need to converge, creating incentive for traders to push futures up toward the index.</p>
<p>High hog slaughter numbers will likely limit gains in the near term, however. Slaughter numbers are expected to increase into September and October, the Steiner Consulting Group said in a note to clients.</p>
<p>Cattle futures, meanwhile, were under pressure as the week's cash trade trended lower. Meatpackers bought an estimated 4,000 head of cattle in Kansas at $1.05 a pound live on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, in line with sales on Wednesday but below last week.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Though feedlots are expected to produce large numbers of slaughter-ready cattle in the near future, that output will likely ease at the end of the year after the USDA reported a slowdown in the rate of young cattle placed in feedlots for fattening.</p>
<p>Write to Benjamin Parkin at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 31, 2017 15:22 ET (19:22 GMT)</p>
|
Livestock Futures Mixed as Hogs Climb, Cattle Sag
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/08/31/livestock-futures-mixed-as-hogs-climb-cattle-sag.html
|
2017-08-31
| 0right
|
Livestock Futures Mixed as Hogs Climb, Cattle Sag
<p>Livestock futures were mixed as traders searched for seasonal lows.</p>
<p>Lean hog futures for October rose before giving back most gains to close 0.1% higher at 61.4 cents a pound at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Later-month contracts were also higher.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Cattle futures, meanwhile, fell. CME most-active October live cattle futures dropped 0.7% to $1.054 a pound.</p>
<p>Both markets have been rattled by concerns about oversupply in recent weeks, pushing prices for wholesale red meat and slaughter-ready livestock down since peaking earlier this summer. Some analysts say markets now have room for a bounce.</p>
<p>Hog futures are at an unusually wide discount to the CME's lean hog index, which tracks the cash market. The index was at 75.68 cents a pound as of Wednesday, almost 15 cents higher than the October futures contract. Analysts say those will need to converge, creating incentive for traders to push futures up toward the index.</p>
<p>High hog slaughter numbers will likely limit gains in the near term, however. Slaughter numbers are expected to increase into September and October, the Steiner Consulting Group said in a note to clients.</p>
<p>Cattle futures, meanwhile, were under pressure as the week's cash trade trended lower. Meatpackers bought an estimated 4,000 head of cattle in Kansas at $1.05 a pound live on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said, in line with sales on Wednesday but below last week.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Though feedlots are expected to produce large numbers of slaughter-ready cattle in the near future, that output will likely ease at the end of the year after the USDA reported a slowdown in the rate of young cattle placed in feedlots for fattening.</p>
<p>Write to Benjamin Parkin at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 31, 2017 15:22 ET (19:22 GMT)</p>
| 6,073 |
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Indiana Lottery’s “Daily Four-Evening” game were:</p>
<p>3-5-3-8, SB: 8</p>
<p>(three, five, three, eight; SB: eight)</p>
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Indiana Lottery’s “Daily Four-Evening” game were:</p>
<p>3-5-3-8, SB: 8</p>
<p>(three, five, three, eight; SB: eight)</p>
|
Winning numbers drawn in ‘Daily Four-Evening’ game
| false |
https://apnews.com/f78b16014dd94b978b820299ae5e0873
|
2018-01-18
| 2least
|
Winning numbers drawn in ‘Daily Four-Evening’ game
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Indiana Lottery’s “Daily Four-Evening” game were:</p>
<p>3-5-3-8, SB: 8</p>
<p>(three, five, three, eight; SB: eight)</p>
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Indiana Lottery’s “Daily Four-Evening” game were:</p>
<p>3-5-3-8, SB: 8</p>
<p>(three, five, three, eight; SB: eight)</p>
| 6,074 |
<p>Alcoholic drinks made with artificial sweeteners <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060523/hl_nm/artificial_sweeteners_dc;_ylt=AkbvBGS.6d7bXd.994idoq0DW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhZDhxNDFzBHNlYwNtZW5ld3M-" type="external">lead to a higher rate of alcohol absorption</a> than drinks made with sugar-based mixers.</p>
<p>Finally, some news you can use.</p>
<p>Reuters:</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES - Alcoholic drinks made with artificial sweeteners lead to a high rate of alcohol absorption, resulting in a greater blood alcohol peak and concentration than from drinks made with sugar-based mixers.</p>
<p />
<p>The reason, Australian investigators told attendees here at Digestive Disease Week 2006, is the accelerated emptying of the stomach caused by artificial sweetening agents.</p>
<p>Dr. Chris Rayner and colleagues at Royal Adelaide Hospital studied eight healthy male volunteers. On one day, the subjects consumed an orange-flavored vodka drink made from alcohol and a mixer sweetened with sugar containing 478 calories. On the second day, the men drank the same amount of alcohol with a diet mixer containing 225 calories.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060523/hl_nm/artificial_sweeteners_dc;_ylt=AkbvBGS.6d7bXd.994idoq0DW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhZDhxNDFzBHNlYwNtZW5ld3M-" type="external">Link</a></p>
|
Artificial Sweeteners Speed Alcohol Into Blood
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/artificial-sweeteners-speed-alcohol-into-blood/
|
2006-05-24
| 4left
|
Artificial Sweeteners Speed Alcohol Into Blood
<p>Alcoholic drinks made with artificial sweeteners <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060523/hl_nm/artificial_sweeteners_dc;_ylt=AkbvBGS.6d7bXd.994idoq0DW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhZDhxNDFzBHNlYwNtZW5ld3M-" type="external">lead to a higher rate of alcohol absorption</a> than drinks made with sugar-based mixers.</p>
<p>Finally, some news you can use.</p>
<p>Reuters:</p>
<p>LOS ANGELES - Alcoholic drinks made with artificial sweeteners lead to a high rate of alcohol absorption, resulting in a greater blood alcohol peak and concentration than from drinks made with sugar-based mixers.</p>
<p />
<p>The reason, Australian investigators told attendees here at Digestive Disease Week 2006, is the accelerated emptying of the stomach caused by artificial sweetening agents.</p>
<p>Dr. Chris Rayner and colleagues at Royal Adelaide Hospital studied eight healthy male volunteers. On one day, the subjects consumed an orange-flavored vodka drink made from alcohol and a mixer sweetened with sugar containing 478 calories. On the second day, the men drank the same amount of alcohol with a diet mixer containing 225 calories.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060523/hl_nm/artificial_sweeteners_dc;_ylt=AkbvBGS.6d7bXd.994idoq0DW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhZDhxNDFzBHNlYwNtZW5ld3M-" type="external">Link</a></p>
| 6,075 |
<p>With less than 100 days left to the midterm elections, it's clear that anti-incumbent anger is going to be a bad wind blowing through Nov. 2.</p>
<p>But not all incumbents are created equally weasel-y, and the best way to judge the ones who deserve to be kicked out of Congress is not just by looking at their party affiliation in the voting booth. There is plenty of blame to go around for the hyper-partisanship that's contributing to an escalation of hate with a side order of stalemate—neither party has a monopoly on virtue or vice. The Wingnut extremes encourage each other, providing fodder for a cycle of fear-mongering and fundraising.</p>
<p>Not all these characters are in competitive races; after all, the rigged system of redistricting is what enables most of them to avoid forming broad coalitions and winning over the reasonable edge of the opposition.</p>
<p>The House of Representatives is the key battleground of the midterm election. Republicans need 40 seats to take back control, and the smart money spread right now says that between 29 and 50 are seats in play. But just changing the party in control is not going to solve the problem of hyper-partisanship and escalating incivility. Voters have got to take on the people who have made the politics of incitement part of their business plan, with points added for incompetence and unethical behavior.</p>
<p>And so I've created a list of what I'm calling "The Kick 'Em Out Caucus" of 2010. It's an incomplete rogue's gallery. With just one-third of the Senate up for reelection, I've sidestepped that august body, for now—something that shouldn't give the prostitute-procuring, <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39652.html" type="external">Birther-baiting</a> senator from Louisiana, David Vitter, any comfort. Other candidates for inclusion, like the Castro- <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VaY4Fc3YkM&amp;feature=player_embedded" type="external">praising Rep. Diane Watson</a>, are missing from the list because they wisely opted for retirement or unwisely aimed for higher office. (I'm looking at you, Zach Wamp, for your <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/23/AR2010072305420.html" type="external">secessionist talk</a>.)</p>
<p>Not all these characters are in competitive races; after all, the rigged system of redistricting is what enables most of them to avoid forming broad coalitions and winning over the reasonable edge of the opposition. Despite the divisions they deepen in the country, it's possible that most of this list will be reelected—but that's why it's worth calling them out as among the worst members of Congress from a Wingnut perspective. Where possible, I've included a link to their general-election opponent's website, so readers can check out the alternative and consider whether he or she deserves support. With Congress heading out for August recess, it's a constructive way to keep the heat on.</p>
<p>1) Michele Bachmann (R-MN)—The grand prize-winning Wingnut of the 111th Congress by a wide margin, Bachmann's statements range from the intentionally inflammatory to the idiotic. She first rose to infamy in 2008, when she accused then-presidential candidate Barack Obama of harboring anti-American views and suggested a congressional probe to ferret out liberals with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_pN2IPAw6E" type="external">anti-American views</a>. Her lowlights are so numerous that a <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2009/05/04/rep-michele-bachmannrsquos-wackiest-moments.html" type="external">Daily Beast slideshow</a> covered a dozen last May and quickly fell behind her pace. In recent months, she <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/bachmann-obama-turning-our-country-into-a-nation-of-slaves.php" type="external">accused President Obama</a> of advancing tyranny and "turning our country into a nation of slaves." But Bachmann's rants helped her raise more money than any other member of Congress in the second quarter of 2010, a feat that underscores one of the primary problems with our politics. Her general-election opponent is <a href="http://tarrylclark.com/" type="external">Terry Clark</a>, someone who shouldn't have any trouble embodying the famous (and justified) "Minnesota Nice" better than the sitting congresswoman.</p>
<p>2) Steve King (R-IA)—Like a barometer of bad judgment, King manages to embarrass his Iowa constituents and his branch of government every chance he gets. He first came to many Americans' attention in the 2008 election, when he <a href="http://www.spencerdailyreporter.com/story/1316727.html" type="external">proclaimed</a> that if Obama were "elected president, then the radical Islamists, the al Qaeda, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11 because they will declare victory in this War on Terror." He raised eyebrows as the only member of Congress not to vote for a resolution acknowledging the use of slave labor in the construction of the U.S. Capitol building. In response to the "day without an immigrant" protests, King <a href="http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/ia05_king/col_20060505_bite.html" type="external">wrote an op-ed for his local paper</a>: "The lives of 12 U.S. citizens would be saved who otherwise die a violent death at the hands of murderous illegal aliens each day… Eight American children would not suffer the horror as a victim of a sex crime." And at CPAC, King told gave conservatives an enemies list that <a href="" type="internal">lumped liberals in with genocidal dictators like Stalin and Mao</a>. His opponent is <a href="http://mattcampbellforcongress.com/about/" type="external">tax attorney Matt Campbell</a>, a fifth-generation Iowan from a farming family who was once an aide to Sen. Tom Harkin.</p>
<p>3) Alan Grayson (D-FL)—This freshman made a national name for himself by engaging in the kind of name-calling and bomb-throwing that brought Michele Bachmann to prominence. In a speech on the House floor, <a href="http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/2009/09/30/grayson-on-gop-plan-if-you-get-sick-die-quickly/" type="external">he said</a>, "The Republican health-care plan is this: 'Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly." Days later, he attacked Republicans as "foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who think they can dictate policy to America by being stubborn." That was mild compared to what came next: <a href="http://rawstory.com/2009/10/grayson-fox-enemy-of-america/" type="external">calling Republicans</a> "the enemy of America" and "certainly the enemy of peace." He rounded out the diatribes by calling an aide to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke a "K Street whore" on Hatriot idol Alex Jones' radio show. And Grayson achieved all these milestones within one month, September 2009. In 2010, he earned some unexpected bipartisan bona fides for co-sponsoring an "audit the Fed" bill with Ron Paul. Grayson represents a swing district that voted for George W. Bush twice, and the congressman only won with 52 percent in the high-turnout year of 2008, but thanks to a national Internet fundraising strategy that echoes the Bachmann calculus, he has raised enough money to remain competitive, despite his well-earned reputation for polarization. And a <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201007200019" type="external">recently tweeted reward of $100</a> for anyone who punched Grayson in the face might have succeeded in gaining him some sympathy. The Republican field to compete against him is predictably crowded, with the primary still a few weeks away. Leading contenders include former state <a href="http://www.electwebster.com/" type="external">senate President Daniel Webster</a>, <a href="http://www.electdan2010.com/" type="external">Dan Fanelli</a>, and front-running attorney <a href="http://www.toddlongforcongress.com/" type="external">Todd Long</a>, who a new Zogby poll shows beating Grayson by 46 percent to 38 percent, with a 17-point edge among independents.</p>
<p>4) Louie Gohmert (R-TX)—He's not one of the brightest lights in Congress, but Gohmert has slowly but surely gained attention with a steady stream of silly statements and conspiracy theories. He is a co-sponsor of the Birther Bill and an early adopter of the "kill Granny" arguments against health-care reform, appearing on 9/11 "truther" Alex Jones' radio show to proclaim that "this socialist health care... is going to absolutely kill senior citizens. They'll put them on lists and force them to die early." He also argued against that hate-crimes bill on the House floor: "If you're oriented toward animals, bestiality, then that's not something that could be held against you… which means that you'd have to strike any laws against bestiality. If you're oriented toward corpses, toward children." More recently, he "joked" that the only reason to have the 9/11 terror trial in New York City was if Democrats were "trying to create a new jobs bill by allowing terrorism back in New York." And not to miss out on the opportunity to demagogue the immigration debate, Gohmert raised the specter of Manchurian Candidate-style terrorists brought in as anchor babies, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/06/27/2010-06-27_texas_rep_louie_gohmert_warns_of_terrorist_baby_plot.html#ixzz0v18BS2H1" type="external">saying</a>, "It appeared that [the terrorists] would have young women, who became pregnant, would get them into the United States to have a baby. And then they would turn back where they could be raised and coddled as future terrorists." The Texas Democratic Party doesn't list any official candidate running against Gohmert, but Charles Parkes III has <a href="http://charlesparkesiii.info/Home_Page.html" type="external">announced his Quixotic candidacy</a> for the safe conservative seat.</p>
<p>5) Charles Rangel (D-NY)—He's the grand old man of Harlem politics, a legend who's been in office since he challenged the pioneering Adam Clayton Powell in a primary that centered on corruption charges and questions of whether Powell had been in office too long. Now those charges have come back to haunt Rangel, who is facing a congressional ethics trial on a range of substantial offenses, from serially under-reporting taxes, to having four rent-controlled apartments, to soliciting corporate donations to a public-affairs school that bears his name—all conduct unbecoming for a congressman, let alone the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. The New York Post has been dogged in uncovering Rangel's offenses, and its investigative work is the reason Rangel is about to fall. He faces four challengers in the September Democratic primary, including the son of Adam Clayton Powell. In the general election, Rangel (or the Democratic nominee, in the unlikely event that he loses) will face the <a href="http://www.faulknerforcongress.com/" type="external">Reverend Michael Faulkner</a>, a former NFL player with the New York Jets turned local church leader, who has written: "Mr. Rangel has come to epitomize what is wrong with Washington today. His gross underpayment of federal income taxes while chairing the House Ways and Means Committee shows the hypocrisy of our Congress."</p>
<p>6) Joe Wilson (R-SC)—He was a little-known but broadly popular South Carolina congressman before he screamed "You lie!" at the president of the United States during a speech to a Joint Session of Congress. Under withering criticism from party leaders like John McCain, Wilson soon apologized, but then awakened to the new rules of politics: the more outrageous the statement, the more the base will rally. Sure, Wilson was formally rebuked by his colleagues, but he quickly became a Tea Party hero, and signs at the 9/12 March on Washington proclaimed "Joe Wilson Told the Truth" and imagined a Palin/Wilson ticket in 2012. Steve King came to his defense, arguing that "The president threw the first punch," calling Wilson "an officer and a gentleman and a patriot," and saying "God bless him… He said what we were thinking." Wilson was no stranger to controversy: The onetime aide to Sen. Strom Thurmond denounced an African-American woman's claim to be Thurmond's illegitimate daughter as a "smear" designed to ruin his reputation, only to have the Thurmond family later acknowledge her truth. And this year, The New York Times found that Wilson had parroted a biotech company's words, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/politics/15health.html?_r=1" type="external">evidence of lobbyists' direct influence</a>. In the wake of Wilson's "You lie!" outburst, he raised $1.8 million, while his declared opponent, a Marine Corps veteran named <a href="http://robmillerforcongress.com/about-rob/south-carolina-values/" type="external">Rob Miller</a>, raised $1.6 million in response. With a resume and fundraising like that, the citizens of South Carolina's beautiful 2nd District might just have a rare competitive race on their hands this fall.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>7) Trent Franks (R-AZ)—"An enemy of humanity" who has "no place in any station of government" is how Franks described President Obama at the Wingnut <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GKS--pkAl0" type="external">How to Take Back America</a> conference last year. That's about as raw as the politics of incitement get. The passionately antiabortion advocate managed to wade even deeper into moral equivalence misdirection when he compared abortion to slavery, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/26/franks-slavery-abortion/" type="external">saying</a>: "Today, half of all black children are aborted... Far more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today, than were being devastated by the policies of slavery." Franks' chronic foot in mouth disease <a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/02/trent_franks_blacks_better_off.php" type="external">prompted Phoenix blogger Stephen Lemons to write</a>, "Considering his record for wacky statements, Franks should walk round with a sign that says 'I'm sorry' round his neck. Would save us all a bunch of time." Franks is being challenged again by a former teacher of Choctow descent named John Thrasher, who <a href="http://www.thrasherforcongress.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=category&amp;layout=blog&amp;id=4&amp;Itemid=25" type="external">received more than</a>125,000 votes in 2008.</p>
<p>8) Laura Richardson (D-CA)—The two-term California congresswoman might be best known for rising from city council to the state assembly to Congress in one year—and for having her home foreclosed on. Defenders could argue that defaulting on house payments six times in eight years makes her a relatable figure during the great recession, but hopscotching among homes in Long Beach, Sacramento, and San Pedro to qualify for different offices isn't exactly a working-class concern. Her neighbors didn't appreciate the chaos caused by her inattention to the properties, one of which was declared a "public nuisance." (Rats were breeding in the trash and neighbors pitched in to mow her lawn.) Richardson was named one of the 15 most corrupt members of Congress by <a href="http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/node/433" type="external">Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington</a>, and an official investigation probed whether Washington Mutual gave the congresswoman preferential treatment when it rescinded a foreclosure on a home she'd purchased with a subprime loan and no money down. This month, she was cleared of wrongdoing, but news of a $20,000 helicopter trip for her staffers to sightsee around Long Beach at taxpayers' expense didn't do much to help her image. She faced three challengers in the Democratic primary and conservative author <a href="http://www.starparkerforcongress.com/" type="external">Star Parker</a> in the general election.</p>
<p>9) Don Young (R-AK)—Out-of-control spending is considered a liberal Democrat affliction, but two of the biggest chronic offenders are Republicans: Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Young. He is the man who gave America the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," which was to have been named "Don Young's Way," and Citizens Against Government Waste has been on his case for years, <a href="http://councilfor.cagw.org/site/News2?id=10682&amp;page=NewsArticle" type="external">naming him its Porker of the Month</a> back in April 2007. Tea Partiers can find purpose beyond partisanship in opposing Alaska's sole congressman in this status quo-epitomizing soundbite: "People don't understand that this so-called cry for stopping earmarks, it does not add to the national debt." And anyone angered by the BP oil spill, which should include pretty much all Americans by this point, can find reason to oppose Young after this head-scratching statement: "This is not an environmental disaster, and I will say that again and again because it is a natural phenomenon." Young's Democratic challenger, state legislator <a href="http://www.harrycrawfordforcongress.com/" type="external">Harry Crawford</a>, replied: "The man is an ostrich… He has his head in the sand if he can't see that this is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, man-made disaster in history."</p>
<p>10) Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)—There was plenty of competition for the 10th spot on this list, but Jackson Lee's combined record of left-wingnuttery and free-spending fiscal irresponsibility gives her the edge over other contenders, especially when this month's comments on Vietnam are taken into account. During a July 15 speech on the House floor, she reached for a poor historical metaphor for Afghanistan and somehow made it worse: "Today we have two Vietnams, side by side, North and South, exchanging and working," <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20010824-503544.html" type="external">she said</a>. "We may not agree with all that North Vietnam is doing, but they are living in peace. I would look for a better human-rights record for North Vietnam, but they are living side by side." Well, no, Vietnam has been unified since after the war, and it's worth expecting that a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee would know better. The longtime Houston representative also explicitly <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/07/sheila-jackson-lee-on-the-tea-party-and-the-klan/59888/" type="external">compared Tea Party protesters to the KKK</a>, and her first foreign trip after Democrats took the majority in 2007 was to visit Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. She has a 3 percent rating—out of 100—from Citizens Against Government Waste. Her urban district is considered a safe seat, even in Texas, though this year she is facing a challenger named <a href="http://faulkforcongress.org/" type="external">John Faulk</a>, who is at least as conservative as she is liberal.</p>
<p>John Avlon's new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0984295119/thedaibea-20/" type="external">Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America</a> is available now by Beast Books both on the Web and in paperback. He is also the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400050243/thedaibea-20/" type="external">Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics</a> and a CNN contributor. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.</p>
|
Charlie Rangel, Joe Wilson, Alan Grayson, other Congressmen Who Should Be Fired
| true |
https://thedailybeast.com/charlie-rangel-joe-wilson-alan-grayson-other-congressmen-who-should-be-fired
|
2018-10-06
| 4left
|
Charlie Rangel, Joe Wilson, Alan Grayson, other Congressmen Who Should Be Fired
<p>With less than 100 days left to the midterm elections, it's clear that anti-incumbent anger is going to be a bad wind blowing through Nov. 2.</p>
<p>But not all incumbents are created equally weasel-y, and the best way to judge the ones who deserve to be kicked out of Congress is not just by looking at their party affiliation in the voting booth. There is plenty of blame to go around for the hyper-partisanship that's contributing to an escalation of hate with a side order of stalemate—neither party has a monopoly on virtue or vice. The Wingnut extremes encourage each other, providing fodder for a cycle of fear-mongering and fundraising.</p>
<p>Not all these characters are in competitive races; after all, the rigged system of redistricting is what enables most of them to avoid forming broad coalitions and winning over the reasonable edge of the opposition.</p>
<p>The House of Representatives is the key battleground of the midterm election. Republicans need 40 seats to take back control, and the smart money spread right now says that between 29 and 50 are seats in play. But just changing the party in control is not going to solve the problem of hyper-partisanship and escalating incivility. Voters have got to take on the people who have made the politics of incitement part of their business plan, with points added for incompetence and unethical behavior.</p>
<p>And so I've created a list of what I'm calling "The Kick 'Em Out Caucus" of 2010. It's an incomplete rogue's gallery. With just one-third of the Senate up for reelection, I've sidestepped that august body, for now—something that shouldn't give the prostitute-procuring, <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39652.html" type="external">Birther-baiting</a> senator from Louisiana, David Vitter, any comfort. Other candidates for inclusion, like the Castro- <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VaY4Fc3YkM&amp;feature=player_embedded" type="external">praising Rep. Diane Watson</a>, are missing from the list because they wisely opted for retirement or unwisely aimed for higher office. (I'm looking at you, Zach Wamp, for your <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/23/AR2010072305420.html" type="external">secessionist talk</a>.)</p>
<p>Not all these characters are in competitive races; after all, the rigged system of redistricting is what enables most of them to avoid forming broad coalitions and winning over the reasonable edge of the opposition. Despite the divisions they deepen in the country, it's possible that most of this list will be reelected—but that's why it's worth calling them out as among the worst members of Congress from a Wingnut perspective. Where possible, I've included a link to their general-election opponent's website, so readers can check out the alternative and consider whether he or she deserves support. With Congress heading out for August recess, it's a constructive way to keep the heat on.</p>
<p>1) Michele Bachmann (R-MN)—The grand prize-winning Wingnut of the 111th Congress by a wide margin, Bachmann's statements range from the intentionally inflammatory to the idiotic. She first rose to infamy in 2008, when she accused then-presidential candidate Barack Obama of harboring anti-American views and suggested a congressional probe to ferret out liberals with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_pN2IPAw6E" type="external">anti-American views</a>. Her lowlights are so numerous that a <a href="/content/dailybeast/articles/2009/05/04/rep-michele-bachmannrsquos-wackiest-moments.html" type="external">Daily Beast slideshow</a> covered a dozen last May and quickly fell behind her pace. In recent months, she <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/bachmann-obama-turning-our-country-into-a-nation-of-slaves.php" type="external">accused President Obama</a> of advancing tyranny and "turning our country into a nation of slaves." But Bachmann's rants helped her raise more money than any other member of Congress in the second quarter of 2010, a feat that underscores one of the primary problems with our politics. Her general-election opponent is <a href="http://tarrylclark.com/" type="external">Terry Clark</a>, someone who shouldn't have any trouble embodying the famous (and justified) "Minnesota Nice" better than the sitting congresswoman.</p>
<p>2) Steve King (R-IA)—Like a barometer of bad judgment, King manages to embarrass his Iowa constituents and his branch of government every chance he gets. He first came to many Americans' attention in the 2008 election, when he <a href="http://www.spencerdailyreporter.com/story/1316727.html" type="external">proclaimed</a> that if Obama were "elected president, then the radical Islamists, the al Qaeda, the radical Islamists and their supporters, will be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on September 11 because they will declare victory in this War on Terror." He raised eyebrows as the only member of Congress not to vote for a resolution acknowledging the use of slave labor in the construction of the U.S. Capitol building. In response to the "day without an immigrant" protests, King <a href="http://www.house.gov/apps/list/hearing/ia05_king/col_20060505_bite.html" type="external">wrote an op-ed for his local paper</a>: "The lives of 12 U.S. citizens would be saved who otherwise die a violent death at the hands of murderous illegal aliens each day… Eight American children would not suffer the horror as a victim of a sex crime." And at CPAC, King told gave conservatives an enemies list that <a href="" type="internal">lumped liberals in with genocidal dictators like Stalin and Mao</a>. His opponent is <a href="http://mattcampbellforcongress.com/about/" type="external">tax attorney Matt Campbell</a>, a fifth-generation Iowan from a farming family who was once an aide to Sen. Tom Harkin.</p>
<p>3) Alan Grayson (D-FL)—This freshman made a national name for himself by engaging in the kind of name-calling and bomb-throwing that brought Michele Bachmann to prominence. In a speech on the House floor, <a href="http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/2009/09/30/grayson-on-gop-plan-if-you-get-sick-die-quickly/" type="external">he said</a>, "The Republican health-care plan is this: 'Don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly." Days later, he attacked Republicans as "foot-dragging, knuckle-dragging Neanderthals who think they can dictate policy to America by being stubborn." That was mild compared to what came next: <a href="http://rawstory.com/2009/10/grayson-fox-enemy-of-america/" type="external">calling Republicans</a> "the enemy of America" and "certainly the enemy of peace." He rounded out the diatribes by calling an aide to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke a "K Street whore" on Hatriot idol Alex Jones' radio show. And Grayson achieved all these milestones within one month, September 2009. In 2010, he earned some unexpected bipartisan bona fides for co-sponsoring an "audit the Fed" bill with Ron Paul. Grayson represents a swing district that voted for George W. Bush twice, and the congressman only won with 52 percent in the high-turnout year of 2008, but thanks to a national Internet fundraising strategy that echoes the Bachmann calculus, he has raised enough money to remain competitive, despite his well-earned reputation for polarization. And a <a href="http://mediamatters.org/blog/201007200019" type="external">recently tweeted reward of $100</a> for anyone who punched Grayson in the face might have succeeded in gaining him some sympathy. The Republican field to compete against him is predictably crowded, with the primary still a few weeks away. Leading contenders include former state <a href="http://www.electwebster.com/" type="external">senate President Daniel Webster</a>, <a href="http://www.electdan2010.com/" type="external">Dan Fanelli</a>, and front-running attorney <a href="http://www.toddlongforcongress.com/" type="external">Todd Long</a>, who a new Zogby poll shows beating Grayson by 46 percent to 38 percent, with a 17-point edge among independents.</p>
<p>4) Louie Gohmert (R-TX)—He's not one of the brightest lights in Congress, but Gohmert has slowly but surely gained attention with a steady stream of silly statements and conspiracy theories. He is a co-sponsor of the Birther Bill and an early adopter of the "kill Granny" arguments against health-care reform, appearing on 9/11 "truther" Alex Jones' radio show to proclaim that "this socialist health care... is going to absolutely kill senior citizens. They'll put them on lists and force them to die early." He also argued against that hate-crimes bill on the House floor: "If you're oriented toward animals, bestiality, then that's not something that could be held against you… which means that you'd have to strike any laws against bestiality. If you're oriented toward corpses, toward children." More recently, he "joked" that the only reason to have the 9/11 terror trial in New York City was if Democrats were "trying to create a new jobs bill by allowing terrorism back in New York." And not to miss out on the opportunity to demagogue the immigration debate, Gohmert raised the specter of Manchurian Candidate-style terrorists brought in as anchor babies, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2010/06/27/2010-06-27_texas_rep_louie_gohmert_warns_of_terrorist_baby_plot.html#ixzz0v18BS2H1" type="external">saying</a>, "It appeared that [the terrorists] would have young women, who became pregnant, would get them into the United States to have a baby. And then they would turn back where they could be raised and coddled as future terrorists." The Texas Democratic Party doesn't list any official candidate running against Gohmert, but Charles Parkes III has <a href="http://charlesparkesiii.info/Home_Page.html" type="external">announced his Quixotic candidacy</a> for the safe conservative seat.</p>
<p>5) Charles Rangel (D-NY)—He's the grand old man of Harlem politics, a legend who's been in office since he challenged the pioneering Adam Clayton Powell in a primary that centered on corruption charges and questions of whether Powell had been in office too long. Now those charges have come back to haunt Rangel, who is facing a congressional ethics trial on a range of substantial offenses, from serially under-reporting taxes, to having four rent-controlled apartments, to soliciting corporate donations to a public-affairs school that bears his name—all conduct unbecoming for a congressman, let alone the chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. The New York Post has been dogged in uncovering Rangel's offenses, and its investigative work is the reason Rangel is about to fall. He faces four challengers in the September Democratic primary, including the son of Adam Clayton Powell. In the general election, Rangel (or the Democratic nominee, in the unlikely event that he loses) will face the <a href="http://www.faulknerforcongress.com/" type="external">Reverend Michael Faulkner</a>, a former NFL player with the New York Jets turned local church leader, who has written: "Mr. Rangel has come to epitomize what is wrong with Washington today. His gross underpayment of federal income taxes while chairing the House Ways and Means Committee shows the hypocrisy of our Congress."</p>
<p>6) Joe Wilson (R-SC)—He was a little-known but broadly popular South Carolina congressman before he screamed "You lie!" at the president of the United States during a speech to a Joint Session of Congress. Under withering criticism from party leaders like John McCain, Wilson soon apologized, but then awakened to the new rules of politics: the more outrageous the statement, the more the base will rally. Sure, Wilson was formally rebuked by his colleagues, but he quickly became a Tea Party hero, and signs at the 9/12 March on Washington proclaimed "Joe Wilson Told the Truth" and imagined a Palin/Wilson ticket in 2012. Steve King came to his defense, arguing that "The president threw the first punch," calling Wilson "an officer and a gentleman and a patriot," and saying "God bless him… He said what we were thinking." Wilson was no stranger to controversy: The onetime aide to Sen. Strom Thurmond denounced an African-American woman's claim to be Thurmond's illegitimate daughter as a "smear" designed to ruin his reputation, only to have the Thurmond family later acknowledge her truth. And this year, The New York Times found that Wilson had parroted a biotech company's words, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/15/us/politics/15health.html?_r=1" type="external">evidence of lobbyists' direct influence</a>. In the wake of Wilson's "You lie!" outburst, he raised $1.8 million, while his declared opponent, a Marine Corps veteran named <a href="http://robmillerforcongress.com/about-rob/south-carolina-values/" type="external">Rob Miller</a>, raised $1.6 million in response. With a resume and fundraising like that, the citizens of South Carolina's beautiful 2nd District might just have a rare competitive race on their hands this fall.</p>
<p>Start and finish your day with the top stories from The Daily Beast.</p>
<p>A speedy, smart summary of all the news you need to know (and nothing you don't).</p>
<p>7) Trent Franks (R-AZ)—"An enemy of humanity" who has "no place in any station of government" is how Franks described President Obama at the Wingnut <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GKS--pkAl0" type="external">How to Take Back America</a> conference last year. That's about as raw as the politics of incitement get. The passionately antiabortion advocate managed to wade even deeper into moral equivalence misdirection when he compared abortion to slavery, <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/02/26/franks-slavery-abortion/" type="external">saying</a>: "Today, half of all black children are aborted... Far more of the African-American community is being devastated by the policies of today, than were being devastated by the policies of slavery." Franks' chronic foot in mouth disease <a href="http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/bastard/2010/02/trent_franks_blacks_better_off.php" type="external">prompted Phoenix blogger Stephen Lemons to write</a>, "Considering his record for wacky statements, Franks should walk round with a sign that says 'I'm sorry' round his neck. Would save us all a bunch of time." Franks is being challenged again by a former teacher of Choctow descent named John Thrasher, who <a href="http://www.thrasherforcongress.org/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=category&amp;layout=blog&amp;id=4&amp;Itemid=25" type="external">received more than</a>125,000 votes in 2008.</p>
<p>8) Laura Richardson (D-CA)—The two-term California congresswoman might be best known for rising from city council to the state assembly to Congress in one year—and for having her home foreclosed on. Defenders could argue that defaulting on house payments six times in eight years makes her a relatable figure during the great recession, but hopscotching among homes in Long Beach, Sacramento, and San Pedro to qualify for different offices isn't exactly a working-class concern. Her neighbors didn't appreciate the chaos caused by her inattention to the properties, one of which was declared a "public nuisance." (Rats were breeding in the trash and neighbors pitched in to mow her lawn.) Richardson was named one of the 15 most corrupt members of Congress by <a href="http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/node/433" type="external">Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington</a>, and an official investigation probed whether Washington Mutual gave the congresswoman preferential treatment when it rescinded a foreclosure on a home she'd purchased with a subprime loan and no money down. This month, she was cleared of wrongdoing, but news of a $20,000 helicopter trip for her staffers to sightsee around Long Beach at taxpayers' expense didn't do much to help her image. She faced three challengers in the Democratic primary and conservative author <a href="http://www.starparkerforcongress.com/" type="external">Star Parker</a> in the general election.</p>
<p>9) Don Young (R-AK)—Out-of-control spending is considered a liberal Democrat affliction, but two of the biggest chronic offenders are Republicans: Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Young. He is the man who gave America the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere," which was to have been named "Don Young's Way," and Citizens Against Government Waste has been on his case for years, <a href="http://councilfor.cagw.org/site/News2?id=10682&amp;page=NewsArticle" type="external">naming him its Porker of the Month</a> back in April 2007. Tea Partiers can find purpose beyond partisanship in opposing Alaska's sole congressman in this status quo-epitomizing soundbite: "People don't understand that this so-called cry for stopping earmarks, it does not add to the national debt." And anyone angered by the BP oil spill, which should include pretty much all Americans by this point, can find reason to oppose Young after this head-scratching statement: "This is not an environmental disaster, and I will say that again and again because it is a natural phenomenon." Young's Democratic challenger, state legislator <a href="http://www.harrycrawfordforcongress.com/" type="external">Harry Crawford</a>, replied: "The man is an ostrich… He has his head in the sand if he can't see that this is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, man-made disaster in history."</p>
<p>10) Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX)—There was plenty of competition for the 10th spot on this list, but Jackson Lee's combined record of left-wingnuttery and free-spending fiscal irresponsibility gives her the edge over other contenders, especially when this month's comments on Vietnam are taken into account. During a July 15 speech on the House floor, she reached for a poor historical metaphor for Afghanistan and somehow made it worse: "Today we have two Vietnams, side by side, North and South, exchanging and working," <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20010824-503544.html" type="external">she said</a>. "We may not agree with all that North Vietnam is doing, but they are living in peace. I would look for a better human-rights record for North Vietnam, but they are living side by side." Well, no, Vietnam has been unified since after the war, and it's worth expecting that a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee would know better. The longtime Houston representative also explicitly <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/07/sheila-jackson-lee-on-the-tea-party-and-the-klan/59888/" type="external">compared Tea Party protesters to the KKK</a>, and her first foreign trip after Democrats took the majority in 2007 was to visit Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. She has a 3 percent rating—out of 100—from Citizens Against Government Waste. Her urban district is considered a safe seat, even in Texas, though this year she is facing a challenger named <a href="http://faulkforcongress.org/" type="external">John Faulk</a>, who is at least as conservative as she is liberal.</p>
<p>John Avlon's new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0984295119/thedaibea-20/" type="external">Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe Is Hijacking America</a> is available now by Beast Books both on the Web and in paperback. He is also the author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1400050243/thedaibea-20/" type="external">Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics</a> and a CNN contributor. Previously, he served as chief speechwriter for New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun.</p>
| 6,076 |
<p />
<p>Image source: Mobileye.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What: Driver-assistance technology company Mobileye reported fourth-quarter results on Wednesday morning. The stock pulled back as much as 14% shortly after the market opened in response to the quarterly update, but is down just 2% at the time of this writing.</p>
<p>So what: Revenue and earnings per share were both better than analysts expected. On average, they forecasted for revenue and non-GAAP EPS to be $70.8 million and $0.14, respectively. Actual results were $71.8 million and $0.15. But despite the company's having surpassed expectations for financial results for the quarter, the market seems to be honing in on Mobileye's guidance, which appears to be weaker than thought.</p>
<p>Mobileye projects revenue and non-GAAP EPS for the full year to be in the ranges of $336 million-$340 million and $0.68-$0.69, respectively, according to management during the earnings call. This guidance compares to analysts' estimates for full-year non-GAAP EPS and revenue of $0.70 and $342 million, slightly ahead of Mobileye's guidance range.</p>
<p>Now what: Despite Mobileye's weaker guidance, the company is optimistic about the future. Investors should also keep in mind that the demand for its products doesn't appear anemic by any means. Mobileye's revenue guidance for 2016 represents 40% year-over-year growth.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/24/why-mobileye-nv-stock-fell-today.aspx" type="external">Why Mobileye N.V. Stock Fell Today Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDanielSparks/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Daniel Sparks Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
Why Mobileye N.V. Stock Fell Today
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/02/24/why-mobileye-nv-stock-fell-today.html
|
2016-03-27
| 0right
|
Why Mobileye N.V. Stock Fell Today
<p />
<p>Image source: Mobileye.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>What: Driver-assistance technology company Mobileye reported fourth-quarter results on Wednesday morning. The stock pulled back as much as 14% shortly after the market opened in response to the quarterly update, but is down just 2% at the time of this writing.</p>
<p>So what: Revenue and earnings per share were both better than analysts expected. On average, they forecasted for revenue and non-GAAP EPS to be $70.8 million and $0.14, respectively. Actual results were $71.8 million and $0.15. But despite the company's having surpassed expectations for financial results for the quarter, the market seems to be honing in on Mobileye's guidance, which appears to be weaker than thought.</p>
<p>Mobileye projects revenue and non-GAAP EPS for the full year to be in the ranges of $336 million-$340 million and $0.68-$0.69, respectively, according to management during the earnings call. This guidance compares to analysts' estimates for full-year non-GAAP EPS and revenue of $0.70 and $342 million, slightly ahead of Mobileye's guidance range.</p>
<p>Now what: Despite Mobileye's weaker guidance, the company is optimistic about the future. Investors should also keep in mind that the demand for its products doesn't appear anemic by any means. Mobileye's revenue guidance for 2016 represents 40% year-over-year growth.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/02/24/why-mobileye-nv-stock-fell-today.aspx" type="external">Why Mobileye N.V. Stock Fell Today Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDanielSparks/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Daniel Sparks Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 6,077 |
<p>Kabul</p>
<p>Beautiful but fake photographs are often the only evidence that companies have carried out expensive aid projects located in parts of Afghanistan too dangerous for donors to visit.</p>
<p>“I went to see a food processing plant in the east of the country which was meant to employing 250 women,” says an Afghan who used to work for an American government aid organization. “We had started the project and were paying for the equipment and the salaries. But when I visited the site all I found was a few people working on a vegetable plot the size of a small room.”</p>
<p>When he angrily complained about the non-existent plant he was told by a local official to keep his mouth shut. He said that “if I did not keep quiet there would be trouble on the road back to Jalalabad - in other words they would kill me.”</p>
<p>As President Obama prepares his review of how his Afghan strategy is working to be issued next week he is likely to focus on military progress.</p>
<p>But the most extraordinary failure of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan is that the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars has had so little impact on the misery in which 30 million Afghans live.&#160; Since 2001 the US alone has provided $52 billion in aid, two thirds for security and one third for economic, social and political development.</p>
<p>Despite this some nine million Afghans live in absolute poverty while a further five million, considered ‘not poor’, try to survive on $43 a month.“Things look alright to foreigners but in fact people are dying of starvation in Kabul,” says Abdul Qudus, a man with a deeply lined face in his forties, who sells second-hand clothes and shoes on a street corner in the capital. They are little more than rags, lying on display on the half frozen mud.</p>
<p>“I buy and sell clothes for between 10 and 30 Afghanis (two to six cents) and even then there are people who are too poor to buy them, “ says Mr Qudus. “I myself am very poor and sometimes I don’t eat so I can feed my children.” He says he started selling second hand clothes two years ago when he lost his job washing carpets.</p>
<p>US officials admit privately that the torrent of aid money that has poured into Afghanistan has stoked corruption and done ordinary Afghans little good. Aimed at improving economic and social conditions in order to reduce support for the Taliban it is having the reverse effect of destabilizing the country. Afghanistan was identified as the third most corrupt country out of 178 in the world in a report released yesterday by Transparency International.</p>
<p>“The aid projects are too big, carried out in too short a time, and the places they are located are too remote,” says a diplomat. He recalled that he was unable to monitor a road construction project in Kunar province in the east, because he was not allowed for security reasons to visit areas where he and his team could not be protected by indirect fire. Afghan and Americans who have overseen aid projects agree that the ‘quick fix’ approach has been disastrous. Schools that local people may not need are equipped with computers in districts where there is no electric power or fresh water.</p>
<p>The flood of money has had little success in reducing economic hardship. “It has all messed up into one big soup,” says Karolina Oloffson, head of advocacy and communication for the Afghan NGO Integrity Watch Afghanistan. Aid organizations are judge by the amount of money they spend rather than any productive outcome.</p>
<p>“The US has a highly capitalist approach and seeks to deliver aid through private companies,” she says. “It does not like to use NGOs which its officials consider too idealistic.”</p>
<p>Big contracts are given to large US companies that are used to a complicated bidding process, can produce appropriate paper work, and are well connected in Washington. The problem is that much of Afghanistan is far too dangerous for these companies to carry out work themselves or monitor sub-contractors.</p>
<p>In his office in Kabul Hedayutullah, the owner of the Noor Taq-e-Zafar Construction Company, says that there is a simple reason why the quality of work is so poor. He says: “Let us say the main US contractor has a contract worth $2.5 million donated by a foreign government. He will take a 20 per cent administrative fee and find a sub-contractor, who will sub-contract to an Afghan company, which may sub-contract again. At the end of the day only $1.4 million may be there for building the project which is too little to do it properly.”</p>
<p>Progress of schemes is often monitored by photographs of work in progress. In one small but typical case an Afghan company was paid to build and get running a tractor repair shop in highly dangerous Oruzgan province in the south to give employment to local youth.</p>
<p>The contractor rented an existing tractor repair shop in Kandahar for the day and hired local young men to look as if they were busily fixing engines in the&#160; shop. This was all photographed and the pictures emailed to the main contractor and the donor organization, both of which expressed high satisfaction at what had been achieved. “There is no intention to provide service,” says Mr Hedayatullah, “just to make money.”</p>
<p>There have been some successes. Kabul now has an almost continuous supply of electricity which comes from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan along wires hanging from newly built pylons that cross the Hindu Kush mountains. The US commander, Gen David Petraeus, is demanding that emergency generators supply continuous power to Kandahar.</p>
<p>But overall aid has done surprisingly little for most Afghans. Little of the money trickles down and much of it is monopolized by a tightly-knit group of businessmen, warlords and politicians at the top. Former Vice President Ahmed Zia Massoud is alleged to have been stopped entering the United Arab Emirates with $52 million in cash in a suitcase according US diplomatic documents leaked through Wikileaks.&#160; Police chiefs and provincial governors all want a cut of the pie.</p>
<p>Yama Torabi, the co-director of Integrity Watch Afghanistan, says it is not really possible to carry out development aid in areas of conflict where there is fighting, It might be better to stick to humanitarian aid.</p>
<p>This would be contrary to US military policy, pioneered in Iraq, whereby local US military commanders control substantial funds that can be used for local aid projects through the so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). But this militarization of aid means that the Taliban target schools built on the orders of a US commander.</p>
<p>“People see schools built by the Americans as American property,” says an Afghan who once worked for a US government agency. “They are frightened of sending their children there.” Overall it is doubtful that aid provided by PRTs does the US or other members of the foreign coalition much good because “villagers don’t forgive the US army for killing their sons just because it has built a road or a bridge.”</p>
<p>The US government policy of providing aid through large American private companies, whose interest lies in making a profit rather than improving the life of Afghans, is proving a failure in Afghanistan as it did previously in Iraq.</p>
<p>As winter approaches half of Afghans face the prospect of ‘food insecurity’, or not getting enough to eat in the next three months, according to the US Famine Early Warning System. The best use of aid money may be to subsidize food prices and help people like Mr Qubus, the old clothes seller, and his family from starving.</p>
<p>PATRICK COCKBURN is the author of ‘ <a href="" type="internal">The Occupation: War, resistance and daily life in Iraq</a>‘ and ‘ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1416551476/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Muqtada! Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia revival and the struggle for Iraq</a>‘.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
|
Billions Down the Drain in Useless US Afghan Aid
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2010/12/13/billions-down-the-drain-in-useless-us-afghan-aid/
|
2010-12-13
| 4left
|
Billions Down the Drain in Useless US Afghan Aid
<p>Kabul</p>
<p>Beautiful but fake photographs are often the only evidence that companies have carried out expensive aid projects located in parts of Afghanistan too dangerous for donors to visit.</p>
<p>“I went to see a food processing plant in the east of the country which was meant to employing 250 women,” says an Afghan who used to work for an American government aid organization. “We had started the project and were paying for the equipment and the salaries. But when I visited the site all I found was a few people working on a vegetable plot the size of a small room.”</p>
<p>When he angrily complained about the non-existent plant he was told by a local official to keep his mouth shut. He said that “if I did not keep quiet there would be trouble on the road back to Jalalabad - in other words they would kill me.”</p>
<p>As President Obama prepares his review of how his Afghan strategy is working to be issued next week he is likely to focus on military progress.</p>
<p>But the most extraordinary failure of the US-led coalition in Afghanistan is that the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars has had so little impact on the misery in which 30 million Afghans live.&#160; Since 2001 the US alone has provided $52 billion in aid, two thirds for security and one third for economic, social and political development.</p>
<p>Despite this some nine million Afghans live in absolute poverty while a further five million, considered ‘not poor’, try to survive on $43 a month.“Things look alright to foreigners but in fact people are dying of starvation in Kabul,” says Abdul Qudus, a man with a deeply lined face in his forties, who sells second-hand clothes and shoes on a street corner in the capital. They are little more than rags, lying on display on the half frozen mud.</p>
<p>“I buy and sell clothes for between 10 and 30 Afghanis (two to six cents) and even then there are people who are too poor to buy them, “ says Mr Qudus. “I myself am very poor and sometimes I don’t eat so I can feed my children.” He says he started selling second hand clothes two years ago when he lost his job washing carpets.</p>
<p>US officials admit privately that the torrent of aid money that has poured into Afghanistan has stoked corruption and done ordinary Afghans little good. Aimed at improving economic and social conditions in order to reduce support for the Taliban it is having the reverse effect of destabilizing the country. Afghanistan was identified as the third most corrupt country out of 178 in the world in a report released yesterday by Transparency International.</p>
<p>“The aid projects are too big, carried out in too short a time, and the places they are located are too remote,” says a diplomat. He recalled that he was unable to monitor a road construction project in Kunar province in the east, because he was not allowed for security reasons to visit areas where he and his team could not be protected by indirect fire. Afghan and Americans who have overseen aid projects agree that the ‘quick fix’ approach has been disastrous. Schools that local people may not need are equipped with computers in districts where there is no electric power or fresh water.</p>
<p>The flood of money has had little success in reducing economic hardship. “It has all messed up into one big soup,” says Karolina Oloffson, head of advocacy and communication for the Afghan NGO Integrity Watch Afghanistan. Aid organizations are judge by the amount of money they spend rather than any productive outcome.</p>
<p>“The US has a highly capitalist approach and seeks to deliver aid through private companies,” she says. “It does not like to use NGOs which its officials consider too idealistic.”</p>
<p>Big contracts are given to large US companies that are used to a complicated bidding process, can produce appropriate paper work, and are well connected in Washington. The problem is that much of Afghanistan is far too dangerous for these companies to carry out work themselves or monitor sub-contractors.</p>
<p>In his office in Kabul Hedayutullah, the owner of the Noor Taq-e-Zafar Construction Company, says that there is a simple reason why the quality of work is so poor. He says: “Let us say the main US contractor has a contract worth $2.5 million donated by a foreign government. He will take a 20 per cent administrative fee and find a sub-contractor, who will sub-contract to an Afghan company, which may sub-contract again. At the end of the day only $1.4 million may be there for building the project which is too little to do it properly.”</p>
<p>Progress of schemes is often monitored by photographs of work in progress. In one small but typical case an Afghan company was paid to build and get running a tractor repair shop in highly dangerous Oruzgan province in the south to give employment to local youth.</p>
<p>The contractor rented an existing tractor repair shop in Kandahar for the day and hired local young men to look as if they were busily fixing engines in the&#160; shop. This was all photographed and the pictures emailed to the main contractor and the donor organization, both of which expressed high satisfaction at what had been achieved. “There is no intention to provide service,” says Mr Hedayatullah, “just to make money.”</p>
<p>There have been some successes. Kabul now has an almost continuous supply of electricity which comes from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan along wires hanging from newly built pylons that cross the Hindu Kush mountains. The US commander, Gen David Petraeus, is demanding that emergency generators supply continuous power to Kandahar.</p>
<p>But overall aid has done surprisingly little for most Afghans. Little of the money trickles down and much of it is monopolized by a tightly-knit group of businessmen, warlords and politicians at the top. Former Vice President Ahmed Zia Massoud is alleged to have been stopped entering the United Arab Emirates with $52 million in cash in a suitcase according US diplomatic documents leaked through Wikileaks.&#160; Police chiefs and provincial governors all want a cut of the pie.</p>
<p>Yama Torabi, the co-director of Integrity Watch Afghanistan, says it is not really possible to carry out development aid in areas of conflict where there is fighting, It might be better to stick to humanitarian aid.</p>
<p>This would be contrary to US military policy, pioneered in Iraq, whereby local US military commanders control substantial funds that can be used for local aid projects through the so-called Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs). But this militarization of aid means that the Taliban target schools built on the orders of a US commander.</p>
<p>“People see schools built by the Americans as American property,” says an Afghan who once worked for a US government agency. “They are frightened of sending their children there.” Overall it is doubtful that aid provided by PRTs does the US or other members of the foreign coalition much good because “villagers don’t forgive the US army for killing their sons just because it has built a road or a bridge.”</p>
<p>The US government policy of providing aid through large American private companies, whose interest lies in making a profit rather than improving the life of Afghans, is proving a failure in Afghanistan as it did previously in Iraq.</p>
<p>As winter approaches half of Afghans face the prospect of ‘food insecurity’, or not getting enough to eat in the next three months, according to the US Famine Early Warning System. The best use of aid money may be to subsidize food prices and help people like Mr Qubus, the old clothes seller, and his family from starving.</p>
<p>PATRICK COCKBURN is the author of ‘ <a href="" type="internal">The Occupation: War, resistance and daily life in Iraq</a>‘ and ‘ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1416551476/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Muqtada! Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia revival and the struggle for Iraq</a>‘.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
| 6,078 |
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/feministing" type="external">@feministing</a> yeah, should’ve thought longer before redecorating my uterus in cornflower blue. Lime green would’ve been better. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23regret&amp;src=hash" type="external">#regret</a></p>
<p>— R Creager Ireland (@prairiecricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/prairiecricket/statuses/454299749223395328" type="external">April 10, 2014</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Infographic explains how <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/07/mexico-drug-violence-wome_n_4920171.html" type="external">the war on drugs hurts Mexican women</a>.</p>
<p>A new study reveals that <a href="http://www.socwomen.org/pr2-sex-violence-norm/" type="external">girls tend to view sexual harassment and violence as normal</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2014-04-11/guns-vs-moms/" type="external">Moms advocating for stricter gun laws</a>&#160;in Texas are being met with misogynists attacks and threats.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/sex-education-requirement-maps_n_5111835.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063" type="external">5 maps</a> breaking down the depressing state of sex education requirements around the country.</p>
|
Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet
| true |
http://feministing.com/2014/04/10/daily-feminist-cheat-sheet-300/
| 4left
|
Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/feministing" type="external">@feministing</a> yeah, should’ve thought longer before redecorating my uterus in cornflower blue. Lime green would’ve been better. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23regret&amp;src=hash" type="external">#regret</a></p>
<p>— R Creager Ireland (@prairiecricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/prairiecricket/statuses/454299749223395328" type="external">April 10, 2014</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Infographic explains how <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/07/mexico-drug-violence-wome_n_4920171.html" type="external">the war on drugs hurts Mexican women</a>.</p>
<p>A new study reveals that <a href="http://www.socwomen.org/pr2-sex-violence-norm/" type="external">girls tend to view sexual harassment and violence as normal</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2014-04-11/guns-vs-moms/" type="external">Moms advocating for stricter gun laws</a>&#160;in Texas are being met with misogynists attacks and threats.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/08/sex-education-requirement-maps_n_5111835.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000063" type="external">5 maps</a> breaking down the depressing state of sex education requirements around the country.</p>
| 6,079 |
|
<p>UPDATE (2-15): 652PM JURY VERDICT PENDING ON ALL COUNTS</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-15): 6:15PM Jury question: If we cannot agree on a count, is the entire case mis-tried or just the count? Judge brought jury in, clarifies that’s not the case. No mistrial at all, would just be hung on that last count (which State could re-try at their discretion). Jury still has more to consider, they noted, so back to deliberations.</p>
<p>4:41PM Note from jury. Jury has verdict on four of the five counts–the one they can’t decide is the first charge, the murder charge for death of Jordan Davis. &#160;Healey to read them Allen charge. &#160;Bringing the jurors on in. Healey reads them the Allen charge, sends them back to deliberations.</p>
<p>(“Loud music” murder trial “Allen” charge.)</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-15): 9:50AM Jury questions:</p>
<p>(1)&#160;Is the defense of self-defense separate for each person in each count? A: “Yes.”</p>
<p>(2)&#160;Are we determining if deadly force is justified against each person in each count? A: “Yes.”</p>
<p>(3)&#160;Or if we determine deadly force is justified against one person, is it justified against others? &#160;A: “No. Self defense and justifiable use of deadly force applies separately to each count.”</p>
<p />
<p>UPDATE (2-15): 9:00AM Court came briefly into session. Jury was starting deliberations only now, or within a few minutes. Court in recess until they hear something from the jury. Keep eyes here for breaking news.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-15): 8:38AM Can hear audio techs in court room 406, “Test 1, 2.” &#160;No video yet.</p>
<p>UPDATE &#160;(2-15): 8:30AM Judge Healey is expected to pro forma bring the court into session at 9:00AM, but it was anticipated that the jury would already be in deliberations by that time. &#160;We’re here covering the court live, all day.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-14): 6:50PM Jury requests to be dismissed for the night, saying they have “hit a wall for tonight.” &#160;Judge allows, no objection. He thanks jury, says he’ll let THEM decide what time to start tomorrow. Healey suggests, 9:00, 9:30, and one juror responds, “7:00”. The court room breaks into laughter. Healey decides jury can arrive when they wish, he’ll be there but rest of court need not, at 9:00AM he’ll call court into session and announce what time the jury actually started, just so everyone knows. That’s it for tonight, folks.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-14): 6:40PM Several of Dunn’s jail house phone recordings–the cause of so much pre-trial litigation over “open records” disputes with the media–have just been released. &#160;These include:</p>
<p><a href="http://is.gd/bY9frH" type="external">12/3/12, w/ Rhonda Rouer</a>:</p>
<p><a href="http://is.gd/IcwnzA" type="external">12/3/12: Dunn’s call with father about legal options</a></p>
<p><a href="http://is.gd/9KmLgo" type="external">12/5/12: Dunn’s calls with fiancee &amp; his parents</a></p>
<p><a href="http://is.gd/7NWYbO" type="external">12/26-27/12: Michael Dunn calls to Rhonda Rouer</a></p>
<p>UPDATE (2-14): 5:00PM Two questions from the jury. First question involves getting a 30 minute break, Healey of course says yes. Second question more substantive: &#160;Is it permissible for them to agree on several of the charges, but not on other of the charges. Answer is also yes. Verdicts would be rendered on the ones where unanimous agreement, the others would be hung, and State could re-prosecute on any hung charges at their discretion. (As a reminder, there are five indicted charges–Murder 1, three counts of attempted Murder 1, and hurling missiles. Also the jury is free to consider all lesser included charges.)</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-14) 9:00AM Court in session. Discussion in court about simply sending jury straight into deliberations, no formal morning greeting in court. Healey: “This is a working group.” &#160;Also announced that people will no longer be able to sit in the court room during recess while jury deliberations going on. &#160;People have said it might be possible for people in court room to hear talking from jury deliberations, and vice versa. So 5 minutes before reconvene will allow people back into court room. Healey: “Happy Valentines Day to everybody, we’ll see you all when we get some word from the jury.” Court recessed.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-14): 8:00AM The jury is scheduled to return to deliberations at 9:00AM. &#160;We’ll be covering the events in the court room all day, real-time, right here at this post on Legal Insurrection.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 6:20PM That’s it for tonight, no jury decision yet, we start again at 9:00AM US EST tomorrow. Legal Insurrection’s live-coverage will be AT THIS PAGE, so bookmark to come back.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 4:30 Court back in session. Jury asking when letter exhibit #201 written? One of Dunn’s jail house letters. Court looks through transcript, identifies as June 2013. This is the “Black Friday” letter, though obviously not written that date. Jury now retiring back to jury room. Healey tells all four alternates they’ll be held overnight tonight, but tomorrow can be sequestered in hotel room rather than in court house, more comfortable for them.</p>
<p>Update (2-13): 2:25PM Jury reports that one set of jury instructions is missing pages 32-41. (Holy cow, that’s a lot of instructions.) Weighing the evidence, defendant’s statements, rules for deliberations, cautionary instructions, verdict, submitting case to the jury, not substantive discussions. We didn’t change any of these from the model instructions. &#160;Just sending back the missing pages. No objections from State or defense. Jurors also requested a dry easel or large paper, which will be sent back to them. Back in recess.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 1:45PMJury asks if they can see “Bendie,” the dummy with the trajectory dowels. Normally such demonstrative evidence would not go back to jury. &#160;Healey suggests he’ll allow if the defense has no objection. Strolla doesn’t initially object, but then turns out that the dowels in Bendie were moved around since last seen in court, no longer representative, so objects. &#160;Bendie won’t go back. &#160;Healey writes out explanatory note for bailiff to give to jurors. &#160;Calls jurors into court room, reads them the note, “can’t send dummy back because it was demonstrative exhibit for demonstrative purposes, not entered into evidence.” Sends them back to continue their deliberations.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 1:20PM Jury asks if they can be provided with the “trajectory-rod dummy.” &#160;Problem is, dummy is demonstrative evidence only, normally would not go back to jury room. &#160;State has no objection. Strolla and Dunn discuss briefly in separate room, return and say they also have no objection. &#160;Healey, in abundance of caution, recesses for 15 minutes so case law can be reviewed, ensure they don’t inadvertently make a move that could result in reversal.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 11:50AM Defense counsel Cory Strolla speaking to reporters in live feed.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 9:43AM. Healey speaks with the four alternate jurors. They were held over in sequester last night, both from the public and the other jurors. He tells them he’s not inclined to keep all them overnight again if there’s no verdict again, and is inclined to let one or two of them go home even if no verdict. Seems he’ll decide later in the day.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 9:39AM. Healey welcomed the jury back. They were not scheduled to start until 10:00AM, but are present and ready to go, so he is not going to hold them up. Last night they requested the gas station market surveillance video, and this morning they have been provided with that video and instructions on how to play it. Court is now in recess until it receives either another jury instruction or a verdict. (As this update was being typed the juror requested an external monitor on which to view the video.)</p>
<p>Today Legal Insurrection is on real-time Verdict Watch in the “loud music” murder trial of Michael Dunn in the shooting death of Jordan Davis. &#160;Dunn is charged with 1st degree murder for the death of Davis, three counts of attempted murder in the first degree for firing at Davis’ three friends with him in the SUV, and one count of firing a missile into a vehicle. &#160;He will also be subject to Florida’s “10-20-Life” statute, as well as all lesser included offenses of the primary charges. &#160;Dunn claims he acted in lawful self-defense.</p>
<p>We will update with breaking news as it happens in real-time.</p>
<p>The jury is will re-start deliberations at 10AM US EST. Before breaking last night they asked to be provided with the surveillance video from the gas station market. The video is 20 minutes long, and consists of 6 distinct camera angles. At 9:30AM the State, defense, and Judge Healey will meet to finalize the protocol for providing the jury the video.</p>
<p>The Florida Model Jury Instructions for all these criminal charges as well as justifiable use of deadly force can be found here:</p>
<p><a href="http://lawofselfdefense.com/loud-music-murder-trial-relevant-florida-jury-instructions/" type="external">“Loud Music” Murder Trial: Relevant Florida Jury Instructions</a></p>
<p>Profiles of the 12 jurors currently in deliberations can be found here:</p>
<p><a href="http://lawofselfdefense.com/loud-music-murder-trial-the-12-final-jurors/" type="external">“Loud Music” Murder Trial: THE 12 FINAL JURORS</a></p>
<p>Immediately below are three live video feeds from the court room, and below the live video feeds is a live Twitter feed with my live tweets and those of others reporting on the trial.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.myfoxorlando.com" type="external">FOX 35 News Orlando</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/loud-music-murder-trial" type="external">Tweets from https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/loud-music-murder-trial</a></p>
<p>–Andrew, <a href="https://twitter.com/@lawselfdefense" type="external">@LawSelfDefense</a></p>
<p>Andrew F. Branca is an MA lawyer and the author of the seminal book <a href="http://lawofselfdefense.com/buy-now/" type="external">“The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition,”</a> available at the <a href="http://lawofselfdefense.com/blog/" type="external">Law of Self Defense</a> blog, Amazon.com ( <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Self-Defense-Andrew-Branca/dp/0988867702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1373331607&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Andrew+Branca" type="external">paperback</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Law-Self-Defense-ebook/dp/B00DXM5DWW/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1373898894&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=Andrew+Branca" type="external">Kindle</a>), Barnes &amp; Noble ( <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-law-of-self-defense-andrew-f-branca/1003029030?ean=9780988867703" type="external">paperback</a> and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-law-of-self-defense-2nd-edition-andrew-branca/1116114487?ean=2940148428152" type="external">Nook</a>), and elsewhere.</p>
|
LIVE COVERAGE: “Loud Music” Murder Trial, VERDICT WATCH
| true |
http://legalinsurrection.com/2014/02/live-coverage-loud-music-murder-trial-verdict-watch/
|
2014-02-13
| 0right
|
LIVE COVERAGE: “Loud Music” Murder Trial, VERDICT WATCH
<p>UPDATE (2-15): 652PM JURY VERDICT PENDING ON ALL COUNTS</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-15): 6:15PM Jury question: If we cannot agree on a count, is the entire case mis-tried or just the count? Judge brought jury in, clarifies that’s not the case. No mistrial at all, would just be hung on that last count (which State could re-try at their discretion). Jury still has more to consider, they noted, so back to deliberations.</p>
<p>4:41PM Note from jury. Jury has verdict on four of the five counts–the one they can’t decide is the first charge, the murder charge for death of Jordan Davis. &#160;Healey to read them Allen charge. &#160;Bringing the jurors on in. Healey reads them the Allen charge, sends them back to deliberations.</p>
<p>(“Loud music” murder trial “Allen” charge.)</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-15): 9:50AM Jury questions:</p>
<p>(1)&#160;Is the defense of self-defense separate for each person in each count? A: “Yes.”</p>
<p>(2)&#160;Are we determining if deadly force is justified against each person in each count? A: “Yes.”</p>
<p>(3)&#160;Or if we determine deadly force is justified against one person, is it justified against others? &#160;A: “No. Self defense and justifiable use of deadly force applies separately to each count.”</p>
<p />
<p>UPDATE (2-15): 9:00AM Court came briefly into session. Jury was starting deliberations only now, or within a few minutes. Court in recess until they hear something from the jury. Keep eyes here for breaking news.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-15): 8:38AM Can hear audio techs in court room 406, “Test 1, 2.” &#160;No video yet.</p>
<p>UPDATE &#160;(2-15): 8:30AM Judge Healey is expected to pro forma bring the court into session at 9:00AM, but it was anticipated that the jury would already be in deliberations by that time. &#160;We’re here covering the court live, all day.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-14): 6:50PM Jury requests to be dismissed for the night, saying they have “hit a wall for tonight.” &#160;Judge allows, no objection. He thanks jury, says he’ll let THEM decide what time to start tomorrow. Healey suggests, 9:00, 9:30, and one juror responds, “7:00”. The court room breaks into laughter. Healey decides jury can arrive when they wish, he’ll be there but rest of court need not, at 9:00AM he’ll call court into session and announce what time the jury actually started, just so everyone knows. That’s it for tonight, folks.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-14): 6:40PM Several of Dunn’s jail house phone recordings–the cause of so much pre-trial litigation over “open records” disputes with the media–have just been released. &#160;These include:</p>
<p><a href="http://is.gd/bY9frH" type="external">12/3/12, w/ Rhonda Rouer</a>:</p>
<p><a href="http://is.gd/IcwnzA" type="external">12/3/12: Dunn’s call with father about legal options</a></p>
<p><a href="http://is.gd/9KmLgo" type="external">12/5/12: Dunn’s calls with fiancee &amp; his parents</a></p>
<p><a href="http://is.gd/7NWYbO" type="external">12/26-27/12: Michael Dunn calls to Rhonda Rouer</a></p>
<p>UPDATE (2-14): 5:00PM Two questions from the jury. First question involves getting a 30 minute break, Healey of course says yes. Second question more substantive: &#160;Is it permissible for them to agree on several of the charges, but not on other of the charges. Answer is also yes. Verdicts would be rendered on the ones where unanimous agreement, the others would be hung, and State could re-prosecute on any hung charges at their discretion. (As a reminder, there are five indicted charges–Murder 1, three counts of attempted Murder 1, and hurling missiles. Also the jury is free to consider all lesser included charges.)</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-14) 9:00AM Court in session. Discussion in court about simply sending jury straight into deliberations, no formal morning greeting in court. Healey: “This is a working group.” &#160;Also announced that people will no longer be able to sit in the court room during recess while jury deliberations going on. &#160;People have said it might be possible for people in court room to hear talking from jury deliberations, and vice versa. So 5 minutes before reconvene will allow people back into court room. Healey: “Happy Valentines Day to everybody, we’ll see you all when we get some word from the jury.” Court recessed.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-14): 8:00AM The jury is scheduled to return to deliberations at 9:00AM. &#160;We’ll be covering the events in the court room all day, real-time, right here at this post on Legal Insurrection.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 6:20PM That’s it for tonight, no jury decision yet, we start again at 9:00AM US EST tomorrow. Legal Insurrection’s live-coverage will be AT THIS PAGE, so bookmark to come back.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 4:30 Court back in session. Jury asking when letter exhibit #201 written? One of Dunn’s jail house letters. Court looks through transcript, identifies as June 2013. This is the “Black Friday” letter, though obviously not written that date. Jury now retiring back to jury room. Healey tells all four alternates they’ll be held overnight tonight, but tomorrow can be sequestered in hotel room rather than in court house, more comfortable for them.</p>
<p>Update (2-13): 2:25PM Jury reports that one set of jury instructions is missing pages 32-41. (Holy cow, that’s a lot of instructions.) Weighing the evidence, defendant’s statements, rules for deliberations, cautionary instructions, verdict, submitting case to the jury, not substantive discussions. We didn’t change any of these from the model instructions. &#160;Just sending back the missing pages. No objections from State or defense. Jurors also requested a dry easel or large paper, which will be sent back to them. Back in recess.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 1:45PMJury asks if they can see “Bendie,” the dummy with the trajectory dowels. Normally such demonstrative evidence would not go back to jury. &#160;Healey suggests he’ll allow if the defense has no objection. Strolla doesn’t initially object, but then turns out that the dowels in Bendie were moved around since last seen in court, no longer representative, so objects. &#160;Bendie won’t go back. &#160;Healey writes out explanatory note for bailiff to give to jurors. &#160;Calls jurors into court room, reads them the note, “can’t send dummy back because it was demonstrative exhibit for demonstrative purposes, not entered into evidence.” Sends them back to continue their deliberations.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 1:20PM Jury asks if they can be provided with the “trajectory-rod dummy.” &#160;Problem is, dummy is demonstrative evidence only, normally would not go back to jury room. &#160;State has no objection. Strolla and Dunn discuss briefly in separate room, return and say they also have no objection. &#160;Healey, in abundance of caution, recesses for 15 minutes so case law can be reviewed, ensure they don’t inadvertently make a move that could result in reversal.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 11:50AM Defense counsel Cory Strolla speaking to reporters in live feed.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 9:43AM. Healey speaks with the four alternate jurors. They were held over in sequester last night, both from the public and the other jurors. He tells them he’s not inclined to keep all them overnight again if there’s no verdict again, and is inclined to let one or two of them go home even if no verdict. Seems he’ll decide later in the day.</p>
<p>UPDATE (2-13): 9:39AM. Healey welcomed the jury back. They were not scheduled to start until 10:00AM, but are present and ready to go, so he is not going to hold them up. Last night they requested the gas station market surveillance video, and this morning they have been provided with that video and instructions on how to play it. Court is now in recess until it receives either another jury instruction or a verdict. (As this update was being typed the juror requested an external monitor on which to view the video.)</p>
<p>Today Legal Insurrection is on real-time Verdict Watch in the “loud music” murder trial of Michael Dunn in the shooting death of Jordan Davis. &#160;Dunn is charged with 1st degree murder for the death of Davis, three counts of attempted murder in the first degree for firing at Davis’ three friends with him in the SUV, and one count of firing a missile into a vehicle. &#160;He will also be subject to Florida’s “10-20-Life” statute, as well as all lesser included offenses of the primary charges. &#160;Dunn claims he acted in lawful self-defense.</p>
<p>We will update with breaking news as it happens in real-time.</p>
<p>The jury is will re-start deliberations at 10AM US EST. Before breaking last night they asked to be provided with the surveillance video from the gas station market. The video is 20 minutes long, and consists of 6 distinct camera angles. At 9:30AM the State, defense, and Judge Healey will meet to finalize the protocol for providing the jury the video.</p>
<p>The Florida Model Jury Instructions for all these criminal charges as well as justifiable use of deadly force can be found here:</p>
<p><a href="http://lawofselfdefense.com/loud-music-murder-trial-relevant-florida-jury-instructions/" type="external">“Loud Music” Murder Trial: Relevant Florida Jury Instructions</a></p>
<p>Profiles of the 12 jurors currently in deliberations can be found here:</p>
<p><a href="http://lawofselfdefense.com/loud-music-murder-trial-the-12-final-jurors/" type="external">“Loud Music” Murder Trial: THE 12 FINAL JURORS</a></p>
<p>Immediately below are three live video feeds from the court room, and below the live video feeds is a live Twitter feed with my live tweets and those of others reporting on the trial.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.myfoxorlando.com" type="external">FOX 35 News Orlando</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/loud-music-murder-trial" type="external">Tweets from https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/loud-music-murder-trial</a></p>
<p>–Andrew, <a href="https://twitter.com/@lawselfdefense" type="external">@LawSelfDefense</a></p>
<p>Andrew F. Branca is an MA lawyer and the author of the seminal book <a href="http://lawofselfdefense.com/buy-now/" type="external">“The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition,”</a> available at the <a href="http://lawofselfdefense.com/blog/" type="external">Law of Self Defense</a> blog, Amazon.com ( <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Self-Defense-Andrew-Branca/dp/0988867702/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1373331607&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Andrew+Branca" type="external">paperback</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Law-Self-Defense-ebook/dp/B00DXM5DWW/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1373898894&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=Andrew+Branca" type="external">Kindle</a>), Barnes &amp; Noble ( <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-law-of-self-defense-andrew-f-branca/1003029030?ean=9780988867703" type="external">paperback</a> and <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-law-of-self-defense-2nd-edition-andrew-branca/1116114487?ean=2940148428152" type="external">Nook</a>), and elsewhere.</p>
| 6,080 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>TRIPP: Unanimously nominated for speaker</p>
<p>The new Republican majority in the state House on Saturday nominated Rep. Don Tripp of Socorro to serve as speaker when the party takes control of the chamber from Democrats in January.</p>
<p>Tripp, a well-liked and loyal member of the GOP caucus who has served in the House since 1999, said he was honored by the unanimous nomination by the 37-member Republican caucus.</p>
<p>“It’s a tremendous honor,” Tripp said. “This is a historic time for us, and we’re still riding the wave of the idea that we’re in the majority after 62 years.”</p>
<p>GENTRY: Elected as majority floor leader</p>
<p>The House Republican caucus elected Rep. Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque, to serve as the majority floor leader.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Rep. Alonzo Baldonado, R-Los Lunas, was elected majority whip. Rep. Kelly Fajardo, R-Belen, was named caucus chair.</p>
<p>While the caucus elects its own floor leaders, speaker nominations will be voted on by all 70 House members when the Legislature convenes for its 60-day 2015 session on Jan. 20.</p>
<p>Gentry said he was confident that Tripp will go on to be speaker because he has unanimous support from the 37 Republicans elected on Tuesday, wresting control of the chamber from Democrats for the first time since the early 1950s. Democrats will have 33 members on their side of the aisle in January.</p>
<p>Tripp would take over the speaker’s chair from Rep. Ken Martinez, D-Grants.</p>
<p>“I think our caucus is very united,” Gentry said. “I nominated Don Tripp as speaker by acclamation. There was not one person that objected. … Everyone is very much unified.”</p>
<p>Tripp said he expected a steep learning curve as Republicans learn how to control the chamber for the first time in decades.</p>
<p>“I think we have a monumental task before us, trying to just make the transition, because there’s nobody alive that had to go through this before,” Tripp said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The nominee for House speaker said the Republican caucus will focus its agenda on job creation efforts. “We want to be moving jobs forward because that’s the No. 1 thing in New Mexico that we need,” Tripp said.</p>
<p>Gentry said the majority Republican caucus will make an effort to work with House Democrats, although some in the caucus feel they were previously excluded from legislative negotiations as the House minority party.</p>
<p>“We’re going to take a different tack,” Gentry said. “And that is to involve the minority party in the process. There’s certainly not a monopoly on good ideas, and we’re going to look at each piece of legislation not based upon who’s carrying it but on its individual merit.”</p>
<p>Baldonado, the newly elected majority whip, said he’s confident the new Republican majority will be able to keep a united front to ensure the party’s legislative priorities have the votes to pass.</p>
<p>“Whenever you have 37 people, everyone’s got different perspectives, different life experiences, different work experiences. But as a caucus, we’ve traditionally been very united,” Baldonado said. “I anticipate this caucus holding together, being a group that wants to work together.”</p>
<p>Republicans will select committee chairs in January, Gentry said.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
State House GOP picks representatives from Socorro, ABQ for top posts
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/493512/tripp-nominated-state-house-speaker-gentry-named-gop-leader.html
|
2014-11-08
| 2least
|
State House GOP picks representatives from Socorro, ABQ for top posts
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>TRIPP: Unanimously nominated for speaker</p>
<p>The new Republican majority in the state House on Saturday nominated Rep. Don Tripp of Socorro to serve as speaker when the party takes control of the chamber from Democrats in January.</p>
<p>Tripp, a well-liked and loyal member of the GOP caucus who has served in the House since 1999, said he was honored by the unanimous nomination by the 37-member Republican caucus.</p>
<p>“It’s a tremendous honor,” Tripp said. “This is a historic time for us, and we’re still riding the wave of the idea that we’re in the majority after 62 years.”</p>
<p>GENTRY: Elected as majority floor leader</p>
<p>The House Republican caucus elected Rep. Nate Gentry, R-Albuquerque, to serve as the majority floor leader.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Rep. Alonzo Baldonado, R-Los Lunas, was elected majority whip. Rep. Kelly Fajardo, R-Belen, was named caucus chair.</p>
<p>While the caucus elects its own floor leaders, speaker nominations will be voted on by all 70 House members when the Legislature convenes for its 60-day 2015 session on Jan. 20.</p>
<p>Gentry said he was confident that Tripp will go on to be speaker because he has unanimous support from the 37 Republicans elected on Tuesday, wresting control of the chamber from Democrats for the first time since the early 1950s. Democrats will have 33 members on their side of the aisle in January.</p>
<p>Tripp would take over the speaker’s chair from Rep. Ken Martinez, D-Grants.</p>
<p>“I think our caucus is very united,” Gentry said. “I nominated Don Tripp as speaker by acclamation. There was not one person that objected. … Everyone is very much unified.”</p>
<p>Tripp said he expected a steep learning curve as Republicans learn how to control the chamber for the first time in decades.</p>
<p>“I think we have a monumental task before us, trying to just make the transition, because there’s nobody alive that had to go through this before,” Tripp said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The nominee for House speaker said the Republican caucus will focus its agenda on job creation efforts. “We want to be moving jobs forward because that’s the No. 1 thing in New Mexico that we need,” Tripp said.</p>
<p>Gentry said the majority Republican caucus will make an effort to work with House Democrats, although some in the caucus feel they were previously excluded from legislative negotiations as the House minority party.</p>
<p>“We’re going to take a different tack,” Gentry said. “And that is to involve the minority party in the process. There’s certainly not a monopoly on good ideas, and we’re going to look at each piece of legislation not based upon who’s carrying it but on its individual merit.”</p>
<p>Baldonado, the newly elected majority whip, said he’s confident the new Republican majority will be able to keep a united front to ensure the party’s legislative priorities have the votes to pass.</p>
<p>“Whenever you have 37 people, everyone’s got different perspectives, different life experiences, different work experiences. But as a caucus, we’ve traditionally been very united,” Baldonado said. “I anticipate this caucus holding together, being a group that wants to work together.”</p>
<p>Republicans will select committee chairs in January, Gentry said.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,081 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Late spring storms, a heftier Sierra snowpack, and higher reservoir levels have largely made Californians believe the state’s record dry three-year drought is over.&#160; But, despite a year where, through May, rainfall is 107 percent of average – up from 76 percent of average in 2009 –dry conditions remain in parts of the state.&#160;</p>
<p>And, even with more rain, a variety of major threats still remain to the state’s water supply and its reliability. Among them: an aging levee system, continued groundwater overdrafting, declining ecosystems, and climate change.&#160; Solutions to these threats are complicated and one solid year of rain in four isn’t a major factor.&#160; In fact, as some observers have noted, a more abundant amount of water might lead to a “false sense of security” and reduce the urgency of addressing the state water system’s myriad needs.&#160;</p>
<p>Both the State Water Project and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project increased their water delivery levels in June – the state to 50 percent of demand and the bureau to 40 percent.&#160; After a third year of below average rainfall, each agency began 2010 delivering just 5 percent of requests for water, a record low for the state.&#160; At the beginning of the new water year, which runs from October 1 to September 30, key state reservoirs were at 69 percent of average.&#160;</p>
<p>An occasional hand-lettered sign from last year accusing Congress of creating a “dust bowl” still remains on fallow farmland along Interstate 5 in the agriculture-heavy Central Valley.&#160; Fifteen months ago, there were dozens of signs after the central valley project turned off the spigot to most of its customers. The state limited its deliveries to 15 percent of demand.&#160; The move helped fallow 500,000 acres of farmland. A University of California forecast at the time said doing so could cost as much as 80,000 jobs and over $2 billion in lost revenue.&#160;</p>
<p>More than 60 water agencies around the state imposed mandatory conservation requirements.&#160; Since then, reservoir storage has improved to 101 percent of average. Lake Shasta is at 95 percent of capacity. Don Pedro Reservoir near Yosemite is at 97 percent.&#160; However, some important reservoirs, like Lake Oroville are at 76 percent of capacity.&#160;</p>
<p>Despite the increased rainfall this year, San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos and New Melones Lake near Angel’s Camp in the state’s Gold Rush Country stand at only 62 percent and 58 percent of capacity, respectively.&#160; Court rulings also require certain flows be maintained for fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta which the state estimates will hold back some 800,000 acre feet from users south of the Delta.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; “Even with a return to normal precipitation and reservoir levels and an above normal Sierra snowpack, (state) water deliveries will remain limited due to current restriction on Delta pumping to protect native fish species,” the state Department of Water Resources says in it’s <a href="http://wwwdwr.water.ca.gov/drought/docs/DroughtUpdate-063010.pdf" type="external">June Drought Update</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre with one foot of water – nearly 326,000 gallons of water. That’s about what a family of four uses in one year.&#160; At the end of September 2009, the state’s reservoirs held 17 million acre-feet. In May 2010, they held almost 28 million acre-feet.&#160;</p>
<p>Last November, lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed on a package of legislation they claimed was “historic”, aimed at restoring the Delta and creating a more reliable state water supply, through increased conservation, improved enforcement, and better monitoring of groundwater.&#160; An $11.1 billion bond to pay for the improvements sought in the legislation was placed on the November ballot. Fearing voters would reject the proposal, on August 9, lawmakers pulled it from the ballot, pushing to the November 2012 ballot.&#160; “Voter research confirms that when educated on the need and benefits to their local community and the economy, voters will support the water bond,” said Allan Zaremberg, president and the California Chamber of Commerce in praise of the delay.&#160; “We must have the time it will take to raise revenue and ensure that voters understand what is at stake.”&#160; Revenue from the bond was earmarked to address California’s longer-term water issues which are assessed in the state’s five-volume <a href="http://www.waterplan.water.ca.gov/" type="external">California Water Plan 2009 Update</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>Not the least of the threats identified in the plan, which has been updated every five years since 1957, is climate change.&#160; Over the past century, Sierra snowpack – California’s largest surface water storage – has declined by 10 percent, some 1.5 million acre-feet, and is projected to decrease by another 25 percent to 40 percent by 2050.&#160; Sea level has risen 7 inches over the same period.&#160;</p>
<p>Climate change also increases the frequency and intensity of floods.&#160; The water plan also notes that each year, on average, 2 million acre-feet more groundwater is used than what naturally recharges. This “overdraft” is “characterized by groundwater levels that decline over a period of years and never fully recover, even in wet years,” the water plan says.&#160; Nearly 2 million Californians live within areas that can expect to flood on average once in 100 years. And more are moving there. Sacramento has one of the lowest levels of flood protection of any major city in the nation.&#160;</p>
<p>The state’s levees are also aging and maintenance has not kept pace. The system – some 1,100 miles worth in the Central Valley – contain design and construction shortcomings.&#160; Salmon, delta smelt and other species in the Delta are at record lows – despite court orders setting aside water to help them recover.&#160;</p>
<p>The water plan points out that rainfall, “the root of California’s water supply,” varies from “place to place, season to season and year to year.”&#160; Most rain falls in the mountains of the north and eastern parts of the state. But, most water is used in the valleys and along the coast.&#160; The state’s most recent Drought Update illustrates this “variability”.&#160;</p>
<p>While reservoirs’ storage statewide stands at 101 percent average, the Department of water Resources says that will still “leave many communities, farms and businesses with limited alternative supplies.”&#160; Despite the increased rainfall, the state estimates 5,067 to 5,539 jobs will be lost in the San Joaquin Valley. Income losses could be as much as $365 million.&#160; Because state and Bureau of Reclamation water deliveries still only present half of demand, San Joaquin Valley farmers will substitute groundwater, increasing pumping costs by some $105 million.&#160;</p>
<p>Drought conditions still persist in the Klamath River Basin “severely” impacting water users in Oregon and California, the Drought Update says.&#160; Because of drought, Fresno County is conducting an emergency food distribution program.&#160; Even with above-average rainfall, “water managers across Southern California are aware that water supply shortages are not over,” the Update says.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; “Local water agencies are educating the public about water supply conditions and that shortages are likely to continue into the foreseeable future due to environmental challenges in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.&#160; “They are also emphasizing that next year could be dry and many of the local major reservoirs have yet to recover.”&#160;</p>
<p>And while April and May storms “significantly improved water supply outlook … allocations remain low in some major service areas south of the Delta and below average water supply conditions still persist in Klamath and Lake Tahoe basins.”</p>
|
Major threats remain to California water supply
| false |
https://ivn.us/2010/08/19/major-threats-remain-california-water-supply/
|
2010-08-19
| 2least
|
Major threats remain to California water supply
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Late spring storms, a heftier Sierra snowpack, and higher reservoir levels have largely made Californians believe the state’s record dry three-year drought is over.&#160; But, despite a year where, through May, rainfall is 107 percent of average – up from 76 percent of average in 2009 –dry conditions remain in parts of the state.&#160;</p>
<p>And, even with more rain, a variety of major threats still remain to the state’s water supply and its reliability. Among them: an aging levee system, continued groundwater overdrafting, declining ecosystems, and climate change.&#160; Solutions to these threats are complicated and one solid year of rain in four isn’t a major factor.&#160; In fact, as some observers have noted, a more abundant amount of water might lead to a “false sense of security” and reduce the urgency of addressing the state water system’s myriad needs.&#160;</p>
<p>Both the State Water Project and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Central Valley Project increased their water delivery levels in June – the state to 50 percent of demand and the bureau to 40 percent.&#160; After a third year of below average rainfall, each agency began 2010 delivering just 5 percent of requests for water, a record low for the state.&#160; At the beginning of the new water year, which runs from October 1 to September 30, key state reservoirs were at 69 percent of average.&#160;</p>
<p>An occasional hand-lettered sign from last year accusing Congress of creating a “dust bowl” still remains on fallow farmland along Interstate 5 in the agriculture-heavy Central Valley.&#160; Fifteen months ago, there were dozens of signs after the central valley project turned off the spigot to most of its customers. The state limited its deliveries to 15 percent of demand.&#160; The move helped fallow 500,000 acres of farmland. A University of California forecast at the time said doing so could cost as much as 80,000 jobs and over $2 billion in lost revenue.&#160;</p>
<p>More than 60 water agencies around the state imposed mandatory conservation requirements.&#160; Since then, reservoir storage has improved to 101 percent of average. Lake Shasta is at 95 percent of capacity. Don Pedro Reservoir near Yosemite is at 97 percent.&#160; However, some important reservoirs, like Lake Oroville are at 76 percent of capacity.&#160;</p>
<p>Despite the increased rainfall this year, San Luis Reservoir near Los Banos and New Melones Lake near Angel’s Camp in the state’s Gold Rush Country stand at only 62 percent and 58 percent of capacity, respectively.&#160; Court rulings also require certain flows be maintained for fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta which the state estimates will hold back some 800,000 acre feet from users south of the Delta.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; “Even with a return to normal precipitation and reservoir levels and an above normal Sierra snowpack, (state) water deliveries will remain limited due to current restriction on Delta pumping to protect native fish species,” the state Department of Water Resources says in it’s <a href="http://wwwdwr.water.ca.gov/drought/docs/DroughtUpdate-063010.pdf" type="external">June Drought Update</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>An acre-foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre with one foot of water – nearly 326,000 gallons of water. That’s about what a family of four uses in one year.&#160; At the end of September 2009, the state’s reservoirs held 17 million acre-feet. In May 2010, they held almost 28 million acre-feet.&#160;</p>
<p>Last November, lawmakers and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed on a package of legislation they claimed was “historic”, aimed at restoring the Delta and creating a more reliable state water supply, through increased conservation, improved enforcement, and better monitoring of groundwater.&#160; An $11.1 billion bond to pay for the improvements sought in the legislation was placed on the November ballot. Fearing voters would reject the proposal, on August 9, lawmakers pulled it from the ballot, pushing to the November 2012 ballot.&#160; “Voter research confirms that when educated on the need and benefits to their local community and the economy, voters will support the water bond,” said Allan Zaremberg, president and the California Chamber of Commerce in praise of the delay.&#160; “We must have the time it will take to raise revenue and ensure that voters understand what is at stake.”&#160; Revenue from the bond was earmarked to address California’s longer-term water issues which are assessed in the state’s five-volume <a href="http://www.waterplan.water.ca.gov/" type="external">California Water Plan 2009 Update</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>Not the least of the threats identified in the plan, which has been updated every five years since 1957, is climate change.&#160; Over the past century, Sierra snowpack – California’s largest surface water storage – has declined by 10 percent, some 1.5 million acre-feet, and is projected to decrease by another 25 percent to 40 percent by 2050.&#160; Sea level has risen 7 inches over the same period.&#160;</p>
<p>Climate change also increases the frequency and intensity of floods.&#160; The water plan also notes that each year, on average, 2 million acre-feet more groundwater is used than what naturally recharges. This “overdraft” is “characterized by groundwater levels that decline over a period of years and never fully recover, even in wet years,” the water plan says.&#160; Nearly 2 million Californians live within areas that can expect to flood on average once in 100 years. And more are moving there. Sacramento has one of the lowest levels of flood protection of any major city in the nation.&#160;</p>
<p>The state’s levees are also aging and maintenance has not kept pace. The system – some 1,100 miles worth in the Central Valley – contain design and construction shortcomings.&#160; Salmon, delta smelt and other species in the Delta are at record lows – despite court orders setting aside water to help them recover.&#160;</p>
<p>The water plan points out that rainfall, “the root of California’s water supply,” varies from “place to place, season to season and year to year.”&#160; Most rain falls in the mountains of the north and eastern parts of the state. But, most water is used in the valleys and along the coast.&#160; The state’s most recent Drought Update illustrates this “variability”.&#160;</p>
<p>While reservoirs’ storage statewide stands at 101 percent average, the Department of water Resources says that will still “leave many communities, farms and businesses with limited alternative supplies.”&#160; Despite the increased rainfall, the state estimates 5,067 to 5,539 jobs will be lost in the San Joaquin Valley. Income losses could be as much as $365 million.&#160; Because state and Bureau of Reclamation water deliveries still only present half of demand, San Joaquin Valley farmers will substitute groundwater, increasing pumping costs by some $105 million.&#160;</p>
<p>Drought conditions still persist in the Klamath River Basin “severely” impacting water users in Oregon and California, the Drought Update says.&#160; Because of drought, Fresno County is conducting an emergency food distribution program.&#160; Even with above-average rainfall, “water managers across Southern California are aware that water supply shortages are not over,” the Update says.&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; “Local water agencies are educating the public about water supply conditions and that shortages are likely to continue into the foreseeable future due to environmental challenges in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.&#160; “They are also emphasizing that next year could be dry and many of the local major reservoirs have yet to recover.”&#160;</p>
<p>And while April and May storms “significantly improved water supply outlook … allocations remain low in some major service areas south of the Delta and below average water supply conditions still persist in Klamath and Lake Tahoe basins.”</p>
| 6,082 |
<p>UPDATE II: Politico notes, in reporting on the race that the GOP won by single digits: “The DCCC did not spend a dime in this race. Again: Trump won this district by 27 points.” Outside progressive groups did mobilize for Thompson, but the official Democratic Party did squat. So, Mr. Tom “50 State Strategy” Perez, this one’s on you.</p>
<p>UPDATE: Thompson lost to Estes by 8 percent, 53-45. It’s the expected result, and it wasn’t as close as some Democrats expected. Perhaps Kansas isn’t the likeliest locale for a Democratic advance in 2018. (For instance, there are probably seven Republicans in California vulnerable to defeat, and three or four more in New Jersey — that’s nearly half of the two dozen the Democrats need next year in order to retake the House.) The battle shifts now to Georgia, where Jon Ossoff is running strong.</p>
<p>Can a Bernie Sanders-supporting Democrat win election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the deep-red Kansas district recently occupied by none other than Donald Trump’s CIA director, Mike Pompeo? You’d think not. But, hold on. (The vote is today.)</p>
<p>The race in Kansas’ Fourth District is the first in a series of special elections scheduled to replace various members of Trump’s administration. (Next week, it’s in Georgia’s Sixth District and the surprising campaign <a href="" type="internal">by Jon Ossoff</a>.) But the Kansas race has heads spinning, especially among nervous Republicans. A win here by the GOP will settle some of <a href="http://time.com/4733441/kansas-special-election-republicans-donald-trump/" type="external">the party’s agita</a>, but a win by Democrats will fire them up in the belief that they might be able to take back the House in a wave election in 2018. (Even Trump himself <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/04/11/trump-on-kansas-special-election/100318846/" type="external">tweeted into the fray today</a>, calling the GOP candidate, Ron Estes, “a wonderful guy.”)</p>
<p>An army veteran and long-time civil rights attorney, James Thompson has energized Democrats not only in KS-04 but across the country, one small part of the nationwide upsurge in grassroots activism. He’s <a href="https://ourrevolution.com/candidates/james-thompson/" type="external">endorsed by Our Revolution</a>, the Sanders political spinoff, which emphasizes Thompson’s support for creating “high-paying, non-exportable jobs” and opposing Governor Sam Brownback’s wrecking-ball approach to public education. He’s also won the backing of Democracy for America, and perhaps a little <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/james-thompson-kansas-dccc_us_58ebd572e4b0ca64d918315c?ev" type="external">belatedly</a> the official Democratic Party, which probably didn’t see KS-04 as a promising battlefield, is weighing in, too. As the Huffington Post <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/james-thompson-kansas-dccc_us_58ebd572e4b0ca64d918315c?ev" type="external">reported</a>:</p>
<p>National Democrats have held off committing their resources to Thompson’s campaign, citing the difficulty of flipping an ultra-conservative district that Trump carried by nearly 30 percentage points in November. Thompson criticized their reluctance as “establishment thinking” in an&#160; <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/james-thompson-kansas-election_us_58ea3423e4b05413bfe38f8b" type="external">interview on Sunday</a>, maintaining that “a lot of people don’t want to be proven wrong.”</p>
<p>A DCCC official who spoke with The Huffington Post on Monday, however, argued that the party’s involvement would have been “extremely damaging” to Thompson because it would have been used against him by Republicans, who have poured significant money into the race. Thompson has performed better than expected in the race because he stayed under the radar, the official added.</p>
<p>“Now that the race is being nationalized, and the involvement of a national party committee can’t be used against him, we don’t want Thompson to go unprotected,” the official said, adding that the race provides an opportunity to test messaging for future elections.</p>
<p>The GOP has shown no such reluctance to wade in. Besides Trump’s tweet, both Vice President Mike Pence and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have campaigned for Estes, as the Kansas City Star <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article143351979.html" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas will join Republican candidate Ron Estes at an airport rally Monday in Wichita, a day before voters in southern Kansas head to the polls to pick a new congressman. Vice President Mike Pence is also scheduled to record a robocall on Estes’ behalf, according to a state party official.</p>
<p>Cruz’s appearance comes on the heels of last-minute spending on television ads by the National Republican Congressional Committee and a fundraising push by U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin on Estes’ behalf.</p>
<p>Stay tuned. ThePopulist.Buzz will update this post as events occur, including once the results are known.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Official Dems Abandon Sanders Ally in Key Kansas Race, and Dems Lose
| true |
http://thepopulist.buzz/2017/04/11/ks-04-can-a-bernie-sanders-backer-win-pompeos-house-seat-today/
|
2017-04-11
| 4left
|
Official Dems Abandon Sanders Ally in Key Kansas Race, and Dems Lose
<p>UPDATE II: Politico notes, in reporting on the race that the GOP won by single digits: “The DCCC did not spend a dime in this race. Again: Trump won this district by 27 points.” Outside progressive groups did mobilize for Thompson, but the official Democratic Party did squat. So, Mr. Tom “50 State Strategy” Perez, this one’s on you.</p>
<p>UPDATE: Thompson lost to Estes by 8 percent, 53-45. It’s the expected result, and it wasn’t as close as some Democrats expected. Perhaps Kansas isn’t the likeliest locale for a Democratic advance in 2018. (For instance, there are probably seven Republicans in California vulnerable to defeat, and three or four more in New Jersey — that’s nearly half of the two dozen the Democrats need next year in order to retake the House.) The battle shifts now to Georgia, where Jon Ossoff is running strong.</p>
<p>Can a Bernie Sanders-supporting Democrat win election to the U.S. House of Representatives in the deep-red Kansas district recently occupied by none other than Donald Trump’s CIA director, Mike Pompeo? You’d think not. But, hold on. (The vote is today.)</p>
<p>The race in Kansas’ Fourth District is the first in a series of special elections scheduled to replace various members of Trump’s administration. (Next week, it’s in Georgia’s Sixth District and the surprising campaign <a href="" type="internal">by Jon Ossoff</a>.) But the Kansas race has heads spinning, especially among nervous Republicans. A win here by the GOP will settle some of <a href="http://time.com/4733441/kansas-special-election-republicans-donald-trump/" type="external">the party’s agita</a>, but a win by Democrats will fire them up in the belief that they might be able to take back the House in a wave election in 2018. (Even Trump himself <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/04/11/trump-on-kansas-special-election/100318846/" type="external">tweeted into the fray today</a>, calling the GOP candidate, Ron Estes, “a wonderful guy.”)</p>
<p>An army veteran and long-time civil rights attorney, James Thompson has energized Democrats not only in KS-04 but across the country, one small part of the nationwide upsurge in grassroots activism. He’s <a href="https://ourrevolution.com/candidates/james-thompson/" type="external">endorsed by Our Revolution</a>, the Sanders political spinoff, which emphasizes Thompson’s support for creating “high-paying, non-exportable jobs” and opposing Governor Sam Brownback’s wrecking-ball approach to public education. He’s also won the backing of Democracy for America, and perhaps a little <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/james-thompson-kansas-dccc_us_58ebd572e4b0ca64d918315c?ev" type="external">belatedly</a> the official Democratic Party, which probably didn’t see KS-04 as a promising battlefield, is weighing in, too. As the Huffington Post <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/james-thompson-kansas-dccc_us_58ebd572e4b0ca64d918315c?ev" type="external">reported</a>:</p>
<p>National Democrats have held off committing their resources to Thompson’s campaign, citing the difficulty of flipping an ultra-conservative district that Trump carried by nearly 30 percentage points in November. Thompson criticized their reluctance as “establishment thinking” in an&#160; <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/james-thompson-kansas-election_us_58ea3423e4b05413bfe38f8b" type="external">interview on Sunday</a>, maintaining that “a lot of people don’t want to be proven wrong.”</p>
<p>A DCCC official who spoke with The Huffington Post on Monday, however, argued that the party’s involvement would have been “extremely damaging” to Thompson because it would have been used against him by Republicans, who have poured significant money into the race. Thompson has performed better than expected in the race because he stayed under the radar, the official added.</p>
<p>“Now that the race is being nationalized, and the involvement of a national party committee can’t be used against him, we don’t want Thompson to go unprotected,” the official said, adding that the race provides an opportunity to test messaging for future elections.</p>
<p>The GOP has shown no such reluctance to wade in. Besides Trump’s tweet, both Vice President Mike Pence and Texas Senator Ted Cruz have campaigned for Estes, as the Kansas City Star <a href="http://www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article143351979.html" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas will join Republican candidate Ron Estes at an airport rally Monday in Wichita, a day before voters in southern Kansas head to the polls to pick a new congressman. Vice President Mike Pence is also scheduled to record a robocall on Estes’ behalf, according to a state party official.</p>
<p>Cruz’s appearance comes on the heels of last-minute spending on television ads by the National Republican Congressional Committee and a fundraising push by U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin on Estes’ behalf.</p>
<p>Stay tuned. ThePopulist.Buzz will update this post as events occur, including once the results are known.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,083 |
<p />
<p>Andy Grove, the Silicon Valley elder statesman who made&#160;Intel into the world's top chipmaker and helped usher in the personal computer age, died on Tuesday at age 79,&#160;Intel&#160;said.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company did not describe the circumstances of his death but Grove, who endured the Nazi occupation of Hungary during World War Two, living under a fake name, and came to the United States to escape the chaos of Soviet rule, had suffered from Parkinson's.</p>
<p>Grove was&#160;Intel’s first hire after it was founded in 1968 and became the practical-minded member of a triumvirate that eventually led “Intel&#160;Inside” processors to be used in more than 80 percent of the world’s personal computers.</p>
<p>With his motto "only the paranoid survive," which became the title of his best-selling management book, Grove championed an innovative environment within&#160;Intel&#160;that became a blueprint for successful California startups.</p>
<p>Grove, who was named man of the year by Time magazine in 1997, encouraged disagreement and insisted employees be vigilant of disruptions in industry and technology that could be major dangers - or opportunities - for&#160;Intel. In doing so, he could be mercurial and demanding with employees who he thought were not doing enough and in 1981 required the staff to work two extra hours a day with no extra pay.</p>
<p>Grove's overhaul of&#160;Intel’s business - switching from digital memory to processors - was an early example of his obsession with detecting major shifts in business and technology and staying flexible enough to move quickly and make the most of them.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"It's not that you shouldn't plan but you should not regard your plans to be anything more than a baseline model of what might happen,” Grove said.</p>
<p>While&#160;Intel&#160;founders Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore proposed much of the chip technology that helped created the semiconductor industry, Grove was the stickler for detail who turned their ideas into actual products. He was responsible for driving growth in&#160;Intel’s profits and stock price through the 1980s and 1990s.</p>
<p>NAZIS, COMMUNISTS</p>
<p>Grove, who was Jewish, was born Andras Grof in Budapest in 1936. Nazi Germany occupied Hungary in his youth, and after the Soviets followed, Grove sneaked into Austria in 1956 and then emigrated to the United States, where he learned English and earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Grove went to work in 1963 at Fairchild Semiconductor, where he researched technology that would eventually be used to make microchips. At Fairchild, he also met chip visionaries Noyce and Moore, who left to found&#160;Intel&#160;in 1968. Grove quickly joined them, running research and manufacturing.</p>
<p>He became&#160;Intel’s president in 1979, CEO in 1987 and chairman and CEO in 1997. He gave up his CEO title in 1998 and stayed on as chairman until 2004.</p>
<p>In its early years,&#160;Intel&#160;focused on making DRAM memory chips. When Japanese competition soared, Grove made the fateful decision to reinvent&#160;Intel&#160;as a manufacturer of microprocessors – the brains at the center of personal computers and other electronic devices.</p>
<p>As the personal computer industry took off in the 1980s,&#160;Intel&#160;supplied its processors to IBM and then to Compaq and other manufacturers making "IBM clone" PCs.</p>
<p>Intel's chips, along with Microsoft’s Windows operating system, quickly became an industry standard in the exploding PC industry, with Grove funneling profits into research and development to create faster and faster processors. Under his stewardship, the Pentium brand and “Intel&#160;Inside” logo became widely recognized by consumers.</p>
<p>Intel&#160;remains one of the world's leading semiconductor companies but the PC chipmaker is wrestling to adapt to trends toward smaller gadgets like smartphones and tablets.</p>
<p>Grove also was a champion of keeping manufacturing within the United States, arguing outsourcing the manufacturing of electronics products - like batteries or televisions - meant U.S. companies missed out on gaining experience necessary to make technology breakthroughs.</p>
<p>Intel&#160;still makes most of its chips in U.S. plants.</p>
<p>During his time at&#160;Intel&#160;in the 1990s Grove was treated for prostate cancer and later wrote an influential cover story in Fortune magazine, criticizing the medical establishment's treatment of the disease as inefficient compared to scientific standards applied in semiconductor research.</p>
<p>In later life, Grove donated tens of millions of dollars for research on Parkinson's disease, a condition he suffered from. He also regularly criticized government and medical researchers for making slow and inefficient progress beating that disease compared to accomplishments made in the chip industry.</p>
<p>Grove and his wife, Eva, who married a year after meeting while working at a resort in New Hampshire in 1957, had two daughters.</p>
<p>(Reporting By Noel Randewich; Editing by Bill Trott, Peter Henderson and Bernard Orr)</p>
|
Former Intel CEO Chairman Andrew Grove Dies at 79
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/03/22/former-intel-ceo-chairman-andrew-grove-dies-at-79.html
|
2016-03-22
| 0right
|
Former Intel CEO Chairman Andrew Grove Dies at 79
<p />
<p>Andy Grove, the Silicon Valley elder statesman who made&#160;Intel into the world's top chipmaker and helped usher in the personal computer age, died on Tuesday at age 79,&#160;Intel&#160;said.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The company did not describe the circumstances of his death but Grove, who endured the Nazi occupation of Hungary during World War Two, living under a fake name, and came to the United States to escape the chaos of Soviet rule, had suffered from Parkinson's.</p>
<p>Grove was&#160;Intel’s first hire after it was founded in 1968 and became the practical-minded member of a triumvirate that eventually led “Intel&#160;Inside” processors to be used in more than 80 percent of the world’s personal computers.</p>
<p>With his motto "only the paranoid survive," which became the title of his best-selling management book, Grove championed an innovative environment within&#160;Intel&#160;that became a blueprint for successful California startups.</p>
<p>Grove, who was named man of the year by Time magazine in 1997, encouraged disagreement and insisted employees be vigilant of disruptions in industry and technology that could be major dangers - or opportunities - for&#160;Intel. In doing so, he could be mercurial and demanding with employees who he thought were not doing enough and in 1981 required the staff to work two extra hours a day with no extra pay.</p>
<p>Grove's overhaul of&#160;Intel’s business - switching from digital memory to processors - was an early example of his obsession with detecting major shifts in business and technology and staying flexible enough to move quickly and make the most of them.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"It's not that you shouldn't plan but you should not regard your plans to be anything more than a baseline model of what might happen,” Grove said.</p>
<p>While&#160;Intel&#160;founders Robert Noyce and Gordon Moore proposed much of the chip technology that helped created the semiconductor industry, Grove was the stickler for detail who turned their ideas into actual products. He was responsible for driving growth in&#160;Intel’s profits and stock price through the 1980s and 1990s.</p>
<p>NAZIS, COMMUNISTS</p>
<p>Grove, who was Jewish, was born Andras Grof in Budapest in 1936. Nazi Germany occupied Hungary in his youth, and after the Soviets followed, Grove sneaked into Austria in 1956 and then emigrated to the United States, where he learned English and earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.</p>
<p>Grove went to work in 1963 at Fairchild Semiconductor, where he researched technology that would eventually be used to make microchips. At Fairchild, he also met chip visionaries Noyce and Moore, who left to found&#160;Intel&#160;in 1968. Grove quickly joined them, running research and manufacturing.</p>
<p>He became&#160;Intel’s president in 1979, CEO in 1987 and chairman and CEO in 1997. He gave up his CEO title in 1998 and stayed on as chairman until 2004.</p>
<p>In its early years,&#160;Intel&#160;focused on making DRAM memory chips. When Japanese competition soared, Grove made the fateful decision to reinvent&#160;Intel&#160;as a manufacturer of microprocessors – the brains at the center of personal computers and other electronic devices.</p>
<p>As the personal computer industry took off in the 1980s,&#160;Intel&#160;supplied its processors to IBM and then to Compaq and other manufacturers making "IBM clone" PCs.</p>
<p>Intel's chips, along with Microsoft’s Windows operating system, quickly became an industry standard in the exploding PC industry, with Grove funneling profits into research and development to create faster and faster processors. Under his stewardship, the Pentium brand and “Intel&#160;Inside” logo became widely recognized by consumers.</p>
<p>Intel&#160;remains one of the world's leading semiconductor companies but the PC chipmaker is wrestling to adapt to trends toward smaller gadgets like smartphones and tablets.</p>
<p>Grove also was a champion of keeping manufacturing within the United States, arguing outsourcing the manufacturing of electronics products - like batteries or televisions - meant U.S. companies missed out on gaining experience necessary to make technology breakthroughs.</p>
<p>Intel&#160;still makes most of its chips in U.S. plants.</p>
<p>During his time at&#160;Intel&#160;in the 1990s Grove was treated for prostate cancer and later wrote an influential cover story in Fortune magazine, criticizing the medical establishment's treatment of the disease as inefficient compared to scientific standards applied in semiconductor research.</p>
<p>In later life, Grove donated tens of millions of dollars for research on Parkinson's disease, a condition he suffered from. He also regularly criticized government and medical researchers for making slow and inefficient progress beating that disease compared to accomplishments made in the chip industry.</p>
<p>Grove and his wife, Eva, who married a year after meeting while working at a resort in New Hampshire in 1957, had two daughters.</p>
<p>(Reporting By Noel Randewich; Editing by Bill Trott, Peter Henderson and Bernard Orr)</p>
| 6,084 |
<p />
<p>U.S. equity markets rallied into the close of trade on Wednesday as calmness came over global markets after two-straight sessions of steep declines.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 293 points, or 1.83% to 16352. The S&amp;P 500 gained 35 points, or 1.83% to 1948, while the Nasdaq Composite added 113 points, or 2.46% to 4749.</p>
<p>All 10 S&amp;P 500 companies ended in positive territory with technology up the most, 2.62%.</p>
<p>Today’s Markets</p>
<p>Wall Street took a breather on Wednesday after <a href="" type="internal">weak manufacturing data across the globe forced nearly 3% declines on all the major U.S. averages</a> in the prior session.</p>
<p>Much of the selling momentum over the last several weeks has been a result of worries about steep declines in Asian markets, coupled with fears about how that concern will affect the Federal Reserve’s timing of the first interest-rate hike, which was largely expected after the central bank’s September 16-17 meeting.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Peter Kenny, chief market strategist at ClearPool Group, put the recent selloff into context as chatter heats up about whether Wall Street’s bull market is quickly running out of steam.</p>
<p>“Since our last closing high for the Dow Industrials registered on May 19 of this year, the market has cratered 14.449%. On a year-to-date basis, the DJIA is off 8.83%. A bear market is defined as a move lower of 20% or more. For that to materialize, which I do not think will be the case, the Dow would have to lose an additional 1,372 points,” Kenny said in a note.</p>
<p>As investors have grown more anxious, the Fed seems to have attempted to spread a bit of calm as several officials have reiterated the central bank’s stance that it will remain data dependent before hiking rates. All eyes on Wall Street have been keenly focused on nearly every report.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, traders digested the latest reading on private sector employment, which came in at 190,000 new jobs, was below Wall Street expectations for 201,000. Factory orders data was expected at 10:00 a.m. But the big report everyone is waiting on – August jobs – is due out Friday morning.</p>
<p>John Canally, chief economic strategist at LPL Financial, said he’s expecting a print of somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 for the month with tepid wage growth around 2% with the unemployment rate dropping a tenth of a percent.</p>
<p>“One report is never going to change the Fed’s mind, even if it’s extremely strong,” he warned. “They’re satisfied with the job market over the last year, but they’re concerned about wages. A number on the payroll count over 300,000 might get people to stand up and take notice, acknowledging a rate hike would be needed in September, but under 100,000, then the odds look weaker.”</p>
<p>He said the wild card for this month’s report will be how seasonal factors fit in: For example, students with summer jobs heading back to school, or teachers who head back into the classroom and professors who return to campus.</p>
<p>The outlook, meanwhile, for the remainder of the week, could be steadier as China’s markets are closed Thursday and Friday to commemorate the end of World War II. The Shanghai Composite ended the session on Wednesday 0.20% lower.</p>
<p>The Fed also released its anecdotal Beige Book report for September on Wednesday. Overall, the central bank said economic growth continued across most of its 12 districts as manufacturing reports were “mostly positive,” and retail sales “continued to expand.” It noted auto sales have been above expectations thanks to strong growth in auto-related manufacturing. Further, the Fed said “tightening of labor markets was said to be pushing wages up slightly in selected industries, especially in the New York, Cleveland, St. Louis, and San Francisco Districts.”</p>
<p>Calmer sentiment also fell over European markets where equities appeared to stabilize. The Euro Stoxx 50, which tracks large-cap companies in the eurozone, rose 0.42%, while the German DAX also climbed 0.44%. The French CAC 40 ticked up 0.42%, and the UK FTSE 100 rose 0.38%.</p>
<p>Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.18%, while Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.39.</p>
<p>“The markets are looking for some kind of policy response from China. They cut rates last week, they probably need to do more to convince investors it’s not going from a bumpy landing to a hard landing,” Canally said. “The markets don’t want GDP there at 4% or 5%, they want to see 6% or 7% growth. We don’t get data there until early next week.”</p>
<p>Crude oil continued its downward momentum on Wednesday after wiping out on Tuesday the entirety of its more than 8% gain that kicked off the week. Data from the Energy Information Administration showed a build in stockpiles of 4.67 million barrels. U.S. crude settled 1.85% higher to $46.25 a barrel, while Brent, the international benchmark gained 1.90% to $50.50 a barrel.</p>
<p>Gold slipped 0.54 % to $1,132 a troy ounce, while silver paced 0.33% higher to $14.66 an ounce. Copper, meanwhile, rose 1.32% to $2.33 a pound.</p>
<p>The dollar was mixed against a handful of other currencies. The euro declined 0.65% against the greenback. The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond rose 0.003 percentage point to 2.175%.</p>
|
Technology Leads Wall Street in a Late-Session Rally
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/09/02/us-stocks-appear-set-to-rebound-after-two-day-selloff.html
|
2016-03-06
| 0right
|
Technology Leads Wall Street in a Late-Session Rally
<p />
<p>U.S. equity markets rallied into the close of trade on Wednesday as calmness came over global markets after two-straight sessions of steep declines.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 293 points, or 1.83% to 16352. The S&amp;P 500 gained 35 points, or 1.83% to 1948, while the Nasdaq Composite added 113 points, or 2.46% to 4749.</p>
<p>All 10 S&amp;P 500 companies ended in positive territory with technology up the most, 2.62%.</p>
<p>Today’s Markets</p>
<p>Wall Street took a breather on Wednesday after <a href="" type="internal">weak manufacturing data across the globe forced nearly 3% declines on all the major U.S. averages</a> in the prior session.</p>
<p>Much of the selling momentum over the last several weeks has been a result of worries about steep declines in Asian markets, coupled with fears about how that concern will affect the Federal Reserve’s timing of the first interest-rate hike, which was largely expected after the central bank’s September 16-17 meeting.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Peter Kenny, chief market strategist at ClearPool Group, put the recent selloff into context as chatter heats up about whether Wall Street’s bull market is quickly running out of steam.</p>
<p>“Since our last closing high for the Dow Industrials registered on May 19 of this year, the market has cratered 14.449%. On a year-to-date basis, the DJIA is off 8.83%. A bear market is defined as a move lower of 20% or more. For that to materialize, which I do not think will be the case, the Dow would have to lose an additional 1,372 points,” Kenny said in a note.</p>
<p>As investors have grown more anxious, the Fed seems to have attempted to spread a bit of calm as several officials have reiterated the central bank’s stance that it will remain data dependent before hiking rates. All eyes on Wall Street have been keenly focused on nearly every report.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, traders digested the latest reading on private sector employment, which came in at 190,000 new jobs, was below Wall Street expectations for 201,000. Factory orders data was expected at 10:00 a.m. But the big report everyone is waiting on – August jobs – is due out Friday morning.</p>
<p>John Canally, chief economic strategist at LPL Financial, said he’s expecting a print of somewhere between 200,000 and 250,000 for the month with tepid wage growth around 2% with the unemployment rate dropping a tenth of a percent.</p>
<p>“One report is never going to change the Fed’s mind, even if it’s extremely strong,” he warned. “They’re satisfied with the job market over the last year, but they’re concerned about wages. A number on the payroll count over 300,000 might get people to stand up and take notice, acknowledging a rate hike would be needed in September, but under 100,000, then the odds look weaker.”</p>
<p>He said the wild card for this month’s report will be how seasonal factors fit in: For example, students with summer jobs heading back to school, or teachers who head back into the classroom and professors who return to campus.</p>
<p>The outlook, meanwhile, for the remainder of the week, could be steadier as China’s markets are closed Thursday and Friday to commemorate the end of World War II. The Shanghai Composite ended the session on Wednesday 0.20% lower.</p>
<p>The Fed also released its anecdotal Beige Book report for September on Wednesday. Overall, the central bank said economic growth continued across most of its 12 districts as manufacturing reports were “mostly positive,” and retail sales “continued to expand.” It noted auto sales have been above expectations thanks to strong growth in auto-related manufacturing. Further, the Fed said “tightening of labor markets was said to be pushing wages up slightly in selected industries, especially in the New York, Cleveland, St. Louis, and San Francisco Districts.”</p>
<p>Calmer sentiment also fell over European markets where equities appeared to stabilize. The Euro Stoxx 50, which tracks large-cap companies in the eurozone, rose 0.42%, while the German DAX also climbed 0.44%. The French CAC 40 ticked up 0.42%, and the UK FTSE 100 rose 0.38%.</p>
<p>Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 1.18%, while Japan’s Nikkei slipped 0.39.</p>
<p>“The markets are looking for some kind of policy response from China. They cut rates last week, they probably need to do more to convince investors it’s not going from a bumpy landing to a hard landing,” Canally said. “The markets don’t want GDP there at 4% or 5%, they want to see 6% or 7% growth. We don’t get data there until early next week.”</p>
<p>Crude oil continued its downward momentum on Wednesday after wiping out on Tuesday the entirety of its more than 8% gain that kicked off the week. Data from the Energy Information Administration showed a build in stockpiles of 4.67 million barrels. U.S. crude settled 1.85% higher to $46.25 a barrel, while Brent, the international benchmark gained 1.90% to $50.50 a barrel.</p>
<p>Gold slipped 0.54 % to $1,132 a troy ounce, while silver paced 0.33% higher to $14.66 an ounce. Copper, meanwhile, rose 1.32% to $2.33 a pound.</p>
<p>The dollar was mixed against a handful of other currencies. The euro declined 0.65% against the greenback. The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond rose 0.003 percentage point to 2.175%.</p>
| 6,085 |
<p>CIA Director Leon Panetta might quit or get canned in the next year, reports ABC News. Anonymous officials said Panetta, who may have already threatened to walk, is unhappy with everything from his role in the hierarchy to some of the nasty things the agency is up to. Both the White House and the CIA vehemently deny the report.</p>
<p>By “vehemently deny,” we mean “wrong, inaccurate, bogus and false,” in the words of a CIA spokesman. The anonymous sources beg to differ, but then they’re anonymous and should be treated with suspicion, accordingly.</p>
<p>Panetta was considered an odd choice to begin with. He’s a politician, not a national security expert, although he may have picked something up as Bill Clinton’s chief of staff. Perhaps to foster credibility with his agents, Panetta has resisted administration efforts to hold the agency accountable for Bush-era transgressions. — PS</p>
<p>ABC News:</p>
<p />
<p>In addition to concerns about the CIA’s reputation and its legal exposure, other White House insiders say Panetta has been frustrated by what he perceives to be less of a role than he was promised in the administration’s intelligence structure. Panetta has reportedly chafed at reporting through the director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, according to the senior adviser who said Blair is equally unhappy with Panetta.</p>
<p>“Leon will be leaving,” predicted a former top U.S. intelligence official, citing the conflict with Blair. The former official said Panetta is also “uncomfortable” with some of the operations being carried out by the CIA that he did not know about until he took the job.</p>
<p><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=8398902&amp;page=1" type="external">Read more</a></p>
|
Report: Obama Might Replace CIA Chief
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/report-obama-might-replace-cia-chief/
|
2009-08-25
| 4left
|
Report: Obama Might Replace CIA Chief
<p>CIA Director Leon Panetta might quit or get canned in the next year, reports ABC News. Anonymous officials said Panetta, who may have already threatened to walk, is unhappy with everything from his role in the hierarchy to some of the nasty things the agency is up to. Both the White House and the CIA vehemently deny the report.</p>
<p>By “vehemently deny,” we mean “wrong, inaccurate, bogus and false,” in the words of a CIA spokesman. The anonymous sources beg to differ, but then they’re anonymous and should be treated with suspicion, accordingly.</p>
<p>Panetta was considered an odd choice to begin with. He’s a politician, not a national security expert, although he may have picked something up as Bill Clinton’s chief of staff. Perhaps to foster credibility with his agents, Panetta has resisted administration efforts to hold the agency accountable for Bush-era transgressions. — PS</p>
<p>ABC News:</p>
<p />
<p>In addition to concerns about the CIA’s reputation and its legal exposure, other White House insiders say Panetta has been frustrated by what he perceives to be less of a role than he was promised in the administration’s intelligence structure. Panetta has reportedly chafed at reporting through the director of National Intelligence, Dennis Blair, according to the senior adviser who said Blair is equally unhappy with Panetta.</p>
<p>“Leon will be leaving,” predicted a former top U.S. intelligence official, citing the conflict with Blair. The former official said Panetta is also “uncomfortable” with some of the operations being carried out by the CIA that he did not know about until he took the job.</p>
<p><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=8398902&amp;page=1" type="external">Read more</a></p>
| 6,086 |
<p>By Mel Gurtov / <a href="http://www.peacevoice.info/2017/07/04/apb-the-us-china-north-korea-tangle/" type="external">PeaceVoice</a></p>
<p>North Korean soldiers parade in Pyongyang in 2013 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice. ( <a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/North-Korea-Playing-the-Nuke-Card/fbf1d2e8a41a4e8cb185413ba869b245/2/0" type="external">Wong Maye-E / AP</a>)</p>
<p>It’s not too early to sound alarm bells about the downward turn in United States-China relations. Donald Trump’s evident frustration with China over its presumed failure to rein in North Korea has already led to a number of steps that have rankled Beijing. These include a State Department report on human trafficking that includes sharp criticism of China’s denial of human rights; statements from the administration about China’s unfair trade practices; a major U.S. arms sale to Taiwan; and a U.S. frigate’s sail-by in South China Sea waters close to Chinese-claimed territory.</p>
<p />
<p>A phone call on July 3 from Trump to Xi Jinping comforted the Chinese leader on one point: Trump’s pledge to continue to honor the “One China” principle and prior U.S.-China understandings regarding Taiwan. But even on that point, and no doubt with the $1.4 billion arms sale in mind, Xi reportedly said he “hopes the U.S. will properly handle the Taiwan-related issues in accordance with the one-China principle and the three Sino-U.S. joint communiqués.” Xi <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2017-07/03/c_1121254478.htm" type="external">also said</a> that while U.S.-China relations had “achieved important results” since his meeting with Trump at Mar-a-lago, “at the same time, the two countries’ relations had been influenced by some negative factors.”</p>
<p>On the face of it, the Xi-Trump conversation seems like a positive exchange. But the Chinese account does not mention that Trump, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/world/asia/trump-xi-jinping-china-north-korea.html" type="external">New York Times report</a> on Monday, also warned China that the U.S. may have to take unilateral steps in dealing with North Korea, which has just tested another long-range ballistic (nuclear-weapons-capable) missile. That warning will only accomplish two things: It will tell China that the brief honeymoon in U.S.-China cooperation is over, and will show once again that Washington has failed to learn the lesson of years past that China cannot, and will not, pressure Kim Jong Un to cease nuclear and missile tests and denuclearize.</p>
<p>READ: <a href="" type="internal">Russia-China Relationship Is Growing Closer, and That Could Hurt U.S. National Security</a></p>
<p>Trump has said that Obama’s North Korea policy of “strategic patience” is dead. But Trump’s threat of military action against the North is worse. The Chinese have put forward a “freeze-for-freeze” proposal—a halt to U.S. military exercises on the Korean peninsula in exchange for a halt to North Korean weapons tests—that makes far more sense. Only direct U.S.-North Korea dialogue holds any prospect of reducing the risk of an unprecedented calamitous war.</p>
|
U.S.-China-North Korea Tensions Increase Threat of Global Nuclear War
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/u-s-china-north-korea-tensions-increase-threat-of-global-nuclear-war/
|
2017-07-06
| 4left
|
U.S.-China-North Korea Tensions Increase Threat of Global Nuclear War
<p>By Mel Gurtov / <a href="http://www.peacevoice.info/2017/07/04/apb-the-us-china-north-korea-tangle/" type="external">PeaceVoice</a></p>
<p>North Korean soldiers parade in Pyongyang in 2013 to mark the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice. ( <a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/North-Korea-Playing-the-Nuke-Card/fbf1d2e8a41a4e8cb185413ba869b245/2/0" type="external">Wong Maye-E / AP</a>)</p>
<p>It’s not too early to sound alarm bells about the downward turn in United States-China relations. Donald Trump’s evident frustration with China over its presumed failure to rein in North Korea has already led to a number of steps that have rankled Beijing. These include a State Department report on human trafficking that includes sharp criticism of China’s denial of human rights; statements from the administration about China’s unfair trade practices; a major U.S. arms sale to Taiwan; and a U.S. frigate’s sail-by in South China Sea waters close to Chinese-claimed territory.</p>
<p />
<p>A phone call on July 3 from Trump to Xi Jinping comforted the Chinese leader on one point: Trump’s pledge to continue to honor the “One China” principle and prior U.S.-China understandings regarding Taiwan. But even on that point, and no doubt with the $1.4 billion arms sale in mind, Xi reportedly said he “hopes the U.S. will properly handle the Taiwan-related issues in accordance with the one-China principle and the three Sino-U.S. joint communiqués.” Xi <a href="http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2017-07/03/c_1121254478.htm" type="external">also said</a> that while U.S.-China relations had “achieved important results” since his meeting with Trump at Mar-a-lago, “at the same time, the two countries’ relations had been influenced by some negative factors.”</p>
<p>On the face of it, the Xi-Trump conversation seems like a positive exchange. But the Chinese account does not mention that Trump, according to a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/world/asia/trump-xi-jinping-china-north-korea.html" type="external">New York Times report</a> on Monday, also warned China that the U.S. may have to take unilateral steps in dealing with North Korea, which has just tested another long-range ballistic (nuclear-weapons-capable) missile. That warning will only accomplish two things: It will tell China that the brief honeymoon in U.S.-China cooperation is over, and will show once again that Washington has failed to learn the lesson of years past that China cannot, and will not, pressure Kim Jong Un to cease nuclear and missile tests and denuclearize.</p>
<p>READ: <a href="" type="internal">Russia-China Relationship Is Growing Closer, and That Could Hurt U.S. National Security</a></p>
<p>Trump has said that Obama’s North Korea policy of “strategic patience” is dead. But Trump’s threat of military action against the North is worse. The Chinese have put forward a “freeze-for-freeze” proposal—a halt to U.S. military exercises on the Korean peninsula in exchange for a halt to North Korean weapons tests—that makes far more sense. Only direct U.S.-North Korea dialogue holds any prospect of reducing the risk of an unprecedented calamitous war.</p>
| 6,087 |
<p>The court-martial of Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse to go to Iraq, began on Monday with the judge refusing to allow most of the defense’s witnesses to testify. Watada’s civilian lawyer, Eric Seitz, had some <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070205/ap_on_re_us/war_objector&amp;printer=1;_ylt=AvbXrQaoInSB9AvKEi3zuw9H2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-" type="external">harsh words</a> for the judge: “If you are going to tie my hands and you are going to script these proceedings, then in my view we’re all wasting our time.”</p>
<p>AP:</p>
<p>1st Lt. Ehren Watada, 28, of Honolulu is charged with missing movement for refusing to ship out with his unit, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. He also faces charges of conduct unbecoming an officer for accusing the Army of war crimes and denouncing the administration for conducting an “illegal war” founded on “lies.”</p>
<p>As his court-martial got under way, military judge Lt. Col. John Head refused to allow almost all defense witnesses to take the stand. Head previously ruled that Watada’s attorney, Eric Seitz, could not debate the legality of the Iraq war in court.</p>
<p />
<p>If convicted, Watada could receive four years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. He has requested that his case be heard by a military panel of officers, the equivalent of a jury. It had not yet been selected by midday.</p>
<p>At one point, Seitz suggested Head could be committing judicial misconduct if he denied Seitz an opportunity to ask panel members biographical questions to determine any bias.</p>
<p>“If you are going to tie my hands and you are going to script these proceedings, then in my view we’re all wasting our time,” Seitz said.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070205/ap_on_re_us/war_objector&amp;printer=1;_ylt=AvbXrQaoInSB9AvKEi3zuw9H2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-" type="external">Read more</a></p>
|
Watada Trial Off to a Rocky Start
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/watada-trial-off-to-a-rocky-start/
|
2007-02-06
| 4left
|
Watada Trial Off to a Rocky Start
<p>The court-martial of Lt. Ehren Watada, the first commissioned officer to refuse to go to Iraq, began on Monday with the judge refusing to allow most of the defense’s witnesses to testify. Watada’s civilian lawyer, Eric Seitz, had some <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070205/ap_on_re_us/war_objector&amp;printer=1;_ylt=AvbXrQaoInSB9AvKEi3zuw9H2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-" type="external">harsh words</a> for the judge: “If you are going to tie my hands and you are going to script these proceedings, then in my view we’re all wasting our time.”</p>
<p>AP:</p>
<p>1st Lt. Ehren Watada, 28, of Honolulu is charged with missing movement for refusing to ship out with his unit, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. He also faces charges of conduct unbecoming an officer for accusing the Army of war crimes and denouncing the administration for conducting an “illegal war” founded on “lies.”</p>
<p>As his court-martial got under way, military judge Lt. Col. John Head refused to allow almost all defense witnesses to take the stand. Head previously ruled that Watada’s attorney, Eric Seitz, could not debate the legality of the Iraq war in court.</p>
<p />
<p>If convicted, Watada could receive four years in prison and a dishonorable discharge. He has requested that his case be heard by a military panel of officers, the equivalent of a jury. It had not yet been selected by midday.</p>
<p>At one point, Seitz suggested Head could be committing judicial misconduct if he denied Seitz an opportunity to ask panel members biographical questions to determine any bias.</p>
<p>“If you are going to tie my hands and you are going to script these proceedings, then in my view we’re all wasting our time,” Seitz said.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070205/ap_on_re_us/war_objector&amp;printer=1;_ylt=AvbXrQaoInSB9AvKEi3zuw9H2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-" type="external">Read more</a></p>
| 6,088 |
<p>By Bob Allen</p>
<p>After advising Southern Baptist Convention presidents for 29 years as chief parliamentarian during SBC annual meetings, longtime Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister Barry McCarty is officially part of the fold.</p>
<p>The Christian Index reported recently that McCarty and his wife, Pat, planned to be baptized Aug. 16 as members of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga. McCarty, recently named professor of preaching and rhetoric at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, served the last five years at <a href="http://peachtree.org/" type="external">Peachtree Christian Church</a> in Atlanta, affiliated with the <a href="http://disciples.org/" type="external">Christian Church</a>.</p>
<p>Before that he was senior minister at Valley View Christian Church in Dallas, where parishioners included Harriet Miers, a controversial candidate to succeed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court whose withdrawal opened the door for the appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts.</p>
<p>In the Christian Index article, McCarty described himself as “a longtime sojourner who wants to claim my inheritance in this tribe, among the people known as Southern Baptists.” After his involvement with Southern Baptists over so many years, McCarty said he and his wife “get it” and “want in on all of it.”</p>
<p>Of his reasoning for becoming a Southern Baptist, McCarty said: “If your church is having a love affair with the culture rather than lovingly speaking truth to the culture, you may need to become a Southern Baptist.”</p>
<p>“Southern Baptists are the strongest voice for New Testament Christianity in our generation,” he said. “I want to be part of that voice.”</p>
<p>McCarty’s introduction to Southern Baptists was in 1986, when SBC President Charles Stanley selected him from a list of certified parliamentarians from the American Institute of Parliamentarians. The year before, a ruling by Stanley, recommended by a pastor serving as parliamentarian disallowing amendment of nominations from the SBC Committee on Committees, prompted <a href="http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/6105,22-Nov-1985.pdf" type="external">lawsuits</a> in state and federal courts.</p>
<p>Subsequent SBC presidents retained McCarty’s services in annual contracts billed hourly typically adding up to between $10,000 and $15,000 a year. McCarty’s objectivity was questioned in 1990 when he was seen leading the singing of “Victory in Jesus” at a celebration by conservatives at the Café Du Monde in New Orleans. McCarty <a href="http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/6984,21-Jun-1990.pdf" type="external">said</a> the appearance was deceptive, and he just happened to be there with SBC President Jerry Vines when someone asked him to call the group to order.</p>
<p>McCarty said on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/barry-mccarty/on-becoming-part-of-the-southern-baptist-voice-to-this-generation/10153460716076885" type="external">Facebook</a> Aug. 18 that he isn’t leaving the Christian Church because he is mad at anyone or dissatisfied with that tradition, but in order to move to a new ministry opportunity he believes is a great fit. His wife has worked the last several years at the North American Mission Board in Alpharetta, Ga., he said, and attending the recent SEND North America Conference in Nashville, Tenn., helped seal the decision.</p>
<p>McCarty said he is attracted to Southern Baptists because they speak “with a clear, strong voice on the great doctrines of the Christian faith” and “to the moral anarchy and madness of our culture.”</p>
|
SBC parliamentarian ‘converts’ from long affiliation with Christian Church
| false |
https://baptistnews.com/article/sbc-parliamentarian-converts-from-long-affiliation-with-christian-church/
| 3left-center
|
SBC parliamentarian ‘converts’ from long affiliation with Christian Church
<p>By Bob Allen</p>
<p>After advising Southern Baptist Convention presidents for 29 years as chief parliamentarian during SBC annual meetings, longtime Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) minister Barry McCarty is officially part of the fold.</p>
<p>The Christian Index reported recently that McCarty and his wife, Pat, planned to be baptized Aug. 16 as members of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga. McCarty, recently named professor of preaching and rhetoric at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, served the last five years at <a href="http://peachtree.org/" type="external">Peachtree Christian Church</a> in Atlanta, affiliated with the <a href="http://disciples.org/" type="external">Christian Church</a>.</p>
<p>Before that he was senior minister at Valley View Christian Church in Dallas, where parishioners included Harriet Miers, a controversial candidate to succeed Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court whose withdrawal opened the door for the appointment of Chief Justice John Roberts.</p>
<p>In the Christian Index article, McCarty described himself as “a longtime sojourner who wants to claim my inheritance in this tribe, among the people known as Southern Baptists.” After his involvement with Southern Baptists over so many years, McCarty said he and his wife “get it” and “want in on all of it.”</p>
<p>Of his reasoning for becoming a Southern Baptist, McCarty said: “If your church is having a love affair with the culture rather than lovingly speaking truth to the culture, you may need to become a Southern Baptist.”</p>
<p>“Southern Baptists are the strongest voice for New Testament Christianity in our generation,” he said. “I want to be part of that voice.”</p>
<p>McCarty’s introduction to Southern Baptists was in 1986, when SBC President Charles Stanley selected him from a list of certified parliamentarians from the American Institute of Parliamentarians. The year before, a ruling by Stanley, recommended by a pastor serving as parliamentarian disallowing amendment of nominations from the SBC Committee on Committees, prompted <a href="http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/6105,22-Nov-1985.pdf" type="external">lawsuits</a> in state and federal courts.</p>
<p>Subsequent SBC presidents retained McCarty’s services in annual contracts billed hourly typically adding up to between $10,000 and $15,000 a year. McCarty’s objectivity was questioned in 1990 when he was seen leading the singing of “Victory in Jesus” at a celebration by conservatives at the Café Du Monde in New Orleans. McCarty <a href="http://media.sbhla.org.s3.amazonaws.com/6984,21-Jun-1990.pdf" type="external">said</a> the appearance was deceptive, and he just happened to be there with SBC President Jerry Vines when someone asked him to call the group to order.</p>
<p>McCarty said on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/barry-mccarty/on-becoming-part-of-the-southern-baptist-voice-to-this-generation/10153460716076885" type="external">Facebook</a> Aug. 18 that he isn’t leaving the Christian Church because he is mad at anyone or dissatisfied with that tradition, but in order to move to a new ministry opportunity he believes is a great fit. His wife has worked the last several years at the North American Mission Board in Alpharetta, Ga., he said, and attending the recent SEND North America Conference in Nashville, Tenn., helped seal the decision.</p>
<p>McCarty said he is attracted to Southern Baptists because they speak “with a clear, strong voice on the great doctrines of the Christian faith” and “to the moral anarchy and madness of our culture.”</p>
| 6,089 |
|
<p>Augusta National Golf Club, host of next week's Masters Tournament, finds itself in a bind this year, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-28/golf-s-masters-facing-male-only-dilemma-with-new-ibm-ceo.html" type="external">Bloomberg Businessweek reported</a>. Historically, it has invited the CEOs of companies that sponsor the Masters Tournament to attend the competition as members. The chief executives are given green members' jackets to wear and can roam the grounds freely or play a round.</p>
<p>However, the CEO of longtime sponsor IBM is now a woman, Ginni Rometty. And Augusta National has never admitted a woman member since it opened 80 years ago.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/111025/rometty-ibm-first-female-ceo-palmisano" type="external">Rometty is IBM's first female CEO</a></p>
<p>Said to be among Augusta National's 300 members, according to the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/augusta-national-has-business-to-handle-in-considering-ginni-rometty/2012/03/29/gIQARgPEjS_story.html" type="external">Washington Post</a>: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Louis V. Gerstner Jr., Pete Petersen, Kenneth Chenault, Sanford Weill and George Schultz. The previous eight CEOs of IBM reportedly were all members.</p>
<p>"They have a dilemma on many levels," Marcia Chambers, senior research scholar in law and journalist in residence at Yale University Law School, told Bloomberg News. "If there's been a tradition of certain CEOs, then they should look at this new CEO in the same way. The only thing that makes her any different is her gender."</p>
<p>Spokesmen for the Masters Tournament and IBM declined to comment on this story when contacted by Bloomberg News.</p>
<p>Women's rights advocate Martha Burk, who led a protest against Augusta National's male-only tradition in 2003, told <a href="http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2012/03/martha-burk-blasts-ibm-augusta-nationals-membership-policies.html" type="external">Golfdigest.com</a>that IBM should withdraw its Masters sponsorship if Rometty is not invited to join the club. Augusta National's male-only membership "is an archaic policy that does not agree with their company's values,? she said. "The board of directors has a responsibility here too. The board needs to distance the company from this club. But they've had that responsibility for the past nine years, and they haven't done anything about it."</p>
<p>She added, "If they don't do anything, that is a sign of disrespect for their new CEO."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/120312/burma-economy-myanmar-sanctions" type="external">Burma: Ready for business?</a> &#160;</p>
|
Augusta National Golf Club dilemma: Admit women members or snub Masters Tournament sponsor IBM?
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2012-03-29/augusta-national-golf-club-dilemma-admit-women-members-or-snub-masters-tournament
|
2012-03-29
| 3left-center
|
Augusta National Golf Club dilemma: Admit women members or snub Masters Tournament sponsor IBM?
<p>Augusta National Golf Club, host of next week's Masters Tournament, finds itself in a bind this year, <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-28/golf-s-masters-facing-male-only-dilemma-with-new-ibm-ceo.html" type="external">Bloomberg Businessweek reported</a>. Historically, it has invited the CEOs of companies that sponsor the Masters Tournament to attend the competition as members. The chief executives are given green members' jackets to wear and can roam the grounds freely or play a round.</p>
<p>However, the CEO of longtime sponsor IBM is now a woman, Ginni Rometty. And Augusta National has never admitted a woman member since it opened 80 years ago.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/111025/rometty-ibm-first-female-ceo-palmisano" type="external">Rometty is IBM's first female CEO</a></p>
<p>Said to be among Augusta National's 300 members, according to the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/augusta-national-has-business-to-handle-in-considering-ginni-rometty/2012/03/29/gIQARgPEjS_story.html" type="external">Washington Post</a>: Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Louis V. Gerstner Jr., Pete Petersen, Kenneth Chenault, Sanford Weill and George Schultz. The previous eight CEOs of IBM reportedly were all members.</p>
<p>"They have a dilemma on many levels," Marcia Chambers, senior research scholar in law and journalist in residence at Yale University Law School, told Bloomberg News. "If there's been a tradition of certain CEOs, then they should look at this new CEO in the same way. The only thing that makes her any different is her gender."</p>
<p>Spokesmen for the Masters Tournament and IBM declined to comment on this story when contacted by Bloomberg News.</p>
<p>Women's rights advocate Martha Burk, who led a protest against Augusta National's male-only tradition in 2003, told <a href="http://www.golfdigest.com/golf-tours-news/blogs/local-knowledge/2012/03/martha-burk-blasts-ibm-augusta-nationals-membership-policies.html" type="external">Golfdigest.com</a>that IBM should withdraw its Masters sponsorship if Rometty is not invited to join the club. Augusta National's male-only membership "is an archaic policy that does not agree with their company's values,? she said. "The board of directors has a responsibility here too. The board needs to distance the company from this club. But they've had that responsibility for the past nine years, and they haven't done anything about it."</p>
<p>She added, "If they don't do anything, that is a sign of disrespect for their new CEO."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/120312/burma-economy-myanmar-sanctions" type="external">Burma: Ready for business?</a> &#160;</p>
| 6,090 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>A federal lawsuit seeking an emergency injunction to overturn the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent permit approval for a horse meat plant in Roswell has been transferred from U.S. District Court in California to the U.S. District Court in New Mexico. The suit was filed July 1 by the Humane Society of the United States, Front Range Equine Rescue of Larkspur, Colo., three other groups and five individuals, four of whom live in Roswell.</p>
<p>Valley Meat Company, the former beef packing plant in Roswell that hopes to process horse meat for export, received its long-delayed permit for federal meat inspections on June 28.</p>
<p>The last U.S. slaughter plant to process horse meat for human consumption closed in 2007 after Congress approved an appropriations bill that prevented the USDA from funding horse meat inspections. That provision remained in subsequent appropriations bills until 2011, when Congress quietly removed it from an omnibus spending act, effectively clearing the way for resumption of domestic horse slaughter.</p>
<p>At least six applications for horse slaughter permits – known as “grants of inspection” – have been filed with the USDA. Besides Valley Meat Co., they include: Responsible Transportation in Sigourney, Iowa; Rains Natural Meats of Gallatin, Mo.; American Beef Company/Unified Equine in Rockville, Mo.; Trail South Meat Processing Co. in Woodbury, Tenn; and Oklahoma Meat Co. of Washington, Okla.</p>
<p>At least two of those applicants, Valley Meat Co. and Responsible Transportation, have received the needed permits, USDA spokeswoman Michelle Saghafi said Friday.</p>
<p>Because Congress has not yet acted to ban horse slaughter inspection, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service was legally required to grant the permits “once an establishment has satisfied all federal requirements as these plants have done,” she said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Saghafi said the FSIS anticipates issuing a third grant of inspection in the coming days, but declined to identify for which applicant. “The (Obama) administration has requested Congress to reinstate the ban on horse slaughter,” Saghafi said, but until Congress acts, the USDA must continue complying with current law.</p>
<p>The federal suit alleges in part that the USDA has violated the National Environmental Policy Act by issuing grants of inspection and establishing a drug residue testing plan for horse slaughter without conducting required environmental reviews. The suit also claims that, by providing a grant of inspection to domestic horse slaughter plants, the USDA has acted “arbitrarily and capriciously and not in accordance with law … .” The suit asks the federal court to set aside the grants of inspection already approved, to stop issuing such permits and to refrain from implementing its equine drug residue testing plan until the suit is settled.</p>
<p>Albuquerque attorney A. Blair Dunn, who represents Valley Meat Co., said Valley Meat is seeking intervenor status in the federal suit. Valley Meat also has a federal suit pending against the USDA, claiming the agency intentionally delayed acting on its application for an inspection permit.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Valley Meat suit now in N.M. court
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/220700/valley-meat-suit-now-in-nm-court.html
|
2013-07-13
| 2least
|
Valley Meat suit now in N.M. court
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>A federal lawsuit seeking an emergency injunction to overturn the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s recent permit approval for a horse meat plant in Roswell has been transferred from U.S. District Court in California to the U.S. District Court in New Mexico. The suit was filed July 1 by the Humane Society of the United States, Front Range Equine Rescue of Larkspur, Colo., three other groups and five individuals, four of whom live in Roswell.</p>
<p>Valley Meat Company, the former beef packing plant in Roswell that hopes to process horse meat for export, received its long-delayed permit for federal meat inspections on June 28.</p>
<p>The last U.S. slaughter plant to process horse meat for human consumption closed in 2007 after Congress approved an appropriations bill that prevented the USDA from funding horse meat inspections. That provision remained in subsequent appropriations bills until 2011, when Congress quietly removed it from an omnibus spending act, effectively clearing the way for resumption of domestic horse slaughter.</p>
<p>At least six applications for horse slaughter permits – known as “grants of inspection” – have been filed with the USDA. Besides Valley Meat Co., they include: Responsible Transportation in Sigourney, Iowa; Rains Natural Meats of Gallatin, Mo.; American Beef Company/Unified Equine in Rockville, Mo.; Trail South Meat Processing Co. in Woodbury, Tenn; and Oklahoma Meat Co. of Washington, Okla.</p>
<p>At least two of those applicants, Valley Meat Co. and Responsible Transportation, have received the needed permits, USDA spokeswoman Michelle Saghafi said Friday.</p>
<p>Because Congress has not yet acted to ban horse slaughter inspection, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service was legally required to grant the permits “once an establishment has satisfied all federal requirements as these plants have done,” she said.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Saghafi said the FSIS anticipates issuing a third grant of inspection in the coming days, but declined to identify for which applicant. “The (Obama) administration has requested Congress to reinstate the ban on horse slaughter,” Saghafi said, but until Congress acts, the USDA must continue complying with current law.</p>
<p>The federal suit alleges in part that the USDA has violated the National Environmental Policy Act by issuing grants of inspection and establishing a drug residue testing plan for horse slaughter without conducting required environmental reviews. The suit also claims that, by providing a grant of inspection to domestic horse slaughter plants, the USDA has acted “arbitrarily and capriciously and not in accordance with law … .” The suit asks the federal court to set aside the grants of inspection already approved, to stop issuing such permits and to refrain from implementing its equine drug residue testing plan until the suit is settled.</p>
<p>Albuquerque attorney A. Blair Dunn, who represents Valley Meat Co., said Valley Meat is seeking intervenor status in the federal suit. Valley Meat also has a federal suit pending against the USDA, claiming the agency intentionally delayed acting on its application for an inspection permit.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,091 |
<p>The UK's Royal Navy marked Queen Elizabeth II's birthday with 21-gun salute.</p>
<p>The queen celebrates her birthday twice.</p>
<p>She is doing so privately at Windsor Castle today, a palace spokesman told <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/21/world/europe/uk-queen-birthday/" type="external">CNN</a> and has an "official" public birthday in June, which will be celebrated as part of the Diamond Jubilee.</p>
<p>Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine told <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57418340/queen-elizabeth-celebrates-86th-birthday/?tag=stack" type="external">CBS News</a> said the Queen was having a quiet family lunch, and then putting her feet up in the afternoon. "Not very exciting, but for her that is a bit of a relief."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/120324/queen-elizabeth-ii-gate-crashes-manchester-weddin" type="external">Queen Elizabeth II gate-crashes Manchester wedding</a></p>
<p>Her official birthday will take place at Buckingham Palace on June 16, the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/uk-marks-queen-elizabeth-iis-birthday-with-21-gun-salute/2012/04/21/gIQAxbffXT_story.html" type="external">Associated Press</a> reported.</p>
<p>The Jubilee marks the Queen's 60 years on the throne.</p>
<p>She is traditionally given gun salutes on this day at military bases around the country. Today's main one was fired at Portsmouth Harbor in England, the AP wrote.</p>
<p>Hundreds of people gathered at the Tower of London where the Royal Gibraltar Regiment fired a 62-gun salute, wrote CNN.</p>
<p>Additional salutes took place in Hyde Park and Windsor Great Park.</p>
|
Queen Elizabeth celebrates 86th birthday
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2012-04-21/queen-elizabeth-celebrates-86th-birthday
|
2012-04-21
| 3left-center
|
Queen Elizabeth celebrates 86th birthday
<p>The UK's Royal Navy marked Queen Elizabeth II's birthday with 21-gun salute.</p>
<p>The queen celebrates her birthday twice.</p>
<p>She is doing so privately at Windsor Castle today, a palace spokesman told <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/21/world/europe/uk-queen-birthday/" type="external">CNN</a> and has an "official" public birthday in June, which will be celebrated as part of the Diamond Jubilee.</p>
<p>Ingrid Seward, editor of Majesty magazine told <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57418340/queen-elizabeth-celebrates-86th-birthday/?tag=stack" type="external">CBS News</a> said the Queen was having a quiet family lunch, and then putting her feet up in the afternoon. "Not very exciting, but for her that is a bit of a relief."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/united-kingdom/120324/queen-elizabeth-ii-gate-crashes-manchester-weddin" type="external">Queen Elizabeth II gate-crashes Manchester wedding</a></p>
<p>Her official birthday will take place at Buckingham Palace on June 16, the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/uk-marks-queen-elizabeth-iis-birthday-with-21-gun-salute/2012/04/21/gIQAxbffXT_story.html" type="external">Associated Press</a> reported.</p>
<p>The Jubilee marks the Queen's 60 years on the throne.</p>
<p>She is traditionally given gun salutes on this day at military bases around the country. Today's main one was fired at Portsmouth Harbor in England, the AP wrote.</p>
<p>Hundreds of people gathered at the Tower of London where the Royal Gibraltar Regiment fired a 62-gun salute, wrote CNN.</p>
<p>Additional salutes took place in Hyde Park and Windsor Great Park.</p>
| 6,092 |
<p>In 2011, Wisconsin Gov.&#160;Scott Walker introduced the innocuously named “ <a href="http://archive.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110216/GPG0101/110216041/Read-summary-Gov-Scott-Walker-s-budget-repair-bill" type="external">Budget Repair Bill</a>.” The sweeping legislation contained both fiscal measures — reduced&#160;support for public education, state Medicaid programs, and regulatory agencies, as well as lower&#160;property and capital taxes — and a labor law amendment that all but outlawed collective bargaining for public sector employees and created new barriers to union organizing.</p>
<p>After decades of neoliberal advance and the emergence of the Tea Party, none of this — even in a state with a progressive history — was especially surprising. But this time it&#160; <a href="" type="internal">sparked</a>&#160;dogged resistance: a two-and-a-half-week occupation of the State Capitol, demonstrations topping one hundred thousand people, and “sick out” work stoppages by teachers across the state.</p>
<p>When the capitol was cleared, however, the mobilization that began with the demand to “kill the bill” was funneled into the effort to electorally oust Walker. In the 2012 recall, in a replay of the 2010 gubernatorial election, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett&#160; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/us/politics/walker-survives-wisconsin-recall-effort.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" type="external">lost</a>&#160;to Walker&#160;— by&#160;an even greater margin than before.</p>
<p>The second phase of Walker’s anti-worker campaign began a few weeks ago, nearly four years after the introduction of the “Budget Repair Bill.” In early February, the governor issued a nearly two-thousand-page budget proposal that includes deepened cuts ( <a href="http://socialistworker.org/2015/02/25/dont-let-walker-wreck-uw" type="external">most notably</a>&#160;an unprecedented $300&#160;million reduction in public higher education funding), laxer regulation of private schools and public charters, and lower&#160;tax rates for large property owners.</p>
<p>Then just last week, the legislature fast-tracked “right to work” (RTW) legislation. RTW&#160;forbids contracts between unions and employers that require workers to pay “fair share” dues or agency fees for union&#160;representation. Such arrangements reduce the free-rider problem because the benefits won by a union are distributed to all employees irrespective — per federal law — of any individual’s decision to&#160;join&#160;the union.</p>
<p>After RTW is enacted, more workers tend to&#160;opt out of paying dues — because, the rationale goes, why pay for something when you can get it for free? — and the union becomes less able to defend and advance workers’ interests. In the long run, this depresses wages, benefits, and working conditions.</p>
<p>Act 10, Wisconsin’s 2011 measure&#160;that curtailed collective-bargaining rights for public sector workers, implemented RTW-style legislation for public employees. Now the state is targeting&#160;all&#160;workers.</p>
<p>The speed of the attack has disoriented many. Whereas a few weeks ago liberals and leftists — and even some portions of the&#160; <a href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/04/wisconsin-gov-scott-walkers-budget-questioned-by-republicans-too/22849349/" type="external">moderate right</a>&#160;— were focused on defeating the budget cuts, they have been forced to rapidly respond&#160;to RTW. Organizations like the <a href="http://taa-madison.org/" type="external">Teaching Assistants’ Association</a> have their attention and energy split.</p>
<p>The frenetic timeline, the&#160; <a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-high-price-of-public-authority-in.html" type="external">layered assaults</a>&#160;on public institutions, the sneaky legislative procedures, and the utter disregard for public testimony or democratic input trigger&#160;flashbacks to 2011.</p>
<p>Indeed, the unavoidable similarities between 2011 and the present moment have many on the Wisconsin left&#160;demoralized. The cumulative failures of the 2011 uprising, the 2012 recall attempts, and the 2014 reelection of Walker weigh heavily, draining energy and strategy for renewed mobilization.&#160;If one hundred thousand protesters at the capitol in 2011 only led to an even more emboldened Walker and deeply conservative legislature, what can we do this time around?</p>
<p>The past few weeks have seen some mobilization, and the budget hearings over the coming weeks will likely generate more resistance. However, compared to 2011, the activity has been modest, contained, and tinged with despair.</p>
<p>The response to the budget cuts has been mostly limited to the University of Wisconsin campuses, and demonstrations opposing RTW have not succeeded in delaying the legislation. Indeed, the bill passed the Wisconsin Senate on February&#160;25, the day after being submitted to committee. With the state assembly <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/05/us-usa-wisconsin-unions-idUSKBN0M11B920150305" type="external">starting</a>&#160;final debate today, it&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/03/us-usa-wisconsin-unions-idUSKBN0LY14W20150303" type="external">could become</a>&#160;law as early as this week.</p>
<p>Whereas passage of the 2011 legislature required Democratic votes to achieve quorum, Republican lawmakers&#160;ushered&#160;the RTW bill through&#160; <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/union-backers-to-protest-right-to-work-legislation-b99449939z1-293648021.html" type="external">without</a>&#160;financial provisions, bypassing quorum and eliminating the possibility of Democratic legislators deploying the&#160; <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/116381289.html" type="external">stall tactics</a>&#160;that garnered them near-celebrity status in 2011.</p>
<p>But assuming nothing can be done&#160;to respond to Walker’s latest moves is wrongheaded. This position reflects a narrowing of the political imagination common in the neoliberal era. It envisions politics as the realm of officials and electoral campaigns, a stunted conception that results from the near elimination of other effective actions like workplace organizing and strikes.</p>
<p>This has produced the first misconception leftists must reject: the popular belief that we find ourselves facing Walker’s second offensive because the 2012 recall efforts failed. Rather, the real moment of defeat came&#160;with the decision&#160;to redeploy the 2011 movement’s energy into the recall.</p>
<p>The recall strategy was a conscious choice by the movement’s leadership rather than a decision straightforwardly determined by conditions on the ground. The official labor leadership and Democratic Party–affiliated organizations largely forced this choice by&#160; <a href="http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/29/labor-movement-after-wisconsin" type="external">adopting</a>&#160;a “settle-at-any-cost” strategy instead of encouraging the rank-and-file mobilization that had emerged. In addition, this framing generated a flimsy political litmus test (pro-Walker or anti-Walker) that created a low bar for Democratic candidates and limited the amount of serious political content being debated.</p>
<p>The goal dropped to removing Walker, rather than stopping or slowing the austerity agenda (or these were treated as synonymous). Indeed, no candidate even verbally committed to returning to the 2010 status quo (hardly a year remembered for its great socialist triumphs), and Barrett himself ran an austerity program in&#160;Milwaukee and openly agreed with the fiscal aspects of Walker’s proposal.</p>
<p>The second miscalculation that plagues Wisconsin leftists today is an undue shortening of the time horizon, which can give rise to both defeatism — declaring there is nothing to be done — and adventurism — insisting on immediate, high-risk actions. This truncation obscures&#160;the long, slow, and crucial work of organizing and movement-building.</p>
<p>The prevailing belief posits that the only victories worth mobilizing for are either immediate legislative wins — e.g., the defeat of the proposed budget cuts or RTW bill — or an electoral reconfiguration, such as a midterm or recall election (the first recall petitions circulated within days of the 2011 proposal).</p>
<p>A sober assessment of the current political landscape suggests both of these are unlikely at best, and probably altogether off the table. RTW will breeze through the Wisconsin Assembly, and the Republican-dominated legislature will likely offer minimal revisions to the proposed budget cuts.</p>
<p>There is little energy to sustain either gubernatorial or legislative recalls, especially after the political debates in 2012 fizzled into a distracting sidebar about the legitimacy of the recall procedure itself rather than the political issues at hand.&#160;Impatience can also lead to&#160; <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/01/1367769/-Boycott-Wisconsin-and-a-General-Strike" type="external">hasty</a>&#160;calls for a general strike, without investing the time and work required to build movements strong enough to support one.</p>
<p>The final miscalculation reinforces a cognitive map of the social world that parcels the working class into separate categories concerned with&#160;separate issues. For example, the protests in 2011 were considered a “union issue” rather than a “student issue” or “black issue,” which rendered these groups and the legislative impacts on them less visible. This invisibility eliminates political agency and forces undue isolation on those most affected.</p>
<p>Rather than seeing ourselves as embedded in a community of shared fate and struggle, we view ourselves as disconnected or at odds with each other.&#160;This&#160;severely limits our collective capacity to create a new form of politics, primarily because we fail to see each other, much less unite and mobilize for our mutual struggles.</p>
<p>Though the 2011 Wisconsin Uprising faced immediate setbacks, it did provide an opportunity for activists in often-unconnected movements to learn to stand alongside each other. Likewise, while our immediate prospects may be dim, the way we mobilize now — even if we fail to stop the austerity budget or RTW — can lay the groundwork for future victories.</p>
<p>In 2011, connections were formed between rank-and-file union members, racial justice advocates, student organizations, native rights organizations, and environmental groups. The union bureaucracy clearly led the mobilization, with other social justice organizations — especially the racial justice organizations — relegated to the margins.</p>
<p>This time around, the character of the mobilization has begun to shift.&#160;Having ruled out the possibility of electoral victories or short-term solutions, many on the Left have begun to look more deeply at issues like racial justice and how they relate to the battle against austerity.</p>
<p>The Young Gifted and Black Coalition ( <a href="http://www.wisconsingazette.com/wisconsin/young-gifted-and-black-coalition-open-letter-to-madison-police-chief-michael-koval.html" type="external">YGB</a>) — the core of the Black Lives Matter movement in Madison — has become one of the central organizations mobilizing against Walker’s new budget. Making the connection between the black freedom struggle and fiscal policy, the YGB’s primary focus has been opposing the $8&#160;million jail expansion in Madison’s Dane County. These connections are crucial in Wisconsin, where, for instance, expenditures on corrections surpassed those on higher education in 2011, and where racial disparities are some of&#160; <a href="http://www.wccf.org/assets/RaceForResults.pdf" type="external">the worst</a>&#160;in the country.</p>
<p>There is no denying that workers and students have suffered a series of defeats in the past four years. And there’s no denying that our forces were weakened in 2011, with public sector unions losing some two-thirds of their membership after Act 10 took effect. This will get even worse soon, with Wisconsin likely becoming the twenty-fifth RTW&#160;state in the country.</p>
<p>But while the Left seems to be failing, our task, in this moment, is to learn to “fail better” and build stronger movements in the future.</p>
|
What’s Next After “Right to Work”?
| true |
https://jacobinmag.com/2015/03/scott-walker-right-to-work/
|
2018-10-05
| 4left
|
What’s Next After “Right to Work”?
<p>In 2011, Wisconsin Gov.&#160;Scott Walker introduced the innocuously named “ <a href="http://archive.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110216/GPG0101/110216041/Read-summary-Gov-Scott-Walker-s-budget-repair-bill" type="external">Budget Repair Bill</a>.” The sweeping legislation contained both fiscal measures — reduced&#160;support for public education, state Medicaid programs, and regulatory agencies, as well as lower&#160;property and capital taxes — and a labor law amendment that all but outlawed collective bargaining for public sector employees and created new barriers to union organizing.</p>
<p>After decades of neoliberal advance and the emergence of the Tea Party, none of this — even in a state with a progressive history — was especially surprising. But this time it&#160; <a href="" type="internal">sparked</a>&#160;dogged resistance: a two-and-a-half-week occupation of the State Capitol, demonstrations topping one hundred thousand people, and “sick out” work stoppages by teachers across the state.</p>
<p>When the capitol was cleared, however, the mobilization that began with the demand to “kill the bill” was funneled into the effort to electorally oust Walker. In the 2012 recall, in a replay of the 2010 gubernatorial election, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett&#160; <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/us/politics/walker-survives-wisconsin-recall-effort.html?pagewanted=all&amp;_r=0" type="external">lost</a>&#160;to Walker&#160;— by&#160;an even greater margin than before.</p>
<p>The second phase of Walker’s anti-worker campaign began a few weeks ago, nearly four years after the introduction of the “Budget Repair Bill.” In early February, the governor issued a nearly two-thousand-page budget proposal that includes deepened cuts ( <a href="http://socialistworker.org/2015/02/25/dont-let-walker-wreck-uw" type="external">most notably</a>&#160;an unprecedented $300&#160;million reduction in public higher education funding), laxer regulation of private schools and public charters, and lower&#160;tax rates for large property owners.</p>
<p>Then just last week, the legislature fast-tracked “right to work” (RTW) legislation. RTW&#160;forbids contracts between unions and employers that require workers to pay “fair share” dues or agency fees for union&#160;representation. Such arrangements reduce the free-rider problem because the benefits won by a union are distributed to all employees irrespective — per federal law — of any individual’s decision to&#160;join&#160;the union.</p>
<p>After RTW is enacted, more workers tend to&#160;opt out of paying dues — because, the rationale goes, why pay for something when you can get it for free? — and the union becomes less able to defend and advance workers’ interests. In the long run, this depresses wages, benefits, and working conditions.</p>
<p>Act 10, Wisconsin’s 2011 measure&#160;that curtailed collective-bargaining rights for public sector workers, implemented RTW-style legislation for public employees. Now the state is targeting&#160;all&#160;workers.</p>
<p>The speed of the attack has disoriented many. Whereas a few weeks ago liberals and leftists — and even some portions of the&#160; <a href="http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/04/wisconsin-gov-scott-walkers-budget-questioned-by-republicans-too/22849349/" type="external">moderate right</a>&#160;— were focused on defeating the budget cuts, they have been forced to rapidly respond&#160;to RTW. Organizations like the <a href="http://taa-madison.org/" type="external">Teaching Assistants’ Association</a> have their attention and energy split.</p>
<p>The frenetic timeline, the&#160; <a href="http://utotherescue.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-high-price-of-public-authority-in.html" type="external">layered assaults</a>&#160;on public institutions, the sneaky legislative procedures, and the utter disregard for public testimony or democratic input trigger&#160;flashbacks to 2011.</p>
<p>Indeed, the unavoidable similarities between 2011 and the present moment have many on the Wisconsin left&#160;demoralized. The cumulative failures of the 2011 uprising, the 2012 recall attempts, and the 2014 reelection of Walker weigh heavily, draining energy and strategy for renewed mobilization.&#160;If one hundred thousand protesters at the capitol in 2011 only led to an even more emboldened Walker and deeply conservative legislature, what can we do this time around?</p>
<p>The past few weeks have seen some mobilization, and the budget hearings over the coming weeks will likely generate more resistance. However, compared to 2011, the activity has been modest, contained, and tinged with despair.</p>
<p>The response to the budget cuts has been mostly limited to the University of Wisconsin campuses, and demonstrations opposing RTW have not succeeded in delaying the legislation. Indeed, the bill passed the Wisconsin Senate on February&#160;25, the day after being submitted to committee. With the state assembly <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/05/us-usa-wisconsin-unions-idUSKBN0M11B920150305" type="external">starting</a>&#160;final debate today, it&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/03/us-usa-wisconsin-unions-idUSKBN0LY14W20150303" type="external">could become</a>&#160;law as early as this week.</p>
<p>Whereas passage of the 2011 legislature required Democratic votes to achieve quorum, Republican lawmakers&#160;ushered&#160;the RTW bill through&#160; <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/union-backers-to-protest-right-to-work-legislation-b99449939z1-293648021.html" type="external">without</a>&#160;financial provisions, bypassing quorum and eliminating the possibility of Democratic legislators deploying the&#160; <a href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/116381289.html" type="external">stall tactics</a>&#160;that garnered them near-celebrity status in 2011.</p>
<p>But assuming nothing can be done&#160;to respond to Walker’s latest moves is wrongheaded. This position reflects a narrowing of the political imagination common in the neoliberal era. It envisions politics as the realm of officials and electoral campaigns, a stunted conception that results from the near elimination of other effective actions like workplace organizing and strikes.</p>
<p>This has produced the first misconception leftists must reject: the popular belief that we find ourselves facing Walker’s second offensive because the 2012 recall efforts failed. Rather, the real moment of defeat came&#160;with the decision&#160;to redeploy the 2011 movement’s energy into the recall.</p>
<p>The recall strategy was a conscious choice by the movement’s leadership rather than a decision straightforwardly determined by conditions on the ground. The official labor leadership and Democratic Party–affiliated organizations largely forced this choice by&#160; <a href="http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/29/labor-movement-after-wisconsin" type="external">adopting</a>&#160;a “settle-at-any-cost” strategy instead of encouraging the rank-and-file mobilization that had emerged. In addition, this framing generated a flimsy political litmus test (pro-Walker or anti-Walker) that created a low bar for Democratic candidates and limited the amount of serious political content being debated.</p>
<p>The goal dropped to removing Walker, rather than stopping or slowing the austerity agenda (or these were treated as synonymous). Indeed, no candidate even verbally committed to returning to the 2010 status quo (hardly a year remembered for its great socialist triumphs), and Barrett himself ran an austerity program in&#160;Milwaukee and openly agreed with the fiscal aspects of Walker’s proposal.</p>
<p>The second miscalculation that plagues Wisconsin leftists today is an undue shortening of the time horizon, which can give rise to both defeatism — declaring there is nothing to be done — and adventurism — insisting on immediate, high-risk actions. This truncation obscures&#160;the long, slow, and crucial work of organizing and movement-building.</p>
<p>The prevailing belief posits that the only victories worth mobilizing for are either immediate legislative wins — e.g., the defeat of the proposed budget cuts or RTW bill — or an electoral reconfiguration, such as a midterm or recall election (the first recall petitions circulated within days of the 2011 proposal).</p>
<p>A sober assessment of the current political landscape suggests both of these are unlikely at best, and probably altogether off the table. RTW will breeze through the Wisconsin Assembly, and the Republican-dominated legislature will likely offer minimal revisions to the proposed budget cuts.</p>
<p>There is little energy to sustain either gubernatorial or legislative recalls, especially after the political debates in 2012 fizzled into a distracting sidebar about the legitimacy of the recall procedure itself rather than the political issues at hand.&#160;Impatience can also lead to&#160; <a href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/01/1367769/-Boycott-Wisconsin-and-a-General-Strike" type="external">hasty</a>&#160;calls for a general strike, without investing the time and work required to build movements strong enough to support one.</p>
<p>The final miscalculation reinforces a cognitive map of the social world that parcels the working class into separate categories concerned with&#160;separate issues. For example, the protests in 2011 were considered a “union issue” rather than a “student issue” or “black issue,” which rendered these groups and the legislative impacts on them less visible. This invisibility eliminates political agency and forces undue isolation on those most affected.</p>
<p>Rather than seeing ourselves as embedded in a community of shared fate and struggle, we view ourselves as disconnected or at odds with each other.&#160;This&#160;severely limits our collective capacity to create a new form of politics, primarily because we fail to see each other, much less unite and mobilize for our mutual struggles.</p>
<p>Though the 2011 Wisconsin Uprising faced immediate setbacks, it did provide an opportunity for activists in often-unconnected movements to learn to stand alongside each other. Likewise, while our immediate prospects may be dim, the way we mobilize now — even if we fail to stop the austerity budget or RTW — can lay the groundwork for future victories.</p>
<p>In 2011, connections were formed between rank-and-file union members, racial justice advocates, student organizations, native rights organizations, and environmental groups. The union bureaucracy clearly led the mobilization, with other social justice organizations — especially the racial justice organizations — relegated to the margins.</p>
<p>This time around, the character of the mobilization has begun to shift.&#160;Having ruled out the possibility of electoral victories or short-term solutions, many on the Left have begun to look more deeply at issues like racial justice and how they relate to the battle against austerity.</p>
<p>The Young Gifted and Black Coalition ( <a href="http://www.wisconsingazette.com/wisconsin/young-gifted-and-black-coalition-open-letter-to-madison-police-chief-michael-koval.html" type="external">YGB</a>) — the core of the Black Lives Matter movement in Madison — has become one of the central organizations mobilizing against Walker’s new budget. Making the connection between the black freedom struggle and fiscal policy, the YGB’s primary focus has been opposing the $8&#160;million jail expansion in Madison’s Dane County. These connections are crucial in Wisconsin, where, for instance, expenditures on corrections surpassed those on higher education in 2011, and where racial disparities are some of&#160; <a href="http://www.wccf.org/assets/RaceForResults.pdf" type="external">the worst</a>&#160;in the country.</p>
<p>There is no denying that workers and students have suffered a series of defeats in the past four years. And there’s no denying that our forces were weakened in 2011, with public sector unions losing some two-thirds of their membership after Act 10 took effect. This will get even worse soon, with Wisconsin likely becoming the twenty-fifth RTW&#160;state in the country.</p>
<p>But while the Left seems to be failing, our task, in this moment, is to learn to “fail better” and build stronger movements in the future.</p>
| 6,093 |
<p />
<p>Macy's Inc said Terry Lundgren will step down as CEO in the first quarter of 2017, as part of the struggling department store operator's plans to revamp its business and improve sales.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Lundgren, who has been the company's CEO since 2003, will be succeeded by Jeff Gennette, Macy's president.</p>
<p>Shares of the company, which has reported falling sales for the last five quarters, were up 1.2 percent at $33.20 in premarket trading on Thursday.</p>
<p>55-year old Gennette and team are well equipped to continue the company's transformation for the next generation of customers and associates, the operator of Macy's and Bloomingdale's chains said in a statement on Thursday.</p>
<p>Lundgren will continue as executive chairman of the company.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)</p>
|
Macy's CEO Lundgren to Step Down in 2017
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/23/macys-ceo-lundgren-to-step-down-in-2017.html
|
2016-06-23
| 0right
|
Macy's CEO Lundgren to Step Down in 2017
<p />
<p>Macy's Inc said Terry Lundgren will step down as CEO in the first quarter of 2017, as part of the struggling department store operator's plans to revamp its business and improve sales.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Lundgren, who has been the company's CEO since 2003, will be succeeded by Jeff Gennette, Macy's president.</p>
<p>Shares of the company, which has reported falling sales for the last five quarters, were up 1.2 percent at $33.20 in premarket trading on Thursday.</p>
<p>55-year old Gennette and team are well equipped to continue the company's transformation for the next generation of customers and associates, the operator of Macy's and Bloomingdale's chains said in a statement on Thursday.</p>
<p>Lundgren will continue as executive chairman of the company.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>(Reporting by Sruthi Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)</p>
| 6,094 |
<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign a bill stripping government money from Planned Parenthood, a move that might help him with conservatives who dominate the upcoming Republican presidential primary in South Carolina.</p>
<p>The legislation cleared the state legislature and was headed to Kasich on Wednesday, a day after the primary in New Hampshire, where a tough stance against Planned Parenthood might have been received with less enthusiasm by its many moderate Republican voters. Kasich finished second in the New Hampshire race behind Donald Trump but ahead of a group of mainstream GOP candidates who vied for moderate support.</p>
<p>No one is acknowledging whether the 2016 presidential calendar might have played a part in when Kasich would get the bill.</p>
<p>Republican Senate President Keith Faber told reporters Wednesday he believed South Carolinians would like the bill but that wasn't a consideration.</p>
<p>"I don't know that our timing has anything to do with that," Faber said. "We didn't even think of that, frankly."</p>
<p>The House gave its final approval Wednesday on a mostly party-line vote, with the bill's Democratic co-sponsor voting in favor and two Republicans voting against it.</p>
<p>The bill targets the roughly $1.3 million in grant funding that Planned Parenthood receives through Ohio's health department. The money, which is mostly federal, supports initiatives for HIV testing, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and prevention of violence against women.</p>
<p>The legislation would prohibit such funds from going to entities that perform or promote abortions, their affiliates and those that contract with an entity that performs abortions.</p>
<p>Kasich spent Wednesday campaigning in South Carolina, home of the South's first primary on Feb. 20. He had events scheduled there for Thursday and Friday.</p>
<p>Editorials in The (Toledo) Blade, the (Akron) Beacon Journal and The New York Times have called on the governor to veto the legislation - so has Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>Kasich is unlikely to reject the bill.</p>
<p>During a town hall meeting in New Hampshire this past weekend, a voter in Concord asked Kasich whether he'd support federal funding for Planned Parenthood if it were part of a balanced budget. "We're not gonna fund it," he said during the exchange.</p>
<p>Ohio's legislation follows an outcry among abortion opponents around the country after the release of secretly recorded videos by activists alleging that Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue to researchers for a profit in violation of federal law. Planned Parenthood has called the videos misleading and denied any wrongdoing, saying a handful of its clinics provided fetal tissue for research while receiving only permissible reimbursement for costs.</p>
<p>Three of Planned Parenthood's 28 locations in Ohio provide abortions. The organization has said it has no fetal tissue donation program in Ohio, where such donations are illegal.</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood is not named in the legislation. But the bill's backers have acknowledged the organization will be the most affected. They want the money to go to health centers and other providers that do not perform abortions</p>
<p>Stephanie Ranade Krider, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, called the passage a victory for the anti-abortion movement. "For a state like Ohio - it's a purple state - to be able to pass something like defunding Planned Parenthood, I think that gives hope to other states."</p>
<p>State and federal laws already prohibit taxpayer funds from being used to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood leaders have emphasized that should the bill become law, the organization's doors would remain open.</p>
<p>"This money is not going to change anything about the health care or abortion care that we provide to women in Ohio," said Stephanie Kight, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio. "These are community health programs that are being cut out and destroyed."</p>
<p>Kight's group announced later Wednesday it is targeting Kasich in online ads slated to appear on Facebook and news sites across Ohio.</p>
<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign a bill stripping government money from Planned Parenthood, a move that might help him with conservatives who dominate the upcoming Republican presidential primary in South Carolina.</p>
<p>The legislation cleared the state legislature and was headed to Kasich on Wednesday, a day after the primary in New Hampshire, where a tough stance against Planned Parenthood might have been received with less enthusiasm by its many moderate Republican voters. Kasich finished second in the New Hampshire race behind Donald Trump but ahead of a group of mainstream GOP candidates who vied for moderate support.</p>
<p>No one is acknowledging whether the 2016 presidential calendar might have played a part in when Kasich would get the bill.</p>
<p>Republican Senate President Keith Faber told reporters Wednesday he believed South Carolinians would like the bill but that wasn't a consideration.</p>
<p>"I don't know that our timing has anything to do with that," Faber said. "We didn't even think of that, frankly."</p>
<p>The House gave its final approval Wednesday on a mostly party-line vote, with the bill's Democratic co-sponsor voting in favor and two Republicans voting against it.</p>
<p>The bill targets the roughly $1.3 million in grant funding that Planned Parenthood receives through Ohio's health department. The money, which is mostly federal, supports initiatives for HIV testing, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and prevention of violence against women.</p>
<p>The legislation would prohibit such funds from going to entities that perform or promote abortions, their affiliates and those that contract with an entity that performs abortions.</p>
<p>Kasich spent Wednesday campaigning in South Carolina, home of the South's first primary on Feb. 20. He had events scheduled there for Thursday and Friday.</p>
<p>Editorials in The (Toledo) Blade, the (Akron) Beacon Journal and The New York Times have called on the governor to veto the legislation - so has Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>Kasich is unlikely to reject the bill.</p>
<p>During a town hall meeting in New Hampshire this past weekend, a voter in Concord asked Kasich whether he'd support federal funding for Planned Parenthood if it were part of a balanced budget. "We're not gonna fund it," he said during the exchange.</p>
<p>Ohio's legislation follows an outcry among abortion opponents around the country after the release of secretly recorded videos by activists alleging that Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue to researchers for a profit in violation of federal law. Planned Parenthood has called the videos misleading and denied any wrongdoing, saying a handful of its clinics provided fetal tissue for research while receiving only permissible reimbursement for costs.</p>
<p>Three of Planned Parenthood's 28 locations in Ohio provide abortions. The organization has said it has no fetal tissue donation program in Ohio, where such donations are illegal.</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood is not named in the legislation. But the bill's backers have acknowledged the organization will be the most affected. They want the money to go to health centers and other providers that do not perform abortions</p>
<p>Stephanie Ranade Krider, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, called the passage a victory for the anti-abortion movement. "For a state like Ohio - it's a purple state - to be able to pass something like defunding Planned Parenthood, I think that gives hope to other states."</p>
<p>State and federal laws already prohibit taxpayer funds from being used to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood leaders have emphasized that should the bill become law, the organization's doors would remain open.</p>
<p>"This money is not going to change anything about the health care or abortion care that we provide to women in Ohio," said Stephanie Kight, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio. "These are community health programs that are being cut out and destroyed."</p>
<p>Kight's group announced later Wednesday it is targeting Kasich in online ads slated to appear on Facebook and news sites across Ohio.</p>
|
Ohio bill to strip Planned Parenthood funds heads to Kasich
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/6071ecbdbcc84f7c9fcd9e59ffe816a2
|
2016-02-10
| 2least
|
Ohio bill to strip Planned Parenthood funds heads to Kasich
<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign a bill stripping government money from Planned Parenthood, a move that might help him with conservatives who dominate the upcoming Republican presidential primary in South Carolina.</p>
<p>The legislation cleared the state legislature and was headed to Kasich on Wednesday, a day after the primary in New Hampshire, where a tough stance against Planned Parenthood might have been received with less enthusiasm by its many moderate Republican voters. Kasich finished second in the New Hampshire race behind Donald Trump but ahead of a group of mainstream GOP candidates who vied for moderate support.</p>
<p>No one is acknowledging whether the 2016 presidential calendar might have played a part in when Kasich would get the bill.</p>
<p>Republican Senate President Keith Faber told reporters Wednesday he believed South Carolinians would like the bill but that wasn't a consideration.</p>
<p>"I don't know that our timing has anything to do with that," Faber said. "We didn't even think of that, frankly."</p>
<p>The House gave its final approval Wednesday on a mostly party-line vote, with the bill's Democratic co-sponsor voting in favor and two Republicans voting against it.</p>
<p>The bill targets the roughly $1.3 million in grant funding that Planned Parenthood receives through Ohio's health department. The money, which is mostly federal, supports initiatives for HIV testing, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and prevention of violence against women.</p>
<p>The legislation would prohibit such funds from going to entities that perform or promote abortions, their affiliates and those that contract with an entity that performs abortions.</p>
<p>Kasich spent Wednesday campaigning in South Carolina, home of the South's first primary on Feb. 20. He had events scheduled there for Thursday and Friday.</p>
<p>Editorials in The (Toledo) Blade, the (Akron) Beacon Journal and The New York Times have called on the governor to veto the legislation - so has Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>Kasich is unlikely to reject the bill.</p>
<p>During a town hall meeting in New Hampshire this past weekend, a voter in Concord asked Kasich whether he'd support federal funding for Planned Parenthood if it were part of a balanced budget. "We're not gonna fund it," he said during the exchange.</p>
<p>Ohio's legislation follows an outcry among abortion opponents around the country after the release of secretly recorded videos by activists alleging that Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue to researchers for a profit in violation of federal law. Planned Parenthood has called the videos misleading and denied any wrongdoing, saying a handful of its clinics provided fetal tissue for research while receiving only permissible reimbursement for costs.</p>
<p>Three of Planned Parenthood's 28 locations in Ohio provide abortions. The organization has said it has no fetal tissue donation program in Ohio, where such donations are illegal.</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood is not named in the legislation. But the bill's backers have acknowledged the organization will be the most affected. They want the money to go to health centers and other providers that do not perform abortions</p>
<p>Stephanie Ranade Krider, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, called the passage a victory for the anti-abortion movement. "For a state like Ohio - it's a purple state - to be able to pass something like defunding Planned Parenthood, I think that gives hope to other states."</p>
<p>State and federal laws already prohibit taxpayer funds from being used to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood leaders have emphasized that should the bill become law, the organization's doors would remain open.</p>
<p>"This money is not going to change anything about the health care or abortion care that we provide to women in Ohio," said Stephanie Kight, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio. "These are community health programs that are being cut out and destroyed."</p>
<p>Kight's group announced later Wednesday it is targeting Kasich in online ads slated to appear on Facebook and news sites across Ohio.</p>
<p>COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign a bill stripping government money from Planned Parenthood, a move that might help him with conservatives who dominate the upcoming Republican presidential primary in South Carolina.</p>
<p>The legislation cleared the state legislature and was headed to Kasich on Wednesday, a day after the primary in New Hampshire, where a tough stance against Planned Parenthood might have been received with less enthusiasm by its many moderate Republican voters. Kasich finished second in the New Hampshire race behind Donald Trump but ahead of a group of mainstream GOP candidates who vied for moderate support.</p>
<p>No one is acknowledging whether the 2016 presidential calendar might have played a part in when Kasich would get the bill.</p>
<p>Republican Senate President Keith Faber told reporters Wednesday he believed South Carolinians would like the bill but that wasn't a consideration.</p>
<p>"I don't know that our timing has anything to do with that," Faber said. "We didn't even think of that, frankly."</p>
<p>The House gave its final approval Wednesday on a mostly party-line vote, with the bill's Democratic co-sponsor voting in favor and two Republicans voting against it.</p>
<p>The bill targets the roughly $1.3 million in grant funding that Planned Parenthood receives through Ohio's health department. The money, which is mostly federal, supports initiatives for HIV testing, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and prevention of violence against women.</p>
<p>The legislation would prohibit such funds from going to entities that perform or promote abortions, their affiliates and those that contract with an entity that performs abortions.</p>
<p>Kasich spent Wednesday campaigning in South Carolina, home of the South's first primary on Feb. 20. He had events scheduled there for Thursday and Friday.</p>
<p>Editorials in The (Toledo) Blade, the (Akron) Beacon Journal and The New York Times have called on the governor to veto the legislation - so has Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.</p>
<p>Kasich is unlikely to reject the bill.</p>
<p>During a town hall meeting in New Hampshire this past weekend, a voter in Concord asked Kasich whether he'd support federal funding for Planned Parenthood if it were part of a balanced budget. "We're not gonna fund it," he said during the exchange.</p>
<p>Ohio's legislation follows an outcry among abortion opponents around the country after the release of secretly recorded videos by activists alleging that Planned Parenthood sold fetal tissue to researchers for a profit in violation of federal law. Planned Parenthood has called the videos misleading and denied any wrongdoing, saying a handful of its clinics provided fetal tissue for research while receiving only permissible reimbursement for costs.</p>
<p>Three of Planned Parenthood's 28 locations in Ohio provide abortions. The organization has said it has no fetal tissue donation program in Ohio, where such donations are illegal.</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood is not named in the legislation. But the bill's backers have acknowledged the organization will be the most affected. They want the money to go to health centers and other providers that do not perform abortions</p>
<p>Stephanie Ranade Krider, executive director of Ohio Right to Life, called the passage a victory for the anti-abortion movement. "For a state like Ohio - it's a purple state - to be able to pass something like defunding Planned Parenthood, I think that gives hope to other states."</p>
<p>State and federal laws already prohibit taxpayer funds from being used to pay for abortions, except in cases of rape, incest or to save the life of the mother.</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood leaders have emphasized that should the bill become law, the organization's doors would remain open.</p>
<p>"This money is not going to change anything about the health care or abortion care that we provide to women in Ohio," said Stephanie Kight, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio. "These are community health programs that are being cut out and destroyed."</p>
<p>Kight's group announced later Wednesday it is targeting Kasich in online ads slated to appear on Facebook and news sites across Ohio.</p>
| 6,095 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The 18-year-old man who is accused of running down two pedestrians in Las Cruces last month, killing one of them, was indicted Thursday on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, leaving the scene of an accident, reckless driving and attempted escape from jail, the Las Cruces Sun-News <a href="http://www.lcsun-news.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060106/NEWS01/601060307/1001" type="external">reported</a> on its Web site today.</p>
<p>Jeremiah Kenneth Dowling remains jailed on a $120,000 bond, which prosecutors want raised to $250,000, the Sun-News reported.</p>
<p>Dowling is accused of running down Andrea Thomas, 30, at a Las Cruces intersection around noon on Dec. 21, then minutes later running into Sharon McNair, 57, at another intersection just a few blocks away, the paper reported.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>McNair died at the scene, and Thomas suffered a serious arm injury, according to the Sun-News.Prosecutors are seeking a "depraved mind" first-degree murder charge, claiming Dowling was driving so erratically he had to know his actions would lead to someone’s death, the Sun-News reported.</p>
<p>But Dowling’s attorney, C.J. McIlhinney of Las Cruces, said the charge is far too severe, that the death was accidental, not intentional.</p>
<p>"What we have here is an 18-year-old kid who made a bad mistake in judgment, but that doesn’t make him a murderer," McIlhinney told the Sun-News.</p>
<p>If convicted on all charges, Dowling could face 38 years in prison. But McIlhinney believes a more appropriate charge would be vehicular homicide, which carries a six-year prison sentence, the paper reported.</p>
|
8am — Driver Accused of Murder
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/22088/8am-driver-accused-of-murder.html
| 2least
|
8am — Driver Accused of Murder
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The 18-year-old man who is accused of running down two pedestrians in Las Cruces last month, killing one of them, was indicted Thursday on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, leaving the scene of an accident, reckless driving and attempted escape from jail, the Las Cruces Sun-News <a href="http://www.lcsun-news.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060106/NEWS01/601060307/1001" type="external">reported</a> on its Web site today.</p>
<p>Jeremiah Kenneth Dowling remains jailed on a $120,000 bond, which prosecutors want raised to $250,000, the Sun-News reported.</p>
<p>Dowling is accused of running down Andrea Thomas, 30, at a Las Cruces intersection around noon on Dec. 21, then minutes later running into Sharon McNair, 57, at another intersection just a few blocks away, the paper reported.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>McNair died at the scene, and Thomas suffered a serious arm injury, according to the Sun-News.Prosecutors are seeking a "depraved mind" first-degree murder charge, claiming Dowling was driving so erratically he had to know his actions would lead to someone’s death, the Sun-News reported.</p>
<p>But Dowling’s attorney, C.J. McIlhinney of Las Cruces, said the charge is far too severe, that the death was accidental, not intentional.</p>
<p>"What we have here is an 18-year-old kid who made a bad mistake in judgment, but that doesn’t make him a murderer," McIlhinney told the Sun-News.</p>
<p>If convicted on all charges, Dowling could face 38 years in prison. But McIlhinney believes a more appropriate charge would be vehicular homicide, which carries a six-year prison sentence, the paper reported.</p>
| 6,096 |
|
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Democratic state lawmakers on Wednesday bluntly criticized a proposal that would impose co-pays and monthly premiums on more of the low-income New Mexicans who rely on Medicaid for their health care.</p>
<p>The proposal would also scale back some benefits.</p>
<p>On the same day that Republican Gov. Susana Martinez expressed misgivings about a Republican bill to repeal Obamacare, her administration characterized the state-level benefit changes as minor, with exemptions built in to soften the impact.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Brent Earnest, secretary of state Human Services Department, said the goal is to limit cost increases, provide incentives that promote quality over quantity in New Mexico’s health care system, and encourage personal responsibility.</p>
<p>The debate, meanwhile, unfolded as Republicans in the U.S. Senate prepare to consider another proposal that would repeal the Affordable Care Act – the health care law passed under President Barack Obama also known as Obamacare. Congressional action could shake up the health care landscape in New Mexico, where more than 40 percent of the population is covered by Medicaid.</p>
<p>The program paid for 72 percent of the births in the state in 2015, the highest rate in the nation.</p>
<p>State Rep. Liz Thomson, D-Albuquerque, said imposing new co-pays and premiums, however small, could discourage people from seeking care when they need it.</p>
<p>“Am I going to pay Medicaid? Or am I going to eat? Hard choice,” she said, describing the potential dilemma for some families. “… These are the poorest of the poor.”</p>
<p>Earnest responded that some participants in Medicaid already must come up with the money for co-pays and premiums. The department is just proposing to impose them on a few more people, and exemptions remain for Native Americans and others, he said.</p>
<p>“We’ve tried to strike a reasonable balance in this proposal,” Earnest said during a meeting of the legislative Health and Human Services Committee in Albuquerque on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Adults who became eligible for Medicaid under the 2014 expansion in New Mexico would face new co-pays of $5 for doctor visits, $50 for hospital stays and surgeries, and $2 for prescriptions, in some cases.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Household premiums could be up to $50 a month in 2019, though they could rise in future years. The amount depends on the household’s income level and other factors.</p>
<p>The proposal will be the subject of public hearings throughout New Mexico and submitted to the federal government for consideration later this year. If approved, it would go into effect Jan. 1, 2019.</p>
<p>Abuko Estrada, a staff attorney for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said the diminished benefits could lead to financial ruin for some families. The proposal would eliminate a provision that allows people to seek retroactive coverage if they sign up for Medicaid after receiving emergency care, he said.</p>
<p>“These cuts can’t be taken lightly,” Estrada said. “They reach to patients and reverberate throughout our entire health care system and the state economy.”</p>
<p>Earnest said the retroactive provision isn’t used as much now as it once was, given the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that everyone have insurance.</p>
<p>Democratic lawmakers didn’t sound persuaded.</p>
<p>The proposal “is cruel, and it’s cowardly,” said Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, D-Albuquerque.</p>
<p>Wednesday’s legislative questions, of course, come as the U.S. Senate is set to consider another push to repeal Obamacare and adopt a new health care law in its place.</p>
<p>New Mexico is among the states that opted, under Obamacare, to expand Medicaid to more people.</p>
<p>Gov. Martinez has largely stayed out of the debate in Congress over repealing Obamacare, but her spokesman voiced concern Wednesday over the latest bill.</p>
<p>“While it’s encouraging that Congress is working on a health care solution, the governor is concerned this bill could hurt New Mexico and still needs some work,” Martinez spokesman Joseph Cueto told the Journal.</p>
<p>Among other provisions, the bill written by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana would convert federal health insurance funding into block grants for states and do away with coverage mandates.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Earnest said the various Republican-backed proposals have been difficult to keep up with and analyze.</p>
<p>But “under most of these proposals,” he said, “New Mexico loses.”</p>
<p>Journal Capitol Bureau chief Dan Boyd contributed to this report.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
|
Legislators assail proposed state Medicaid changes
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1066778/legislators-assail-proposed-state-medicaid-changes-excerpt-governor-says-federal-gop-plan-could-hurt-nm.html
|
2017-09-20
| 2least
|
Legislators assail proposed state Medicaid changes
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Democratic state lawmakers on Wednesday bluntly criticized a proposal that would impose co-pays and monthly premiums on more of the low-income New Mexicans who rely on Medicaid for their health care.</p>
<p>The proposal would also scale back some benefits.</p>
<p>On the same day that Republican Gov. Susana Martinez expressed misgivings about a Republican bill to repeal Obamacare, her administration characterized the state-level benefit changes as minor, with exemptions built in to soften the impact.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Brent Earnest, secretary of state Human Services Department, said the goal is to limit cost increases, provide incentives that promote quality over quantity in New Mexico’s health care system, and encourage personal responsibility.</p>
<p>The debate, meanwhile, unfolded as Republicans in the U.S. Senate prepare to consider another proposal that would repeal the Affordable Care Act – the health care law passed under President Barack Obama also known as Obamacare. Congressional action could shake up the health care landscape in New Mexico, where more than 40 percent of the population is covered by Medicaid.</p>
<p>The program paid for 72 percent of the births in the state in 2015, the highest rate in the nation.</p>
<p>State Rep. Liz Thomson, D-Albuquerque, said imposing new co-pays and premiums, however small, could discourage people from seeking care when they need it.</p>
<p>“Am I going to pay Medicaid? Or am I going to eat? Hard choice,” she said, describing the potential dilemma for some families. “… These are the poorest of the poor.”</p>
<p>Earnest responded that some participants in Medicaid already must come up with the money for co-pays and premiums. The department is just proposing to impose them on a few more people, and exemptions remain for Native Americans and others, he said.</p>
<p>“We’ve tried to strike a reasonable balance in this proposal,” Earnest said during a meeting of the legislative Health and Human Services Committee in Albuquerque on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Adults who became eligible for Medicaid under the 2014 expansion in New Mexico would face new co-pays of $5 for doctor visits, $50 for hospital stays and surgeries, and $2 for prescriptions, in some cases.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Household premiums could be up to $50 a month in 2019, though they could rise in future years. The amount depends on the household’s income level and other factors.</p>
<p>The proposal will be the subject of public hearings throughout New Mexico and submitted to the federal government for consideration later this year. If approved, it would go into effect Jan. 1, 2019.</p>
<p>Abuko Estrada, a staff attorney for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, said the diminished benefits could lead to financial ruin for some families. The proposal would eliminate a provision that allows people to seek retroactive coverage if they sign up for Medicaid after receiving emergency care, he said.</p>
<p>“These cuts can’t be taken lightly,” Estrada said. “They reach to patients and reverberate throughout our entire health care system and the state economy.”</p>
<p>Earnest said the retroactive provision isn’t used as much now as it once was, given the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that everyone have insurance.</p>
<p>Democratic lawmakers didn’t sound persuaded.</p>
<p>The proposal “is cruel, and it’s cowardly,” said Rep. Miguel P. Garcia, D-Albuquerque.</p>
<p>Wednesday’s legislative questions, of course, come as the U.S. Senate is set to consider another push to repeal Obamacare and adopt a new health care law in its place.</p>
<p>New Mexico is among the states that opted, under Obamacare, to expand Medicaid to more people.</p>
<p>Gov. Martinez has largely stayed out of the debate in Congress over repealing Obamacare, but her spokesman voiced concern Wednesday over the latest bill.</p>
<p>“While it’s encouraging that Congress is working on a health care solution, the governor is concerned this bill could hurt New Mexico and still needs some work,” Martinez spokesman Joseph Cueto told the Journal.</p>
<p>Among other provisions, the bill written by Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana would convert federal health insurance funding into block grants for states and do away with coverage mandates.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Earnest said the various Republican-backed proposals have been difficult to keep up with and analyze.</p>
<p>But “under most of these proposals,” he said, “New Mexico loses.”</p>
<p>Journal Capitol Bureau chief Dan Boyd contributed to this report.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
| 6,097 |
<p>Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest computer maker, announced on Thursday that it wants to buy British business software maker Autonomy for $10.3 billion, and said it is considering spinning off its personal computer business into a separate company.&#160;</p>
<p>According to Reuters, the news "stunned" <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/18/us-hp-idUSTRE77H0JK20110818" type="external">Wall Street</a>, and the plan could set in motion "a transformation that mirrors IBM's successful overhaul last decade."</p>
<p>HP also plans to kill off the TouchPad tablet it introduced in June, and will stop making mobile phones that use its webOS operating system.</p>
<p>The New York Times reports that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/technology/hp-plans-big-shift-toward-business-customers.html?hp" type="external">HP CEO Leo Apotheker</a>, who took over in November, has been trying to ramp up the company's growth and refocus efforts on business services and products:</p>
<p>Splitting off the PC unit would eliminate the drag of that low-margin business on H.P. as it tries to move more toward providing corporate customers with services and cloud computing - a term used to describe delivering products and services online. Earlier this year, Mr. Apotheker outlined a plan to grow H.P.?s tiny business software unit and expand into the cloud. That strategy challenges I.B.M and Oracle, two giants in the market.</p>
<p>HP bought rival PC maker Compaq Computer in 2002 for $25 billion and, according to the Times, the company insisted for years that the consolidation had allowed it to cut costs and spend less on computer parts. But the new plan appears to turn away from that path.</p>
<p>"Their focus is on being more of a software and services company and not dependent on the hardware businesses," <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-18/hp-said-to-be-near-10-billion-autonomy-takeover-spinoff-of-pc-business.html" type="external">Michael Gartenberg</a>, an analyst at Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner Inc., told Bloomberg. "The hardware business has become a difficult business. In many ways it's a commodity-driven business. This is a major strategic shift for HP."</p>
<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903596904576516403053718850.html" type="external">HP</a> has been under investor pressure because of what has been seen as its underperforming stock price, The Wall Street Journal reports. Also on Thursday, HP reported diluted earnings per share of 93 cents on revenue of $31.19 billion in the fiscal third quarter, compared with 75 cents and $30.7 billion last year. The company lowered its profit and revenue goals for the fourth quarter, and shares fell 6 percent to $29.51 in 4 p.m. trading.</p>
<p>"HP is recognizing what the world has recognized, which is hardware in terms of consumers is not a huge growth business anymore," Michael Yoshikami, chief executive of YCMNET Advisors, a minor shareholder in HP, told Reuters. "It's not where the money is. It's in keeping with the new CEO's perspective that they want to be more in services and more business oriented."</p>
|
Hewlett-Packard plans big business shift
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2011-08-18/hewlett-packard-plans-big-business-shift
|
2011-08-18
| 3left-center
|
Hewlett-Packard plans big business shift
<p>Hewlett-Packard, the world's largest computer maker, announced on Thursday that it wants to buy British business software maker Autonomy for $10.3 billion, and said it is considering spinning off its personal computer business into a separate company.&#160;</p>
<p>According to Reuters, the news "stunned" <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/18/us-hp-idUSTRE77H0JK20110818" type="external">Wall Street</a>, and the plan could set in motion "a transformation that mirrors IBM's successful overhaul last decade."</p>
<p>HP also plans to kill off the TouchPad tablet it introduced in June, and will stop making mobile phones that use its webOS operating system.</p>
<p>The New York Times reports that <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/19/technology/hp-plans-big-shift-toward-business-customers.html?hp" type="external">HP CEO Leo Apotheker</a>, who took over in November, has been trying to ramp up the company's growth and refocus efforts on business services and products:</p>
<p>Splitting off the PC unit would eliminate the drag of that low-margin business on H.P. as it tries to move more toward providing corporate customers with services and cloud computing - a term used to describe delivering products and services online. Earlier this year, Mr. Apotheker outlined a plan to grow H.P.?s tiny business software unit and expand into the cloud. That strategy challenges I.B.M and Oracle, two giants in the market.</p>
<p>HP bought rival PC maker Compaq Computer in 2002 for $25 billion and, according to the Times, the company insisted for years that the consolidation had allowed it to cut costs and spend less on computer parts. But the new plan appears to turn away from that path.</p>
<p>"Their focus is on being more of a software and services company and not dependent on the hardware businesses," <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-18/hp-said-to-be-near-10-billion-autonomy-takeover-spinoff-of-pc-business.html" type="external">Michael Gartenberg</a>, an analyst at Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner Inc., told Bloomberg. "The hardware business has become a difficult business. In many ways it's a commodity-driven business. This is a major strategic shift for HP."</p>
<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903596904576516403053718850.html" type="external">HP</a> has been under investor pressure because of what has been seen as its underperforming stock price, The Wall Street Journal reports. Also on Thursday, HP reported diluted earnings per share of 93 cents on revenue of $31.19 billion in the fiscal third quarter, compared with 75 cents and $30.7 billion last year. The company lowered its profit and revenue goals for the fourth quarter, and shares fell 6 percent to $29.51 in 4 p.m. trading.</p>
<p>"HP is recognizing what the world has recognized, which is hardware in terms of consumers is not a huge growth business anymore," Michael Yoshikami, chief executive of YCMNET Advisors, a minor shareholder in HP, told Reuters. "It's not where the money is. It's in keeping with the new CEO's perspective that they want to be more in services and more business oriented."</p>
| 6,098 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>“Death and the Girl Next Door” by Darynda Jones St. Martin’s Griffin, $9.99, 286 pp. <a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/blanktablefiller.png" type="external" />&#160; <a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/blanktablefiller.png" type="external" /></p>
<p>“Death and the Girl Next Door” by Darynda Jones St. Martin’s Griffin, $9.99, 286 pp.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>This fall is a noteworthy season for New Mexico author Darynda Jones.</p>
<p>The fourth book in her paranormal romance series for adults starring protagonist Charley Davidson is out.</p>
<p>It’s titled ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — “Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet.”</p>
<p>And Jones’ first paranormal romance book for young readers has just been published – “Death and the Girl Next Door.”</p>
<p>Jones, a Portales resident, said she believes that she writes with a young voice regardless of her readership.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But there is a structural difference in her books for the two audiences.</p>
<p>“I have a lot of layers in my adult books. So there are several story lines going on at the same time,” Jones said in a phone interview. “So in my young adult books I try to keep it a bit more focused on one major story line. There are always subplots in both.”</p>
<p>And her books for both audiences, she said, share other structures. Jones tries to keep her sentences short, with crisp imagery and snappy dialogue.</p>
<p>“Death and the Girl Next Door” tells of Lorelei, a high school sophomore whose parents had disappeared 10 years before. Lorelei has the support of her grandparents and her friends. But when the terrifying Jared, a new student, arrives at school, Lorelei wonders if he knows something about her parents. Jared must also contend with Cameron, the school’s designated loner.</p>
<p>She said the readership of the adult books is largely women of all ages.</p>
<p>“The oldest one I’ve gotten letters from is a great-grandmother. And I get really young preteens who’ve said they’ve read them. Obviously in the young adult books I don’t put sex in my pages, but there is in the adult ones,” Jones said. “I also have a lot of male readers, which surprises me. I just didn’t think as many male readers are interested in what I write. … It’s nice. I love it.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Jones is humming right along. Her next book in a planned young adult trilogy, “Death, Doom, and Detention,” is due out next spring. And she’s currently working on No. 5 in the adult series, “Fifth Grave Past the Light,” scheduled to be published in the summer of 2013. ❈ Darynda Jones discusses, signs “Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet” and “Death and the Girl Next Door” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, at Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande NW.Paranormal romance is all the rage with all ages”Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet” by Darynda JonesSt. Martin’s Press, $24.99, 320 pp.”Death and the Girl Next Door” by Darynda JonesSt. Martin’s Griffin, $9.99, 286 pp. By David SteinbergJournal Staff Writer</p>
<p>This fall is a noteworthy season for New Mexico author Darynda Jones.</p>
<p>The fourth book in her paranormal romance series for adults starring protagoinist Charley Davidson is out. It’s titled “Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet.”</p>
<p>And Jones’ first paranormal romance book for young readers has just been published – “Death and the Girl Next Door.”</p>
<p>Jones, a Portales resident, believes that she writes with a young voice regardless of her readership. But there is a structural difference in her books for the two audiences.</p>
<p>“I have a lot of layers in my adult books. So there are several story lines going on at the same time,” Jones said in a phone interview. “So in my young adult books I try to keep it a bit more focused on one major story line. There are always subplots in both.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>And her books for both audiences, she said, share other structures. Jones tries to keep her sentences short, with crisp imagery and snappy dialogue.</p>
<p>“Death and the Girl Next Door” tells of Lorelei, a high school sophomore whose parents had disappeared 10 years before.</p>
<p>Lorelei has the support of her grandparents and her friends. But when the terrifying Jared, a new student, arrives at school, Lorelei wonders if he knows something about her parents. Jared must also contend with Cameron, the school’s designated loner.</p>
<p>Jones won a Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance for the manuscript for “First Grave on the Right.”</p>
<p>She said the readership of the adult books is largely women of all ages. “The oldest one I’ve gotten letters from is a great-grandmother. And I get really young preteens who’ve said they’ve read them. Obviously in the young adult books I don’t put sex in my pages but there is in the adult ones,” Jones said. “I also have a lot of male readers, which surprises me. I just didn’t think as many male readers are interested in what I write. … It’s nice. I love it.”</p>
<p>Jones is humming right along. Her next book in a planned young adult trilogy, “Death, Doom, and Detention,” is due out next spring. And she’s currently working on No. 5 in the adult series, “Fifth Grave Past the Light,” which is scheduled to be published in the summer of 2013.</p>
|
Paranormal romance is all the rage with all ages
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/142072/paranormal-romance-is-all-the-rage-with-all-ages.html
|
2012-10-28
| 2least
|
Paranormal romance is all the rage with all ages
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>“Death and the Girl Next Door” by Darynda Jones St. Martin’s Griffin, $9.99, 286 pp. <a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/blanktablefiller.png" type="external" />&#160; <a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/blanktablefiller.png" type="external" /></p>
<p>“Death and the Girl Next Door” by Darynda Jones St. Martin’s Griffin, $9.99, 286 pp.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>This fall is a noteworthy season for New Mexico author Darynda Jones.</p>
<p>The fourth book in her paranormal romance series for adults starring protagonist Charley Davidson is out.</p>
<p>It’s titled ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — “Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet.”</p>
<p>And Jones’ first paranormal romance book for young readers has just been published – “Death and the Girl Next Door.”</p>
<p>Jones, a Portales resident, said she believes that she writes with a young voice regardless of her readership.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But there is a structural difference in her books for the two audiences.</p>
<p>“I have a lot of layers in my adult books. So there are several story lines going on at the same time,” Jones said in a phone interview. “So in my young adult books I try to keep it a bit more focused on one major story line. There are always subplots in both.”</p>
<p>And her books for both audiences, she said, share other structures. Jones tries to keep her sentences short, with crisp imagery and snappy dialogue.</p>
<p>“Death and the Girl Next Door” tells of Lorelei, a high school sophomore whose parents had disappeared 10 years before. Lorelei has the support of her grandparents and her friends. But when the terrifying Jared, a new student, arrives at school, Lorelei wonders if he knows something about her parents. Jared must also contend with Cameron, the school’s designated loner.</p>
<p>She said the readership of the adult books is largely women of all ages.</p>
<p>“The oldest one I’ve gotten letters from is a great-grandmother. And I get really young preteens who’ve said they’ve read them. Obviously in the young adult books I don’t put sex in my pages, but there is in the adult ones,” Jones said. “I also have a lot of male readers, which surprises me. I just didn’t think as many male readers are interested in what I write. … It’s nice. I love it.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Jones is humming right along. Her next book in a planned young adult trilogy, “Death, Doom, and Detention,” is due out next spring. And she’s currently working on No. 5 in the adult series, “Fifth Grave Past the Light,” scheduled to be published in the summer of 2013. ❈ Darynda Jones discusses, signs “Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet” and “Death and the Girl Next Door” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30, at Bookworks, 4022 Rio Grande NW.Paranormal romance is all the rage with all ages”Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet” by Darynda JonesSt. Martin’s Press, $24.99, 320 pp.”Death and the Girl Next Door” by Darynda JonesSt. Martin’s Griffin, $9.99, 286 pp. By David SteinbergJournal Staff Writer</p>
<p>This fall is a noteworthy season for New Mexico author Darynda Jones.</p>
<p>The fourth book in her paranormal romance series for adults starring protagoinist Charley Davidson is out. It’s titled “Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet.”</p>
<p>And Jones’ first paranormal romance book for young readers has just been published – “Death and the Girl Next Door.”</p>
<p>Jones, a Portales resident, believes that she writes with a young voice regardless of her readership. But there is a structural difference in her books for the two audiences.</p>
<p>“I have a lot of layers in my adult books. So there are several story lines going on at the same time,” Jones said in a phone interview. “So in my young adult books I try to keep it a bit more focused on one major story line. There are always subplots in both.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>And her books for both audiences, she said, share other structures. Jones tries to keep her sentences short, with crisp imagery and snappy dialogue.</p>
<p>“Death and the Girl Next Door” tells of Lorelei, a high school sophomore whose parents had disappeared 10 years before.</p>
<p>Lorelei has the support of her grandparents and her friends. But when the terrifying Jared, a new student, arrives at school, Lorelei wonders if he knows something about her parents. Jared must also contend with Cameron, the school’s designated loner.</p>
<p>Jones won a Golden Heart for Best Paranormal Romance for the manuscript for “First Grave on the Right.”</p>
<p>She said the readership of the adult books is largely women of all ages. “The oldest one I’ve gotten letters from is a great-grandmother. And I get really young preteens who’ve said they’ve read them. Obviously in the young adult books I don’t put sex in my pages but there is in the adult ones,” Jones said. “I also have a lot of male readers, which surprises me. I just didn’t think as many male readers are interested in what I write. … It’s nice. I love it.”</p>
<p>Jones is humming right along. Her next book in a planned young adult trilogy, “Death, Doom, and Detention,” is due out next spring. And she’s currently working on No. 5 in the adult series, “Fifth Grave Past the Light,” which is scheduled to be published in the summer of 2013.</p>
| 6,099 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.