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<p>Think New Mexico calls for establishing a scholarship program for international undergraduate students as a way of increasing the ranks of future entrepreneurs who could start businesses and create jobs in the state.</p>
<p>New Mexico lost about 43,000 jobs and 3,000 businesses from 2007 to 2011 because of the recession, and only recently has the state’s economy started to rebound and gain jobs. But the report warns that many of the new jobs aren’t higher wage positions such as in manufacturing. The state’s economy is also at risk from government spending cuts because the federal government is the largest employer in New Mexico.</p>
<p>“So rather than picking economic winners and losers as many state governments attempt to do, New Mexico’s state government might better serve its constituents by adopting policies that will supplement the number of entrepreneurs in New Mexico by attracting new ones,” said the report, which was released on Saturday.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Immigrants start businesses at more than twice the rate of non-immigrants,” said the think tank, which has successfully pushed initiatives such as a recent overhaul of the Public Regulation Commission and bringing price competition to the state’s title insurance system.</p>
<p>The report pointed to a success story in Andy Lim, who came to Albuquerque from Taiwan in 2000, earned a degree at the University of New Mexico and founded a software company that now employs more than three dozen people in the state.</p>
<p>International students account for about 1 percent of the undergraduate enrollment at the University of New Mexico, about 2.4 percent at New Mexico Tech and 3.8 percent at New Mexico State University, according to the report.</p>
<p>Foreign students would pay annual out-of-state tuition of $20,688 to attend UNM but that would drop to $8,446 if the state offered scholarships providing the in-state tuition rate.</p>
<p>The report said North Dakota has greatly increased college enrollment of international students by providing them affordable in-state tuition. It could cost about $12 million a year for a similar scholarship program in New Mexico, according to the think tank.</p>
<p>The report questioned the effectiveness of New Mexico’s traditional economic development strategy of providing upfront financial incentives to companies to move to the state. Schott Solar came to New Mexico after receiving $16 million in incentives from the state, but closed its manufacturing plant on the edge of Albuquerque in 2012 because of foreign competition in the solar panel market.</p>
<p>The think tank recommended a different model of “post-performance” incentives, such as rebating up to 30 percent of a company’s taxes after it creates new jobs because of relocating to New Mexico or when an in-state business expands its operations.</p>
<p>The group said Utah has successfully used that approach.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
In-state tuition urged for foreign students
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/271336/instate-tuition-urged-for-foreign-students.html
|
2013-09-29
| 2least
|
In-state tuition urged for foreign students
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Think New Mexico calls for establishing a scholarship program for international undergraduate students as a way of increasing the ranks of future entrepreneurs who could start businesses and create jobs in the state.</p>
<p>New Mexico lost about 43,000 jobs and 3,000 businesses from 2007 to 2011 because of the recession, and only recently has the state’s economy started to rebound and gain jobs. But the report warns that many of the new jobs aren’t higher wage positions such as in manufacturing. The state’s economy is also at risk from government spending cuts because the federal government is the largest employer in New Mexico.</p>
<p>“So rather than picking economic winners and losers as many state governments attempt to do, New Mexico’s state government might better serve its constituents by adopting policies that will supplement the number of entrepreneurs in New Mexico by attracting new ones,” said the report, which was released on Saturday.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Immigrants start businesses at more than twice the rate of non-immigrants,” said the think tank, which has successfully pushed initiatives such as a recent overhaul of the Public Regulation Commission and bringing price competition to the state’s title insurance system.</p>
<p>The report pointed to a success story in Andy Lim, who came to Albuquerque from Taiwan in 2000, earned a degree at the University of New Mexico and founded a software company that now employs more than three dozen people in the state.</p>
<p>International students account for about 1 percent of the undergraduate enrollment at the University of New Mexico, about 2.4 percent at New Mexico Tech and 3.8 percent at New Mexico State University, according to the report.</p>
<p>Foreign students would pay annual out-of-state tuition of $20,688 to attend UNM but that would drop to $8,446 if the state offered scholarships providing the in-state tuition rate.</p>
<p>The report said North Dakota has greatly increased college enrollment of international students by providing them affordable in-state tuition. It could cost about $12 million a year for a similar scholarship program in New Mexico, according to the think tank.</p>
<p>The report questioned the effectiveness of New Mexico’s traditional economic development strategy of providing upfront financial incentives to companies to move to the state. Schott Solar came to New Mexico after receiving $16 million in incentives from the state, but closed its manufacturing plant on the edge of Albuquerque in 2012 because of foreign competition in the solar panel market.</p>
<p>The think tank recommended a different model of “post-performance” incentives, such as rebating up to 30 percent of a company’s taxes after it creates new jobs because of relocating to New Mexico or when an in-state business expands its operations.</p>
<p>The group said Utah has successfully used that approach.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,400 |
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>WHY did all manly gifts in Webster fail? He wrote on Nature’s grandest brow, For Sale.</p>
<p>–Emerson</p>
<p>PART I</p>
<p>Congressman John Conyers, “The Constitution in Crisis”, December 2005:</p>
<p>“In brief, we have found that there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice President and other high ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war with Iraq; misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and other legal violations in Iraq; and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration.</p>
<p>“There is a prima facie case that these actions by the President, Vice-President and other members of the Bush Administration violated a number of federal laws, including (1) Committing a Fraud against the United States; (2) Making False Statements to Congress; (3) The War Powers Resolution; (4) Misuse of Government Funds; (5) federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; (6) federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other individuals; and (7) federal laws and regulations concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence.</p>
<p>“While these charges clearly rise to the level of impeachable misconduct, because the Bush Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have blocked the ability of Members to obtain information directly from the Administration concerning these matters, more investigatory authority is needed before recommendations can be made regarding specific Articles of Impeachment. As a result, we recommend that Congress establish a select committee with subpoena authority to investigate the misconduct of the Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq war detailed in this Report and report to the Committee on the Judiciary on possible impeachable offenses.”</p>
<p>— Congressman John Conyers, “The Constitution in Crisis”, December 2005</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>PART II</p>
<p>Congressman John Conyers, November 2006:</p>
<p>“As many of you also know, I have agreed with Speaker-to-be Pelosi that impeachment is off the table. Instead, we agree that oversight, accountability and checks and balances which have been sorely lacking for the last six years must occur. I have nothing but respect for those who might disagree, but that is where I come out.</p>
<p>“Having devoted a considerable amount of time and attention to detailing the many abuses of the Bush Administration, I firmly believe that we have brought these matters to the attention of the American people and the mainstream media, and that their verdict was reflected in the elections on November 7. I consider the now famous “basement hearings” and the issuance of my “Constitution in Crisis” Report to be among the watershed achievements of my more than forty years in Congress.”</p>
<p>— Congressman John Conyers, November 2006</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>IF THEY DO</p>
<p>The Associated Press / Ipsos recently polled and reported on this question “How confident are you that President Bush and the Democrats in Congress can work together to solve the country’s problems?”</p>
<p>I’m fully confident that anyone who tries to work with Bush will contribute to problems for this and many other countries. I get the impression I’m not alone: Americans just elected dozens of new Democrats and not a single new Republican. I would not have answered the question, had Ipsos asked it of me, because my view of the world was “off the table.” The AP could teach Nancy Pelosi a thing or two about removing topics from the table.</p>
<p>Announcing that impeachment is off the table makes it sound like you either have no use for the rule of law and your “investigations” are predetermined charades, or like you are engaged in the same impeachable offense Bush is: lying to the American public (you’re taking impeachment off the table, fully aware that it will climb back on as soon as you investigate any of a dozen crimes). You’ve left impeachment ever more prominently on the table.</p>
<p>Reporting a balanced story on those who do and those who do not worry that the Democrats will fail to work cooperatively with Bush: THAT effectively takes impeachment off the table. While Newsweek just found that a phenomenal 51 percent of Americans want impeachment, AP simply did not ask the question or did not report the results. (Support for impeaching Clinton, when the media and Congress were promoting nothing else, never got above 37 percent.)</p>
<p>The Democrats (and Republicans) can get to impeachment by any of several paths. They can launch an investigation of anything, send subpoenas to the White House, and then raise impeachment when the White House refuses the subpoenas. They can investigate using any number of House and Senate committees or a bipartisan select committee. Waxman or Kucinich could as easily take the lead as Conyers. Or another Democrat, perhaps even a newly elected Democrat, could cut to the chase, introduce articles of impeachment, and become an international hero.</p>
<p>If the Democrats do stand up to tyranny and restore the rule of law to our government, they will not only increase the likelihood of reducing global warming and nuclear proliferation before it’s too late, not only bring back habeas corpus and the Bill of Rights, not only make the next war much more difficult to launch, but they will also sweep the 2008 elections and see their leaders admired and loved the world over. Conyers was overwhelmed with support and adulation and contributions when he merely talked about preliminary investigations and the media ignored him. The first Congress Member who supports impeachment will be virtually deified (as well as attacked and ridiculed by a very vocal minority).</p>
<p>So, if the Democrats are playing games until they have their committee chairs, if they’re convinced that talking impeachment prior to the “investigations” will lead to fatal attacks from the media, if they’re planning to do their jobs and defend our democracy come February, then there is hope for them and for us. And if we force them to take action, then there is hope for us and for them.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>IF THEY DON’T</p>
<p>If the Democrats fail to defend the rule of law, if they imagine that we care nothing for our rights and freedoms and merely want them to pass domestic legislation that will be vetoed or signing-statemented, they will do as well in the next elections as they did after they looked the other way on Iran Contra. Pelosi has taken so many things off the table, including the idea of cutting off funding for the war, that she gives the impression of ultimately wanting the stretch out on the table and take a nap. If we allow her and her colleagues to do this, we will let down our nation and the world and we will tell future presidents that no law applies to them.</p>
<p>If the Democrats fail to fight for impeachment and peace, I for one will want nothing further to do with them. Come 2008 I will not vote, or I’ll vote for a third party or write in the names of people I respect. I told a great many people in recent months to hold their noses and vote for lousy Democrats so that Conyers could chair Judiciary, and the Democrats could chair every committee, and the subpoenas and articles of impeachment could be placed on the table. If the Democrats refuse to be the opposition party that was just elected, they will be as quickly unelected. If the Democrats and Republicans fail to impeach this President and Vice President, they will remove impeachment from the U.S. Constitution and any remaining faith in our government from the minds of Americans.</p>
<p>I don’t think it will come to this. I’m optimistic. And I’m optimistic because the solution to this riddle is not a proper analysis of the mendacity or corruption of Democrats in Congress. The solution is public action. The Democrats in Congress will not act without public pressure. But unlike the Republican Congress we just rid ourselves of they might act if there is public pressure. <a href="http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/impeach" type="external">Let’s apply it</a>.</p>
<p>DAVID SWANSON can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Last Chance for the Democrats?
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2006/11/17/last-chance-for-the-democrats/
|
2006-11-17
| 4left
|
Last Chance for the Democrats?
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>WHY did all manly gifts in Webster fail? He wrote on Nature’s grandest brow, For Sale.</p>
<p>–Emerson</p>
<p>PART I</p>
<p>Congressman John Conyers, “The Constitution in Crisis”, December 2005:</p>
<p>“In brief, we have found that there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice President and other high ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war with Iraq; misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and other legal violations in Iraq; and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration.</p>
<p>“There is a prima facie case that these actions by the President, Vice-President and other members of the Bush Administration violated a number of federal laws, including (1) Committing a Fraud against the United States; (2) Making False Statements to Congress; (3) The War Powers Resolution; (4) Misuse of Government Funds; (5) federal laws and international treaties prohibiting torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; (6) federal laws concerning retaliating against witnesses and other individuals; and (7) federal laws and regulations concerning leaking and other misuse of intelligence.</p>
<p>“While these charges clearly rise to the level of impeachable misconduct, because the Bush Administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have blocked the ability of Members to obtain information directly from the Administration concerning these matters, more investigatory authority is needed before recommendations can be made regarding specific Articles of Impeachment. As a result, we recommend that Congress establish a select committee with subpoena authority to investigate the misconduct of the Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq war detailed in this Report and report to the Committee on the Judiciary on possible impeachable offenses.”</p>
<p>— Congressman John Conyers, “The Constitution in Crisis”, December 2005</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>PART II</p>
<p>Congressman John Conyers, November 2006:</p>
<p>“As many of you also know, I have agreed with Speaker-to-be Pelosi that impeachment is off the table. Instead, we agree that oversight, accountability and checks and balances which have been sorely lacking for the last six years must occur. I have nothing but respect for those who might disagree, but that is where I come out.</p>
<p>“Having devoted a considerable amount of time and attention to detailing the many abuses of the Bush Administration, I firmly believe that we have brought these matters to the attention of the American people and the mainstream media, and that their verdict was reflected in the elections on November 7. I consider the now famous “basement hearings” and the issuance of my “Constitution in Crisis” Report to be among the watershed achievements of my more than forty years in Congress.”</p>
<p>— Congressman John Conyers, November 2006</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>IF THEY DO</p>
<p>The Associated Press / Ipsos recently polled and reported on this question “How confident are you that President Bush and the Democrats in Congress can work together to solve the country’s problems?”</p>
<p>I’m fully confident that anyone who tries to work with Bush will contribute to problems for this and many other countries. I get the impression I’m not alone: Americans just elected dozens of new Democrats and not a single new Republican. I would not have answered the question, had Ipsos asked it of me, because my view of the world was “off the table.” The AP could teach Nancy Pelosi a thing or two about removing topics from the table.</p>
<p>Announcing that impeachment is off the table makes it sound like you either have no use for the rule of law and your “investigations” are predetermined charades, or like you are engaged in the same impeachable offense Bush is: lying to the American public (you’re taking impeachment off the table, fully aware that it will climb back on as soon as you investigate any of a dozen crimes). You’ve left impeachment ever more prominently on the table.</p>
<p>Reporting a balanced story on those who do and those who do not worry that the Democrats will fail to work cooperatively with Bush: THAT effectively takes impeachment off the table. While Newsweek just found that a phenomenal 51 percent of Americans want impeachment, AP simply did not ask the question or did not report the results. (Support for impeaching Clinton, when the media and Congress were promoting nothing else, never got above 37 percent.)</p>
<p>The Democrats (and Republicans) can get to impeachment by any of several paths. They can launch an investigation of anything, send subpoenas to the White House, and then raise impeachment when the White House refuses the subpoenas. They can investigate using any number of House and Senate committees or a bipartisan select committee. Waxman or Kucinich could as easily take the lead as Conyers. Or another Democrat, perhaps even a newly elected Democrat, could cut to the chase, introduce articles of impeachment, and become an international hero.</p>
<p>If the Democrats do stand up to tyranny and restore the rule of law to our government, they will not only increase the likelihood of reducing global warming and nuclear proliferation before it’s too late, not only bring back habeas corpus and the Bill of Rights, not only make the next war much more difficult to launch, but they will also sweep the 2008 elections and see their leaders admired and loved the world over. Conyers was overwhelmed with support and adulation and contributions when he merely talked about preliminary investigations and the media ignored him. The first Congress Member who supports impeachment will be virtually deified (as well as attacked and ridiculed by a very vocal minority).</p>
<p>So, if the Democrats are playing games until they have their committee chairs, if they’re convinced that talking impeachment prior to the “investigations” will lead to fatal attacks from the media, if they’re planning to do their jobs and defend our democracy come February, then there is hope for them and for us. And if we force them to take action, then there is hope for us and for them.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>IF THEY DON’T</p>
<p>If the Democrats fail to defend the rule of law, if they imagine that we care nothing for our rights and freedoms and merely want them to pass domestic legislation that will be vetoed or signing-statemented, they will do as well in the next elections as they did after they looked the other way on Iran Contra. Pelosi has taken so many things off the table, including the idea of cutting off funding for the war, that she gives the impression of ultimately wanting the stretch out on the table and take a nap. If we allow her and her colleagues to do this, we will let down our nation and the world and we will tell future presidents that no law applies to them.</p>
<p>If the Democrats fail to fight for impeachment and peace, I for one will want nothing further to do with them. Come 2008 I will not vote, or I’ll vote for a third party or write in the names of people I respect. I told a great many people in recent months to hold their noses and vote for lousy Democrats so that Conyers could chair Judiciary, and the Democrats could chair every committee, and the subpoenas and articles of impeachment could be placed on the table. If the Democrats refuse to be the opposition party that was just elected, they will be as quickly unelected. If the Democrats and Republicans fail to impeach this President and Vice President, they will remove impeachment from the U.S. Constitution and any remaining faith in our government from the minds of Americans.</p>
<p>I don’t think it will come to this. I’m optimistic. And I’m optimistic because the solution to this riddle is not a proper analysis of the mendacity or corruption of Democrats in Congress. The solution is public action. The Democrats in Congress will not act without public pressure. But unlike the Republican Congress we just rid ourselves of they might act if there is public pressure. <a href="http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/impeach" type="external">Let’s apply it</a>.</p>
<p>DAVID SWANSON can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,401 |
<p>Paper - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School</p>
<p />
<p>Russia's military-political leadership envisions a formidable range of uses for the country's arsenal of non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNWs). In the eyes of Russian leaders, these weapons play a critical role in the nation's defense and security posture as part of the country's overall nuclear arsenal and as an equalizer for the weakness of the nation's conventional forces vis-a-vis NATO and China. Russia's military-political leadership and policy influentials also assign a number of specific roles to NSNWs, including deterrence of powers in the south.</p>
<p>Given these perceived and real benefits of possessing NSNWs, it is rather difficult to imagine that Russia will agree to eliminate all of its non-strategic nuclear weapons in the foreseeable future even if its actions are fully reciprocated by the U.S. and other nuclear weapons states. However, securing Russia's consent to negotiate an arms control treaty that would reduce the numbers of non-strategic nuclear weapons and put them under accounting and verification regimes is not a mission impossible.</p>
<p>First, only some of the roles envisioned for these weapons are realistic, and these roles require far fewer NSNWs than what Russia has today. Second, the Russian leadership's perceptions of NSNWs' roles can change too. In fact, Russia has already either indicated or explicitly stated conditions that if met, would facilitate Moscow's consent to verifiable reductions of Russian and U.S. NSNWs, which are now subject only to unilateral U.S. and Russian presidential initiatives, which are unverifiable and non-binding. There are also a number of other factors that can help lower the value of NSNWs in the eyes of the Russian military-political leadership.</p>
<p>Third, while there are perceived benefits of possessing tactical nuclear weapons, there are also formidable risks and costs incurred by Russia's current NSNW posture.</p>
<p>I would argue that a Russian-U.S. arms control treaty with verification and accounting mechanisms would be a good first step to both reducing these risks and costs and to bringing the numbers of NSNWs down to levels sufficient for the roles that these weapons can realistically play.</p>
<p>To continue reading the paper, download the PDF below.</p>
<p />
|
Russia's Non-strategic Nuclear Weapons in Their Current Configuration and Posture: A Strategic Asset or Liability?
| false |
http://belfercenter.org/publication/russias-non-strategic-nuclear-weapons-their-current-configuration-and-posture-strategic
|
2010-01-01
| 2least
|
Russia's Non-strategic Nuclear Weapons in Their Current Configuration and Posture: A Strategic Asset or Liability?
<p>Paper - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School</p>
<p />
<p>Russia's military-political leadership envisions a formidable range of uses for the country's arsenal of non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNWs). In the eyes of Russian leaders, these weapons play a critical role in the nation's defense and security posture as part of the country's overall nuclear arsenal and as an equalizer for the weakness of the nation's conventional forces vis-a-vis NATO and China. Russia's military-political leadership and policy influentials also assign a number of specific roles to NSNWs, including deterrence of powers in the south.</p>
<p>Given these perceived and real benefits of possessing NSNWs, it is rather difficult to imagine that Russia will agree to eliminate all of its non-strategic nuclear weapons in the foreseeable future even if its actions are fully reciprocated by the U.S. and other nuclear weapons states. However, securing Russia's consent to negotiate an arms control treaty that would reduce the numbers of non-strategic nuclear weapons and put them under accounting and verification regimes is not a mission impossible.</p>
<p>First, only some of the roles envisioned for these weapons are realistic, and these roles require far fewer NSNWs than what Russia has today. Second, the Russian leadership's perceptions of NSNWs' roles can change too. In fact, Russia has already either indicated or explicitly stated conditions that if met, would facilitate Moscow's consent to verifiable reductions of Russian and U.S. NSNWs, which are now subject only to unilateral U.S. and Russian presidential initiatives, which are unverifiable and non-binding. There are also a number of other factors that can help lower the value of NSNWs in the eyes of the Russian military-political leadership.</p>
<p>Third, while there are perceived benefits of possessing tactical nuclear weapons, there are also formidable risks and costs incurred by Russia's current NSNW posture.</p>
<p>I would argue that a Russian-U.S. arms control treaty with verification and accounting mechanisms would be a good first step to both reducing these risks and costs and to bringing the numbers of NSNWs down to levels sufficient for the roles that these weapons can realistically play.</p>
<p>To continue reading the paper, download the PDF below.</p>
<p />
| 6,402 |
<p>New President Donald Trump got the news media and the Democrats all in another tizzy by announcing his plan to have the Department of Justice look into voter fraud in the past election, even though he has presented no real evidence of such an occurrence.</p>
<p>His claim of upwards of five million illegally-cast votes, which he also said would give him the victory in the popular vote as well as the Electoral College if his claims are substantiated, were allegedly cast by voters who weren’t registered to vote, along with voters that have been dead, “many for a long time,” according to one of the President’s tweets.</p>
<p>Of course, the opposition party is up in arms, as expected, warning the American public that the investigation will somehow take away certain segments of the population’s right to vote, and will cause undue hardships on minority voters, although just how that will happen is unclear.&#160; That is just the standard response whenever Republicans try to challenge or change anything about the voting process.</p>
<p>Most experts view the investigation as a witch hunt, with few revelations to come out of it, but once again, Trump has managed to give his opposition a free shot by pursuing this effort.&#160; Everyone knows there are voting irregularities, some are probably the result of fraud, some because of confusing polling and counting methods, and some due just to human or machine error.&#160; A lack of a standard voting process from state-to-state just adds to the opportunity for confusion and errors in reporting.</p>
<p>Whether or not there is enough to make any difference in a national election seems unlikely, but in local races where the vote counts are much smaller, these types of errors could change the outcome of the election.&#160; How often that may happen is unknown as well.</p>
<p>But, there is no harm in taking a look, unless the DOJ spends several millions of dollars looking for something that is insignificant.&#160; Look at the recent recount of the presidential totals in Wisconsin, for example.</p>
<p>Green Party candidate Jill Stein requested a recount of the votes, and sure enough, the final tally found that Trump actually increased his lead over Hillary Clinton by 131 votes, once all the numbers were in.&#160; The problem is the final cost of the recount, which, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, was a staggering $2,005,603.09.&#160; Luckily for the Green Party coffers, the actual cost came in under the original $3,499.689 the state had estimated, that the Party had to put up to complete the recount.</p>
<p>This is where the Democrats might just get a break.&#160; Suppose the DOJ spends millions of dollars and finds out that there were voting irregularities all over the country, but the aggregate total was only changed by a few hundred votes?&#160; Those dollars will come out of the taxpayers’ pockets.</p>
<p>Is that not a campaign sound bite just handed to you on a silver platter?&#160; First, the President is portrayed as making a wild, shoot-from-the-hip accusation, that was proven to be as ridiculous as it’s accuser, but the President just spent millions of taxpayer dollars trying to prove his wild accusation was true, without any hard evidence to begin the process.</p>
<p>The election process is not perfect, and there are proven instances of voter fraud, but the consensus is that it is not wide spread, at least not enough to change the outcome of the presidential race.</p>
<p>Those taxpayer dollars would be much better spent in looking for ways to improve the process, including making sure every citizen has the right and the opportunity to vote, but also to vote only one time, and to stop voting after they pass away.</p>
<p>There are laws on the books that allow for the enforcement and prosecution of those who commit voter fraud, they just need to be enforced.</p>
<p>Ironically, the Democrats, who could quite possibly gain from Trump’s folly, are the same ones that have failed to enforce voter fraud laws, and have argued against more secure voter identification in the past.</p>
<p>Strange how things work out in the political world, is it not?</p>
<p />
|
Why Trump’s voter fraud investigation could be seen as a gift to the Democrats
| false |
http://natmonitor.com/2017/01/26/why-trumps-voter-fraud-investigation-could-be-seen-as-a-gift-to-the-democrats/
|
2017-01-26
| 3left-center
|
Why Trump’s voter fraud investigation could be seen as a gift to the Democrats
<p>New President Donald Trump got the news media and the Democrats all in another tizzy by announcing his plan to have the Department of Justice look into voter fraud in the past election, even though he has presented no real evidence of such an occurrence.</p>
<p>His claim of upwards of five million illegally-cast votes, which he also said would give him the victory in the popular vote as well as the Electoral College if his claims are substantiated, were allegedly cast by voters who weren’t registered to vote, along with voters that have been dead, “many for a long time,” according to one of the President’s tweets.</p>
<p>Of course, the opposition party is up in arms, as expected, warning the American public that the investigation will somehow take away certain segments of the population’s right to vote, and will cause undue hardships on minority voters, although just how that will happen is unclear.&#160; That is just the standard response whenever Republicans try to challenge or change anything about the voting process.</p>
<p>Most experts view the investigation as a witch hunt, with few revelations to come out of it, but once again, Trump has managed to give his opposition a free shot by pursuing this effort.&#160; Everyone knows there are voting irregularities, some are probably the result of fraud, some because of confusing polling and counting methods, and some due just to human or machine error.&#160; A lack of a standard voting process from state-to-state just adds to the opportunity for confusion and errors in reporting.</p>
<p>Whether or not there is enough to make any difference in a national election seems unlikely, but in local races where the vote counts are much smaller, these types of errors could change the outcome of the election.&#160; How often that may happen is unknown as well.</p>
<p>But, there is no harm in taking a look, unless the DOJ spends several millions of dollars looking for something that is insignificant.&#160; Look at the recent recount of the presidential totals in Wisconsin, for example.</p>
<p>Green Party candidate Jill Stein requested a recount of the votes, and sure enough, the final tally found that Trump actually increased his lead over Hillary Clinton by 131 votes, once all the numbers were in.&#160; The problem is the final cost of the recount, which, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission, was a staggering $2,005,603.09.&#160; Luckily for the Green Party coffers, the actual cost came in under the original $3,499.689 the state had estimated, that the Party had to put up to complete the recount.</p>
<p>This is where the Democrats might just get a break.&#160; Suppose the DOJ spends millions of dollars and finds out that there were voting irregularities all over the country, but the aggregate total was only changed by a few hundred votes?&#160; Those dollars will come out of the taxpayers’ pockets.</p>
<p>Is that not a campaign sound bite just handed to you on a silver platter?&#160; First, the President is portrayed as making a wild, shoot-from-the-hip accusation, that was proven to be as ridiculous as it’s accuser, but the President just spent millions of taxpayer dollars trying to prove his wild accusation was true, without any hard evidence to begin the process.</p>
<p>The election process is not perfect, and there are proven instances of voter fraud, but the consensus is that it is not wide spread, at least not enough to change the outcome of the presidential race.</p>
<p>Those taxpayer dollars would be much better spent in looking for ways to improve the process, including making sure every citizen has the right and the opportunity to vote, but also to vote only one time, and to stop voting after they pass away.</p>
<p>There are laws on the books that allow for the enforcement and prosecution of those who commit voter fraud, they just need to be enforced.</p>
<p>Ironically, the Democrats, who could quite possibly gain from Trump’s folly, are the same ones that have failed to enforce voter fraud laws, and have argued against more secure voter identification in the past.</p>
<p>Strange how things work out in the political world, is it not?</p>
<p />
| 6,403 |
<p>By Ricardo Brito and Anthony Boadle</p>
<p>BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Michel Temer was charged with obstruction of justice and racketeering on Thursday, according to a statement posted on the prosecutor general’s office website, threatening to delay the government’s economic reform agenda in Congress.</p>
<p>It is the second set of criminal charges filed against the president based on the plea-bargain testimony of the owners of the world’s largest meatpacker, JBS SA.</p>
<p>They accused Temer of taking bribes in return for political favors and of conspiring to buy the silence of a witness who could implicate the leader.</p>
<p>The earlier corruption charge, that he took bribes from JBS officials, was blocked in August by Temer’s allies in the lower house of Congress, which has the power to decide whether a president should stand trial by the Supreme Court. Temer has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>Despite the lower house’s move to block the charges, they remain valid and can be pursued by prosecutors once Temer leaves office. His term ends on Jan. 1, 2019. Brazil’s top public prosecutor, Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot, will also bring charges against Joesley Batista, the billionaire former chairman of JBS who implicated Temer, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Batista was arrested on Sunday for concealing other crimes in his plea bargain deal.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Batista’s brother Wesley, the chief executive officer of JBS SA, was also arrested for alleged insider trading to avoid hefty losses related to the May plea deal.</p>
<p>The arrests of the Batista brothers have improved Temer’s prospects of surviving the new charges and serving out his term through 2018. Temer and his allies expect the new charges to be voted in the lower house next month with wider support than he obtained in the 263-227 vote last month blocking a trial.</p>
<p>The charges are part of Brazil’s sprawling corruption probes that have resulted in ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s conviction and four pending trials; investigations and charges implicating three former presidents and dozens of members of Congress; and guilty verdicts against well over 100 powerful business and political figures.</p>
<p>Most of the schemes involve political kickbacks in return for contracts at government-run enterprises or cheap loans from Brazil’s state development bank. The racketeering charge against Temer was based on the plea bargain testimony of Lúcio Funaro, a businessman who accused the president and his closest aides in the ruling PMDB party of operating a criminal organization to collect bribes in exchange for political influence.</p>
<p>The obstruction of justice charge was based on testimony by Joesley Batista that Temer endorsed payments of hush money to try to keep Funaro from talking.</p>
<p>A short legislative agenda ahead of an election year, the absence of public pressure to oust Temer and the lack of any convincing replacement for him are also likely to weigh in the president’s favor.</p>
<p>“Given the short timetable, the general public apathy and lack of a viable alternative, it is quite possible that Brasilia will continue to punt this down the road,” said Matthew Taylor, a professor at the American University in Washington.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p>
|
Brazil's Temer faces new graft charges over JBS testimony
| false |
https://newsline.com/brazil039s-temer-faces-new-graft-charges-over-jbs-testimony/
|
2017-09-14
| 1right-center
|
Brazil's Temer faces new graft charges over JBS testimony
<p>By Ricardo Brito and Anthony Boadle</p>
<p>BRASILIA (Reuters) – Brazilian President Michel Temer was charged with obstruction of justice and racketeering on Thursday, according to a statement posted on the prosecutor general’s office website, threatening to delay the government’s economic reform agenda in Congress.</p>
<p>It is the second set of criminal charges filed against the president based on the plea-bargain testimony of the owners of the world’s largest meatpacker, JBS SA.</p>
<p>They accused Temer of taking bribes in return for political favors and of conspiring to buy the silence of a witness who could implicate the leader.</p>
<p>The earlier corruption charge, that he took bribes from JBS officials, was blocked in August by Temer’s allies in the lower house of Congress, which has the power to decide whether a president should stand trial by the Supreme Court. Temer has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>Despite the lower house’s move to block the charges, they remain valid and can be pursued by prosecutors once Temer leaves office. His term ends on Jan. 1, 2019. Brazil’s top public prosecutor, Prosecutor General Rodrigo Janot, will also bring charges against Joesley Batista, the billionaire former chairman of JBS who implicated Temer, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Batista was arrested on Sunday for concealing other crimes in his plea bargain deal.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, Batista’s brother Wesley, the chief executive officer of JBS SA, was also arrested for alleged insider trading to avoid hefty losses related to the May plea deal.</p>
<p>The arrests of the Batista brothers have improved Temer’s prospects of surviving the new charges and serving out his term through 2018. Temer and his allies expect the new charges to be voted in the lower house next month with wider support than he obtained in the 263-227 vote last month blocking a trial.</p>
<p>The charges are part of Brazil’s sprawling corruption probes that have resulted in ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s conviction and four pending trials; investigations and charges implicating three former presidents and dozens of members of Congress; and guilty verdicts against well over 100 powerful business and political figures.</p>
<p>Most of the schemes involve political kickbacks in return for contracts at government-run enterprises or cheap loans from Brazil’s state development bank. The racketeering charge against Temer was based on the plea bargain testimony of Lúcio Funaro, a businessman who accused the president and his closest aides in the ruling PMDB party of operating a criminal organization to collect bribes in exchange for political influence.</p>
<p>The obstruction of justice charge was based on testimony by Joesley Batista that Temer endorsed payments of hush money to try to keep Funaro from talking.</p>
<p>A short legislative agenda ahead of an election year, the absence of public pressure to oust Temer and the lack of any convincing replacement for him are also likely to weigh in the president’s favor.</p>
<p>“Given the short timetable, the general public apathy and lack of a viable alternative, it is quite possible that Brasilia will continue to punt this down the road,” said Matthew Taylor, a professor at the American University in Washington.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p>
| 6,404 |
<p>The second plane, as no one needs to be told, was the one that hit the World Trade Center’s second tower. And it was the one which, as <a href="http://www.martinamisweb.com/%20" type="external">Martin Amis</a> found himself writing within a few days of the event, utterly annihilated the hope that what was happening that September morning might have been nothing more than a terrible, tragic accident: “That was the defining moment. Until then, America thought she was witnessing nothing more serious than the worst aviation disaster in history; now she had a sense of the fantastic vehemence ranged against her. … That second plane looked eagerly alive, and galvanized with malice, and wholly alien. For those thousands in the South Tower, the second plane meant the end of everything. For us, its glint was the worldflash of a coming future.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=1400044545%26tag=truthdig20-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/1400044545%253FSubscriptionId=0P6YZRHNJFV404XJNNG2" type="external" /></p>
<p>By Martin Amis</p>
<p>Knopf, 224 pages</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=1400044545%26tag=truthdig20-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/1400044545%253FSubscriptionId=0P6YZRHNJFV404XJNNG2" type="external" /></p>
<p>Amis, of course, is best known as the author of such novels as “The Information,” “Money” and “London Fields.” His most frequent fictional mode is a species of carefully observed, somewhat brutal and frequently hilarious social satire. But his new book, “The Second Plane: September 11: Terror and Boredom,” is a pure product of the “coming future” he speaks of here, a book fully shaped by the single event that many take to have defined our era. “The Second Plane” collects 14 of Amis’ recent short works: essays, reviews, a pair of short stories. Granted its unifying theme, the book is still something of a hodgepodge; it was clearly not conceived as a cohesive work. But the pieces’ very lack of unity feels somehow appropriate to the subject. Here are 14 attempts, each one almost self-confessedly a failure, to respond in an adequate way to what cannot adequately be responded to.</p>
<p>“The Second Plane” affords an interesting opportunity: to watch an intelligent person trying, over time, to think through the unthinkable turn his reality has taken. “I have cut nothing,” Amis remarks in his author’s note, “briefly tempting though it was, at times, to cover my tracks.” These tracks, and the evolution of the author’s desires to cover them, are perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book. Amis’ views on some matters remain fairly constant: He is reliably critical both of the Bush presidency and of the Iraq war, for example. But his thoughts on the book’s deepest question — what are the obligations that violence, and in particular mass slaughter, thrusts upon us as inhabitants of the world in which it occurs? — undergo a quite noticeable transformation over the six years the book’s writings represent.</p>
<p>The opening piece, “The Second Plane,” was published a mere week after September 11. Here we find Amis shocked and bewildered, but interestingly open-minded and up to the challenge of thinking about the terrorist act in all its aspects and implications, up to and including a consideration of why the terrorists did it: “It will also be horribly difficult and painful for Americans to absorb the fact that they are hated, and hated intelligibly. How many of them know, for example, that their government has destroyed at least 5 percent of the Iraqi population? How many of them then transfer that figure to America (and come up with fourteen million)? Various national characteristics — self-reliance, a fiercer patriotism than any in Western Europe, an assiduous geographical incuriosity — have created a deficit of empathy for the sufferings of people far away. … Unless Pakistan can actually deliver bin Laden, the American retaliation is almost sure to become elephantine. Then terror from above will replenish the source of all terror from below: unhealed wounds.”</p>
<p>Of all the possible cuts that must have tempted Amis, the one that was most difficult to resist was surely that word intelligibly. For the idea that America was intelligibly hated — the idea that any aspect of the terrorists’ sentiments and actions could be considered even minimally intelligible or rational or comprehensible — is precisely what he would come to want to deny. This is nowhere more evident than in the author’s note: “The first piece — published on September 18, 2001 — has a slightly hallucinatory quality (it is fevered by shock and by rumor), and also indulges in what Paul Berman, the author of Terror and Liberalism, has called ‘rationalist naïveté’ — a reflexive search for the morally intelligible, which always leads to the chimera of ‘moral equivalence.’&#160;”</p>
<p>By Sept. 18 many people, particularly in the United States, had decided that understanding the terrorists’ motives, not to mention the American foreign policy decisions that had helped form the background for the attacks, was precisely the last thing they wanted to do. (Amis, apparently, took somewhat longer to come around to this point of view, but eventually he did.) This refusal to reflect, to investigate, to learn, still seems regrettable, but the reaction is perhaps not impossible to understand. In the shadow of an atrocity of this magnitude, any attempt at explanation might be seen as amounting to the suggestion that the victims “had it coming.” One wants to retort that this worry is ungrounded: It is acknowledged by all reasonable parties that no one could possibly have had this coming, whatever damage American foreign policy might have done. Still, the worry persists, particularly in light of the knowledge that not all of the concerned parties are reasonable, that there are those who will take any proffered explanation of the terrorists’ actions as amounting to a justification.</p>
<p>The temptation, in the light of this, is to insist on regarding the attacks as an incomprehensible event, something so alien to our sense of morality that any attempt to penetrate its baffling surface is doomed to failure, and indeed risks pulling us into the moral void that lies at its core. The perpetrators are not to be regarded as rational agents, and certainly not as political actors, but as the exact opposite, members of a “death cult” that rejects reason altogether: “Thanatism derives its real energy, its fever and its magic, from something far more radical. And here we approach a pathology that may in the end be unassimilable to the non-believing mind. I mean the rejection of reason — the rejection of the sequitur, of cause and effect, of two plus two. … To transcend reason is of course to transcend the confines of moral law; it is to enter the illimitable world of insanity and death.” It should probably be acknowledged that in at least some cases, the “death cult” description rings reasonably true. Still, one can’t help but think that there remains something we ought rationally to try to understand, and that is the surprising and distressing level of identification with the perpetrators of 9/11 among moderate Muslims who cannot be written off as being brainwashed by a death cult, who in fact seem to have values rather similar to those values Westerners claim as their own. Moreover, one must take seriously the fact that, against the background of the religious claims the members of the “death cult” accept, even they can be viewed as displaying a kind of disturbing, perverse rationality — so long as one manages to forget how irrational one needs to be to accept such beliefs to begin with.</p>
<p>What of “the chimera of ‘moral equivalence’&#160;“? Here, too, one might feel considerable sympathy for Amis’ position while nonetheless hesitating to completely endorse his stance. The trouble is that “moral equivalence” can mean two very different things. First, the phrase can stand for the idea that what the terrorists have done is no worse, from a moral point of view, than what our governments have done. Let us suppose that Amis is right to reject it in this sense. (I will return to this question.) Still, there is a second sense of moral equivalence that needs to be distinguished: the idea that everyone, including the radical Islamists and including ourselves, should be held to the same moral standards.</p>
<p>In this sense, “moral equivalence” amounts to a claim of moral universalism. And this, too, is an idea that many would deny. Indeed it seems to constitute a kind of moral common sense among a significant number of Americans that American actions are not subject to evaluation by the same standards as are the actions of others — a fact about which Amis, early in the book, displays an admirable awareness: “Most crucially, and again most painfully, being right and being good support the American self to an almost tautological degree: Americans are good and right by virtue of being American. Saul Bellow’s word for this habit is ‘angelization.’&#160;”</p>
<p>Amis is correct here to draw a link between this odious form of American exceptionalism, according to which we can do no wrong (the sort of thinking that justifies our belief in the legitimacy of our possessing weapons of mass destruction while being morally affronted at the thought that any other nation might want to possess them), and the lack of concern in this country for the suffering of others. The American media pay vastly more attention to the <a href="http://icasualties.org/oif/%20" type="external">American body count</a> in Iraq than to the much larger number of <a href="http://www.iraqbodycount.org/%20" type="external">Iraqi civilian deaths</a>; relatively few Americans seem troubled by the latter figure, or have cited it as a compelling objection to the Iraq war.</p>
<p>American right-wing thinkers have tended to encourage this “angelization” by reacting with overstated outrage to any suggestion that residents of the Western world be treated as inhabiting the same moral universe as the terrorists (or, in all too many cases, as Muslims or Arabs in general). Against this background, Amis needs to work somewhat harder to separate himself from this position, to close off the possibility that his somewhat vitriolic denunciations of the idea of moral equivalence might be read as the claim that nothing we do could possibly be as bad as what the terrorists have done — when what he seems to want to say is that as a matter of substantive fact, and as measured by moral standards applying to all, what the terrorists have done does indeed turn out to be worse than anything we have done.</p>
<p>Moreover, the substantive issue is not quite as straightforwardly obvious as Amis would appear to think. One needs at least to acknowledge that both the U.S. and Britain have engaged in the intentional mass killing of civilians: the indiscriminate bombings of German and Japanese cities in World War II. This is not to equate the two cases from a moral point of view. The bombings of German and Japanese civilians were strategic, and seen as means to an end — means, indeed, toward the end, that is, the end of the war. The architects of September 11, by contrast, killed as an expressive act, in which what was expressed was a passionate and genocidal rage, expecting nothing to come of it but death, destruction and terror. They killed to increase killing, indeed to inspire it, not to end it.</p>
<p>So Amis is right that the more correct comparison is with what the Nazis did, and not with what the Americans and British did, in World War II. Still, he ought to have mentioned the latter, as ought all who treat with contempt the idea that there is any sort of moral equivalence to be found here. The bombing of German and Japanese cities was not morally equivalent to September 11, but there is an important commonality: They both involve the intentional mass killing of civilians, which is never permissible or justifiable. We can emphasize this while still insisting that the existence of the earlier case does absolutely nothing to justify the latter, and that the comparison of the two cases does not at all decrease the gravity of the September 11 attacks, let alone somehow render them excusable. In fact its effect should be the opposite: to remind us of how serious, and how unforgivable, are some of the things that have been done in our name.</p>
<p>There is a certain tendency to treat jihadists as if they have simply pulled out of thin air the idea that parts of the Quran seem to advocate violence against non-Muslims. It would be considerably more pleasant, of course, if there were no such passages to be found. But there are, and so moderates find themselves needing some way of trying to render them palatable.These days, the attempt is frequently based on a “partners in crime” approach. When one of the participants in a public discussion points out that the Quran does, in fact, contain passages which at least apparently condone violence against non-Muslims and other barbarities, it is almost certain that someone will respond with, “Ah, but so does the Bible.” So a passage in which Allah calls for the mass slaughter of non-Muslims is juxtaposed with, say, Deuteronomy 20:17. (“But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.”) It is thus supposed to be established that we, as members of a culture shaped by Christianity, are in no position to criticize the Quran for whatever injunctions to violence it might contain.</p>
<p>The popularity of this strategy is both perplexing and appalling. Why is the comparison supposed to carry any weight at all? Why, that is, are we to assume that when someone is criticizing the Quran, he or she is doing it from a Biblical perspective? Why can’t we reject both? Amis would reply that we can, and should — indeed, we can and should — reject them all: “Since it is no longer permissible to disparage any single faith or creed, let us start disparaging all of them. To be clear: an ideology is a belief system with an inadequate basis in reality; a religion is a belief system with no basis in reality whatever. Religious belief is without reason and without dignity, and its record is near-universally dreadful. It is straightforward — and never mind, for now, about plagues and famines: if God existed, and if he cared for humankind, he would never have given us religion.”</p>
<p>This hostility toward religion will displease both moderates and extremists. Amis might seem more tolerant elsewhere, when he draws the distinction between fear of Islam, and fear of Islamism: “I was once asked: ‘Are you an Islamophobe?’ And the answer is no. What I am is an Islamismophobe, or better say an anti-Islamist, because a phobia is an irrational fear, and it is not irrational to fear something that says it wants to kill you.”</p>
<p>But this need not — and, in Amis’ case, does not — imply a tolerance toward moderate religion in the philosophical or emotional sense. To say that we should not fear moderate religion is not to say that we should admire or embrace it. Nor does either amount to a claim about whether moderate faith should be legally or politically tolerated. Nowhere in “The Second Plane” is it suggested that anyone ought to be denied the right to believe and practice Islam, or any other faith. It is perfectly consistent to claim that “[t]oday, in the West, there are no good excuses for religious belief — unless we think that ignorance, reaction, and sentimentality are good excuses,” while allowing that people have the right to act in ways for which they have no good excuse, so long as they do not infringe other people’s rights in the process.</p>
<p>Amis is, moreover, perfectly on target when he decries the current tendency to identify moderate religion as the mainstream, and to treat skepticism and, in particular, atheism as kinds of extremism — mirror images, as it were, of religious fundamentalism: “In this general view, fundamentalists are on one wing, atheists are on the other, and the supposed center is occupied by moderate believers and a few laconic agnostics. Secular fanaticism, secular hatred — these equivalencies are fictions. … The key point, of course, is that secularism contains no warrant for action. One can afford to be crude about this. When Islamists crash passenger planes into buildings, or hack off the heads of hostages, they shout, ‘God is great!’ When secularists do that kind of thing, what do they shout?”</p>
<p>This is, indeed, somewhat crude, but it is, perhaps, refreshingly crude: There is a truth here that is too infrequently expressed. (One can’t help but wish, though, that Amis had mentioned the second key difference, which is that the standard skeptic, unlike the typical religious believer, is able to say what evidence it would take to make her change her beliefs.)</p>
<p>Amis’ comments in a 2006 interview with The Times of London were cruder still, and less defensibly so. There, he seemed to suggest open discrimination against Muslims and “people who look like they’re from the Middle East or from Pakistan” — measures including travel restrictions and, potentially, deportation — in order to encourage the community to crack down on its more violent members. Amis has since distanced himself from these remarks, claiming that he was not making a serious policy suggestion but simply “conversationally describing an urge — an urge that soon wore off.”</p>
<p>One might well hesitate to let him off quite so easily: The remarks really were not only, as he himself now admits, “stupid,” but deeply offensive. (Such overtly discriminatory policies have something important in common with terrorism: They violate the rule that the innocent are not to be punished for the crimes of others.) On the other hand, the price of engaging in moral thought in a serious way — rather than simply standing on the sidelines and muttering platitudes about the goodness of peace and tolerance — is that one will on occasion give offense, including legitimate offense; and the only way to guarantee that one never hits the wrong target is to avoid taking any sort of stand at all. This is clearly a price Martin Amis is not willing to pay. In response, his intellectual opponents have attempted to dismiss his criticisms of militant Islamism as nothing more than intolerant expressions of right-wing prejudice. But this charge is badly overinflated. If Amis’ writings are intolerant, then it is intolerance of an admirable sort — the attitude that refuses to tolerate the oppression of, and the infliction of violence on, women, nonbelievers and others. Jihadism, as Amis recently <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/books/review/Donadio-t.html?_r=1&amp;pagewanted=print&amp;oref=slogin%20" type="external">told Rachel Donadio</a> of The New York Times, is “racist, homophobic, totalitarian, genocidal, inquisitorial and imperialistic. Surely there should be no difficulty in announcing one’s hostility to that, but there is.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.csuchico.edu/~tjollimore/%20" type="external">Troy Jollimore</a> is Associate Professor in the philosophy department at California State University, Chico. His reviews and essays have appeared in venues including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Book Review and St. Louis Magazine. His first book of poetry,”Tom Thomson in Purgatory,” won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2006.</p>
|
Troy Jollimore on Martin Amis' 'The Second Plane'
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/troy-jollimore-on-martin-amis-the-second-plane/
|
2008-04-25
| 4left
|
Troy Jollimore on Martin Amis' 'The Second Plane'
<p>The second plane, as no one needs to be told, was the one that hit the World Trade Center’s second tower. And it was the one which, as <a href="http://www.martinamisweb.com/%20" type="external">Martin Amis</a> found himself writing within a few days of the event, utterly annihilated the hope that what was happening that September morning might have been nothing more than a terrible, tragic accident: “That was the defining moment. Until then, America thought she was witnessing nothing more serious than the worst aviation disaster in history; now she had a sense of the fantastic vehemence ranged against her. … That second plane looked eagerly alive, and galvanized with malice, and wholly alien. For those thousands in the South Tower, the second plane meant the end of everything. For us, its glint was the worldflash of a coming future.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=1400044545%26tag=truthdig20-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/1400044545%253FSubscriptionId=0P6YZRHNJFV404XJNNG2" type="external" /></p>
<p>By Martin Amis</p>
<p>Knopf, 224 pages</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html%3FASIN=1400044545%26tag=truthdig20-20%26lcode=xm2%26cID=2025%26ccmID=165953%26location=/o/ASIN/1400044545%253FSubscriptionId=0P6YZRHNJFV404XJNNG2" type="external" /></p>
<p>Amis, of course, is best known as the author of such novels as “The Information,” “Money” and “London Fields.” His most frequent fictional mode is a species of carefully observed, somewhat brutal and frequently hilarious social satire. But his new book, “The Second Plane: September 11: Terror and Boredom,” is a pure product of the “coming future” he speaks of here, a book fully shaped by the single event that many take to have defined our era. “The Second Plane” collects 14 of Amis’ recent short works: essays, reviews, a pair of short stories. Granted its unifying theme, the book is still something of a hodgepodge; it was clearly not conceived as a cohesive work. But the pieces’ very lack of unity feels somehow appropriate to the subject. Here are 14 attempts, each one almost self-confessedly a failure, to respond in an adequate way to what cannot adequately be responded to.</p>
<p>“The Second Plane” affords an interesting opportunity: to watch an intelligent person trying, over time, to think through the unthinkable turn his reality has taken. “I have cut nothing,” Amis remarks in his author’s note, “briefly tempting though it was, at times, to cover my tracks.” These tracks, and the evolution of the author’s desires to cover them, are perhaps the most interesting aspect of the book. Amis’ views on some matters remain fairly constant: He is reliably critical both of the Bush presidency and of the Iraq war, for example. But his thoughts on the book’s deepest question — what are the obligations that violence, and in particular mass slaughter, thrusts upon us as inhabitants of the world in which it occurs? — undergo a quite noticeable transformation over the six years the book’s writings represent.</p>
<p>The opening piece, “The Second Plane,” was published a mere week after September 11. Here we find Amis shocked and bewildered, but interestingly open-minded and up to the challenge of thinking about the terrorist act in all its aspects and implications, up to and including a consideration of why the terrorists did it: “It will also be horribly difficult and painful for Americans to absorb the fact that they are hated, and hated intelligibly. How many of them know, for example, that their government has destroyed at least 5 percent of the Iraqi population? How many of them then transfer that figure to America (and come up with fourteen million)? Various national characteristics — self-reliance, a fiercer patriotism than any in Western Europe, an assiduous geographical incuriosity — have created a deficit of empathy for the sufferings of people far away. … Unless Pakistan can actually deliver bin Laden, the American retaliation is almost sure to become elephantine. Then terror from above will replenish the source of all terror from below: unhealed wounds.”</p>
<p>Of all the possible cuts that must have tempted Amis, the one that was most difficult to resist was surely that word intelligibly. For the idea that America was intelligibly hated — the idea that any aspect of the terrorists’ sentiments and actions could be considered even minimally intelligible or rational or comprehensible — is precisely what he would come to want to deny. This is nowhere more evident than in the author’s note: “The first piece — published on September 18, 2001 — has a slightly hallucinatory quality (it is fevered by shock and by rumor), and also indulges in what Paul Berman, the author of Terror and Liberalism, has called ‘rationalist naïveté’ — a reflexive search for the morally intelligible, which always leads to the chimera of ‘moral equivalence.’&#160;”</p>
<p>By Sept. 18 many people, particularly in the United States, had decided that understanding the terrorists’ motives, not to mention the American foreign policy decisions that had helped form the background for the attacks, was precisely the last thing they wanted to do. (Amis, apparently, took somewhat longer to come around to this point of view, but eventually he did.) This refusal to reflect, to investigate, to learn, still seems regrettable, but the reaction is perhaps not impossible to understand. In the shadow of an atrocity of this magnitude, any attempt at explanation might be seen as amounting to the suggestion that the victims “had it coming.” One wants to retort that this worry is ungrounded: It is acknowledged by all reasonable parties that no one could possibly have had this coming, whatever damage American foreign policy might have done. Still, the worry persists, particularly in light of the knowledge that not all of the concerned parties are reasonable, that there are those who will take any proffered explanation of the terrorists’ actions as amounting to a justification.</p>
<p>The temptation, in the light of this, is to insist on regarding the attacks as an incomprehensible event, something so alien to our sense of morality that any attempt to penetrate its baffling surface is doomed to failure, and indeed risks pulling us into the moral void that lies at its core. The perpetrators are not to be regarded as rational agents, and certainly not as political actors, but as the exact opposite, members of a “death cult” that rejects reason altogether: “Thanatism derives its real energy, its fever and its magic, from something far more radical. And here we approach a pathology that may in the end be unassimilable to the non-believing mind. I mean the rejection of reason — the rejection of the sequitur, of cause and effect, of two plus two. … To transcend reason is of course to transcend the confines of moral law; it is to enter the illimitable world of insanity and death.” It should probably be acknowledged that in at least some cases, the “death cult” description rings reasonably true. Still, one can’t help but think that there remains something we ought rationally to try to understand, and that is the surprising and distressing level of identification with the perpetrators of 9/11 among moderate Muslims who cannot be written off as being brainwashed by a death cult, who in fact seem to have values rather similar to those values Westerners claim as their own. Moreover, one must take seriously the fact that, against the background of the religious claims the members of the “death cult” accept, even they can be viewed as displaying a kind of disturbing, perverse rationality — so long as one manages to forget how irrational one needs to be to accept such beliefs to begin with.</p>
<p>What of “the chimera of ‘moral equivalence’&#160;“? Here, too, one might feel considerable sympathy for Amis’ position while nonetheless hesitating to completely endorse his stance. The trouble is that “moral equivalence” can mean two very different things. First, the phrase can stand for the idea that what the terrorists have done is no worse, from a moral point of view, than what our governments have done. Let us suppose that Amis is right to reject it in this sense. (I will return to this question.) Still, there is a second sense of moral equivalence that needs to be distinguished: the idea that everyone, including the radical Islamists and including ourselves, should be held to the same moral standards.</p>
<p>In this sense, “moral equivalence” amounts to a claim of moral universalism. And this, too, is an idea that many would deny. Indeed it seems to constitute a kind of moral common sense among a significant number of Americans that American actions are not subject to evaluation by the same standards as are the actions of others — a fact about which Amis, early in the book, displays an admirable awareness: “Most crucially, and again most painfully, being right and being good support the American self to an almost tautological degree: Americans are good and right by virtue of being American. Saul Bellow’s word for this habit is ‘angelization.’&#160;”</p>
<p>Amis is correct here to draw a link between this odious form of American exceptionalism, according to which we can do no wrong (the sort of thinking that justifies our belief in the legitimacy of our possessing weapons of mass destruction while being morally affronted at the thought that any other nation might want to possess them), and the lack of concern in this country for the suffering of others. The American media pay vastly more attention to the <a href="http://icasualties.org/oif/%20" type="external">American body count</a> in Iraq than to the much larger number of <a href="http://www.iraqbodycount.org/%20" type="external">Iraqi civilian deaths</a>; relatively few Americans seem troubled by the latter figure, or have cited it as a compelling objection to the Iraq war.</p>
<p>American right-wing thinkers have tended to encourage this “angelization” by reacting with overstated outrage to any suggestion that residents of the Western world be treated as inhabiting the same moral universe as the terrorists (or, in all too many cases, as Muslims or Arabs in general). Against this background, Amis needs to work somewhat harder to separate himself from this position, to close off the possibility that his somewhat vitriolic denunciations of the idea of moral equivalence might be read as the claim that nothing we do could possibly be as bad as what the terrorists have done — when what he seems to want to say is that as a matter of substantive fact, and as measured by moral standards applying to all, what the terrorists have done does indeed turn out to be worse than anything we have done.</p>
<p>Moreover, the substantive issue is not quite as straightforwardly obvious as Amis would appear to think. One needs at least to acknowledge that both the U.S. and Britain have engaged in the intentional mass killing of civilians: the indiscriminate bombings of German and Japanese cities in World War II. This is not to equate the two cases from a moral point of view. The bombings of German and Japanese civilians were strategic, and seen as means to an end — means, indeed, toward the end, that is, the end of the war. The architects of September 11, by contrast, killed as an expressive act, in which what was expressed was a passionate and genocidal rage, expecting nothing to come of it but death, destruction and terror. They killed to increase killing, indeed to inspire it, not to end it.</p>
<p>So Amis is right that the more correct comparison is with what the Nazis did, and not with what the Americans and British did, in World War II. Still, he ought to have mentioned the latter, as ought all who treat with contempt the idea that there is any sort of moral equivalence to be found here. The bombing of German and Japanese cities was not morally equivalent to September 11, but there is an important commonality: They both involve the intentional mass killing of civilians, which is never permissible or justifiable. We can emphasize this while still insisting that the existence of the earlier case does absolutely nothing to justify the latter, and that the comparison of the two cases does not at all decrease the gravity of the September 11 attacks, let alone somehow render them excusable. In fact its effect should be the opposite: to remind us of how serious, and how unforgivable, are some of the things that have been done in our name.</p>
<p>There is a certain tendency to treat jihadists as if they have simply pulled out of thin air the idea that parts of the Quran seem to advocate violence against non-Muslims. It would be considerably more pleasant, of course, if there were no such passages to be found. But there are, and so moderates find themselves needing some way of trying to render them palatable.These days, the attempt is frequently based on a “partners in crime” approach. When one of the participants in a public discussion points out that the Quran does, in fact, contain passages which at least apparently condone violence against non-Muslims and other barbarities, it is almost certain that someone will respond with, “Ah, but so does the Bible.” So a passage in which Allah calls for the mass slaughter of non-Muslims is juxtaposed with, say, Deuteronomy 20:17. (“But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.”) It is thus supposed to be established that we, as members of a culture shaped by Christianity, are in no position to criticize the Quran for whatever injunctions to violence it might contain.</p>
<p>The popularity of this strategy is both perplexing and appalling. Why is the comparison supposed to carry any weight at all? Why, that is, are we to assume that when someone is criticizing the Quran, he or she is doing it from a Biblical perspective? Why can’t we reject both? Amis would reply that we can, and should — indeed, we can and should — reject them all: “Since it is no longer permissible to disparage any single faith or creed, let us start disparaging all of them. To be clear: an ideology is a belief system with an inadequate basis in reality; a religion is a belief system with no basis in reality whatever. Religious belief is without reason and without dignity, and its record is near-universally dreadful. It is straightforward — and never mind, for now, about plagues and famines: if God existed, and if he cared for humankind, he would never have given us religion.”</p>
<p>This hostility toward religion will displease both moderates and extremists. Amis might seem more tolerant elsewhere, when he draws the distinction between fear of Islam, and fear of Islamism: “I was once asked: ‘Are you an Islamophobe?’ And the answer is no. What I am is an Islamismophobe, or better say an anti-Islamist, because a phobia is an irrational fear, and it is not irrational to fear something that says it wants to kill you.”</p>
<p>But this need not — and, in Amis’ case, does not — imply a tolerance toward moderate religion in the philosophical or emotional sense. To say that we should not fear moderate religion is not to say that we should admire or embrace it. Nor does either amount to a claim about whether moderate faith should be legally or politically tolerated. Nowhere in “The Second Plane” is it suggested that anyone ought to be denied the right to believe and practice Islam, or any other faith. It is perfectly consistent to claim that “[t]oday, in the West, there are no good excuses for religious belief — unless we think that ignorance, reaction, and sentimentality are good excuses,” while allowing that people have the right to act in ways for which they have no good excuse, so long as they do not infringe other people’s rights in the process.</p>
<p>Amis is, moreover, perfectly on target when he decries the current tendency to identify moderate religion as the mainstream, and to treat skepticism and, in particular, atheism as kinds of extremism — mirror images, as it were, of religious fundamentalism: “In this general view, fundamentalists are on one wing, atheists are on the other, and the supposed center is occupied by moderate believers and a few laconic agnostics. Secular fanaticism, secular hatred — these equivalencies are fictions. … The key point, of course, is that secularism contains no warrant for action. One can afford to be crude about this. When Islamists crash passenger planes into buildings, or hack off the heads of hostages, they shout, ‘God is great!’ When secularists do that kind of thing, what do they shout?”</p>
<p>This is, indeed, somewhat crude, but it is, perhaps, refreshingly crude: There is a truth here that is too infrequently expressed. (One can’t help but wish, though, that Amis had mentioned the second key difference, which is that the standard skeptic, unlike the typical religious believer, is able to say what evidence it would take to make her change her beliefs.)</p>
<p>Amis’ comments in a 2006 interview with The Times of London were cruder still, and less defensibly so. There, he seemed to suggest open discrimination against Muslims and “people who look like they’re from the Middle East or from Pakistan” — measures including travel restrictions and, potentially, deportation — in order to encourage the community to crack down on its more violent members. Amis has since distanced himself from these remarks, claiming that he was not making a serious policy suggestion but simply “conversationally describing an urge — an urge that soon wore off.”</p>
<p>One might well hesitate to let him off quite so easily: The remarks really were not only, as he himself now admits, “stupid,” but deeply offensive. (Such overtly discriminatory policies have something important in common with terrorism: They violate the rule that the innocent are not to be punished for the crimes of others.) On the other hand, the price of engaging in moral thought in a serious way — rather than simply standing on the sidelines and muttering platitudes about the goodness of peace and tolerance — is that one will on occasion give offense, including legitimate offense; and the only way to guarantee that one never hits the wrong target is to avoid taking any sort of stand at all. This is clearly a price Martin Amis is not willing to pay. In response, his intellectual opponents have attempted to dismiss his criticisms of militant Islamism as nothing more than intolerant expressions of right-wing prejudice. But this charge is badly overinflated. If Amis’ writings are intolerant, then it is intolerance of an admirable sort — the attitude that refuses to tolerate the oppression of, and the infliction of violence on, women, nonbelievers and others. Jihadism, as Amis recently <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/books/review/Donadio-t.html?_r=1&amp;pagewanted=print&amp;oref=slogin%20" type="external">told Rachel Donadio</a> of The New York Times, is “racist, homophobic, totalitarian, genocidal, inquisitorial and imperialistic. Surely there should be no difficulty in announcing one’s hostility to that, but there is.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.csuchico.edu/~tjollimore/%20" type="external">Troy Jollimore</a> is Associate Professor in the philosophy department at California State University, Chico. His reviews and essays have appeared in venues including the San Francisco Chronicle, the Boston Book Review and St. Louis Magazine. His first book of poetry,”Tom Thomson in Purgatory,” won the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2006.</p>
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<p>Cal Ripken, Jr., Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and Ripken Baseball CEO, on his career, the NFL national anthem protests and the challenges of being a small business owner.</p>
<p>Cal Ripken, Jr., known as “The Iron Man” who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles from 1981 to 2001, told FOX Business the key to performing at a high level is consistency.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“You can’t really accomplish anything unless you’re willing to come in, roll your sleeves up and get to work,” Ripken told Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria.”</p>
<p>The Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, who shattered multiple MLB records including most consecutive games played at 2,632, gave advice to the younger generation of players.</p>
<p>“You’ve got to find a way to play hurt. And hurt meaning something less than 100%,” he said. “If you can get the confidence to figure out how you can make contributions at less than your best then you’re a more valuable employee.”</p>
<p>At a time when most professional baseball players are bigger, stronger, faster and more injury stricken, Ripken tiptoed around whether the current generation requires a higher degree of mental toughness, but recalled playing through a painful herniated disk in 1997.</p>
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<p>“That was after the record was broken, so it wasn’t about that. We were good. We were beating the Yankees from the first day of the season to the last and they were pushing us a little bit… I was faced with a decision. I’ve been through these rebuilding processes, I want to play now. So I asked the doctor whether I could play through that [and I asked] if I can do any damage. He said ‘no’ and I said well ‘I’ll try,’” he said.</p>
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Cal Ripken, Jr. says MLB is very different today, confidence makes you ‘more valuable’
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http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/20/cal-ripkin-jr-says-mlb-is-very-different-today-confidence-makes-more-valuable.html
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2017-10-20
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Cal Ripken, Jr. says MLB is very different today, confidence makes you ‘more valuable’
<p>Cal Ripken, Jr., Major League Baseball Hall of Famer and Ripken Baseball CEO, on his career, the NFL national anthem protests and the challenges of being a small business owner.</p>
<p>Cal Ripken, Jr., known as “The Iron Man” who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles from 1981 to 2001, told FOX Business the key to performing at a high level is consistency.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>“You can’t really accomplish anything unless you’re willing to come in, roll your sleeves up and get to work,” Ripken told Maria Bartiromo on “Mornings with Maria.”</p>
<p>The Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, who shattered multiple MLB records including most consecutive games played at 2,632, gave advice to the younger generation of players.</p>
<p>“You’ve got to find a way to play hurt. And hurt meaning something less than 100%,” he said. “If you can get the confidence to figure out how you can make contributions at less than your best then you’re a more valuable employee.”</p>
<p>At a time when most professional baseball players are bigger, stronger, faster and more injury stricken, Ripken tiptoed around whether the current generation requires a higher degree of mental toughness, but recalled playing through a painful herniated disk in 1997.</p>
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<p>“That was after the record was broken, so it wasn’t about that. We were good. We were beating the Yankees from the first day of the season to the last and they were pushing us a little bit… I was faced with a decision. I’ve been through these rebuilding processes, I want to play now. So I asked the doctor whether I could play through that [and I asked] if I can do any damage. He said ‘no’ and I said well ‘I’ll try,’” he said.</p>
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<p>Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and other Wall Street firms now say that a "yes" vote to strike Syria means that Congress will approve a “temporary” extension of spending authority, the GOP will not be able to shut down the government over health reform, and Congress could soften sequestration cuts.</p>
<p>ACG Analytics also says it “does not expect either a government shutdown or breach of the debt ceiling to occur,” but it does expect “market volatility” in mid to late October as Congress waits until the eleventh hour once again to pass a debt limit increase.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Summer recess ends for Congress next week, and returning lawmakers will face a debt ceiling fight in late October, as well as fiscal 2014 budget deals and the next round of &#160;sequestration spending cuts that go into effect in mid-January.</p>
<p>ACG says: “Ultimately, our base-case anticipates the FY14 budget will maintain a top-line discretionary spending level of $967 billion once sequestration is implemented in January.&#160;Despite confrontational rhetoric over the debt limit from Republicans, GOP leadership will be left with no choice but to orchestrate a punt that effectively postpones further action until after the midterm elections in November 2014.&#160;The punt will carry&#160;some form of fig leaf that avoids appearing as though Republicans are caving to Democrats' refusal to negotiate over the debt limit.”</p>
<p>It also points out: “With the House only scheduled to be in session for nine days in September and a debate on military action in Syria scheduled as the first order of business, there is no time for political theatrics over the FY14 budget. Thus, the House is expected to pass a stopgap funding measure called a continuing resolution (CR) at the current $988 billion discretionary spending level by September 20th that will likely last for approximately 60 days. The Senate will approve it soon thereafter. &#160;The Treasury Department sent Congress a letter last week warning that the debt limit is at risk of being breached in mid-October without specifying a particular deadline.”</p>
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“Yes” Vote on Syria Lessens Odds of Budget Fight
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2016-03-02
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“Yes” Vote on Syria Lessens Odds of Budget Fight
<p>Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) and other Wall Street firms now say that a "yes" vote to strike Syria means that Congress will approve a “temporary” extension of spending authority, the GOP will not be able to shut down the government over health reform, and Congress could soften sequestration cuts.</p>
<p>ACG Analytics also says it “does not expect either a government shutdown or breach of the debt ceiling to occur,” but it does expect “market volatility” in mid to late October as Congress waits until the eleventh hour once again to pass a debt limit increase.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Summer recess ends for Congress next week, and returning lawmakers will face a debt ceiling fight in late October, as well as fiscal 2014 budget deals and the next round of &#160;sequestration spending cuts that go into effect in mid-January.</p>
<p>ACG says: “Ultimately, our base-case anticipates the FY14 budget will maintain a top-line discretionary spending level of $967 billion once sequestration is implemented in January.&#160;Despite confrontational rhetoric over the debt limit from Republicans, GOP leadership will be left with no choice but to orchestrate a punt that effectively postpones further action until after the midterm elections in November 2014.&#160;The punt will carry&#160;some form of fig leaf that avoids appearing as though Republicans are caving to Democrats' refusal to negotiate over the debt limit.”</p>
<p>It also points out: “With the House only scheduled to be in session for nine days in September and a debate on military action in Syria scheduled as the first order of business, there is no time for political theatrics over the FY14 budget. Thus, the House is expected to pass a stopgap funding measure called a continuing resolution (CR) at the current $988 billion discretionary spending level by September 20th that will likely last for approximately 60 days. The Senate will approve it soon thereafter. &#160;The Treasury Department sent Congress a letter last week warning that the debt limit is at risk of being breached in mid-October without specifying a particular deadline.”</p>
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<p>Harlan Werner, Bingham’s agent and longtime friend, told The Associated Press the photographer died Thursday.</p>
<p>No cause of death was given, but another friend, sportswriter Mohammed Mubarak, said Bingham had been in failing health in recent months after undergoing two surgeries.</p>
<p>During a friendship that spanned more than half a century, Bingham took literally hundreds of thousands of photos of Ali that ranged from the three-time world heavyweight champion’s many ring triumphs to quiet day-to-day moments with his family.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He captured the young, handsome champion preparing for his first heavyweight championship fight against Sonny Liston in 1964 and, years later, the aging Ali, hands shaking from Parkinson’s disease, preparing to light the flame opening the 1996 Olympic Games.</p>
<p>He photographed Ali greeting everyone from former President Bill Clinton to South African President Nelson Mandela to black Muslim leader Malcolm X. And he was there with his camera when throngs of awe-struck fans surrounded the champ on the street.</p>
<p>Although known largely as Ali’s photographer, Bingham also had a distinguished career as a freelancer.</p>
<p>He photographed the 1967 race riots in Detroit and was at Chicago’s Democratic National Convention in 1968 when violence exploded between protesters and police.</p>
<p>In the 1960s he developed enough trust with the fledgling Black Panther Party that its members gave him free reign to photograph them — and their weapons stash — for a feature Life magazine had planned.</p>
<p>After the story was not published — “They got scared,” he later told the Los Angeles Times — he included the photos in his 2009 book, “Howard L. Bingham’s Black Panthers 1968.”</p>
<p>“He was one of the greatest storytellers of our time,” said Werner. “You look at the history in his photos. And the photos themselves, they’re just amazing.”</p>
<p>The public has never seen some of the best of Ali, Werner added, because the unfailingly modest Bingham never wanted people to think he was cashing in on their friendship. But he did publish a book including some of them in the acclaimed 1993 photo memoir, “Muhammad Ali: A Thirty-Year Journey.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Bingham started off his career in 1962 as a fledgling photographer for the small African-American Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper, and was assigned to cover a fight by an up-and-coming young boxer then known as Cassius Clay.</p>
<p>He would tell Ali years later he had no idea who he had been sent to photograph, but when he saw him and his brother wandering around downtown after the fight he offered to show them around. Later, he invited them to his mother’s house for dinner.</p>
<p>It was the beginning of a friendship that would endure until Ali’s death in June.</p>
<p>The eldest of seven siblings, Bingham was born in Mississippi on May 29, 1939, and moved to Los Angeles as a child.</p>
<p>He eventually enrolled in Compton Community College, where he failed a photography class. He blamed it on spending too much time having fun and not enough studying.</p>
<p>But he applied to be a photographer at the Sentinel a few years later and, after repeated inquiries, he was finally hired.</p>
<p>“I went off on jobs, came back with underexposed film, blurred film, no film — and I always had an excuse for what went wrong,” he told the Times.</p>
<p>Eventually he learned enough about photography on the job to land the Ali assignment.</p>
<p>Bingham is survived by his wife, Carolyn, and son, Dustin. Another son, Damon, preceded him in death.</p>
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Howard Bingham, Muhammad Ali’s personal photographer, dies
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https://abqjournal.com/910840/howard-bingham-muhammad-alis-personal-photographer-dies.html
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2016-12-16
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Howard Bingham, Muhammad Ali’s personal photographer, dies
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Harlan Werner, Bingham’s agent and longtime friend, told The Associated Press the photographer died Thursday.</p>
<p>No cause of death was given, but another friend, sportswriter Mohammed Mubarak, said Bingham had been in failing health in recent months after undergoing two surgeries.</p>
<p>During a friendship that spanned more than half a century, Bingham took literally hundreds of thousands of photos of Ali that ranged from the three-time world heavyweight champion’s many ring triumphs to quiet day-to-day moments with his family.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>He captured the young, handsome champion preparing for his first heavyweight championship fight against Sonny Liston in 1964 and, years later, the aging Ali, hands shaking from Parkinson’s disease, preparing to light the flame opening the 1996 Olympic Games.</p>
<p>He photographed Ali greeting everyone from former President Bill Clinton to South African President Nelson Mandela to black Muslim leader Malcolm X. And he was there with his camera when throngs of awe-struck fans surrounded the champ on the street.</p>
<p>Although known largely as Ali’s photographer, Bingham also had a distinguished career as a freelancer.</p>
<p>He photographed the 1967 race riots in Detroit and was at Chicago’s Democratic National Convention in 1968 when violence exploded between protesters and police.</p>
<p>In the 1960s he developed enough trust with the fledgling Black Panther Party that its members gave him free reign to photograph them — and their weapons stash — for a feature Life magazine had planned.</p>
<p>After the story was not published — “They got scared,” he later told the Los Angeles Times — he included the photos in his 2009 book, “Howard L. Bingham’s Black Panthers 1968.”</p>
<p>“He was one of the greatest storytellers of our time,” said Werner. “You look at the history in his photos. And the photos themselves, they’re just amazing.”</p>
<p>The public has never seen some of the best of Ali, Werner added, because the unfailingly modest Bingham never wanted people to think he was cashing in on their friendship. But he did publish a book including some of them in the acclaimed 1993 photo memoir, “Muhammad Ali: A Thirty-Year Journey.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Bingham started off his career in 1962 as a fledgling photographer for the small African-American Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper, and was assigned to cover a fight by an up-and-coming young boxer then known as Cassius Clay.</p>
<p>He would tell Ali years later he had no idea who he had been sent to photograph, but when he saw him and his brother wandering around downtown after the fight he offered to show them around. Later, he invited them to his mother’s house for dinner.</p>
<p>It was the beginning of a friendship that would endure until Ali’s death in June.</p>
<p>The eldest of seven siblings, Bingham was born in Mississippi on May 29, 1939, and moved to Los Angeles as a child.</p>
<p>He eventually enrolled in Compton Community College, where he failed a photography class. He blamed it on spending too much time having fun and not enough studying.</p>
<p>But he applied to be a photographer at the Sentinel a few years later and, after repeated inquiries, he was finally hired.</p>
<p>“I went off on jobs, came back with underexposed film, blurred film, no film — and I always had an excuse for what went wrong,” he told the Times.</p>
<p>Eventually he learned enough about photography on the job to land the Ali assignment.</p>
<p>Bingham is survived by his wife, Carolyn, and son, Dustin. Another son, Damon, preceded him in death.</p>
| 6,408 |
<p>BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's parliament on Monday approved amendments tightening the country's asylum system, a response to the record number of migrants and refugees reaching the country over the past year.</p>
<p>The plan, sharply criticized by the U.N.'s refugee agency, was approved by lawmakers from the governing Fidesz party, its Christian Democrat allies and the far-right Jobbik party.</p>
<p>The new rules, for example, will allow authorities to cancel asylum requests if the petitioners leave their designated residence for more than 48 hours without authorization and prolong the detention of asylum seekers.</p>
<p>The UNHCR said the amendments "would make it impossible for people fleeing persecution to access international protection in Hungary."</p>
<p>Lawmakers also approved a proposal facilitating the government's plan of building a 4-meter (13-foot) -high fence on the border with Serbia to stem the flow of migrants and refugees.</p>
<p>The government said last week that construction of the temporary fence, initially to be built in around 10 locations where officials said human traffickers were the most active, would start within weeks and be completed in a few months.</p>
<p>"Economic migrants should be stopped at the borders of Hungary and, therefore, Europe," Fidesz faction leader Antal Rogan said ahead of the parliamentary vote. "There is no good solution to this issue other than setting up the security border seal," which is what the government officially calls the fence.</p>
<p>Nearly 72,000 migrants have reached Hungary so far this year, nearly all entering through the border with Serbia. Last year, just under 43,000 people filed for asylum in Hungary, though most quickly leave for Germany and other destinations further west in the European Union before their petitions are resolved.</p>
<p>BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's parliament on Monday approved amendments tightening the country's asylum system, a response to the record number of migrants and refugees reaching the country over the past year.</p>
<p>The plan, sharply criticized by the U.N.'s refugee agency, was approved by lawmakers from the governing Fidesz party, its Christian Democrat allies and the far-right Jobbik party.</p>
<p>The new rules, for example, will allow authorities to cancel asylum requests if the petitioners leave their designated residence for more than 48 hours without authorization and prolong the detention of asylum seekers.</p>
<p>The UNHCR said the amendments "would make it impossible for people fleeing persecution to access international protection in Hungary."</p>
<p>Lawmakers also approved a proposal facilitating the government's plan of building a 4-meter (13-foot) -high fence on the border with Serbia to stem the flow of migrants and refugees.</p>
<p>The government said last week that construction of the temporary fence, initially to be built in around 10 locations where officials said human traffickers were the most active, would start within weeks and be completed in a few months.</p>
<p>"Economic migrants should be stopped at the borders of Hungary and, therefore, Europe," Fidesz faction leader Antal Rogan said ahead of the parliamentary vote. "There is no good solution to this issue other than setting up the security border seal," which is what the government officially calls the fence.</p>
<p>Nearly 72,000 migrants have reached Hungary so far this year, nearly all entering through the border with Serbia. Last year, just under 43,000 people filed for asylum in Hungary, though most quickly leave for Germany and other destinations further west in the European Union before their petitions are resolved.</p>
|
Facing record migrant flows, Hungary tightens asylum system
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/1ce21e4e62e346aa997ef7ab5d5e7745
|
2015-07-06
| 2least
|
Facing record migrant flows, Hungary tightens asylum system
<p>BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's parliament on Monday approved amendments tightening the country's asylum system, a response to the record number of migrants and refugees reaching the country over the past year.</p>
<p>The plan, sharply criticized by the U.N.'s refugee agency, was approved by lawmakers from the governing Fidesz party, its Christian Democrat allies and the far-right Jobbik party.</p>
<p>The new rules, for example, will allow authorities to cancel asylum requests if the petitioners leave their designated residence for more than 48 hours without authorization and prolong the detention of asylum seekers.</p>
<p>The UNHCR said the amendments "would make it impossible for people fleeing persecution to access international protection in Hungary."</p>
<p>Lawmakers also approved a proposal facilitating the government's plan of building a 4-meter (13-foot) -high fence on the border with Serbia to stem the flow of migrants and refugees.</p>
<p>The government said last week that construction of the temporary fence, initially to be built in around 10 locations where officials said human traffickers were the most active, would start within weeks and be completed in a few months.</p>
<p>"Economic migrants should be stopped at the borders of Hungary and, therefore, Europe," Fidesz faction leader Antal Rogan said ahead of the parliamentary vote. "There is no good solution to this issue other than setting up the security border seal," which is what the government officially calls the fence.</p>
<p>Nearly 72,000 migrants have reached Hungary so far this year, nearly all entering through the border with Serbia. Last year, just under 43,000 people filed for asylum in Hungary, though most quickly leave for Germany and other destinations further west in the European Union before their petitions are resolved.</p>
<p>BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary's parliament on Monday approved amendments tightening the country's asylum system, a response to the record number of migrants and refugees reaching the country over the past year.</p>
<p>The plan, sharply criticized by the U.N.'s refugee agency, was approved by lawmakers from the governing Fidesz party, its Christian Democrat allies and the far-right Jobbik party.</p>
<p>The new rules, for example, will allow authorities to cancel asylum requests if the petitioners leave their designated residence for more than 48 hours without authorization and prolong the detention of asylum seekers.</p>
<p>The UNHCR said the amendments "would make it impossible for people fleeing persecution to access international protection in Hungary."</p>
<p>Lawmakers also approved a proposal facilitating the government's plan of building a 4-meter (13-foot) -high fence on the border with Serbia to stem the flow of migrants and refugees.</p>
<p>The government said last week that construction of the temporary fence, initially to be built in around 10 locations where officials said human traffickers were the most active, would start within weeks and be completed in a few months.</p>
<p>"Economic migrants should be stopped at the borders of Hungary and, therefore, Europe," Fidesz faction leader Antal Rogan said ahead of the parliamentary vote. "There is no good solution to this issue other than setting up the security border seal," which is what the government officially calls the fence.</p>
<p>Nearly 72,000 migrants have reached Hungary so far this year, nearly all entering through the border with Serbia. Last year, just under 43,000 people filed for asylum in Hungary, though most quickly leave for Germany and other destinations further west in the European Union before their petitions are resolved.</p>
| 6,409 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>On Tuesday, new University of New Mexico men’s basketball coach Paul Weir made it official: All three recruits who signed letters of intent in November to join the Lobos are free to look elsewhere to play.</p>
<p>UNM has released from their binding agreements a trio of big men — prep center Chris Yannick Sodom (7-foot-3), high school forward Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler (6-9) and junior college forward Mike Parks (6-9). All three talked with Weir since he was hired last week and, as the new coach put it, determined the fit might not be in the best interest of either side.</p>
<p>“We wish all three of these young men the best in their future endeavors,” said Weir in a news release sent out Tuesday night. “These situations are all about a perfect fit and I think we all agreed that this was no longer the case here. They remain exceptionally talented young men with incredibly bright futures ahead of them.”</p>
<p>Weir, who was in Arizona on Tuesday recruiting a guard, has said he’s committed to pressing and running. His New Mexico State Aggies last season had just one player taller than 6-foot-7 average double-digit minutes (6-10 Jonathon Wilkins, 18 minutes per game). Weir plays multiple guards at the same time and even used 6-3 Braxton Huggins as his “3” at times, the spot on the floor traditionally played by small forwards in the 6-7 range.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A decision on unsigned 6-4 New Zealand guard Quinn Clinton, who committed to play for UNM, has not been made.</p>
<p>As of Tuesday night, official decisions remained to be made on Weir’s three-person assistant coaching staff. That decision is close. Such is the case as well for the three players who announced they wanted to transfer but would reconsider once Weir was hired — Sam Logwood, Anthony Mathis and Jalen Harris.</p>
<p>Though UNM has not confirmed Logwood will be back, the 6-7 wing certainly seemed to tip his hand on Twitter on Tuesday. He posted a Journal picture of himself flexing after a dunk in a game with the words, “One more year in the pit #GoLobos”</p>
<p>RECRUIT: Weir was at Albuquerque High on Monday getting his first look at Class of 2018 forward Marlon Cunningham, a 6-7 forward who has committed to UNM.</p>
|
Neal’s 3 recruits given their release by UNM
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/989946/neals-3-recruits-given-their-release-by-unm.html
| 2least
|
Neal’s 3 recruits given their release by UNM
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>On Tuesday, new University of New Mexico men’s basketball coach Paul Weir made it official: All three recruits who signed letters of intent in November to join the Lobos are free to look elsewhere to play.</p>
<p>UNM has released from their binding agreements a trio of big men — prep center Chris Yannick Sodom (7-foot-3), high school forward Isaiah Poor Bear-Chandler (6-9) and junior college forward Mike Parks (6-9). All three talked with Weir since he was hired last week and, as the new coach put it, determined the fit might not be in the best interest of either side.</p>
<p>“We wish all three of these young men the best in their future endeavors,” said Weir in a news release sent out Tuesday night. “These situations are all about a perfect fit and I think we all agreed that this was no longer the case here. They remain exceptionally talented young men with incredibly bright futures ahead of them.”</p>
<p>Weir, who was in Arizona on Tuesday recruiting a guard, has said he’s committed to pressing and running. His New Mexico State Aggies last season had just one player taller than 6-foot-7 average double-digit minutes (6-10 Jonathon Wilkins, 18 minutes per game). Weir plays multiple guards at the same time and even used 6-3 Braxton Huggins as his “3” at times, the spot on the floor traditionally played by small forwards in the 6-7 range.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>A decision on unsigned 6-4 New Zealand guard Quinn Clinton, who committed to play for UNM, has not been made.</p>
<p>As of Tuesday night, official decisions remained to be made on Weir’s three-person assistant coaching staff. That decision is close. Such is the case as well for the three players who announced they wanted to transfer but would reconsider once Weir was hired — Sam Logwood, Anthony Mathis and Jalen Harris.</p>
<p>Though UNM has not confirmed Logwood will be back, the 6-7 wing certainly seemed to tip his hand on Twitter on Tuesday. He posted a Journal picture of himself flexing after a dunk in a game with the words, “One more year in the pit #GoLobos”</p>
<p>RECRUIT: Weir was at Albuquerque High on Monday getting his first look at Class of 2018 forward Marlon Cunningham, a 6-7 forward who has committed to UNM.</p>
| 6,410 |
|
<p />
<p>Spc. Kathryn Fish coaches a fellow soldier during a hands-on training portion of the Demon Academy, a leader development program created Nov. 14 on Camp Taji, Iraq. The academy was formed by senior enlisted leaders of the Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, in order to mentor young and future leaders, as well as prepare them for future professional development courses. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/5189595246/in/photostream/" type="external">Photo</a> via U.S. Army.</p>
<p />
|
We’re Still at War: Photo of the Day for November 24, 2010
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/11/were-still-war-photo-day-november-24-2010/
|
2010-11-24
| 4left
|
We’re Still at War: Photo of the Day for November 24, 2010
<p />
<p>Spc. Kathryn Fish coaches a fellow soldier during a hands-on training portion of the Demon Academy, a leader development program created Nov. 14 on Camp Taji, Iraq. The academy was formed by senior enlisted leaders of the Enhanced Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, in order to mentor young and future leaders, as well as prepare them for future professional development courses. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/soldiersmediacenter/5189595246/in/photostream/" type="external">Photo</a> via U.S. Army.</p>
<p />
| 6,411 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Former Officers Richard P. Garcia and Danny Salcido were indicted Thursday in the Dec. 23 beating in a holding cell at the Las Cruces Police Department.</p>
<p>Lawyers for Ross Flynn have said he was severely beaten while handcuffed in the cell.</p>
<p>Flynn was later hospitalized with a skull fracture.</p>
<p>He had been arrested after allegedly pointing a rifle at his neighbor over a parking space and then ignoring officers' commands at the scene.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Salcido didn't have a listed phone number, and a number listed for Garcia wasn't working.</p>
<p>Salcido and Garcia were fired last month.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Former officers charged in jail cell beating
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/597782/former-officers-charged-in-jail-cell-beating.html
| 2least
|
Former officers charged in jail cell beating
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Former Officers Richard P. Garcia and Danny Salcido were indicted Thursday in the Dec. 23 beating in a holding cell at the Las Cruces Police Department.</p>
<p>Lawyers for Ross Flynn have said he was severely beaten while handcuffed in the cell.</p>
<p>Flynn was later hospitalized with a skull fracture.</p>
<p>He had been arrested after allegedly pointing a rifle at his neighbor over a parking space and then ignoring officers' commands at the scene.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Salcido didn't have a listed phone number, and a number listed for Garcia wasn't working.</p>
<p>Salcido and Garcia were fired last month.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,412 |
|
<p>The House voted 389 to 30 to pass a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7028848.stm" type="external">bill</a> that would make private contractors working for the U.S. government in Iraq subject to United States law. It's the second time Congress has attempted to apply some sense to the legal vacuum created by the Bush administration and its Coalition Provisional Authority, which pushed through what amounts to blanket immunity for mercenaries.</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>Currently the legal status of private contractors working independently of the US military in war zones is unclear and legally untested.</p>
<p>Private firms working for the Department of Defence are subject to existing US legislation, but those private firms such as Blackwater working for the state department are not.</p>
<p />
<p>Democratic Representative David Price, who sponsored the bill, said it was hard to believe such a "gaping hole" existed in US law.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7028848.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p>
|
Congress Tries to Close Blackwater Loophole
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/congress-tries-to-close-blackwater-loophole/
|
2007-10-05
| 4left
|
Congress Tries to Close Blackwater Loophole
<p>The House voted 389 to 30 to pass a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7028848.stm" type="external">bill</a> that would make private contractors working for the U.S. government in Iraq subject to United States law. It's the second time Congress has attempted to apply some sense to the legal vacuum created by the Bush administration and its Coalition Provisional Authority, which pushed through what amounts to blanket immunity for mercenaries.</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>Currently the legal status of private contractors working independently of the US military in war zones is unclear and legally untested.</p>
<p>Private firms working for the Department of Defence are subject to existing US legislation, but those private firms such as Blackwater working for the state department are not.</p>
<p />
<p>Democratic Representative David Price, who sponsored the bill, said it was hard to believe such a "gaping hole" existed in US law.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7028848.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p>
| 6,413 |
<p>IS says this space project is a truly international one: Canada provided the meteorological package that goes with the lander. Also the camera on the robot arm was provided by Germany. One of the most interesting features is this atomic microscope which can look at details as fine as a human hair. (Is this because the US is outsourcing this kind of research or is it because other countries have a stake in the research?) It's a bit of both. This is the first kind of this type of scout mission. Because we're trying to look for adequate means of funding, there is room for international partners. (How much is the project?) It's about $420 million for NASA and then another $100 million for the international partners. (What's coming back?) Some amazing pictures and we're hoping to get a profile of the sub surface where there might be a huge reservoir of ice. This would be the first spacecraft to find water on Mars. They're also going to look for any traces of organic residue which might indicate that the ice melts from time to time as Mars goes through climate change. But it may also find that this is a completely sterile environment. It's a harsh environment because in a few months that entire landing will be covered with dry ice. (The pictures that have come so far, anything that looks familiar to our world?) We've found some interesting polygons which we think is found from ice as it melts and freezes and the seasons change. Similar patterns are seen in both the Arctic and the Antarctic and it gives a good indication of geological changes.</p>
|
Phoenix lander on Mars
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2008-05-26/phoenix-lander-mars
|
2008-05-26
| 3left-center
|
Phoenix lander on Mars
<p>IS says this space project is a truly international one: Canada provided the meteorological package that goes with the lander. Also the camera on the robot arm was provided by Germany. One of the most interesting features is this atomic microscope which can look at details as fine as a human hair. (Is this because the US is outsourcing this kind of research or is it because other countries have a stake in the research?) It's a bit of both. This is the first kind of this type of scout mission. Because we're trying to look for adequate means of funding, there is room for international partners. (How much is the project?) It's about $420 million for NASA and then another $100 million for the international partners. (What's coming back?) Some amazing pictures and we're hoping to get a profile of the sub surface where there might be a huge reservoir of ice. This would be the first spacecraft to find water on Mars. They're also going to look for any traces of organic residue which might indicate that the ice melts from time to time as Mars goes through climate change. But it may also find that this is a completely sterile environment. It's a harsh environment because in a few months that entire landing will be covered with dry ice. (The pictures that have come so far, anything that looks familiar to our world?) We've found some interesting polygons which we think is found from ice as it melts and freezes and the seasons change. Similar patterns are seen in both the Arctic and the Antarctic and it gives a good indication of geological changes.</p>
| 6,414 |
<p />
<p>Broadway and music concert goers are crying foul this summer over their lack of access to tickets. Baseball season ticket holders, after paying full freight plus fees for their tickets are being threatened by teams for reselling some of their tickets outside of the team’s purview. From games to concerts in virtually every city, situations like these are playing out day after day, which is why it comes as no surprise that some states and the federal government are stepping in. They should, but with eyes wide open and not narrowly focused on one component of the system over another; otherwise well-intended solutions to help fans in the ticket marketplace risk going too far, or not far enough.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>New York’s Attorney General conducted an investigation this year that revealed market manipulation by large and powerful companies that issue tickets. The AG and New York’s Governor both intend to introduce legal reforms next year. Meanwhile, Congress has introduced legislation calling for greater transparency for the sake of fairness, and outlawing nefarious cheaters who use software bots that buy up hordes of tickets before the rest of us have a chance to look at a seating chart.</p>
<p>For years, frustrations surrounding tickets to live events have been pointed at ticket brokers, an easy target perhaps, when in fact today it is more evident than ever that there are many other forces at play that bear responsibility for this situation. Teams, artists, promoters, management companies, and the mega-sized ticketing companies are all important components of an interconnected system and every one of us in the industry at a minimum must play a part in ensuring these problems don’t get worse. Ideally, we will work together toward a fix.</p>
<p>For this to happen, it is critical that an open market, free of harmful restrictions and flush with competition allowing consumer choice, is protected.</p>
<p>Otherwise the scales will tip, control will concentrate unevenly in the hands of increasingly powerful ticket issuers, and consumers will continue to struggle to access tickets and at a price they consider reasonable.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Ticket holders have rights, simple things like being able to give away or sell their ticket, or knowing they won’t be put on a black list if the watchful eye of their favorite team learns they are reselling - with or without the help of a professional broker - some of their tickets.</p>
<p>This is why the National Association of Ticket Brokers (NATB) launched <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.protectticketrights.org_&amp;d=DQMFaQ&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=kaAUPcZhpO1MvBc6jwa0VBiGZWXka6ART1tFuyQjLfc&amp;m=F0gcBGbCBVrI0AfxmjEhfmWeCAoRXy5rqdSWTr7EhBM&amp;s=vqW-t81zEe0xRbnRXfEsxraDfq_qAgeDRm9R99A5gbk&amp;e=" type="external">Protect Ticket Rights Opens a New Window.</a>, an initiative aimed at ensuring the secondary ticket market remains free of unfair restrictions. The initiative calls for transparency throughout the ticketing ecosystem, and will serve as a resource for fans and ticket holders trying to navigate the market.</p>
<p>One example is the use of restrictive paperless ticketing. We all live in a world where digital trumps paper, but when “paperless tickets” come with strings attached, the ticket holder loses.&#160;&#160; Oftentimes, under the guise of convenience or combating phony or duplicate tickets at the gate, an issuer will require the purchaser to present their ID and credit card at the box office in return for a ticket to gain entry. Functionally, this is a scheme to restrict the right to sell or transfer your tickets. Many venues cannot handle this, and fans this summer are waiting in endless lines, missing the shows and games inside, only to pursue a refund after their much-anticipated experience was ruined. Clearly this practice does not work.</p>
<p>Event promoters and venues commonly place holds on large numbers of tickets before they go on sale to the public. It has been reported that more than half of tickets are set aside for performers, fan clubs and the ticket-sellers themselves, only to be then sold (sometimes immediately) elsewhere at prices higher than face value. On average, only about 46% of tickets go on sale. For many top shows, less than 25% of tickets are released to the general public.</p>
<p>It is equally unbelievable that some sports teams are cancelling, threatening to cancel, or choosing to not renew accounts of season ticket holders they believe are reselling tickets, punishing the most financially vested fans. Few season ticket holders can attend every game, so it’s reasonable they may want to give away or sell some of their tickets. Others may need to resell a portion of their tickets as a means to afford their full ticket package. Reselling tickets that would otherwise go unused puts a fan in the seat. Yet in a very anticompetitive manner, the trend shows teams providing a single, restricted resale platform for ticket holders to resell their tickets. These systems charge more fees despite fees already being paid in the initial sale and often set minimum price floors regardless of actual market value. Whether or not they like it, market value can sometimes be less than face value.</p>
<p>NATB represents secondary market ticket brokers and has long advocated for the rights of ticket buyers and its membership which, importantly, is comprised of brokers that conduct their business under a set of rules and Code of Ethics that are in the interest of operating a reputable professional business and serving customers well. This is why our members provide a 200% purchase guarantee. NATB advocates that the best ticket market for fans is one that is transparent, competitive, and protects a customer’s purchase.</p>
<p>From bots to hold backs to single-platform exclusivity, the fans suffer. This shouldn’t be hard. People in seats. Excited fans. Full stadiums and arenas. Ticket owners and resellers have the right to purchase, sell, and transfer their tickets. It’s that simple.</p>
<p>Gary Adler is Executive Director and Counsel of the <a href="http://www.natb.org/" type="external">National Association of Ticket Brokers Opens a New Window.</a> (NATB) which represents legitimate ticket brokers who desired to establish an industry-wide standard of conduct and to create ethical rules and procedures to protect the public.</p>
|
Abusive Ticket Rules Hurt Consumers
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/08/10/abusive-ticket-rules-hurt-consumers.html
|
2016-08-11
| 0right
|
Abusive Ticket Rules Hurt Consumers
<p />
<p>Broadway and music concert goers are crying foul this summer over their lack of access to tickets. Baseball season ticket holders, after paying full freight plus fees for their tickets are being threatened by teams for reselling some of their tickets outside of the team’s purview. From games to concerts in virtually every city, situations like these are playing out day after day, which is why it comes as no surprise that some states and the federal government are stepping in. They should, but with eyes wide open and not narrowly focused on one component of the system over another; otherwise well-intended solutions to help fans in the ticket marketplace risk going too far, or not far enough.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>New York’s Attorney General conducted an investigation this year that revealed market manipulation by large and powerful companies that issue tickets. The AG and New York’s Governor both intend to introduce legal reforms next year. Meanwhile, Congress has introduced legislation calling for greater transparency for the sake of fairness, and outlawing nefarious cheaters who use software bots that buy up hordes of tickets before the rest of us have a chance to look at a seating chart.</p>
<p>For years, frustrations surrounding tickets to live events have been pointed at ticket brokers, an easy target perhaps, when in fact today it is more evident than ever that there are many other forces at play that bear responsibility for this situation. Teams, artists, promoters, management companies, and the mega-sized ticketing companies are all important components of an interconnected system and every one of us in the industry at a minimum must play a part in ensuring these problems don’t get worse. Ideally, we will work together toward a fix.</p>
<p>For this to happen, it is critical that an open market, free of harmful restrictions and flush with competition allowing consumer choice, is protected.</p>
<p>Otherwise the scales will tip, control will concentrate unevenly in the hands of increasingly powerful ticket issuers, and consumers will continue to struggle to access tickets and at a price they consider reasonable.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Ticket holders have rights, simple things like being able to give away or sell their ticket, or knowing they won’t be put on a black list if the watchful eye of their favorite team learns they are reselling - with or without the help of a professional broker - some of their tickets.</p>
<p>This is why the National Association of Ticket Brokers (NATB) launched <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.protectticketrights.org_&amp;d=DQMFaQ&amp;c=cnx1hdOQtepEQkpermZGwQ&amp;r=kaAUPcZhpO1MvBc6jwa0VBiGZWXka6ART1tFuyQjLfc&amp;m=F0gcBGbCBVrI0AfxmjEhfmWeCAoRXy5rqdSWTr7EhBM&amp;s=vqW-t81zEe0xRbnRXfEsxraDfq_qAgeDRm9R99A5gbk&amp;e=" type="external">Protect Ticket Rights Opens a New Window.</a>, an initiative aimed at ensuring the secondary ticket market remains free of unfair restrictions. The initiative calls for transparency throughout the ticketing ecosystem, and will serve as a resource for fans and ticket holders trying to navigate the market.</p>
<p>One example is the use of restrictive paperless ticketing. We all live in a world where digital trumps paper, but when “paperless tickets” come with strings attached, the ticket holder loses.&#160;&#160; Oftentimes, under the guise of convenience or combating phony or duplicate tickets at the gate, an issuer will require the purchaser to present their ID and credit card at the box office in return for a ticket to gain entry. Functionally, this is a scheme to restrict the right to sell or transfer your tickets. Many venues cannot handle this, and fans this summer are waiting in endless lines, missing the shows and games inside, only to pursue a refund after their much-anticipated experience was ruined. Clearly this practice does not work.</p>
<p>Event promoters and venues commonly place holds on large numbers of tickets before they go on sale to the public. It has been reported that more than half of tickets are set aside for performers, fan clubs and the ticket-sellers themselves, only to be then sold (sometimes immediately) elsewhere at prices higher than face value. On average, only about 46% of tickets go on sale. For many top shows, less than 25% of tickets are released to the general public.</p>
<p>It is equally unbelievable that some sports teams are cancelling, threatening to cancel, or choosing to not renew accounts of season ticket holders they believe are reselling tickets, punishing the most financially vested fans. Few season ticket holders can attend every game, so it’s reasonable they may want to give away or sell some of their tickets. Others may need to resell a portion of their tickets as a means to afford their full ticket package. Reselling tickets that would otherwise go unused puts a fan in the seat. Yet in a very anticompetitive manner, the trend shows teams providing a single, restricted resale platform for ticket holders to resell their tickets. These systems charge more fees despite fees already being paid in the initial sale and often set minimum price floors regardless of actual market value. Whether or not they like it, market value can sometimes be less than face value.</p>
<p>NATB represents secondary market ticket brokers and has long advocated for the rights of ticket buyers and its membership which, importantly, is comprised of brokers that conduct their business under a set of rules and Code of Ethics that are in the interest of operating a reputable professional business and serving customers well. This is why our members provide a 200% purchase guarantee. NATB advocates that the best ticket market for fans is one that is transparent, competitive, and protects a customer’s purchase.</p>
<p>From bots to hold backs to single-platform exclusivity, the fans suffer. This shouldn’t be hard. People in seats. Excited fans. Full stadiums and arenas. Ticket owners and resellers have the right to purchase, sell, and transfer their tickets. It’s that simple.</p>
<p>Gary Adler is Executive Director and Counsel of the <a href="http://www.natb.org/" type="external">National Association of Ticket Brokers Opens a New Window.</a> (NATB) which represents legitimate ticket brokers who desired to establish an industry-wide standard of conduct and to create ethical rules and procedures to protect the public.</p>
| 6,415 |
<p />
<p>Stocks bumped along near breakeven for most of the trading session on Thursday before selling off sharply in the final few hours of trading. By the closing bell, theDow Jones Industrial Average had lost 229 points, or 1.1%, and the S&amp;P 500 shed 19 points, or 0.9%:</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EINX" type="external">^INX Opens a New Window.</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>In economic news, the government's first estimate of Q1 GDP growth came in at 0.5%, which marked a slowdown from the prior quarter's 1.4% gain.</p>
<p>Image source: Federal Reserve Economic Data.</p>
<p>The dip in growth was caused by falling business investments in real estate, lower consumer spending, and a drop in federal government spending, according to the report. The government's second Q1 estimate, which benefits from more complete data, will be released in late May.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, individual stocks making notable moves today included Facebook and Ford , which both jumped after announcing quarterly earnings results.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Facebook's happy status updateFacebook was one of the S&amp;P's biggest gainers, rising 7%, to touch a new all-time high after posting first-quarter earnings results. Sales <a href="http://investor.fb.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=967167" type="external">spiked 52% higher Opens a New Window.</a> on a 57% jump in advertising revenue.</p>
<p>Profits rose at an even faster clip: Net income tripled, to $1.5 billion. "We had a great start to the year," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a press release.</p>
<p>The social-media giant managed to hit all the right notes in this report. The customer base grew solidly, with monthly users up 15%, to 1.65 billion. Twitter, by comparison, only managed 3% Q1 growth, as its monthly user base ticked up to 310 million.</p>
<p>Facebook is also succeeding at monetizing that massive base. Average revenue per user rose to $3.32 worldwide ($12.43 in the U.S. market) -- up 33% year over year.</p>
<p>ARPU by quarter. Image source: Facebook investor presentation.</p>
<p>Facebook's engagement metrics also improved, which bodes well for future growth. The number of daily users rose 16%, to 1.1 billion. Meanwhile, the company continues to soak up advertising dollars, especially those aimed at the key mobile-browsing market. Mobile ad buys made up 82% of ad revenue, up from 73% a year ago.</p>
<p>Ford's back in blackFord's 3% pop on Thursday was enough to push the automaker's stock back into positive territory for the year after dropping by 20% through mid-February. Wall Street cheered a <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/28/f-earnings.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">surprisingly strong earnings report Opens a New Window.</a> that included <a href="https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2016/04/28/1q16-financials.html" type="external">record quarterly profit Opens a New Window.</a>, and a doubling of operating margin.</p>
<p>Image source: Ford.</p>
<p>Ford's $0.68 per share of earnings trounced consensus estimates that were calling for $0.46 per share of profit. The company saw strength across several geographies, with the U.S. region, Europe, and Asia all contributing to the $3.8 billion of pre-tax income it generated. South America was the only region to lose money in Q1, which management attributed to a recession in Brazil, and an overall tough competitive pricing environment.</p>
<p>"We expect 2016 to be a great year," Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said in a press release. Management's forecast sees healthy growth in the U.S. thanks to rising consumer confidence, and a steady job market.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the European division is on track to kick in solid gains, too, after posting its best profit result since 2008. Overall, Ford affirmed guidance that calls for steady operating improvements over last year's results.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/28/facebook-inc-and-ford-motor-company-jump-as-stocks.aspx" type="external">Facebook Inc. and Ford Motor Company Jump as Stocks Sink Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSigma/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook, Ford, and Twitter. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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Facebook Inc. and Ford Motor Company Jump as Stocks Sink
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http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/04/28/facebook-inc-and-ford-motor-company-jump-as-stocks-sink.html
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2016-04-29
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Facebook Inc. and Ford Motor Company Jump as Stocks Sink
<p />
<p>Stocks bumped along near breakeven for most of the trading session on Thursday before selling off sharply in the final few hours of trading. By the closing bell, theDow Jones Industrial Average had lost 229 points, or 1.1%, and the S&amp;P 500 shed 19 points, or 0.9%:</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p><a href="http://ycharts.com/indices/%5EINX" type="external">^INX Opens a New Window.</a> data by <a href="http://ycharts.com" type="external">YCharts Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>In economic news, the government's first estimate of Q1 GDP growth came in at 0.5%, which marked a slowdown from the prior quarter's 1.4% gain.</p>
<p>Image source: Federal Reserve Economic Data.</p>
<p>The dip in growth was caused by falling business investments in real estate, lower consumer spending, and a drop in federal government spending, according to the report. The government's second Q1 estimate, which benefits from more complete data, will be released in late May.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, individual stocks making notable moves today included Facebook and Ford , which both jumped after announcing quarterly earnings results.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Facebook's happy status updateFacebook was one of the S&amp;P's biggest gainers, rising 7%, to touch a new all-time high after posting first-quarter earnings results. Sales <a href="http://investor.fb.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=967167" type="external">spiked 52% higher Opens a New Window.</a> on a 57% jump in advertising revenue.</p>
<p>Profits rose at an even faster clip: Net income tripled, to $1.5 billion. "We had a great start to the year," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a press release.</p>
<p>The social-media giant managed to hit all the right notes in this report. The customer base grew solidly, with monthly users up 15%, to 1.65 billion. Twitter, by comparison, only managed 3% Q1 growth, as its monthly user base ticked up to 310 million.</p>
<p>Facebook is also succeeding at monetizing that massive base. Average revenue per user rose to $3.32 worldwide ($12.43 in the U.S. market) -- up 33% year over year.</p>
<p>ARPU by quarter. Image source: Facebook investor presentation.</p>
<p>Facebook's engagement metrics also improved, which bodes well for future growth. The number of daily users rose 16%, to 1.1 billion. Meanwhile, the company continues to soak up advertising dollars, especially those aimed at the key mobile-browsing market. Mobile ad buys made up 82% of ad revenue, up from 73% a year ago.</p>
<p>Ford's back in blackFord's 3% pop on Thursday was enough to push the automaker's stock back into positive territory for the year after dropping by 20% through mid-February. Wall Street cheered a <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/28/f-earnings.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">surprisingly strong earnings report Opens a New Window.</a> that included <a href="https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/news/2016/04/28/1q16-financials.html" type="external">record quarterly profit Opens a New Window.</a>, and a doubling of operating margin.</p>
<p>Image source: Ford.</p>
<p>Ford's $0.68 per share of earnings trounced consensus estimates that were calling for $0.46 per share of profit. The company saw strength across several geographies, with the U.S. region, Europe, and Asia all contributing to the $3.8 billion of pre-tax income it generated. South America was the only region to lose money in Q1, which management attributed to a recession in Brazil, and an overall tough competitive pricing environment.</p>
<p>"We expect 2016 to be a great year," Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks said in a press release. Management's forecast sees healthy growth in the U.S. thanks to rising consumer confidence, and a steady job market.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the European division is on track to kick in solid gains, too, after posting its best profit result since 2008. Overall, Ford affirmed guidance that calls for steady operating improvements over last year's results.</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/28/facebook-inc-and-ford-motor-company-jump-as-stocks.aspx" type="external">Facebook Inc. and Ford Motor Company Jump as Stocks Sink Opens a New Window.</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSigma/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Demitrios Kalogeropoulos Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Facebook. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook, Ford, and Twitter. 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>
| 6,416 |
<p>Several public pension funds and a foundation issued an open letter Monday to Southern Co. criticizing executive compensation at the Georgia-based utility and urging shareholders to vote against two board members because of the issue.</p>
<p>The investors, including the California State Teachers' Retirement System and the Nathan Cummings Foundation, argue executives are being rewarded despite severe problems at two flagship power projects.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Southern board excluded the impact of pretax charges on earnings in determining bonuses for Chief Executive Thomas Fanning and Chief Financial Officer Art Beattie. Using the "adjusted" earnings, the executives were awarded an extra $2 million in combined bonuses.</p>
<p>The board's decision "undermines the link between pay and performance and has led to higher pay during a time of subpar returns to shareholders," the letter said.</p>
<p>These board-adjusted earnings were also used, in part, to calculate long-term incentive compensation for Mr. Fanning and other Southern executives, in addition to the annual bonuses. Previously, long-term incentives were based entirely on total shareholder return relative to other power companies.</p>
<p>The letter asks shareholders to vote against the re-election of board members Steven R. Specker and Dale E. Klein. Both sit on the compensation committee and the panel that oversees operational issues.</p>
<p>A Southern spokesman didn't immediately comment on the letter.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Southern is struggling to complete two large construction projects, including a clean coal power plant in Mississippi and a nuclear power station expansion in Georgia.</p>
<p>The power plant in Kemper County, Miss., which is designed to burn coal and capture much of the carbon-dioxide emissions, is several years behind schedule and suffering from cost overruns. After seven years and $7.1 billion, the plant still isn't fully operational and Southern has taken $2.76 billion in charges against earnings over the past four years.</p>
<p>Southern is also over budget and behind schedule on two new nuclear-power generating units in Vogtle, Ga.</p>
<p>The contractor for these units, Westinghouse Electric Co., filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year and said it would wind down work. Southern has agreed to temporarily step in to fund construction to keep it moving forward, but many analysts are now questioning whether it makes sense to complete the nuclear plants.</p>
<p>Laura Campos, director of corporate and political accountability at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, is spearheading the campaign against Southern. "We want to send a clear message to the board: we expect them to do their job and hold executives accountable for the performance they are achieving rather than an adjusted performance," she said.</p>
<p>In addition to the foundation and California pension fund, the Seattle City Employees' Retirement System and the U.K.-based Local Authority Pension Fund Forum have agreed to support the effort.</p>
<p>Write to Russell Gold at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>April 24, 2017 14:02 ET (18:02 GMT)</p>
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Pension Funds, Foundation Criticize Southern Co. Executive Compensation
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2017-04-24
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Pension Funds, Foundation Criticize Southern Co. Executive Compensation
<p>Several public pension funds and a foundation issued an open letter Monday to Southern Co. criticizing executive compensation at the Georgia-based utility and urging shareholders to vote against two board members because of the issue.</p>
<p>The investors, including the California State Teachers' Retirement System and the Nathan Cummings Foundation, argue executives are being rewarded despite severe problems at two flagship power projects.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Southern board excluded the impact of pretax charges on earnings in determining bonuses for Chief Executive Thomas Fanning and Chief Financial Officer Art Beattie. Using the "adjusted" earnings, the executives were awarded an extra $2 million in combined bonuses.</p>
<p>The board's decision "undermines the link between pay and performance and has led to higher pay during a time of subpar returns to shareholders," the letter said.</p>
<p>These board-adjusted earnings were also used, in part, to calculate long-term incentive compensation for Mr. Fanning and other Southern executives, in addition to the annual bonuses. Previously, long-term incentives were based entirely on total shareholder return relative to other power companies.</p>
<p>The letter asks shareholders to vote against the re-election of board members Steven R. Specker and Dale E. Klein. Both sit on the compensation committee and the panel that oversees operational issues.</p>
<p>A Southern spokesman didn't immediately comment on the letter.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Southern is struggling to complete two large construction projects, including a clean coal power plant in Mississippi and a nuclear power station expansion in Georgia.</p>
<p>The power plant in Kemper County, Miss., which is designed to burn coal and capture much of the carbon-dioxide emissions, is several years behind schedule and suffering from cost overruns. After seven years and $7.1 billion, the plant still isn't fully operational and Southern has taken $2.76 billion in charges against earnings over the past four years.</p>
<p>Southern is also over budget and behind schedule on two new nuclear-power generating units in Vogtle, Ga.</p>
<p>The contractor for these units, Westinghouse Electric Co., filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this year and said it would wind down work. Southern has agreed to temporarily step in to fund construction to keep it moving forward, but many analysts are now questioning whether it makes sense to complete the nuclear plants.</p>
<p>Laura Campos, director of corporate and political accountability at the Nathan Cummings Foundation, is spearheading the campaign against Southern. "We want to send a clear message to the board: we expect them to do their job and hold executives accountable for the performance they are achieving rather than an adjusted performance," she said.</p>
<p>In addition to the foundation and California pension fund, the Seattle City Employees' Retirement System and the U.K.-based Local Authority Pension Fund Forum have agreed to support the effort.</p>
<p>Write to Russell Gold at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>April 24, 2017 14:02 ET (18:02 GMT)</p>
| 6,417 |
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<p />
<p>But Houston Acting Police Chief Martha Montalvo said Thursday that she’s hopeful that little if any evidence was compromised.</p>
<p>Officials said they were still determining how many pieces of evidence might have incurred water damage during Tuesday’s sprinkler mishap in the walk-in freezer.</p>
<p>The freezer contains 15,000 pieces of evidence, but Montalvo says the sprinkler sent water only onto one row of shelving containing boxes. Mostly biological evidence — including DNA and blood evidence — from a variety of cases was stored in the freezer.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Montalvo said she was confident that methods used to store evidence would minimize any potential damage.</p>
<p>“I’m very optimistic though. Again there’s a process as to how this evidence is packaged. There’s a lot of packaging that goes into evidence,” she said.</p>
<p>But Tyler Flood, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, said 350 notices have already been sent to local defense attorneys by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office telling them that their cases might have been impacted by the sprinkler mishap.</p>
<p>Flood said that prosecutors in court on Thursday indicated that possibly more than 4,200 cases might have been affected.</p>
<p>“So the number is kind of up in the air,” he said. “Nobody knows the number of cases that are affected yet. I know it’s an administrative nightmare for the DA’s office.”</p>
<p>Jeff McShan, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, confirmed that notices were emailed to defense attorneys but he declined to comment on how many cases might have been impacted.</p>
<p>The sprinkler mishap comes amid recent criticism of several local law enforcement agencies for management of their evidence rooms.</p>
<p>Audits and ongoing reviews have found problems with how evidence is handled and stored at four of the eight constable’s offices that serve the Houston-area.</p>
<p>In the most serious of these cases, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office continues investigating the destruction by a deputy constable with the county’s Precinct 4 Constable’s Office of thousands of pieces of evidence in Houston-area cases.</p>
<p>“This is really random coincidence that we’ve got all of these evidence issues going on, for different reasons though, but all at the same time,” Flood said. “In the 15 years that I’ve been doing this, not only have I never seen anything like this, I’ve never heard of anything like this anywhere in the country.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/juanlozano70" type="external">www.twitter.com/juanlozano70</a></p>
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Houston top cop hopeful no evidence compromised after mishap
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https://abqjournal.com/872360/houston-top-cop-hopeful-no-evidence-compromised-after-mishap.html
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Houston top cop hopeful no evidence compromised after mishap
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>But Houston Acting Police Chief Martha Montalvo said Thursday that she’s hopeful that little if any evidence was compromised.</p>
<p>Officials said they were still determining how many pieces of evidence might have incurred water damage during Tuesday’s sprinkler mishap in the walk-in freezer.</p>
<p>The freezer contains 15,000 pieces of evidence, but Montalvo says the sprinkler sent water only onto one row of shelving containing boxes. Mostly biological evidence — including DNA and blood evidence — from a variety of cases was stored in the freezer.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Montalvo said she was confident that methods used to store evidence would minimize any potential damage.</p>
<p>“I’m very optimistic though. Again there’s a process as to how this evidence is packaged. There’s a lot of packaging that goes into evidence,” she said.</p>
<p>But Tyler Flood, president of the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, said 350 notices have already been sent to local defense attorneys by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office telling them that their cases might have been impacted by the sprinkler mishap.</p>
<p>Flood said that prosecutors in court on Thursday indicated that possibly more than 4,200 cases might have been affected.</p>
<p>“So the number is kind of up in the air,” he said. “Nobody knows the number of cases that are affected yet. I know it’s an administrative nightmare for the DA’s office.”</p>
<p>Jeff McShan, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, confirmed that notices were emailed to defense attorneys but he declined to comment on how many cases might have been impacted.</p>
<p>The sprinkler mishap comes amid recent criticism of several local law enforcement agencies for management of their evidence rooms.</p>
<p>Audits and ongoing reviews have found problems with how evidence is handled and stored at four of the eight constable’s offices that serve the Houston-area.</p>
<p>In the most serious of these cases, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office continues investigating the destruction by a deputy constable with the county’s Precinct 4 Constable’s Office of thousands of pieces of evidence in Houston-area cases.</p>
<p>“This is really random coincidence that we’ve got all of these evidence issues going on, for different reasons though, but all at the same time,” Flood said. “In the 15 years that I’ve been doing this, not only have I never seen anything like this, I’ve never heard of anything like this anywhere in the country.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/juanlozano70" type="external">www.twitter.com/juanlozano70</a></p>
| 6,418 |
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<p>New menu labeling rules from the Food and Drug Administration will require chain restaurants with 20 or more outlets to list the amount of calories in alcoholic drinks, along with other foods, on menus by next November. The idea is that people often don’t know — or even think about — how many calories they are imbibing.</p>
<p>But the rules don’t apply to drinks ordered at the bar or any drinks that aren’t listed on the main menu. The wine list will also be guilt-free — individual calorie amounts aren’t required there either. And unlike other beverages and foods, most bottles and cans don’t have to list full nutritional information.</p>
<p>After years of lobbying for more nutritional information on alcoholic beverages, public health advocates say the menu labeling rules are a first step.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Alcoholic beverages are a key contributor to the calories Americans are consuming, and most of the time when people have a drink they have absolutely no idea what its caloric impact is,” says Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Her group petitioned the government more than a decade ago to require that bottles and cans be labeled with robust nutritional information.</p>
<p>The FDA’s proposed menu labeling rules in 2011 exempted alcohol. But FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the agency decided to include it in the final rules this year after those who commented on the rule were largely in favor of such labeling because of its potential impact on public health.</p>
<p>The beer, wine and spirits industries objected, arguing that they were regulated by the Treasury Department, not the FDA, a setup that dates back to Prohibition. Treasury’s oversight, which includes minimal input from FDA, has “well served the consuming public,” a coalition of alcohol groups wrote in a 2011 comment asking to be left out of the menu labeling rules.</p>
<p>The new rules are designed to not be too burdensome for the alcohol industries or restaurants. Endless combinations of mixed drinks won’t have to be labeled at bars, unless they are listed on a menu, and the FDA is allowing restaurants to use estimates of calories and ranges of calories without listing the exact amount in every different drink. That means menus will list the average amount of calories in a glass of red or white wine, but won’t list calories by every brand of wine on the wine list. Same with beers and spirits.</p>
<p>So every winery or craft brewery won’t have to pay to have their products’ nutritional content analyzed — for now, at least.</p>
<p>The labeling rules have “more of an indirect effect on our business,” says Wendell Lee of the California-based Wine Institute. Lee says brand-specific menu calorie labels could be especially burdensome on the wine industry, where every vintage and varietal is different.</p>
<p>Craft brewers, with many varied brands and styles, have similar concerns.</p>
<p>The regulations “could have a slight chilling effect” on small breweries if some restaurants decide to go beyond them and list calories for individual beers, said Paul Gatza of the Brewers Association, which represents craft breweries.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The rules could have advantages too, he said.</p>
<p>“The more customers know about a brewery, the more they feel connected with it,” Gatza said.</p>
<p>Off the menu, labeling rules appear further away.</p>
<p>For years, most alcohol companies have tried to put off mandatory bottle and can nutrition labeling as public health advocates have fought for it. Rules proposed in 2007 would have made such labels mandatory, but the FDA never made the rules final.</p>
<p>Last year, Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Trade and Tax Bureau said for the first time that beer, wine and spirits companies could use labels that include serving size, servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat per serving. The labels are voluntary and will likely be used mostly by liquor companies touting low calories and low carbohydrates in their products.</p>
<p>Current labeling law for bottles and cans is complicated.</p>
<p>Wines containing 14 percent or more alcohol by volume must list alcohol content. Wines that are 7 percent to 14 percent alcohol by volume may list alcohol content or put “light” or “table” wine on the label. “Light” beers must list calorie and carbohydrate content. Liquor must list percent alcohol content by volume and may also list proof, a measure of alcoholic strength.</p>
<p>Wine, beer and liquor manufacturers don’t have to list ingredients but must list substances people might be sensitive to, such as sulfites, certain food colorings and aspartame.</p>
<p>Tom Hogue of the Tobacco Trade and Tax Bureau said the current goal is to make sure that companies that want to label may do so, and that labeling is consistent. It is important that labels “don’t mislead the consumer,” he said.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mcjalonick" type="external">http://twitter.com/mcjalonick</a></p>
|
Menus will sport new calorie labels for alcohol
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/513746/menus-will-sport-new-calorie-labels-for-alcohol.html
| 2least
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Menus will sport new calorie labels for alcohol
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>New menu labeling rules from the Food and Drug Administration will require chain restaurants with 20 or more outlets to list the amount of calories in alcoholic drinks, along with other foods, on menus by next November. The idea is that people often don’t know — or even think about — how many calories they are imbibing.</p>
<p>But the rules don’t apply to drinks ordered at the bar or any drinks that aren’t listed on the main menu. The wine list will also be guilt-free — individual calorie amounts aren’t required there either. And unlike other beverages and foods, most bottles and cans don’t have to list full nutritional information.</p>
<p>After years of lobbying for more nutritional information on alcoholic beverages, public health advocates say the menu labeling rules are a first step.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Alcoholic beverages are a key contributor to the calories Americans are consuming, and most of the time when people have a drink they have absolutely no idea what its caloric impact is,” says Margo Wootan of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Her group petitioned the government more than a decade ago to require that bottles and cans be labeled with robust nutritional information.</p>
<p>The FDA’s proposed menu labeling rules in 2011 exempted alcohol. But FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the agency decided to include it in the final rules this year after those who commented on the rule were largely in favor of such labeling because of its potential impact on public health.</p>
<p>The beer, wine and spirits industries objected, arguing that they were regulated by the Treasury Department, not the FDA, a setup that dates back to Prohibition. Treasury’s oversight, which includes minimal input from FDA, has “well served the consuming public,” a coalition of alcohol groups wrote in a 2011 comment asking to be left out of the menu labeling rules.</p>
<p>The new rules are designed to not be too burdensome for the alcohol industries or restaurants. Endless combinations of mixed drinks won’t have to be labeled at bars, unless they are listed on a menu, and the FDA is allowing restaurants to use estimates of calories and ranges of calories without listing the exact amount in every different drink. That means menus will list the average amount of calories in a glass of red or white wine, but won’t list calories by every brand of wine on the wine list. Same with beers and spirits.</p>
<p>So every winery or craft brewery won’t have to pay to have their products’ nutritional content analyzed — for now, at least.</p>
<p>The labeling rules have “more of an indirect effect on our business,” says Wendell Lee of the California-based Wine Institute. Lee says brand-specific menu calorie labels could be especially burdensome on the wine industry, where every vintage and varietal is different.</p>
<p>Craft brewers, with many varied brands and styles, have similar concerns.</p>
<p>The regulations “could have a slight chilling effect” on small breweries if some restaurants decide to go beyond them and list calories for individual beers, said Paul Gatza of the Brewers Association, which represents craft breweries.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The rules could have advantages too, he said.</p>
<p>“The more customers know about a brewery, the more they feel connected with it,” Gatza said.</p>
<p>Off the menu, labeling rules appear further away.</p>
<p>For years, most alcohol companies have tried to put off mandatory bottle and can nutrition labeling as public health advocates have fought for it. Rules proposed in 2007 would have made such labels mandatory, but the FDA never made the rules final.</p>
<p>Last year, Treasury’s Alcohol and Tobacco Trade and Tax Bureau said for the first time that beer, wine and spirits companies could use labels that include serving size, servings per container, calories, carbohydrates, protein and fat per serving. The labels are voluntary and will likely be used mostly by liquor companies touting low calories and low carbohydrates in their products.</p>
<p>Current labeling law for bottles and cans is complicated.</p>
<p>Wines containing 14 percent or more alcohol by volume must list alcohol content. Wines that are 7 percent to 14 percent alcohol by volume may list alcohol content or put “light” or “table” wine on the label. “Light” beers must list calorie and carbohydrate content. Liquor must list percent alcohol content by volume and may also list proof, a measure of alcoholic strength.</p>
<p>Wine, beer and liquor manufacturers don’t have to list ingredients but must list substances people might be sensitive to, such as sulfites, certain food colorings and aspartame.</p>
<p>Tom Hogue of the Tobacco Trade and Tax Bureau said the current goal is to make sure that companies that want to label may do so, and that labeling is consistent. It is important that labels “don’t mislead the consumer,” he said.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/mcjalonick" type="external">http://twitter.com/mcjalonick</a></p>
| 6,419 |
|
<p>Rochdale Securities' analyst Richard Bove said fears of a possible impact of a European debt crisis on U.S. banks were overblown, with only Citigroup and <a href="" type="internal">JP Morgan Chase</a> having a significant exposure to the crisis.</p>
<p>"Assuming some relatively worse case developments, it appears that Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase are at risk to the developments in Europe. No other American institution is," Bove wrote in a note.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Citing the filings from the International Financial Statistics Yearbook, released by the <a href="" type="internal">International Monetary Fund</a> for the year 2010, Bove said Citigroup is at biggest risk with exposure of $12.3 billion in Italy and $10.8 billion in Spain.</p>
<p>JP Morgan Chase risks write downs on the $18.8 billion it loaned to Ireland, $12.2 billion to Italy and $12 billion to Spain, according to the filings.</p>
<p>The brokerage ruled out any risks from limited exposure to either <a href="" type="internal">Goldman Sachs</a> , or <a href="" type="internal">Morgan Stanley</a> and termed the exposure amount "not significant."</p>
<p>"The declines in the bank stock prices based on fears in this area (due to fear of financial crisis in Europe) seem to be meaningfully overdone," Richard Bove said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
|
Bove: European Debt Crisis Only a Risk to Citi, JPMorgan
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/09/12/bove-european-debt-crisis-only-risk-to-citi-jpmorgan.html
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2016-01-29
| 0right
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Bove: European Debt Crisis Only a Risk to Citi, JPMorgan
<p>Rochdale Securities' analyst Richard Bove said fears of a possible impact of a European debt crisis on U.S. banks were overblown, with only Citigroup and <a href="" type="internal">JP Morgan Chase</a> having a significant exposure to the crisis.</p>
<p>"Assuming some relatively worse case developments, it appears that Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase are at risk to the developments in Europe. No other American institution is," Bove wrote in a note.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Citing the filings from the International Financial Statistics Yearbook, released by the <a href="" type="internal">International Monetary Fund</a> for the year 2010, Bove said Citigroup is at biggest risk with exposure of $12.3 billion in Italy and $10.8 billion in Spain.</p>
<p>JP Morgan Chase risks write downs on the $18.8 billion it loaned to Ireland, $12.2 billion to Italy and $12 billion to Spain, according to the filings.</p>
<p>The brokerage ruled out any risks from limited exposure to either <a href="" type="internal">Goldman Sachs</a> , or <a href="" type="internal">Morgan Stanley</a> and termed the exposure amount "not significant."</p>
<p>"The declines in the bank stock prices based on fears in this area (due to fear of financial crisis in Europe) seem to be meaningfully overdone," Richard Bove said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
| 6,420 |
<p>A top European leader has been raging at Pope Francis for declaring that hospitals should be reserved for curing sick people, not euthanizing them.</p>
<p>Earlier in the month, the Roman Pontiff ordered a Belgian Catholic charity — the Brothers of Charity Group — to reverse their egregious decision to allow doctors to perform euthanasia at its 15 psychiatric hospitals in <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/belgium.htm" type="external">Belgium</a> — the only country outside of the Netherlands where doctors can murder people with mental health issues at their request.</p>
<p>Imagine that insanity: insane people are permitted to request sane doctors to execute them.</p>
<p>In order to qualify, these insane people that have little grasp on reality or view it with distorted lenses must be in a state of "unbearable suffering." The execution would then come under review by three doctors, including one psychiatrist.</p>
<p>Since euthanasia and assisted-suicide in all forms violate Catholic moral teaching, Pope Francis ordered the charity's board of directors, headed by mostly laity, to reverse their decision.</p>
<p>Br. Rene Stockman, the order's superior general, strongly criticized the decision as well.</p>
<p>"This is the very first time a Christian organization states that euthanasia is an ordinary medical practice that falls under the physician's therapeutic freedom," wrote the charity's superior general, Rene Stockman, who delivered the request from Pope Francis via two letters.</p>
<p>"This is disloyal, outrageous and unacceptable."</p>
<p>Now a former president of the European Council has publicly rebuked the Holy Father, saying he should have no say in the matter while rudely mocking Canon Law.</p>
<p>Herman van Rompuy said on Twitter “The time of ‘Roma locuta causa finita’ is long past”.</p>
<p>The Latin phrase translates as "Rome has spoken, the matter is finished," paraphrases a quote from St. Augustine on the Pope's authority regarding faith and morals.</p>
<p>Pope Francis has also ordered that if Brothers of Charity does not reverse their decision, then religious brothers serving on the board of trustees will face sanctions under canon law. The group could face legal action or expulsion from the Church as well.</p>
<p>The Brothers of Charity Group has not responded to the Pope's ultimatum.</p>
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Top European Leader Rages At Pope Francis For Ordering Hospitals To Cease Euthanizing People
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/19807/european-leaders-rage-pope-francis-ordering-they-paul-bois
|
2017-08-16
| 0right
|
Top European Leader Rages At Pope Francis For Ordering Hospitals To Cease Euthanizing People
<p>A top European leader has been raging at Pope Francis for declaring that hospitals should be reserved for curing sick people, not euthanizing them.</p>
<p>Earlier in the month, the Roman Pontiff ordered a Belgian Catholic charity — the Brothers of Charity Group — to reverse their egregious decision to allow doctors to perform euthanasia at its 15 psychiatric hospitals in <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/topics/news/belgium.htm" type="external">Belgium</a> — the only country outside of the Netherlands where doctors can murder people with mental health issues at their request.</p>
<p>Imagine that insanity: insane people are permitted to request sane doctors to execute them.</p>
<p>In order to qualify, these insane people that have little grasp on reality or view it with distorted lenses must be in a state of "unbearable suffering." The execution would then come under review by three doctors, including one psychiatrist.</p>
<p>Since euthanasia and assisted-suicide in all forms violate Catholic moral teaching, Pope Francis ordered the charity's board of directors, headed by mostly laity, to reverse their decision.</p>
<p>Br. Rene Stockman, the order's superior general, strongly criticized the decision as well.</p>
<p>"This is the very first time a Christian organization states that euthanasia is an ordinary medical practice that falls under the physician's therapeutic freedom," wrote the charity's superior general, Rene Stockman, who delivered the request from Pope Francis via two letters.</p>
<p>"This is disloyal, outrageous and unacceptable."</p>
<p>Now a former president of the European Council has publicly rebuked the Holy Father, saying he should have no say in the matter while rudely mocking Canon Law.</p>
<p>Herman van Rompuy said on Twitter “The time of ‘Roma locuta causa finita’ is long past”.</p>
<p>The Latin phrase translates as "Rome has spoken, the matter is finished," paraphrases a quote from St. Augustine on the Pope's authority regarding faith and morals.</p>
<p>Pope Francis has also ordered that if Brothers of Charity does not reverse their decision, then religious brothers serving on the board of trustees will face sanctions under canon law. The group could face legal action or expulsion from the Church as well.</p>
<p>The Brothers of Charity Group has not responded to the Pope's ultimatum.</p>
| 6,421 |
<p />
<p>U.S. safety regulators are investigating whether a recall of Ford F-150 pickup trucks for brake failures should be expanded to more model years.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The probe covers about 282,000 pickups with 3.5-liter six-cylinder engines from 2015 and 2016. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has received 25 complaints alleging sudden brake loss in the trucks. No injuries were reported.</p>
<p>In May, Ford recalled about 271,000 six-cylinder F-150s from 2013 and 2014 because brake fluid could leak from the master cylinder and cause brake failure.</p>
<p>The safety agency says it received 10 complaints about 2015 brake failures and another 15 about the 2016 models.</p>
<p>Investigators will decide if the 2015 and 2016 models should be added to the recall. The F-series pickup is the top-selling vehicle in the U.S.</p>
|
U.S. Probes Complaints of More F-150 Brake Failures
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/10/04/u-s-probes-complaints-more-f-150-brake-failures.html
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2016-10-04
| 0right
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U.S. Probes Complaints of More F-150 Brake Failures
<p />
<p>U.S. safety regulators are investigating whether a recall of Ford F-150 pickup trucks for brake failures should be expanded to more model years.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The probe covers about 282,000 pickups with 3.5-liter six-cylinder engines from 2015 and 2016. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says it has received 25 complaints alleging sudden brake loss in the trucks. No injuries were reported.</p>
<p>In May, Ford recalled about 271,000 six-cylinder F-150s from 2013 and 2014 because brake fluid could leak from the master cylinder and cause brake failure.</p>
<p>The safety agency says it received 10 complaints about 2015 brake failures and another 15 about the 2016 models.</p>
<p>Investigators will decide if the 2015 and 2016 models should be added to the recall. The F-series pickup is the top-selling vehicle in the U.S.</p>
| 6,422 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>But for former Army Sgt. Paul Murphy, his ghost – Spec. 4 Myron I. “Wanna” Senger – pops in and out of his former squad leader’s life some 40 years after the young specialist was cut down by enemy fire in a nameless hamlet in the lowlands of Vietnam.</p>
<p>Senger hopes Murphy can explain why he has been forced to “hump” the jungles of Vietnam for the decades since his death.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Murphy has done his best to bury Vietnam in the deep recesses of his mind and soul, and has no answers for Senger. The defenses Murphy has built up over the years to ward off horrific memories of the slow slaughter of his entire squad – only he and his boss, Lt. Adrian “Jackal” Porkorny, survived – has rendered him emotionally crippled.</p>
<p>Senger, visible and audible only to Murphy, shows up in living rooms, a hospital, the backseat of Murphy’s car, commenting on events unfolding in Murphy’s life, but mostly trying to find out how he can leave Vietnam and get back home to North Dakota.</p>
<p>The Jackal’s funeral in Kansas affords Murphy the chance to tell the story of the battle for a forsaken hill on the cusp of Vietnam’s infamous A Shau Valley and the dayslong slaughter of his squad. The telling, predictably, proves cathartic for Murphy and the people he and the Jackal have allowed into their lives since their days in “the ‘Nam” – even for the hapless Wanna.</p>
<p>Tim Coder’s exacting description of the squad’s missions – from their disastrous final firefight to the failed attempt to relieve Wanna of his virginity – was clearly forged when he served as an infantry squad leader in the 101st Airborne Division.</p>
<p>Coder’s approach of having a ghost as an active participant in Murphy’s collision with his past shows us opposing sides of a war that cost more than 58,000 American lives.</p>
<p>Far more than the gritty retelling of a motley squad’s experiences in an endlessly puzzling war, “War Without End, Amen,” puts the personal aftermath of Vietnam in our living rooms, our hospitals, the backseats of our cars.</p>
<p>The grunts who fought in Vietnam often summarized what went on there with, “It don’t mean nothin’.” In the context of Iraq and Afghanistan which, like Vietnam, are drawing to uncertain conclusions, Coder’s well-crafted book challenges us to decide whether the grunts are right. Coder is a retired Journal editor.</p>
<p>Charles Brunt covers military affairs for the Journal.</p>
|
Review: Endless memories of war tormented veteran
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/152005/review-endless-memories-of-war-tormented-veteran.html
|
2012-12-09
| 2least
|
Review: Endless memories of war tormented veteran
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>But for former Army Sgt. Paul Murphy, his ghost – Spec. 4 Myron I. “Wanna” Senger – pops in and out of his former squad leader’s life some 40 years after the young specialist was cut down by enemy fire in a nameless hamlet in the lowlands of Vietnam.</p>
<p>Senger hopes Murphy can explain why he has been forced to “hump” the jungles of Vietnam for the decades since his death.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Murphy has done his best to bury Vietnam in the deep recesses of his mind and soul, and has no answers for Senger. The defenses Murphy has built up over the years to ward off horrific memories of the slow slaughter of his entire squad – only he and his boss, Lt. Adrian “Jackal” Porkorny, survived – has rendered him emotionally crippled.</p>
<p>Senger, visible and audible only to Murphy, shows up in living rooms, a hospital, the backseat of Murphy’s car, commenting on events unfolding in Murphy’s life, but mostly trying to find out how he can leave Vietnam and get back home to North Dakota.</p>
<p>The Jackal’s funeral in Kansas affords Murphy the chance to tell the story of the battle for a forsaken hill on the cusp of Vietnam’s infamous A Shau Valley and the dayslong slaughter of his squad. The telling, predictably, proves cathartic for Murphy and the people he and the Jackal have allowed into their lives since their days in “the ‘Nam” – even for the hapless Wanna.</p>
<p>Tim Coder’s exacting description of the squad’s missions – from their disastrous final firefight to the failed attempt to relieve Wanna of his virginity – was clearly forged when he served as an infantry squad leader in the 101st Airborne Division.</p>
<p>Coder’s approach of having a ghost as an active participant in Murphy’s collision with his past shows us opposing sides of a war that cost more than 58,000 American lives.</p>
<p>Far more than the gritty retelling of a motley squad’s experiences in an endlessly puzzling war, “War Without End, Amen,” puts the personal aftermath of Vietnam in our living rooms, our hospitals, the backseats of our cars.</p>
<p>The grunts who fought in Vietnam often summarized what went on there with, “It don’t mean nothin’.” In the context of Iraq and Afghanistan which, like Vietnam, are drawing to uncertain conclusions, Coder’s well-crafted book challenges us to decide whether the grunts are right. Coder is a retired Journal editor.</p>
<p>Charles Brunt covers military affairs for the Journal.</p>
| 6,423 |
<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon’s drawing of the North Carolina Lottery’s “Pick 3 Day” game were:</p>
<p>7-1-0, Lucky Sum: 8</p>
<p>(seven, one, zero; Lucky Sum: eight)</p>
<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon’s drawing of the North Carolina Lottery’s “Pick 3 Day” game were:</p>
<p>7-1-0, Lucky Sum: 8</p>
<p>(seven, one, zero; Lucky Sum: eight)</p>
|
Winning numbers drawn in ‘Pick 3 Day’ game
| false |
https://apnews.com/abcaa9c71e934f35a4a89df3206fdb94
|
2018-01-17
| 2least
|
Winning numbers drawn in ‘Pick 3 Day’ game
<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon’s drawing of the North Carolina Lottery’s “Pick 3 Day” game were:</p>
<p>7-1-0, Lucky Sum: 8</p>
<p>(seven, one, zero; Lucky Sum: eight)</p>
<p>RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon’s drawing of the North Carolina Lottery’s “Pick 3 Day” game were:</p>
<p>7-1-0, Lucky Sum: 8</p>
<p>(seven, one, zero; Lucky Sum: eight)</p>
| 6,424 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Is this 2015 or “1984”? Where is George Orwell when you need him?</p>
<p>Attorney General Hector Balderas’ office has responded to the legislation clearly, saying in SB 675’s Fiscal Impact Report that “creating a system where political advertisements must be vetted by review agencies contracted to a governmental entity may create a chilling effect on speech and thus violate the First Amendment.”</p>
<p>The AG’s response also points to a federal case in Ohio last year in which a judge “struck down a law which allowed the Ohio Elections Commission to review and approve political ads on the grounds that it may be used to stifle free speech in political campaigns.” And the AG rightly expresses concern there are no “guidelines for how to determine the truthfulness of an advertisement or what constitutes ‘misleading.’ ”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Or who would act as Big Brother/enforcer.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the courts have historically given great latitude to political speech – appropriately so. But hey, why let fairness, the courts and the Bill of Rights get in the way?</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, the legislators exempted not only judges’ but their own ads from review. Apparently free speech would still be free to a special few.</p>
<p>New Mexicans who care about an open marketplace of ideas, where individuals can criticize their government officials to the point of seeking to replace them, should know that Rules Chairwoman Linda Lopez and fellow Sens. Daniel Ivey-Soto, Gerald Ortiz y Pino, Clemente Sanchez and Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez voted for this heavy-handed retro move, which would silence political critics with fines ranging from two to 20 times the cost of producing and distributing an offending advertisement.</p>
<p>Whatever that may be.</p>
<p>The stated reason for this assault on the First Amendment is that negative ads that toy with the truth or cross the line discourage voters from going to the polls. Nothing disproves that argument better than last year’s Democratic primary for governor – featuring both Morales and Lopez – where the five candidates had the equivalent of a nonaggression pact, bashing only Susana Martinez. The turnout by registered Democrats was dismal, with only one in five voters casting ballots, indicating that bad candidates do more to lower turnout than anything else.</p>
<p>Recoiling at this repressive suggestion shouldn’t be a partisan issue. New Mexicans can only hope their lawmaker colleagues understand that actions speak louder than words, that Sunshine Week and freedom of speech aren’t just labels to be bandied about at election time.</p>
<p>SB 675 should be rejected as the assault on free speech that it is.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p>
<p />
|
Editorial: Senate Rules panel takes free speech back to ‘1984’
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/557399/senate-rules-panel-takes-free-speech-back-to-1984.html
| 2least
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Editorial: Senate Rules panel takes free speech back to ‘1984’
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Is this 2015 or “1984”? Where is George Orwell when you need him?</p>
<p>Attorney General Hector Balderas’ office has responded to the legislation clearly, saying in SB 675’s Fiscal Impact Report that “creating a system where political advertisements must be vetted by review agencies contracted to a governmental entity may create a chilling effect on speech and thus violate the First Amendment.”</p>
<p>The AG’s response also points to a federal case in Ohio last year in which a judge “struck down a law which allowed the Ohio Elections Commission to review and approve political ads on the grounds that it may be used to stifle free speech in political campaigns.” And the AG rightly expresses concern there are no “guidelines for how to determine the truthfulness of an advertisement or what constitutes ‘misleading.’ ”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Or who would act as Big Brother/enforcer.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the courts have historically given great latitude to political speech – appropriately so. But hey, why let fairness, the courts and the Bill of Rights get in the way?</p>
<p>Interestingly enough, the legislators exempted not only judges’ but their own ads from review. Apparently free speech would still be free to a special few.</p>
<p>New Mexicans who care about an open marketplace of ideas, where individuals can criticize their government officials to the point of seeking to replace them, should know that Rules Chairwoman Linda Lopez and fellow Sens. Daniel Ivey-Soto, Gerald Ortiz y Pino, Clemente Sanchez and Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez voted for this heavy-handed retro move, which would silence political critics with fines ranging from two to 20 times the cost of producing and distributing an offending advertisement.</p>
<p>Whatever that may be.</p>
<p>The stated reason for this assault on the First Amendment is that negative ads that toy with the truth or cross the line discourage voters from going to the polls. Nothing disproves that argument better than last year’s Democratic primary for governor – featuring both Morales and Lopez – where the five candidates had the equivalent of a nonaggression pact, bashing only Susana Martinez. The turnout by registered Democrats was dismal, with only one in five voters casting ballots, indicating that bad candidates do more to lower turnout than anything else.</p>
<p>Recoiling at this repressive suggestion shouldn’t be a partisan issue. New Mexicans can only hope their lawmaker colleagues understand that actions speak louder than words, that Sunshine Week and freedom of speech aren’t just labels to be bandied about at election time.</p>
<p>SB 675 should be rejected as the assault on free speech that it is.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p>
<p />
| 6,425 |
|
<p>Remember, if these polls are correct, Mitt Romney was making headway just as the Bain Capital attacks were being ratcheted up and the media was focusing on an array of faux controversies. The environment can change as quickly as it takes to make a gaffe, of course, but the fact is, if you look at the internals of these polls, it looks like the Obama economy is finally catching up to the president.</p>
<p>Let's start with Virginia. If Obama wins Virginia, Republicans can forget about the presidency. And in March, President Obama held a 50-42 percent lead over Romney in a Quinnipiac University poll. By June, Romney had whittled down that lead to 47-42 percent. Today, a new poll has the candidates <a href="http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/virginia/release-detail?ReleaseID=1778" type="external">deadlocked</a>&#160;at 44-44 percent.</p>
<p>What should disturb the president's supporters are some of the internal numbers. Though Romney and Obama are tied,Virginia voters disapprove of Obama job performance by a 51-45 percent margin and 50-47 percent said he doesn't deserves a second term in office. It is unlikely, at this point, that economic numbers will be improving much before Nov. Clearly, many voters have not warmed to Romney, and perhaps they never will, but there are plenty of votes out there be had.</p>
<p />
<p>In the new national CBS/New York Times&#160; <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57475178-503544/obama-romney-in-dead-heat-in-presidential-race/" type="external">poll</a>&#160;( <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57475191/cbs-news-new-york-times-poll-7-18-12/?tag=contentMain;contentBody" type="external">entire poll here</a>), the candidates are also statistically tied at 47-46. Obama's approval rating has dropped to 44 percent, with only 39 percent saying he's doing a good job on the economy - down five points since April.</p>
<p>Whereas once, Obama could blame George W. Bush for all the troubles of the world, 34 percent of those polled &#160;believe Obama now takes "significant" responsibility for the economy and&#160;52 percent of independents say that Obama will "never improve" the economy.</p>
<p>A new <a href="http://www.npr.org/news/polls/npr.pdf" type="external">NPR poll</a> also finds Romney and Obama tied in battleground states, 46-46.</p>
<p />
|
New polls: Economy catching up to Obama
| true |
http://humanevents.com/2012/07/19/david-harsanyi-new-polls-economy-catching-up-to-obama/
|
2012-07-19
| 0right
|
New polls: Economy catching up to Obama
<p>Remember, if these polls are correct, Mitt Romney was making headway just as the Bain Capital attacks were being ratcheted up and the media was focusing on an array of faux controversies. The environment can change as quickly as it takes to make a gaffe, of course, but the fact is, if you look at the internals of these polls, it looks like the Obama economy is finally catching up to the president.</p>
<p>Let's start with Virginia. If Obama wins Virginia, Republicans can forget about the presidency. And in March, President Obama held a 50-42 percent lead over Romney in a Quinnipiac University poll. By June, Romney had whittled down that lead to 47-42 percent. Today, a new poll has the candidates <a href="http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/virginia/release-detail?ReleaseID=1778" type="external">deadlocked</a>&#160;at 44-44 percent.</p>
<p>What should disturb the president's supporters are some of the internal numbers. Though Romney and Obama are tied,Virginia voters disapprove of Obama job performance by a 51-45 percent margin and 50-47 percent said he doesn't deserves a second term in office. It is unlikely, at this point, that economic numbers will be improving much before Nov. Clearly, many voters have not warmed to Romney, and perhaps they never will, but there are plenty of votes out there be had.</p>
<p />
<p>In the new national CBS/New York Times&#160; <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57475178-503544/obama-romney-in-dead-heat-in-presidential-race/" type="external">poll</a>&#160;( <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57475191/cbs-news-new-york-times-poll-7-18-12/?tag=contentMain;contentBody" type="external">entire poll here</a>), the candidates are also statistically tied at 47-46. Obama's approval rating has dropped to 44 percent, with only 39 percent saying he's doing a good job on the economy - down five points since April.</p>
<p>Whereas once, Obama could blame George W. Bush for all the troubles of the world, 34 percent of those polled &#160;believe Obama now takes "significant" responsibility for the economy and&#160;52 percent of independents say that Obama will "never improve" the economy.</p>
<p>A new <a href="http://www.npr.org/news/polls/npr.pdf" type="external">NPR poll</a> also finds Romney and Obama tied in battleground states, 46-46.</p>
<p />
| 6,426 |
<p>HYANNIS, Mass. (AP) — Ferry-goers travelling between Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard will soon be entering a politics-free zone.</p>
<p>The Steamship Authority has voted to prohibit televisions on their vessels from showing national cable news channels from across the political spectrum.</p>
<p>That means no more CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and PBS.</p>
<p>Steamship Authority General Manager Bob Davis <a href="https://www.capecod.com/newscenter/steamship-authority-pulls-the-plug-on-national-cable-news-channels/" type="external">tells</a> CapeCod.com that passengers from both political aisles have been loudly complaining about the content. He said the tensions have escalated following the election of President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>The authority will instead swap in local news programs, sports and cable channels like The Weather Channel and Food Network.</p>
<p>After the local news is over, channels will be switched over to sports programming, or other networks like the Discovery Channel.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: WQRC-FM, <a href="http://www.wqrc.com" type="external">http://www.wqrc.com</a></p>
<p>HYANNIS, Mass. (AP) — Ferry-goers travelling between Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard will soon be entering a politics-free zone.</p>
<p>The Steamship Authority has voted to prohibit televisions on their vessels from showing national cable news channels from across the political spectrum.</p>
<p>That means no more CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and PBS.</p>
<p>Steamship Authority General Manager Bob Davis <a href="https://www.capecod.com/newscenter/steamship-authority-pulls-the-plug-on-national-cable-news-channels/" type="external">tells</a> CapeCod.com that passengers from both political aisles have been loudly complaining about the content. He said the tensions have escalated following the election of President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>The authority will instead swap in local news programs, sports and cable channels like The Weather Channel and Food Network.</p>
<p>After the local news is over, channels will be switched over to sports programming, or other networks like the Discovery Channel.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: WQRC-FM, <a href="http://www.wqrc.com" type="external">http://www.wqrc.com</a></p>
|
Ferries serving Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard ban cable news
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/8bcf2e8ca1fe45d2a11df9db9098eb36
|
2018-01-19
| 2least
|
Ferries serving Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard ban cable news
<p>HYANNIS, Mass. (AP) — Ferry-goers travelling between Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard will soon be entering a politics-free zone.</p>
<p>The Steamship Authority has voted to prohibit televisions on their vessels from showing national cable news channels from across the political spectrum.</p>
<p>That means no more CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and PBS.</p>
<p>Steamship Authority General Manager Bob Davis <a href="https://www.capecod.com/newscenter/steamship-authority-pulls-the-plug-on-national-cable-news-channels/" type="external">tells</a> CapeCod.com that passengers from both political aisles have been loudly complaining about the content. He said the tensions have escalated following the election of President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>The authority will instead swap in local news programs, sports and cable channels like The Weather Channel and Food Network.</p>
<p>After the local news is over, channels will be switched over to sports programming, or other networks like the Discovery Channel.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: WQRC-FM, <a href="http://www.wqrc.com" type="external">http://www.wqrc.com</a></p>
<p>HYANNIS, Mass. (AP) — Ferry-goers travelling between Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard will soon be entering a politics-free zone.</p>
<p>The Steamship Authority has voted to prohibit televisions on their vessels from showing national cable news channels from across the political spectrum.</p>
<p>That means no more CNN, FOX News, MSNBC and PBS.</p>
<p>Steamship Authority General Manager Bob Davis <a href="https://www.capecod.com/newscenter/steamship-authority-pulls-the-plug-on-national-cable-news-channels/" type="external">tells</a> CapeCod.com that passengers from both political aisles have been loudly complaining about the content. He said the tensions have escalated following the election of President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>The authority will instead swap in local news programs, sports and cable channels like The Weather Channel and Food Network.</p>
<p>After the local news is over, channels will be switched over to sports programming, or other networks like the Discovery Channel.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: WQRC-FM, <a href="http://www.wqrc.com" type="external">http://www.wqrc.com</a></p>
| 6,427 |
<p>Retailers and sector-related exchange traded funds took a hit ahead of the Christmas weekend as brick-and-mortar shops are unable to entice shoppers, even with heavy holiday discounts. On Thursday, the SPDR S&amp;P Retail ETF (NYSEArca: XRT), the largest retail-related ETF on the market, fell 2.9% and the VanEck Vectors Retail ETF (NYSEArca: RTH) dropped 1.4%.… <a href="http://www.etftrends.com/2016/12/retail-etfs-arent-seeing-a-lot-of-holiday-cheer/" type="external">Click to read more at ETFtrends.com. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
|
Retail ETFs Aren’t Seeing a Lot of Holiday Cheer
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/12/22/retail-etfs-aren-t-seeing-lot-holiday-cheer.html
|
2016-12-22
| 0right
|
Retail ETFs Aren’t Seeing a Lot of Holiday Cheer
<p>Retailers and sector-related exchange traded funds took a hit ahead of the Christmas weekend as brick-and-mortar shops are unable to entice shoppers, even with heavy holiday discounts. On Thursday, the SPDR S&amp;P Retail ETF (NYSEArca: XRT), the largest retail-related ETF on the market, fell 2.9% and the VanEck Vectors Retail ETF (NYSEArca: RTH) dropped 1.4%.… <a href="http://www.etftrends.com/2016/12/retail-etfs-arent-seeing-a-lot-of-holiday-cheer/" type="external">Click to read more at ETFtrends.com. Opens a New Window.</a></p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
| 6,428 |
<p>A <a href="http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1352167" type="external">new study</a> says that declining circumcisions will lead to a rise in sexually transmitted diseases, increasing healthcare costs by billions.</p>
<p>Researchers at Johns Hopkins said that the 25 percent drop in circumcisions could cost the US health system upwards of $2.5 billion and rise from there.</p>
<p>"We find that each circumcision not performed will lead to $313 of increased expenditures over that lifetime," said senior research Aaron Tobian, of the Johns Hopkins University team that conducted the study, <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hvzUP9jDTiTlCkTefbPXNBCLUTXw?docId=CNG.961a99c445a9e178ce540c70e850b4b3.181" type="external">reported AFP</a>.</p>
<p>Rates of HPV, and herpes is expected to rise as previous studies have shown that one's risk of acquiring these maladies signficantly increases in uncircumcised men.</p>
<p>"Our economic evidence is backing up what our medical evidence has already shown to be perfectly clear," said Tobian, <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/08/20/159389031/decline-in-circumcision-could-prove-costly?ec=shots&amp;ps=storycategory" type="external">according to NPR</a>.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/120205/sexually-transmitted-diseases-vagina-stds-baby-boomers-babyboomers-have-more-sex" type="external">Sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates among seniors double in a decade</a></p>
<p>"There are health benefits to infant male circumcision in guarding against illness and disease, and declining male circumcision rates come at a severe price, not just in human suffering, but in billions of health care dollars as well."</p>
<p>A decrease in circumcision in the US has a number of causes.</p>
<p>Many states are no longer insuring the procedure under Medicaid, <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/blog/bal-circumcision-states-no-coverage,0,954809.story" type="external">reported the Baltimore Sun</a>.</p>
<p>Also, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement in 1999, saying that routine circumcision was not necessary.</p>
<p>The new study was published in the <a href="http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/journal.aspx" type="external">Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine</a>.</p>
|
Circumcision decline may cost US healthcare system billions
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2012-08-21/circumcision-decline-may-cost-us-healthcare-system-billions
|
2012-08-21
| 3left-center
|
Circumcision decline may cost US healthcare system billions
<p>A <a href="http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1352167" type="external">new study</a> says that declining circumcisions will lead to a rise in sexually transmitted diseases, increasing healthcare costs by billions.</p>
<p>Researchers at Johns Hopkins said that the 25 percent drop in circumcisions could cost the US health system upwards of $2.5 billion and rise from there.</p>
<p>"We find that each circumcision not performed will lead to $313 of increased expenditures over that lifetime," said senior research Aaron Tobian, of the Johns Hopkins University team that conducted the study, <a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hvzUP9jDTiTlCkTefbPXNBCLUTXw?docId=CNG.961a99c445a9e178ce540c70e850b4b3.181" type="external">reported AFP</a>.</p>
<p>Rates of HPV, and herpes is expected to rise as previous studies have shown that one's risk of acquiring these maladies signficantly increases in uncircumcised men.</p>
<p>"Our economic evidence is backing up what our medical evidence has already shown to be perfectly clear," said Tobian, <a href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/08/20/159389031/decline-in-circumcision-could-prove-costly?ec=shots&amp;ps=storycategory" type="external">according to NPR</a>.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost:&#160; <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/health/120205/sexually-transmitted-diseases-vagina-stds-baby-boomers-babyboomers-have-more-sex" type="external">Sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates among seniors double in a decade</a></p>
<p>"There are health benefits to infant male circumcision in guarding against illness and disease, and declining male circumcision rates come at a severe price, not just in human suffering, but in billions of health care dollars as well."</p>
<p>A decrease in circumcision in the US has a number of causes.</p>
<p>Many states are no longer insuring the procedure under Medicaid, <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/blog/bal-circumcision-states-no-coverage,0,954809.story" type="external">reported the Baltimore Sun</a>.</p>
<p>Also, the American Academy of Pediatrics issued a policy statement in 1999, saying that routine circumcision was not necessary.</p>
<p>The new study was published in the <a href="http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/journal.aspx" type="external">Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine</a>.</p>
| 6,429 |
<p>By Naveena Sadasivam, ProPublica</p>
<p>For years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been frustrated in its efforts to pursue hundreds of cases of water pollution —&#160;repeatedly tied up in legal fights about exactly what bodies of water it has the authority to monitor and protect. Efforts in Congress to clarify the EPA’s powers have been defeated. And two Supreme Court decisions have done little to decide the question.</p>
<p>Most recently, in April, the EPA itself declared what waters were subject to its oversight —&#160;developing a joint rule with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that sought to end the debate and empower the EPA to press hundreds of enforcements actions against alleged polluters across the country.</p>
<p>The new rule, for instance, explicitly defines several terms — tributary, floodplain and wetland — and makes clear that those waters are subject to its authority.</p>
<p />
<p>But the EPA’s effort has been met with immense opposition from farmers who say the agency is overreaching. An <a href="http://ditchtherule.fb.org/" type="external">expansive online campaign</a> organized and financed by the American Farm Bureau Federation has asserted that the new rule will give the EPA jurisdiction over farmers’ irrigation ditches, watering ponds and even puddles of rain.</p>
<p>The American Farm Bureau Federation’s president, Bob Stallman, said the proposed rule was the “the biggest federal land grab — in terms of power over land use — that we’ve seen to date.”</p>
<p>In an effort to address the concerns of farmers, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in recent weeks has been touring states in the Midwest.</p>
<p>“There are issues we need to discuss and clarify to get this rule right,” she said. “We have important work to do. All the silly contentions being brought up —&#160;that we intend to regulate dry ground or stock ponds or mud puddles after a rain —&#160;all that does is get in the way of our being able to have those serious discussions.”</p>
<p>The Clean Water Act of 1972 authorized the EPA to protect the “waters of the United States” from dangerous and or illegal pollution. But that term has been the subject of controversy and dispute virtually from the time the act was signed into law. Regulators and industry representatives are generally in agreement that the law applies to some of the nation’s larger rivers. At issue, however, are the streams that flow intermittently and the wetlands adjacent to these streams that dry up during the summer.</p>
<p>Legal fights over those streams and wetlands, current and former EPA officials say, have cost the agency time, money and effectiveness in the face of real environmental threats. Indeed, in recent years the EPA has allowed hundreds of cases of water pollution to go unpunished because it currently lacks the confidence that it can prevail in court.</p>
<p>Granta Nakayama, who served as the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at the EPA until 2009, found that between July 2006 and March 2008 the agency had decided not to pursue formal enforcement in 304 cases because of jurisdictional uncertainty.</p>
<p>In 2008, <a href="http://www.eenews.net/assets/2012/04/18/document_gw_01.pdf" type="external">in an internal memo</a>, Nakayama wrote that the uncertainty “results in delays in enforcement and increases the resources needed to bring enforcement cases.”</p>
<p>And so in 2007, when an oil company discharged thousands of gallons of crude oil into Edwards Creek in Titus County, Texas, the EPA did not issue a fine, pursue legal action or even require clean up. Similarly, after a farming operation dumped manure into tributaries that fed Lake Blackshear in Georgia, the EPA did not seek to hold the polluting company responsible —&#160;despite the fact that tests showed unsafe levels of bacteria and viruses in the lake, which was regularly used for waterskiing and other recreation.</p>
<p>“The proposed rule will improve the process for making jurisdictional determinations for the Clean Water Act by minimizing delays and costs, and will improve the predictability and consistency of the permit and enforcement process for landowners,” an EPA spokesperson said.</p>
<p>The EPA expects that improving efficiency in jurisdictional determinations will also save the businesses that they regulate time and money.</p>
<p>“Protecting water is important to the long-term health of the economy,” the EPA spokesperson said. “Streams and wetlands are economic drivers because of their role in fishing, hunting, agriculture, recreation, energy, and manufacturing.”</p>
<p>Two Supreme Court decisions in the last 15 years have been the cause of much of the uncertainty.</p>
<p>In a 5-4 ruling in 2001, the Court held that the Army Corps of Engineers could not require permits for waters based on their use as a habitat by migratory birds. The Court ruling also included language that seemed to assert that only wetlands with a “significant nexus” to traditional navigable waterways would be protected under the Clean Water Act. The Court did not make clear the meaning of the term “significant nexus.”</p>
<p>And in 2006, the Court, asked to determine whether a wetland needed to be adjacent to a traditional navigable waterway in order to be protected, wound up split, and reached no majority decision.</p>
<p>By the EPA’s own estimates, 2 million stream miles outside of Alaska are regarded as “intermittent,” and 20 percent of roughly 110 million acres of wetlands are considered “isolated.” As a result of the inability of the government to clarify the EPA’s jurisdiction over the last 15 years, these water bodies are currently unprotected.</p>
<p>“At some level this is a very frustrating debate to be having because water is all connected at some level,” said Jon Devine, a senior attorney in the water program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “What the Supreme Court’s decisions do is throw into significant doubt what is protected.”</p>
<p>As a result, in cases where a polluted waterway isn’t clearly under the EPA’s jurisdiction, the agency has sometimes spent thousands of dollars to model water flow and conduct studies to show that it is hydrologically connected to larger water bodies that are protected.</p>
<p>“It just causes an incredible waste of resources and rewards those who don’t really worry about compliance and punishes those who do,” said Nakayama, now an environmental lawyer at Kirkland &amp; Ellis in Washington.</p>
<p>In past years, federal legislators have tried to introduce bills that address the ambiguity in the Clean Water Act’s language, but none have passed both the House and Senate.</p>
<p>In 2011, when Congress was considering a bill that made many of the changes that EPA’s current rule would, the American Farm Bureau Federation, as part of <a href="http://www.nasda.org/File.aspx?id=4187" type="external">the Waters Advocacy Coalition</a>, used a similar media strategy to kill the bill. The Coalition was made up of different industry groups that would be affected by the bill including mining associations and homebuilders.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/us/01water.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">New York Times reported</a> than an unnamed member of the Coalition said, “The game plan is to emphasize the scary possibilities. If you can get Glenn Beck to say that government storm troopers are going to invade your property, farmers in the Midwest will light up their congressmen’s switchboards.”</p>
<p>This time around, the pushback by farmers and others — called the “Ditch the Rule” campaign — has mainly taken place online. The Farm Bureau organization has created a <a href="http://ditchtherule.fb.org/" type="external">separate website</a> for the campaign and created <a href="http://bcove.me/8a0xhn14" type="external">shareable videos</a> and <a href="http://ditchtherule.fb.org/custom_page/stop-epa-overreach-farm-bureaus-stallman-tells-congress/" type="external">infographics</a>. The organization has also been effective in recruiting state farming associations to join the campaign. It has resulted in a blitz of social media posts and a steady stream of local coverage often favoring the farmers’ point of view.</p>
<p>“The campaign has energized our grassroots to participate,” said Don Parrish, senior director of regulatory relations at the American Farm Bureau Federation. Although the campaign does not have a large amount of money flowing into it, Parrish said it has really “struck a chord.”</p>
<p>Lisa Garcia, a former administrator of environmental justice at the EPA, said the effort by the federation is chiefly one of misinformation.</p>
<p>“The rule is not adding or expanding the scope of waters historically protected,” said Garcia, who is currently at Earth Justice, an environmental non-profit organization. She said the opposition she has seen fits “this pattern of just completely fighting against any new regulation.”</p>
<p>Parrish disagrees. He said that the tensions that are playing out are because “the EPA is trying to create regulations that do an end run around the Supreme Court and Congress.”</p>
<p>“[The EPA is] really reaching into areas that Congress clearly didn’t want the EPA to regulate. They did not intend to put EPA in the land use business,” he said.</p>
<p>For more on the challenges facing the Clean Water Act, read our work on the water woes facing residents <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/officials-in-three-states-pin-water-woes-on-gas-drilling-426" type="external">living close to gas drilling</a> and our series on the <a href="http://www.propublica.org/topic/gulf-oil-spill" type="external">BP oil spill disaster</a>.</p>
<p />
|
Under Water: The EPA’s Struggle to Combat Pollution
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/under-water-the-epas-struggle-to-combat-pollution/
|
2014-07-25
| 4left
|
Under Water: The EPA’s Struggle to Combat Pollution
<p>By Naveena Sadasivam, ProPublica</p>
<p>For years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been frustrated in its efforts to pursue hundreds of cases of water pollution —&#160;repeatedly tied up in legal fights about exactly what bodies of water it has the authority to monitor and protect. Efforts in Congress to clarify the EPA’s powers have been defeated. And two Supreme Court decisions have done little to decide the question.</p>
<p>Most recently, in April, the EPA itself declared what waters were subject to its oversight —&#160;developing a joint rule with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that sought to end the debate and empower the EPA to press hundreds of enforcements actions against alleged polluters across the country.</p>
<p>The new rule, for instance, explicitly defines several terms — tributary, floodplain and wetland — and makes clear that those waters are subject to its authority.</p>
<p />
<p>But the EPA’s effort has been met with immense opposition from farmers who say the agency is overreaching. An <a href="http://ditchtherule.fb.org/" type="external">expansive online campaign</a> organized and financed by the American Farm Bureau Federation has asserted that the new rule will give the EPA jurisdiction over farmers’ irrigation ditches, watering ponds and even puddles of rain.</p>
<p>The American Farm Bureau Federation’s president, Bob Stallman, said the proposed rule was the “the biggest federal land grab — in terms of power over land use — that we’ve seen to date.”</p>
<p>In an effort to address the concerns of farmers, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy in recent weeks has been touring states in the Midwest.</p>
<p>“There are issues we need to discuss and clarify to get this rule right,” she said. “We have important work to do. All the silly contentions being brought up —&#160;that we intend to regulate dry ground or stock ponds or mud puddles after a rain —&#160;all that does is get in the way of our being able to have those serious discussions.”</p>
<p>The Clean Water Act of 1972 authorized the EPA to protect the “waters of the United States” from dangerous and or illegal pollution. But that term has been the subject of controversy and dispute virtually from the time the act was signed into law. Regulators and industry representatives are generally in agreement that the law applies to some of the nation’s larger rivers. At issue, however, are the streams that flow intermittently and the wetlands adjacent to these streams that dry up during the summer.</p>
<p>Legal fights over those streams and wetlands, current and former EPA officials say, have cost the agency time, money and effectiveness in the face of real environmental threats. Indeed, in recent years the EPA has allowed hundreds of cases of water pollution to go unpunished because it currently lacks the confidence that it can prevail in court.</p>
<p>Granta Nakayama, who served as the Assistant Administrator for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance at the EPA until 2009, found that between July 2006 and March 2008 the agency had decided not to pursue formal enforcement in 304 cases because of jurisdictional uncertainty.</p>
<p>In 2008, <a href="http://www.eenews.net/assets/2012/04/18/document_gw_01.pdf" type="external">in an internal memo</a>, Nakayama wrote that the uncertainty “results in delays in enforcement and increases the resources needed to bring enforcement cases.”</p>
<p>And so in 2007, when an oil company discharged thousands of gallons of crude oil into Edwards Creek in Titus County, Texas, the EPA did not issue a fine, pursue legal action or even require clean up. Similarly, after a farming operation dumped manure into tributaries that fed Lake Blackshear in Georgia, the EPA did not seek to hold the polluting company responsible —&#160;despite the fact that tests showed unsafe levels of bacteria and viruses in the lake, which was regularly used for waterskiing and other recreation.</p>
<p>“The proposed rule will improve the process for making jurisdictional determinations for the Clean Water Act by minimizing delays and costs, and will improve the predictability and consistency of the permit and enforcement process for landowners,” an EPA spokesperson said.</p>
<p>The EPA expects that improving efficiency in jurisdictional determinations will also save the businesses that they regulate time and money.</p>
<p>“Protecting water is important to the long-term health of the economy,” the EPA spokesperson said. “Streams and wetlands are economic drivers because of their role in fishing, hunting, agriculture, recreation, energy, and manufacturing.”</p>
<p>Two Supreme Court decisions in the last 15 years have been the cause of much of the uncertainty.</p>
<p>In a 5-4 ruling in 2001, the Court held that the Army Corps of Engineers could not require permits for waters based on their use as a habitat by migratory birds. The Court ruling also included language that seemed to assert that only wetlands with a “significant nexus” to traditional navigable waterways would be protected under the Clean Water Act. The Court did not make clear the meaning of the term “significant nexus.”</p>
<p>And in 2006, the Court, asked to determine whether a wetland needed to be adjacent to a traditional navigable waterway in order to be protected, wound up split, and reached no majority decision.</p>
<p>By the EPA’s own estimates, 2 million stream miles outside of Alaska are regarded as “intermittent,” and 20 percent of roughly 110 million acres of wetlands are considered “isolated.” As a result of the inability of the government to clarify the EPA’s jurisdiction over the last 15 years, these water bodies are currently unprotected.</p>
<p>“At some level this is a very frustrating debate to be having because water is all connected at some level,” said Jon Devine, a senior attorney in the water program at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “What the Supreme Court’s decisions do is throw into significant doubt what is protected.”</p>
<p>As a result, in cases where a polluted waterway isn’t clearly under the EPA’s jurisdiction, the agency has sometimes spent thousands of dollars to model water flow and conduct studies to show that it is hydrologically connected to larger water bodies that are protected.</p>
<p>“It just causes an incredible waste of resources and rewards those who don’t really worry about compliance and punishes those who do,” said Nakayama, now an environmental lawyer at Kirkland &amp; Ellis in Washington.</p>
<p>In past years, federal legislators have tried to introduce bills that address the ambiguity in the Clean Water Act’s language, but none have passed both the House and Senate.</p>
<p>In 2011, when Congress was considering a bill that made many of the changes that EPA’s current rule would, the American Farm Bureau Federation, as part of <a href="http://www.nasda.org/File.aspx?id=4187" type="external">the Waters Advocacy Coalition</a>, used a similar media strategy to kill the bill. The Coalition was made up of different industry groups that would be affected by the bill including mining associations and homebuilders.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/us/01water.html?pagewanted=all" type="external">New York Times reported</a> than an unnamed member of the Coalition said, “The game plan is to emphasize the scary possibilities. If you can get Glenn Beck to say that government storm troopers are going to invade your property, farmers in the Midwest will light up their congressmen’s switchboards.”</p>
<p>This time around, the pushback by farmers and others — called the “Ditch the Rule” campaign — has mainly taken place online. The Farm Bureau organization has created a <a href="http://ditchtherule.fb.org/" type="external">separate website</a> for the campaign and created <a href="http://bcove.me/8a0xhn14" type="external">shareable videos</a> and <a href="http://ditchtherule.fb.org/custom_page/stop-epa-overreach-farm-bureaus-stallman-tells-congress/" type="external">infographics</a>. The organization has also been effective in recruiting state farming associations to join the campaign. It has resulted in a blitz of social media posts and a steady stream of local coverage often favoring the farmers’ point of view.</p>
<p>“The campaign has energized our grassroots to participate,” said Don Parrish, senior director of regulatory relations at the American Farm Bureau Federation. Although the campaign does not have a large amount of money flowing into it, Parrish said it has really “struck a chord.”</p>
<p>Lisa Garcia, a former administrator of environmental justice at the EPA, said the effort by the federation is chiefly one of misinformation.</p>
<p>“The rule is not adding or expanding the scope of waters historically protected,” said Garcia, who is currently at Earth Justice, an environmental non-profit organization. She said the opposition she has seen fits “this pattern of just completely fighting against any new regulation.”</p>
<p>Parrish disagrees. He said that the tensions that are playing out are because “the EPA is trying to create regulations that do an end run around the Supreme Court and Congress.”</p>
<p>“[The EPA is] really reaching into areas that Congress clearly didn’t want the EPA to regulate. They did not intend to put EPA in the land use business,” he said.</p>
<p>For more on the challenges facing the Clean Water Act, read our work on the water woes facing residents <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/officials-in-three-states-pin-water-woes-on-gas-drilling-426" type="external">living close to gas drilling</a> and our series on the <a href="http://www.propublica.org/topic/gulf-oil-spill" type="external">BP oil spill disaster</a>.</p>
<p />
| 6,430 |
<p>A disagreement between members of a limousine service-owning family in Phoenix ended in a bloody confrontation that left five people dead, authorities said.</p>
<p>Three men and two women were found dead after a standoff between a SWAT team and a man with a gun, according to a <a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2015/04/18/Gunman-victims-identified-in-Phoenix-quadruple-murder-suicide/3221429326465/" type="external">UPI report</a>. Police identified the gunman as 50-year-old Driss Diaeddinn, and his victims as Reda Diaeddinn, 38, Dodi Fayed, 56, Meriem Ben Yahia, 26, and Kenza Benzakour, 76.</p>
<p>Police believe it was a businss dispute the eventually erupted into bloodshed based on witness testimony from the surrounding neighborhood and two women who had escaped the house. Two of the victims were Diaeddinn’s brothers, and the other two were his mother and one of the wives of his brothers, according to the report.</p>
<p>His wife managed to escape from the home with her 3-year-old and 10-month-old children in tow, neither of whom were hurt. A second woman escaped from the house an hour after the standoff began after she hid in a bathroom.</p>
<p>The family, which is from Morocco originally, range a restaurant in the area and also operated a limousine service, and they had been arguing over finances for years, according to the report.</p>
<p>All of the victims had been shot multiple times, and the alleged shooter was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound with the gun near his body.</p>
<p>A long standoff ensured with Diaeddinn, and they attempted to speak with him in Arabic as a SWAT team waited to make entry into the home, eventually finding all five people dead inside. Detectives said the scene was “horrific,” according to the AP report, and that the gunman had gone to great lengths to make sure each of them was dead.</p>
<p>The gunman’s wife, who had escaped the home, made the 911 call, and shots could be heard in the background.</p>
<p />
|
Angry family confrontation in Phoenix ends in bloodbath; 5 found dead in home
| false |
http://natmonitor.com/2015/04/18/angry-family-confrontation-in-phoenix-ends-in-bloodbath-5-found-dead-in-home/
|
2015-04-18
| 3left-center
|
Angry family confrontation in Phoenix ends in bloodbath; 5 found dead in home
<p>A disagreement between members of a limousine service-owning family in Phoenix ended in a bloody confrontation that left five people dead, authorities said.</p>
<p>Three men and two women were found dead after a standoff between a SWAT team and a man with a gun, according to a <a href="http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2015/04/18/Gunman-victims-identified-in-Phoenix-quadruple-murder-suicide/3221429326465/" type="external">UPI report</a>. Police identified the gunman as 50-year-old Driss Diaeddinn, and his victims as Reda Diaeddinn, 38, Dodi Fayed, 56, Meriem Ben Yahia, 26, and Kenza Benzakour, 76.</p>
<p>Police believe it was a businss dispute the eventually erupted into bloodshed based on witness testimony from the surrounding neighborhood and two women who had escaped the house. Two of the victims were Diaeddinn’s brothers, and the other two were his mother and one of the wives of his brothers, according to the report.</p>
<p>His wife managed to escape from the home with her 3-year-old and 10-month-old children in tow, neither of whom were hurt. A second woman escaped from the house an hour after the standoff began after she hid in a bathroom.</p>
<p>The family, which is from Morocco originally, range a restaurant in the area and also operated a limousine service, and they had been arguing over finances for years, according to the report.</p>
<p>All of the victims had been shot multiple times, and the alleged shooter was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound with the gun near his body.</p>
<p>A long standoff ensured with Diaeddinn, and they attempted to speak with him in Arabic as a SWAT team waited to make entry into the home, eventually finding all five people dead inside. Detectives said the scene was “horrific,” according to the AP report, and that the gunman had gone to great lengths to make sure each of them was dead.</p>
<p>The gunman’s wife, who had escaped the home, made the 911 call, and shots could be heard in the background.</p>
<p />
| 6,431 |
<p>Rep. Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, is a real class act. To prove it, he heckled the president Wednesday, shouting “You lie!” after Obama promised that his plan would not cover illegal immigrants.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gTWB1M9VPOte4M77spW7Z62NsGyQD9AK4ULO0" type="external">AP</a> reports that Michelle Obama shook her head at the riffraff.</p>
<p>You can do the same, if you watch the clip below. Also, check out “dagger eyes” Pelosi after the heckle goes down. There’s a woman with cat herding experience. — PS</p>
<p>Update from <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090910/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_care_heckling" type="external">AP via Yahoo</a>: Wilson apologized for the outburst afterward, saying: “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”</p>
<p />
<p>MSNBC:</p>
|
Obama Heckled During Speech
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/obama-heckled-during-speech/
|
2009-09-10
| 4left
|
Obama Heckled During Speech
<p>Rep. Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina, is a real class act. To prove it, he heckled the president Wednesday, shouting “You lie!” after Obama promised that his plan would not cover illegal immigrants.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gTWB1M9VPOte4M77spW7Z62NsGyQD9AK4ULO0" type="external">AP</a> reports that Michelle Obama shook her head at the riffraff.</p>
<p>You can do the same, if you watch the clip below. Also, check out “dagger eyes” Pelosi after the heckle goes down. There’s a woman with cat herding experience. — PS</p>
<p>Update from <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090910/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_health_care_heckling" type="external">AP via Yahoo</a>: Wilson apologized for the outburst afterward, saying: “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the president for this lack of civility.”</p>
<p />
<p>MSNBC:</p>
| 6,432 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">V. Saxena</a> reports for those liberals who still need some convincing, we have compiled a list of facts that prove without a shred of doubt that the socialist nation of Venezuela is a veritable hellhole.</p>
<p>Money Means NOTHING</p>
<p>Money in Venezuela means absolutely nothing courtesy the constant devaluation of its currency. To see what I mean, take a look at the following chart, which compares the value of the&#160;Bolivar to the U.S. dollar:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Venezuela Can’t Afford To Print Its Own Money</p>
<p>Earlier this year, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/inflation-wrought-venezuela-orders-bank-notes-by-the-planeload-1454538101" type="external">The Wall Street Journal</a>&#160;reported&#160;that&#160;Venezuela had begun literally outsourcing its&#160;currency production to other nations:</p>
<p>Millions of pounds of provisions, stuffed into three-dozen 747 cargo planes, arrived here from countries around the world in recent months to service Venezuela’s crippled economy.</p>
<p>But instead of food and medicine, the planes carried another resource that often runs scarce here: bills of Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but that’s pathetic!</p>
<p>Grocery Stores Are Completely EMPTY</p>
<p>Eating in Venezuela requires possessing the scavenger skills needed to root out any and all forms of food, including <a href="" type="internal">cats and dogs</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>In a piece published last year, <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/10/29/452636462/the-nightmare-of-grocery-shopping-in-venezuela" type="external">NPR</a> added that&#160;the Venezuelan government operates its own supermarkets that it uses to sell price-controlled food. However, “people are allowed in state-run supermarkets just two days per week.”</p>
<p>“The system is designed to prevent shoppers from buying more than they need and then reselling goods on the black market at a huge markup.”</p>
<p>Quality Water Is Scarce</p>
<p>Want some water in Venezuela? Well, I hope you don’t mind if the the water is extremely yellow and brimming with dirt, because that’s how bad the water tends to be there.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>“The water is coming out very yellow, very bad quality,” Ana Carvajal, an infectious disease specialist, said during an interview with Bloomberg earlier this year.</p>
<p>“We’re seeing an uptick in different illnesses, especially diarrhea. The lack of clean water is causing skin problems like scabies and folliculitis. There’s no medicine. All we can do is prescribe sulfur soap.”</p>
<p />
<p>Yeah, sorry, but clean water is just for the likes of&#160;Nicolás Maduro and other such elitists.</p>
<p>You Must BEG For Toilet Paper</p>
<p>Taking care of your restroom needs in Venezuela oftentimes involves standing in enormous lines, waiting to beg the government to spare a&#160;square:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Last August, <a href="http://fusion.net/story/113448/venezuelan-hotels-are-asking-tourists-to-bring-their-own-toilet-paper/" type="external">Fusion</a> reported that shortages had become so severe that hotels had begun “asking asking guests to bring their own toilet paper and soap.”</p>
<p>But these facts are just the tip of the iceberg. In Venezuela, electricity is rationed, milk is sold on the black market, and healthcare is extremely difficult to obtain.</p>
<p>Ain’t socialism peachy?</p>
<p>H/T <a href="http://www.ijreview.com/2016/05/612982-proof-that-socalist-venezuela-is-a-godforsaken-hellscape-right-now/?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=owned&amp;utm_campaign=ods&amp;utm_term=ijamerica&amp;utm_content=politics" type="external">Independent Journal</a></p>
<p />
<p />
|
What Every Young Liberal “Feeling The Bern” Needs to See
| true |
http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/what-every-young-liberal-feeling-the-bern-needs-to-see
| 0right
|
What Every Young Liberal “Feeling The Bern” Needs to See
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">V. Saxena</a> reports for those liberals who still need some convincing, we have compiled a list of facts that prove without a shred of doubt that the socialist nation of Venezuela is a veritable hellhole.</p>
<p>Money Means NOTHING</p>
<p>Money in Venezuela means absolutely nothing courtesy the constant devaluation of its currency. To see what I mean, take a look at the following chart, which compares the value of the&#160;Bolivar to the U.S. dollar:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Venezuela Can’t Afford To Print Its Own Money</p>
<p>Earlier this year, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/inflation-wrought-venezuela-orders-bank-notes-by-the-planeload-1454538101" type="external">The Wall Street Journal</a>&#160;reported&#160;that&#160;Venezuela had begun literally outsourcing its&#160;currency production to other nations:</p>
<p>Millions of pounds of provisions, stuffed into three-dozen 747 cargo planes, arrived here from countries around the world in recent months to service Venezuela’s crippled economy.</p>
<p>But instead of food and medicine, the planes carried another resource that often runs scarce here: bills of Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar.</p>
<p>I’m sorry, but that’s pathetic!</p>
<p>Grocery Stores Are Completely EMPTY</p>
<p>Eating in Venezuela requires possessing the scavenger skills needed to root out any and all forms of food, including <a href="" type="internal">cats and dogs</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>In a piece published last year, <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/10/29/452636462/the-nightmare-of-grocery-shopping-in-venezuela" type="external">NPR</a> added that&#160;the Venezuelan government operates its own supermarkets that it uses to sell price-controlled food. However, “people are allowed in state-run supermarkets just two days per week.”</p>
<p>“The system is designed to prevent shoppers from buying more than they need and then reselling goods on the black market at a huge markup.”</p>
<p>Quality Water Is Scarce</p>
<p>Want some water in Venezuela? Well, I hope you don’t mind if the the water is extremely yellow and brimming with dirt, because that’s how bad the water tends to be there.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>“The water is coming out very yellow, very bad quality,” Ana Carvajal, an infectious disease specialist, said during an interview with Bloomberg earlier this year.</p>
<p>“We’re seeing an uptick in different illnesses, especially diarrhea. The lack of clean water is causing skin problems like scabies and folliculitis. There’s no medicine. All we can do is prescribe sulfur soap.”</p>
<p />
<p>Yeah, sorry, but clean water is just for the likes of&#160;Nicolás Maduro and other such elitists.</p>
<p>You Must BEG For Toilet Paper</p>
<p>Taking care of your restroom needs in Venezuela oftentimes involves standing in enormous lines, waiting to beg the government to spare a&#160;square:</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Last August, <a href="http://fusion.net/story/113448/venezuelan-hotels-are-asking-tourists-to-bring-their-own-toilet-paper/" type="external">Fusion</a> reported that shortages had become so severe that hotels had begun “asking asking guests to bring their own toilet paper and soap.”</p>
<p>But these facts are just the tip of the iceberg. In Venezuela, electricity is rationed, milk is sold on the black market, and healthcare is extremely difficult to obtain.</p>
<p>Ain’t socialism peachy?</p>
<p>H/T <a href="http://www.ijreview.com/2016/05/612982-proof-that-socalist-venezuela-is-a-godforsaken-hellscape-right-now/?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=owned&amp;utm_campaign=ods&amp;utm_term=ijamerica&amp;utm_content=politics" type="external">Independent Journal</a></p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,433 |
|
<p>PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) — Two parents charged with criminally negligent homicide in the faith-healing death of their teenage son will ask a judge to dismiss the charges because they followed the advice of state child welfare workers.</p>
<p>Attorneys for the couple, Jeff and Marci Beagley, also contend state law on parental responsibility in children’s health care is unconstitutionally vague.</p>
<p>The Beagleys belong to the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City church that relies solely on spiritual healing and rejects doctors and medicine. Attorneys also will revisit issues that arose when the couple’s daughter, Raylene Worthington, faced similar charges in the death of her 15-month-old daughter.</p>
<p>Worthington and her husband, Carl, were accused of manslaughter in the death of their daughter, Ava. Raylene Worthington was found not guilty; her husband was convicted of criminal mistreatment and sentenced to 60 days in jail.</p>
<p>Both cases involve questions about the rights of parents to treat their children with faith healing and allegations that church members are targeted for prosecution because of their beliefs.</p>
<p>The two cases also differ in a couple of significant ways. Jeff and Marci Beagley’s son, Neil, was 16 when he died. State law gives children over age 15 the right to independently seek and receive medical treatment.</p>
<p>Oregon law, however, does not permit a juvenile to refuse medical treatment, prosecutors said. Neil had never been to a doctor, did not know the severity of his condition and could not make an informed decision, according to prosecutors.</p>
<p>The actions of the state’s Department of Human Services will play a role in the Beagleys’ defense. Child welfare workers did not have contact with the Worthingtons before the girl’s death.</p>
<p>Following Ava’s death on March 2, 2008, social workers met twice with the Beagleys to discuss the medical condition of Neil and his younger sister. The Beagleys said the indictment should be dismissed because they relied on statements by state employees, who told them Neil was legally permitted to decide whether to seek a doctor’s care.</p>
|
Accused parents say son’s faith-healing death was no crime
| false |
https://baptistnews.com/article/accusedparentssaysonsfaith-healingdeathwasnocrime/
| 3left-center
|
Accused parents say son’s faith-healing death was no crime
<p>PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) — Two parents charged with criminally negligent homicide in the faith-healing death of their teenage son will ask a judge to dismiss the charges because they followed the advice of state child welfare workers.</p>
<p>Attorneys for the couple, Jeff and Marci Beagley, also contend state law on parental responsibility in children’s health care is unconstitutionally vague.</p>
<p>The Beagleys belong to the Followers of Christ, an Oregon City church that relies solely on spiritual healing and rejects doctors and medicine. Attorneys also will revisit issues that arose when the couple’s daughter, Raylene Worthington, faced similar charges in the death of her 15-month-old daughter.</p>
<p>Worthington and her husband, Carl, were accused of manslaughter in the death of their daughter, Ava. Raylene Worthington was found not guilty; her husband was convicted of criminal mistreatment and sentenced to 60 days in jail.</p>
<p>Both cases involve questions about the rights of parents to treat their children with faith healing and allegations that church members are targeted for prosecution because of their beliefs.</p>
<p>The two cases also differ in a couple of significant ways. Jeff and Marci Beagley’s son, Neil, was 16 when he died. State law gives children over age 15 the right to independently seek and receive medical treatment.</p>
<p>Oregon law, however, does not permit a juvenile to refuse medical treatment, prosecutors said. Neil had never been to a doctor, did not know the severity of his condition and could not make an informed decision, according to prosecutors.</p>
<p>The actions of the state’s Department of Human Services will play a role in the Beagleys’ defense. Child welfare workers did not have contact with the Worthingtons before the girl’s death.</p>
<p>Following Ava’s death on March 2, 2008, social workers met twice with the Beagleys to discuss the medical condition of Neil and his younger sister. The Beagleys said the indictment should be dismissed because they relied on statements by state employees, who told them Neil was legally permitted to decide whether to seek a doctor’s care.</p>
| 6,434 |
|
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Art, culture of tribes from across the U.S. on display</p>
<p>SANTA FE – Indian Market is the place to go to find a treasure trove of Southwestern-style Native American jewelry, paintings, clothing, textiles and pottery, to be sure. But sprinkled among the tents that line Santa Fe’s Plaza and neighboring streets at this year’s market are fine works by indigenous artists from as far away as Canada, New York and North Carolina.</p>
<p>“We like to have a representation of the diversity and beauty of arts and cultures,” said Tailinh Agolyo, who handles marketing and programming for the Market. “It’s nice to see the different types of material that are used, and also for Native people to share their different cultures.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The market, now in its 92nd year, features more than 1,000 artists and was expected to draw more than 150,000 to Santa Fe this weekend. It concludes today, running from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.</p>
<p>Agolyo mentioned two artists – Tchin, a jewelry maker of Narragansett and Blackfeet descent, and Brenda Hill, a Tuscarora and Choctaw potter – who incorporate wampum in their work.</p>
<p>“Wampum is something you don’t see a lot of at Indian Market,” Agolyo said of the white and purple beads made from channeled whelk and clam shells. “And it’s interesting because people from the Southwest don’t recognize it because it comes from the ocean.”</p>
<p>Hill, whose Six Nations Tuscarora tribe inhabits lands around the Niagara Falls area, said she uses wampum in her pottery to pay homage to its use and meaning in her native culture.</p>
<p>“Wampum is a gift from the Creator to the tribes of the East Coast,” said Hill, who is a 1995 graduate of Santa Fe’s Institute of American Indian Arts. “It’s traditionally been used to ceremonially consecrate marriages and treaties.”</p>
<p>Hill said that her people held wampum in such high regard that the early Europeans they came in contact with misconstrued it as their form of currency.</p>
<p>Similarly, Michael Rogers and Sho Sho Esquiro use abalone shells in their work.</p>
<p>While abalone is a rare find at Indian Market, Rogers said it had been found in the area hundreds of years ago.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“In the early days, they used to have trades routes,” he said, producing a map that indicated a trade route from the California coast to Arizona and into New Mexico. “Father Kino found abalone shells in the desert and followed that trail to San Diego where he found pottery from New Mexico.”</p>
<p>Rogers, of California’s Paiute tribe, uses abalone to make his inlaid jewelry.</p>
<p>Some of the silver bracelets he makes are representative of Mother Earth and the glacier domes she created in his native California. His designs also include creatures found in nature, such as eagles, rabbits and bears, that he said carry symbolic meaning.</p>
<p>“They represent our culture,” he said.</p>
<p>Esquiro, a member of the Kaska Dene tribe, grew up in Canada’s Yukon and now lives in Vancouver, B.C. She uses abalone to decorate her fashion designs.</p>
<p>“We put our art in our clothing,” she said. “I also do a lot of bead work and tufting using moose or caribou.”</p>
|
Diversity is part of Indian Market appeal
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/249167/diversity-is-part-of-indian-market-appeal.html
|
2013-08-18
| 2least
|
Diversity is part of Indian Market appeal
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Art, culture of tribes from across the U.S. on display</p>
<p>SANTA FE – Indian Market is the place to go to find a treasure trove of Southwestern-style Native American jewelry, paintings, clothing, textiles and pottery, to be sure. But sprinkled among the tents that line Santa Fe’s Plaza and neighboring streets at this year’s market are fine works by indigenous artists from as far away as Canada, New York and North Carolina.</p>
<p>“We like to have a representation of the diversity and beauty of arts and cultures,” said Tailinh Agolyo, who handles marketing and programming for the Market. “It’s nice to see the different types of material that are used, and also for Native people to share their different cultures.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The market, now in its 92nd year, features more than 1,000 artists and was expected to draw more than 150,000 to Santa Fe this weekend. It concludes today, running from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.</p>
<p>Agolyo mentioned two artists – Tchin, a jewelry maker of Narragansett and Blackfeet descent, and Brenda Hill, a Tuscarora and Choctaw potter – who incorporate wampum in their work.</p>
<p>“Wampum is something you don’t see a lot of at Indian Market,” Agolyo said of the white and purple beads made from channeled whelk and clam shells. “And it’s interesting because people from the Southwest don’t recognize it because it comes from the ocean.”</p>
<p>Hill, whose Six Nations Tuscarora tribe inhabits lands around the Niagara Falls area, said she uses wampum in her pottery to pay homage to its use and meaning in her native culture.</p>
<p>“Wampum is a gift from the Creator to the tribes of the East Coast,” said Hill, who is a 1995 graduate of Santa Fe’s Institute of American Indian Arts. “It’s traditionally been used to ceremonially consecrate marriages and treaties.”</p>
<p>Hill said that her people held wampum in such high regard that the early Europeans they came in contact with misconstrued it as their form of currency.</p>
<p>Similarly, Michael Rogers and Sho Sho Esquiro use abalone shells in their work.</p>
<p>While abalone is a rare find at Indian Market, Rogers said it had been found in the area hundreds of years ago.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“In the early days, they used to have trades routes,” he said, producing a map that indicated a trade route from the California coast to Arizona and into New Mexico. “Father Kino found abalone shells in the desert and followed that trail to San Diego where he found pottery from New Mexico.”</p>
<p>Rogers, of California’s Paiute tribe, uses abalone to make his inlaid jewelry.</p>
<p>Some of the silver bracelets he makes are representative of Mother Earth and the glacier domes she created in his native California. His designs also include creatures found in nature, such as eagles, rabbits and bears, that he said carry symbolic meaning.</p>
<p>“They represent our culture,” he said.</p>
<p>Esquiro, a member of the Kaska Dene tribe, grew up in Canada’s Yukon and now lives in Vancouver, B.C. She uses abalone to decorate her fashion designs.</p>
<p>“We put our art in our clothing,” she said. “I also do a lot of bead work and tufting using moose or caribou.”</p>
| 6,435 |
<p>In episode 40 of our podcast, we tell you about President Obama’s false assertion about Social Security, wrong claims about the Bush tax cuts from both parties and yet another Internet rumor about the health care law.</p>
<p>For more on the stories discussed in this episode, see:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Obama’s Social Security Stumble</a>&#160; Dec. 8</p>
<p><a href="" type="external">Sunday Replay</a>&#160; Dec. 6</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Health Care Law Waivers</a>&#160; Dec. 7</p>
|
Tax Cuts, Social Security and Health Care
| false |
https://factcheck.org/2010/12/tax-cuts-social-security-and-health-care/
|
2010-12-10
| 2least
|
Tax Cuts, Social Security and Health Care
<p>In episode 40 of our podcast, we tell you about President Obama’s false assertion about Social Security, wrong claims about the Bush tax cuts from both parties and yet another Internet rumor about the health care law.</p>
<p>For more on the stories discussed in this episode, see:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Obama’s Social Security Stumble</a>&#160; Dec. 8</p>
<p><a href="" type="external">Sunday Replay</a>&#160; Dec. 6</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Health Care Law Waivers</a>&#160; Dec. 7</p>
| 6,436 |
<p>Of course, nobody knows for sure how the H1N1 swine flu virus might morph in the future, but the word from the science community suggests that the current strain may not be as catastrophic as it’s been cracked up to be.</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>It is believed that a further mutation would be needed in order for the H1N1 virus to cause the mass deaths that have been estimated by some.</p>
<p>But at this point, it is impossible to predict with any accuracy how the virus will continue to evolve.</p>
<p />
<p>UK experts at the National Institute for Medical Research outlined on Friday the work they are due to start on samples of the virus sent from the US.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8028371.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p>
|
Not All Swine Flu News Is Bad
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/not-all-swine-flu-news-is-bad/
|
2009-05-02
| 4left
|
Not All Swine Flu News Is Bad
<p>Of course, nobody knows for sure how the H1N1 swine flu virus might morph in the future, but the word from the science community suggests that the current strain may not be as catastrophic as it’s been cracked up to be.</p>
<p>BBC:</p>
<p>It is believed that a further mutation would be needed in order for the H1N1 virus to cause the mass deaths that have been estimated by some.</p>
<p>But at this point, it is impossible to predict with any accuracy how the virus will continue to evolve.</p>
<p />
<p>UK experts at the National Institute for Medical Research outlined on Friday the work they are due to start on samples of the virus sent from the US.</p>
<p><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8028371.stm" type="external">Read more</a></p>
| 6,437 |
<p>To the bankers and government officials who descended on the city state for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in September, Singapore may have looked like the perfect model of a globalized consumer society. Tellingly, for the first time, the annual meetings took place inside a giant shopping mall. Corporate logos dominated the venue, shoppers went happily about fulfilling their consumer duties, and the delegates were shrouded in a constant cloud of Muzak.</p>
<p>Dissident voices have no place in a Singapore-style consumer paradise. At the World Bank’s annual meeting, civil society protests were restricted to a small stage inside the shopping mall. And Singapore’s government banned close to 30 experienced civil society activists from entering the country altogether. The media frenzy that followed the reprisals overshadowed the fact that the ban was just a pale reflection of the repression which poor people in the underbelly of global consumer society — and often at the receiving end of World Bank projects — experience.</p>
<p>To keep the wheels of the world’s consumer society spinning, new resources of land, water, forests and minerals constantly need to be brought into the market system. The people who own or use these lands, forests and rivers have usually no control over how their resources are appropriated. Outside the limelight of global media attention, repression often reigns large.</p>
<p>On the way to Singapore, I visited several World Bank projects in Pakistan. In the villages around Makhad, a small town on the left bank of the Indus River, we learned that many poor farmers are currently selling their land to the large landlords. The region is at risk of being flooded by the proposed Kalabagh Dam, and the farmers know that once their land is expropriated, only the rich will be able to pay the bribes required to receive fair compensation. If Kalabagh follows the example of other dam and irrigation projects in Pakistan, the large farmers will also bribe the water bureaucrats so that they can build illegal canals and divert additional water flows. Like the people who were displaced by the reservoirs, the small farmers at the end of the irrigation canals will be left high and dry.</p>
<p>Journalists who write about development conflicts in Pakistan live dangerously. In April, Mehruddin Maree, a journalist who used to cover the impacts of large dams and irrigation canals on the Indus delta, was arrested by the police in Golarchi, a small town in Southern Pakistan. He has been missing ever since. “We are often intimidated when we touch on the interests of powerful parties, but this would not stop Mehruddin,” one of his colleagues told me. The case of Mehruddin Maree is not an exception. Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Pakistan’s interior minister, confirmed in 2005 that about 5,000 political activists and journalists are missing in the country.</p>
<p>Paul Wolfowitz, the new head of the World Bank, has made good governance and the fight against corruption central themes of his presidency. He has suspended projects in several countries over corruption concerns in recent months, and the World Bank member governments agreed on a framework to combat corruption in Singapore. Yet it is not likely that the President’s crusade against corruption will have any consequences for Pakistan, a frontline state in the Bush administration’s war on terror. In spite of widespread repression and corruption, the World Bank announced in summer 2005 that it plans to increase its lending for the country’s water sector tenfold between 2006 and 2010. If the Bank gets its way, this support will include $300 million for a mega-dam project like Kalabagh.</p>
<p>The annual meeting in Singapore was far removed from the ground realities in countries like Pakistan. “Throughout the world, there is a growing recognition that the path to prosperity must be built on a solid foundation of good governance,” Wolfowitz told the government delegates.</p>
<p>Just as the Muzak in Singapore’s shopping malls drowned out the original tunes, the struggles of small farmers and journalists in countries like Pakistan disappeared in the rhetoric of the annual meeting. As the World Bank prepares increased support for projects like the Kalabagh Dam, civil society activists will need to work hard for the drumbeat of ground realities to be heard through the development Muzak emanating from Singapore and Washington.</p>
<p>PETER BOSSHARD is the policy director of <a href="http://www.irn.org/" type="external">International Rivers Network</a>, an environmental and human rights group based in Berkeley, California and a contributor to <a href="http://www.fpif.org/" type="external">Foreign Policy In Focus</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
World Bank Shuts Out Dissident Voices
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2006/10/07/world-bank-shuts-out-dissident-voices/
|
2006-10-07
| 4left
|
World Bank Shuts Out Dissident Voices
<p>To the bankers and government officials who descended on the city state for the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings in September, Singapore may have looked like the perfect model of a globalized consumer society. Tellingly, for the first time, the annual meetings took place inside a giant shopping mall. Corporate logos dominated the venue, shoppers went happily about fulfilling their consumer duties, and the delegates were shrouded in a constant cloud of Muzak.</p>
<p>Dissident voices have no place in a Singapore-style consumer paradise. At the World Bank’s annual meeting, civil society protests were restricted to a small stage inside the shopping mall. And Singapore’s government banned close to 30 experienced civil society activists from entering the country altogether. The media frenzy that followed the reprisals overshadowed the fact that the ban was just a pale reflection of the repression which poor people in the underbelly of global consumer society — and often at the receiving end of World Bank projects — experience.</p>
<p>To keep the wheels of the world’s consumer society spinning, new resources of land, water, forests and minerals constantly need to be brought into the market system. The people who own or use these lands, forests and rivers have usually no control over how their resources are appropriated. Outside the limelight of global media attention, repression often reigns large.</p>
<p>On the way to Singapore, I visited several World Bank projects in Pakistan. In the villages around Makhad, a small town on the left bank of the Indus River, we learned that many poor farmers are currently selling their land to the large landlords. The region is at risk of being flooded by the proposed Kalabagh Dam, and the farmers know that once their land is expropriated, only the rich will be able to pay the bribes required to receive fair compensation. If Kalabagh follows the example of other dam and irrigation projects in Pakistan, the large farmers will also bribe the water bureaucrats so that they can build illegal canals and divert additional water flows. Like the people who were displaced by the reservoirs, the small farmers at the end of the irrigation canals will be left high and dry.</p>
<p>Journalists who write about development conflicts in Pakistan live dangerously. In April, Mehruddin Maree, a journalist who used to cover the impacts of large dams and irrigation canals on the Indus delta, was arrested by the police in Golarchi, a small town in Southern Pakistan. He has been missing ever since. “We are often intimidated when we touch on the interests of powerful parties, but this would not stop Mehruddin,” one of his colleagues told me. The case of Mehruddin Maree is not an exception. Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, Pakistan’s interior minister, confirmed in 2005 that about 5,000 political activists and journalists are missing in the country.</p>
<p>Paul Wolfowitz, the new head of the World Bank, has made good governance and the fight against corruption central themes of his presidency. He has suspended projects in several countries over corruption concerns in recent months, and the World Bank member governments agreed on a framework to combat corruption in Singapore. Yet it is not likely that the President’s crusade against corruption will have any consequences for Pakistan, a frontline state in the Bush administration’s war on terror. In spite of widespread repression and corruption, the World Bank announced in summer 2005 that it plans to increase its lending for the country’s water sector tenfold between 2006 and 2010. If the Bank gets its way, this support will include $300 million for a mega-dam project like Kalabagh.</p>
<p>The annual meeting in Singapore was far removed from the ground realities in countries like Pakistan. “Throughout the world, there is a growing recognition that the path to prosperity must be built on a solid foundation of good governance,” Wolfowitz told the government delegates.</p>
<p>Just as the Muzak in Singapore’s shopping malls drowned out the original tunes, the struggles of small farmers and journalists in countries like Pakistan disappeared in the rhetoric of the annual meeting. As the World Bank prepares increased support for projects like the Kalabagh Dam, civil society activists will need to work hard for the drumbeat of ground realities to be heard through the development Muzak emanating from Singapore and Washington.</p>
<p>PETER BOSSHARD is the policy director of <a href="http://www.irn.org/" type="external">International Rivers Network</a>, an environmental and human rights group based in Berkeley, California and a contributor to <a href="http://www.fpif.org/" type="external">Foreign Policy In Focus</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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<p />
<p>“I love jazz,” the Rag Rug Festival artist said. “I was a hoofer in Chicago. I used to choreograph to Benny Goodman.”</p>
<p>Not many artists can trace their passion for tiny colored beads to a flapper grandmother.</p>
<p>But Capek weaves a thread from her vibrant color mosaics carefully arranged across belts and bracelets to her relative’s exuberant style.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Capek is one of 35 artists exhibiting at the 11th Annual Rag Rug Festival and Gift Show next weekend at Museum Hill’s Udall Center for Museum Resources from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event draws between 800 and 1,000 visitors and fiber artists from across the state offering rag rugs, tapestry rugs, knitted and woven clothing, embellished gourds, hand-dyed silk, crocheted garments, hand-coiled baskets and home-grown sheepskins.</p>
<p>“All of our festivals are in museum settings,” producer and founder of the festival Frieda Arth said. “We made a concerted effort not to do flea markets because many of the women have never been in a museum. It also makes it more upscale.”</p>
<p>Sponsored by the New Mexico Women’s Foundation, the festival also occurs in cities such as Ruidoso and Las Cruces, as well as others across the state. The foundation is a nonprofit organization supporting programs to create economic opportunities for women and girls. The artisans come from Española, Los Alamos, Mendanales, Las Cruces, Mora, Peñasco, Abiquiu, Ojo Caliente, Cuba, Silver City and Albuquerque. All proceeds go directly to them.</p>
<p>Capek grew up in well-to-do Hinsdale, Ill., near Chicago. She fondly remembers regular visits to the Field Museum and its extensive collection of American Indian artifacts and clothing. Her mother was a frugal seamstress who encouraged her daughter to make her own clothes.</p>
<p>“I’ve been making costumes and wearable art since I was al little girl,” Capek said. “I was tap dancing by the time I was 5, so I grew up with costuming.”</p>
<p>At the University of Illinois, she devised her own interdisciplinary major combining fiber and metal arts. She essentially taught herself; this was in 1981, and her professors knew nothing about fabric painting.</p>
<p>“By the end of my senior year, I was doing full-length wearable art,” she said. Capek moved to Santa Fe in 1983 after visiting a college friend here. She started designing in leather because it was easy to work on in the car while her then-husband drove them around the state.</p>
<p>She eventually moved to Tesuque, where she gasped over the beadwork of her Native American friends. Between raising two children, hauling water and chopping wood, she picked up a hair-thin needle and started painting with beads.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I just went wild,” she said, “- the color! – it brought color back into my work. The possibilities are endless.”</p>
<p>She weaves her size 12 glass Czechoslovakian seed beads onto a loom crafted of two-by-fours that she made herself. She sketches her geometric patterns in color on graph paper beforehand. Her designs rely on right angles – triangles, diamonds – jigsawed together to create motifs, many of them echoing the patterns of Native American pottery and rugs. She then stitches the beadwork onto leather to create jewelry, belts and hat bands.</p>
<p>She lifted the stripes on one bracelet from a Navajo chief’s blanket, others came from a Peruvian manta. A third was inspired by some pottery she saw in an Asian museum in Paris. A striking belt features wolf head profiles formed in a Pacific Northwest geometric totem style with elongated jaws. White edges symbolize snow-dusted mountaintops.</p>
<p>“The simpler designs are harder to color in,” she said. “Sometimes it’s the beads that are leading me into pattern.”</p>
<p>Although her beadwork is done on cow and bull hide, she sells mill-spun yarn and earthy sheepskin throws from her herd of churro, rambouillet and Cotswold sheep. A single Cotswold ram rules over “the girls.”</p>
<p>“I named him Willie Nelson because of the long wool,” she said, laughing. “He’s so jazz – his phrasing in his singing. And he’s the godfather of small farmers because of Farm AID.”</p>
|
Artist adorns all aspects of fashion with her tiny glass jewels and a variety of inspiration
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/122096/artist-adorns-all-aspects-of-fashion-with-her-tiny-glass-jewels-and-a-variety-of-inspiration.html
|
2012-08-03
| 2least
|
Artist adorns all aspects of fashion with her tiny glass jewels and a variety of inspiration
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>“I love jazz,” the Rag Rug Festival artist said. “I was a hoofer in Chicago. I used to choreograph to Benny Goodman.”</p>
<p>Not many artists can trace their passion for tiny colored beads to a flapper grandmother.</p>
<p>But Capek weaves a thread from her vibrant color mosaics carefully arranged across belts and bracelets to her relative’s exuberant style.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Capek is one of 35 artists exhibiting at the 11th Annual Rag Rug Festival and Gift Show next weekend at Museum Hill’s Udall Center for Museum Resources from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event draws between 800 and 1,000 visitors and fiber artists from across the state offering rag rugs, tapestry rugs, knitted and woven clothing, embellished gourds, hand-dyed silk, crocheted garments, hand-coiled baskets and home-grown sheepskins.</p>
<p>“All of our festivals are in museum settings,” producer and founder of the festival Frieda Arth said. “We made a concerted effort not to do flea markets because many of the women have never been in a museum. It also makes it more upscale.”</p>
<p>Sponsored by the New Mexico Women’s Foundation, the festival also occurs in cities such as Ruidoso and Las Cruces, as well as others across the state. The foundation is a nonprofit organization supporting programs to create economic opportunities for women and girls. The artisans come from Española, Los Alamos, Mendanales, Las Cruces, Mora, Peñasco, Abiquiu, Ojo Caliente, Cuba, Silver City and Albuquerque. All proceeds go directly to them.</p>
<p>Capek grew up in well-to-do Hinsdale, Ill., near Chicago. She fondly remembers regular visits to the Field Museum and its extensive collection of American Indian artifacts and clothing. Her mother was a frugal seamstress who encouraged her daughter to make her own clothes.</p>
<p>“I’ve been making costumes and wearable art since I was al little girl,” Capek said. “I was tap dancing by the time I was 5, so I grew up with costuming.”</p>
<p>At the University of Illinois, she devised her own interdisciplinary major combining fiber and metal arts. She essentially taught herself; this was in 1981, and her professors knew nothing about fabric painting.</p>
<p>“By the end of my senior year, I was doing full-length wearable art,” she said. Capek moved to Santa Fe in 1983 after visiting a college friend here. She started designing in leather because it was easy to work on in the car while her then-husband drove them around the state.</p>
<p>She eventually moved to Tesuque, where she gasped over the beadwork of her Native American friends. Between raising two children, hauling water and chopping wood, she picked up a hair-thin needle and started painting with beads.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I just went wild,” she said, “- the color! – it brought color back into my work. The possibilities are endless.”</p>
<p>She weaves her size 12 glass Czechoslovakian seed beads onto a loom crafted of two-by-fours that she made herself. She sketches her geometric patterns in color on graph paper beforehand. Her designs rely on right angles – triangles, diamonds – jigsawed together to create motifs, many of them echoing the patterns of Native American pottery and rugs. She then stitches the beadwork onto leather to create jewelry, belts and hat bands.</p>
<p>She lifted the stripes on one bracelet from a Navajo chief’s blanket, others came from a Peruvian manta. A third was inspired by some pottery she saw in an Asian museum in Paris. A striking belt features wolf head profiles formed in a Pacific Northwest geometric totem style with elongated jaws. White edges symbolize snow-dusted mountaintops.</p>
<p>“The simpler designs are harder to color in,” she said. “Sometimes it’s the beads that are leading me into pattern.”</p>
<p>Although her beadwork is done on cow and bull hide, she sells mill-spun yarn and earthy sheepskin throws from her herd of churro, rambouillet and Cotswold sheep. A single Cotswold ram rules over “the girls.”</p>
<p>“I named him Willie Nelson because of the long wool,” she said, laughing. “He’s so jazz – his phrasing in his singing. And he’s the godfather of small farmers because of Farm AID.”</p>
| 6,439 |
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Drew Brees will lead the New Orleans offense onto the field at Minnesota and commence the 13th postseason game of his stellar career, already armed with seven such victories and one Super Bowl ring for the Saints.</p>
<p>“I prepare for every game as if it’s that magnitude,” Brees said.</p>
<p>“When you’re in games of that magnitude, it’s as if you’ve been there and done it many times before, even if it was just in your mind.”</p>
<p>For Case Keenum, it’s truly all in his mind.</p>
<p>His first start in the NFL playoffs will come when the Vikings kick off their divisional round game on Sunday.</p>
<p>“I’m going to play like I know how to play. I don’t have to be anybody but myself. Not more conservative or less conservative. Either way, I’m going to be me,” said Keenum, whose successful takeover for the injured Sam Bradford helped lead the Vikings (13-3) to their best record in 19 years. “That’s all I have to be. I’ve got a great squad in this room.”</p>
<p>Solely measuring quarterback experience and accomplishment, the Saints have a clear advantage over the Vikings in this divisional round game to help determine the matchup in the NFC championship game. Keenum, though, has been <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/case-keenum-vikings-qb-keeps-disproving-doubters" type="external">overcoming the odds all season, let alone his career</a> .</p>
<p>“I always root for guys like that. Kind of the undersized guy that is coming out and nobody wants to give him any credit and always plays with a chip on his shoulder,” Brees said.</p>
<p>Though he was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round in 2001 out of Purdue, with Keenum going undrafted out of Houston and needing the Texans practice squad to get his career going in 2012, Brees can relate. He’s shorter than the NFL standard for their position, too. Oh, and they’re both from Texas.</p>
<p>Brees added another highlight last week, with 376 passing yards to help the Saints (12-5) advance with <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/brees-defensive-stand-help-saints-survive-panthers-31-26" type="external">a 31-26 victory over Carolina</a> while the Vikings had a bye.</p>
<p>“Just a guy that I really admire in how he moves the ball down the field and how he operates, what kind of leader he is,” Keenum said.</p>
<p>“I read his book a long time ago. I think he’s someone to learn from. I try to watch all of the really good quarterbacks in the offseason and take little things to try to work on my game.”</p>
<p>Here are some other angles to follow with the game:</p>
<p>SLOWED UP: The Pro Bowl pair of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara had the least productive combined performance for the Saints against Carolina, with just 68 total yards from scrimmage. They each had more than 1,500 total yards in 2017.</p>
<p>The Panthers brought one safety closer to the line of the scrimmage to spy on the running back, and it worked.</p>
<p>“This league is a copy-cat league so I wouldn’t be surprised if Minnesota did it,” Kamara said, expressing no concern about the strategy by pointing to Brees, whose passing yardage total against the Panthers was his second-highest of the season.</p>
<p>The Vikings, led by the speed of linebackers Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks, have held several pass-catching running backs to minimal production this season.</p>
<p>LINE ITEM: The Saints will be without starting left guard Andrus Peat, a versatile former first-round draft choice who also filled in for Terron Armstead at left tackle this season when he was injured. Peat broke his fibula against the Panthers.</p>
<p>Senio Kelemete, who has filled in at both guard spots and right tackle this season, is slated to start for Peat. Armstead, meanwhile, said he’s never been close to 100 percent healthy this season.</p>
<p>“But it doesn’t matter,” Armstead said. “I’m willing and able to put my body on the line for an opportunity to play again next week.”</p>
<p>ZONED OUT: New Orleans defensive coordinator Dennis Allen called for a relatively zone-heavy scheme in the opener, and rookie cornerback Marshon Lattimore recalled feeling “confused about everything” in his NFL debut other than the man-to-man coverage the Saints have been more inclined to let Lattimore play on top opposing receivers. He had five interceptions and was picked for the Pro Bowl.</p>
<p>“That was something that we felt like in that game was going to give us a chance to win the game, and obviously we didn’t play as well as we needed to,” Allen said of <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/bradford-vikings-cruise-past-saints-29-19-opener" type="external">Minnesota’s 29-19 victory fueled by a career-best 143.0 passer rating for Bradford</a> . “Obviously, we’ve looked at that game and how we’ve changed and how we’ve evolved as a defense.”</p>
<p>SUPER BOWL ENVY: New Orleans’ bid for the Super Bowl this season and was considered a favorite given the city is celebrating its 300th anniversary and has long been a popular host for the NFL’s marquee event. But Minnesota’s bid, combining its new stadium and winter carnival approach to related festivities, won out.</p>
<p>Now the Vikings have an opportunity to become the first team to play a Super Bowl on home turf, a feat the Saints would be happy to deny.</p>
<p>“If we want to add a little underlying story to us trying to win this game, it would be nice to be able to do that,” Saints defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said.</p>
<p>“We’ve always talked about, ‘We want to start the season at Minnesota. We want to end the season in Minnesota,’ and for us that means playing in the Super Bowl.”</p>
<p>SITE MAP: The Saints are 1-6 in their history in the playoffs on the road, including 1-4 under coach Sean Payton. Their first and only such win came after the 2013 season, when they edged the Eagles in a wild-card round game in Philadelphia before losing the following week at Seattle.</p>
<p>One of those losses came in the 2000 divisional round at Minnesota. The Vikings are 13-8 in home playoff games in their history, including 6-4 indoors.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external" /> <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" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Drew Brees will lead the New Orleans offense onto the field at Minnesota and commence the 13th postseason game of his stellar career, already armed with seven such victories and one Super Bowl ring for the Saints.</p>
<p>“I prepare for every game as if it’s that magnitude,” Brees said.</p>
<p>“When you’re in games of that magnitude, it’s as if you’ve been there and done it many times before, even if it was just in your mind.”</p>
<p>For Case Keenum, it’s truly all in his mind.</p>
<p>His first start in the NFL playoffs will come when the Vikings kick off their divisional round game on Sunday.</p>
<p>“I’m going to play like I know how to play. I don’t have to be anybody but myself. Not more conservative or less conservative. Either way, I’m going to be me,” said Keenum, whose successful takeover for the injured Sam Bradford helped lead the Vikings (13-3) to their best record in 19 years. “That’s all I have to be. I’ve got a great squad in this room.”</p>
<p>Solely measuring quarterback experience and accomplishment, the Saints have a clear advantage over the Vikings in this divisional round game to help determine the matchup in the NFC championship game. Keenum, though, has been <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/case-keenum-vikings-qb-keeps-disproving-doubters" type="external">overcoming the odds all season, let alone his career</a> .</p>
<p>“I always root for guys like that. Kind of the undersized guy that is coming out and nobody wants to give him any credit and always plays with a chip on his shoulder,” Brees said.</p>
<p>Though he was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round in 2001 out of Purdue, with Keenum going undrafted out of Houston and needing the Texans practice squad to get his career going in 2012, Brees can relate. He’s shorter than the NFL standard for their position, too. Oh, and they’re both from Texas.</p>
<p>Brees added another highlight last week, with 376 passing yards to help the Saints (12-5) advance with <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/brees-defensive-stand-help-saints-survive-panthers-31-26" type="external">a 31-26 victory over Carolina</a> while the Vikings had a bye.</p>
<p>“Just a guy that I really admire in how he moves the ball down the field and how he operates, what kind of leader he is,” Keenum said.</p>
<p>“I read his book a long time ago. I think he’s someone to learn from. I try to watch all of the really good quarterbacks in the offseason and take little things to try to work on my game.”</p>
<p>Here are some other angles to follow with the game:</p>
<p>SLOWED UP: The Pro Bowl pair of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara had the least productive combined performance for the Saints against Carolina, with just 68 total yards from scrimmage. They each had more than 1,500 total yards in 2017.</p>
<p>The Panthers brought one safety closer to the line of the scrimmage to spy on the running back, and it worked.</p>
<p>“This league is a copy-cat league so I wouldn’t be surprised if Minnesota did it,” Kamara said, expressing no concern about the strategy by pointing to Brees, whose passing yardage total against the Panthers was his second-highest of the season.</p>
<p>The Vikings, led by the speed of linebackers Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks, have held several pass-catching running backs to minimal production this season.</p>
<p>LINE ITEM: The Saints will be without starting left guard Andrus Peat, a versatile former first-round draft choice who also filled in for Terron Armstead at left tackle this season when he was injured. Peat broke his fibula against the Panthers.</p>
<p>Senio Kelemete, who has filled in at both guard spots and right tackle this season, is slated to start for Peat. Armstead, meanwhile, said he’s never been close to 100 percent healthy this season.</p>
<p>“But it doesn’t matter,” Armstead said. “I’m willing and able to put my body on the line for an opportunity to play again next week.”</p>
<p>ZONED OUT: New Orleans defensive coordinator Dennis Allen called for a relatively zone-heavy scheme in the opener, and rookie cornerback Marshon Lattimore recalled feeling “confused about everything” in his NFL debut other than the man-to-man coverage the Saints have been more inclined to let Lattimore play on top opposing receivers. He had five interceptions and was picked for the Pro Bowl.</p>
<p>“That was something that we felt like in that game was going to give us a chance to win the game, and obviously we didn’t play as well as we needed to,” Allen said of <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/bradford-vikings-cruise-past-saints-29-19-opener" type="external">Minnesota’s 29-19 victory fueled by a career-best 143.0 passer rating for Bradford</a> . “Obviously, we’ve looked at that game and how we’ve changed and how we’ve evolved as a defense.”</p>
<p>SUPER BOWL ENVY: New Orleans’ bid for the Super Bowl this season and was considered a favorite given the city is celebrating its 300th anniversary and has long been a popular host for the NFL’s marquee event. But Minnesota’s bid, combining its new stadium and winter carnival approach to related festivities, won out.</p>
<p>Now the Vikings have an opportunity to become the first team to play a Super Bowl on home turf, a feat the Saints would be happy to deny.</p>
<p>“If we want to add a little underlying story to us trying to win this game, it would be nice to be able to do that,” Saints defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said.</p>
<p>“We’ve always talked about, ‘We want to start the season at Minnesota. We want to end the season in Minnesota,’ and for us that means playing in the Super Bowl.”</p>
<p>SITE MAP: The Saints are 1-6 in their history in the playoffs on the road, including 1-4 under coach Sean Payton. Their first and only such win came after the 2013 season, when they edged the Eagles in a wild-card round game in Philadelphia before losing the following week at Seattle.</p>
<p>One of those losses came in the 2000 divisional round at Minnesota. The Vikings are 13-8 in home playoff games in their history, including 6-4 indoors.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external" /> <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" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
|
Brees-Keenum: Will playoff savvy prevail in Saints-Vikings?
| false |
https://apnews.com/3ee3044ab7924e99aa1da2422bdcd85e
|
2018-01-13
| 2least
|
Brees-Keenum: Will playoff savvy prevail in Saints-Vikings?
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Drew Brees will lead the New Orleans offense onto the field at Minnesota and commence the 13th postseason game of his stellar career, already armed with seven such victories and one Super Bowl ring for the Saints.</p>
<p>“I prepare for every game as if it’s that magnitude,” Brees said.</p>
<p>“When you’re in games of that magnitude, it’s as if you’ve been there and done it many times before, even if it was just in your mind.”</p>
<p>For Case Keenum, it’s truly all in his mind.</p>
<p>His first start in the NFL playoffs will come when the Vikings kick off their divisional round game on Sunday.</p>
<p>“I’m going to play like I know how to play. I don’t have to be anybody but myself. Not more conservative or less conservative. Either way, I’m going to be me,” said Keenum, whose successful takeover for the injured Sam Bradford helped lead the Vikings (13-3) to their best record in 19 years. “That’s all I have to be. I’ve got a great squad in this room.”</p>
<p>Solely measuring quarterback experience and accomplishment, the Saints have a clear advantage over the Vikings in this divisional round game to help determine the matchup in the NFC championship game. Keenum, though, has been <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/case-keenum-vikings-qb-keeps-disproving-doubters" type="external">overcoming the odds all season, let alone his career</a> .</p>
<p>“I always root for guys like that. Kind of the undersized guy that is coming out and nobody wants to give him any credit and always plays with a chip on his shoulder,” Brees said.</p>
<p>Though he was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round in 2001 out of Purdue, with Keenum going undrafted out of Houston and needing the Texans practice squad to get his career going in 2012, Brees can relate. He’s shorter than the NFL standard for their position, too. Oh, and they’re both from Texas.</p>
<p>Brees added another highlight last week, with 376 passing yards to help the Saints (12-5) advance with <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/brees-defensive-stand-help-saints-survive-panthers-31-26" type="external">a 31-26 victory over Carolina</a> while the Vikings had a bye.</p>
<p>“Just a guy that I really admire in how he moves the ball down the field and how he operates, what kind of leader he is,” Keenum said.</p>
<p>“I read his book a long time ago. I think he’s someone to learn from. I try to watch all of the really good quarterbacks in the offseason and take little things to try to work on my game.”</p>
<p>Here are some other angles to follow with the game:</p>
<p>SLOWED UP: The Pro Bowl pair of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara had the least productive combined performance for the Saints against Carolina, with just 68 total yards from scrimmage. They each had more than 1,500 total yards in 2017.</p>
<p>The Panthers brought one safety closer to the line of the scrimmage to spy on the running back, and it worked.</p>
<p>“This league is a copy-cat league so I wouldn’t be surprised if Minnesota did it,” Kamara said, expressing no concern about the strategy by pointing to Brees, whose passing yardage total against the Panthers was his second-highest of the season.</p>
<p>The Vikings, led by the speed of linebackers Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks, have held several pass-catching running backs to minimal production this season.</p>
<p>LINE ITEM: The Saints will be without starting left guard Andrus Peat, a versatile former first-round draft choice who also filled in for Terron Armstead at left tackle this season when he was injured. Peat broke his fibula against the Panthers.</p>
<p>Senio Kelemete, who has filled in at both guard spots and right tackle this season, is slated to start for Peat. Armstead, meanwhile, said he’s never been close to 100 percent healthy this season.</p>
<p>“But it doesn’t matter,” Armstead said. “I’m willing and able to put my body on the line for an opportunity to play again next week.”</p>
<p>ZONED OUT: New Orleans defensive coordinator Dennis Allen called for a relatively zone-heavy scheme in the opener, and rookie cornerback Marshon Lattimore recalled feeling “confused about everything” in his NFL debut other than the man-to-man coverage the Saints have been more inclined to let Lattimore play on top opposing receivers. He had five interceptions and was picked for the Pro Bowl.</p>
<p>“That was something that we felt like in that game was going to give us a chance to win the game, and obviously we didn’t play as well as we needed to,” Allen said of <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/bradford-vikings-cruise-past-saints-29-19-opener" type="external">Minnesota’s 29-19 victory fueled by a career-best 143.0 passer rating for Bradford</a> . “Obviously, we’ve looked at that game and how we’ve changed and how we’ve evolved as a defense.”</p>
<p>SUPER BOWL ENVY: New Orleans’ bid for the Super Bowl this season and was considered a favorite given the city is celebrating its 300th anniversary and has long been a popular host for the NFL’s marquee event. But Minnesota’s bid, combining its new stadium and winter carnival approach to related festivities, won out.</p>
<p>Now the Vikings have an opportunity to become the first team to play a Super Bowl on home turf, a feat the Saints would be happy to deny.</p>
<p>“If we want to add a little underlying story to us trying to win this game, it would be nice to be able to do that,” Saints defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said.</p>
<p>“We’ve always talked about, ‘We want to start the season at Minnesota. We want to end the season in Minnesota,’ and for us that means playing in the Super Bowl.”</p>
<p>SITE MAP: The Saints are 1-6 in their history in the playoffs on the road, including 1-4 under coach Sean Payton. Their first and only such win came after the 2013 season, when they edged the Eagles in a wild-card round game in Philadelphia before losing the following week at Seattle.</p>
<p>One of those losses came in the 2000 divisional round at Minnesota. The Vikings are 13-8 in home playoff games in their history, including 6-4 indoors.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external" /> <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" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Drew Brees will lead the New Orleans offense onto the field at Minnesota and commence the 13th postseason game of his stellar career, already armed with seven such victories and one Super Bowl ring for the Saints.</p>
<p>“I prepare for every game as if it’s that magnitude,” Brees said.</p>
<p>“When you’re in games of that magnitude, it’s as if you’ve been there and done it many times before, even if it was just in your mind.”</p>
<p>For Case Keenum, it’s truly all in his mind.</p>
<p>His first start in the NFL playoffs will come when the Vikings kick off their divisional round game on Sunday.</p>
<p>“I’m going to play like I know how to play. I don’t have to be anybody but myself. Not more conservative or less conservative. Either way, I’m going to be me,” said Keenum, whose successful takeover for the injured Sam Bradford helped lead the Vikings (13-3) to their best record in 19 years. “That’s all I have to be. I’ve got a great squad in this room.”</p>
<p>Solely measuring quarterback experience and accomplishment, the Saints have a clear advantage over the Vikings in this divisional round game to help determine the matchup in the NFC championship game. Keenum, though, has been <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/case-keenum-vikings-qb-keeps-disproving-doubters" type="external">overcoming the odds all season, let alone his career</a> .</p>
<p>“I always root for guys like that. Kind of the undersized guy that is coming out and nobody wants to give him any credit and always plays with a chip on his shoulder,” Brees said.</p>
<p>Though he was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round in 2001 out of Purdue, with Keenum going undrafted out of Houston and needing the Texans practice squad to get his career going in 2012, Brees can relate. He’s shorter than the NFL standard for their position, too. Oh, and they’re both from Texas.</p>
<p>Brees added another highlight last week, with 376 passing yards to help the Saints (12-5) advance with <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/brees-defensive-stand-help-saints-survive-panthers-31-26" type="external">a 31-26 victory over Carolina</a> while the Vikings had a bye.</p>
<p>“Just a guy that I really admire in how he moves the ball down the field and how he operates, what kind of leader he is,” Keenum said.</p>
<p>“I read his book a long time ago. I think he’s someone to learn from. I try to watch all of the really good quarterbacks in the offseason and take little things to try to work on my game.”</p>
<p>Here are some other angles to follow with the game:</p>
<p>SLOWED UP: The Pro Bowl pair of Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara had the least productive combined performance for the Saints against Carolina, with just 68 total yards from scrimmage. They each had more than 1,500 total yards in 2017.</p>
<p>The Panthers brought one safety closer to the line of the scrimmage to spy on the running back, and it worked.</p>
<p>“This league is a copy-cat league so I wouldn’t be surprised if Minnesota did it,” Kamara said, expressing no concern about the strategy by pointing to Brees, whose passing yardage total against the Panthers was his second-highest of the season.</p>
<p>The Vikings, led by the speed of linebackers Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks, have held several pass-catching running backs to minimal production this season.</p>
<p>LINE ITEM: The Saints will be without starting left guard Andrus Peat, a versatile former first-round draft choice who also filled in for Terron Armstead at left tackle this season when he was injured. Peat broke his fibula against the Panthers.</p>
<p>Senio Kelemete, who has filled in at both guard spots and right tackle this season, is slated to start for Peat. Armstead, meanwhile, said he’s never been close to 100 percent healthy this season.</p>
<p>“But it doesn’t matter,” Armstead said. “I’m willing and able to put my body on the line for an opportunity to play again next week.”</p>
<p>ZONED OUT: New Orleans defensive coordinator Dennis Allen called for a relatively zone-heavy scheme in the opener, and rookie cornerback Marshon Lattimore recalled feeling “confused about everything” in his NFL debut other than the man-to-man coverage the Saints have been more inclined to let Lattimore play on top opposing receivers. He had five interceptions and was picked for the Pro Bowl.</p>
<p>“That was something that we felt like in that game was going to give us a chance to win the game, and obviously we didn’t play as well as we needed to,” Allen said of <a href="https://pro32.ap.org/article/bradford-vikings-cruise-past-saints-29-19-opener" type="external">Minnesota’s 29-19 victory fueled by a career-best 143.0 passer rating for Bradford</a> . “Obviously, we’ve looked at that game and how we’ve changed and how we’ve evolved as a defense.”</p>
<p>SUPER BOWL ENVY: New Orleans’ bid for the Super Bowl this season and was considered a favorite given the city is celebrating its 300th anniversary and has long been a popular host for the NFL’s marquee event. But Minnesota’s bid, combining its new stadium and winter carnival approach to related festivities, won out.</p>
<p>Now the Vikings have an opportunity to become the first team to play a Super Bowl on home turf, a feat the Saints would be happy to deny.</p>
<p>“If we want to add a little underlying story to us trying to win this game, it would be nice to be able to do that,” Saints defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins said.</p>
<p>“We’ve always talked about, ‘We want to start the season at Minnesota. We want to end the season in Minnesota,’ and for us that means playing in the Super Bowl.”</p>
<p>SITE MAP: The Saints are 1-6 in their history in the playoffs on the road, including 1-4 under coach Sean Payton. Their first and only such win came after the 2013 season, when they edged the Eagles in a wild-card round game in Philadelphia before losing the following week at Seattle.</p>
<p>One of those losses came in the 2000 divisional round at Minnesota. The Vikings are 13-8 in home playoff games in their history, including 6-4 indoors.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external" /> <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" /> <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
| 6,440 |
<p>Since the onset of the Harvey Weinstein blockbuster scandal, many former allies of the left-wing mega donor have attempted to distance themselves from him while at the same ludicrously trying to turn the sexual assault allegations into an attack on President Donald Trump himself.</p>
<p>This has predictably caused outrage in right-wing and alternative media circles while at the same time the the likes of The New York Times and CNN continue to downplay the possibility that this is only the beginning of a much larger scandal while somehow always finding a way to magically tie it to Trump.</p>
<p>Amazingly, during a segment on Fox New’s Justice with Judge Jeanine, the former judge not only took Hollywood and their left-wing pals to task, she also revealed her belief that this is indeed only the beginning of what will end up being a scandal that includes child sex trafficking and “real” pedophilia.</p>
<p>“Don’t you love it when those so-called social justice warriors, the ones that claim moral and ethical superiority over the rest of us, the ones who chastise us because of our core American values are hoisted on their own petard?” said Pirro&#160;in the opening minute of her show.</p>
<p>“This week a real blockbuster as the curtain goes up on those Trump hating, Soros loving, socialist, condescending Hollywood elite for their silence, acceptance, and cover-up of one of their own – serial super sexual predator Harvey Weinstein,” Pirro continued. “Another intersection of crime, money, power, and the Democrat Party.”</p>
<p>Judge Jeanine then details the astonishing amount of money Weinstein has given powerful liberals over the years (and this is only the numbers we are aware of) as well as the direct hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton and her pathetic response to the scandal.</p>
<p>“Weinstein gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party, nonstop donations to Hillary Clinton, hundreds of thousands to that Clinton Foundation and reports of almost a million and a half dollars to the Clintons themselves,” Pirro declared with an unmistakable glare of anger.</p>
<p>“And Hillary, the women who created her own war room to destroy the women who accused her husband Bill of rape and sexual assaults hides for five days before saying she is shocked… shocked.”</p>
<p>Pirro then goes full-scale savage, linking both the Clintons to convicted pedophile Jeffery Epstein while noting that if Hillary had won the election she could help her friend Weinstein out just as Bill helped his friend in the past.</p>
<p>“Think of it Hillary. If you were elected president, you could have done for your friend Harvey what your husband Bill did for his friend, that Palm Beach billionaire, convicted serial pedophile predator Jefferey Epstein – By getting the DOJ, the feds to intercede, take those child rape charges from the Florida DA to federal easy street.”</p>
<p>Mic drop anyone?</p>
<p>At the end of her absolutely amazing opening segment, Pirro reveals a bombshell – her belief that the Weinstein scandal is only the beginning and that famous Hollywood stars will soon be exposed as pedophiles.</p>
<p>“Its not over yet folks, there is more coming, its not just adult women, its human trafficking, its child sex trafficking, its real pedophilia,” Pirro stunning finished.</p>
<p>While allegations of sex abuse, both adult and child, have long plagued Hollywood, one can’t help but wonder if this is actually the time where it is finally busted wide open and the sick predators, on both sides of the political aisle, are finally brought to justice.</p>
<p />
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://www.shtfplan.com/conspiracy-fact-and-theory/tip-of-the-iceberg-judge-jeanine-destroys-the-left-over-harvey-weinstein-cover-up-while-claiming-its-not-over-yet_10152017" type="external">SHTFplan. com</a></p>
<p />
<p />
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“Tip Of The Iceberg”: Judge Jeanine Destroys The Left Over Harvey Weinstein Cover-up While Claiming “Its Not Over Yet”
| true |
http://dcclothesline.com/2017/10/16/tip-of-the-iceberg-judge-jeanine-destroys-the-left-over-harvey-weinstein-cover-up-while-claiming-its-not-over-yet/
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2017-10-16
| 0right
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“Tip Of The Iceberg”: Judge Jeanine Destroys The Left Over Harvey Weinstein Cover-up While Claiming “Its Not Over Yet”
<p>Since the onset of the Harvey Weinstein blockbuster scandal, many former allies of the left-wing mega donor have attempted to distance themselves from him while at the same ludicrously trying to turn the sexual assault allegations into an attack on President Donald Trump himself.</p>
<p>This has predictably caused outrage in right-wing and alternative media circles while at the same time the the likes of The New York Times and CNN continue to downplay the possibility that this is only the beginning of a much larger scandal while somehow always finding a way to magically tie it to Trump.</p>
<p>Amazingly, during a segment on Fox New’s Justice with Judge Jeanine, the former judge not only took Hollywood and their left-wing pals to task, she also revealed her belief that this is indeed only the beginning of what will end up being a scandal that includes child sex trafficking and “real” pedophilia.</p>
<p>“Don’t you love it when those so-called social justice warriors, the ones that claim moral and ethical superiority over the rest of us, the ones who chastise us because of our core American values are hoisted on their own petard?” said Pirro&#160;in the opening minute of her show.</p>
<p>“This week a real blockbuster as the curtain goes up on those Trump hating, Soros loving, socialist, condescending Hollywood elite for their silence, acceptance, and cover-up of one of their own – serial super sexual predator Harvey Weinstein,” Pirro continued. “Another intersection of crime, money, power, and the Democrat Party.”</p>
<p>Judge Jeanine then details the astonishing amount of money Weinstein has given powerful liberals over the years (and this is only the numbers we are aware of) as well as the direct hypocrisy of Hillary Clinton and her pathetic response to the scandal.</p>
<p>“Weinstein gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democratic Party, nonstop donations to Hillary Clinton, hundreds of thousands to that Clinton Foundation and reports of almost a million and a half dollars to the Clintons themselves,” Pirro declared with an unmistakable glare of anger.</p>
<p>“And Hillary, the women who created her own war room to destroy the women who accused her husband Bill of rape and sexual assaults hides for five days before saying she is shocked… shocked.”</p>
<p>Pirro then goes full-scale savage, linking both the Clintons to convicted pedophile Jeffery Epstein while noting that if Hillary had won the election she could help her friend Weinstein out just as Bill helped his friend in the past.</p>
<p>“Think of it Hillary. If you were elected president, you could have done for your friend Harvey what your husband Bill did for his friend, that Palm Beach billionaire, convicted serial pedophile predator Jefferey Epstein – By getting the DOJ, the feds to intercede, take those child rape charges from the Florida DA to federal easy street.”</p>
<p>Mic drop anyone?</p>
<p>At the end of her absolutely amazing opening segment, Pirro reveals a bombshell – her belief that the Weinstein scandal is only the beginning and that famous Hollywood stars will soon be exposed as pedophiles.</p>
<p>“Its not over yet folks, there is more coming, its not just adult women, its human trafficking, its child sex trafficking, its real pedophilia,” Pirro stunning finished.</p>
<p>While allegations of sex abuse, both adult and child, have long plagued Hollywood, one can’t help but wonder if this is actually the time where it is finally busted wide open and the sick predators, on both sides of the political aisle, are finally brought to justice.</p>
<p />
<p>Courtesy of <a href="http://www.shtfplan.com/conspiracy-fact-and-theory/tip-of-the-iceberg-judge-jeanine-destroys-the-left-over-harvey-weinstein-cover-up-while-claiming-its-not-over-yet_10152017" type="external">SHTFplan. com</a></p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,441 |
<p />
<p>Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has taken a lot of heat for his combative leadership style. And lately, he’s been under fire for creating a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-all-out-meritocracy-comes-under-fire-1488286803" type="external">culture of brazen meritocracy Opens a New Window.</a> at the hyper-growth company he co-founded in 2009. But you could always count on the uber-competitive entrepreneur to own it. Until now.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>An incendiary blog post by former engineer <a href="https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber" type="external">Susan Fowler Opens a New Window.</a> unleashed a firestorm from <a href="https://shift.newco.co/an-open-letter-to-the-uber-board-and-investors-2dc0c48c3a7#.2rqcp17ys" type="external">early investors Opens a New Window.</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/technology/uber-workplace-culture.html?_r=0" type="external">former employees Opens a New Window.</a> and the media alleging that Uber management fosters sexism, bias and bad behavior. The crisis escalated when an embarrassing <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-ceo-says-he-needs-leadership-help-after-video-shows-him-slamming-driver-1488347091?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f&amp;utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fxml%2Frss%2F3_7014+%28WSJ.com%3A" type="external">video surfaced of Kalanick berating a driver Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>In an email to employees on Tuesday, <a href="https://newsroom.uber.com/a-profound-apology/" type="external">Kalanick’s familiar defiance was gone Opens a New Window.</a>. It’s time to “fundamentally change as a leader and grow up,” he wrote. The question is, can he and will he? The answer is, that depends.</p>
<p>The good news, I suppose, is that Kalanick is in good company. Some of the most successful CEOs of our time – Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Andy Grove, to name a few – were not known for their empathy, to put it mildly. Behavioral change, however, takes more than acknowledgement that there’s a problem. It takes work. And it takes guidance.</p>
<p>To me, his and Uber’s issues do not appear to be existential or even out of the ordinary as alpha male executives running high-growth companies go. Uber’s corporate culture was actually modeled after that of <a href="" type="internal">another tech company that came under similar attack</a> a few years back: Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).</p>
<p>Uber, though, finds itself in a very different competitive position than the retail giant. At $68 billion, it may be the most valuable startup in the world, but it still is a startup with intense competition from Lyft and now Google’s Waze unit. There’s also an active and growing #DeleteUber campaign.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>It bears mentioning that Silicon Valley is full of low EQ entrepreneurs that are so focused on achieving their vision that they deprioritize everything else. Their company cultures tend to be obsessed with winning and growth. And, for what it’s worth, their intention is never for employees to get trampled under the wheels of disruptive innovation.</p>
<p>Founders who find themselves in the kind of sticky situation that Kalanick is in, often turn to seasoned former executives as mentors to help them round out their rough edges. Probably the most successful executive coach in the Valley, at least in terms of helping young entrepreneurs become mature CEOs, was Bill Campbell.</p>
<p>A former head coach of Columbia University’s football team, Campbell worked at Kodak (NYSE:KODK) before Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO John Sculley tapped him to run marketing soon after the Cupertino company’s IPO. Campbell went on to run several tech companies, including Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU), before deciding to focus on coaching as a way of giving back to the industry.</p>
<p>His first client, interestingly enough, was Amazon. In the late 90s, the board considered replacing founder Jeff Bezos with a more experienced executive, but one director, famed venture capitalist John Doerr, brought Campbell in to spend some time mentoring Bezos. You probably know the rest.</p>
<p>When Jobs returned to Apple in the NeXT acquisition, he talked Campbell into joining the board. From that point on, he was probably Jobs’ closest friend and confidante, helping to guide the company back from the brink of bankruptcy to become the most valuable corporation on Earth.</p>
<p>Doerr also brought Campbell to Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), where the two convinced founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to work together with Eric Schmidt as CEO. At first, their styles clashed, but with some coaching by Campbell, they became the most successful management triumvirate in the history of Silicon Valley.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, not every executive is coachable. <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/postscript-bill-campbell-1940-2016" type="external">Google had a talented up-and-comer named Marissa Mayer Opens a New Window.</a>, but Campbell apparently found her to be lacking in empathy and resistant to coaching. That’s reportedly why Mayer never made it to senior vice president at the search giant, which ultimately led to her taking the <a href="" type="internal">CEO job at Yahoo</a>&#160;(NASDAQ:YHOO).</p>
<p>Sadly, the man who helped so many young entrepreneurs bridge the gap from brazen founder to mature CEO passed away in 2016, but he left behind a process. For leaders to change their behavior, they need to believe it’s necessary, they need a talented coach to guide them and they need to work hard. That’s now up to Kalanick and Uber’s board.</p>
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Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's Leadership Problem
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http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/03/02/uber-ceo-travis-kalanicks-leadership-problem.html
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2017-03-03
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Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's Leadership Problem
<p />
<p>Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has taken a lot of heat for his combative leadership style. And lately, he’s been under fire for creating a <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/ubers-all-out-meritocracy-comes-under-fire-1488286803" type="external">culture of brazen meritocracy Opens a New Window.</a> at the hyper-growth company he co-founded in 2009. But you could always count on the uber-competitive entrepreneur to own it. Until now.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>An incendiary blog post by former engineer <a href="https://www.susanjfowler.com/blog/2017/2/19/reflecting-on-one-very-strange-year-at-uber" type="external">Susan Fowler Opens a New Window.</a> unleashed a firestorm from <a href="https://shift.newco.co/an-open-letter-to-the-uber-board-and-investors-2dc0c48c3a7#.2rqcp17ys" type="external">early investors Opens a New Window.</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/22/technology/uber-workplace-culture.html?_r=0" type="external">former employees Opens a New Window.</a> and the media alleging that Uber management fosters sexism, bias and bad behavior. The crisis escalated when an embarrassing <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-ceo-says-he-needs-leadership-help-after-video-shows-him-slamming-driver-1488347091?mod=pls_whats_news_us_business_f&amp;utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fxml%2Frss%2F3_7014+%28WSJ.com%3A" type="external">video surfaced of Kalanick berating a driver Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>In an email to employees on Tuesday, <a href="https://newsroom.uber.com/a-profound-apology/" type="external">Kalanick’s familiar defiance was gone Opens a New Window.</a>. It’s time to “fundamentally change as a leader and grow up,” he wrote. The question is, can he and will he? The answer is, that depends.</p>
<p>The good news, I suppose, is that Kalanick is in good company. Some of the most successful CEOs of our time – Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Andy Grove, to name a few – were not known for their empathy, to put it mildly. Behavioral change, however, takes more than acknowledgement that there’s a problem. It takes work. And it takes guidance.</p>
<p>To me, his and Uber’s issues do not appear to be existential or even out of the ordinary as alpha male executives running high-growth companies go. Uber’s corporate culture was actually modeled after that of <a href="" type="internal">another tech company that came under similar attack</a> a few years back: Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).</p>
<p>Uber, though, finds itself in a very different competitive position than the retail giant. At $68 billion, it may be the most valuable startup in the world, but it still is a startup with intense competition from Lyft and now Google’s Waze unit. There’s also an active and growing #DeleteUber campaign.</p>
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<p>It bears mentioning that Silicon Valley is full of low EQ entrepreneurs that are so focused on achieving their vision that they deprioritize everything else. Their company cultures tend to be obsessed with winning and growth. And, for what it’s worth, their intention is never for employees to get trampled under the wheels of disruptive innovation.</p>
<p>Founders who find themselves in the kind of sticky situation that Kalanick is in, often turn to seasoned former executives as mentors to help them round out their rough edges. Probably the most successful executive coach in the Valley, at least in terms of helping young entrepreneurs become mature CEOs, was Bill Campbell.</p>
<p>A former head coach of Columbia University’s football team, Campbell worked at Kodak (NYSE:KODK) before Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO John Sculley tapped him to run marketing soon after the Cupertino company’s IPO. Campbell went on to run several tech companies, including Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU), before deciding to focus on coaching as a way of giving back to the industry.</p>
<p>His first client, interestingly enough, was Amazon. In the late 90s, the board considered replacing founder Jeff Bezos with a more experienced executive, but one director, famed venture capitalist John Doerr, brought Campbell in to spend some time mentoring Bezos. You probably know the rest.</p>
<p>When Jobs returned to Apple in the NeXT acquisition, he talked Campbell into joining the board. From that point on, he was probably Jobs’ closest friend and confidante, helping to guide the company back from the brink of bankruptcy to become the most valuable corporation on Earth.</p>
<p>Doerr also brought Campbell to Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), where the two convinced founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to work together with Eric Schmidt as CEO. At first, their styles clashed, but with some coaching by Campbell, they became the most successful management triumvirate in the history of Silicon Valley.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, not every executive is coachable. <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/postscript-bill-campbell-1940-2016" type="external">Google had a talented up-and-comer named Marissa Mayer Opens a New Window.</a>, but Campbell apparently found her to be lacking in empathy and resistant to coaching. That’s reportedly why Mayer never made it to senior vice president at the search giant, which ultimately led to her taking the <a href="" type="internal">CEO job at Yahoo</a>&#160;(NASDAQ:YHOO).</p>
<p>Sadly, the man who helped so many young entrepreneurs bridge the gap from brazen founder to mature CEO passed away in 2016, but he left behind a process. For leaders to change their behavior, they need to believe it’s necessary, they need a talented coach to guide them and they need to work hard. That’s now up to Kalanick and Uber’s board.</p>
| 6,442 |
<p>When a platoon of soldiers out of Jackson, Mississippi, the 343rd Quartermaster Company, refused to carry out an order to transport contaminated fuel along a dangerous corridor north of Baghdad, it was not an act of courage or conscientious objection. It was an act military prudence in keeping with every soldier’s first obligation to his fellows and himself: survival.</p>
<p>As much as we would like to embrace their cause, we can only offer our sympathy and support. This act of defiance does nothing to indict the war; it indicts the incompetence of those charged with carrying it out. It does instruct us to ask: Why are we in Iraq? It instructs us to ask: Where has all the money gone if not to protect the troops? We have spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $130 billion and committed $70 billion more, yet our soldiers remain ill-equipped and we are further from victory now than we were on the day of Shock and Awe.</p>
<p>Realistically, what is victory in Iraq? What does it look like? What does it smell like? If we ram through a sham of an election (as we did in Afghanistan), if we crown a CIA strongman and convene a parliament without authority, will it be settled then? If we establish permanent military bases from Mosul to Basra, will the Arab world ever accept such an outcome?</p>
<p>Truth to power: As long as the rivers run and the skies are blue-gray, there can be no victory in Iraq. It will never happen ­ neither in our lifetimes nor in the life spans of our children and grandchildren. A commitment to victory in Iraq is a promise of never ending war. If the president wishes to make a promise he can keep, let him speak no more of an all volunteer army or the politics of fear; let him deliver a promise of eternal war, a war for all ages, and a trail of destruction unprecedented in world history.</p>
<p>As the president babbles on about staying the course and fighting terrorists abroad so that we do not have to fight them here, we should reflect that only Israel and America could have transformed Islamic fundamentalist terrorists into freedom fighters ­ just as we did with the same terrorists in Afghanistan when they opposed the Soviet invaders. As the president panders to voters in Columbus, Ohio, and Pensacola, Florida, he would do well to reflect that the only city that matters in this election is the ancient city of Babylon.</p>
<p>The Jackson 17 has handed Senator Kerry the issue he wanted: the war is poorly planned and poorly administered. Those of us who have opposed the war since its inception must go a step further. We must call on all foreign fighters in that war torn land to lay down their arms as a matter of conscience. This is a war that should never have been launched for a cause that is unworthy of dying and killing. If we crush the resistance, it will only be born again. If we level the land with a torrent of bombs, as we did in Viet Nam, everyone loses.</p>
<p>If we would have an end to the rumors of military conscription, let us assert the right of every individual to conscientiously object. If we would have an end to the very concept of war as the ultimate arbiter of international conflict, the solution must begin with individual choice. There will always be sufficient volunteers to fight in the defense of our nation. The combined volunteer forces of all nations may be called upon to stop genocide or fight back fascist imperialism. Even today, a volunteer army would be wholly adequate to fight the real war on terrorism. The only wars that require conscripts and mercenaries are those of the immoral, illegal and unjustified kind.</p>
<p>Our troops in Iraq by-and-large did not sign on to this duty. None should be held a moment longer than their initial commitments. The “back door draft” policies of the military are nothing more than an attempt to compensate for inadequate forces. That there are so few volunteers for this debacle should inform us all as to the morality of the war. That being the case, every soldier must confront a classic moral dilemma: whether to refuse a sworn duty or cooperate in an immoral endeavor. For those who choose, as a matter of conscience, to refuse, it becomes our duty to aid and comfort them.</p>
<p>JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES, THE WAR CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). HIS COMMENTARIES HAVE BEEN POSTED WIDELY. SEE <a href="http://WWW.JACKRANDOM.COM/" type="external">WWW.JACKRANDOM.COM</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Reflections on a Mutiny
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2004/10/20/reflections-on-a-mutiny/
|
2004-10-20
| 4left
|
Reflections on a Mutiny
<p>When a platoon of soldiers out of Jackson, Mississippi, the 343rd Quartermaster Company, refused to carry out an order to transport contaminated fuel along a dangerous corridor north of Baghdad, it was not an act of courage or conscientious objection. It was an act military prudence in keeping with every soldier’s first obligation to his fellows and himself: survival.</p>
<p>As much as we would like to embrace their cause, we can only offer our sympathy and support. This act of defiance does nothing to indict the war; it indicts the incompetence of those charged with carrying it out. It does instruct us to ask: Why are we in Iraq? It instructs us to ask: Where has all the money gone if not to protect the troops? We have spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $130 billion and committed $70 billion more, yet our soldiers remain ill-equipped and we are further from victory now than we were on the day of Shock and Awe.</p>
<p>Realistically, what is victory in Iraq? What does it look like? What does it smell like? If we ram through a sham of an election (as we did in Afghanistan), if we crown a CIA strongman and convene a parliament without authority, will it be settled then? If we establish permanent military bases from Mosul to Basra, will the Arab world ever accept such an outcome?</p>
<p>Truth to power: As long as the rivers run and the skies are blue-gray, there can be no victory in Iraq. It will never happen ­ neither in our lifetimes nor in the life spans of our children and grandchildren. A commitment to victory in Iraq is a promise of never ending war. If the president wishes to make a promise he can keep, let him speak no more of an all volunteer army or the politics of fear; let him deliver a promise of eternal war, a war for all ages, and a trail of destruction unprecedented in world history.</p>
<p>As the president babbles on about staying the course and fighting terrorists abroad so that we do not have to fight them here, we should reflect that only Israel and America could have transformed Islamic fundamentalist terrorists into freedom fighters ­ just as we did with the same terrorists in Afghanistan when they opposed the Soviet invaders. As the president panders to voters in Columbus, Ohio, and Pensacola, Florida, he would do well to reflect that the only city that matters in this election is the ancient city of Babylon.</p>
<p>The Jackson 17 has handed Senator Kerry the issue he wanted: the war is poorly planned and poorly administered. Those of us who have opposed the war since its inception must go a step further. We must call on all foreign fighters in that war torn land to lay down their arms as a matter of conscience. This is a war that should never have been launched for a cause that is unworthy of dying and killing. If we crush the resistance, it will only be born again. If we level the land with a torrent of bombs, as we did in Viet Nam, everyone loses.</p>
<p>If we would have an end to the rumors of military conscription, let us assert the right of every individual to conscientiously object. If we would have an end to the very concept of war as the ultimate arbiter of international conflict, the solution must begin with individual choice. There will always be sufficient volunteers to fight in the defense of our nation. The combined volunteer forces of all nations may be called upon to stop genocide or fight back fascist imperialism. Even today, a volunteer army would be wholly adequate to fight the real war on terrorism. The only wars that require conscripts and mercenaries are those of the immoral, illegal and unjustified kind.</p>
<p>Our troops in Iraq by-and-large did not sign on to this duty. None should be held a moment longer than their initial commitments. The “back door draft” policies of the military are nothing more than an attempt to compensate for inadequate forces. That there are so few volunteers for this debacle should inform us all as to the morality of the war. That being the case, every soldier must confront a classic moral dilemma: whether to refuse a sworn duty or cooperate in an immoral endeavor. For those who choose, as a matter of conscience, to refuse, it becomes our duty to aid and comfort them.</p>
<p>JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES, THE WAR CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). HIS COMMENTARIES HAVE BEEN POSTED WIDELY. SEE <a href="http://WWW.JACKRANDOM.COM/" type="external">WWW.JACKRANDOM.COM</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,443 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Everett Schlegel had returned home from the Army only days earlier when he wandered over to Wrigley Field in his uniform to see about getting tickets. The ticket clerk refused his money and gave him seats to both Game 6 and Game 7, according to the Elgin Courier-News.</p>
<p>As he watched his hometown team lose that series, Schlegel couldn’t have known it would take another seven decades before there would be a second chance.</p>
<p>The story of how a young soldier fresh out of the service scored World Series tickets is a family favorite. And now, with the Cubs back in contention, Schlegel’s family wanted to get him to a game again.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>So, his granddaughter, Helen Schlegel, did what would have been unimaginable 71 years ago. She asked the Internet for help.</p>
<p>“My Grandpa is 97 years old. He served in Pearl Harbor and is the BIGGEST Cubs fan I know,” she wrote on a GoFundMe page. “He had the opportunity to go see the Cubs in 1945 World Series Game 7 and still has the original ticket stubs. He has been waiting since that heartbreaking day, to see the Cubs in World Series. Please help my Grandpa witness the Cubs in the World Series again.”</p>
<p>The page went up Sunday, and by Monday local media were all over the story of the World War II veteran who served on a nearby base in Hawaii during the Pearl Harbor attacks and who waited a lifetime for another Cubs World Series. Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of strangers, the online campaign reached, and then surpassed, its $10,000 goal within days.</p>
<p>But then Marcus Lemonis of the CNBC reality show “The Profit” offered Schlegel his two front-row tickets to Friday’s Game 3.</p>
<p>Because they no longer need the $12,000 raised to purchase tickets, the family is planning to donate all of it to the Purple Heart Foundation.</p>
<p>When Schlegel answered the phone at his home Wednesday afternoon, he said they were “all overwhelmed” by the attention the story had received.</p>
<p>“It’s bigger than I had any idea of, and nobody told me this was going to be like this,” he said. “My son said, ‘Dad, you’re too damn popular.’ “</p>
<p>Remarkably, the reason he got these tickets isn’t so different from why he did all those decades ago.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Schlegel told the Elgin Courier-News that he’d been in line at the Wrigley box office when a police officer spotted him in his uniform and took him straight to the cashier’s window. The clerk, whose name Schlegel recalled was Mabel, gave him the tickets for free to thank him for his service.</p>
<p>“I didn’t realize I could go anywhere wearing a uniform and not get charged for anything,” he said on the phone Wednesday with a chuckle.</p>
<p>Those tickets would have cost him about a dollar. The seats he’ll have Friday are going for around $7,000 or more on StubHub.</p>
<p>Schlegel lives with his daughter, but because she works, he’s alone most of the day, he said. He fills his days reading, watching TV and taking short walks. He said he couldn’t talk long because he was tired from all the excitement.</p>
<p>But his granddaughter posted a thank-you video on Twitter.</p>
<p>The Cubs are now 1-1, and Schlegel is optimistic.</p>
<p>“I’m a Cubs fan,” Schlegel said. “I believe in what they can do.”</p>
<p>worldseries-vet</p>
|
WWII vet is given front-row seats to see his beloved Cubs in the World Series
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/876263/wwii-vet-is-given-front-row-seats-to-see-his-beloved-cubs-in-the-world-series.html
| 2least
|
WWII vet is given front-row seats to see his beloved Cubs in the World Series
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Everett Schlegel had returned home from the Army only days earlier when he wandered over to Wrigley Field in his uniform to see about getting tickets. The ticket clerk refused his money and gave him seats to both Game 6 and Game 7, according to the Elgin Courier-News.</p>
<p>As he watched his hometown team lose that series, Schlegel couldn’t have known it would take another seven decades before there would be a second chance.</p>
<p>The story of how a young soldier fresh out of the service scored World Series tickets is a family favorite. And now, with the Cubs back in contention, Schlegel’s family wanted to get him to a game again.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>So, his granddaughter, Helen Schlegel, did what would have been unimaginable 71 years ago. She asked the Internet for help.</p>
<p>“My Grandpa is 97 years old. He served in Pearl Harbor and is the BIGGEST Cubs fan I know,” she wrote on a GoFundMe page. “He had the opportunity to go see the Cubs in 1945 World Series Game 7 and still has the original ticket stubs. He has been waiting since that heartbreaking day, to see the Cubs in World Series. Please help my Grandpa witness the Cubs in the World Series again.”</p>
<p>The page went up Sunday, and by Monday local media were all over the story of the World War II veteran who served on a nearby base in Hawaii during the Pearl Harbor attacks and who waited a lifetime for another Cubs World Series. Thanks to the generosity of hundreds of strangers, the online campaign reached, and then surpassed, its $10,000 goal within days.</p>
<p>But then Marcus Lemonis of the CNBC reality show “The Profit” offered Schlegel his two front-row tickets to Friday’s Game 3.</p>
<p>Because they no longer need the $12,000 raised to purchase tickets, the family is planning to donate all of it to the Purple Heart Foundation.</p>
<p>When Schlegel answered the phone at his home Wednesday afternoon, he said they were “all overwhelmed” by the attention the story had received.</p>
<p>“It’s bigger than I had any idea of, and nobody told me this was going to be like this,” he said. “My son said, ‘Dad, you’re too damn popular.’ “</p>
<p>Remarkably, the reason he got these tickets isn’t so different from why he did all those decades ago.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Schlegel told the Elgin Courier-News that he’d been in line at the Wrigley box office when a police officer spotted him in his uniform and took him straight to the cashier’s window. The clerk, whose name Schlegel recalled was Mabel, gave him the tickets for free to thank him for his service.</p>
<p>“I didn’t realize I could go anywhere wearing a uniform and not get charged for anything,” he said on the phone Wednesday with a chuckle.</p>
<p>Those tickets would have cost him about a dollar. The seats he’ll have Friday are going for around $7,000 or more on StubHub.</p>
<p>Schlegel lives with his daughter, but because she works, he’s alone most of the day, he said. He fills his days reading, watching TV and taking short walks. He said he couldn’t talk long because he was tired from all the excitement.</p>
<p>But his granddaughter posted a thank-you video on Twitter.</p>
<p>The Cubs are now 1-1, and Schlegel is optimistic.</p>
<p>“I’m a Cubs fan,” Schlegel said. “I believe in what they can do.”</p>
<p>worldseries-vet</p>
| 6,444 |
|
<p>Nordea Bank AB (NDA.SK) reported Thursday that its net interest income rose slightly in the third quarter of 2017 with synchronized growth in its home markets, although its profit-before-loan losses fell.</p>
<p>The Sweden-based financial services company generated net interest income of EUR1.19 billion for the quarter, up 1% from the year before. However, total operating income came to EUR2.37 billion, down 4%.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Profit before loan losses came to EUR1.17 billion, down 9% from the year before, but up by 5% from the preceding quarter. Net loan losses amounted to EUR79 million, reduced by 41% from the year before.</p>
<p>Nordea Bank made an operating profit for the quarter of EUR1.09 billion, down 5% from the year before. Its return on equity came to 10.5%, compared to 11.6% the preceding year.</p>
<p>At the end of the period, the bank's common equity tier 1 capital ratio stood at 19.2%, unchanged from the prior quarter. Its cost-to-income ratio improved to 51% from 54% over the quarter.</p>
<p>Chief Executive Casper von Koskull said Nordea's margins remain stable, although it has not seen the usual pick-up in demand for corporate advisory services after the summer. Costs and credit quality in the quarter were as planned, the CEO said, adding that Nordea is now entering a phase of bringing down structural costs.</p>
<p>Write to Adam Clark at [email protected]; @AdamDowJones</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>October 26, 2017 01:43 ET (05:43 GMT)</p>
|
Nordea Bank 3Q Net Interest Income Rises amid Home-Market Growth
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/10/26/nordea-bank-3q-net-interest-income-rises-amid-home-market-growth.html
|
2017-10-26
| 0right
|
Nordea Bank 3Q Net Interest Income Rises amid Home-Market Growth
<p>Nordea Bank AB (NDA.SK) reported Thursday that its net interest income rose slightly in the third quarter of 2017 with synchronized growth in its home markets, although its profit-before-loan losses fell.</p>
<p>The Sweden-based financial services company generated net interest income of EUR1.19 billion for the quarter, up 1% from the year before. However, total operating income came to EUR2.37 billion, down 4%.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Profit before loan losses came to EUR1.17 billion, down 9% from the year before, but up by 5% from the preceding quarter. Net loan losses amounted to EUR79 million, reduced by 41% from the year before.</p>
<p>Nordea Bank made an operating profit for the quarter of EUR1.09 billion, down 5% from the year before. Its return on equity came to 10.5%, compared to 11.6% the preceding year.</p>
<p>At the end of the period, the bank's common equity tier 1 capital ratio stood at 19.2%, unchanged from the prior quarter. Its cost-to-income ratio improved to 51% from 54% over the quarter.</p>
<p>Chief Executive Casper von Koskull said Nordea's margins remain stable, although it has not seen the usual pick-up in demand for corporate advisory services after the summer. Costs and credit quality in the quarter were as planned, the CEO said, adding that Nordea is now entering a phase of bringing down structural costs.</p>
<p>Write to Adam Clark at [email protected]; @AdamDowJones</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>October 26, 2017 01:43 ET (05:43 GMT)</p>
| 6,445 |
<p>There's nothing like a U.S. presidential campaign to let us all laugh at the stupid mistakes of others.</p>
<p>In the gaffe of the moment, Republican candidate Rick Perry placed the American Revolutionary War approximately 200 years early in history.</p>
<p>Speaking to a Dartmouth College fraternity Tuesday night, he took questions from the students on a variety of subjects, <a href="http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/10/12/_rick_perry_revolutionary_war_gaffe_the_texas_governor_tells_dar.html?from=rss/&amp;wpisrc=newsletter_slatest" type="external">Slate reports</a>. After a student asked a question on states' rights, Perry said that one of "the reasons we fought the revolution in the 16th century was to get away from that type of onerous crown."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/111011/mitt-romney-michele-bachmann-herman-cain-economy-republican-debate" type="external">Mitt Romney confident, Cain under fire and Perry forgotten at Republican debate (VIDEO)</a></p>
<p>Apparently, Perry was not aware that the Revolutionary War took place in the 18th century.</p>
<p>The gaffe came after Perry participated in the seventh <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/111011/mitt-romney-michele-bachmann-herman-cain-economy-republican-debate" type="external">Republican presidential debate</a> Tuesday evening at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>During the debate, Perry was all but ignored by Mitt Romney, who gave a confident performance and presented himself as the best candidate to take on President Barack Obama, as GlobalPost reported earlier.</p>
<p>Perry's was not the first Revolutionary War gaffe made by a Republican in this election season. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) confused Concord, New Hampshire, with Concord, Massachusetts, when discussing the war's first battle while on the campaign trail, the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/rick-perry-on-the-revolutionary-war-fail/2011/10/12/gIQASR7xeL_blog.html" type="external">Washington Post reports.</a></p>
<p />
<p>Visit msnbc.com for <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com" type="external">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" type="external">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" type="external">news about the economy</a></p>
<p>DISCUSSION: Do such gaffes on the campaign trail matter to you? Does it say something about how the candidates will govern? Does it not matter, or should they just know this stuff?</p>
|
Rick Perry makes Revolutionary War gaffe (VIDEO)
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2011-10-12/rick-perry-makes-revolutionary-war-gaffe-video
|
2011-10-12
| 3left-center
|
Rick Perry makes Revolutionary War gaffe (VIDEO)
<p>There's nothing like a U.S. presidential campaign to let us all laugh at the stupid mistakes of others.</p>
<p>In the gaffe of the moment, Republican candidate Rick Perry placed the American Revolutionary War approximately 200 years early in history.</p>
<p>Speaking to a Dartmouth College fraternity Tuesday night, he took questions from the students on a variety of subjects, <a href="http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/10/12/_rick_perry_revolutionary_war_gaffe_the_texas_governor_tells_dar.html?from=rss/&amp;wpisrc=newsletter_slatest" type="external">Slate reports</a>. After a student asked a question on states' rights, Perry said that one of "the reasons we fought the revolution in the 16th century was to get away from that type of onerous crown."</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/111011/mitt-romney-michele-bachmann-herman-cain-economy-republican-debate" type="external">Mitt Romney confident, Cain under fire and Perry forgotten at Republican debate (VIDEO)</a></p>
<p>Apparently, Perry was not aware that the Revolutionary War took place in the 18th century.</p>
<p>The gaffe came after Perry participated in the seventh <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/americas/united-states/111011/mitt-romney-michele-bachmann-herman-cain-economy-republican-debate" type="external">Republican presidential debate</a> Tuesday evening at Dartmouth.</p>
<p>During the debate, Perry was all but ignored by Mitt Romney, who gave a confident performance and presented himself as the best candidate to take on President Barack Obama, as GlobalPost reported earlier.</p>
<p>Perry's was not the first Revolutionary War gaffe made by a Republican in this election season. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) confused Concord, New Hampshire, with Concord, Massachusetts, when discussing the war's first battle while on the campaign trail, the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/rick-perry-on-the-revolutionary-war-fail/2011/10/12/gIQASR7xeL_blog.html" type="external">Washington Post reports.</a></p>
<p />
<p>Visit msnbc.com for <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com" type="external">breaking news</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507" type="external">world news</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072" type="external">news about the economy</a></p>
<p>DISCUSSION: Do such gaffes on the campaign trail matter to you? Does it say something about how the candidates will govern? Does it not matter, or should they just know this stuff?</p>
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<p>Enock Arvizo</p>
<p>Judge Briana Zamora also ruled that prosecutors cannot offer evidence regarding an allegation that Metropolitan Detention Center corrections officer Enock Arvizo had a sexual relationship with another inmate in 2008.</p>
<p>Arvizo is accused of raping two inmates and assaulting a third in the spring of 2015, according to an indictment. He initially faced charges involving two more women, but prosecutors dismissed those counts in August citing the death of an essential witness.</p>
<p>Zamora will rule later on a third motion discussed during a hearing Thursday. Arvizo’s attorney Stephen Lane asked the court to suppress DNA evidence along with a written statement that Arvizo turned over to his supervisor.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I did have sex with inmate on 4/13/15,” the statement said, according to prosecutors, who argue that the confession was made voluntarily.</p>
<p>But Lane said Arvizo made the statement involuntarily, out of fear that he would lose his job if he offered a false statement.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say Arvizo’s</p>
<p>DNA was found on one inmate’s undergarments. Lane argued that DNA taken from Arvizo to be used as a comparison was collected using a search warrant that relied on the involuntary statement to his supervisor, and should not be allowed at trial.</p>
<p>In his motion to exclude the civil settlement, Lane noted the payout did not involve an admission of wrongdoing and said it could be misleading to the jury. The county attorney told the Journal in November that settlements were reached with three women. Lane said only two of the three women still involved in Arvizo’s criminal case received settlements.</p>
<p>The judge also granted a defense motion, which asked her to “exclude evidence of a prior sexual relationship with an inmate in 2008.” Lane wrote that MDC conducted an internal investigation into allegations that Arvizo, while working in the community custody program, had a sexual relationship with an inmate in that program. He said the relationship was consensual and that Arvizo did not supervise the woman at the time.</p>
<p>Lane afterward said he was pleased with Zamora’s rulings on the two motions to exclude and said he was confident that the evidence wouldn’t be admissible.</p>
<p>James Hallinan, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s office, which is prosecuting the case, said the rulings bring the case one step closer to trial.</p>
<p>“We look forward to presenting the matter to a jury,” Hallinan said in a statement.</p>
<p>Arvizo is set to go to trial in early May, late June and late August.</p>
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Judge limits testimony in sex assault case
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<p>Enock Arvizo</p>
<p>Judge Briana Zamora also ruled that prosecutors cannot offer evidence regarding an allegation that Metropolitan Detention Center corrections officer Enock Arvizo had a sexual relationship with another inmate in 2008.</p>
<p>Arvizo is accused of raping two inmates and assaulting a third in the spring of 2015, according to an indictment. He initially faced charges involving two more women, but prosecutors dismissed those counts in August citing the death of an essential witness.</p>
<p>Zamora will rule later on a third motion discussed during a hearing Thursday. Arvizo’s attorney Stephen Lane asked the court to suppress DNA evidence along with a written statement that Arvizo turned over to his supervisor.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I did have sex with inmate on 4/13/15,” the statement said, according to prosecutors, who argue that the confession was made voluntarily.</p>
<p>But Lane said Arvizo made the statement involuntarily, out of fear that he would lose his job if he offered a false statement.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say Arvizo’s</p>
<p>DNA was found on one inmate’s undergarments. Lane argued that DNA taken from Arvizo to be used as a comparison was collected using a search warrant that relied on the involuntary statement to his supervisor, and should not be allowed at trial.</p>
<p>In his motion to exclude the civil settlement, Lane noted the payout did not involve an admission of wrongdoing and said it could be misleading to the jury. The county attorney told the Journal in November that settlements were reached with three women. Lane said only two of the three women still involved in Arvizo’s criminal case received settlements.</p>
<p>The judge also granted a defense motion, which asked her to “exclude evidence of a prior sexual relationship with an inmate in 2008.” Lane wrote that MDC conducted an internal investigation into allegations that Arvizo, while working in the community custody program, had a sexual relationship with an inmate in that program. He said the relationship was consensual and that Arvizo did not supervise the woman at the time.</p>
<p>Lane afterward said he was pleased with Zamora’s rulings on the two motions to exclude and said he was confident that the evidence wouldn’t be admissible.</p>
<p>James Hallinan, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s office, which is prosecuting the case, said the rulings bring the case one step closer to trial.</p>
<p>“We look forward to presenting the matter to a jury,” Hallinan said in a statement.</p>
<p>Arvizo is set to go to trial in early May, late June and late August.</p>
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<p>Harboring vague thoughts of anti-government mayhem may mean the Justice Department <a href="/news/feature/2008/03/department-of-pre-crime.html" type="external">labels you a criminal</a>. So I’m intrigued to see how Fox covers the alleged homegrown terror cells in their special this weekend, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342248,00.html" type="external">Jihad USA</a>. It promises to investigate the “emerging threat from people who have been radicalized by extreme Muslim doctrine within the U.S.”</p>
<p>Well, one such case of alleged domestic terrorism is the <a href="/news/feature/2008/03/department-of-pre-crime.html" type="external">“Liberty City 7” trial</a>, which <a href="http://www.nbc6.net/news/15734202/detail.html" type="external">now rests</a> in the hands of a jury—again. The first trial for the Miami-area men accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in 2006 ended in a mistrial, partly because there was little concrete evidence the men were serious about the plot and because FBI collaborators provided many of the materials needed to complete it. The jury so far has spent four hours in deliberation, and will return on Monday to continue.</p>
<p>If Fox’s <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?videoId=c63d449c-476b-429c-a3f0-94ac96878bd0&amp;sMPlaylistID=" type="external">preview</a>of the documentary, in which the Miami case is discussed, is to be believed, then Jihad USA will be one-sided indeed. Fox anchor and Jihad USA host E.D. Hill says the documentary “will frighten you, but it will inform you.” I don’t doubt Jihad USA will be frightening, but informative? If the hysterical tone of the preview is any indication, probably not.</p>
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Jihad USA: Fox’s Take on Homegrown Terror
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2008-03-29
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Jihad USA: Fox’s Take on Homegrown Terror
<p />
<p>Harboring vague thoughts of anti-government mayhem may mean the Justice Department <a href="/news/feature/2008/03/department-of-pre-crime.html" type="external">labels you a criminal</a>. So I’m intrigued to see how Fox covers the alleged homegrown terror cells in their special this weekend, <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,342248,00.html" type="external">Jihad USA</a>. It promises to investigate the “emerging threat from people who have been radicalized by extreme Muslim doctrine within the U.S.”</p>
<p>Well, one such case of alleged domestic terrorism is the <a href="/news/feature/2008/03/department-of-pre-crime.html" type="external">“Liberty City 7” trial</a>, which <a href="http://www.nbc6.net/news/15734202/detail.html" type="external">now rests</a> in the hands of a jury—again. The first trial for the Miami-area men accused of plotting to blow up the Sears Tower in 2006 ended in a mistrial, partly because there was little concrete evidence the men were serious about the plot and because FBI collaborators provided many of the materials needed to complete it. The jury so far has spent four hours in deliberation, and will return on Monday to continue.</p>
<p>If Fox’s <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?videoId=c63d449c-476b-429c-a3f0-94ac96878bd0&amp;sMPlaylistID=" type="external">preview</a>of the documentary, in which the Miami case is discussed, is to be believed, then Jihad USA will be one-sided indeed. Fox anchor and Jihad USA host E.D. Hill says the documentary “will frighten you, but it will inform you.” I don’t doubt Jihad USA will be frightening, but informative? If the hysterical tone of the preview is any indication, probably not.</p>
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<p>The PreTribulation Rapture Of The Church The Chuch Expectantly Waits For The Return Of Jesus</p>
<p>"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." <a href="javascript:;" type="external">1 Thessalonians 4:16-18</a> "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane [and] vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." <a href="javascript:;" type="external">2 Timothy 2: 15,16</a> Introduction To The Rapture - Part 1 in a Series There is much more information about this subject than could be contained in a single lesson, no matter how inclusive or exhaustive that lesson might be. So consider this the first in a series dealing with the Rapture, and all it's components, as taught in both the Old and New Testaments. As we go along, I will do my best to include as many topical stories, myths and legends of the past 100 years that have sprung up about this doctrine. Briefly, here are the four known "schools of thought" as it pertains to the Rapture and it's occurence:</p>
<p>It's a hotly-contested topic, for sure. Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, Post-Trib, No-Trib...from any angle you look at it, there are many differences of opinion on the topic of the Rapture of the Church in the End Days. And the Bible is written in such a way that the reader is led to draw their own conclusions as to what the Bible teaches. God knows your heart, as well as your motivation on a given subject. He will either lead you into Truth, or, will keep you from it. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned." This passage from <a href="javascript:;" type="external">1 Corinthians 2</a> shows clearly that unless we are sold out to God, we cannot know what His Word teaches. "But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." It is not brainpower which causes us to understand the Bible, but rather a right spirit and a heart that searches after God, and when we have done that, then God opens our understanding to receive His Truth. And with that, let us begin...</p> Introduction To The Rapture - Part 1 in a Series PreTribulation MidTribulation PostTribulation No Tribulation Not all prophecy was meant to be understood by all generations Click here
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The PreTribulation Rapture Of The Church
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http://nowtheendbegins.com/pages/rapture/the_rapture.htm
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The PreTribulation Rapture Of The Church
<p>The PreTribulation Rapture Of The Church The Chuch Expectantly Waits For The Return Of Jesus</p>
<p>"For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." <a href="javascript:;" type="external">1 Thessalonians 4:16-18</a> "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane [and] vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness." <a href="javascript:;" type="external">2 Timothy 2: 15,16</a> Introduction To The Rapture - Part 1 in a Series There is much more information about this subject than could be contained in a single lesson, no matter how inclusive or exhaustive that lesson might be. So consider this the first in a series dealing with the Rapture, and all it's components, as taught in both the Old and New Testaments. As we go along, I will do my best to include as many topical stories, myths and legends of the past 100 years that have sprung up about this doctrine. Briefly, here are the four known "schools of thought" as it pertains to the Rapture and it's occurence:</p>
<p>It's a hotly-contested topic, for sure. Pre-Trib, Mid-Trib, Post-Trib, No-Trib...from any angle you look at it, there are many differences of opinion on the topic of the Rapture of the Church in the End Days. And the Bible is written in such a way that the reader is led to draw their own conclusions as to what the Bible teaches. God knows your heart, as well as your motivation on a given subject. He will either lead you into Truth, or, will keep you from it. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned." This passage from <a href="javascript:;" type="external">1 Corinthians 2</a> shows clearly that unless we are sold out to God, we cannot know what His Word teaches. "But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." It is not brainpower which causes us to understand the Bible, but rather a right spirit and a heart that searches after God, and when we have done that, then God opens our understanding to receive His Truth. And with that, let us begin...</p> Introduction To The Rapture - Part 1 in a Series PreTribulation MidTribulation PostTribulation No Tribulation Not all prophecy was meant to be understood by all generations Click here
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<p>BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A man who was struck by a minivan in Billings has died of his injuries.</p>
<p>The Billings Gazette <a href="http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/pedestrian-hit-by-minivan-on-central-avenue-dies-from-injuries/article_97cb09d2-f671-5898-8656-650a66f91c2d.html" type="external">reports</a> 53-year-old Terry Dubbs was struck while crossing Central Avenue at 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 5. Deputy Yellowstone County Coroner R.L. Hoffman says Dubbs died Tuesday.</p>
<p>Police say the driver called 911 and cooperated with investigators. He said he did not see Dubbs, who was wearing dark clothing.</p>
<p>Officers said Dubbs suffered a serious head injury in the collision.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Billings Gazette, <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com" type="external">http://www.billingsgazette.com</a></p>
<p>BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A man who was struck by a minivan in Billings has died of his injuries.</p>
<p>The Billings Gazette <a href="http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/pedestrian-hit-by-minivan-on-central-avenue-dies-from-injuries/article_97cb09d2-f671-5898-8656-650a66f91c2d.html" type="external">reports</a> 53-year-old Terry Dubbs was struck while crossing Central Avenue at 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 5. Deputy Yellowstone County Coroner R.L. Hoffman says Dubbs died Tuesday.</p>
<p>Police say the driver called 911 and cooperated with investigators. He said he did not see Dubbs, who was wearing dark clothing.</p>
<p>Officers said Dubbs suffered a serious head injury in the collision.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Billings Gazette, <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com" type="external">http://www.billingsgazette.com</a></p>
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Pedestrian hit by van in Billings dies of injuries
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2018-01-19
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Pedestrian hit by van in Billings dies of injuries
<p>BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A man who was struck by a minivan in Billings has died of his injuries.</p>
<p>The Billings Gazette <a href="http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/pedestrian-hit-by-minivan-on-central-avenue-dies-from-injuries/article_97cb09d2-f671-5898-8656-650a66f91c2d.html" type="external">reports</a> 53-year-old Terry Dubbs was struck while crossing Central Avenue at 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 5. Deputy Yellowstone County Coroner R.L. Hoffman says Dubbs died Tuesday.</p>
<p>Police say the driver called 911 and cooperated with investigators. He said he did not see Dubbs, who was wearing dark clothing.</p>
<p>Officers said Dubbs suffered a serious head injury in the collision.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Billings Gazette, <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com" type="external">http://www.billingsgazette.com</a></p>
<p>BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A man who was struck by a minivan in Billings has died of his injuries.</p>
<p>The Billings Gazette <a href="http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/pedestrian-hit-by-minivan-on-central-avenue-dies-from-injuries/article_97cb09d2-f671-5898-8656-650a66f91c2d.html" type="external">reports</a> 53-year-old Terry Dubbs was struck while crossing Central Avenue at 8:45 p.m. on Jan. 5. Deputy Yellowstone County Coroner R.L. Hoffman says Dubbs died Tuesday.</p>
<p>Police say the driver called 911 and cooperated with investigators. He said he did not see Dubbs, who was wearing dark clothing.</p>
<p>Officers said Dubbs suffered a serious head injury in the collision.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Billings Gazette, <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com" type="external" /> <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com" type="external">http://www.billingsgazette.com</a></p>
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<p>Things have been relatively quiet over at MSNBC since Keith Olbermann departed the network at the end of January but for a couple of days last week there was a sign of life that the network still had some fight left in it.</p>
<p>Lawrence O’Donnell who replaced Olbermann in the 8 p.m. time slot but without the sarcasm and bombast channeled his predecessor&#160; a couple of times last week when he went after Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly.</p>
<p>First O’Donnell mocked O’Reilly for what he called his “faux Irish tough guy style” when he said:</p>
<p>“When I look at O’Reilly, I also see dozens of guys I grew up with just like him: overbearing, argumentative Irish guys who think they know everything and can back up nothing. Those guys have always been a joke to me, which is why O’Reilly almost never has the capacity to outrage me. Because he is just a joke to me most of the time. But when he blares homicidal encouragement for killing physicians who perform abortions he deserves all the serious minded condemnation he has received.”</p>
<p />
<p>I guess I’m not just as aware of Irish stereotypes as O’Donnell is because I have never thought to equate O’Reilly’s hard nosed style with his Irish heritage.</p>
<p>O’Donnell wasn’t done though when a few days later he went after O’Reilly again this time with the help of left wing media critic David Brock when he said that O’Reilly is the star of a long running Fox sitcom and that “Bill O’Reilly the actor is a little bit smarter than the character he plays on TV.”</p>
<p>This was in response to O’Reilly’s outrage over the questioning by Meet The Press’ David Gregory of Speaker Boehner about the president’s religion which O’Donnell thought was ridiculous because he felt that Fox was responsible for originating the questions about whether or not Obama is a Muslim.</p>
<p>But as Mediate’s Matt Schneider points out O’Donnell seems confused about what Boehner’s role should be:</p>
<p>“John Boehner spends his entire working life trying to convince Republicans to think his way on taxes and spending . . . but he won’t say a word about the President’s birth or the President’s religion, if people want to be wrong about that, that’s not John Boehner’s job to say anything about.”</p>
<p>So does that mean he agrees with O’Reilly or not?</p>
<p>O’Donnell must have thought that trying to act more Olbermanish would help boost his ratings and appeal to Keith’s far left audience but if these first two attempts are any example they were but a very poor imitation.</p>
<p>Maybe imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but a poor imitation is nothing more than an embarrassment.</p>
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O’Donnell Channels Olbermann
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2011-02-22
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O’Donnell Channels Olbermann
<p>Things have been relatively quiet over at MSNBC since Keith Olbermann departed the network at the end of January but for a couple of days last week there was a sign of life that the network still had some fight left in it.</p>
<p>Lawrence O’Donnell who replaced Olbermann in the 8 p.m. time slot but without the sarcasm and bombast channeled his predecessor&#160; a couple of times last week when he went after Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly.</p>
<p>First O’Donnell mocked O’Reilly for what he called his “faux Irish tough guy style” when he said:</p>
<p>“When I look at O’Reilly, I also see dozens of guys I grew up with just like him: overbearing, argumentative Irish guys who think they know everything and can back up nothing. Those guys have always been a joke to me, which is why O’Reilly almost never has the capacity to outrage me. Because he is just a joke to me most of the time. But when he blares homicidal encouragement for killing physicians who perform abortions he deserves all the serious minded condemnation he has received.”</p>
<p />
<p>I guess I’m not just as aware of Irish stereotypes as O’Donnell is because I have never thought to equate O’Reilly’s hard nosed style with his Irish heritage.</p>
<p>O’Donnell wasn’t done though when a few days later he went after O’Reilly again this time with the help of left wing media critic David Brock when he said that O’Reilly is the star of a long running Fox sitcom and that “Bill O’Reilly the actor is a little bit smarter than the character he plays on TV.”</p>
<p>This was in response to O’Reilly’s outrage over the questioning by Meet The Press’ David Gregory of Speaker Boehner about the president’s religion which O’Donnell thought was ridiculous because he felt that Fox was responsible for originating the questions about whether or not Obama is a Muslim.</p>
<p>But as Mediate’s Matt Schneider points out O’Donnell seems confused about what Boehner’s role should be:</p>
<p>“John Boehner spends his entire working life trying to convince Republicans to think his way on taxes and spending . . . but he won’t say a word about the President’s birth or the President’s religion, if people want to be wrong about that, that’s not John Boehner’s job to say anything about.”</p>
<p>So does that mean he agrees with O’Reilly or not?</p>
<p>O’Donnell must have thought that trying to act more Olbermanish would help boost his ratings and appeal to Keith’s far left audience but if these first two attempts are any example they were but a very poor imitation.</p>
<p>Maybe imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but a poor imitation is nothing more than an embarrassment.</p>
<p />
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<p>The B.B. King Cake from Bayou Bakery could make your Valentine’s Day extra sweet. (Photo courtesy Bayou)</p>
<p>Valentine’s Day weekend this year is just about perfect. First, Galentine’s Day — just for us girls — is on Saturday (Feb. 13) and, while Valentine’s Day itself is actually on Sunday, the next day is a — wait for it — federal holiday, meaning we can sleep in after enjoying V Day to its fullest.</p>
<p>All in all, it’s a perfect scenario for a true weekend of love. That may put a bit of pressure on making every moment count, so here’s a rundown of a few restaurants across the area offering something special for that special someone.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bayoubakerydc.com" type="external">Bayou Bakery</a> (901 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E., Capitol Hill): Locals on the Hill have been keeping this information close to their chests so they can get the best tables, but Bayou Bakery is now offering dinner service and it, frankly, is more than a match for the nearby Barracks Row eateries that have been attracting the hordes from Northwest D.C.</p>
<p>Built in a Civil War-era carriage house, Bayou Bakery’s dining room is both cozy and bright, with a New Orleans-inspired seasonal menu that most recently included Crispy Chicken Livers with pepper jelly and apple slaw and Crawfish Monica served over housemade pappardelle with a Creole cream sauce. You can end your meal with fresh beignets or the Warm Bread Pudding Brulée, a beautiful riff on the Commander’s Palace classic. But for Valentine’s Day you might consider ordering the brioche-style B.B. King Cake (order 48 hours in advance, to pick up or have there), which has been given a special heart-shaped makeover and even comes complete with its own cherubic plastic baby. If you want to check out Bayou Bakery before Valentine’s Day rolls around, they will, of course, be celebrating Mardi Gras in style on Tuesday, Feb. 9.</p>
<p><a href="http://osteriamorini.com" type="external">Osteria Morini</a> (301 Water St., S.E., Navy Yard): Sure, you could just go out for a nice meal on Valentine’s Day like everyone else, but you could also get a little more interactive by spending Galentine’s Day at Osteria Morini’s Pasta Lover’s Class on Saturday, Feb. 13. At $85 per person, you’ll be greeted with battilardo (Italian charcuterie), cheese and a glass of Lambrusco upon arrival, then learn some of the finer points of pasta making in an interactive class, followed by a three-course lunch with Sangiovese wine pairing.</p>
<p>If you prefer to stay in bed for the weekend, let pastry chef Alex Levin — a true master of confection — provide the sweet treats, which can be picked up at your convenience (order 48 hours in advance). Some of the offerings include Breakfast in Bed ($15 each), which includes chocolate danish, caramelized banana bread muffin, blueberry cheese danish, pecan brown butter cake bites and the Lovers Packages, which boasts all of the aforementioned as well as handmade Valrhona dark chocolate-covered toffee and peanut brittle ($30 each).</p>
<p><a href="http://blacksaltrestaurant.com" type="external">BlackSalt Fish Market</a>(4883 MacArthur Blvd., N.W., Palisades): Once you’ve had breakfast in bed, why not continue the trend at dinner? BlackSalt Fish Market is packing up a three-course dinner for two that you can enjoy in the comfort of your own home, aptly called “Cupid’s Choice.”</p>
<p>A special menu designed by executive chef Mike Huff includes such delicacies to choose from like Seared Maine Diver Scallops served with a caper parsley purée and house-smoked bacon, Lobster Bisque with crab and shrimp agnolotti, and Wood Grilled Boneless Rib-eye with roasted salsify and a truffle Cabernet jus, followed by a trio of chocolate treats like Chocolate Chambord Truffle Cake and Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, all for $100 per couple.&#160; If you want to amp up the aphrodisiacs, you can add on caviar, whole Maine lobsters (cooked and shelled upon request) and oysters on the half shell. Bibs required, pajamas are optional.</p>
<p><a href="http://bourbonsteakdc.com" type="external">Bourbon Steak</a> (2800 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Georgetown): If you can’t wait for Valentine’s Day, get a head start on Saturday, Feb. 6 at the Four Seasons Hotel’s flagship Bourbon Steak restaurant, with their “Love Potion No. 9” class at $45 per person. Head bartender Torrence Swain and pastry chef Derkje Steenblik will combine forces to stimulate the senses through cocktails and desserts designed to inspire passion.</p>
<p>The class will focus on exploring the stimulating powers of absinthe, benedictine and chartreuse, centuries-old liqueurs that are known for their potency. Participants will sample such delights as the sharp green absinthe-based “The Color of Envy” cocktail, paired with a French macaron filled with absinthe ganache and gold leaf. Call 202-944-2026 or email [email protected] for reservations.</p>
<p>Kristen Hartke is a D.C.-based food and beverage writer and editor; follow her kitchen adventures on Twitter at @khartke.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Bayou Bakery</a> <a href="" type="internal">BlackSalt Fish Market</a> <a href="" type="internal">Bourbon Steak</a> <a href="" type="internal">Dining Specials DC</a> <a href="" type="internal">Osteria Morini</a> <a href="" type="internal">Valentine's Day 2016</a></p>
|
Pleasures for the palate
| false |
http://washingtonblade.com/2016/02/05/pleasures-for-the-palate/
| 3left-center
|
Pleasures for the palate
<p>The B.B. King Cake from Bayou Bakery could make your Valentine’s Day extra sweet. (Photo courtesy Bayou)</p>
<p>Valentine’s Day weekend this year is just about perfect. First, Galentine’s Day — just for us girls — is on Saturday (Feb. 13) and, while Valentine’s Day itself is actually on Sunday, the next day is a — wait for it — federal holiday, meaning we can sleep in after enjoying V Day to its fullest.</p>
<p>All in all, it’s a perfect scenario for a true weekend of love. That may put a bit of pressure on making every moment count, so here’s a rundown of a few restaurants across the area offering something special for that special someone.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bayoubakerydc.com" type="external">Bayou Bakery</a> (901 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E., Capitol Hill): Locals on the Hill have been keeping this information close to their chests so they can get the best tables, but Bayou Bakery is now offering dinner service and it, frankly, is more than a match for the nearby Barracks Row eateries that have been attracting the hordes from Northwest D.C.</p>
<p>Built in a Civil War-era carriage house, Bayou Bakery’s dining room is both cozy and bright, with a New Orleans-inspired seasonal menu that most recently included Crispy Chicken Livers with pepper jelly and apple slaw and Crawfish Monica served over housemade pappardelle with a Creole cream sauce. You can end your meal with fresh beignets or the Warm Bread Pudding Brulée, a beautiful riff on the Commander’s Palace classic. But for Valentine’s Day you might consider ordering the brioche-style B.B. King Cake (order 48 hours in advance, to pick up or have there), which has been given a special heart-shaped makeover and even comes complete with its own cherubic plastic baby. If you want to check out Bayou Bakery before Valentine’s Day rolls around, they will, of course, be celebrating Mardi Gras in style on Tuesday, Feb. 9.</p>
<p><a href="http://osteriamorini.com" type="external">Osteria Morini</a> (301 Water St., S.E., Navy Yard): Sure, you could just go out for a nice meal on Valentine’s Day like everyone else, but you could also get a little more interactive by spending Galentine’s Day at Osteria Morini’s Pasta Lover’s Class on Saturday, Feb. 13. At $85 per person, you’ll be greeted with battilardo (Italian charcuterie), cheese and a glass of Lambrusco upon arrival, then learn some of the finer points of pasta making in an interactive class, followed by a three-course lunch with Sangiovese wine pairing.</p>
<p>If you prefer to stay in bed for the weekend, let pastry chef Alex Levin — a true master of confection — provide the sweet treats, which can be picked up at your convenience (order 48 hours in advance). Some of the offerings include Breakfast in Bed ($15 each), which includes chocolate danish, caramelized banana bread muffin, blueberry cheese danish, pecan brown butter cake bites and the Lovers Packages, which boasts all of the aforementioned as well as handmade Valrhona dark chocolate-covered toffee and peanut brittle ($30 each).</p>
<p><a href="http://blacksaltrestaurant.com" type="external">BlackSalt Fish Market</a>(4883 MacArthur Blvd., N.W., Palisades): Once you’ve had breakfast in bed, why not continue the trend at dinner? BlackSalt Fish Market is packing up a three-course dinner for two that you can enjoy in the comfort of your own home, aptly called “Cupid’s Choice.”</p>
<p>A special menu designed by executive chef Mike Huff includes such delicacies to choose from like Seared Maine Diver Scallops served with a caper parsley purée and house-smoked bacon, Lobster Bisque with crab and shrimp agnolotti, and Wood Grilled Boneless Rib-eye with roasted salsify and a truffle Cabernet jus, followed by a trio of chocolate treats like Chocolate Chambord Truffle Cake and Chocolate Dipped Strawberries, all for $100 per couple.&#160; If you want to amp up the aphrodisiacs, you can add on caviar, whole Maine lobsters (cooked and shelled upon request) and oysters on the half shell. Bibs required, pajamas are optional.</p>
<p><a href="http://bourbonsteakdc.com" type="external">Bourbon Steak</a> (2800 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Georgetown): If you can’t wait for Valentine’s Day, get a head start on Saturday, Feb. 6 at the Four Seasons Hotel’s flagship Bourbon Steak restaurant, with their “Love Potion No. 9” class at $45 per person. Head bartender Torrence Swain and pastry chef Derkje Steenblik will combine forces to stimulate the senses through cocktails and desserts designed to inspire passion.</p>
<p>The class will focus on exploring the stimulating powers of absinthe, benedictine and chartreuse, centuries-old liqueurs that are known for their potency. Participants will sample such delights as the sharp green absinthe-based “The Color of Envy” cocktail, paired with a French macaron filled with absinthe ganache and gold leaf. Call 202-944-2026 or email [email protected] for reservations.</p>
<p>Kristen Hartke is a D.C.-based food and beverage writer and editor; follow her kitchen adventures on Twitter at @khartke.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Bayou Bakery</a> <a href="" type="internal">BlackSalt Fish Market</a> <a href="" type="internal">Bourbon Steak</a> <a href="" type="internal">Dining Specials DC</a> <a href="" type="internal">Osteria Morini</a> <a href="" type="internal">Valentine's Day 2016</a></p>
| 6,452 |
|
<p>GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - A man has been found dead in his burning home in central North Carolina.</p>
<p>Greensboro Assistant Fire Chief Dwayne Church said in a news release that firefighters were called to a home around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Church says it took about two dozen firefighters about half an hour to control the fire.</p>
<p>Church said Friday the victim was 71-year-old Robert Graves Jr. of Greensboro.</p>
<p>Church said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. But he says it does not appear to be suspicious.</p>
<p>GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - A man has been found dead in his burning home in central North Carolina.</p>
<p>Greensboro Assistant Fire Chief Dwayne Church said in a news release that firefighters were called to a home around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Church says it took about two dozen firefighters about half an hour to control the fire.</p>
<p>Church said Friday the victim was 71-year-old Robert Graves Jr. of Greensboro.</p>
<p>Church said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. But he says it does not appear to be suspicious.</p>
|
Man found dead in house fire in North Carolina
| false |
https://apnews.com/835b2c06e0d54382b4665e88a8b2423a
|
2018-01-03
| 2least
|
Man found dead in house fire in North Carolina
<p>GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - A man has been found dead in his burning home in central North Carolina.</p>
<p>Greensboro Assistant Fire Chief Dwayne Church said in a news release that firefighters were called to a home around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Church says it took about two dozen firefighters about half an hour to control the fire.</p>
<p>Church said Friday the victim was 71-year-old Robert Graves Jr. of Greensboro.</p>
<p>Church said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. But he says it does not appear to be suspicious.</p>
<p>GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - A man has been found dead in his burning home in central North Carolina.</p>
<p>Greensboro Assistant Fire Chief Dwayne Church said in a news release that firefighters were called to a home around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Church says it took about two dozen firefighters about half an hour to control the fire.</p>
<p>Church said Friday the victim was 71-year-old Robert Graves Jr. of Greensboro.</p>
<p>Church said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. But he says it does not appear to be suspicious.</p>
| 6,453 |
<p>President Obama’s shocking May Day announcement that Osama bin Laden has been killed and his body captured promises to usher in a new era of U.S. foreign and domestic policies alike. But what will this portend in actual practice? The implications for the future are potentially staggering in their full import, and they turn initially on how this seminal event will undoubtedly be used to justify U.S. policies that have defined the recent past.</p>
<p>In his announcement, President Obama demonstrated how different he is in temperament (if not policy making) from his predecessor, George W. Bush. Coming eight years to the day after the infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech — and, coincidentally, falling on the 66th anniversary of the announcement of Hitler’s death — Obama’s rendering contained none of the misplaced bravado (“Bring It On”) or glorification of misery (“We Got Him!”) that defined the previous administration. Instead, the President spoke in measured terms about justice, courage, and American resolve in the face of grave challenges.</p>
<p>Still, despite his deliberate tone, Obama’s words are especially notable for their explicit vindication of the military operations of the past decade. Overtly citing the war in Afghanistan and the practices of the global intelligence apparatus as primary drivers of this potential closure event, the President has put his stamp of approval on the circuitous post-9/11 course of action that brought us here. Taking this further, the post-speech media spin implicitly extends his logic to validate tactics such as drone strikes and undeclared military incursions that have placed the U.S. in ethically murky waters while waging the War on Terror around the world.</p>
<p>Wearing his flag pin, President Obama invoked the legacy of Bush-era initiatives aimed at “winning” the war, and perhaps most poignantly, drew our focus back to the events of 9/11 as the impetus for this decade-long struggle that has now at least partly been brought to fruition. Yet Obama was equally clear that this is not the end of the conflict and that “the cause of securing our country is not complete,” reminding us that we must “remain vigilant at home and abroad” since “there’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us.”</p>
<p>Make no mistake, this announcement signals a clear intention to vindicate the decisions of the past decade and continue on a similar course going forward. As if to affirm this historical eventuality, the media’s immediate focus on the spontaneous demonstrations of patriotic fervor that have sprung up with echoes of “USA, USA” brings us right back to those fateful September days in 2001. The tenor of these public celebratory gatherings, and the content of the President’s announcement, convey a strong sentiment that the last decade’s wars have been worth it, and likewise that the extraordinary security measures here at home have been equally successful.</p>
<p>On some level, the death of a single individual is essentially being heralded as a justification for the deaths of at least hundreds of thousands (a figure largely comprised of civilians) in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. It remedies all legal and moral defects attendant to the use of “enhanced interrogations” and “extraordinary renditions.” It clears the ledgers on the trillions of dollars spent to undertake these efforts for nearly ten years. It squelches dissent on Patriot Act policies and the Homeland Security apparatus. And, most appreciably, it retroactively validates the Bush Administration’s open-ended waging of global warfare.</p>
<p>The reality of this retrospective confirmation will have serious implications for the near future. Undoubtedly, debates about the wisdom of military operations (wherever we are deploying them) will be tamped down, and attempts to rein in military spending will likewise be muted. Security at home will be amped up for a while in an abundance of caution over potential retaliatory attacks by al Qaeda, and (assuming none are forthcoming) soon after will slip back to the “new normal” we’ve been experiencing — with nary a complaint in the public discourse.</p>
<p>Significantly, President Obama will appear eminently presidential, and even his most ardent critics will deem him praiseworthy. Americans will unite in a renewed spirit, and the stalled economic recovery will receive a shot in the arm from this moment of national buoyancy. Just as the First Gulf War was said to have dispelled the military malaise of Vietnam, this episode will go a long way toward abating the war-weariness of the post-9/11 era. American exceptionalism will be reinvigorated both as a political mandate and a psychological phenomenon, as the world is reminded that the U.S. makes good on its threats and, in the end, keeps its promises.</p>
<p>People will celebrate this moment in many quarters, perhaps as they did to an extent on VE Day and VJ Day (yes, Americans cheered the use of atomic weapons on civilians in Japan and the carpet-bombing of Dresden as tools of “winning” World War II). In this case, we are not likely to be offered such a strong sense of closure; rather, this will be a boost to a flagging effort and a likely enabler of its aggressive continuance. Where will the next front be in this generational war? Who will be the next bogeyman, the “face of evil” that galvanizes American fears and determination alike? With all that is at stake — politically, economically, ideologically — the one thing we can be reasonably assured of is that the present paradigm will continue in full force.</p>
<p>I would very much like to report the opposite. By cutting off the head of al Qaeda, and with due regard to the pro-democracy surge of the Arab Spring, the era of perpetual warfare could be supplanted by a period of unprecedented peace. America might slowly draw down its military operations, and redirect vast resources to education and opportunity for oppressed peoples in the Middle East and here at home alike. President Obama may finally earn his Nobel Peace Prize, and concomitantly help move the country from the near-ruination of a war economy to the stable prosperity of a long-awaited peace dividend. Renewed American pride could obviate the need for ever-expanding security schemes and incursions into liberty, as people are again seen as “good.”</p>
<p>It could still happen this way, but it will take more than the death of one individual — no matter his iconic stature as evil incarnate — to somehow countermand the events and roll back the ethos of recent years. However it breaks in the days ahead, one thing is paradoxically certain: we will continue to find ourselves living in decidedly uncertain times.</p>
<p>Randall Amster, J.D., Ph.D., teaches Peace Studies at Prescott College and serves as the Executive Director of the Peace &amp; Justice Studies Association. His most recent books are the co-edited volume <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/144381329X/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Building Cultures of Peace: Transdisciplinary Voices of Hope and Action</a> (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009) and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1593322976/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Lost in Space: the Criminalization, Urbanization and Globalization of Homelessness</a>.</p>
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<p />
<p />
|
Obama Bags Osama
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2011/05/02/obama-bags-osama/
|
2011-05-02
| 4left
|
Obama Bags Osama
<p>President Obama’s shocking May Day announcement that Osama bin Laden has been killed and his body captured promises to usher in a new era of U.S. foreign and domestic policies alike. But what will this portend in actual practice? The implications for the future are potentially staggering in their full import, and they turn initially on how this seminal event will undoubtedly be used to justify U.S. policies that have defined the recent past.</p>
<p>In his announcement, President Obama demonstrated how different he is in temperament (if not policy making) from his predecessor, George W. Bush. Coming eight years to the day after the infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech — and, coincidentally, falling on the 66th anniversary of the announcement of Hitler’s death — Obama’s rendering contained none of the misplaced bravado (“Bring It On”) or glorification of misery (“We Got Him!”) that defined the previous administration. Instead, the President spoke in measured terms about justice, courage, and American resolve in the face of grave challenges.</p>
<p>Still, despite his deliberate tone, Obama’s words are especially notable for their explicit vindication of the military operations of the past decade. Overtly citing the war in Afghanistan and the practices of the global intelligence apparatus as primary drivers of this potential closure event, the President has put his stamp of approval on the circuitous post-9/11 course of action that brought us here. Taking this further, the post-speech media spin implicitly extends his logic to validate tactics such as drone strikes and undeclared military incursions that have placed the U.S. in ethically murky waters while waging the War on Terror around the world.</p>
<p>Wearing his flag pin, President Obama invoked the legacy of Bush-era initiatives aimed at “winning” the war, and perhaps most poignantly, drew our focus back to the events of 9/11 as the impetus for this decade-long struggle that has now at least partly been brought to fruition. Yet Obama was equally clear that this is not the end of the conflict and that “the cause of securing our country is not complete,” reminding us that we must “remain vigilant at home and abroad” since “there’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us.”</p>
<p>Make no mistake, this announcement signals a clear intention to vindicate the decisions of the past decade and continue on a similar course going forward. As if to affirm this historical eventuality, the media’s immediate focus on the spontaneous demonstrations of patriotic fervor that have sprung up with echoes of “USA, USA” brings us right back to those fateful September days in 2001. The tenor of these public celebratory gatherings, and the content of the President’s announcement, convey a strong sentiment that the last decade’s wars have been worth it, and likewise that the extraordinary security measures here at home have been equally successful.</p>
<p>On some level, the death of a single individual is essentially being heralded as a justification for the deaths of at least hundreds of thousands (a figure largely comprised of civilians) in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. It remedies all legal and moral defects attendant to the use of “enhanced interrogations” and “extraordinary renditions.” It clears the ledgers on the trillions of dollars spent to undertake these efforts for nearly ten years. It squelches dissent on Patriot Act policies and the Homeland Security apparatus. And, most appreciably, it retroactively validates the Bush Administration’s open-ended waging of global warfare.</p>
<p>The reality of this retrospective confirmation will have serious implications for the near future. Undoubtedly, debates about the wisdom of military operations (wherever we are deploying them) will be tamped down, and attempts to rein in military spending will likewise be muted. Security at home will be amped up for a while in an abundance of caution over potential retaliatory attacks by al Qaeda, and (assuming none are forthcoming) soon after will slip back to the “new normal” we’ve been experiencing — with nary a complaint in the public discourse.</p>
<p>Significantly, President Obama will appear eminently presidential, and even his most ardent critics will deem him praiseworthy. Americans will unite in a renewed spirit, and the stalled economic recovery will receive a shot in the arm from this moment of national buoyancy. Just as the First Gulf War was said to have dispelled the military malaise of Vietnam, this episode will go a long way toward abating the war-weariness of the post-9/11 era. American exceptionalism will be reinvigorated both as a political mandate and a psychological phenomenon, as the world is reminded that the U.S. makes good on its threats and, in the end, keeps its promises.</p>
<p>People will celebrate this moment in many quarters, perhaps as they did to an extent on VE Day and VJ Day (yes, Americans cheered the use of atomic weapons on civilians in Japan and the carpet-bombing of Dresden as tools of “winning” World War II). In this case, we are not likely to be offered such a strong sense of closure; rather, this will be a boost to a flagging effort and a likely enabler of its aggressive continuance. Where will the next front be in this generational war? Who will be the next bogeyman, the “face of evil” that galvanizes American fears and determination alike? With all that is at stake — politically, economically, ideologically — the one thing we can be reasonably assured of is that the present paradigm will continue in full force.</p>
<p>I would very much like to report the opposite. By cutting off the head of al Qaeda, and with due regard to the pro-democracy surge of the Arab Spring, the era of perpetual warfare could be supplanted by a period of unprecedented peace. America might slowly draw down its military operations, and redirect vast resources to education and opportunity for oppressed peoples in the Middle East and here at home alike. President Obama may finally earn his Nobel Peace Prize, and concomitantly help move the country from the near-ruination of a war economy to the stable prosperity of a long-awaited peace dividend. Renewed American pride could obviate the need for ever-expanding security schemes and incursions into liberty, as people are again seen as “good.”</p>
<p>It could still happen this way, but it will take more than the death of one individual — no matter his iconic stature as evil incarnate — to somehow countermand the events and roll back the ethos of recent years. However it breaks in the days ahead, one thing is paradoxically certain: we will continue to find ourselves living in decidedly uncertain times.</p>
<p>Randall Amster, J.D., Ph.D., teaches Peace Studies at Prescott College and serves as the Executive Director of the Peace &amp; Justice Studies Association. His most recent books are the co-edited volume <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/144381329X/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Building Cultures of Peace: Transdisciplinary Voices of Hope and Action</a> (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2009) and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1593322976/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Lost in Space: the Criminalization, Urbanization and Globalization of Homelessness</a>.</p>
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| 6,454 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>DALLAS — A Dallas hospital has live-tweeted a heart transplant operation, offering Internet users a front row seat.</p>
<p>KXAS-TV ( <a href="http://bit.ly/17KH6ph" type="external">http://bit.ly/17KH6ph</a> ) reports a medical team traded in a scalpel for a smartphone Monday to post Twitter updates of the surgery that occurred at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.</p>
<p>It was the first time the hospital says it has reported live updates of a heart transplant on a social media website.</p>
<p>The patient, whose name wasn’t released, agreed to let the hospital report on the surgery. Some tweets ranged from doctors preparing for the operation to waiting for the donor heart.</p>
<p>The hospital said the operation went as planned, adding the patient was resting Monday night in the intensive care unit.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Information from: KXAS-TV, <a href="http://www.nbcdfw.com" type="external">http://www.nbcdfw.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
|
Dallas hospital posts live tweets of heart transplant
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/542625/dallas-hospital-posts-live-tweets-of-heart-transplant.html
| 2least
|
Dallas hospital posts live tweets of heart transplant
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>DALLAS — A Dallas hospital has live-tweeted a heart transplant operation, offering Internet users a front row seat.</p>
<p>KXAS-TV ( <a href="http://bit.ly/17KH6ph" type="external">http://bit.ly/17KH6ph</a> ) reports a medical team traded in a scalpel for a smartphone Monday to post Twitter updates of the surgery that occurred at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas.</p>
<p>It was the first time the hospital says it has reported live updates of a heart transplant on a social media website.</p>
<p>The patient, whose name wasn’t released, agreed to let the hospital report on the surgery. Some tweets ranged from doctors preparing for the operation to waiting for the donor heart.</p>
<p>The hospital said the operation went as planned, adding the patient was resting Monday night in the intensive care unit.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Information from: KXAS-TV, <a href="http://www.nbcdfw.com" type="external">http://www.nbcdfw.com</a></p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
| 6,455 |
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<p>Paul Sancya/AP Photo</p>
<p />
<p>Decades from now, when the election of 2016 is distilled to its essence, what will that essence be? Many hoped the central lesson would be a shattered glass ceiling and a continuation of the Obama legacy. An expansion of rights and tolerance.</p>
<p>Instead, a small electoral majority chose a candidate who openly embraced a platform of bigotry, who slurred war heroes and mocked the disabled, who was accused of sexual assault, who said he’d roll back the protections of a free press, <a href="" type="internal">who was cheered on by white supremacists</a>, who said he’d upend our alliances and the world’s long-overdue climate deal, and who seemed ignorant and cavalier about the basics of safeguarding a nuclear arsenal.</p>
<p>There is no way to sugarcoat it. This election is a brutal affront to women, people of color, Jews and Muslims, and all who value kindness and tolerance. <a href="" type="internal">Paranoia and divisiveness</a>have won the day. If we feared that the lesson of the Trump campaign would give white nationalists and other political predators a road map for a <a href="" type="internal">lasting presence as a disruptive opposition</a>, we have instead handed them the keys to the Oval Office, and the nuclear codes.</p>
<p>In these last horrible months, there were moments we all crossed our fingers and hoped the Trump campaign’s ability to inflame bigotry might, ultimately, improve the health of the body politic. Maybe he represented a high fever that, once broken, would leave us more immune to old hatreds. Maybe, just as videos of police shootings shoved the most heinous forms of structural racism into the feeds of white America, so would the actions of Trump and his most virulent supporters cast a light on an ugliness that needed to be confronted to be overcome.</p>
<p>Except, it seems it was also far, far more pervasive than we could let ourselves imagine. With every chant of “build the wall,” with every racist tweet, with every “Trump that bitch” T-shirt, his supporters hardened—despite or because of the admonitions of the political, diplomatic, scientific, and economic establishment.</p>
<p>The next weeks and months and years will be spent analyzing how we got here. It will be a brutal accounting for every institution, and a painful airing of recriminations among families and friends.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if <a href="https://twitter.com/baratunde/status/774309618998734849" type="external">Baratunde Thurston was the first to coin this analogy</a>, but Trump’s campaign is best understood as a DDoS attack on democracy. Despite or perhaps because he is a thin-skinned, shallow narcissist, he instinctively understood weaknesses in our national firewall. He knew that with 16 primary opponents, each would happily support his attacks on the manhood and dignity of the others, until it was too late and the momentum was on his side.</p>
<p>He realized that his bombastic, bigoted statements would be heralded by some corners of the media, mocked by others, and given wall-to-wall coverage by all. Newsroom traditions of putting separate teams of reporters on each candidate also helped ensure that Hillary Clinton’s email scandals were given the same weight as the mountain of allegations against Trump.</p>
<p>And social media failed us most of all. Even as armies of Trump’s bigoted supporters—some real, some bots—started harassing reporters and civilians with racist and anti-Semitic images and general filth, Twitter twiddled its thumbs. Even as <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became-a-global-hub-for-pro-trump-misinfo?utm_term=.tmGJPmRn1#.ouBBn3Q6q" type="external">Macedonian teens exploited Facebook’s algorithms</a> by flooding the zone with fake news designed to appeal to Trump supporters (they were in it for the Google AdWords cash), Facebook, too, did nothing. The founder of Oculus went so far as to gleefully <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/22/palmer-luckey-the-facebook-billionaire-secretly-funding-trump-s-meme-machine.html" type="external">fund a “shitpost” factory to promote Trump.</a></p>
<p>Trump was aided by <a href="https://twitter.com/AP/status/796278632855588864" type="external">Vladimir Putin</a>. He was aided by the internal politics of the FBI, driven by, as we have seen with too many police forces, wagon-circling at best and authoritarian racism at worst. He deftly wove fears of the left together with fears of the right. He never ever, not once, offered us anything but fear. He made us—even those who fought valiantly—smaller by dragging us into his swamp of hate and depravity.</p>
<p>Acrimony has already started. The circular firing squads on the left will line up. The reasonable right—and yes, many did distinguish themselves by repudiating Trump—is left hanging. Those who didn’t vote, or who protest voted, or carped about what an imperfect candidate Clinton was will all come under fire. As will those who helped nominate her.</p>
<p>But I say to you: There is no time, no room, no space to do anything but push back against what, in large part, this will turn out to be: not just a protest vote by rural whites who feel left behind, but the coming out of a <a href="" type="internal">burgeoning white nationalist, authoritarian movement</a>.</p>
<p>Such movements rise on dividing us, and can only last so long as they do. My heart breaks to see my Twitter feed full of quotes like “I knew my country hated me, but I didn’t know how much,” or “I don’t recognize my country.” Parents everywhere fear the questions our children will ask: What will happen to my friends? What will happen to us? What did you do to stop this?</p>
<p>This is a dark hour, and to say otherwise would be a lie. It is—by orders of magnitude—the worst political outcome our country has faced in many generations. But let us not forget those who have pushed back already. The nonagenarian women—black and white—who struggled against infirmity and efforts to suppress their vote to get to the polls. All the Latinos and Asian Americans who registered for the first time to try to repel the hate too many white Americans voted for. The blacks who stood up for equality, as they always have. &#160;</p>
<p>Trump appealed to America’s worst impulses. Now it’s on the rest of us to show, to prove, that this is not all that America is. This is a time when we’re called on to do things we may not have done before. To face down bigotry and hate, and to reach beyond our Facebook feeds in trying to do so.</p>
<p>As for those of us at Mother Jones, we will continue to do what we always strive to do: shine light into dark corners, expose abuses of power, call out cronyism and corruption, and fight like hell for the living. &#160;</p>
<p>We’ve got our work cut out for us. All of us.</p>
<p>This essay has been revised and expanded for the January/February 2016 issue of the magazine, which can be found <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p>
<p />
|
Don’t Mourn, Fight Like Hell
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/election-hate-trump-president-racism/
|
2016-11-09
| 4left
|
Don’t Mourn, Fight Like Hell
<p>Paul Sancya/AP Photo</p>
<p />
<p>Decades from now, when the election of 2016 is distilled to its essence, what will that essence be? Many hoped the central lesson would be a shattered glass ceiling and a continuation of the Obama legacy. An expansion of rights and tolerance.</p>
<p>Instead, a small electoral majority chose a candidate who openly embraced a platform of bigotry, who slurred war heroes and mocked the disabled, who was accused of sexual assault, who said he’d roll back the protections of a free press, <a href="" type="internal">who was cheered on by white supremacists</a>, who said he’d upend our alliances and the world’s long-overdue climate deal, and who seemed ignorant and cavalier about the basics of safeguarding a nuclear arsenal.</p>
<p>There is no way to sugarcoat it. This election is a brutal affront to women, people of color, Jews and Muslims, and all who value kindness and tolerance. <a href="" type="internal">Paranoia and divisiveness</a>have won the day. If we feared that the lesson of the Trump campaign would give white nationalists and other political predators a road map for a <a href="" type="internal">lasting presence as a disruptive opposition</a>, we have instead handed them the keys to the Oval Office, and the nuclear codes.</p>
<p>In these last horrible months, there were moments we all crossed our fingers and hoped the Trump campaign’s ability to inflame bigotry might, ultimately, improve the health of the body politic. Maybe he represented a high fever that, once broken, would leave us more immune to old hatreds. Maybe, just as videos of police shootings shoved the most heinous forms of structural racism into the feeds of white America, so would the actions of Trump and his most virulent supporters cast a light on an ugliness that needed to be confronted to be overcome.</p>
<p>Except, it seems it was also far, far more pervasive than we could let ourselves imagine. With every chant of “build the wall,” with every racist tweet, with every “Trump that bitch” T-shirt, his supporters hardened—despite or because of the admonitions of the political, diplomatic, scientific, and economic establishment.</p>
<p>The next weeks and months and years will be spent analyzing how we got here. It will be a brutal accounting for every institution, and a painful airing of recriminations among families and friends.</p>
<p>I’m not sure if <a href="https://twitter.com/baratunde/status/774309618998734849" type="external">Baratunde Thurston was the first to coin this analogy</a>, but Trump’s campaign is best understood as a DDoS attack on democracy. Despite or perhaps because he is a thin-skinned, shallow narcissist, he instinctively understood weaknesses in our national firewall. He knew that with 16 primary opponents, each would happily support his attacks on the manhood and dignity of the others, until it was too late and the momentum was on his side.</p>
<p>He realized that his bombastic, bigoted statements would be heralded by some corners of the media, mocked by others, and given wall-to-wall coverage by all. Newsroom traditions of putting separate teams of reporters on each candidate also helped ensure that Hillary Clinton’s email scandals were given the same weight as the mountain of allegations against Trump.</p>
<p>And social media failed us most of all. Even as armies of Trump’s bigoted supporters—some real, some bots—started harassing reporters and civilians with racist and anti-Semitic images and general filth, Twitter twiddled its thumbs. Even as <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/craigsilverman/how-macedonia-became-a-global-hub-for-pro-trump-misinfo?utm_term=.tmGJPmRn1#.ouBBn3Q6q" type="external">Macedonian teens exploited Facebook’s algorithms</a> by flooding the zone with fake news designed to appeal to Trump supporters (they were in it for the Google AdWords cash), Facebook, too, did nothing. The founder of Oculus went so far as to gleefully <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/09/22/palmer-luckey-the-facebook-billionaire-secretly-funding-trump-s-meme-machine.html" type="external">fund a “shitpost” factory to promote Trump.</a></p>
<p>Trump was aided by <a href="https://twitter.com/AP/status/796278632855588864" type="external">Vladimir Putin</a>. He was aided by the internal politics of the FBI, driven by, as we have seen with too many police forces, wagon-circling at best and authoritarian racism at worst. He deftly wove fears of the left together with fears of the right. He never ever, not once, offered us anything but fear. He made us—even those who fought valiantly—smaller by dragging us into his swamp of hate and depravity.</p>
<p>Acrimony has already started. The circular firing squads on the left will line up. The reasonable right—and yes, many did distinguish themselves by repudiating Trump—is left hanging. Those who didn’t vote, or who protest voted, or carped about what an imperfect candidate Clinton was will all come under fire. As will those who helped nominate her.</p>
<p>But I say to you: There is no time, no room, no space to do anything but push back against what, in large part, this will turn out to be: not just a protest vote by rural whites who feel left behind, but the coming out of a <a href="" type="internal">burgeoning white nationalist, authoritarian movement</a>.</p>
<p>Such movements rise on dividing us, and can only last so long as they do. My heart breaks to see my Twitter feed full of quotes like “I knew my country hated me, but I didn’t know how much,” or “I don’t recognize my country.” Parents everywhere fear the questions our children will ask: What will happen to my friends? What will happen to us? What did you do to stop this?</p>
<p>This is a dark hour, and to say otherwise would be a lie. It is—by orders of magnitude—the worst political outcome our country has faced in many generations. But let us not forget those who have pushed back already. The nonagenarian women—black and white—who struggled against infirmity and efforts to suppress their vote to get to the polls. All the Latinos and Asian Americans who registered for the first time to try to repel the hate too many white Americans voted for. The blacks who stood up for equality, as they always have. &#160;</p>
<p>Trump appealed to America’s worst impulses. Now it’s on the rest of us to show, to prove, that this is not all that America is. This is a time when we’re called on to do things we may not have done before. To face down bigotry and hate, and to reach beyond our Facebook feeds in trying to do so.</p>
<p>As for those of us at Mother Jones, we will continue to do what we always strive to do: shine light into dark corners, expose abuses of power, call out cronyism and corruption, and fight like hell for the living. &#160;</p>
<p>We’ve got our work cut out for us. All of us.</p>
<p>This essay has been revised and expanded for the January/February 2016 issue of the magazine, which can be found <a href="" type="internal">here</a>.</p>
<p />
| 6,456 |
<p>April 22 is Earth Day, the day when all the greenies and environmentalist wackos come out of the closet and preach "sustainability" as they drive gas-guzzling automobiles and take advantage of dead trees by using pieces of paper to write lame hashtags and hollow slogans. Despite the leftist propaganda, Earth Day is not all sunshine and flowers and has a rather dark history. Here are five things you didn't know about Earth Day.</p>
<p>1. One of the co-founders murdered and composted his girlfriend. Ira Einhorn, according to <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42711922/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/earth-day-co-founder-killed-composted-girlfriend/#.VxqTVSMrLfY" type="external">NBC News</a>, murdered his girlfriend, Helen "Holly" Maddux, after she broke up with him after five years. Police eventually discovered "Maddux's beaten and partially mummified body" that was stuffed with Styrofoam, which The Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro has pointed out is "environmentally unfriendly."</p>
<p>"After fleeing the United States and spending 23 years abroad, France finally extradited Einhorn," Shapiro <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2011/04/27/the_true_and_ugly_story_of_earth_day" type="external">wrote</a> in a 2011 column. "Upon his return, Einhorn explained that the CIA had framed him after discovering that Einhorn had uncovered their paranormal military weaponry plans."o0</p>
<p>Einhorn is currently serving a life sentence in prison.</p>
<p>Leaders in the Earth Day movement have sought to distance themselves from Einhorn, but they can't ignore the fact that Einhorn himself has claimed to one of the founders of Earth Day and was master of ceremonies in the first ever Earth Day event. Before that, Einhorn was a well-known as a pacifist (ironically) and a charismatic, outspoken "ecological guru," according to NBC News.</p>
<p>2. Earth Day has roots in the eugenics movement. The eugenics movement, as <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/forums/genetics-generation/america-s-hidden-history-the-eugenics-movement-123919444" type="external">Nature.com</a> describes it, championed the idea of selective breeding to pass on superior traits through forced sterilization. This movement was the precursor to the evil butchery of the Nazis, which eventually caused the eugenics movement to become discredited, but a key aspect of this movement lives on in the environmentalist wacko movement: population control.</p>
<p>Population control became a cause célèbre for the environmentalist movement when Earth Day co-founder Paul Ehrlich published his book The Population Bomb, where he equivalenced a large population of people to being a cancer because otherwise there would be mass starvation and wars over natural resources.</p>
<p>"A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells; the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people…We must shift our efforts from treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer," <a href="http://www.briansussman.com/environment/earth-days-real-history/" type="external">wrote</a> Ehrlich. "The operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions."</p>
<p>Ehrlich took a page from the eugenics movement by advocating for forced sterilizations of fathers of three or more in India as well as taxes on diapers and cribs, writing that <a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-01/why-paul-ehrlich-s-population-bomb-finally-bombed" type="external">"coercion is a good cause."</a></p>
<p>On the other hand, economist Julian Simon argued the exact opposite: more population is actually beneficial.</p>
<p>"Whatever the rate of population growth is, historically it has been that the food supply increases at least as fast, if not faster," Simon told Wired magazine in 1997.</p>
<p>Simon and Ehrlich made a bet in 1980: if Ehrlich was correct, then commodities price would drastically increase with population growth, as a dearth of resources would naturally lead to less supply. However, as population has increased from 2 billion to 7 billion over the past 100 years, the commodities prices have actually decreased, according to <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/06/04/what-the-new-york-times-didnt-learn-from-paul-ehrlichs-population-bomb-fizzle/" type="external">The Federalist</a>. This is because, as economist Phillip Verlerger once <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/24/seven-big-failed-environmentalist-predictions/" type="external">said</a>, "Technology moves so quickly today that any looming resource constraint will be nothing more than a blip. We adjust."</p>
<p>Simon was right, Ehrlich was not.</p>
<p>Additionally, there appears to be a trend of <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/24/seven-big-failed-environmentalist-predictions/" type="external">underpopulation</a> rather than overpopulation today:</p>
<p>Japan faces a demographic death spiral in which declining population and fewer workers leads to economic stagnation, which discourages people from having kids, which makes the problem worse. After decades of a “one child” policy, China’s working age population is also starting to decline, and it is conventional wisdom that the country is going to “grow old before it grows rich.”</p>
<p>None of the facts and evidence deter the environmentalist, as they are hell-bent on spreading the population myth, via <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/04/22/the-dark-side-of-earth-day/2/" type="external">The Daily Caller</a>:</p>
<p>Earth First co-founder and former Sierra Club board member David Foreman has clearly stated his belief that “the optimum [human] population of Earth is zero,” and that “phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental.” Sea Shepherd Conservation Society director and Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson has informed us that he “reject[s] the idea that humans are superior to other life forms … Man is just an ape with an overly developed sense of superiority.” And there’s always famed animal rights activist Ingrid Newkirk, who has simply stated that “Mankind is the biggest blight on the face of the earth.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this kind of pervasive fear-mongering has deadly consequences. <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/220942/environmentalist-eugenics-left-daniel-greenfield" type="external">FrontPageMag</a> has a list of Population, Health and Environment (PHE) initiatives that have used population control as a guise of helping the environment:</p>
<p>This fanatical ideology that sacrifices human life for the religion of environmentalism is rooted one of the co-founders of Earth Day.</p>
<p>3. Earth Day is also the same day as Vladimir Lenin's birthday. This is not a coincidence. Marxism has been advanced under the guise of environmentalism for years. According to radio host and meteorologist <a href="http://www.briansussman.com/environment/earth-days-real-history/" type="external">Brian Sussman</a>, then-Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-WS), Stanford body president Denis Hayes and Ehrlich decided to hold the first Earth Day rally on Lenin's birthday after "careful consideration":</p>
<p>Environmentalists have always admired Lenin. He was the first disciple of Karl Marx to capture control of a country, and the opening act of his seven-year reign commenced with the abolition of all private property—a Marxist priority. Despite overseeing a bloody civil war, a devastated economy and a citizenry without hope, Lenin made it a priority to implement his signature decree, “On Land.” In it he declared that all forests, waters, and minerals to be the exclusive property of the state, and he demanded these resources be protected from use by the public and private enterprise. Selling timber or firewood, mining minerals, or diverting water for farming was strictly prohibited.</p>
<p>Nowhere is this more evident than in the <a href="" type="internal">degrowth movement</a>, which describes themselves thus:</p>
<p>\The primacy of efficiency will be substituted by a focus on sufficiency, and innovation will no longer focus on technology for technology’s sake but will concentrate on new social and technical arrangements that will enable us to live convivially and frugally. Degrowth does not only challenge the centrality of GDP as an overarching policy objective but proposes a framework for transformation to a lower and sustainable level of production and consumption, a shrinking of the economic system to leave more space for human cooperation and ecosystems.</p>
<p>Obama himself has championed the de-growth movement, as back in 2008 he told the <a href="" type="internal">San Francisco Chronicle</a>: "You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal . . . under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket" and that "if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all the greenhouse gas that’s being emitted."</p>
<p>It was a precursor to Obama's Environment Protection Agency waging a war on coal through smothering regulation, and last week the largest coal company in America filed for bankruptcy as a consequence of the EPA regulations.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this eco-Marxism has been infecting the public school system, as evidenced by these students at the <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2016/04/22/earth-day-teaches-kids-all-the-wrong-lessons/" type="external">White House Science Fair</a>:</p>
<p>“These Kids are In Charge: California Students Build Solar-Powered Charging Station for Electric Vehicles”</p>
<p>“Missouri Girl Scouts Develop Recycling Program and Discover a New Glue—Now Seeking Two Patents”</p>
<p>“Florida Teen Develops Novel Solution to Pen Pal’s Power Challenge” (The novel solution is saddling poor kids in Africa with what sounds like prohibitively expensive energy ideas that have to do with the ocean.)</p>
<p>“Idaho Teen Looks to Prehistoric Past to Understand Climate Challenges”</p>
<p>“Las Vegas Middle School Team Takes on Sustainable City Design”</p>
<p>Even teens working on a perfectly cool-sounding robot projects feel compelled to load up their idea with fustian eco-talk. One Los Angeles duo is now partnering up with “a program focused on advancing technology and constructing environmentally-friendly schools, built from recycled bottles, for children in Guatemala.”</p>
<p>This all under the pretense that there's an energy crisis, which of course is a <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2016/04/22/happy-earth-day-company-once-considered-poster-child-of-clean-energy-files-for-bankruptcy-n2152399" type="external">myth</a>. But unless this narrative is countered, the degrowth movement will continue to succeed.</p>
<p>4. Not only have these environmentalists been consistently wrong, they're massive hypocrites too. <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/24/seven-big-failed-environmentalist-predictions/" type="external">The Federalist</a> has a list of seven apocalyptic predictions from environmentalists that never came true:</p>
<p>Yet, many of the environmentalist activists who turn out for Earth Day rallies and events prey on these phony issues, yet don't practice what they preach. <a href="http://www.redstate.com/absentee/2016/04/21/7-idiotic-hypocritical-things-youll-see-earth-day-tomorrow-guaranteed/" type="external">RedState</a> has a list that highlight some of these activists' hypocritical behaviors:</p>
<p>Environmentalists celebrating Earth Day are not to be taken seriously.</p>
<p>5. Nobody cares about Earth Day. <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/apr/22/earth-day-poll-shows-fewer-americans-identify-envi/" type="external">Gallup</a> releases a poll every year on Earth Day about environmentalism, and their most recent one shows that only 42 percent of Americans consider themselves to be environmentalists, a significant decline from 78 percent in 1991. The breakdown politically was 27 percent of Republicans, 56 percent of Democrats, and 39 percent of Independents who consider themselves to be environmentalists. Also, global warming was the least important issue of the five environmental issues in the poll, as only 37 percent truly worry about it.</p>
<p>To sum it up, environmentalists celebrating Earth Day are tweeting useless hashtags on paper from killed trees from their fossil-fuel driven laptops and smartphones to promote phony issues that advance Marxism during a holiday that was co-founded by a murderer and a population control fearmongerer, which is why in the end, nobody cares about Earth Day.</p>
|
5 Things You Didn’t Know About Earth Day
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/5192/5-things-you-didnt-know-about-earth-day-aaron-bandler
|
2016-04-22
| 0right
|
5 Things You Didn’t Know About Earth Day
<p>April 22 is Earth Day, the day when all the greenies and environmentalist wackos come out of the closet and preach "sustainability" as they drive gas-guzzling automobiles and take advantage of dead trees by using pieces of paper to write lame hashtags and hollow slogans. Despite the leftist propaganda, Earth Day is not all sunshine and flowers and has a rather dark history. Here are five things you didn't know about Earth Day.</p>
<p>1. One of the co-founders murdered and composted his girlfriend. Ira Einhorn, according to <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42711922/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/earth-day-co-founder-killed-composted-girlfriend/#.VxqTVSMrLfY" type="external">NBC News</a>, murdered his girlfriend, Helen "Holly" Maddux, after she broke up with him after five years. Police eventually discovered "Maddux's beaten and partially mummified body" that was stuffed with Styrofoam, which The Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro has pointed out is "environmentally unfriendly."</p>
<p>"After fleeing the United States and spending 23 years abroad, France finally extradited Einhorn," Shapiro <a href="http://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2011/04/27/the_true_and_ugly_story_of_earth_day" type="external">wrote</a> in a 2011 column. "Upon his return, Einhorn explained that the CIA had framed him after discovering that Einhorn had uncovered their paranormal military weaponry plans."o0</p>
<p>Einhorn is currently serving a life sentence in prison.</p>
<p>Leaders in the Earth Day movement have sought to distance themselves from Einhorn, but they can't ignore the fact that Einhorn himself has claimed to one of the founders of Earth Day and was master of ceremonies in the first ever Earth Day event. Before that, Einhorn was a well-known as a pacifist (ironically) and a charismatic, outspoken "ecological guru," according to NBC News.</p>
<p>2. Earth Day has roots in the eugenics movement. The eugenics movement, as <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/forums/genetics-generation/america-s-hidden-history-the-eugenics-movement-123919444" type="external">Nature.com</a> describes it, championed the idea of selective breeding to pass on superior traits through forced sterilization. This movement was the precursor to the evil butchery of the Nazis, which eventually caused the eugenics movement to become discredited, but a key aspect of this movement lives on in the environmentalist wacko movement: population control.</p>
<p>Population control became a cause célèbre for the environmentalist movement when Earth Day co-founder Paul Ehrlich published his book The Population Bomb, where he equivalenced a large population of people to being a cancer because otherwise there would be mass starvation and wars over natural resources.</p>
<p>"A cancer is an uncontrolled multiplication of cells; the population explosion is an uncontrolled multiplication of people…We must shift our efforts from treatment of the symptoms to the cutting out of the cancer," <a href="http://www.briansussman.com/environment/earth-days-real-history/" type="external">wrote</a> Ehrlich. "The operation will demand many apparently brutal and heartless decisions."</p>
<p>Ehrlich took a page from the eugenics movement by advocating for forced sterilizations of fathers of three or more in India as well as taxes on diapers and cribs, writing that <a href="http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-06-01/why-paul-ehrlich-s-population-bomb-finally-bombed" type="external">"coercion is a good cause."</a></p>
<p>On the other hand, economist Julian Simon argued the exact opposite: more population is actually beneficial.</p>
<p>"Whatever the rate of population growth is, historically it has been that the food supply increases at least as fast, if not faster," Simon told Wired magazine in 1997.</p>
<p>Simon and Ehrlich made a bet in 1980: if Ehrlich was correct, then commodities price would drastically increase with population growth, as a dearth of resources would naturally lead to less supply. However, as population has increased from 2 billion to 7 billion over the past 100 years, the commodities prices have actually decreased, according to <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/06/04/what-the-new-york-times-didnt-learn-from-paul-ehrlichs-population-bomb-fizzle/" type="external">The Federalist</a>. This is because, as economist Phillip Verlerger once <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/24/seven-big-failed-environmentalist-predictions/" type="external">said</a>, "Technology moves so quickly today that any looming resource constraint will be nothing more than a blip. We adjust."</p>
<p>Simon was right, Ehrlich was not.</p>
<p>Additionally, there appears to be a trend of <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/24/seven-big-failed-environmentalist-predictions/" type="external">underpopulation</a> rather than overpopulation today:</p>
<p>Japan faces a demographic death spiral in which declining population and fewer workers leads to economic stagnation, which discourages people from having kids, which makes the problem worse. After decades of a “one child” policy, China’s working age population is also starting to decline, and it is conventional wisdom that the country is going to “grow old before it grows rich.”</p>
<p>None of the facts and evidence deter the environmentalist, as they are hell-bent on spreading the population myth, via <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2015/04/22/the-dark-side-of-earth-day/2/" type="external">The Daily Caller</a>:</p>
<p>Earth First co-founder and former Sierra Club board member David Foreman has clearly stated his belief that “the optimum [human] population of Earth is zero,” and that “phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental.” Sea Shepherd Conservation Society director and Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson has informed us that he “reject[s] the idea that humans are superior to other life forms … Man is just an ape with an overly developed sense of superiority.” And there’s always famed animal rights activist Ingrid Newkirk, who has simply stated that “Mankind is the biggest blight on the face of the earth.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this kind of pervasive fear-mongering has deadly consequences. <a href="http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/220942/environmentalist-eugenics-left-daniel-greenfield" type="external">FrontPageMag</a> has a list of Population, Health and Environment (PHE) initiatives that have used population control as a guise of helping the environment:</p>
<p>This fanatical ideology that sacrifices human life for the religion of environmentalism is rooted one of the co-founders of Earth Day.</p>
<p>3. Earth Day is also the same day as Vladimir Lenin's birthday. This is not a coincidence. Marxism has been advanced under the guise of environmentalism for years. According to radio host and meteorologist <a href="http://www.briansussman.com/environment/earth-days-real-history/" type="external">Brian Sussman</a>, then-Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D-WS), Stanford body president Denis Hayes and Ehrlich decided to hold the first Earth Day rally on Lenin's birthday after "careful consideration":</p>
<p>Environmentalists have always admired Lenin. He was the first disciple of Karl Marx to capture control of a country, and the opening act of his seven-year reign commenced with the abolition of all private property—a Marxist priority. Despite overseeing a bloody civil war, a devastated economy and a citizenry without hope, Lenin made it a priority to implement his signature decree, “On Land.” In it he declared that all forests, waters, and minerals to be the exclusive property of the state, and he demanded these resources be protected from use by the public and private enterprise. Selling timber or firewood, mining minerals, or diverting water for farming was strictly prohibited.</p>
<p>Nowhere is this more evident than in the <a href="" type="internal">degrowth movement</a>, which describes themselves thus:</p>
<p>\The primacy of efficiency will be substituted by a focus on sufficiency, and innovation will no longer focus on technology for technology’s sake but will concentrate on new social and technical arrangements that will enable us to live convivially and frugally. Degrowth does not only challenge the centrality of GDP as an overarching policy objective but proposes a framework for transformation to a lower and sustainable level of production and consumption, a shrinking of the economic system to leave more space for human cooperation and ecosystems.</p>
<p>Obama himself has championed the de-growth movement, as back in 2008 he told the <a href="" type="internal">San Francisco Chronicle</a>: "You know, when I was asked earlier about the issue of coal . . . under my plan of a cap and trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket" and that "if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can. It’s just that it will bankrupt them because they’re going to be charged a huge sum for all the greenhouse gas that’s being emitted."</p>
<p>It was a precursor to Obama's Environment Protection Agency waging a war on coal through smothering regulation, and last week the largest coal company in America filed for bankruptcy as a consequence of the EPA regulations.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this eco-Marxism has been infecting the public school system, as evidenced by these students at the <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2016/04/22/earth-day-teaches-kids-all-the-wrong-lessons/" type="external">White House Science Fair</a>:</p>
<p>“These Kids are In Charge: California Students Build Solar-Powered Charging Station for Electric Vehicles”</p>
<p>“Missouri Girl Scouts Develop Recycling Program and Discover a New Glue—Now Seeking Two Patents”</p>
<p>“Florida Teen Develops Novel Solution to Pen Pal’s Power Challenge” (The novel solution is saddling poor kids in Africa with what sounds like prohibitively expensive energy ideas that have to do with the ocean.)</p>
<p>“Idaho Teen Looks to Prehistoric Past to Understand Climate Challenges”</p>
<p>“Las Vegas Middle School Team Takes on Sustainable City Design”</p>
<p>Even teens working on a perfectly cool-sounding robot projects feel compelled to load up their idea with fustian eco-talk. One Los Angeles duo is now partnering up with “a program focused on advancing technology and constructing environmentally-friendly schools, built from recycled bottles, for children in Guatemala.”</p>
<p>This all under the pretense that there's an energy crisis, which of course is a <a href="http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2016/04/22/happy-earth-day-company-once-considered-poster-child-of-clean-energy-files-for-bankruptcy-n2152399" type="external">myth</a>. But unless this narrative is countered, the degrowth movement will continue to succeed.</p>
<p>4. Not only have these environmentalists been consistently wrong, they're massive hypocrites too. <a href="http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/24/seven-big-failed-environmentalist-predictions/" type="external">The Federalist</a> has a list of seven apocalyptic predictions from environmentalists that never came true:</p>
<p>Yet, many of the environmentalist activists who turn out for Earth Day rallies and events prey on these phony issues, yet don't practice what they preach. <a href="http://www.redstate.com/absentee/2016/04/21/7-idiotic-hypocritical-things-youll-see-earth-day-tomorrow-guaranteed/" type="external">RedState</a> has a list that highlight some of these activists' hypocritical behaviors:</p>
<p>Environmentalists celebrating Earth Day are not to be taken seriously.</p>
<p>5. Nobody cares about Earth Day. <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/apr/22/earth-day-poll-shows-fewer-americans-identify-envi/" type="external">Gallup</a> releases a poll every year on Earth Day about environmentalism, and their most recent one shows that only 42 percent of Americans consider themselves to be environmentalists, a significant decline from 78 percent in 1991. The breakdown politically was 27 percent of Republicans, 56 percent of Democrats, and 39 percent of Independents who consider themselves to be environmentalists. Also, global warming was the least important issue of the five environmental issues in the poll, as only 37 percent truly worry about it.</p>
<p>To sum it up, environmentalists celebrating Earth Day are tweeting useless hashtags on paper from killed trees from their fossil-fuel driven laptops and smartphones to promote phony issues that advance Marxism during a holiday that was co-founded by a murderer and a population control fearmongerer, which is why in the end, nobody cares about Earth Day.</p>
| 6,457 |
<p />
<p>Global shares were mostly lower Monday amid worries about Britain's exit from the European Union and a downgrade of Italy's credit rating. Takata's shares fell in Tokyo after the air bag maker agreed to a guilty plea in the U.S. over massive recalls.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 slipped 0.8 percent in early trading to 4,883.49, Germany's DAX fell 0.7 percent to 11,550.77, and Britain's FTSE 100 inched down nearly 0.1 percent in early trading to 7,333.23. U.S. shares were also set to drift lower with Dow futures slipping nearly 0.3 percent at 19,783.00. S&amp;P 500 futures were also down 0.3 percent at 2,265,60.</p>
<p>BREXIT WORRIES: British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to deliver a speech outlining her vision of Britain's post-EU future, and market players are worried what she says may indicate a "hard" approach to the nation's exit. Her office has said she will call for a "truly global Britain" that is more open to the world when she lays out plans for negotiations with the European Union.</p>
<p>ITALY: A downgrade Friday by DBRS Ratings of Italy's sovereign credit rating was also casting a shadow. DBRS cited political uncertainties and weakness in Italy's banking system as renewed concerns given Italy's slow growth and high public debt.</p>
<p>TAKATA'S TUMBLE: Japanese air bag maker Takata Corp.'s stock suffered after the company agreed in the U.S. last week to a guilty plea and a $1 billion fine for concealing a deadly defect in millions of air bags. Takata shares finished down 10.1 percent. Three former Takata executives were also indicted. Automakers have recalled 42 million cars equipped with 69 million Takata air bag inflators in the U.S., the largest automotive recall in U.S. history.</p>
<p>ASIA'S DAY: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1.0 percent to 19,095.24. Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 added 0.5 percent to 5,748.20. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.6 percent at 2,064.17. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 1.0 percent to 22,718.15, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.3 percent to 3,103.43. Shares in Southeast Asia were also mostly lower.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>THE QUOTE: "Asian markets are facing headwinds from rising political uncertainty in the West, which gave investors good reasons to take profits," said Margaret Yang Yan, market analyst at CMC Markets Singapore.</p>
<p>ENERGY: Benchmark crude fell 8 cents to $52.29 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 1.2 percent Friday. Brent crude, which is used to price oils sold internationally, lost 9 cents to $55.36 a barrel in London.</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 114.24 yen from 114.58 yen. The euro fell to $1.0588 from $1.0643.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama</p>
<p>Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/yuri-kageyama</p>
|
Global shares mostly lower amid worries over Brexit, Italy
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/16/global-shares-mostly-lower-amid-worries-over-brexit-italy.html
|
2017-01-17
| 0right
|
Global shares mostly lower amid worries over Brexit, Italy
<p />
<p>Global shares were mostly lower Monday amid worries about Britain's exit from the European Union and a downgrade of Italy's credit rating. Takata's shares fell in Tokyo after the air bag maker agreed to a guilty plea in the U.S. over massive recalls.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>KEEPING SCORE: France's CAC 40 slipped 0.8 percent in early trading to 4,883.49, Germany's DAX fell 0.7 percent to 11,550.77, and Britain's FTSE 100 inched down nearly 0.1 percent in early trading to 7,333.23. U.S. shares were also set to drift lower with Dow futures slipping nearly 0.3 percent at 19,783.00. S&amp;P 500 futures were also down 0.3 percent at 2,265,60.</p>
<p>BREXIT WORRIES: British Prime Minister Theresa May is set to deliver a speech outlining her vision of Britain's post-EU future, and market players are worried what she says may indicate a "hard" approach to the nation's exit. Her office has said she will call for a "truly global Britain" that is more open to the world when she lays out plans for negotiations with the European Union.</p>
<p>ITALY: A downgrade Friday by DBRS Ratings of Italy's sovereign credit rating was also casting a shadow. DBRS cited political uncertainties and weakness in Italy's banking system as renewed concerns given Italy's slow growth and high public debt.</p>
<p>TAKATA'S TUMBLE: Japanese air bag maker Takata Corp.'s stock suffered after the company agreed in the U.S. last week to a guilty plea and a $1 billion fine for concealing a deadly defect in millions of air bags. Takata shares finished down 10.1 percent. Three former Takata executives were also indicted. Automakers have recalled 42 million cars equipped with 69 million Takata air bag inflators in the U.S., the largest automotive recall in U.S. history.</p>
<p>ASIA'S DAY: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1.0 percent to 19,095.24. Australia's S&amp;P/ASX 200 added 0.5 percent to 5,748.20. South Korea's Kospi lost 0.6 percent at 2,064.17. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 1.0 percent to 22,718.15, while the Shanghai Composite dropped 0.3 percent to 3,103.43. Shares in Southeast Asia were also mostly lower.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>THE QUOTE: "Asian markets are facing headwinds from rising political uncertainty in the West, which gave investors good reasons to take profits," said Margaret Yang Yan, market analyst at CMC Markets Singapore.</p>
<p>ENERGY: Benchmark crude fell 8 cents to $52.29 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 1.2 percent Friday. Brent crude, which is used to price oils sold internationally, lost 9 cents to $55.36 a barrel in London.</p>
<p>CURRENCIES: The dollar fell to 114.24 yen from 114.58 yen. The euro fell to $1.0588 from $1.0643.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at https://twitter.com/yurikageyama</p>
<p>Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/yuri-kageyama</p>
| 6,458 |
<p />
<p>The Foley scandal appears to be opening a deep split in the Republican base. Bush so far defends Hastert, and is trying to tie the Democrats to the scandal. But the leaders of the New Right coalition which more than any other group is responsible for the right wing Republican victories over the last quarter century, are flat out demanding Hastert quit as Speaker. Two of the original New Right leaders, have come down hard against Hastert. Richard A. Viguerie, the direct mail whiz who built up the conservative juggernaut, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-foleypol4oct04,0,1374157.story?coll=la-home-headlines" type="external">told</a> the Los Angeles Times Hastert and the leadership were not aggressive enough in getting to the bottom of the emails when they first heard about them last year. Just warning Foley wasn’t good enough and was “only the most recent example of Republican House leaders doing whatever it takes to hold onto power.”</p>
<p>Paul M. Weyrich, another founder of the New Right, the man who began the Heritage Foundation and was co-founder of the Moral Majority, said he too couldn’t understand why the leadership hadn’t got to the bottom of the mess when they learned of the first emails.”That’s the real question, and that’s what has the movement people very angry,” he told the Times. Weyerich tries to get the Arlington Group, made up of conservative groups holding differing views, to demand the resignation of Hastert and Majority Leader Boehner and anyone else involved in handling the Foley situation. But the executive committee backed away from this stiff version, and the final document did not directluy criticize House leaders or call for anyone to quit.</p>
<p>All in all, Republican House members are bitterly angry at their leadership. Bob Novak <a href="http://www.humanevents.com/evansnovak.php?id=17379#3" type="external">writes</a> today, “The virtually sure loss of one Florida seat following the scandal surrounding Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and the possibility of a devastating ripple effect pointed to dysfunctional House leadership where the principals do not effectively communicate with each other. The anger by rank-and-file Republican House members over the incompetence of their leaders is palpable.”</p>
<p>But the Christian Right, another leg of the Bush base, is weirdly silent. James Dobson, perhaps the most important figure on the religious right and an ardent supporter of the President, issued a <a href="http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0042199.cfm" type="external">mild statement</a>:</p>
<p>Focus on the Family Action weighed in on the controversy surrounding former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who was forced to resign last week after sexually explicit e-mails between him and a congressional page were made public.</p>
<p>The ensuing scandal has led to calls for the resignation of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, on the insinuation that he didn’t address Foley’s behavior quickly or proactively enough.</p>
<p>Tom Minnery, Focus Action’s senior vice president of government and public policy, said Foley “should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” if he is guilty of preying on boys.</p>
<p>But he added the preoccupation with the political aspects of the incident were unfortunate.</p>
<p>“The lives of real families have been devastated by the conduct Mr. Foley stands accused of —so it’s sad that so much of the dialogue today is so political in nature,” Minnery said. “Those truly interested in protecting children from online predators should spend less time calling for Speaker Hastert to step down, and more time demanding that the Justice Department enforce existing laws that would limit the proliferation of the kind of filth that leads grown men to think it’s perfectly OK to send lurid e-mails to 16-year-old boys.”</p>
<p>Minnery added that the public’s outraged reaction to the incident “indicates that as a society we do understand there are limits to ‘tolerance’ of our culture’s anything-goes view of sexuality.”</p>
<p>“If any lasting cultural good could come out of this awful incident,” he added, “it would be Americans discarding the politically correct notion fed to us by those on the left that obscenity is just another form of free speech.”</p>
<p />
|
Turmoil on the Right
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2006/10/turmoil-right/
|
2006-10-04
| 4left
|
Turmoil on the Right
<p />
<p>The Foley scandal appears to be opening a deep split in the Republican base. Bush so far defends Hastert, and is trying to tie the Democrats to the scandal. But the leaders of the New Right coalition which more than any other group is responsible for the right wing Republican victories over the last quarter century, are flat out demanding Hastert quit as Speaker. Two of the original New Right leaders, have come down hard against Hastert. Richard A. Viguerie, the direct mail whiz who built up the conservative juggernaut, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-foleypol4oct04,0,1374157.story?coll=la-home-headlines" type="external">told</a> the Los Angeles Times Hastert and the leadership were not aggressive enough in getting to the bottom of the emails when they first heard about them last year. Just warning Foley wasn’t good enough and was “only the most recent example of Republican House leaders doing whatever it takes to hold onto power.”</p>
<p>Paul M. Weyrich, another founder of the New Right, the man who began the Heritage Foundation and was co-founder of the Moral Majority, said he too couldn’t understand why the leadership hadn’t got to the bottom of the mess when they learned of the first emails.”That’s the real question, and that’s what has the movement people very angry,” he told the Times. Weyerich tries to get the Arlington Group, made up of conservative groups holding differing views, to demand the resignation of Hastert and Majority Leader Boehner and anyone else involved in handling the Foley situation. But the executive committee backed away from this stiff version, and the final document did not directluy criticize House leaders or call for anyone to quit.</p>
<p>All in all, Republican House members are bitterly angry at their leadership. Bob Novak <a href="http://www.humanevents.com/evansnovak.php?id=17379#3" type="external">writes</a> today, “The virtually sure loss of one Florida seat following the scandal surrounding Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and the possibility of a devastating ripple effect pointed to dysfunctional House leadership where the principals do not effectively communicate with each other. The anger by rank-and-file Republican House members over the incompetence of their leaders is palpable.”</p>
<p>But the Christian Right, another leg of the Bush base, is weirdly silent. James Dobson, perhaps the most important figure on the religious right and an ardent supporter of the President, issued a <a href="http://www.family.org/cforum/briefs/a0042199.cfm" type="external">mild statement</a>:</p>
<p>Focus on the Family Action weighed in on the controversy surrounding former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who was forced to resign last week after sexually explicit e-mails between him and a congressional page were made public.</p>
<p>The ensuing scandal has led to calls for the resignation of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, on the insinuation that he didn’t address Foley’s behavior quickly or proactively enough.</p>
<p>Tom Minnery, Focus Action’s senior vice president of government and public policy, said Foley “should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law” if he is guilty of preying on boys.</p>
<p>But he added the preoccupation with the political aspects of the incident were unfortunate.</p>
<p>“The lives of real families have been devastated by the conduct Mr. Foley stands accused of —so it’s sad that so much of the dialogue today is so political in nature,” Minnery said. “Those truly interested in protecting children from online predators should spend less time calling for Speaker Hastert to step down, and more time demanding that the Justice Department enforce existing laws that would limit the proliferation of the kind of filth that leads grown men to think it’s perfectly OK to send lurid e-mails to 16-year-old boys.”</p>
<p>Minnery added that the public’s outraged reaction to the incident “indicates that as a society we do understand there are limits to ‘tolerance’ of our culture’s anything-goes view of sexuality.”</p>
<p>“If any lasting cultural good could come out of this awful incident,” he added, “it would be Americans discarding the politically correct notion fed to us by those on the left that obscenity is just another form of free speech.”</p>
<p />
| 6,459 |
<p />
<p>A rousing op-ed by MoJo’s contributing writer <a href="/news/feature/2007/03/reversal_of_fortune.html" type="external">Bill McKibben</a> in today’s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092801400.html?hpid=opinionsbox1" type="external">Washington Post</a>—just in case you’re unclear on what Bush’s tepid and untimely global warming conference is really about. Some highlights:</p>
<p />
<p>It’s the oldest and most clichéd of metaphors, but when it comes to global warming, it’s the only one that really works: We’re in a desperate race. Politics is chasing reality, and the gap between them isn’t closing nearly fast enough.</p>
<p>Shaken scientists see every prediction about the future surpassed by events. As Martin Parry, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told reporters this month, “We are all used to talking about these impacts coming in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren. Now we know that it’s us.”</p>
<p>The panel’s chair, Rajendra Pachauri, offered the planet an absolute deadline: We need to be producing less carbon dioxide—which is to say burning less coal, gas and oil—by 2015 at the latest, and after that we would need “very sharp reductions” or else there is no hope of avoiding an eventual temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius and the accompanying prospect of catastrophe.</p>
<p>Such news has finally begun to penetrate the bubble of denial that has surrounded Washington for two decades. President Bush, after ignoring the issue for six years, has convened a conference of the major carbon-emitting nations to begin considering . . . something. Bush said in a speech yesterday that “we acknowledge there is a problem,” but few expect the process to amount to much; cynics see it as a way to derail ongoing U.N.-sponsored talks for a firm agreement on reducing emissions.</p>
<p>The only real hope is for decisive legislation from Congress; activists are calling for a law that commits the United States to early cuts, closes all coal-fired power plants and auctions the right to pollute so that we can raise the revenue to fund the transformation of our energy system. President Bush won’t sign such a law, so it doesn’t have to pass this fall; we’re working to set the stage for 2009, when a new leader takes over.</p>
<p>It will take a movement to force that kind of change—a movement as urgent, and one to which people are as morally committed and willing to sacrifice, as the civil rights movement was a generation ago. Last spring, I worked with six college students to put together <a href="http://stepitup.org/" type="external">StepItUp07.org</a>. In the course of 12 weeks, with almost no money, we helped put together 1,400 rallies in all 50 states demanding action. This fall we’re trying again.</p>
<p>I’ve blogged <a href="/blue_marble_blog/archives/2007/08/5140_finding_the_lea.html" type="external">StepItUp07.org</a> before. Check it out. Better yet, participate. —Julia Whitty is Mother Jones’ environmental correspondent, to read from her new book <a href="http://julia.whitty.googlepages.com/home" type="external">“The Fragile Edge” and other writings…</a></p>
<p />
|
McKibben On The Race Against Warming
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/09/mckibben-race-against-warming/
|
2007-09-29
| 4left
|
McKibben On The Race Against Warming
<p />
<p>A rousing op-ed by MoJo’s contributing writer <a href="/news/feature/2007/03/reversal_of_fortune.html" type="external">Bill McKibben</a> in today’s <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092801400.html?hpid=opinionsbox1" type="external">Washington Post</a>—just in case you’re unclear on what Bush’s tepid and untimely global warming conference is really about. Some highlights:</p>
<p />
<p>It’s the oldest and most clichéd of metaphors, but when it comes to global warming, it’s the only one that really works: We’re in a desperate race. Politics is chasing reality, and the gap between them isn’t closing nearly fast enough.</p>
<p>Shaken scientists see every prediction about the future surpassed by events. As Martin Parry, co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, told reporters this month, “We are all used to talking about these impacts coming in the lifetimes of our children and grandchildren. Now we know that it’s us.”</p>
<p>The panel’s chair, Rajendra Pachauri, offered the planet an absolute deadline: We need to be producing less carbon dioxide—which is to say burning less coal, gas and oil—by 2015 at the latest, and after that we would need “very sharp reductions” or else there is no hope of avoiding an eventual temperature increase of 2 degrees Celsius and the accompanying prospect of catastrophe.</p>
<p>Such news has finally begun to penetrate the bubble of denial that has surrounded Washington for two decades. President Bush, after ignoring the issue for six years, has convened a conference of the major carbon-emitting nations to begin considering . . . something. Bush said in a speech yesterday that “we acknowledge there is a problem,” but few expect the process to amount to much; cynics see it as a way to derail ongoing U.N.-sponsored talks for a firm agreement on reducing emissions.</p>
<p>The only real hope is for decisive legislation from Congress; activists are calling for a law that commits the United States to early cuts, closes all coal-fired power plants and auctions the right to pollute so that we can raise the revenue to fund the transformation of our energy system. President Bush won’t sign such a law, so it doesn’t have to pass this fall; we’re working to set the stage for 2009, when a new leader takes over.</p>
<p>It will take a movement to force that kind of change—a movement as urgent, and one to which people are as morally committed and willing to sacrifice, as the civil rights movement was a generation ago. Last spring, I worked with six college students to put together <a href="http://stepitup.org/" type="external">StepItUp07.org</a>. In the course of 12 weeks, with almost no money, we helped put together 1,400 rallies in all 50 states demanding action. This fall we’re trying again.</p>
<p>I’ve blogged <a href="/blue_marble_blog/archives/2007/08/5140_finding_the_lea.html" type="external">StepItUp07.org</a> before. Check it out. Better yet, participate. —Julia Whitty is Mother Jones’ environmental correspondent, to read from her new book <a href="http://julia.whitty.googlepages.com/home" type="external">“The Fragile Edge” and other writings…</a></p>
<p />
| 6,460 |
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>There's some good news on the health front for Americans, and especially for Floridians. The threat of the dreaded Zika virus is weakening, if not disappearing.</p>
<p />
<p>Cases are down by 95 percent from last year in Brazil. Outbreaks have also subsided across the Caribbean.</p>
<p />
<p>In Florida, the virus appears to be disappearing already. Health officials have not encountered a new Zika case for more than 45 days in Miami-Dade County. Also last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted the last travel warning for southern Florida. Pregnant women are no longer being discouraged from traveling to the region.</p>
<p />
<p>Dr. Christine Curry, an OB-GYN at the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Hospital said: "That's really exciting news. Everybody has sort of exhaled."</p>
<p />
<p>Still, Dr. Curry was quick to clarify that the full threat to pregnant women, whether travelers or residents isn't totally over in Florida or abroad.</p>
<p />
<p>Dr. Curry offers advice to Florida women who are pregnant and their families. She said: "We can't go back to the days before Zika, where you just walked around without thinking about bug spray or the clothes you're wearing. People still need to practice good mosquito-bite prevention when they're living in South Florida or traveling there."</p>
<p />
<p>The CDC has also offered an outline on the precautions needed in Miami-Dade County and other areas of the U.S. where Zika has circulated, such as Brownsville, Texas. These precautions are crucial for pregnant women, those trying to get pregnant and their mates. Expectant couples are advised to continue using condoms every time they have sex in various forms (whether vaginal, anal, and oral, says CDC) because the Zika virus can stay in the semen of an infected man for months.</p>
<p />
<p>Pregnant women are also advised to continue getting tested for Zika up to eight weeks after the travel ban has been lifted for a region- which would be until August 2017 for South Florida.</p>
<p />
<p>Dr. Curry said the precautions are needed, because even though Zika has "disappeared", it could still be circulating. It is good to remember that 80 percent people who are infected with Zika don't have symptoms at all.</p>
<p />
<p>Dr. Curry also said that if the virus is merely lurking below detectable levels, Zika cases could start cropping up again in any moment. In fact, according to a study last summer, Zika likely circulated in Florida for months before being detected by health officials.</p>
<p />
<p>Those who live in South Florida are going there this summer are advised to pack the DEET, cover clothes in permethrin and be on the lookout for skeeters.</p>
<p />
<p>Zika case may have also dropped across the Carribean and Latin America, but CDC still warns American pregnant women from traveling to places where Zika is circulating. If a spouse travels to one of such areas, the couple are advised to use condoms for at least six months. Couples trying to get pregnant are also advised against traveling in the said areas.</p>
<p />
<p>Source:</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/12/531949066/is-zika-still-a-problem-in-florida-and-the-caribbean" type="external">npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/12/531949066/is-zika-still-a-problem-in-florida-and-the-caribbean</a></p>
|
Is Zika Really a Threat in Florida?
| true |
http://thegoldwater.com/news/3576-Is-Zika-Really-a-Threat-in-Florida
|
2017-06-12
| 0right
|
Is Zika Really a Threat in Florida?
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>There's some good news on the health front for Americans, and especially for Floridians. The threat of the dreaded Zika virus is weakening, if not disappearing.</p>
<p />
<p>Cases are down by 95 percent from last year in Brazil. Outbreaks have also subsided across the Caribbean.</p>
<p />
<p>In Florida, the virus appears to be disappearing already. Health officials have not encountered a new Zika case for more than 45 days in Miami-Dade County. Also last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted the last travel warning for southern Florida. Pregnant women are no longer being discouraged from traveling to the region.</p>
<p />
<p>Dr. Christine Curry, an OB-GYN at the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Hospital said: "That's really exciting news. Everybody has sort of exhaled."</p>
<p />
<p>Still, Dr. Curry was quick to clarify that the full threat to pregnant women, whether travelers or residents isn't totally over in Florida or abroad.</p>
<p />
<p>Dr. Curry offers advice to Florida women who are pregnant and their families. She said: "We can't go back to the days before Zika, where you just walked around without thinking about bug spray or the clothes you're wearing. People still need to practice good mosquito-bite prevention when they're living in South Florida or traveling there."</p>
<p />
<p>The CDC has also offered an outline on the precautions needed in Miami-Dade County and other areas of the U.S. where Zika has circulated, such as Brownsville, Texas. These precautions are crucial for pregnant women, those trying to get pregnant and their mates. Expectant couples are advised to continue using condoms every time they have sex in various forms (whether vaginal, anal, and oral, says CDC) because the Zika virus can stay in the semen of an infected man for months.</p>
<p />
<p>Pregnant women are also advised to continue getting tested for Zika up to eight weeks after the travel ban has been lifted for a region- which would be until August 2017 for South Florida.</p>
<p />
<p>Dr. Curry said the precautions are needed, because even though Zika has "disappeared", it could still be circulating. It is good to remember that 80 percent people who are infected with Zika don't have symptoms at all.</p>
<p />
<p>Dr. Curry also said that if the virus is merely lurking below detectable levels, Zika cases could start cropping up again in any moment. In fact, according to a study last summer, Zika likely circulated in Florida for months before being detected by health officials.</p>
<p />
<p>Those who live in South Florida are going there this summer are advised to pack the DEET, cover clothes in permethrin and be on the lookout for skeeters.</p>
<p />
<p>Zika case may have also dropped across the Carribean and Latin America, but CDC still warns American pregnant women from traveling to places where Zika is circulating. If a spouse travels to one of such areas, the couple are advised to use condoms for at least six months. Couples trying to get pregnant are also advised against traveling in the said areas.</p>
<p />
<p>Source:</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/12/531949066/is-zika-still-a-problem-in-florida-and-the-caribbean" type="external">npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/06/12/531949066/is-zika-still-a-problem-in-florida-and-the-caribbean</a></p>
| 6,461 |
<p>Slate.comBy Virginia HeffernanUntil the war's over, cable news will supply plenty of tea-leaf readings, all presented in a series of loops, and they'll track the play-within-a-play lives of the embedded reporters. But by focusing almost exclusively on the war, they're stuck hyping fake stories, letting too many of their news desks atrophy, and failing to produce the soft news at which they're especially adept. Having watched news nearly wall-to-wall since the war started, I've decided to give up cable. I don't mind the PlayStation graphic schemes, or even the hearty shouts of Cavuto or Chris Matthews, but I can't stand having wire reports turned into feature stories and five or six bullet points stretched into 24 hours. Five points is what network news is for, and ABC, NBC, and CBS still provide the best anthology of the day's most significant images. If you crave more (as I do), check out Page One on the Discovery-Times channel every night at 10 p.m.; it's a three-minute preview of the front page of the next day's New York Times. That program, which is the jewel of the excellent (and recently renamed) channel, gives headlines along with scrupulous attention to the latest war photography. That—and a lot of fresh air—may be all you need.(Link via <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com" type="external">MediaBistro.com</a>.)</p>
|
Kicking Cable: What do you need from TV in wartime?
| false |
https://poynter.org/news/kicking-cable-what-do-you-need-tv-wartime
|
2003-04-09
| 2least
|
Kicking Cable: What do you need from TV in wartime?
<p>Slate.comBy Virginia HeffernanUntil the war's over, cable news will supply plenty of tea-leaf readings, all presented in a series of loops, and they'll track the play-within-a-play lives of the embedded reporters. But by focusing almost exclusively on the war, they're stuck hyping fake stories, letting too many of their news desks atrophy, and failing to produce the soft news at which they're especially adept. Having watched news nearly wall-to-wall since the war started, I've decided to give up cable. I don't mind the PlayStation graphic schemes, or even the hearty shouts of Cavuto or Chris Matthews, but I can't stand having wire reports turned into feature stories and five or six bullet points stretched into 24 hours. Five points is what network news is for, and ABC, NBC, and CBS still provide the best anthology of the day's most significant images. If you crave more (as I do), check out Page One on the Discovery-Times channel every night at 10 p.m.; it's a three-minute preview of the front page of the next day's New York Times. That program, which is the jewel of the excellent (and recently renamed) channel, gives headlines along with scrupulous attention to the latest war photography. That—and a lot of fresh air—may be all you need.(Link via <a href="http://www.mediabistro.com" type="external">MediaBistro.com</a>.)</p>
| 6,462 |
<p>Theodore Hesburgh, the late president of Notre Dame back when Notre Dame was a Catholic school, famously said: "The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." This may be one of the most important truths anyone has ever uttered about the institution of the family and how it functions. And like most important truths, especially those pertaining to love and marriage, it is studiously ignored these days.</p>
<p>In our culture, spouses tend to act as though their love for each other and their love for their kids are two completely distinct and independent things. A man will often think that he can betray his vows and treat his wife like garbage, yet still provide “love” to his kids. Many women operate under the same sort of delusion. “Kids, I’m leaving your mother and moving in with the secretary, but I still love you,” he assures them.</p>
<p>Does he? How?</p>
<p>I thought about this problem when I read a particularly disgusting piece of divorce-glamorizing and infidelity-romanticizing in The New York Times. The family unit isn't falling apart fast enough to suit the elites in media and Hollywood, apparently, so they do what they can to hasten the process with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/24/style/modern-love-an-optimists-guide-to-divorce.html" type="external">this</a> sort of garbage.</p>
<p>"An Optimist's Guide To Divorce," written by a proud homewrecker named Elizabeth Covington, tells the story of the author’s relationship with "Josh.” Elizabeth met Josh — married with two daughters — at a bar on Josh's 12th wedding anniversary. Shortly, the two began sleeping with each other. Elizabeth knew Josh was married, but, she says, he’s a great guy and totally "not a cheater" (despite, you know, the cheating). He's a fine husband, too, but he just doesn't feel the "passion" in his marriage anymore. Poor Josh is "miserable," despite his privileged life and his gorgeous and faithful wife and two beautiful daughters. The only remedy for this misery, he decides, is to tear his family apart limb from limb.</p>
<p>Elizabeth and Josh determined that they must "do what it takes to be together" even if it means "inflicting undeserved pain on others" (her words). When faced with a choice between the mild discomfort of suppressing their physical desires, or burdening an innocent woman and two small children with life-shattering grief and despair, they chose the latter. A couple of humanitarians, these two.</p>
<p>So, Josh left his wife, shacked up with Elizabeth, et cetera and so on. It's a gross and tragic tale, but not a unique one. We all know how it goes and how it will end: with Josh helplessly watching his "passion" for Elizabeth drain away after 18 months, and eventually leaving her in ruins, too. For Elizabeth, it will be what the Buddhist calls Karma and what the Christian calls reaping what you sow.</p>
<p>The reason I'm citing this story as an example is that Elizabeth repeatedly claims both she and Josh "love his children more than anything." She returns to this theme again and again, insisting that Josh may have thrown his wife overboard and left his kids in the dust, all in the pursuit of a more exciting sex life, but he still loves them. The only thing Elizabeth doesn't explain is how loving someone could ever involve “inflicting undeserved pain” on them.</p>
<p>Allow me to offer my own explanation:</p>
<p>It doesn't.</p>
<p>Josh doesn't "love his children more than anything." There is no evidence, based on the information provided, that he loves his kids at all. Many parents are given automatic credit for "loving" their kids even as they treat those beloved offspring like accessories to, and burdens on, their self-centered lives. Parents may have moments, even many moments, where they feel a deep affection for their children, but if that affection is not consistently expressed through action and sacrifice, then it isn’t love. Those parents love their kids in about the same way they love the family dog — maybe less.</p>
<p>I can’t measure Josh’s fatherly love, or lack there of. But I can say for certain that his love for his children is not the first priority in his life. It’s clear that Josh has ordered his love in the same way that many of us order it. What Josh loves more than anything is himself. That’s why he’s so willing to toss everyone in his life to the side for the sake of “following his heart” and “finding happiness.” In fact it’s probably more accurate to say that he primarily loves, not himself, but the idea of himself being happy. Men who cheat on their wives generally loathe themselves (not without reason), but they loathe their families even more, and they care far more about their own happiness than they do anyone else’s.</p>
<p>Only after their own desires have been met do the Joshes of the world prioritize their kids. So, when an unfaithful man abandons his family while claiming, insanely, “I love my kids more than anything,” what he means to say is, “I love my kids more than anything besides my own pleasure and sexual fulfillment.” But this is a fatally wrong approach on two levels. Not only because he puts himself over his kids, but because he puts his kids over his wife.</p>
<p>Even if it were true that he “loved his kids more than anything,” which obviously he doesn't, he would still be far off the mark and his family would still be in danger of imminent collapse. Here we refer back to the quote at the beginning. If we really love our kids, then we ought to love our wives first. God should, of course, reign over our families, but there ought to be no human on Earth whom we love more than, or prioritize over, our wives.</p>
<p>The love between husband and wife, consecrated by God, serves as the foundation of a properly ordered family. Their love literally gives birth to their children. As the kids grow older, they will depend upon that love and look to it for comfort, security, and direction. Husband and wife were there before the kids existed, and, if they honor their vows and stay alive and healthy, they’ll be there together long after the kids have moved out and started their own families. If spouses put their kids first, what do they do before the kids are born, and what will they do after they leave? And anyway, how can it be proper and right to love a child more than you love the person who gave you that child?</p>
<p>There’s a reason why our country is filled with insecure and narcissistic kids who need to be the center of attention at all times. They come from disordered families where both parents fawn and fuss over them, while neglecting each other. The kids, despite the attention and the toys and the nice vacations and all the rest of it, still end up feeling unsettled and vulnerable. They have everything in the world except for the stabilizing force of a mother and father who love each other actively and obviously, which is to say they have a lot of stuff they do not need but they do not have the one thing they do.</p>
<p>Everything in a family hinges on and depends upon the love between the mother and father. The family lives or dies by it. We may gain some emotional benefit from spoiling our kids, but what they need — what gives them the greatest benefit — is to see a father who honors his wife and a mother who respects her husband. One way or another, whether we like or not, they will learn far more about love from observing us than they will from the hugs and kisses we heap on them.</p>
<p>So is it possible for a man to “love his kids” while he tosses his marital vows in the dumpster and treats his children’s mother like a busted old car to be traded in and replaced with a newer model?</p>
<p>Not in the way that counts the most. Not in the way the child needs.</p>
|
WALSH: Men, The Best Way To Love Our Kids Is To Put Our Wives Ahead Of Them
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/24110/walsh-men-best-way-love-our-kids-put-our-wives-matt-walsh
|
2017-11-29
| 0right
|
WALSH: Men, The Best Way To Love Our Kids Is To Put Our Wives Ahead Of Them
<p>Theodore Hesburgh, the late president of Notre Dame back when Notre Dame was a Catholic school, famously said: "The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." This may be one of the most important truths anyone has ever uttered about the institution of the family and how it functions. And like most important truths, especially those pertaining to love and marriage, it is studiously ignored these days.</p>
<p>In our culture, spouses tend to act as though their love for each other and their love for their kids are two completely distinct and independent things. A man will often think that he can betray his vows and treat his wife like garbage, yet still provide “love” to his kids. Many women operate under the same sort of delusion. “Kids, I’m leaving your mother and moving in with the secretary, but I still love you,” he assures them.</p>
<p>Does he? How?</p>
<p>I thought about this problem when I read a particularly disgusting piece of divorce-glamorizing and infidelity-romanticizing in The New York Times. The family unit isn't falling apart fast enough to suit the elites in media and Hollywood, apparently, so they do what they can to hasten the process with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/24/style/modern-love-an-optimists-guide-to-divorce.html" type="external">this</a> sort of garbage.</p>
<p>"An Optimist's Guide To Divorce," written by a proud homewrecker named Elizabeth Covington, tells the story of the author’s relationship with "Josh.” Elizabeth met Josh — married with two daughters — at a bar on Josh's 12th wedding anniversary. Shortly, the two began sleeping with each other. Elizabeth knew Josh was married, but, she says, he’s a great guy and totally "not a cheater" (despite, you know, the cheating). He's a fine husband, too, but he just doesn't feel the "passion" in his marriage anymore. Poor Josh is "miserable," despite his privileged life and his gorgeous and faithful wife and two beautiful daughters. The only remedy for this misery, he decides, is to tear his family apart limb from limb.</p>
<p>Elizabeth and Josh determined that they must "do what it takes to be together" even if it means "inflicting undeserved pain on others" (her words). When faced with a choice between the mild discomfort of suppressing their physical desires, or burdening an innocent woman and two small children with life-shattering grief and despair, they chose the latter. A couple of humanitarians, these two.</p>
<p>So, Josh left his wife, shacked up with Elizabeth, et cetera and so on. It's a gross and tragic tale, but not a unique one. We all know how it goes and how it will end: with Josh helplessly watching his "passion" for Elizabeth drain away after 18 months, and eventually leaving her in ruins, too. For Elizabeth, it will be what the Buddhist calls Karma and what the Christian calls reaping what you sow.</p>
<p>The reason I'm citing this story as an example is that Elizabeth repeatedly claims both she and Josh "love his children more than anything." She returns to this theme again and again, insisting that Josh may have thrown his wife overboard and left his kids in the dust, all in the pursuit of a more exciting sex life, but he still loves them. The only thing Elizabeth doesn't explain is how loving someone could ever involve “inflicting undeserved pain” on them.</p>
<p>Allow me to offer my own explanation:</p>
<p>It doesn't.</p>
<p>Josh doesn't "love his children more than anything." There is no evidence, based on the information provided, that he loves his kids at all. Many parents are given automatic credit for "loving" their kids even as they treat those beloved offspring like accessories to, and burdens on, their self-centered lives. Parents may have moments, even many moments, where they feel a deep affection for their children, but if that affection is not consistently expressed through action and sacrifice, then it isn’t love. Those parents love their kids in about the same way they love the family dog — maybe less.</p>
<p>I can’t measure Josh’s fatherly love, or lack there of. But I can say for certain that his love for his children is not the first priority in his life. It’s clear that Josh has ordered his love in the same way that many of us order it. What Josh loves more than anything is himself. That’s why he’s so willing to toss everyone in his life to the side for the sake of “following his heart” and “finding happiness.” In fact it’s probably more accurate to say that he primarily loves, not himself, but the idea of himself being happy. Men who cheat on their wives generally loathe themselves (not without reason), but they loathe their families even more, and they care far more about their own happiness than they do anyone else’s.</p>
<p>Only after their own desires have been met do the Joshes of the world prioritize their kids. So, when an unfaithful man abandons his family while claiming, insanely, “I love my kids more than anything,” what he means to say is, “I love my kids more than anything besides my own pleasure and sexual fulfillment.” But this is a fatally wrong approach on two levels. Not only because he puts himself over his kids, but because he puts his kids over his wife.</p>
<p>Even if it were true that he “loved his kids more than anything,” which obviously he doesn't, he would still be far off the mark and his family would still be in danger of imminent collapse. Here we refer back to the quote at the beginning. If we really love our kids, then we ought to love our wives first. God should, of course, reign over our families, but there ought to be no human on Earth whom we love more than, or prioritize over, our wives.</p>
<p>The love between husband and wife, consecrated by God, serves as the foundation of a properly ordered family. Their love literally gives birth to their children. As the kids grow older, they will depend upon that love and look to it for comfort, security, and direction. Husband and wife were there before the kids existed, and, if they honor their vows and stay alive and healthy, they’ll be there together long after the kids have moved out and started their own families. If spouses put their kids first, what do they do before the kids are born, and what will they do after they leave? And anyway, how can it be proper and right to love a child more than you love the person who gave you that child?</p>
<p>There’s a reason why our country is filled with insecure and narcissistic kids who need to be the center of attention at all times. They come from disordered families where both parents fawn and fuss over them, while neglecting each other. The kids, despite the attention and the toys and the nice vacations and all the rest of it, still end up feeling unsettled and vulnerable. They have everything in the world except for the stabilizing force of a mother and father who love each other actively and obviously, which is to say they have a lot of stuff they do not need but they do not have the one thing they do.</p>
<p>Everything in a family hinges on and depends upon the love between the mother and father. The family lives or dies by it. We may gain some emotional benefit from spoiling our kids, but what they need — what gives them the greatest benefit — is to see a father who honors his wife and a mother who respects her husband. One way or another, whether we like or not, they will learn far more about love from observing us than they will from the hugs and kisses we heap on them.</p>
<p>So is it possible for a man to “love his kids” while he tosses his marital vows in the dumpster and treats his children’s mother like a busted old car to be traded in and replaced with a newer model?</p>
<p>Not in the way that counts the most. Not in the way the child needs.</p>
| 6,463 |
<p />
<p>From <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/26/athlete.brains/index.html" type="external">CNN</a>:</p>
<p>Until recently, the best medical definition for concussion was a jarring blow to the head that temporarily stunned the senses, occasionally leading to unconsciousness. It has been considered an invisible injury, impossible to test—no MRI, no CT scan can detect it.</p>
<p />
<p>But today, using tissue from retired NFL athletes culled posthumously, the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) is shedding light on what concussions look like in the brain. The findings are stunning. Far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. That damage has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).</p>
<p />
<p>CTE has thus far been found in the brains of five out of five former NFL players…”What’s been surprising is that it’s so extensive,” said Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, and co-director of the CSTE. “It’s throughout the brain, not just on the superficial aspects of the brain, but it’s deep inside.”</p>
<p />
<p>McKee, who also studies Alzheimer’s disease, says the tangles closely resemble what might be found in the brain of an 80-year-old with dementia.</p>
<p>These former jocks also suffer long term anger and sleep disorders: “The damage affects the parts of the brain that control emotion, rage, hypersexuality, even breathing, and recent studies find that CTE is a progressive disease that eventually kills brain cells.” Many former jocks find themselves bankrupt, divorced, and cut off from society, all without a clue as to why.</p>
<p>Perhaps, and I’m not being sarcastic, the damage begins quickly enough to explain some of the inexplicable problems we see among pro athletes (though basketball and baseball don’t seem to offer the same out for its misbehaving players).</p>
<p>Needless to say, young men will still kill themselves to make it to the NFL; they’re young and much fussed over. Also needless to say, the NFL denies that football causes brain damage.</p>
<p>The NFL is planning its own independent medical study of retired NFL players on the long-term effects of concussion.</p>
<p>Methinks some unemployed former Big Tobacco lobbyists and “scientists” will find themselves working again. I pray my son opts for swimming or soccer.</p>
<p />
|
Are Pro Football Players Brain Damaged?
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2009/01/are-pro-football-players-brain-damaged/
|
2009-01-28
| 4left
|
Are Pro Football Players Brain Damaged?
<p />
<p>From <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/26/athlete.brains/index.html" type="external">CNN</a>:</p>
<p>Until recently, the best medical definition for concussion was a jarring blow to the head that temporarily stunned the senses, occasionally leading to unconsciousness. It has been considered an invisible injury, impossible to test—no MRI, no CT scan can detect it.</p>
<p />
<p>But today, using tissue from retired NFL athletes culled posthumously, the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy (CSTE) is shedding light on what concussions look like in the brain. The findings are stunning. Far from innocuous, invisible injuries, concussions confer tremendous brain damage. That damage has a name: chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).</p>
<p />
<p>CTE has thus far been found in the brains of five out of five former NFL players…”What’s been surprising is that it’s so extensive,” said Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Bedford, Massachusetts, and co-director of the CSTE. “It’s throughout the brain, not just on the superficial aspects of the brain, but it’s deep inside.”</p>
<p />
<p>McKee, who also studies Alzheimer’s disease, says the tangles closely resemble what might be found in the brain of an 80-year-old with dementia.</p>
<p>These former jocks also suffer long term anger and sleep disorders: “The damage affects the parts of the brain that control emotion, rage, hypersexuality, even breathing, and recent studies find that CTE is a progressive disease that eventually kills brain cells.” Many former jocks find themselves bankrupt, divorced, and cut off from society, all without a clue as to why.</p>
<p>Perhaps, and I’m not being sarcastic, the damage begins quickly enough to explain some of the inexplicable problems we see among pro athletes (though basketball and baseball don’t seem to offer the same out for its misbehaving players).</p>
<p>Needless to say, young men will still kill themselves to make it to the NFL; they’re young and much fussed over. Also needless to say, the NFL denies that football causes brain damage.</p>
<p>The NFL is planning its own independent medical study of retired NFL players on the long-term effects of concussion.</p>
<p>Methinks some unemployed former Big Tobacco lobbyists and “scientists” will find themselves working again. I pray my son opts for swimming or soccer.</p>
<p />
| 6,464 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>From left: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov shake hands in Baku, Azerbaijan on Thursday, April 7, 2016. The foreign ministers of Russia and Iran joined efforts on Thursday to prevent a new war between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces over Nagorno-Karabakh, while both sides in the conflict accused the other of violating a two-day-old cease-fire. (AP Photo)</p>
<p>BAKU, Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan and Armenia on Thursday accused each other of violating a two-day-old cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh, while Russia and Iran joined diplomatic efforts to prevent an all-out war that could destabilize the strategic Caucasus region.</p>
<p>Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said its troops returned fire after Armenian forces fired mortars and large-caliber machine guns at Azerbaijani military positions and populated areas. The Armenian side accused Azerbaijan of shelling its positions.</p>
<p>The intense skirmishes have threatened to derail the Russia-brokered cease-fire declared at midday Tuesday following an outburst of fighting that marked the worst violence since a separatist war ended in 1994. That conflict left Nagorno-Karabakh, officially a part of Azerbaijan, under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military. Armenian forces also occupy several areas outside the Karabakh region.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry has said 31 of its soldiers have been killed since Saturday; Karabakh has acknowledged the loss of 30 and said 101 others have been wounded. Each party put enemy losses in the hundreds, rival claims that couldn't be independently verified.</p>
<p>Several civilians also have been killed on both sides.</p>
<p>The fighting involving heavy artillery and rockets raised fears of a possible escalation, with Turkey strongly backing Azerbaijan and Russia obliged by a mutual security pact to protect Armenia.</p>
<p>Russia also has sought to maintain friendly ties with energy-rich Azerbaijan and provided it with weapons in a bid to shore up its influence in the Caucasus region, a conduit for energy resources from the Caspian Sea to the West.</p>
<p>Russia also has acted as a mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks along with the United States and France, which have dragged on since 1994 without any visible results.</p>
<p>Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovvoiced hope that the cease-fire will hold and emphasized the need to advance a political settlement. "Practically all components of an agreement are already on the table," he said following talks with his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Iran in Baku, Azerbaijan's capital.</p>
<p>Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, was in the Armenian capital Thursday. Lavrov said he also would continue to pursue a diplomatic solution during meetings with Armenia's foreign minister on Friday.</p>
<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin has talked to both Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents to help reach the cease-fire agreement, which was negotiated by the top military officers of the warring sides during Tuesday's meeting in Moscow.</p>
<p>Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia's friendly ties to both nations helped it quickly broker the truce, but he acknowledged that that "the situation now is far from being stable."</p>
<p>For Iran, the Baku meeting was a chance to improve its sanction-stricken economic ties with neighboring countries. During their joint news conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif focused on plans to boost cooperation with Azerbaijan and Russia on transport, energy and security.</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.</p>
|
Nagorno-Karabakh truce in trouble as Russia, Iran join talks
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/752916/nagorno-karabakh-truce-in-trouble-as-russia-iran-join-talks.html
| 2least
|
Nagorno-Karabakh truce in trouble as Russia, Iran join talks
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>From left: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov shake hands in Baku, Azerbaijan on Thursday, April 7, 2016. The foreign ministers of Russia and Iran joined efforts on Thursday to prevent a new war between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces over Nagorno-Karabakh, while both sides in the conflict accused the other of violating a two-day-old cease-fire. (AP Photo)</p>
<p>BAKU, Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan and Armenia on Thursday accused each other of violating a two-day-old cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh, while Russia and Iran joined diplomatic efforts to prevent an all-out war that could destabilize the strategic Caucasus region.</p>
<p>Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said its troops returned fire after Armenian forces fired mortars and large-caliber machine guns at Azerbaijani military positions and populated areas. The Armenian side accused Azerbaijan of shelling its positions.</p>
<p>The intense skirmishes have threatened to derail the Russia-brokered cease-fire declared at midday Tuesday following an outburst of fighting that marked the worst violence since a separatist war ended in 1994. That conflict left Nagorno-Karabakh, officially a part of Azerbaijan, under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military. Armenian forces also occupy several areas outside the Karabakh region.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry has said 31 of its soldiers have been killed since Saturday; Karabakh has acknowledged the loss of 30 and said 101 others have been wounded. Each party put enemy losses in the hundreds, rival claims that couldn't be independently verified.</p>
<p>Several civilians also have been killed on both sides.</p>
<p>The fighting involving heavy artillery and rockets raised fears of a possible escalation, with Turkey strongly backing Azerbaijan and Russia obliged by a mutual security pact to protect Armenia.</p>
<p>Russia also has sought to maintain friendly ties with energy-rich Azerbaijan and provided it with weapons in a bid to shore up its influence in the Caucasus region, a conduit for energy resources from the Caspian Sea to the West.</p>
<p>Russia also has acted as a mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace talks along with the United States and France, which have dragged on since 1994 without any visible results.</p>
<p>Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrovvoiced hope that the cease-fire will hold and emphasized the need to advance a political settlement. "Practically all components of an agreement are already on the table," he said following talks with his counterparts from Azerbaijan and Iran in Baku, Azerbaijan's capital.</p>
<p>Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, meanwhile, was in the Armenian capital Thursday. Lavrov said he also would continue to pursue a diplomatic solution during meetings with Armenia's foreign minister on Friday.</p>
<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin has talked to both Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents to help reach the cease-fire agreement, which was negotiated by the top military officers of the warring sides during Tuesday's meeting in Moscow.</p>
<p>Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia's friendly ties to both nations helped it quickly broker the truce, but he acknowledged that that "the situation now is far from being stable."</p>
<p>For Iran, the Baku meeting was a chance to improve its sanction-stricken economic ties with neighboring countries. During their joint news conference, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif focused on plans to boost cooperation with Azerbaijan and Russia on transport, energy and security.</p>
<p>_____</p>
<p>Avet Demourian in Yerevan, Armenia, Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.</p>
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<p>The National Institutes of Health is funding a study at the University of Pittsburgh that aims to help women 50 or older improve their sex lives through mindfulness, a technique of meditation, according to NIH <a href="https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?aid=9314045&amp;icde=36105664&amp;ddparam=&amp;ddvalue=&amp;ddsub=&amp;cr=215&amp;csb=FY&amp;cs=DESC&amp;pball=" type="external">grant project information.</a></p>
<p>“Almost half of U.S. women experience sexual problems, which have significant negative impacts on physical and mental health… low sexual desire is the most common sexual problem, particularly among women 50 and older, but there are few treatment options available,” the grant information said.</p>
<p>The project will use the mindfulness technique as a way to help older women. “Mindfulness is a practice that emphasizes in-the-moment focus and non-judgmental bodily awareness. A group-based behavioral intervention rooted in mindfulness has shown early promise in small trials, but only among younger women,” the information said.</p>
<p>“It will address a significant public health need by allowing adults to maintain high quality of life and essential social relationships with aging,” the project information added.</p>
<p>The research will continue through 2022, the information said. The NIH has spent more than $100 million on research into mindfulness, according to a 2014 report in <a href="http://freebeacon.com/issues/nih-has-spent-92-9-million-on-mindfulness-meditation/" type="external">The Washington Free Beacon.</a></p>
<p>Social care professionals such as therapists use mindfulness, as well as yoga and other forms of meditation, to help them better care for others, according to a report Monday in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/careers/2017/sep/18/yoga-meditation-mindfulness-help-social-care-workers-deal-with-trauma" type="external">The Guardian.</a></p>
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NIH Spending More Than $187,000 to Improve Older Women's Sex Lives
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https://newsline.com/nih-spending-more-than-187000-to-improve-older-womens-sex-lives/
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2017-09-21
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NIH Spending More Than $187,000 to Improve Older Women's Sex Lives
<p>The National Institutes of Health is funding a study at the University of Pittsburgh that aims to help women 50 or older improve their sex lives through mindfulness, a technique of meditation, according to NIH <a href="https://projectreporter.nih.gov/project_info_description.cfm?aid=9314045&amp;icde=36105664&amp;ddparam=&amp;ddvalue=&amp;ddsub=&amp;cr=215&amp;csb=FY&amp;cs=DESC&amp;pball=" type="external">grant project information.</a></p>
<p>“Almost half of U.S. women experience sexual problems, which have significant negative impacts on physical and mental health… low sexual desire is the most common sexual problem, particularly among women 50 and older, but there are few treatment options available,” the grant information said.</p>
<p>The project will use the mindfulness technique as a way to help older women. “Mindfulness is a practice that emphasizes in-the-moment focus and non-judgmental bodily awareness. A group-based behavioral intervention rooted in mindfulness has shown early promise in small trials, but only among younger women,” the information said.</p>
<p>“It will address a significant public health need by allowing adults to maintain high quality of life and essential social relationships with aging,” the project information added.</p>
<p>The research will continue through 2022, the information said. The NIH has spent more than $100 million on research into mindfulness, according to a 2014 report in <a href="http://freebeacon.com/issues/nih-has-spent-92-9-million-on-mindfulness-meditation/" type="external">The Washington Free Beacon.</a></p>
<p>Social care professionals such as therapists use mindfulness, as well as yoga and other forms of meditation, to help them better care for others, according to a report Monday in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/careers/2017/sep/18/yoga-meditation-mindfulness-help-social-care-workers-deal-with-trauma" type="external">The Guardian.</a></p>
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<p>An independent commission will meet in early August to recommend lawyers to Gov. Susana Martinez for possible appointment to a coming judicial vacancy.</p>
<p>A bipartisan Judicial Nominating Commission will screen applicants interested in the 5th Judicial District Court judgeship.</p>
<p>District Judge Charles Currier of Roswell is retiring and his position becomes vacant effective Aug. 2.</p>
<p>Lawyers have until July 29 to submit applications and the commission is to meet Aug. 7 at the Chaves County courthouse in Roswell to decide who to recommend to the governor.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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<p>An independent commission will meet in early August to recommend lawyers to Gov. Susana Martinez for possible appointment to a coming judicial vacancy.</p>
<p>A bipartisan Judicial Nominating Commission will screen applicants interested in the 5th Judicial District Court judgeship.</p>
<p>District Judge Charles Currier of Roswell is retiring and his position becomes vacant effective Aug. 2.</p>
<p>Lawyers have until July 29 to submit applications and the commission is to meet Aug. 7 at the Chaves County courthouse in Roswell to decide who to recommend to the governor.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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<p>United Nations officials are urging <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/un-urges-chile-allow-abortion-cases-193414712.html" type="external">several</a> <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28464086" type="external">countries</a> with particularly harsh abortion bans to increase legalization of the medical procedure, pointing out their current laws could be in breach of international human rights treaties.</p>
<p>In its periodic reviews of member countries’ policies to ensure they’re compliant with the <a href="http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/treaties-customary-law/geneva-conventions/" type="external">Geneva Conventions</a>, the U.N. Human Rights Committee is recommending that Ireland and Chile update their abortion laws to ensure access for more women. Those two countries have some of the most restrictive abortion policies in the world; Chile imposes a <a href="" type="internal">total ban</a> on the procedure, while Ireland has a nearly total ban with an <a href="" type="internal">extremely narrow exception</a>.</p>
<p>The U.N.’s <a href="http://static.rasset.ie/documents/news/un-document.pdf" type="external">report</a> on Ireland recommends that the country’s law should be revised “to provide for additional exceptions in cases of rape, incest, serious risks to the health of the mother, or fatal fetal abnormality.” Right now, an Irish woman can only have an abortion if her life is in immediate danger, or if she gets three different doctors to confirm that she suffers from mental health issues that put her at risk for suicide.</p>
<p>When <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/fitzgerald-told-ireland-s-abortion-law-breaches-human-rights-law-1.1866803" type="external">questioning Irish officials</a> about the law, members of the human rights committee asked how forcing a pregnant woman at risk of suicide to be examined by three doctors before being allowed to proceed with an abortion could be “consistent with the obligation to protect her against mental torture.” They also pointed out that the harsh law “adversely affects vulnerable groups of women,” like the low-income women who may not be able to navigate the complicated medical requirements. Ultimately, their report concludes, Ireland’s laws are <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/irish-women-are-being-denied-human-rights-says-un-report-1.1877329?page=1" type="external">depriving women of their human rights</a>.</p>
<p>Similarly, the committee is <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/un-urges-chile-allow-abortion-cases-193414712.html" type="external">instructing Chile</a> to “establish exceptions to the general prohibition of abortion, contemplating therapeutic abortion and in those cases in which the pregnancy is a consequence of a rape or incest.” U.N. officials expressed concern that an estimated 150,000 illegal abortions are performed in Chile each year, and encouraged lawmakers to “make sure that reproductive health services are accessible to all women and adolescents.”</p>
<p>Both Ireland and Chile have come under <a href="" type="internal">particular scrutiny</a> over the past year for their harsh abortion policies, making international headlines for tragic cases in which women have been denied reproductive care. There were <a href="" type="internal">massive global protests</a> after 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar’s death in Ireland, which could have been prevented if she had <a href="" type="internal">received an emergency abortion</a>, and widespread outrage after an 11-year-old Chilean rape victim was forced to <a href="" type="internal">continue a risky pregnancy</a>. In Ireland, pro-choice activists have been quietly helping women leave the country to terminate their pregnancies in other European nations, risking being sentenced to <a href="" type="internal">up to 14 years in prison</a> for disseminating information about abortion.</p>
<p>The United Nations has long taken the stance that countries should not deprive women of their reproductive options. <a href="" type="internal">Previous U.N. reports</a> have urged countries around the world to remove their “unnecessary barriers” to abortion, pointing out that thousands of <a href="" type="internal">young, poor women</a> in developing nations are <a href="" type="internal">dying</a> because of illegal abortion procedures in unsafe conditions.</p>
<p>This isn’t an issue that the United States is necessarily above, either. Although abortion is legal in this country, lawmakers have still imposed <a href="" type="internal">significant hurdles</a> to the procedure on the state level that prevent many women from being able to exercise their reproductive rights. Perhaps the best example of that unfolding dynamic is <a href="" type="internal">Texas</a>, where a harsh new law has forced <a href="" type="internal">half of the state’s abortion clinics</a> to close and left <a href="" type="internal">thousands of women</a> with few options. Earlier this year, a reproductive rights group took that case <a href="" type="internal">all the way to the United Nations</a>, arguing that Texas has created a <a href="http://reproductiverights.org/en/feature/a-human-rights-crisis-in-texas-rio-grande-valley" type="external">human rights crisis</a>.</p>
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U.N. Warns Countries With Draconian Abortion Bans That They’re Violating Human Rights
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http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/07/25/3464116/united-nations-abortion-human-rights/
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2014-07-25
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U.N. Warns Countries With Draconian Abortion Bans That They’re Violating Human Rights
<p>United Nations officials are urging <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/un-urges-chile-allow-abortion-cases-193414712.html" type="external">several</a> <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28464086" type="external">countries</a> with particularly harsh abortion bans to increase legalization of the medical procedure, pointing out their current laws could be in breach of international human rights treaties.</p>
<p>In its periodic reviews of member countries’ policies to ensure they’re compliant with the <a href="http://www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/treaties-customary-law/geneva-conventions/" type="external">Geneva Conventions</a>, the U.N. Human Rights Committee is recommending that Ireland and Chile update their abortion laws to ensure access for more women. Those two countries have some of the most restrictive abortion policies in the world; Chile imposes a <a href="" type="internal">total ban</a> on the procedure, while Ireland has a nearly total ban with an <a href="" type="internal">extremely narrow exception</a>.</p>
<p>The U.N.’s <a href="http://static.rasset.ie/documents/news/un-document.pdf" type="external">report</a> on Ireland recommends that the country’s law should be revised “to provide for additional exceptions in cases of rape, incest, serious risks to the health of the mother, or fatal fetal abnormality.” Right now, an Irish woman can only have an abortion if her life is in immediate danger, or if she gets three different doctors to confirm that she suffers from mental health issues that put her at risk for suicide.</p>
<p>When <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/fitzgerald-told-ireland-s-abortion-law-breaches-human-rights-law-1.1866803" type="external">questioning Irish officials</a> about the law, members of the human rights committee asked how forcing a pregnant woman at risk of suicide to be examined by three doctors before being allowed to proceed with an abortion could be “consistent with the obligation to protect her against mental torture.” They also pointed out that the harsh law “adversely affects vulnerable groups of women,” like the low-income women who may not be able to navigate the complicated medical requirements. Ultimately, their report concludes, Ireland’s laws are <a href="http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/irish-women-are-being-denied-human-rights-says-un-report-1.1877329?page=1" type="external">depriving women of their human rights</a>.</p>
<p>Similarly, the committee is <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/un-urges-chile-allow-abortion-cases-193414712.html" type="external">instructing Chile</a> to “establish exceptions to the general prohibition of abortion, contemplating therapeutic abortion and in those cases in which the pregnancy is a consequence of a rape or incest.” U.N. officials expressed concern that an estimated 150,000 illegal abortions are performed in Chile each year, and encouraged lawmakers to “make sure that reproductive health services are accessible to all women and adolescents.”</p>
<p>Both Ireland and Chile have come under <a href="" type="internal">particular scrutiny</a> over the past year for their harsh abortion policies, making international headlines for tragic cases in which women have been denied reproductive care. There were <a href="" type="internal">massive global protests</a> after 31-year-old Savita Halappanavar’s death in Ireland, which could have been prevented if she had <a href="" type="internal">received an emergency abortion</a>, and widespread outrage after an 11-year-old Chilean rape victim was forced to <a href="" type="internal">continue a risky pregnancy</a>. In Ireland, pro-choice activists have been quietly helping women leave the country to terminate their pregnancies in other European nations, risking being sentenced to <a href="" type="internal">up to 14 years in prison</a> for disseminating information about abortion.</p>
<p>The United Nations has long taken the stance that countries should not deprive women of their reproductive options. <a href="" type="internal">Previous U.N. reports</a> have urged countries around the world to remove their “unnecessary barriers” to abortion, pointing out that thousands of <a href="" type="internal">young, poor women</a> in developing nations are <a href="" type="internal">dying</a> because of illegal abortion procedures in unsafe conditions.</p>
<p>This isn’t an issue that the United States is necessarily above, either. Although abortion is legal in this country, lawmakers have still imposed <a href="" type="internal">significant hurdles</a> to the procedure on the state level that prevent many women from being able to exercise their reproductive rights. Perhaps the best example of that unfolding dynamic is <a href="" type="internal">Texas</a>, where a harsh new law has forced <a href="" type="internal">half of the state’s abortion clinics</a> to close and left <a href="" type="internal">thousands of women</a> with few options. Earlier this year, a reproductive rights group took that case <a href="" type="internal">all the way to the United Nations</a>, arguing that Texas has created a <a href="http://reproductiverights.org/en/feature/a-human-rights-crisis-in-texas-rio-grande-valley" type="external">human rights crisis</a>.</p>
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<p>Afghanistan's president praised his government April 4 for releasing a Christian who had been threatened with death for abandoning Islam.</p>
<p>Hamid Karzai said the nation's judiciary was right not to bow to pressure from Muslim clerics and elected leaders, who had called for 41-year-old Abdul Rahman to be executed because of his conversion more than 14 years ago.</p>
<p>On March 26, Afghanistan's Supreme Court dismissed the government's case against Rahman. Legal officials cited a lack of evidence against him and a belief that he may be mentally unfit to stand trial.</p>
<p>Rahman was freed and went into immediate hiding March 27. He is now in Italy, where officials offered him asylum. Afterward, hundreds of Afghans protested the release, as did the nation's parliament, in a non-binding vote.</p>
<p>Rahman converted to Christianity while working for a Christian aid group in Pakistan in the early 1990s. He was only recently jailed after court leaders learned of his faith in a child-custody battle with his ex-wife.</p>
<p>Since his imprisonment made headlines, groups from multiple faiths, continents and political ideologies have decried the Afghan judicial system for the situation. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealed to Karzai to assure Rahman's safety.</p>
<p>The Afghan Constitution has separate sections protecting religious freedom and establishing Islam as the supreme law of the land. Some observers have warned that the tension between the two provisions would provide too much leeway to conservative Muslim jurists in cases such as Rahman's.</p>
<p>Associated Baptist Press</p>
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Afghan president praises treatment
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https://baptistnews.com/article/afghanpresidentpraisestreatment/
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Afghan president praises treatment
<p>Afghanistan's president praised his government April 4 for releasing a Christian who had been threatened with death for abandoning Islam.</p>
<p>Hamid Karzai said the nation's judiciary was right not to bow to pressure from Muslim clerics and elected leaders, who had called for 41-year-old Abdul Rahman to be executed because of his conversion more than 14 years ago.</p>
<p>On March 26, Afghanistan's Supreme Court dismissed the government's case against Rahman. Legal officials cited a lack of evidence against him and a belief that he may be mentally unfit to stand trial.</p>
<p>Rahman was freed and went into immediate hiding March 27. He is now in Italy, where officials offered him asylum. Afterward, hundreds of Afghans protested the release, as did the nation's parliament, in a non-binding vote.</p>
<p>Rahman converted to Christianity while working for a Christian aid group in Pakistan in the early 1990s. He was only recently jailed after court leaders learned of his faith in a child-custody battle with his ex-wife.</p>
<p>Since his imprisonment made headlines, groups from multiple faiths, continents and political ideologies have decried the Afghan judicial system for the situation. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice appealed to Karzai to assure Rahman's safety.</p>
<p>The Afghan Constitution has separate sections protecting religious freedom and establishing Islam as the supreme law of the land. Some observers have warned that the tension between the two provisions would provide too much leeway to conservative Muslim jurists in cases such as Rahman's.</p>
<p>Associated Baptist Press</p>
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<p>OSTILL/Thinkstock</p>
<p />
<p>I meet Melanie, 23, at the DC office of the immigration attorney who’s been handling her quest for for asylum here in the United States. She is zaftig and chic. Her fingernails, big enamel earrings, and the tips of her Afro are all the same brilliant shade of scarlet. From our chitchat, I can tell that on a normal day, she is calm, and collected. But not today. We’re here for her to recall the worst hours of her life.</p>
<p>It started when she was 19, Melanie tells me. Josef, a powerful friend of her father’s who is the head of her sub-Saharan country’s intelligence service, began sending her lascivious text messages: I love you. Will you go out with me? You have to see me.</p>
<p>When she changed her number, she says, he used his power as intelligence chief to find her new number. (At her request, we have changed both their names and withheld the name of her country.) When she ignored him, men in street clothes pulled her into a car and drove her to his office, where he threatened her with death if she didn’t sleep with him. Her father soon lost his position with a national company, Melanie says, and he spent weeks in jail. How about the police? I ask. Melanie snorts. “There’s no calling the police. The police work for him.”</p>
<p>Last summer, according to the account Melanie provided in her asylum application, Josef called her while she was jogging. He said he would see her soon. Two men appeared and dragged Melanie into a car as she writhed and screamed for help. They drove her to the outskirts of the city, where Josef was waiting. “Now you understand that I get what I want,” he said, Melanie recalls. He kicked her in the stomach and raped her.</p>
<p>In the summer of 2013, two months after her rape, Melanie obtained a student visa to attend college in the United States. But she didn’t have the money to go to school. Instead, upon getting off the plane, she petitioned the government to grant her asylum.</p>
<p>And with that, Melanie became part of a roiling dispute over the place of women in asylum law.</p>
<p>In order to win asylum in the United States, it’s not enough to have suffered, or even to have suffered at the hands of your government. Asylum seekers have to show that their persecution is the result of their membership in a racial, religious, national, political, or social group. This last category functions like a catch-all for groups that aren’t captured in the language of the law. Immigration attorneys have had success using the “social group” designation to protect gay and lesbian asylum seekers, for example, going back to the 1970s. But US immigration courts are furiously divided over what this means for someone like Melanie: Should being a woman count?</p>
<p>Melanie’s future depends on how the immigration judge she’s assigned answers that question.</p>
<p>“The law is a mess,” says Simona Agnolucci, a California patent attorney who represents asylum seekers pro bono. “There’s huge variation among which women will do best before immigration judges.”</p>
<p>Immigration advocates like Agnolucci have agitated for US courts to recognize that women in many countries are persecuted because their governments won’t or can’t protect them. Some Western countries already consider gender in asylum claims. Canada issued guidelines for granting asylum from gender-based persecution in 1993, and several European countries have done the same. In the US, Congress, the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the country’s top immigration court all have the power to settle this issue. But so far, none of them has done so.</p>
<p>Melanie’s reasons for fleeing her country are unique. But so are most women’s. In the past decade, courts have heard from women claiming membership in groups like “Salvadoran women unable to leave domestic relationship,” “Christian women in Iran who do not wish to adhere to the Islamic female dress code,” and “female members of the Bulu tribe who oppose polygamy.” There have been victims of rape, forced marriage, and domestic violence, women threatened with honor killings, and women accused of witchcraft. Whatever their different circumstances, they all face the same problem: Without membership in a protected class, their chances of winning asylum are doomed.</p>
<p>In a few circumstances, the law is well established. Most of the nation’s courts recognize women who fear female genital cutting as members of a group who may qualify for asylum. But only one federal appeals court has similarly recognized victims of forced marriage.</p>
<p>“It’s not because these judges are sexist. It’s because they haven’t received any guidance from on high,” says Bruce Einhorn, a retired immigration judge and part of a Justice Department team that Congress consulted when writing the US asylum statute in the 1980s. Today, he runs a nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of asylum seekers.</p>
<p>Without that guidance, it’s common for judges to conclude that the horrors women experience in other countries are just crimes; they’re not targeted at women as a group. “Some judges say, ‘This man didn’t beat his wife because she was part of a protected class—he did it because he was drunk,'” Agnolucci says. “But the authorities don’t do anything to help these women. And that’s why these women are entitled to asylum. There is no judge, no police officer, no court, nobody to help them. They live in a society where there is no recourse under the law.”</p>
<p>In 2000, then-Attorney General Janet Reno proposed rules to address this problem by clarifying that gender is an acceptable basis for creating a protected social group. But the rules went nowhere during the final days of the Clinton administration, and the incoming Bush administration did little to advance them. When Obama took office, though, a monumental policy change seemed imminent. That year, the Justice Department promised to issue a new version of Reno’s rules, and congressional Democrats piled on by holding a hearing on the issue. The Justice Department has spent the past several years drafting rules based on Reno’s proposal. But those rules appear to be stalled now. Immigrant rights activists suspect that the Obama administration has been cowed by the politics of immigration reform. A spokeswoman for the DOJ declined to comment on the rules.</p>
<p>Lacking clear rules, immigration judges have rendered wildly diverging decisions—setting different precedents—on cases involving very similar circumstances. Take the cases of Johana Cece and Vitore Rreshpja, two twentysomething women who narrowly escaped kidnapping by sex traffickers in Albania. Because they applied for asylum in different states, their cases eventually ended up before two different federal appeals courts, which made opposite rulings. The rulings established two wildly different precedents in the 6th and 7th circuits. Now, a sex-trafficking victim who lands in Indiana has a much better chance of winning asylum than a victim with an identical case in Ohio, who has almost no chance.</p>
<p>In the absence of executive or legislative action, the nation’s top immigration court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, is starting to take action on its own. In August, in response to one Guatemalan woman’s asylum claim, the BIA ruled that “married women in Guatemala who are unable to leave their relationship” are a social group under the law. The ruling gave hundreds of Guatemalan women who flee domestic violence the legal right to ask for asylum, although not a guarantee they will get it; immigration judges still weigh factors like credibility, and whether the treatment rose to the level of persecution.</p>
<p>This was the BIA’s first decision on matters pertaining to female asylum seekers in 14 years. Immigration courts are expected to apply this ruling to women from other troubled countries who are fleeing domestic violence. There is no telling, though, when the court, which has more than 20,0000 other immigration cases pending, will get around to ruling on other categories of women. There is intense political pressure from conservatives against “opening the floodgates”—the idea that each new protected category would cause a tidal wave of asylum seekers to enter the United States. Steven Camarota, a member of the far-right Center for Immigration Studies, summed this argument up when he groused that BIA’s August ruling was so broad that “tens or hundreds of millions” of women will soon be pouring over America’s border.</p>
<p>Advocates for clarifying the law chafe at this notion. Lisa Frydman, the director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, notes that immigration judges, the BIA, and US federal courts have recognized many broad groups, including Coptic Christians living in Egypt, a group of at least 4 million people. And there is a category for practically anyone who defects from Cuba, an island of 11 million.</p>
<p>“The reality is that most women who need asylum never get to the US,” Einhorn says. “They just don’t. We are dealing with only a fraction of women and girls who need protection.”</p>
<p>Melanie, because she wasn’t in a domestic relationship with her rapist, isn’t going to benefit from the BIA’s recent ruling. But she has powerful evidence for her argument that she was not just abused, but persecuted. Josef’s intelligence agency has been singled out in several international human rights reports. When Melanie was younger, in order to avoid Josef, she went abroad for school. Melanie says that Josef let her know, when she returned, that he had tracked her movements outside the country.</p>
<p>Josef raped Melanie in that house over the course of two days, she says, until she couldn’t walk. Once Melanie was in the United States, her mother reported Josef to the police. Her mother knew it was a bad idea, Melanie says, but she couldn’t stop herself: “She was like, ‘I cannot just sit here.'” In late 2013, Melanie’s father received a summons to go to their local police station. He hasn’t returned.</p>
<p>I ask Melanie what she expected when she came to the US. “Just a safe country,” she says. “Somewhere I can hide and get a life.” But without knowing how her asylum case will be decided, she says, she can’t relax. “You never know what time they may call you and say, ‘No, we don’t believe you.'” When Melanie sleeps, she is wracked by night terrors. Last summer, an anxiety attack sent her to the hospital. She lives with strangers—her mother’s friend or a friend of a friend. On many days—especially before she obtained her work authorization, and had nothing to distract her—she locks herself in the room where she sleeps and lies on the floor.</p>
<p>On the walk from her lawyer’s office to the Metro station, Melanie tells me about the person she used to be. The student who kicked ass in math class. The person who loves languages, and taught herself English as a little girl from books and movies. Back then she liked romance movies. “Not anymore. Now I like horror movies,” she says. Movies like The Exorcist, with demons and evil spirits. “Because those are real.”</p>
<p />
|
The Obama Administration Pledged to Fix the Asylum System for Women. 6 Years Later…
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/01/legal-challenges-for-women-asylum-seekers/
|
2015-01-26
| 4left
|
The Obama Administration Pledged to Fix the Asylum System for Women. 6 Years Later…
<p>OSTILL/Thinkstock</p>
<p />
<p>I meet Melanie, 23, at the DC office of the immigration attorney who’s been handling her quest for for asylum here in the United States. She is zaftig and chic. Her fingernails, big enamel earrings, and the tips of her Afro are all the same brilliant shade of scarlet. From our chitchat, I can tell that on a normal day, she is calm, and collected. But not today. We’re here for her to recall the worst hours of her life.</p>
<p>It started when she was 19, Melanie tells me. Josef, a powerful friend of her father’s who is the head of her sub-Saharan country’s intelligence service, began sending her lascivious text messages: I love you. Will you go out with me? You have to see me.</p>
<p>When she changed her number, she says, he used his power as intelligence chief to find her new number. (At her request, we have changed both their names and withheld the name of her country.) When she ignored him, men in street clothes pulled her into a car and drove her to his office, where he threatened her with death if she didn’t sleep with him. Her father soon lost his position with a national company, Melanie says, and he spent weeks in jail. How about the police? I ask. Melanie snorts. “There’s no calling the police. The police work for him.”</p>
<p>Last summer, according to the account Melanie provided in her asylum application, Josef called her while she was jogging. He said he would see her soon. Two men appeared and dragged Melanie into a car as she writhed and screamed for help. They drove her to the outskirts of the city, where Josef was waiting. “Now you understand that I get what I want,” he said, Melanie recalls. He kicked her in the stomach and raped her.</p>
<p>In the summer of 2013, two months after her rape, Melanie obtained a student visa to attend college in the United States. But she didn’t have the money to go to school. Instead, upon getting off the plane, she petitioned the government to grant her asylum.</p>
<p>And with that, Melanie became part of a roiling dispute over the place of women in asylum law.</p>
<p>In order to win asylum in the United States, it’s not enough to have suffered, or even to have suffered at the hands of your government. Asylum seekers have to show that their persecution is the result of their membership in a racial, religious, national, political, or social group. This last category functions like a catch-all for groups that aren’t captured in the language of the law. Immigration attorneys have had success using the “social group” designation to protect gay and lesbian asylum seekers, for example, going back to the 1970s. But US immigration courts are furiously divided over what this means for someone like Melanie: Should being a woman count?</p>
<p>Melanie’s future depends on how the immigration judge she’s assigned answers that question.</p>
<p>“The law is a mess,” says Simona Agnolucci, a California patent attorney who represents asylum seekers pro bono. “There’s huge variation among which women will do best before immigration judges.”</p>
<p>Immigration advocates like Agnolucci have agitated for US courts to recognize that women in many countries are persecuted because their governments won’t or can’t protect them. Some Western countries already consider gender in asylum claims. Canada issued guidelines for granting asylum from gender-based persecution in 1993, and several European countries have done the same. In the US, Congress, the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the country’s top immigration court all have the power to settle this issue. But so far, none of them has done so.</p>
<p>Melanie’s reasons for fleeing her country are unique. But so are most women’s. In the past decade, courts have heard from women claiming membership in groups like “Salvadoran women unable to leave domestic relationship,” “Christian women in Iran who do not wish to adhere to the Islamic female dress code,” and “female members of the Bulu tribe who oppose polygamy.” There have been victims of rape, forced marriage, and domestic violence, women threatened with honor killings, and women accused of witchcraft. Whatever their different circumstances, they all face the same problem: Without membership in a protected class, their chances of winning asylum are doomed.</p>
<p>In a few circumstances, the law is well established. Most of the nation’s courts recognize women who fear female genital cutting as members of a group who may qualify for asylum. But only one federal appeals court has similarly recognized victims of forced marriage.</p>
<p>“It’s not because these judges are sexist. It’s because they haven’t received any guidance from on high,” says Bruce Einhorn, a retired immigration judge and part of a Justice Department team that Congress consulted when writing the US asylum statute in the 1980s. Today, he runs a nonprofit group that advocates on behalf of asylum seekers.</p>
<p>Without that guidance, it’s common for judges to conclude that the horrors women experience in other countries are just crimes; they’re not targeted at women as a group. “Some judges say, ‘This man didn’t beat his wife because she was part of a protected class—he did it because he was drunk,'” Agnolucci says. “But the authorities don’t do anything to help these women. And that’s why these women are entitled to asylum. There is no judge, no police officer, no court, nobody to help them. They live in a society where there is no recourse under the law.”</p>
<p>In 2000, then-Attorney General Janet Reno proposed rules to address this problem by clarifying that gender is an acceptable basis for creating a protected social group. But the rules went nowhere during the final days of the Clinton administration, and the incoming Bush administration did little to advance them. When Obama took office, though, a monumental policy change seemed imminent. That year, the Justice Department promised to issue a new version of Reno’s rules, and congressional Democrats piled on by holding a hearing on the issue. The Justice Department has spent the past several years drafting rules based on Reno’s proposal. But those rules appear to be stalled now. Immigrant rights activists suspect that the Obama administration has been cowed by the politics of immigration reform. A spokeswoman for the DOJ declined to comment on the rules.</p>
<p>Lacking clear rules, immigration judges have rendered wildly diverging decisions—setting different precedents—on cases involving very similar circumstances. Take the cases of Johana Cece and Vitore Rreshpja, two twentysomething women who narrowly escaped kidnapping by sex traffickers in Albania. Because they applied for asylum in different states, their cases eventually ended up before two different federal appeals courts, which made opposite rulings. The rulings established two wildly different precedents in the 6th and 7th circuits. Now, a sex-trafficking victim who lands in Indiana has a much better chance of winning asylum than a victim with an identical case in Ohio, who has almost no chance.</p>
<p>In the absence of executive or legislative action, the nation’s top immigration court, the Board of Immigration Appeals, is starting to take action on its own. In August, in response to one Guatemalan woman’s asylum claim, the BIA ruled that “married women in Guatemala who are unable to leave their relationship” are a social group under the law. The ruling gave hundreds of Guatemalan women who flee domestic violence the legal right to ask for asylum, although not a guarantee they will get it; immigration judges still weigh factors like credibility, and whether the treatment rose to the level of persecution.</p>
<p>This was the BIA’s first decision on matters pertaining to female asylum seekers in 14 years. Immigration courts are expected to apply this ruling to women from other troubled countries who are fleeing domestic violence. There is no telling, though, when the court, which has more than 20,0000 other immigration cases pending, will get around to ruling on other categories of women. There is intense political pressure from conservatives against “opening the floodgates”—the idea that each new protected category would cause a tidal wave of asylum seekers to enter the United States. Steven Camarota, a member of the far-right Center for Immigration Studies, summed this argument up when he groused that BIA’s August ruling was so broad that “tens or hundreds of millions” of women will soon be pouring over America’s border.</p>
<p>Advocates for clarifying the law chafe at this notion. Lisa Frydman, the director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, notes that immigration judges, the BIA, and US federal courts have recognized many broad groups, including Coptic Christians living in Egypt, a group of at least 4 million people. And there is a category for practically anyone who defects from Cuba, an island of 11 million.</p>
<p>“The reality is that most women who need asylum never get to the US,” Einhorn says. “They just don’t. We are dealing with only a fraction of women and girls who need protection.”</p>
<p>Melanie, because she wasn’t in a domestic relationship with her rapist, isn’t going to benefit from the BIA’s recent ruling. But she has powerful evidence for her argument that she was not just abused, but persecuted. Josef’s intelligence agency has been singled out in several international human rights reports. When Melanie was younger, in order to avoid Josef, she went abroad for school. Melanie says that Josef let her know, when she returned, that he had tracked her movements outside the country.</p>
<p>Josef raped Melanie in that house over the course of two days, she says, until she couldn’t walk. Once Melanie was in the United States, her mother reported Josef to the police. Her mother knew it was a bad idea, Melanie says, but she couldn’t stop herself: “She was like, ‘I cannot just sit here.'” In late 2013, Melanie’s father received a summons to go to their local police station. He hasn’t returned.</p>
<p>I ask Melanie what she expected when she came to the US. “Just a safe country,” she says. “Somewhere I can hide and get a life.” But without knowing how her asylum case will be decided, she says, she can’t relax. “You never know what time they may call you and say, ‘No, we don’t believe you.'” When Melanie sleeps, she is wracked by night terrors. Last summer, an anxiety attack sent her to the hospital. She lives with strangers—her mother’s friend or a friend of a friend. On many days—especially before she obtained her work authorization, and had nothing to distract her—she locks herself in the room where she sleeps and lies on the floor.</p>
<p>On the walk from her lawyer’s office to the Metro station, Melanie tells me about the person she used to be. The student who kicked ass in math class. The person who loves languages, and taught herself English as a little girl from books and movies. Back then she liked romance movies. “Not anymore. Now I like horror movies,” she says. Movies like The Exorcist, with demons and evil spirits. “Because those are real.”</p>
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#ThrowbackThursday: How the world looked on this day in history
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2014-01-30/throwbackthursday-how-world-looked-day-history
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2014-01-30
| 3left-center
|
#ThrowbackThursday: How the world looked on this day in history
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<p />
<p>The Cleveland Indians have the longest winning streak in Major League Baseball (MLB) in more than a century after their 3-2 extra innings victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In earning their 22nd consecutive win, the Indians moved past the 1935 Chicago Cubs for the second-longest streak in MLB history.</p>
<p>Only the New York Giants (26) had a longer run of success but their remarkable 1916 stretch, which is recognized by MLB as the longest in major league history, included a tie.</p>
<p>Cleveland's streak seemed destined to end at 21 games when they were down to their final out, trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, and down to their last strike.</p>
<p>But shortstop Francisco Lindor saved the day with a double to deep left field, which brought in a run and sent the game to extra innings.</p>
<p>Second baseman Jose Ramirez doubled with nobody out in the bottom of the 10th inning to set up the victory. After designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion walked, right fielder Jay Bruce sealed the deal with a walkoff RBI double as the home crowd broke into a frenzy.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"We had some opportunities and didn't cash in but we kept playing," Cleveland manager Terry Francona told reporters.</p>
<p>"That was a great atmosphere. It's better when you win, but the experience for some of our young guys in incredible right now. They're learning on the job right smack in the middle of this."</p>
<p>Cleveland have dominated their opponents since their run began, a stretch during which every other American League team has lost at least eight games.</p>
<p>The Indians have outscored their opponents by a whopping 137-34 margin during the streak and have enjoyed top-notch pitching the entire way as well as a potent offense that has shown no signs of slowing down.</p>
<p>Cleveland, which lost the decisive seventh game of last year's World Series in extra innings, have the best record in the American League, 91-56.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)</p>
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Indians' winning streak at 22 games after victory over Royals
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/15/indians-winning-streak-at-22-games-after-victory-over-royals.html
|
2017-09-15
| 0right
|
Indians' winning streak at 22 games after victory over Royals
<p />
<p>The Cleveland Indians have the longest winning streak in Major League Baseball (MLB) in more than a century after their 3-2 extra innings victory over the Kansas City Royals on Thursday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>In earning their 22nd consecutive win, the Indians moved past the 1935 Chicago Cubs for the second-longest streak in MLB history.</p>
<p>Only the New York Giants (26) had a longer run of success but their remarkable 1916 stretch, which is recognized by MLB as the longest in major league history, included a tie.</p>
<p>Cleveland's streak seemed destined to end at 21 games when they were down to their final out, trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the ninth, and down to their last strike.</p>
<p>But shortstop Francisco Lindor saved the day with a double to deep left field, which brought in a run and sent the game to extra innings.</p>
<p>Second baseman Jose Ramirez doubled with nobody out in the bottom of the 10th inning to set up the victory. After designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion walked, right fielder Jay Bruce sealed the deal with a walkoff RBI double as the home crowd broke into a frenzy.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"We had some opportunities and didn't cash in but we kept playing," Cleveland manager Terry Francona told reporters.</p>
<p>"That was a great atmosphere. It's better when you win, but the experience for some of our young guys in incredible right now. They're learning on the job right smack in the middle of this."</p>
<p>Cleveland have dominated their opponents since their run began, a stretch during which every other American League team has lost at least eight games.</p>
<p>The Indians have outscored their opponents by a whopping 137-34 margin during the streak and have enjoyed top-notch pitching the entire way as well as a potent offense that has shown no signs of slowing down.</p>
<p>Cleveland, which lost the decisive seventh game of last year's World Series in extra innings, have the best record in the American League, 91-56.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)</p>
| 6,472 |
<p />
<p>&#160; &#160; Craig Stephen Hicks was charged with three counts of murder early Wednesday. (AP/Durham County Sheriff’s Office)</p>
<p>People who knew the man accused of gunning down three Muslim American students in North Carolina this week — an act many suspect to be a hate crime motivated by cultural differences — describe him as angry and lacking compassion.</p>
<p>Craig Stephen Hicks reportedly often fumed over his failure to get the parking spot he desired in the lot at his apartment complex.</p>
<p />
<p>AP reports:</p>
<p>Charged with three counts of first-degree murder is Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who has described himself as a “gun toting” atheist. Neighbors said Wednesday that he always seemed angry and confrontational. His ex-wife said he was obsessed with the shooting-rampage movie “Falling Down” and showed “no compassion at all” for other people.</p>
<p>… A Second Amendment rights advocate with a concealed weapons permit, Hicks often complained about organized religion on Facebook. “Some call me a gun toting Liberal, others call me an open-minded Conservative,” Hicks wrote.</p>
<p>“Anytime that I saw him or saw interaction with him or friends or anyone in the parking lot or myself, he was angry,” [neighbor] Samantha Maness said. “He was very angry, anytime I saw him.”</p>
<p>Read more <a href="http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Xr3MxQ1B" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p>
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Suspect in Muslim Students' Murders Called Chronically Upset and Confrontational
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/suspect-in-muslim-students-murders-called-chronically-upset-and-confrontational/
|
2015-02-12
| 4left
|
Suspect in Muslim Students' Murders Called Chronically Upset and Confrontational
<p />
<p>&#160; &#160; Craig Stephen Hicks was charged with three counts of murder early Wednesday. (AP/Durham County Sheriff’s Office)</p>
<p>People who knew the man accused of gunning down three Muslim American students in North Carolina this week — an act many suspect to be a hate crime motivated by cultural differences — describe him as angry and lacking compassion.</p>
<p>Craig Stephen Hicks reportedly often fumed over his failure to get the parking spot he desired in the lot at his apartment complex.</p>
<p />
<p>AP reports:</p>
<p>Charged with three counts of first-degree murder is Craig Stephen Hicks, 46, who has described himself as a “gun toting” atheist. Neighbors said Wednesday that he always seemed angry and confrontational. His ex-wife said he was obsessed with the shooting-rampage movie “Falling Down” and showed “no compassion at all” for other people.</p>
<p>… A Second Amendment rights advocate with a concealed weapons permit, Hicks often complained about organized religion on Facebook. “Some call me a gun toting Liberal, others call me an open-minded Conservative,” Hicks wrote.</p>
<p>“Anytime that I saw him or saw interaction with him or friends or anyone in the parking lot or myself, he was angry,” [neighbor] Samantha Maness said. “He was very angry, anytime I saw him.”</p>
<p>Read more <a href="http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=Xr3MxQ1B" type="external">here</a>.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Alexander Reed Kelly</a>.</p>
| 6,473 |
<p>July 26 (UPI) — <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ashley_Tisdale/" type="external">Ashley Tisdale</a> and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Lea_Michele/" type="external">Lea Michele</a> came together to cover Robyn’s 2010 hit Dancing on My Own on YouTube.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyDUmqEPhnY" type="external">The video</a> which was posted on Tuesday as part of Tisdale’s ongoing Music Sessions series, features the High School Musical and Glee stars sitting side-by-side on a couch as they perform the song alongside Tisdale’s husband Christopher French, who joins in on guitar.</p>
<p>“Somebody said you got a new friend,” Michele begins before Tisdale accompanies her friend by singing, “Does she love you better than I can?”</p>
<p>“Hey guys!! You’ve been asking for a collab with this lovely lady…here it is!!” Tisdale wrote in the description of the video.</p>
<p>On <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BW-mRpRBGYA/?taken-by=leamichele" type="external">Instagram</a>, Michele shared a photo of the pair embracing each other while sitting down within Tisdale’s outdoors set.</p>
<p>Tisdale has <a href="https://www.upi.com/High-School-Musical-stars-Ashley-Tisdale-Lucas-Grabeel-reunite-for-song/2811495640633/" type="external">previously performed</a> with her High School Musical co-stars Lucas Grabeel and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Vanessa_Hudgens/" type="external">Vanessa Hudgens</a> for Music Sessions.</p>
|
Ashley Tisdale teams up with Lea Michele to cover 'Dancing on My Own'
| false |
https://newsline.com/ashley-tisdale-teams-up-with-lea-michele-to-cover-dancing-on-my-own/
|
2017-07-26
| 1right-center
|
Ashley Tisdale teams up with Lea Michele to cover 'Dancing on My Own'
<p>July 26 (UPI) — <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ashley_Tisdale/" type="external">Ashley Tisdale</a> and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Lea_Michele/" type="external">Lea Michele</a> came together to cover Robyn’s 2010 hit Dancing on My Own on YouTube.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyDUmqEPhnY" type="external">The video</a> which was posted on Tuesday as part of Tisdale’s ongoing Music Sessions series, features the High School Musical and Glee stars sitting side-by-side on a couch as they perform the song alongside Tisdale’s husband Christopher French, who joins in on guitar.</p>
<p>“Somebody said you got a new friend,” Michele begins before Tisdale accompanies her friend by singing, “Does she love you better than I can?”</p>
<p>“Hey guys!! You’ve been asking for a collab with this lovely lady…here it is!!” Tisdale wrote in the description of the video.</p>
<p>On <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BW-mRpRBGYA/?taken-by=leamichele" type="external">Instagram</a>, Michele shared a photo of the pair embracing each other while sitting down within Tisdale’s outdoors set.</p>
<p>Tisdale has <a href="https://www.upi.com/High-School-Musical-stars-Ashley-Tisdale-Lucas-Grabeel-reunite-for-song/2811495640633/" type="external">previously performed</a> with her High School Musical co-stars Lucas Grabeel and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Vanessa_Hudgens/" type="external">Vanessa Hudgens</a> for Music Sessions.</p>
| 6,474 |
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Washington Free Beacon Staff</a>October 8, 2014 7:40 pm</p>
<p>Democrat Aaron Woolf insulted women during Wednesday’s debate for the U.S. House seat of&#160;New York’s 21st district.</p>
<p>Woolf launched his own ‘War on Women' during the debate when he claimed Stefanik is a white-collar worker who just does paperwork.</p>
<p>"You've lived a very white collar life," Woolf said to Stefanik. "I don’t know if you have ever worked manually for a living like I have and I’m certain that [Green Party candidate&#160;Matt Funiciello] probably has-I don’t know if you can say something to a 49-year-old who’s working with their body-with their hands- it’s very different thing from sitting behind a desk and operating a computer."</p>
<p><a href="http://eliseforcongress.com/about/" type="external">According to her website</a>, Stefanik runs sales, marketing, and management for her family company, Premium Plywood Products, Inc.</p>
<p>"You’re the only multi-millionaire running for this race," Stefanik said. "I’m very proud of my experience working for my family’s small business. We sell plywood."</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.harperpolling.com/polls/new-york-cd-21-general-election-poll" type="external">Harper poll</a> published recently&#160;shows Stefanik leading by 8 points.</p>
<p>New York's 21st district seat is currently held by Rep. Bill Owens (D), who is retiring.</p>
|
War On Women: Dem Candidate Questions Female GOP Candidate’s Work Credentials
| true |
http://freebeacon.com/politics/war-on-women-dem-candidate-questions-female-gop-candidates-work-credentials/
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2014-10-08
| 0right
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War On Women: Dem Candidate Questions Female GOP Candidate’s Work Credentials
<p>BY: <a href="" type="internal">Washington Free Beacon Staff</a>October 8, 2014 7:40 pm</p>
<p>Democrat Aaron Woolf insulted women during Wednesday’s debate for the U.S. House seat of&#160;New York’s 21st district.</p>
<p>Woolf launched his own ‘War on Women' during the debate when he claimed Stefanik is a white-collar worker who just does paperwork.</p>
<p>"You've lived a very white collar life," Woolf said to Stefanik. "I don’t know if you have ever worked manually for a living like I have and I’m certain that [Green Party candidate&#160;Matt Funiciello] probably has-I don’t know if you can say something to a 49-year-old who’s working with their body-with their hands- it’s very different thing from sitting behind a desk and operating a computer."</p>
<p><a href="http://eliseforcongress.com/about/" type="external">According to her website</a>, Stefanik runs sales, marketing, and management for her family company, Premium Plywood Products, Inc.</p>
<p>"You’re the only multi-millionaire running for this race," Stefanik said. "I’m very proud of my experience working for my family’s small business. We sell plywood."</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.harperpolling.com/polls/new-york-cd-21-general-election-poll" type="external">Harper poll</a> published recently&#160;shows Stefanik leading by 8 points.</p>
<p>New York's 21st district seat is currently held by Rep. Bill Owens (D), who is retiring.</p>
| 6,475 |
<p>The recession/depression is less than a year old, but it’s already driving South Carolina’s governing elite over the abyss. Senators Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham rant theatrically on the Senate floor about the dangers of the Obama administration’s stimulus package. Graham goes so far as to say that passage will destroy the country. Soon he’ll be walking around the rotunda carrying a “The End is Near” sign.</p>
<p>Governor Mark Sanford says he doesn’t want anything to do with Washington’s tainted money. He would prefer more tried-and-untrue deregulation and tax cuts. Never mind the state’s poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and third world infant mortality rate. Sanford hates government, and is content to let the state remain in freefall while waiting for so-called free market wonders to kick in.</p>
<p>The heart of the problem – theirs and ours – is not that our political leaders are conservatives, but rather that they are inflexible ideologues wedded to a failed economic system. They are generals fighting not the last war but the one before that. Ronald Reagan has fallen off his horse. The invisible hand of Adam Smith has slapped us down. The free market first ran amuck then ran aground. Government is now regarded as the solution, not the problem, and this sticks in their craws like day-old cornbread.</p>
<p>Just across the state line, Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, weighs his fall from grace and considers his limited options. Despite an infusion of 45 billion tax dollars last year, BOA is essentially bankrupt. But Lewis tells the Charlotte Observer that it is “absurd” to think that his bank might be nationalized. A day or two later he’s in Washington with the heads of other large banks, all holding their tin cups out and promising to do right. Lewis, unlike our politicians, will take the money gladly. But the banks will likely be nationalized anyway. No one should have to tell him that ownership and control follow like hand in glove.</p>
<p>BOA and SC have one thing in common: they are both insolvent and require a public bailout to stay afloat. A look beneath the surface reveals that things have not changed that much. BOA has benefited from corporate welfare for decades, mostly in the form of tax breaks. SC has been surviving on another form of welfare: the state gets $1. 35 back for every $1 it sends to the federal government. The day of economic reckoning has arrived. Despite his rhetoric, Governor Sanford will swallow hard and take the stimulus money. He’s preparing his (2012) presidential resume and will sacrifice principle for ambition.</p>
<p>Neither the bank mogul nor the politico can cope with the unintended consequences of their blind faith in the market. Hypocrisy is okay as long as it doesn’t morph into tacky; then the game is over. Eating humble pie is humiliating for Lewis, and un-presidential for Sanford. But if either turned his back on the bailout, he would likely be tarred and feathered. Lewis by his board and heirs and Sanford by the 20 percent unemployed in the state’s rural counties.</p>
<p>The high-rolling capitalists who control the banking institutions pushed them beyond their limits. They rejected common-sense regulation and ended up with caviar on their faces. They surely recognize by now that they must get out of the way or accept the new reality. Nationalizing the banks could get credit flowing through the system and separate out the toxic debt, mostly bad mortgages. The moguls will take what they can grab and run.</p>
<p>Not so with our political leadership (sic). They grew up fighting federal interference, and will not change their tune or their minds for a few billion dollars. We can expect to see reluctant acceptance from them, but ne’r a trace of gratitude. They know that the stimulus package will not go far in correcting the many ills of South Carolina. Waiting for failure, they are already practicing their lines: “I told you so.”</p>
<p>The Obama administration should bite the bullet — nationalize and restructure the big banks. Others smarter than I have already suggested this approach. But in the spirit of Jonathan Swift, I would take it one step further with this modest proposal:</p>
<p>Mr. President, nationalize my state, please. South Carolina failed Reconstruction 101, but that was more than 100 years ago. Give us another shot at it, and maybe we’ll get it right this time. Send the governor packing, disband the dysfunctional legislature, and restructure state government. That may be the only way to save us from ourselves.</p>
<p>WAYNE CLARK lives in South Carolina where he writes about politics and current events. His email address is <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Take My State, Please
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2009/02/20/take-my-state-please/
|
2009-02-20
| 4left
|
Take My State, Please
<p>The recession/depression is less than a year old, but it’s already driving South Carolina’s governing elite over the abyss. Senators Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham rant theatrically on the Senate floor about the dangers of the Obama administration’s stimulus package. Graham goes so far as to say that passage will destroy the country. Soon he’ll be walking around the rotunda carrying a “The End is Near” sign.</p>
<p>Governor Mark Sanford says he doesn’t want anything to do with Washington’s tainted money. He would prefer more tried-and-untrue deregulation and tax cuts. Never mind the state’s poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and third world infant mortality rate. Sanford hates government, and is content to let the state remain in freefall while waiting for so-called free market wonders to kick in.</p>
<p>The heart of the problem – theirs and ours – is not that our political leaders are conservatives, but rather that they are inflexible ideologues wedded to a failed economic system. They are generals fighting not the last war but the one before that. Ronald Reagan has fallen off his horse. The invisible hand of Adam Smith has slapped us down. The free market first ran amuck then ran aground. Government is now regarded as the solution, not the problem, and this sticks in their craws like day-old cornbread.</p>
<p>Just across the state line, Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, weighs his fall from grace and considers his limited options. Despite an infusion of 45 billion tax dollars last year, BOA is essentially bankrupt. But Lewis tells the Charlotte Observer that it is “absurd” to think that his bank might be nationalized. A day or two later he’s in Washington with the heads of other large banks, all holding their tin cups out and promising to do right. Lewis, unlike our politicians, will take the money gladly. But the banks will likely be nationalized anyway. No one should have to tell him that ownership and control follow like hand in glove.</p>
<p>BOA and SC have one thing in common: they are both insolvent and require a public bailout to stay afloat. A look beneath the surface reveals that things have not changed that much. BOA has benefited from corporate welfare for decades, mostly in the form of tax breaks. SC has been surviving on another form of welfare: the state gets $1. 35 back for every $1 it sends to the federal government. The day of economic reckoning has arrived. Despite his rhetoric, Governor Sanford will swallow hard and take the stimulus money. He’s preparing his (2012) presidential resume and will sacrifice principle for ambition.</p>
<p>Neither the bank mogul nor the politico can cope with the unintended consequences of their blind faith in the market. Hypocrisy is okay as long as it doesn’t morph into tacky; then the game is over. Eating humble pie is humiliating for Lewis, and un-presidential for Sanford. But if either turned his back on the bailout, he would likely be tarred and feathered. Lewis by his board and heirs and Sanford by the 20 percent unemployed in the state’s rural counties.</p>
<p>The high-rolling capitalists who control the banking institutions pushed them beyond their limits. They rejected common-sense regulation and ended up with caviar on their faces. They surely recognize by now that they must get out of the way or accept the new reality. Nationalizing the banks could get credit flowing through the system and separate out the toxic debt, mostly bad mortgages. The moguls will take what they can grab and run.</p>
<p>Not so with our political leadership (sic). They grew up fighting federal interference, and will not change their tune or their minds for a few billion dollars. We can expect to see reluctant acceptance from them, but ne’r a trace of gratitude. They know that the stimulus package will not go far in correcting the many ills of South Carolina. Waiting for failure, they are already practicing their lines: “I told you so.”</p>
<p>The Obama administration should bite the bullet — nationalize and restructure the big banks. Others smarter than I have already suggested this approach. But in the spirit of Jonathan Swift, I would take it one step further with this modest proposal:</p>
<p>Mr. President, nationalize my state, please. South Carolina failed Reconstruction 101, but that was more than 100 years ago. Give us another shot at it, and maybe we’ll get it right this time. Send the governor packing, disband the dysfunctional legislature, and restructure state government. That may be the only way to save us from ourselves.</p>
<p>WAYNE CLARK lives in South Carolina where he writes about politics and current events. His email address is <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,476 |
<p>Funny. Something seems wrong about that headline.</p>
<p>Not factually wrong, mind you.</p>
<p>Just, well, wrong.</p>
<p>But today, Bernie Sanders took Hollywood by storm and made out like a, well, a capitalist.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bernie-sanders-wows-hollywood-progressives-804004" type="external">Hollywood Reporter</a>, though Bernie didn’t have the payday of say the Marxist Obama’s fundraising from earlier this week or even the Marxista Hillary, he still did pretty darn good for a guy who vilifies the rich.</p>
<p>“I’m here with my wife and my friends because we believe Bernie is providing us with the opportunity to have a voice and a role in the Democratic process at a time when progressives are on the rise,” said former California state Senator Tom Hayden, who introduced Sanders at the Van Nuys event.</p>
<p>Well, I hate to break it to the former Mr. Jane Fonda, but the only place progressivism is on the rise is in Manhattan, Hollywood and every university campus. That pesky thing we call the rest of America, well, not so much.</p>
<p>Any old how.</p>
<p>Bernie wowed the folks with his talk about income inequality.</p>
<p>I know, right?</p>
<p>I’m sure they were also loving that whole “make the rich pay more in taxes” thing.</p>
<p>Why should they worry?</p>
<p>What the hell do you think the Cayman Island are for?!</p>
<p>This quote made me laugh until I had a coughing fit:</p>
<p>Amid rousing applause he added: “Let’s stand together and let’s do what needs to be done to make this country the greatest country in the world.”</p>
<p>Yeah. Nothing makes a country great quite like socialism.</p>
<p>I’m surprised he didn’t say, “Next stop Sweden West!”</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Hit the tip jar DONATE button in the side bar. Even a few bucks can make a world of difference!</p>
|
Socialist rakes in the big bucks
| true |
http://patriotretort.com/socialist-rakes-in-the-big-bucks/
|
2015-06-20
| 0right
|
Socialist rakes in the big bucks
<p>Funny. Something seems wrong about that headline.</p>
<p>Not factually wrong, mind you.</p>
<p>Just, well, wrong.</p>
<p>But today, Bernie Sanders took Hollywood by storm and made out like a, well, a capitalist.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/bernie-sanders-wows-hollywood-progressives-804004" type="external">Hollywood Reporter</a>, though Bernie didn’t have the payday of say the Marxist Obama’s fundraising from earlier this week or even the Marxista Hillary, he still did pretty darn good for a guy who vilifies the rich.</p>
<p>“I’m here with my wife and my friends because we believe Bernie is providing us with the opportunity to have a voice and a role in the Democratic process at a time when progressives are on the rise,” said former California state Senator Tom Hayden, who introduced Sanders at the Van Nuys event.</p>
<p>Well, I hate to break it to the former Mr. Jane Fonda, but the only place progressivism is on the rise is in Manhattan, Hollywood and every university campus. That pesky thing we call the rest of America, well, not so much.</p>
<p>Any old how.</p>
<p>Bernie wowed the folks with his talk about income inequality.</p>
<p>I know, right?</p>
<p>I’m sure they were also loving that whole “make the rich pay more in taxes” thing.</p>
<p>Why should they worry?</p>
<p>What the hell do you think the Cayman Island are for?!</p>
<p>This quote made me laugh until I had a coughing fit:</p>
<p>Amid rousing applause he added: “Let’s stand together and let’s do what needs to be done to make this country the greatest country in the world.”</p>
<p>Yeah. Nothing makes a country great quite like socialism.</p>
<p>I’m surprised he didn’t say, “Next stop Sweden West!”</p>
<p>—</p>
<p>Hit the tip jar DONATE button in the side bar. Even a few bucks can make a world of difference!</p>
| 6,477 |
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<p>This photo shows Jennifer Marley, charged with two felony counts of battery on a police officer, just before she was arrested at a protest of the Entrada Friday. She’s accused of hitting officers with her protest sign. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>SANTA FE — Eight people arrested for criminal trespass while protesting the Fiesta de Santa Fe’s Entrada reenactment Friday pleaded not guilty in Municipal Court Monday.</p>
<p>Attorney Todd Coberly, who represented all eight defendants, told Judge Virginia Vigil that none of his clients had seen police statements of probable cause for their charges. Vigil assured him they would get them. Coberly said afterward he couldn’t say much because of a lack of detail about the cases but that his clients are going to fight the charges.</p>
<p>“I think there are some serious First Amendment issues at play here,” Coberly said. One issue is police enforcement of rules set by the Fiesta Council, which had a permit for use of the downtown Plaza area Friday to Sunday.</p>
<p>The Entrada reenacts the Spanish reoccupation of Santa Fe in 1692, 12 years after the Pueblo Revolt. This year’s pageant was started two hours earlier than scheduled, in an effort to tamp down protests by Native American groups and others. Some protesters still arrived in time to chant during the Entrada, and about 150 people eventually gathered to continue protests long after.</p>
<p>Copies of the protesters’ brief Municipal Court criminal complaints — different from probable cause statements — say that the demonstrators refused police commands to leave the Fiesta Council’s permit area, which is not gated or ticketed and is open to the public for Fiesta events.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Some of the protesters lay on the ground and refused to get up, so police had to carry them away. “The permit holder makes the rules,” police Lt. Marvin Paulk said over the weekend. He also said many people had thanked the police for how they handled the situation and kept people safe.</p>
<p>One of the defendants, Jennifer Marley, 21, from San Ildefonso Pueblo and part of the Red Nation group, is also charged with two felony counts of battery upon a peace officer and is set to be arraigned on those charges in Magistrate Court Wednesday.</p>
<p>According to a Magistrate Court probable cause statement, Marley was leading the protesters near Marcy Street and Palace Avenue when they tried to head south on Palace towards the permitted area. “While attempting to maintain the peace, I saw Jennifer push past Sergeant Christopher Reynosa,” Officer Steven Gushiniere wrote. “At this point both parties were struggling.”</p>
<p>Marley attempted to break the police line again and hit Reynosa in the chest and Officer Gerald Lovato in the head with a sign. She kept falling to the ground and kept yelling and “making a scene,” the police statement said. But, Gushiniere writes, “Once a reporter came, she calmed down, and began speaking to her.”</p>
<p>Marley posted a statement on the Red Nation site Monday saying she “was taken as a symbolic trophy for the city” and as a “political prisoner to actively suppress the recent resurgence of Pueblo resistance.” She also reiterated allegations that one of the seven other defendants was arrested for having a bandana on his head. A city press release last week said that among the things the Fiesta Council had banned from the Plaza were masks and “gang colors,” but it’s unclear how and if a bandana qualified as off limits.</p>
|
Entrada protesters enter not guilty pleas
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1062053/entrada-protesters-enter-not-guilty-pleas.html
| 2least
|
Entrada protesters enter not guilty pleas
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>This photo shows Jennifer Marley, charged with two felony counts of battery on a police officer, just before she was arrested at a protest of the Entrada Friday. She’s accused of hitting officers with her protest sign. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>SANTA FE — Eight people arrested for criminal trespass while protesting the Fiesta de Santa Fe’s Entrada reenactment Friday pleaded not guilty in Municipal Court Monday.</p>
<p>Attorney Todd Coberly, who represented all eight defendants, told Judge Virginia Vigil that none of his clients had seen police statements of probable cause for their charges. Vigil assured him they would get them. Coberly said afterward he couldn’t say much because of a lack of detail about the cases but that his clients are going to fight the charges.</p>
<p>“I think there are some serious First Amendment issues at play here,” Coberly said. One issue is police enforcement of rules set by the Fiesta Council, which had a permit for use of the downtown Plaza area Friday to Sunday.</p>
<p>The Entrada reenacts the Spanish reoccupation of Santa Fe in 1692, 12 years after the Pueblo Revolt. This year’s pageant was started two hours earlier than scheduled, in an effort to tamp down protests by Native American groups and others. Some protesters still arrived in time to chant during the Entrada, and about 150 people eventually gathered to continue protests long after.</p>
<p>Copies of the protesters’ brief Municipal Court criminal complaints — different from probable cause statements — say that the demonstrators refused police commands to leave the Fiesta Council’s permit area, which is not gated or ticketed and is open to the public for Fiesta events.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Some of the protesters lay on the ground and refused to get up, so police had to carry them away. “The permit holder makes the rules,” police Lt. Marvin Paulk said over the weekend. He also said many people had thanked the police for how they handled the situation and kept people safe.</p>
<p>One of the defendants, Jennifer Marley, 21, from San Ildefonso Pueblo and part of the Red Nation group, is also charged with two felony counts of battery upon a peace officer and is set to be arraigned on those charges in Magistrate Court Wednesday.</p>
<p>According to a Magistrate Court probable cause statement, Marley was leading the protesters near Marcy Street and Palace Avenue when they tried to head south on Palace towards the permitted area. “While attempting to maintain the peace, I saw Jennifer push past Sergeant Christopher Reynosa,” Officer Steven Gushiniere wrote. “At this point both parties were struggling.”</p>
<p>Marley attempted to break the police line again and hit Reynosa in the chest and Officer Gerald Lovato in the head with a sign. She kept falling to the ground and kept yelling and “making a scene,” the police statement said. But, Gushiniere writes, “Once a reporter came, she calmed down, and began speaking to her.”</p>
<p>Marley posted a statement on the Red Nation site Monday saying she “was taken as a symbolic trophy for the city” and as a “political prisoner to actively suppress the recent resurgence of Pueblo resistance.” She also reiterated allegations that one of the seven other defendants was arrested for having a bandana on his head. A city press release last week said that among the things the Fiesta Council had banned from the Plaza were masks and “gang colors,” but it’s unclear how and if a bandana qualified as off limits.</p>
| 6,478 |
|
<p>GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE, Jerusalem - After the last supper, Jesus walked with his disciples to Gethsemane, at the base of the Mount of Olives, where scholars believe he spent some time in the olive grove and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=124100&amp;page=1" type="external">contemplated his impending arrest</a> among the tombs which were vast and old even then.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gethsemane" type="external">"Gethsemane</a>" - in Hebrew, "Gad Shmanim" - means "oil press."</p>
<p>In the back garden of the Church of all Nations, the olive trees and the tombs are still there.</p>
<p>"Maybe Jesus really walked among these trees," says Yaacov Shkolnik, a forester and head of the Jewish National Fund's Ancient Tree Task Force, which is tasked with identifying trees and estimating their age and assessing their overall health.</p>
<p>The trees at Gethsemane have grown hollow and wide and pose special difficulties for professionals. At best, estimations of their age rely on tiny splinters remaining from the ancient wood. According to the National Research Council of Italy, which examined the trees, they are at least a thousand years old.</p>
<p>Workmen pruning the ancient, craggy trees behind the church are completely oblivious to eBay or the possible resale value of the spindly branches and silvery ovaloid leaves they toss by the side of the street, near an idling garbage truck.</p>
<p>Whatever that potential value, by arboreal standards the olive trees that may have offered succor to an anxious Jesus are relatively young. The oldest known tree in the world is a pine nicknamed Methuselah, estimated to be 4,7000 years old, living in California's White Mountains.</p>
<p>Olives, their oil, and the trees they grow on hold an oversized place in local imagination.</p>
<p>It is assumed that all ancient anointing was done with oil of the olive fruit, then as now a precious fluid. Today, the churches of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth use local oil, often grown and pressed on church premises.</p>
<p>In Nazareth, the harvest was completed about a month ago, each family marinating and pressing by its own closely-held tradition. Christmas tables include small plates of the year's harvest.</p>
<p>In villages further to the north, pressing olive oil is a venerated Christmas Day tradition, bringing far-flung family members together around the presses for a yearly yuletide event no one wants to miss.</p>
<p>It is impossible to describe the intoxicating scent that emanates as small green and purple olives pour into a huge stone saucer the size of a hot tub and are slowly crushed by a massive granite wheel. It is almost like watching a gemstone being made.</p>
<p>The glistening, perfumed mash is then transported to multilayered electric presses where the oil is pushed out of the pits and the skins.</p>
<p>The residue, back oily organic disks, are used in the place of wood, for burning. The oil, for everything else.</p>
<p>The Khalaf family, of a tiny village called Muran, invested in a state-of-the-art hydraulic olive press from Italy, which regulates the pressure and speed of pressing, and thus the acidity and viscosity of the oil. Same rocks as in ancient times, but now shaped and moved by electricity and calculations, not the paces of a donkey.</p>
<p>More than any Hollywood movie, this activity seems to melt Biblical times with our own reliance on machinery.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/israel-and-palestine/121223/haifas-festival-festivals-christmas-hannukah-holidays" type="external">Haifa's Festival of Festivals</a></p>
<p>Children stand around and stick their fingers in the dribbles of golden elixir as it begins to pour from the rounded disks.</p>
<p>That's in northern Israel.</p>
<p>Down south, nearly half of all agricultural lands in the West Bank are planted with 8 million olive trees. Extremist elements among Israeli settlers have made an annual rite of disrupting the olive harvest there, often causing permanent harm to the Palestinian groves and damaging the local economy.</p>
<p>"It is all part of a wider philosophy," says Israeli human rights activist Amiel Vardi, who has protected Palestinian fields from settler attacks, "in which these settlers want to disrupt and embitter the lives of the West Bank Palestinians in the hope that they will 'self-deport' to the large cities, leaving their lands empty."</p>
<p>Vardi says that Palestinians file less and less complaints with the police, "because they feel it's a meaningless task, just part of saving face by the authorities."</p>
<p>OCHA, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, says in its <a href="http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_olive_harvest_factsheet_october_2012_english.pdf" type="external">latest report</a> that Israeli soldiers deployed to protect Palestinians heading to their groves on harvest days have reduced some of the physical attacks that were more common in recent years, but do nothing to protect the groves from damage inflicted at other times of the year.</p>
|
Gethsemane: An olive grove's place in local imagination
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2012-12-25/gethsemane-olive-groves-place-local-imagination
|
2012-12-25
| 3left-center
|
Gethsemane: An olive grove's place in local imagination
<p>GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE, Jerusalem - After the last supper, Jesus walked with his disciples to Gethsemane, at the base of the Mount of Olives, where scholars believe he spent some time in the olive grove and <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=124100&amp;page=1" type="external">contemplated his impending arrest</a> among the tombs which were vast and old even then.</p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gethsemane" type="external">"Gethsemane</a>" - in Hebrew, "Gad Shmanim" - means "oil press."</p>
<p>In the back garden of the Church of all Nations, the olive trees and the tombs are still there.</p>
<p>"Maybe Jesus really walked among these trees," says Yaacov Shkolnik, a forester and head of the Jewish National Fund's Ancient Tree Task Force, which is tasked with identifying trees and estimating their age and assessing their overall health.</p>
<p>The trees at Gethsemane have grown hollow and wide and pose special difficulties for professionals. At best, estimations of their age rely on tiny splinters remaining from the ancient wood. According to the National Research Council of Italy, which examined the trees, they are at least a thousand years old.</p>
<p>Workmen pruning the ancient, craggy trees behind the church are completely oblivious to eBay or the possible resale value of the spindly branches and silvery ovaloid leaves they toss by the side of the street, near an idling garbage truck.</p>
<p>Whatever that potential value, by arboreal standards the olive trees that may have offered succor to an anxious Jesus are relatively young. The oldest known tree in the world is a pine nicknamed Methuselah, estimated to be 4,7000 years old, living in California's White Mountains.</p>
<p>Olives, their oil, and the trees they grow on hold an oversized place in local imagination.</p>
<p>It is assumed that all ancient anointing was done with oil of the olive fruit, then as now a precious fluid. Today, the churches of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth use local oil, often grown and pressed on church premises.</p>
<p>In Nazareth, the harvest was completed about a month ago, each family marinating and pressing by its own closely-held tradition. Christmas tables include small plates of the year's harvest.</p>
<p>In villages further to the north, pressing olive oil is a venerated Christmas Day tradition, bringing far-flung family members together around the presses for a yearly yuletide event no one wants to miss.</p>
<p>It is impossible to describe the intoxicating scent that emanates as small green and purple olives pour into a huge stone saucer the size of a hot tub and are slowly crushed by a massive granite wheel. It is almost like watching a gemstone being made.</p>
<p>The glistening, perfumed mash is then transported to multilayered electric presses where the oil is pushed out of the pits and the skins.</p>
<p>The residue, back oily organic disks, are used in the place of wood, for burning. The oil, for everything else.</p>
<p>The Khalaf family, of a tiny village called Muran, invested in a state-of-the-art hydraulic olive press from Italy, which regulates the pressure and speed of pressing, and thus the acidity and viscosity of the oil. Same rocks as in ancient times, but now shaped and moved by electricity and calculations, not the paces of a donkey.</p>
<p>More than any Hollywood movie, this activity seems to melt Biblical times with our own reliance on machinery.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/israel-and-palestine/121223/haifas-festival-festivals-christmas-hannukah-holidays" type="external">Haifa's Festival of Festivals</a></p>
<p>Children stand around and stick their fingers in the dribbles of golden elixir as it begins to pour from the rounded disks.</p>
<p>That's in northern Israel.</p>
<p>Down south, nearly half of all agricultural lands in the West Bank are planted with 8 million olive trees. Extremist elements among Israeli settlers have made an annual rite of disrupting the olive harvest there, often causing permanent harm to the Palestinian groves and damaging the local economy.</p>
<p>"It is all part of a wider philosophy," says Israeli human rights activist Amiel Vardi, who has protected Palestinian fields from settler attacks, "in which these settlers want to disrupt and embitter the lives of the West Bank Palestinians in the hope that they will 'self-deport' to the large cities, leaving their lands empty."</p>
<p>Vardi says that Palestinians file less and less complaints with the police, "because they feel it's a meaningless task, just part of saving face by the authorities."</p>
<p>OCHA, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, says in its <a href="http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_olive_harvest_factsheet_october_2012_english.pdf" type="external">latest report</a> that Israeli soldiers deployed to protect Palestinians heading to their groves on harvest days have reduced some of the physical attacks that were more common in recent years, but do nothing to protect the groves from damage inflicted at other times of the year.</p>
| 6,479 |
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<p />
<p>Under the proposed policy, new hires can travel up to 15 miles to and from work in their patrol cars using city-paid fuel.</p>
<p>However, current police officers would be grandfathered in under the existing rule, which allows them to drive up to 60 miles each way.</p>
<p>The new policy will be incorporated into the city’s annual police union contract agreement.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Police union president Adam Gallegos said the union agreed to the change because it recognizes the financial impact of the program on the city.</p>
<p>If the take-home policy was eliminated altogether, the city would likely lose “quite a few people” to positions in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and other cities, he said. As it is, Santa Fe will probably have a tougher time recruiting officers, Gallegos said.</p>
<p>“I am fairly sure the membership will accept this,” he said. “The Police Officers Association’s only concern is in future recruitment, but retention is just as important (as recruitment) if not more important.”</p>
<p>City Manager Robert Romero declined to comment.</p>
<p>The City Council, following an executive session discussion, appeared to approve the contract and take-home policy Wednesday night, but it’s unclear if that’s the governing body’s last word on the matter.</p>
<p>The police union is scheduled to discuss the contract today and will vote on it at a later date.</p>
<p>Gallegos said the contract would then go back to the City Council for final approval, though Romero said that’s not necessary.</p>
<p>The city created the take-home program in 2003, largely as a way to make jobs in Santa Fe more attractive to potential police recruits.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In 2010, the City Council, citing changes in the economy and questions about the policy’s effectiveness, ordered a review of the program. The conversation has waxed and waned since then.</p>
<p>Currently, about 44 of the city’s 150 or so police officers live within Santa Fe city limits, according to recent statistics compiled by the Police Department. Another 44 or so live outside the city but within 15 miles of its boundaries, while around 57 live outside the 15-mile radius. The department is still trying to account for a handful of officers.</p>
<p>Total commuting costs for the latter 57 officers is about $160,868, according to Police Department officials. The largest individual expenses are officers living in Las Vegas, N.M., who rack up around $4,338 a year each in commuting costs.</p>
<p>This spring, the City Council considered a proposal to increase pay for officers living in Santa Fe or within 15 miles of city limits.</p>
<p>The resolution also referred to implementing a maximum distance of 15 miles for new officers taking home their police vehicles.</p>
<p>The measure was withdrawn when police department personnel said it could create morale problems and other issues, and non-police city employees complained about not getting the benefit.</p>
|
Deal On Cop Cars Likely
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/118205/deal-on-cop-cars-likely.html
|
2012-07-13
| 2least
|
Deal On Cop Cars Likely
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Under the proposed policy, new hires can travel up to 15 miles to and from work in their patrol cars using city-paid fuel.</p>
<p>However, current police officers would be grandfathered in under the existing rule, which allows them to drive up to 60 miles each way.</p>
<p>The new policy will be incorporated into the city’s annual police union contract agreement.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Police union president Adam Gallegos said the union agreed to the change because it recognizes the financial impact of the program on the city.</p>
<p>If the take-home policy was eliminated altogether, the city would likely lose “quite a few people” to positions in Albuquerque, Rio Rancho and other cities, he said. As it is, Santa Fe will probably have a tougher time recruiting officers, Gallegos said.</p>
<p>“I am fairly sure the membership will accept this,” he said. “The Police Officers Association’s only concern is in future recruitment, but retention is just as important (as recruitment) if not more important.”</p>
<p>City Manager Robert Romero declined to comment.</p>
<p>The City Council, following an executive session discussion, appeared to approve the contract and take-home policy Wednesday night, but it’s unclear if that’s the governing body’s last word on the matter.</p>
<p>The police union is scheduled to discuss the contract today and will vote on it at a later date.</p>
<p>Gallegos said the contract would then go back to the City Council for final approval, though Romero said that’s not necessary.</p>
<p>The city created the take-home program in 2003, largely as a way to make jobs in Santa Fe more attractive to potential police recruits.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In 2010, the City Council, citing changes in the economy and questions about the policy’s effectiveness, ordered a review of the program. The conversation has waxed and waned since then.</p>
<p>Currently, about 44 of the city’s 150 or so police officers live within Santa Fe city limits, according to recent statistics compiled by the Police Department. Another 44 or so live outside the city but within 15 miles of its boundaries, while around 57 live outside the 15-mile radius. The department is still trying to account for a handful of officers.</p>
<p>Total commuting costs for the latter 57 officers is about $160,868, according to Police Department officials. The largest individual expenses are officers living in Las Vegas, N.M., who rack up around $4,338 a year each in commuting costs.</p>
<p>This spring, the City Council considered a proposal to increase pay for officers living in Santa Fe or within 15 miles of city limits.</p>
<p>The resolution also referred to implementing a maximum distance of 15 miles for new officers taking home their police vehicles.</p>
<p>The measure was withdrawn when police department personnel said it could create morale problems and other issues, and non-police city employees complained about not getting the benefit.</p>
| 6,480 |
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<p />
<p>The U.S. started nine players who likely will be on the field for next month’s World Cup qualifier against Mexico. The 22nd-ranked Americans struggled to mount attacks in the first half against No. 139 Cuba, hampered by a bumpy field at Havana’s Estadio Pedro Marrero that had brown patches, but still extended their winning streak to three.</p>
<p>A 21-year-old making his first start in more than two years, Green created the first goal when he took a shot that was parried by goalkeeper Sandy Sanchez. The rebound went to Wondolowski, who scored with a right-footed shot from 8 yards in the 62nd minute. Wondolowski’s 11th international goal was his first since July 2015 against Guatemala.</p>
<p>Wondolowski, who entered at the start of the second half, passed across the goal nine minutes later, and Green redirected the ball into the net. Green, who has struggled to gain playing time at Bayern Munich, scored his only other international goal against Belgium at the 2014 World Cup.</p>
<p>Regular goalkeepers Tim Howard and Brad Guzan were given the game off. At 21 years, 120 days, Horvath became the youngest goalkeeper to debut for the U.S. since Zach Thornton was a 69th-minute substitute in a 3-0 win at Jamaica on Nov. 22, 1994.</p>
<p>Maykel Reyes and Roberney Caballero hit posts for Cuba in the second half.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The U.S., which relied on long passes to avoid the challenging surface, improved to 10-1-1 against Cuba but this was just its third match in Cuba following a 1947 exhibition and a 2008 World Cup qualifier. The Americans play New Zealand on Tuesday at Washington, D.C., in another exhibition to prepare for the final round of World Cup qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean. They open the hexagonal Nov. 11 against Mexico in Columbus, Ohio, then play four days later at Costa Rica.</p>
<p>Horvath, who is from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, plays for Molde in Norway and was part of the U.S. under-23 team that failed to qualify for this year’s Olympics.</p>
<p>U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann inserted three other players who didn’t start in last month’s qualifying win over Trinidad. Right back DeAndre Yedlin returned from a one-game suspension, central defender John Brooks recovered from a back injury and Green filled an opening created by Alejandro Bedoya’s strained rib muscle.</p>
<p>Geoff Cameron was paired with Brooks in central defense, and Fabian Johnson was at left back. Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan and 18-year-old Christian Pulisic were in the midfield, and Jozy Altidore and Bobby Wood headed the attack.</p>
<p>Notes: ESPN broadcasters Ian Darke and Taylor Twellman announced the game from a studio in Bristol, Connecticut, rather than from the stadium.</p>
|
Wondolowski, Green lift US to 2-0 exhibition win at Cuba
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/863042/wondolowski-green-lift-us-to-2-0-exhibition-win-at-cuba.html
|
2016-10-07
| 2least
|
Wondolowski, Green lift US to 2-0 exhibition win at Cuba
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The U.S. started nine players who likely will be on the field for next month’s World Cup qualifier against Mexico. The 22nd-ranked Americans struggled to mount attacks in the first half against No. 139 Cuba, hampered by a bumpy field at Havana’s Estadio Pedro Marrero that had brown patches, but still extended their winning streak to three.</p>
<p>A 21-year-old making his first start in more than two years, Green created the first goal when he took a shot that was parried by goalkeeper Sandy Sanchez. The rebound went to Wondolowski, who scored with a right-footed shot from 8 yards in the 62nd minute. Wondolowski’s 11th international goal was his first since July 2015 against Guatemala.</p>
<p>Wondolowski, who entered at the start of the second half, passed across the goal nine minutes later, and Green redirected the ball into the net. Green, who has struggled to gain playing time at Bayern Munich, scored his only other international goal against Belgium at the 2014 World Cup.</p>
<p>Regular goalkeepers Tim Howard and Brad Guzan were given the game off. At 21 years, 120 days, Horvath became the youngest goalkeeper to debut for the U.S. since Zach Thornton was a 69th-minute substitute in a 3-0 win at Jamaica on Nov. 22, 1994.</p>
<p>Maykel Reyes and Roberney Caballero hit posts for Cuba in the second half.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The U.S., which relied on long passes to avoid the challenging surface, improved to 10-1-1 against Cuba but this was just its third match in Cuba following a 1947 exhibition and a 2008 World Cup qualifier. The Americans play New Zealand on Tuesday at Washington, D.C., in another exhibition to prepare for the final round of World Cup qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean. They open the hexagonal Nov. 11 against Mexico in Columbus, Ohio, then play four days later at Costa Rica.</p>
<p>Horvath, who is from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, plays for Molde in Norway and was part of the U.S. under-23 team that failed to qualify for this year’s Olympics.</p>
<p>U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann inserted three other players who didn’t start in last month’s qualifying win over Trinidad. Right back DeAndre Yedlin returned from a one-game suspension, central defender John Brooks recovered from a back injury and Green filled an opening created by Alejandro Bedoya’s strained rib muscle.</p>
<p>Geoff Cameron was paired with Brooks in central defense, and Fabian Johnson was at left back. Michael Bradley, Sacha Kljestan and 18-year-old Christian Pulisic were in the midfield, and Jozy Altidore and Bobby Wood headed the attack.</p>
<p>Notes: ESPN broadcasters Ian Darke and Taylor Twellman announced the game from a studio in Bristol, Connecticut, rather than from the stadium.</p>
| 6,481 |
<p>Evan Vucci/AP</p>
<p />
<p>New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/new-york-attorney-general-opens-inquiry-into-trump-foundation-228125" type="external">has opened</a> an inquiry into Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s charity following questions over whether the foundation has complied with state law.&#160;</p>
<p>The scrutiny comes in light of recent investigations by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-retooled-his-charity-to-spend-other-peoples-money/2016/09/10/da8cce64-75df-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html" type="external">Washington Post</a> and <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e16a8223c24048d290883370dc6abe5b/florida-ag-asked-trump-donation-nixing-fraud-case" type="external">Associated Press</a> that shed light into the inner workings of the Donald J. Trump Foundation. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-retooled-his-charity-to-spend-other-peoples-money/2016/09/10/da8cce64-75df-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html" type="external">reported</a> on Saturday that Trump, who founded the charity in 1987 and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-retooled-his-charity-to-spend-other-peoples-money/2016/09/10/da8cce64-75df-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html" type="external">has claimed</a> to have donated millions from his own pocket, had not contributed to his foundation since 2008. Instead, the Post found, Trump’s foundation received millions of dollars from donors, which it doled out under its own name.</p>
<p>In 2009,&#160;Trump&#160; <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-retooled-his-charity-to-spend-other-peoples-money/2016/09/10/da8cce64-75df-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html" type="external">reportedly</a> spent $20,000 meant for charitable purposes on a six-foot-tall painting of himself. In 2013, the Trump Foundation gave $25,000 to a political group associated with Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi. That gift, which was illegal, resulted in a $2,500 penalty payment to the Internal Revenue Service. House Democrats <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/9c98f928842b40d491ff1712a0eec17f/democrats-call-probe-trump-check-florida-ag" type="external">have called</a> for a federal criminal investigation into the transaction.</p>
<p>Schneiderman told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday that his office was looking into Trump’s charity out of concern it had “engaged in some impropriety” in its operations. “We’ve inquired into it, and we’ve had correspondence with them,” he <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/09/13/eric-schneiderman-clinton-supporter-the-lead.cnn" type="external">said</a>. “I didn’t make a big deal out of it or hold a press conference. We have been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure it’s complying with the laws governing charities in New York.”</p>
<p>Schneiderman is also challenging Trump in a lawsuit alleging that <a href="" type="internal">Trump University</a>, the mogul’s defunct real-estate seminar, engaged in “ <a href="http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-schneiderman-sues-donald-trump-trump-university-michael-sexton-defrauding-consumers" type="external">persistent fraudulent, illegal and deceptive conduct</a>.”</p>
<p />
|
New York’s Attorney General Has Opened an Inquiry Into Donald Trump’s Charity
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2016/09/new-york-attorney-general-donald-trump-foundation/
|
2016-09-14
| 4left
|
New York’s Attorney General Has Opened an Inquiry Into Donald Trump’s Charity
<p>Evan Vucci/AP</p>
<p />
<p>New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/09/new-york-attorney-general-opens-inquiry-into-trump-foundation-228125" type="external">has opened</a> an inquiry into Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s charity following questions over whether the foundation has complied with state law.&#160;</p>
<p>The scrutiny comes in light of recent investigations by the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-retooled-his-charity-to-spend-other-peoples-money/2016/09/10/da8cce64-75df-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html" type="external">Washington Post</a> and <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/e16a8223c24048d290883370dc6abe5b/florida-ag-asked-trump-donation-nixing-fraud-case" type="external">Associated Press</a> that shed light into the inner workings of the Donald J. Trump Foundation. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-retooled-his-charity-to-spend-other-peoples-money/2016/09/10/da8cce64-75df-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html" type="external">reported</a> on Saturday that Trump, who founded the charity in 1987 and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-retooled-his-charity-to-spend-other-peoples-money/2016/09/10/da8cce64-75df-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html" type="external">has claimed</a> to have donated millions from his own pocket, had not contributed to his foundation since 2008. Instead, the Post found, Trump’s foundation received millions of dollars from donors, which it doled out under its own name.</p>
<p>In 2009,&#160;Trump&#160; <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-donald-trump-retooled-his-charity-to-spend-other-peoples-money/2016/09/10/da8cce64-75df-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html" type="external">reportedly</a> spent $20,000 meant for charitable purposes on a six-foot-tall painting of himself. In 2013, the Trump Foundation gave $25,000 to a political group associated with Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi. That gift, which was illegal, resulted in a $2,500 penalty payment to the Internal Revenue Service. House Democrats <a href="http://bigstory.ap.org/article/9c98f928842b40d491ff1712a0eec17f/democrats-call-probe-trump-check-florida-ag" type="external">have called</a> for a federal criminal investigation into the transaction.</p>
<p>Schneiderman told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Tuesday that his office was looking into Trump’s charity out of concern it had “engaged in some impropriety” in its operations. “We’ve inquired into it, and we’ve had correspondence with them,” he <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/09/13/eric-schneiderman-clinton-supporter-the-lead.cnn" type="external">said</a>. “I didn’t make a big deal out of it or hold a press conference. We have been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure it’s complying with the laws governing charities in New York.”</p>
<p>Schneiderman is also challenging Trump in a lawsuit alleging that <a href="" type="internal">Trump University</a>, the mogul’s defunct real-estate seminar, engaged in “ <a href="http://www.ag.ny.gov/press-release/ag-schneiderman-sues-donald-trump-trump-university-michael-sexton-defrauding-consumers" type="external">persistent fraudulent, illegal and deceptive conduct</a>.”</p>
<p />
| 6,482 |
<p />
<p>The Federal Reserve said on Monday banks continued to ease lending standards for larger firms in the last three months but small businesses are still having a hard time accessing credit.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The results from the central bank's quarterly senior loan officer survey suggest the ability of firms to borrow has continued to improve despite recent signs of weakness in the economic recovery.</p>
<p>A number of banks eased loan standards on auto and credit card loans, the Fed said.</p>
<p>Strong demand for prime mortgage loans offered further evidence that a nascent housing rebound is finally beginning to take hold.</p>
<p>U.S. banks are benefiting from new business due to a decrease in lending from European institutions, the survey found.</p>
<p>The U.S. central bank last week left monetary policy on hold but many analysts still believe it could launch a third round of bond purchases as early as September in an effort to support a still-fragile economy.</p>
<p>The Fed said banks received the survey on or after July 3, and responses were due by July 17.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
|
Fed: Banks Continue Easing Lending Standards
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/08/06/fed-banks-continue-easing-lending-standards.html
|
2016-01-26
| 0right
|
Fed: Banks Continue Easing Lending Standards
<p />
<p>The Federal Reserve said on Monday banks continued to ease lending standards for larger firms in the last three months but small businesses are still having a hard time accessing credit.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The results from the central bank's quarterly senior loan officer survey suggest the ability of firms to borrow has continued to improve despite recent signs of weakness in the economic recovery.</p>
<p>A number of banks eased loan standards on auto and credit card loans, the Fed said.</p>
<p>Strong demand for prime mortgage loans offered further evidence that a nascent housing rebound is finally beginning to take hold.</p>
<p>U.S. banks are benefiting from new business due to a decrease in lending from European institutions, the survey found.</p>
<p>The U.S. central bank last week left monetary policy on hold but many analysts still believe it could launch a third round of bond purchases as early as September in an effort to support a still-fragile economy.</p>
<p>The Fed said banks received the survey on or after July 3, and responses were due by July 17.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
| 6,483 |
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<p />
<p>At first blush, it might sound like a good idea to unload the state’s supercomputer, Encanto, as a symbol of Gov. Bill Richardson-era excess, a la the state jet.</p>
<p>After all, it supposedly can’t pay its bills, and its once lofty ranking of third-fastest in the world has slipped out of the top 100.</p>
<p>But just as Gov. Susana Martinez found an experienced broker with the right connections to get the best possible deal for the jet — $2.5 million six years after it had been purchased for $5.5 million, and saving the state almost $500k annually in operations and maintenance fees — the administration should slow down and figure out how taxpayers can get the most bang for their supercomputing buck.</p>
<p>The state has sunk millions into Encanto. In addition to the $11 million purchase price, the Legislature approved $3 million in 2008 to set up 20 “gateways” at colleges and universities and another $5.9 million in 2009 and 2010 to help the nonprofit Computing Applications Center maintain operations. Yet a 2009 Legislative Finance Committee report pointed out most computing time was being traded for things like rent and just $300,000 had been taken in.</p>
<p>That same LFC report said three research universities, two national laboratories and one nonprofit had already run more than 65,000 jobs on Encanto. It has been used to map oil from the gushing Deep Horizon well and for programs on climate change, nanotechnology and diseases.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Circa 2012, it’s not that Encanto isn’t a valuable tool; it can do 172 trillion calculations per second. It’s just that like any cutting-edge machine, it started depreciating the day it was purchased. That translates into a greatly reduced resale rate, likely less than $400,000 if a buyer can even be found.</p>
<p>Rather than sell it for pennies on the dollar, the administration should crunch the numbers to see if the state’s research universities are correct when they say Encanto can be a valuable tool for them, leveraging hundreds of millions in grants.</p>
<p>If they are right, that’s the kind of deal that will fly with taxpayers.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p>
|
Editorial: A Fire Sale May Not Compute for Encanto
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/118544/a-fire-sale-may-not-compute-for-encanto.html
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2012-07-16
| 2least
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Editorial: A Fire Sale May Not Compute for Encanto
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>At first blush, it might sound like a good idea to unload the state’s supercomputer, Encanto, as a symbol of Gov. Bill Richardson-era excess, a la the state jet.</p>
<p>After all, it supposedly can’t pay its bills, and its once lofty ranking of third-fastest in the world has slipped out of the top 100.</p>
<p>But just as Gov. Susana Martinez found an experienced broker with the right connections to get the best possible deal for the jet — $2.5 million six years after it had been purchased for $5.5 million, and saving the state almost $500k annually in operations and maintenance fees — the administration should slow down and figure out how taxpayers can get the most bang for their supercomputing buck.</p>
<p>The state has sunk millions into Encanto. In addition to the $11 million purchase price, the Legislature approved $3 million in 2008 to set up 20 “gateways” at colleges and universities and another $5.9 million in 2009 and 2010 to help the nonprofit Computing Applications Center maintain operations. Yet a 2009 Legislative Finance Committee report pointed out most computing time was being traded for things like rent and just $300,000 had been taken in.</p>
<p>That same LFC report said three research universities, two national laboratories and one nonprofit had already run more than 65,000 jobs on Encanto. It has been used to map oil from the gushing Deep Horizon well and for programs on climate change, nanotechnology and diseases.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Circa 2012, it’s not that Encanto isn’t a valuable tool; it can do 172 trillion calculations per second. It’s just that like any cutting-edge machine, it started depreciating the day it was purchased. That translates into a greatly reduced resale rate, likely less than $400,000 if a buyer can even be found.</p>
<p>Rather than sell it for pennies on the dollar, the administration should crunch the numbers to see if the state’s research universities are correct when they say Encanto can be a valuable tool for them, leveraging hundreds of millions in grants.</p>
<p>If they are right, that’s the kind of deal that will fly with taxpayers.</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p>
| 6,484 |
<p>A nearly nine-month investigation by U.S. auto safety regulators has found 27 reports of engine fires in tiny Smart Fortwo cars, including one that caused an injury.</p>
<p>The finding of the unusually high number of fires prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to upgrade its probe from a preliminary investigation to an engineering analysis. That's the last step before issuing a recall but it may not necessarily result in one.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Mercedes says it's cooperating with the investigation but declined further comment.</p>
<p>In documents posted Wednesday, NHTSA said one person reported smoke inhalation in a fire, but the extent of that person's injuries was not available.</p>
<p>The agency began investigating nearly 43,000 Smart cars made by Mercedes in December. The cars are from the 2008 and 2009 model years.</p>
<p>NHTSA said in documents that Mercedes investigated only two of the fires but could not find a cause. The agency said 19 of the fires happened since January of 2015, a sign that the problem is becoming more frequent as the vehicles age.</p>
<p>Investigators analyzed insurance data and found the 2008 model year cars had significantly higher fire claims than comparable vehicles. Data from the Highway Loss Data Institute, which represents insurers who cover 80 percent of the U.S. market, showed a higher claim rate than similar vehicles. It also showed a sharp increase in claims in 2015, the agency wrote.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>NHTSA said in documents that it will "continue to investigate the high frequency and increasing trend of non-crash engine compartment fire incidents in the subject vehicles."</p>
<p>The Smart brand is getting rid of its gas-powered versions in the U.S. and Canada and will sell only electric cars after the 2017 model year.</p>
|
Federal probe finds 27 engine fires in tiny Smart cars
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/06/federal-probe-finds-27-engine-fires-in-tiny-smart-cars.html
|
2017-09-06
| 0right
|
Federal probe finds 27 engine fires in tiny Smart cars
<p>A nearly nine-month investigation by U.S. auto safety regulators has found 27 reports of engine fires in tiny Smart Fortwo cars, including one that caused an injury.</p>
<p>The finding of the unusually high number of fires prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to upgrade its probe from a preliminary investigation to an engineering analysis. That's the last step before issuing a recall but it may not necessarily result in one.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Mercedes says it's cooperating with the investigation but declined further comment.</p>
<p>In documents posted Wednesday, NHTSA said one person reported smoke inhalation in a fire, but the extent of that person's injuries was not available.</p>
<p>The agency began investigating nearly 43,000 Smart cars made by Mercedes in December. The cars are from the 2008 and 2009 model years.</p>
<p>NHTSA said in documents that Mercedes investigated only two of the fires but could not find a cause. The agency said 19 of the fires happened since January of 2015, a sign that the problem is becoming more frequent as the vehicles age.</p>
<p>Investigators analyzed insurance data and found the 2008 model year cars had significantly higher fire claims than comparable vehicles. Data from the Highway Loss Data Institute, which represents insurers who cover 80 percent of the U.S. market, showed a higher claim rate than similar vehicles. It also showed a sharp increase in claims in 2015, the agency wrote.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>NHTSA said in documents that it will "continue to investigate the high frequency and increasing trend of non-crash engine compartment fire incidents in the subject vehicles."</p>
<p>The Smart brand is getting rid of its gas-powered versions in the U.S. and Canada and will sell only electric cars after the 2017 model year.</p>
| 6,485 |
<p />
<p>It's been a busy week for ViaSat (NASDAQ: VSAT) investors -- which is kind of curious when you realize that we're in the middle of earnings season right now, and that ViaSat is one of the few defense companies that has not yet reported any earnings. (It's actually not expected to report until next Tuesday, Feb. 7.)</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So far, we've seen RBC Capital initiate coverage of the <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/02/07/spacex-google-satellite-internet.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">broadband satellite internet Opens a New Window.</a> provider with an underperform rating (as <a href="http://thefly.com/news.php?symbol=VSAT" type="external">TheFly.com Opens a New Window.</a> reported last Wednesday). In response, this morning, both Wells Fargo and William Blair announced new outperform ratings on the very same stock.</p>
<p>Which of these analysts are right? Here are three things you need to know.</p>
<p>ViaSat excels at satellite-based communications, but how good of a stock is it? Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>PraisingViaSat's "unrivaled satellite tech heritage," and predicting the company will "radically disrupt the satellite market" with its new very high throughput Viasat-2and Viasat-3 communications birds (currently under construction with help from Boeing), RBC starts off its report on ViaSat on an optimistic note -- which soon turns sour. Simply put, RBC says it is not convinced that ViaSat's satellites will be able to effectively compete against terrestrial cable and fiber providers as they build out their fixed-line internet capacity over the next 15-plus years.</p>
<p>RBC also sees the growing capability of cellphone-based mobile internet services as a threat to satellite broadband internet. And finally, even if ViaSat survives all these threats, the analyst worries that a new system of low Earth orbit (LEO) small satellites, such as <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/19/spacex-wants-to-give-you-satellite-internet.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">SpaceX is talking about building Opens a New Window.</a>, threatens ViaSat's more limited ability to provide internet services via just a handful of larger sats.</p>
<p>In short, the communications industry is evolving rapidly, and if you look out more than just a few months, it becomes very difficult to figure out who the winners will be -- and if ViaSat will be one of them.</p>
<p>Wells Fargo, meanwhile, seems to think RBC is a bit of a worrywart. While the distant future may be hazy, Wells Fargo argues that ViaSat will enjoy very strong growth over at least the next few years. Upgrading ViaSat stock to "outperform" this morning, Wells predicts that ViaSat's impending Viasat-2 and Viasat-3 launches will drive 41% growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in fiscal 2019, and then 21% more in fiscal 2020.</p>
<p>Longer term, analysts polled by <a href="http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a> expect things to settle down a bit -- but most analysts agree that ViaSat can probably maintain an earnings growth rate in excess of 12% annually over the next five years.</p>
<p>And that's not all. While commercial communications may be ViaSat's bread and butter, ViaSat also gets 43% of its revenue from providing satellite communications services to government clients such as the Department of Defense. In a new rating initiated this morning, William Blair focuses on this defense business as key to the ViaSat buy thesis, arguing that ViaSat's role as "a key defense contractor is underappreciated."</p>
<p>William Blair estimates the stock -- currently priced south of $65 a share -- is worth closer to $85, while Wells Fargo posits a target price anywhere from $94 to $98 a share.</p>
<p>If William Blair is right, a movement from $65 to $85 could deliver 30% profits to ViaSat shareholders this year, while Wells Fargo's projection implies that ViaSat shares could even rise as much as 50%. On the flip side, RBC Capital attached a $42 target price to its underperform rating on ViaSat stock, implying the stock could instead decline as much as 35%.</p>
<p>So which of these analysts is right? Honestly, I'm more inclined to side with RBC Capital in this debate -- for a number of reasons.</p>
<p>First and foremost, according to our ratings here at <a href="http://caps.fool.com/player/trackrbccapmkts.aspx" type="external">Motley Fool CAPS Opens a New Window.</a>, where we've been tracking the performance of all three of these analysts for more than a decade, RBC Capital boasts a 90.80 CAPS rating. This tells us that RBC's picks perform better than those of 90% of investors in the market today.</p>
<p>RBC's record is nearly as good as Wells Fargo's 92.77 overall rating, and significantly better than William Blair's 83.13. Additionally, RBC Capital has proven itself especially adept at evaluating aerospace stocks similar to ViaSat, scoring nearly 67% accuracy on its picks in this sector over the years -- a record of accuracy twice as good as Wells' record in aerospace.</p>
<p>And speaking of records, let's not forget ViaSat's record -- of losing money. According to S&amp;P Global data, ViaSat hasn't generated any positive free cash flow whatsoever since at least as far back as 2008. Although technically "profitable" today, the company's GAAP profits have averaged less than $8 million annually over the past five years. Meanwhile, from a free cash flow perspective, ViaSat has burned cash for nine straight years.</p>
<p>Call me a spoilsport if you will, but I simply don't believe that numbers like these justify ViaSat's current $3.7 billion market capitalization -- and I certainly don't think they justify analysts running around promising 30% and 50% profits to new investors in ViaSat stock. To me, those just don't look likely at all.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than ViaSat 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=07cf4d32-4527-48f4-bddb-f7c22cf12003&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 ViaSat 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=07cf4d32-4527-48f4-bddb-f7c22cf12003&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 January 4, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
Buy or Sell ViaSat? 3 Analysts Debate
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/31/buy-or-sell-viasat-3-analysts-debate.html
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2017-01-31
| 0right
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Buy or Sell ViaSat? 3 Analysts Debate
<p />
<p>It's been a busy week for ViaSat (NASDAQ: VSAT) investors -- which is kind of curious when you realize that we're in the middle of earnings season right now, and that ViaSat is one of the few defense companies that has not yet reported any earnings. (It's actually not expected to report until next Tuesday, Feb. 7.)</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So far, we've seen RBC Capital initiate coverage of the <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/02/07/spacex-google-satellite-internet.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">broadband satellite internet Opens a New Window.</a> provider with an underperform rating (as <a href="http://thefly.com/news.php?symbol=VSAT" type="external">TheFly.com Opens a New Window.</a> reported last Wednesday). In response, this morning, both Wells Fargo and William Blair announced new outperform ratings on the very same stock.</p>
<p>Which of these analysts are right? Here are three things you need to know.</p>
<p>ViaSat excels at satellite-based communications, but how good of a stock is it? Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>PraisingViaSat's "unrivaled satellite tech heritage," and predicting the company will "radically disrupt the satellite market" with its new very high throughput Viasat-2and Viasat-3 communications birds (currently under construction with help from Boeing), RBC starts off its report on ViaSat on an optimistic note -- which soon turns sour. Simply put, RBC says it is not convinced that ViaSat's satellites will be able to effectively compete against terrestrial cable and fiber providers as they build out their fixed-line internet capacity over the next 15-plus years.</p>
<p>RBC also sees the growing capability of cellphone-based mobile internet services as a threat to satellite broadband internet. And finally, even if ViaSat survives all these threats, the analyst worries that a new system of low Earth orbit (LEO) small satellites, such as <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/19/spacex-wants-to-give-you-satellite-internet.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">SpaceX is talking about building Opens a New Window.</a>, threatens ViaSat's more limited ability to provide internet services via just a handful of larger sats.</p>
<p>In short, the communications industry is evolving rapidly, and if you look out more than just a few months, it becomes very difficult to figure out who the winners will be -- and if ViaSat will be one of them.</p>
<p>Wells Fargo, meanwhile, seems to think RBC is a bit of a worrywart. While the distant future may be hazy, Wells Fargo argues that ViaSat will enjoy very strong growth over at least the next few years. Upgrading ViaSat stock to "outperform" this morning, Wells predicts that ViaSat's impending Viasat-2 and Viasat-3 launches will drive 41% growth in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in fiscal 2019, and then 21% more in fiscal 2020.</p>
<p>Longer term, analysts polled by <a href="http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a> expect things to settle down a bit -- but most analysts agree that ViaSat can probably maintain an earnings growth rate in excess of 12% annually over the next five years.</p>
<p>And that's not all. While commercial communications may be ViaSat's bread and butter, ViaSat also gets 43% of its revenue from providing satellite communications services to government clients such as the Department of Defense. In a new rating initiated this morning, William Blair focuses on this defense business as key to the ViaSat buy thesis, arguing that ViaSat's role as "a key defense contractor is underappreciated."</p>
<p>William Blair estimates the stock -- currently priced south of $65 a share -- is worth closer to $85, while Wells Fargo posits a target price anywhere from $94 to $98 a share.</p>
<p>If William Blair is right, a movement from $65 to $85 could deliver 30% profits to ViaSat shareholders this year, while Wells Fargo's projection implies that ViaSat shares could even rise as much as 50%. On the flip side, RBC Capital attached a $42 target price to its underperform rating on ViaSat stock, implying the stock could instead decline as much as 35%.</p>
<p>So which of these analysts is right? Honestly, I'm more inclined to side with RBC Capital in this debate -- for a number of reasons.</p>
<p>First and foremost, according to our ratings here at <a href="http://caps.fool.com/player/trackrbccapmkts.aspx" type="external">Motley Fool CAPS Opens a New Window.</a>, where we've been tracking the performance of all three of these analysts for more than a decade, RBC Capital boasts a 90.80 CAPS rating. This tells us that RBC's picks perform better than those of 90% of investors in the market today.</p>
<p>RBC's record is nearly as good as Wells Fargo's 92.77 overall rating, and significantly better than William Blair's 83.13. Additionally, RBC Capital has proven itself especially adept at evaluating aerospace stocks similar to ViaSat, scoring nearly 67% accuracy on its picks in this sector over the years -- a record of accuracy twice as good as Wells' record in aerospace.</p>
<p>And speaking of records, let's not forget ViaSat's record -- of losing money. According to S&amp;P Global data, ViaSat hasn't generated any positive free cash flow whatsoever since at least as far back as 2008. Although technically "profitable" today, the company's GAAP profits have averaged less than $8 million annually over the past five years. Meanwhile, from a free cash flow perspective, ViaSat has burned cash for nine straight years.</p>
<p>Call me a spoilsport if you will, but I simply don't believe that numbers like these justify ViaSat's current $3.7 billion market capitalization -- and I certainly don't think they justify analysts running around promising 30% and 50% profits to new investors in ViaSat stock. To me, those just don't look likely at all.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than ViaSat 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=07cf4d32-4527-48f4-bddb-f7c22cf12003&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 ViaSat 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=07cf4d32-4527-48f4-bddb-f7c22cf12003&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 January 4, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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<p>The Associated Press’ Top 10 teams in each of Tennessee’s three Division I non-financial aid classifications and in the combined Division II financial aid classification as selected by Tennessee AP-member sportswriters and broadcasters. With first-place votes in parentheses, records through January 22, total points based on 10 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 10th-place vote:</p>
<p>The Associated Press’ Top 10 teams in each of Tennessee’s three Division I non-financial aid classifications and in the combined Division II financial aid classification as selected by Tennessee AP-member sportswriters and broadcasters. With first-place votes in parentheses, records through January 22, total points based on 10 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 10th-place vote:</p>
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Tennessee Boys Basketball Prep Poll
| false |
https://apnews.com/d6fe559ad3b2491b9a4e37c1d046cc0e
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2018-01-22
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Tennessee Boys Basketball Prep Poll
<p>The Associated Press’ Top 10 teams in each of Tennessee’s three Division I non-financial aid classifications and in the combined Division II financial aid classification as selected by Tennessee AP-member sportswriters and broadcasters. With first-place votes in parentheses, records through January 22, total points based on 10 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 10th-place vote:</p>
<p>The Associated Press’ Top 10 teams in each of Tennessee’s three Division I non-financial aid classifications and in the combined Division II financial aid classification as selected by Tennessee AP-member sportswriters and broadcasters. With first-place votes in parentheses, records through January 22, total points based on 10 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 10th-place vote:</p>
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<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The long relationship between USA Gymnastics and the Karolyi Ranch is over.</p>
<p>The organization announced Thursday it has terminated its agreement to have the ranch outside of Huntsville, Texas, serve as the National Training Center for the women’s elite program. The decision came three days after Olympic champion Simone Biles expressed dismay at having to attend camps there, where Biles says she was sexually abused by a former national team doctor.</p>
<p>Kerry Perry, USA Gymnastics president and CEO, said it was her intent to have the women’s program leave the ranch when she began her tenure in December.</p>
<p>“Our most important priority is our athletes, and their training environment must reflect this,” Perry said in a statement. “We are committed to a culture that empowers and supports our athletes.”</p>
<p>The ranch is the home of former national team coordinator Martha Karolyi and her husband, Bela. USA Gymnastics initially agreed to buy the training facility in August 2016 but then backed out of the agreement following an investigation into sexual abuse by former national team doctor Larry Nassar, who worked with the organization for nearly three decades before stepping away in 2015.</p>
<p>Several Olympians — including Biles, 2012 Olympic champion Gabby Douglas, six-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman and two-time medalist McKayla Maroney — say they were abused by Nassar, with some of the alleged abuse occurring at the facility.</p>
<p>Biles, who has returned to training after winning five medals at the 2016 Olympics, said in a statement released Monday that “it is impossibly difficult” to attend team camps at the ranch.</p>
<p>“It breaks my heart even more to think that as I work towards my dream of competing in Tokyo 2020, I will have to continually return to the same training facility where I was abused,” Biles wrote.</p>
<p>Nassar has already been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography crimes and is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to molesting girls at Michigan State University and his home. Maroney said in a victim’s statement at Nassar’s sentencing hearing on Thursday that he “left scars on my psyche that may never go away.”</p>
<p>Perry said the organization is exploring alternate sites until a permanent location is determined. USA Gymnastics canceled a team camp scheduled for later this month.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Kerry Perry’s last name.</p>
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The long relationship between USA Gymnastics and the Karolyi Ranch is over.</p>
<p>The organization announced Thursday it has terminated its agreement to have the ranch outside of Huntsville, Texas, serve as the National Training Center for the women’s elite program. The decision came three days after Olympic champion Simone Biles expressed dismay at having to attend camps there, where Biles says she was sexually abused by a former national team doctor.</p>
<p>Kerry Perry, USA Gymnastics president and CEO, said it was her intent to have the women’s program leave the ranch when she began her tenure in December.</p>
<p>“Our most important priority is our athletes, and their training environment must reflect this,” Perry said in a statement. “We are committed to a culture that empowers and supports our athletes.”</p>
<p>The ranch is the home of former national team coordinator Martha Karolyi and her husband, Bela. USA Gymnastics initially agreed to buy the training facility in August 2016 but then backed out of the agreement following an investigation into sexual abuse by former national team doctor Larry Nassar, who worked with the organization for nearly three decades before stepping away in 2015.</p>
<p>Several Olympians — including Biles, 2012 Olympic champion Gabby Douglas, six-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman and two-time medalist McKayla Maroney — say they were abused by Nassar, with some of the alleged abuse occurring at the facility.</p>
<p>Biles, who has returned to training after winning five medals at the 2016 Olympics, said in a statement released Monday that “it is impossibly difficult” to attend team camps at the ranch.</p>
<p>“It breaks my heart even more to think that as I work towards my dream of competing in Tokyo 2020, I will have to continually return to the same training facility where I was abused,” Biles wrote.</p>
<p>Nassar has already been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography crimes and is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to molesting girls at Michigan State University and his home. Maroney said in a victim’s statement at Nassar’s sentencing hearing on Thursday that he “left scars on my psyche that may never go away.”</p>
<p>Perry said the organization is exploring alternate sites until a permanent location is determined. USA Gymnastics canceled a team camp scheduled for later this month.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Kerry Perry’s last name.</p>
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USA Gymnastics ends agreement to train at Karolyi Ranch
| false |
https://apnews.com/a637a7689a8846ae8d101b83d72792bb
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2018-01-18
| 2least
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USA Gymnastics ends agreement to train at Karolyi Ranch
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The long relationship between USA Gymnastics and the Karolyi Ranch is over.</p>
<p>The organization announced Thursday it has terminated its agreement to have the ranch outside of Huntsville, Texas, serve as the National Training Center for the women’s elite program. The decision came three days after Olympic champion Simone Biles expressed dismay at having to attend camps there, where Biles says she was sexually abused by a former national team doctor.</p>
<p>Kerry Perry, USA Gymnastics president and CEO, said it was her intent to have the women’s program leave the ranch when she began her tenure in December.</p>
<p>“Our most important priority is our athletes, and their training environment must reflect this,” Perry said in a statement. “We are committed to a culture that empowers and supports our athletes.”</p>
<p>The ranch is the home of former national team coordinator Martha Karolyi and her husband, Bela. USA Gymnastics initially agreed to buy the training facility in August 2016 but then backed out of the agreement following an investigation into sexual abuse by former national team doctor Larry Nassar, who worked with the organization for nearly three decades before stepping away in 2015.</p>
<p>Several Olympians — including Biles, 2012 Olympic champion Gabby Douglas, six-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman and two-time medalist McKayla Maroney — say they were abused by Nassar, with some of the alleged abuse occurring at the facility.</p>
<p>Biles, who has returned to training after winning five medals at the 2016 Olympics, said in a statement released Monday that “it is impossibly difficult” to attend team camps at the ranch.</p>
<p>“It breaks my heart even more to think that as I work towards my dream of competing in Tokyo 2020, I will have to continually return to the same training facility where I was abused,” Biles wrote.</p>
<p>Nassar has already been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography crimes and is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to molesting girls at Michigan State University and his home. Maroney said in a victim’s statement at Nassar’s sentencing hearing on Thursday that he “left scars on my psyche that may never go away.”</p>
<p>Perry said the organization is exploring alternate sites until a permanent location is determined. USA Gymnastics canceled a team camp scheduled for later this month.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Kerry Perry’s last name.</p>
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The long relationship between USA Gymnastics and the Karolyi Ranch is over.</p>
<p>The organization announced Thursday it has terminated its agreement to have the ranch outside of Huntsville, Texas, serve as the National Training Center for the women’s elite program. The decision came three days after Olympic champion Simone Biles expressed dismay at having to attend camps there, where Biles says she was sexually abused by a former national team doctor.</p>
<p>Kerry Perry, USA Gymnastics president and CEO, said it was her intent to have the women’s program leave the ranch when she began her tenure in December.</p>
<p>“Our most important priority is our athletes, and their training environment must reflect this,” Perry said in a statement. “We are committed to a culture that empowers and supports our athletes.”</p>
<p>The ranch is the home of former national team coordinator Martha Karolyi and her husband, Bela. USA Gymnastics initially agreed to buy the training facility in August 2016 but then backed out of the agreement following an investigation into sexual abuse by former national team doctor Larry Nassar, who worked with the organization for nearly three decades before stepping away in 2015.</p>
<p>Several Olympians — including Biles, 2012 Olympic champion Gabby Douglas, six-time Olympic medalist Aly Raisman and two-time medalist McKayla Maroney — say they were abused by Nassar, with some of the alleged abuse occurring at the facility.</p>
<p>Biles, who has returned to training after winning five medals at the 2016 Olympics, said in a statement released Monday that “it is impossibly difficult” to attend team camps at the ranch.</p>
<p>“It breaks my heart even more to think that as I work towards my dream of competing in Tokyo 2020, I will have to continually return to the same training facility where I was abused,” Biles wrote.</p>
<p>Nassar has already been sentenced to 60 years in federal prison on child pornography crimes and is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to molesting girls at Michigan State University and his home. Maroney said in a victim’s statement at Nassar’s sentencing hearing on Thursday that he “left scars on my psyche that may never go away.”</p>
<p>Perry said the organization is exploring alternate sites until a permanent location is determined. USA Gymnastics canceled a team camp scheduled for later this month.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Kerry Perry’s last name.</p>
| 6,488 |
<p />
<p>I love a good Peep. Besides the <a href="http://sf.funcheap.com/dolores-park-easter-celebration-hunky-jesus-contest-mission-dist/" type="external">Hunky Jesus Contest</a>, the Peeps invasion of every drugstore and bodega in San Francisco is one of my favorite things about Easter. But why limit your Peeps intake to Easter-time?&#160;As these crafty folks on Etsy show, it’s easy to get your Peeps fix year-round. My top 5 favorite Peeps-related crafts are below. And below the jump, the worst Peeps crafts found on Etsy. Prepare yourself.</p>
<p>1) Love Peeps AND Star Wars?&#160;Look <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/66253851/knitted-pilot-luke-skywalker-peep?ref=sr_gallery_18&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+marshmallow&amp;ga_page=7&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">no further</a>! I can only speculate as to what a peeping Darth Vader would sound like. But really, can anything beat <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70965944/knitted-boba-fett-peep" type="external">Boba Fett in knitted</a> Peep form?&#160;I think we both know the answer to that one.</p>
<p />
<p>2) This <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70180313/felted-marshmallow-chick?ref=sr_gallery_14&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+marshmallow&amp;ga_page=6&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">woolly chick</a> is not only very cute, she’s well-proportioned for a Peep. I’d recommend it for a child if it wasn’t a choking hazard.</p>
<p />
<p>3) While there are a number of <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/71460291/marshmallow-bunny-pin?ref=sr_gallery_1&amp;ga_search_query=peeps&amp;ga_page=3&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">cute</a>, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70396712/felt-easter-peeps-bunny-7-inches-tall?ref=sr_gallery_35&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+marshmallow&amp;ga_page=5&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">felted</a> Peeps dolls on Etsy, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70324538/4-peeps-bunny-candy-plushies-set?ref=sr_gallery_34&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+easter&amp;ga_noautofacet=1&amp;ga_page=2&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade%2Fholidays" type="external">these</a> are the only ones I’ve seen that come in “screaming”&#160;and “regular.”</p>
<p />
<p>4) Mama and baby Peeps. <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70818152/hugga-bunny?ref=sr_gallery_22&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+easter&amp;ga_noautofacet=1&amp;ga_page=4&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade%2Fholidays" type="external">These</a> are just too sweet. I love how the mothers seem so pleased to have three babies strapped to them with a piece of felt. We should all be so lucky.</p>
<p />
<p>5) Peeps scarf. You actually can’t buy <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70769683/marshmallow-bunny-scarf-pdf-knitting?ref=sr_gallery_7&amp;ga_search_query=peeps&amp;ga_page=6&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">this scarf</a>, just the pattern. Still, it’s crafty, fun, and Peeptastic, even if they do kind of look like roadkill on the pavement.</p>
<p />
<p>Okay, those are the ones I liked. Below, my pick of the worst. And believe me, there was a lot to choose from.</p>
<p>1) I like the idea of a <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/69457384/yo-where-your-peeps-at?ref=sr_gallery_31&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+marshmallow&amp;ga_page=6&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">Peeps wreath</a>. But for $20?&#160;And some of the Peeps are busted. This is surely the fastest shortcut to an epic ant infestation.</p>
<p />
<p>2) <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/72148736/pink-peeps-painting?ref=sr_gallery_7&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+painting&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">This</a> is the equivalent of a scary clown painting, but with Peeps. I can feel them following me with their beady little asymmetrical eyes.</p>
<p />
<p>3) <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/66189774/marshmallow-bunny-peeps-jar-candle-16oz?ref=sr_gallery_1&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+bunny&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">Peeps candle</a>. Peeps are made out of marshmallow, right?&#160;So to show a group of them bathing in marshmallow stew is bit like me sitting in a hot tub full of blood. As the candle burns, I can only imagine the wax Peeps slowly melt into a vat of their own innards. Keep the kids away from this one.</p>
<p />
<p>4) Love on <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70877582/peepback-mountain-duo-cowboy-version-1?ref=sr_gallery_35&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+marshmallow&amp;ga_page=4&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">Peepback Mountain</a>. This artist has combined a great romance movie, Brokeback Mountain, with Peeps. It is quite obviously shot in someone’s backyard, but I kind of love that they’ve stolen some little girl’s toys as props. I wonder how much of the $20 sale she’ll get?</p>
<p />
<p>5) Unzip this artist’s heart, and inside you will find a <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/67805353/unzipped-heart-35-peep?ref=sr_gallery_31&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+bunny&amp;ga_page=12&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">dirty, battered, Peep</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
Peep Show: The Best and Worst Peeps Art on Etsy (Photos)
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/04/peeps-etsy/
|
2011-04-22
| 4left
|
Peep Show: The Best and Worst Peeps Art on Etsy (Photos)
<p />
<p>I love a good Peep. Besides the <a href="http://sf.funcheap.com/dolores-park-easter-celebration-hunky-jesus-contest-mission-dist/" type="external">Hunky Jesus Contest</a>, the Peeps invasion of every drugstore and bodega in San Francisco is one of my favorite things about Easter. But why limit your Peeps intake to Easter-time?&#160;As these crafty folks on Etsy show, it’s easy to get your Peeps fix year-round. My top 5 favorite Peeps-related crafts are below. And below the jump, the worst Peeps crafts found on Etsy. Prepare yourself.</p>
<p>1) Love Peeps AND Star Wars?&#160;Look <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/66253851/knitted-pilot-luke-skywalker-peep?ref=sr_gallery_18&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+marshmallow&amp;ga_page=7&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">no further</a>! I can only speculate as to what a peeping Darth Vader would sound like. But really, can anything beat <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70965944/knitted-boba-fett-peep" type="external">Boba Fett in knitted</a> Peep form?&#160;I think we both know the answer to that one.</p>
<p />
<p>2) This <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70180313/felted-marshmallow-chick?ref=sr_gallery_14&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+marshmallow&amp;ga_page=6&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">woolly chick</a> is not only very cute, she’s well-proportioned for a Peep. I’d recommend it for a child if it wasn’t a choking hazard.</p>
<p />
<p>3) While there are a number of <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/71460291/marshmallow-bunny-pin?ref=sr_gallery_1&amp;ga_search_query=peeps&amp;ga_page=3&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">cute</a>, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70396712/felt-easter-peeps-bunny-7-inches-tall?ref=sr_gallery_35&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+marshmallow&amp;ga_page=5&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">felted</a> Peeps dolls on Etsy, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70324538/4-peeps-bunny-candy-plushies-set?ref=sr_gallery_34&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+easter&amp;ga_noautofacet=1&amp;ga_page=2&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade%2Fholidays" type="external">these</a> are the only ones I’ve seen that come in “screaming”&#160;and “regular.”</p>
<p />
<p>4) Mama and baby Peeps. <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70818152/hugga-bunny?ref=sr_gallery_22&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+easter&amp;ga_noautofacet=1&amp;ga_page=4&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade%2Fholidays" type="external">These</a> are just too sweet. I love how the mothers seem so pleased to have three babies strapped to them with a piece of felt. We should all be so lucky.</p>
<p />
<p>5) Peeps scarf. You actually can’t buy <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70769683/marshmallow-bunny-scarf-pdf-knitting?ref=sr_gallery_7&amp;ga_search_query=peeps&amp;ga_page=6&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">this scarf</a>, just the pattern. Still, it’s crafty, fun, and Peeptastic, even if they do kind of look like roadkill on the pavement.</p>
<p />
<p>Okay, those are the ones I liked. Below, my pick of the worst. And believe me, there was a lot to choose from.</p>
<p>1) I like the idea of a <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/69457384/yo-where-your-peeps-at?ref=sr_gallery_31&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+marshmallow&amp;ga_page=6&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">Peeps wreath</a>. But for $20?&#160;And some of the Peeps are busted. This is surely the fastest shortcut to an epic ant infestation.</p>
<p />
<p>2) <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/72148736/pink-peeps-painting?ref=sr_gallery_7&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+painting&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">This</a> is the equivalent of a scary clown painting, but with Peeps. I can feel them following me with their beady little asymmetrical eyes.</p>
<p />
<p>3) <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/66189774/marshmallow-bunny-peeps-jar-candle-16oz?ref=sr_gallery_1&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+bunny&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">Peeps candle</a>. Peeps are made out of marshmallow, right?&#160;So to show a group of them bathing in marshmallow stew is bit like me sitting in a hot tub full of blood. As the candle burns, I can only imagine the wax Peeps slowly melt into a vat of their own innards. Keep the kids away from this one.</p>
<p />
<p>4) Love on <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/70877582/peepback-mountain-duo-cowboy-version-1?ref=sr_gallery_35&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+marshmallow&amp;ga_page=4&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">Peepback Mountain</a>. This artist has combined a great romance movie, Brokeback Mountain, with Peeps. It is quite obviously shot in someone’s backyard, but I kind of love that they’ve stolen some little girl’s toys as props. I wonder how much of the $20 sale she’ll get?</p>
<p />
<p>5) Unzip this artist’s heart, and inside you will find a <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/67805353/unzipped-heart-35-peep?ref=sr_gallery_31&amp;ga_search_query=peeps%2C+bunny&amp;ga_page=12&amp;ga_search_type=handmade&amp;ga_facet=handmade" type="external">dirty, battered, Peep</a>.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,489 |
<p>Copper prices slipped further Tuesday, after Monday's bounce gave rise to further profit-taking following weeks of sharp gains and speculative bullishness around the base metal.</p>
<p>The industrial metal fell 0.89% to $6,687.50 a metric ton in midmorning trade in London, with the rest of the base complex also pulling back.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Gold, too, continued to edge lower, falling 0.08% to $1,326.18 a troy ounce, with last week's belligerent back-and-forth between the U.S. and North Korea receding further into the background of geopolitical affairs.</p>
<p>The end of last week saw copper prices start to pull back after months of upward movement, which analysts said was based more on trader optimism about the state of the Chinese economy than it was on supply and demand fundamentals.</p>
<p>"Today we're really just seeing copper settling into that lower range. Friday's selloff was no surprise given how long the market was and it was only a matter of time before the pressure valve was released by some profit-taking," said Kash Kamal, a senior analyst at Sucden Financial.</p>
<p>Data for London Metal Exchange copper, released Friday, revealed that trader bets on copper prices continuing to rise were at their highest since 2004, according to broker Marex Spectron.</p>
<p>Now, though, "with sentiment and fundamentals now looking more aligned, it looks as though prices might consolidate on the previous resistance level of $6,670 where it traded earlier today," Sucden's Mr. Kamal said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Chilean data for July 2017 showed mined copper production up 5% for the month year-over-year, although that did little to move the needle on year-to-date production, which is still 7% down on-the-year, according to a note from ING, after strikes at BHP Billiton's mine at Escondida.</p>
<p>Peru's year-to-date output, meanwhile, has been slightly higher, according to Investec.</p>
<p>Traders were looking out for Chinese data on industrial production, expected Thursday, as well as credit and monetary supply data, also due this week.</p>
<p>Among precious metals, silver fell 0.06% to $17.80 a troy ounce, palladium gained 0.51% to $954.05 a troy ounce, and platinum fell 0.39% to $987.75 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>Among base metals, zinc fell 0.73% to $3,065.50 a metric ton, aluminum fell 0.09% to $2,119.50 a metric ton, tin fell 0.22% to $20,705 a metric ton, nickel fell 1.69% to $11,635 a metric ton and lead fell 0.50% to $2,267 a metric ton.</p>
<p>Write to David Hodari at [email protected]</p>
<p>Gold prices were on track for a second straight day of losses Tuesday after United Nations sanctions against North Korea were less severe than many initially expected.</p>
<p>Gold for December delivery was recently down 0.3% at $1,331.60 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, falling further after its worst day in more than two months Monday. U.S. officials eased their demands for sanctions against North Korea Monday after North Korea didn't conduct a weekend missile test as many had previously predicted.</p>
<p>Some analysts said the latest developments between the two countries removed some fear in the markets, with the U.N. Security Council sanctions less stringent than the U.S. initially requested.</p>
<p>"This is clearly a relief for market participants and is generating higher risk appetite," Commerzbank analysts wrote in a Tuesday note.</p>
<p>Analysts and investors have also said that demand for haven assets has weakened early in the week because damage from Hurricane Irma was less severe than expected. Many investors favor gold during times of geopolitical uncertainty.</p>
<p>Another factor weighing on gold prices Tuesday was the dollar ticking higher, which makes gold more expensive for foreign buyers. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 16 others, was recently up 0.1% and on track for a second straight day of gains after closing at its lowest level in more than two years Friday.</p>
<p>Among base metals, copper for December delivery was recently down 1.2% at $3.0295 a pound. Since crossing $3.15 last week, the industrial metal has fallen roughly 4%. Many analysts have cautioned that record amounts of speculative buying have left copper susceptible to a pullback because the market is currently relatively balanced.</p>
<p>Some have said the rally's upward momentum has gotten ahead of fundamentals, even with confidence in the global economy pushing prices to nearly three-year highs.</p>
<p>"It just didn't really seem there was anything behind it other than investor froth," said Vivienne Lloyd, a base-metals analyst at Macquarie Group.</p>
<p>The industrial metal fell 0.89% to $6,687.50 a metric ton in midmorning trade in London, with the rest of the base complex also pulling back.</p>
<p>Gold, too, continued to edge lower, falling 0.08% to $1,326.18 a troy ounce, with last week's belligerent back-and-forth between the U.S. and North Korea receding further into the background of geopolitical affairs.</p>
<p>The end of last week saw copper prices start to pull back after months of upward movement, which analysts said was based more on trader optimism about the state of the Chinese economy than it was on supply and demand fundamentals.</p>
<p>"Today we're really just seeing copper settling into that lower range. Friday's selloff was no surprise given how long the market was and it was only a matter of time before the pressure valve was released by some profit-taking," said Kash Kamal, a senior analyst at Sucden Financial.</p>
<p>Data for London Metal Exchange copper, released Friday, revealed that trader bets on copper prices continuing to rise were at their highest since 2004, according to broker Marex Spectron.</p>
<p>Now, though, "with sentiment and fundamentals now looking more aligned, it looks as though prices might consolidate on the previous resistance level of $6,670 where it traded earlier today," Sucden's Mr. Kamal said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Chilean data for July 2017 showed mined copper production up 5% for the month year-over-year, although that did little to move the needle on year-to-date production, which is still 7% down on-the-year, according to a note from ING, after strikes at BHP Billiton's mine at Escondida.</p>
<p>Peru's year-to-date output, meanwhile, has been slightly higher, according to Investec.</p>
<p>Traders were looking out for Chinese data on industrial production, expected Thursday, as well as credit and monetary supply data, also due this week.</p>
<p>Among precious metals, silver fell 0.06% to $17.80 a troy ounce, palladium gained 0.51% to $954.05 a troy ounce, and platinum fell 0.39% to $987.75 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>Among base metals, zinc fell 0.73% to $3,065.50 a metric ton, aluminum fell 0.09% to $2,119.50 a metric ton, tin fell 0.22% to $20,705 a metric ton, nickel fell 1.69% to $11,635 a metric ton and lead fell 0.50% to $2,267 a metric ton.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 12, 2017 11:24 ET (15:24 GMT)</p>
|
Gold Edges Lower as Market Fear Abates
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/09/12/gold-edges-lower-as-market-fear-abates.html
|
2017-09-12
| 0right
|
Gold Edges Lower as Market Fear Abates
<p>Copper prices slipped further Tuesday, after Monday's bounce gave rise to further profit-taking following weeks of sharp gains and speculative bullishness around the base metal.</p>
<p>The industrial metal fell 0.89% to $6,687.50 a metric ton in midmorning trade in London, with the rest of the base complex also pulling back.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Gold, too, continued to edge lower, falling 0.08% to $1,326.18 a troy ounce, with last week's belligerent back-and-forth between the U.S. and North Korea receding further into the background of geopolitical affairs.</p>
<p>The end of last week saw copper prices start to pull back after months of upward movement, which analysts said was based more on trader optimism about the state of the Chinese economy than it was on supply and demand fundamentals.</p>
<p>"Today we're really just seeing copper settling into that lower range. Friday's selloff was no surprise given how long the market was and it was only a matter of time before the pressure valve was released by some profit-taking," said Kash Kamal, a senior analyst at Sucden Financial.</p>
<p>Data for London Metal Exchange copper, released Friday, revealed that trader bets on copper prices continuing to rise were at their highest since 2004, according to broker Marex Spectron.</p>
<p>Now, though, "with sentiment and fundamentals now looking more aligned, it looks as though prices might consolidate on the previous resistance level of $6,670 where it traded earlier today," Sucden's Mr. Kamal said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Chilean data for July 2017 showed mined copper production up 5% for the month year-over-year, although that did little to move the needle on year-to-date production, which is still 7% down on-the-year, according to a note from ING, after strikes at BHP Billiton's mine at Escondida.</p>
<p>Peru's year-to-date output, meanwhile, has been slightly higher, according to Investec.</p>
<p>Traders were looking out for Chinese data on industrial production, expected Thursday, as well as credit and monetary supply data, also due this week.</p>
<p>Among precious metals, silver fell 0.06% to $17.80 a troy ounce, palladium gained 0.51% to $954.05 a troy ounce, and platinum fell 0.39% to $987.75 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>Among base metals, zinc fell 0.73% to $3,065.50 a metric ton, aluminum fell 0.09% to $2,119.50 a metric ton, tin fell 0.22% to $20,705 a metric ton, nickel fell 1.69% to $11,635 a metric ton and lead fell 0.50% to $2,267 a metric ton.</p>
<p>Write to David Hodari at [email protected]</p>
<p>Gold prices were on track for a second straight day of losses Tuesday after United Nations sanctions against North Korea were less severe than many initially expected.</p>
<p>Gold for December delivery was recently down 0.3% at $1,331.60 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, falling further after its worst day in more than two months Monday. U.S. officials eased their demands for sanctions against North Korea Monday after North Korea didn't conduct a weekend missile test as many had previously predicted.</p>
<p>Some analysts said the latest developments between the two countries removed some fear in the markets, with the U.N. Security Council sanctions less stringent than the U.S. initially requested.</p>
<p>"This is clearly a relief for market participants and is generating higher risk appetite," Commerzbank analysts wrote in a Tuesday note.</p>
<p>Analysts and investors have also said that demand for haven assets has weakened early in the week because damage from Hurricane Irma was less severe than expected. Many investors favor gold during times of geopolitical uncertainty.</p>
<p>Another factor weighing on gold prices Tuesday was the dollar ticking higher, which makes gold more expensive for foreign buyers. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 16 others, was recently up 0.1% and on track for a second straight day of gains after closing at its lowest level in more than two years Friday.</p>
<p>Among base metals, copper for December delivery was recently down 1.2% at $3.0295 a pound. Since crossing $3.15 last week, the industrial metal has fallen roughly 4%. Many analysts have cautioned that record amounts of speculative buying have left copper susceptible to a pullback because the market is currently relatively balanced.</p>
<p>Some have said the rally's upward momentum has gotten ahead of fundamentals, even with confidence in the global economy pushing prices to nearly three-year highs.</p>
<p>"It just didn't really seem there was anything behind it other than investor froth," said Vivienne Lloyd, a base-metals analyst at Macquarie Group.</p>
<p>The industrial metal fell 0.89% to $6,687.50 a metric ton in midmorning trade in London, with the rest of the base complex also pulling back.</p>
<p>Gold, too, continued to edge lower, falling 0.08% to $1,326.18 a troy ounce, with last week's belligerent back-and-forth between the U.S. and North Korea receding further into the background of geopolitical affairs.</p>
<p>The end of last week saw copper prices start to pull back after months of upward movement, which analysts said was based more on trader optimism about the state of the Chinese economy than it was on supply and demand fundamentals.</p>
<p>"Today we're really just seeing copper settling into that lower range. Friday's selloff was no surprise given how long the market was and it was only a matter of time before the pressure valve was released by some profit-taking," said Kash Kamal, a senior analyst at Sucden Financial.</p>
<p>Data for London Metal Exchange copper, released Friday, revealed that trader bets on copper prices continuing to rise were at their highest since 2004, according to broker Marex Spectron.</p>
<p>Now, though, "with sentiment and fundamentals now looking more aligned, it looks as though prices might consolidate on the previous resistance level of $6,670 where it traded earlier today," Sucden's Mr. Kamal said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Chilean data for July 2017 showed mined copper production up 5% for the month year-over-year, although that did little to move the needle on year-to-date production, which is still 7% down on-the-year, according to a note from ING, after strikes at BHP Billiton's mine at Escondida.</p>
<p>Peru's year-to-date output, meanwhile, has been slightly higher, according to Investec.</p>
<p>Traders were looking out for Chinese data on industrial production, expected Thursday, as well as credit and monetary supply data, also due this week.</p>
<p>Among precious metals, silver fell 0.06% to $17.80 a troy ounce, palladium gained 0.51% to $954.05 a troy ounce, and platinum fell 0.39% to $987.75 a troy ounce.</p>
<p>Among base metals, zinc fell 0.73% to $3,065.50 a metric ton, aluminum fell 0.09% to $2,119.50 a metric ton, tin fell 0.22% to $20,705 a metric ton, nickel fell 1.69% to $11,635 a metric ton and lead fell 0.50% to $2,267 a metric ton.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 12, 2017 11:24 ET (15:24 GMT)</p>
| 6,490 |
<p>On Thursday State Rep. Reggie Fullwood plead guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and failing to file a tax return.</p>
<p>Judge Marcia Morales Howard asked Fullwood if he understood by pleading guilty he admits to the truth of the charges and waives his rights to a trial. He would lose his right to vote, own a firearm or hold public office.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.news4jax.com/news/fullwood-pleads-guilty-to-wire-fraud-charges" type="external">News4Jax</a>, when the judge asked if it was his signature on the plea agreement he said “Yes, ma’am.”</p>
<p>Last month Fullwood narrowly won a six-way Democratic primary for a fourth term representing District 13 and was scheduled to face Republican Mark Griffin in the general election.</p>
<p>Fullwood was indicted earlier this year on 14 counts, including wire fraud and tax evasion. They were mostly related to diverting contributions to his re-election campaign for his own personal use. It was said he purchased jewelry, alcohol and flowers with the money.</p>
<p>In exchange for his voluntary plea, the government dropped the 12 other counts against Fullwood. He would also be allowed to remain free on bond until sentencing, which will happen in about two months.</p>
|
State Rep. Reggie Fullwood Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud
| true |
http://shark-tank.com/2016/09/30/state-rep-reggie-fullwood-pleads-guilty-to-wire-fraud/
| 0right
|
State Rep. Reggie Fullwood Pleads Guilty To Wire Fraud
<p>On Thursday State Rep. Reggie Fullwood plead guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and failing to file a tax return.</p>
<p>Judge Marcia Morales Howard asked Fullwood if he understood by pleading guilty he admits to the truth of the charges and waives his rights to a trial. He would lose his right to vote, own a firearm or hold public office.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.news4jax.com/news/fullwood-pleads-guilty-to-wire-fraud-charges" type="external">News4Jax</a>, when the judge asked if it was his signature on the plea agreement he said “Yes, ma’am.”</p>
<p>Last month Fullwood narrowly won a six-way Democratic primary for a fourth term representing District 13 and was scheduled to face Republican Mark Griffin in the general election.</p>
<p>Fullwood was indicted earlier this year on 14 counts, including wire fraud and tax evasion. They were mostly related to diverting contributions to his re-election campaign for his own personal use. It was said he purchased jewelry, alcohol and flowers with the money.</p>
<p>In exchange for his voluntary plea, the government dropped the 12 other counts against Fullwood. He would also be allowed to remain free on bond until sentencing, which will happen in about two months.</p>
| 6,491 |
|
<p>The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/iraq/140630/what-the-hell-caliphate" type="external">has declared</a> huge parts of Syria and Iraq a new Islamic caliphate. ISIL also ordered all Muslims around the world to follow Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the new caliph for their self-declared nation.&#160;</p>
<p>Using a map <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2014/06/ISIS%20envisioned%20boundaries_1.jpg" type="external">ISIL posted on Twitter in March</a>, we've created this map to show where the borders of the new Islamic caliphate would be if ISIL gets its way.</p>
<p />
|
This is what the world's newest Islamic caliphate might look like
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2014-06-30/what-worlds-newest-islamic-caliphate-might-look
|
2014-06-30
| 3left-center
|
This is what the world's newest Islamic caliphate might look like
<p>The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS, <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/iraq/140630/what-the-hell-caliphate" type="external">has declared</a> huge parts of Syria and Iraq a new Islamic caliphate. ISIL also ordered all Muslims around the world to follow Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the new caliph for their self-declared nation.&#160;</p>
<p>Using a map <a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2014/06/ISIS%20envisioned%20boundaries_1.jpg" type="external">ISIL posted on Twitter in March</a>, we've created this map to show where the borders of the new Islamic caliphate would be if ISIL gets its way.</p>
<p />
| 6,492 |
<p>Is Vice President Mike Pence preparing to take the reins of the presidency from Donald Trump? One Boston Globe​ columnist seems to think that he is.</p>
<p>Renée Graham's Tuesday <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/07/11/mike-pence-looks-like-ready-pounce-presidency/1rB6nakDWJ4hxtTrz7ZCgK/story.html" type="external">column</a>, titled Mike Pence Looks Like He’s Ready to Pounce on the Presidency, argues that Pence likely took the position as Trump's running mate last year because he thought "the chaotic Trump campaign" would give way to "a calamitous Trump presidency."</p>
<p>Graham points out that Pence is starting to makes moves that one would expect of someone running for re-election:</p>
<p><a href="http://ps://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/09/us/politics/at-private-dinners-pence-quietly-courts-big-donors-and-corporate-executives.html" type="external">The New York Times recently reported</a>that Pence is chatting with deep-pocketed money men like Charles Koch, and hosting dinners with his wife, Karen, for wealthy donors at the vice president’s mansion. In May, Pence launched his own PAC, the “Great America Committee.” While its name echoes Trump’s campaign slogan, no previous sitting vice president has ever formed such a separate political organization. An unnamed Pence surrogate told NBC News that any chatter that the PAC is meant to bolster the veep’s 2020 plans is misguided.</p>
<p>Graham also noted that while Pence has gotten a lawyer to protect himself from the Russia investigation, he seems to be acting like the Trump-Russia collusion allegations won't affect him politically.</p>
<p>Naturally, Graham proceeds to attack Pence as "a hard-line theocrat with more respect for the Bible than the Constitution":</p>
<p>As a US congressman, then Indiana’s governor, he proposed policies that threatened the lives and rights of women and the LGBT community. Even in a reliably red state, Pence’s medieval beliefs, especially a so-called “religious freedom” law to legalize discrimination, were so denounced that the Indianapolis Star ran a front-page editorial under the massive headline “FIX THIS NOW.” The state legislature eventually watered down the anti-LGBT language enough to curtail the economic backlash.</p>
<p>This will most certainly be the line of attack from the Left if President Trump is taken down by the Russia scandal and is replaced by Pence. Nevertheless, Graham admits that Pence is much more calm and steady than Trump, which would make him seem refreshing by comparison.</p>
<p>There may be something to Graham's line of thinking, as Pence's <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/pence-distances-himself-from-trump-jr-scandal" type="external">statement</a> on Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian attorney seems like he's attempting to distance himself from the whole situation, although this is something that <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/12/pence-distancing-himself-from-trump-laughable-says-vps-office/" type="external">Pence's spokesperson denies</a>. It's possible that Pence is looking out for himself regardless, or he has bigger plans in mind.</p>
<p>It's certainly too early to know if Trump will somehow eventually be taken down by the Russia investigation, but Pence just might be preparing himself to take over the presidency just in case things go sideways.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter" type="external">Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.</a></p>
|
Is Pence Prepping To Take Over For Trump?
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/18553/pence-prepping-take-over-trump-aaron-bandler
|
2017-07-13
| 0right
|
Is Pence Prepping To Take Over For Trump?
<p>Is Vice President Mike Pence preparing to take the reins of the presidency from Donald Trump? One Boston Globe​ columnist seems to think that he is.</p>
<p>Renée Graham's Tuesday <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2017/07/11/mike-pence-looks-like-ready-pounce-presidency/1rB6nakDWJ4hxtTrz7ZCgK/story.html" type="external">column</a>, titled Mike Pence Looks Like He’s Ready to Pounce on the Presidency, argues that Pence likely took the position as Trump's running mate last year because he thought "the chaotic Trump campaign" would give way to "a calamitous Trump presidency."</p>
<p>Graham points out that Pence is starting to makes moves that one would expect of someone running for re-election:</p>
<p><a href="http://ps://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/09/us/politics/at-private-dinners-pence-quietly-courts-big-donors-and-corporate-executives.html" type="external">The New York Times recently reported</a>that Pence is chatting with deep-pocketed money men like Charles Koch, and hosting dinners with his wife, Karen, for wealthy donors at the vice president’s mansion. In May, Pence launched his own PAC, the “Great America Committee.” While its name echoes Trump’s campaign slogan, no previous sitting vice president has ever formed such a separate political organization. An unnamed Pence surrogate told NBC News that any chatter that the PAC is meant to bolster the veep’s 2020 plans is misguided.</p>
<p>Graham also noted that while Pence has gotten a lawyer to protect himself from the Russia investigation, he seems to be acting like the Trump-Russia collusion allegations won't affect him politically.</p>
<p>Naturally, Graham proceeds to attack Pence as "a hard-line theocrat with more respect for the Bible than the Constitution":</p>
<p>As a US congressman, then Indiana’s governor, he proposed policies that threatened the lives and rights of women and the LGBT community. Even in a reliably red state, Pence’s medieval beliefs, especially a so-called “religious freedom” law to legalize discrimination, were so denounced that the Indianapolis Star ran a front-page editorial under the massive headline “FIX THIS NOW.” The state legislature eventually watered down the anti-LGBT language enough to curtail the economic backlash.</p>
<p>This will most certainly be the line of attack from the Left if President Trump is taken down by the Russia scandal and is replaced by Pence. Nevertheless, Graham admits that Pence is much more calm and steady than Trump, which would make him seem refreshing by comparison.</p>
<p>There may be something to Graham's line of thinking, as Pence's <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/pence-distances-himself-from-trump-jr-scandal" type="external">statement</a> on Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian attorney seems like he's attempting to distance himself from the whole situation, although this is something that <a href="http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/12/pence-distancing-himself-from-trump-laughable-says-vps-office/" type="external">Pence's spokesperson denies</a>. It's possible that Pence is looking out for himself regardless, or he has bigger plans in mind.</p>
<p>It's certainly too early to know if Trump will somehow eventually be taken down by the Russia investigation, but Pence just might be preparing himself to take over the presidency just in case things go sideways.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/bandlersbanter" type="external">Follow Aaron Bandler on Twitter.</a></p>
| 6,493 |
<p>CHICAGO (AP) — Few people running for public office have been more personally affected by gun violence than Chris Kennedy, who was a child when his father and uncle, Sen. Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, were assassinated.</p>
<p>Now the 54-year-old Democrat has made the issue a centerpiece of his campaign for Illinois governor, talking often about growing up without a father and family trips to Arlington National Cemetery, and saying too many people in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois are dealing with the same kind of pain.</p>
<p>The move has brought endorsements from African-American leaders, including U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis, and could help Kennedy earn support in the March primary from black voters who have been disproportionately hurt by gun violence.</p>
<p>But it's also put him at odds with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and some others and prompted accusations of race baiting, after Kennedy said much of the violence is due to systemic disinvestment in black neighborhoods. He accused Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff, of pushing black people out of the city through a "strategic gentrification plan" that includes cutting funding for police and public schools.</p>
<p>"Our government needs to be held accountable for subjecting our communities to a life of crimes of survival," Kennedy told supporters. "We can reduce and control gun violence in our communities, but we need to be honest with ourselves about why it's happening."</p>
<p>Emanuel called the comments "hallucinatory" and said he would like to hear "ideas, not insults," while a mayoral spokesman said it was "a direct assault on one of this city's greatest strengths — our diversity."</p>
<p>Kennedy's other critics, including campaign rivals, called the comment hypocritical, noting he was praising Emanuel not long ago and even donated $5,000 to his campaign. The Chicago Tribune, in an editorial, called it "a cynical and divisive pitch for votes."</p>
<p>Kennedy is one of six Democrats seeking the party's nomination March 20 for the chance to unseat first-term Gov. Bruce Rauner, who's widely considered one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents up for re-election this fall. Among the other Democrats running are state Sen. Daniel Biss and billionaire businessman J.B. Pritzker, who's scooped up endorsements from Democratic county officials and major unions, including the Illinois Education Association.</p>
<p>Rush and Davis, who have both lost family members to the city's violence, said they're backing Kennedy because he's put violence prevention and gun control at the top of his agenda.</p>
<p>Speaking at a campaign event this month at a church in a west side Chicago neighborhood where homicides have spiked in recent years, Rush said it was "the first time in my lifetime" Illinois has a gubernatorial candidate who knows how violence rips apart a family and a community. Kennedy's father was killed as he ran for president in 1968, years after John F. Kennedy's assassination.</p>
<p>"He understands. He gets it," Rush said. "We don't have to sit down and go over violence."</p>
<p>Joining them was Nate Pendleton, whose 15-year-old daughter, Hadiya, was shot and killed days after returning from President Barack Obama's 2013 inauguration, and Kennedy's running mate, Ra Joy, whose 23-year-old son was fatally shot last summer, apparently by someone trying to steal his cellphone.</p>
<p>Chicago police recorded 650 homicides in 2017, down from the year before but still more killings than in New York City and Los Angeles combined.</p>
<p>Kennedy criticized Chicago officials for celebrating the decrease. He said the city is using a strategy of "selective containment" in which violence is allowed to continue in certain neighborhoods and minorities are pushed out Chicago, making the city "whiter."</p>
<p>He says his plan to reduce violence would include more investment in neighborhoods, reducing poverty and tougher gun control measures — an approach similar to that of his opponents.</p>
<p>Emanuel said he has worked to reverse the decline in the city's black population and reduce violence across Chicago.</p>
<p>Also seeking the Democratic nomination are regional schools superintendent Bob Daiber, activist Tio Hardiman and physician Robert Marshall. Rauner faces a GOP primary challenge from conservative state Rep. Jeanne Ives.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Sign up for the AP's weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: <a href="http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv" type="external">http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv</a></p>
<p>CHICAGO (AP) — Few people running for public office have been more personally affected by gun violence than Chris Kennedy, who was a child when his father and uncle, Sen. Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, were assassinated.</p>
<p>Now the 54-year-old Democrat has made the issue a centerpiece of his campaign for Illinois governor, talking often about growing up without a father and family trips to Arlington National Cemetery, and saying too many people in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois are dealing with the same kind of pain.</p>
<p>The move has brought endorsements from African-American leaders, including U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis, and could help Kennedy earn support in the March primary from black voters who have been disproportionately hurt by gun violence.</p>
<p>But it's also put him at odds with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and some others and prompted accusations of race baiting, after Kennedy said much of the violence is due to systemic disinvestment in black neighborhoods. He accused Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff, of pushing black people out of the city through a "strategic gentrification plan" that includes cutting funding for police and public schools.</p>
<p>"Our government needs to be held accountable for subjecting our communities to a life of crimes of survival," Kennedy told supporters. "We can reduce and control gun violence in our communities, but we need to be honest with ourselves about why it's happening."</p>
<p>Emanuel called the comments "hallucinatory" and said he would like to hear "ideas, not insults," while a mayoral spokesman said it was "a direct assault on one of this city's greatest strengths — our diversity."</p>
<p>Kennedy's other critics, including campaign rivals, called the comment hypocritical, noting he was praising Emanuel not long ago and even donated $5,000 to his campaign. The Chicago Tribune, in an editorial, called it "a cynical and divisive pitch for votes."</p>
<p>Kennedy is one of six Democrats seeking the party's nomination March 20 for the chance to unseat first-term Gov. Bruce Rauner, who's widely considered one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents up for re-election this fall. Among the other Democrats running are state Sen. Daniel Biss and billionaire businessman J.B. Pritzker, who's scooped up endorsements from Democratic county officials and major unions, including the Illinois Education Association.</p>
<p>Rush and Davis, who have both lost family members to the city's violence, said they're backing Kennedy because he's put violence prevention and gun control at the top of his agenda.</p>
<p>Speaking at a campaign event this month at a church in a west side Chicago neighborhood where homicides have spiked in recent years, Rush said it was "the first time in my lifetime" Illinois has a gubernatorial candidate who knows how violence rips apart a family and a community. Kennedy's father was killed as he ran for president in 1968, years after John F. Kennedy's assassination.</p>
<p>"He understands. He gets it," Rush said. "We don't have to sit down and go over violence."</p>
<p>Joining them was Nate Pendleton, whose 15-year-old daughter, Hadiya, was shot and killed days after returning from President Barack Obama's 2013 inauguration, and Kennedy's running mate, Ra Joy, whose 23-year-old son was fatally shot last summer, apparently by someone trying to steal his cellphone.</p>
<p>Chicago police recorded 650 homicides in 2017, down from the year before but still more killings than in New York City and Los Angeles combined.</p>
<p>Kennedy criticized Chicago officials for celebrating the decrease. He said the city is using a strategy of "selective containment" in which violence is allowed to continue in certain neighborhoods and minorities are pushed out Chicago, making the city "whiter."</p>
<p>He says his plan to reduce violence would include more investment in neighborhoods, reducing poverty and tougher gun control measures — an approach similar to that of his opponents.</p>
<p>Emanuel said he has worked to reverse the decline in the city's black population and reduce violence across Chicago.</p>
<p>Also seeking the Democratic nomination are regional schools superintendent Bob Daiber, activist Tio Hardiman and physician Robert Marshall. Rauner faces a GOP primary challenge from conservative state Rep. Jeanne Ives.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Sign up for the AP's weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: <a href="http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv" type="external">http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv</a></p>
|
Kennedy targets gun violence in Illinois governor campaign
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/442440b00d1a4a87a5372baf7c4b177f
|
2018-01-14
| 2least
|
Kennedy targets gun violence in Illinois governor campaign
<p>CHICAGO (AP) — Few people running for public office have been more personally affected by gun violence than Chris Kennedy, who was a child when his father and uncle, Sen. Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, were assassinated.</p>
<p>Now the 54-year-old Democrat has made the issue a centerpiece of his campaign for Illinois governor, talking often about growing up without a father and family trips to Arlington National Cemetery, and saying too many people in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois are dealing with the same kind of pain.</p>
<p>The move has brought endorsements from African-American leaders, including U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis, and could help Kennedy earn support in the March primary from black voters who have been disproportionately hurt by gun violence.</p>
<p>But it's also put him at odds with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and some others and prompted accusations of race baiting, after Kennedy said much of the violence is due to systemic disinvestment in black neighborhoods. He accused Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff, of pushing black people out of the city through a "strategic gentrification plan" that includes cutting funding for police and public schools.</p>
<p>"Our government needs to be held accountable for subjecting our communities to a life of crimes of survival," Kennedy told supporters. "We can reduce and control gun violence in our communities, but we need to be honest with ourselves about why it's happening."</p>
<p>Emanuel called the comments "hallucinatory" and said he would like to hear "ideas, not insults," while a mayoral spokesman said it was "a direct assault on one of this city's greatest strengths — our diversity."</p>
<p>Kennedy's other critics, including campaign rivals, called the comment hypocritical, noting he was praising Emanuel not long ago and even donated $5,000 to his campaign. The Chicago Tribune, in an editorial, called it "a cynical and divisive pitch for votes."</p>
<p>Kennedy is one of six Democrats seeking the party's nomination March 20 for the chance to unseat first-term Gov. Bruce Rauner, who's widely considered one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents up for re-election this fall. Among the other Democrats running are state Sen. Daniel Biss and billionaire businessman J.B. Pritzker, who's scooped up endorsements from Democratic county officials and major unions, including the Illinois Education Association.</p>
<p>Rush and Davis, who have both lost family members to the city's violence, said they're backing Kennedy because he's put violence prevention and gun control at the top of his agenda.</p>
<p>Speaking at a campaign event this month at a church in a west side Chicago neighborhood where homicides have spiked in recent years, Rush said it was "the first time in my lifetime" Illinois has a gubernatorial candidate who knows how violence rips apart a family and a community. Kennedy's father was killed as he ran for president in 1968, years after John F. Kennedy's assassination.</p>
<p>"He understands. He gets it," Rush said. "We don't have to sit down and go over violence."</p>
<p>Joining them was Nate Pendleton, whose 15-year-old daughter, Hadiya, was shot and killed days after returning from President Barack Obama's 2013 inauguration, and Kennedy's running mate, Ra Joy, whose 23-year-old son was fatally shot last summer, apparently by someone trying to steal his cellphone.</p>
<p>Chicago police recorded 650 homicides in 2017, down from the year before but still more killings than in New York City and Los Angeles combined.</p>
<p>Kennedy criticized Chicago officials for celebrating the decrease. He said the city is using a strategy of "selective containment" in which violence is allowed to continue in certain neighborhoods and minorities are pushed out Chicago, making the city "whiter."</p>
<p>He says his plan to reduce violence would include more investment in neighborhoods, reducing poverty and tougher gun control measures — an approach similar to that of his opponents.</p>
<p>Emanuel said he has worked to reverse the decline in the city's black population and reduce violence across Chicago.</p>
<p>Also seeking the Democratic nomination are regional schools superintendent Bob Daiber, activist Tio Hardiman and physician Robert Marshall. Rauner faces a GOP primary challenge from conservative state Rep. Jeanne Ives.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Sign up for the AP's weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: <a href="http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv" type="external">http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv</a></p>
<p>CHICAGO (AP) — Few people running for public office have been more personally affected by gun violence than Chris Kennedy, who was a child when his father and uncle, Sen. Robert Kennedy and President John F. Kennedy, were assassinated.</p>
<p>Now the 54-year-old Democrat has made the issue a centerpiece of his campaign for Illinois governor, talking often about growing up without a father and family trips to Arlington National Cemetery, and saying too many people in Chicago and elsewhere in Illinois are dealing with the same kind of pain.</p>
<p>The move has brought endorsements from African-American leaders, including U.S. Reps. Bobby Rush and Danny Davis, and could help Kennedy earn support in the March primary from black voters who have been disproportionately hurt by gun violence.</p>
<p>But it's also put him at odds with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and some others and prompted accusations of race baiting, after Kennedy said much of the violence is due to systemic disinvestment in black neighborhoods. He accused Emanuel, the former White House chief of staff, of pushing black people out of the city through a "strategic gentrification plan" that includes cutting funding for police and public schools.</p>
<p>"Our government needs to be held accountable for subjecting our communities to a life of crimes of survival," Kennedy told supporters. "We can reduce and control gun violence in our communities, but we need to be honest with ourselves about why it's happening."</p>
<p>Emanuel called the comments "hallucinatory" and said he would like to hear "ideas, not insults," while a mayoral spokesman said it was "a direct assault on one of this city's greatest strengths — our diversity."</p>
<p>Kennedy's other critics, including campaign rivals, called the comment hypocritical, noting he was praising Emanuel not long ago and even donated $5,000 to his campaign. The Chicago Tribune, in an editorial, called it "a cynical and divisive pitch for votes."</p>
<p>Kennedy is one of six Democrats seeking the party's nomination March 20 for the chance to unseat first-term Gov. Bruce Rauner, who's widely considered one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents up for re-election this fall. Among the other Democrats running are state Sen. Daniel Biss and billionaire businessman J.B. Pritzker, who's scooped up endorsements from Democratic county officials and major unions, including the Illinois Education Association.</p>
<p>Rush and Davis, who have both lost family members to the city's violence, said they're backing Kennedy because he's put violence prevention and gun control at the top of his agenda.</p>
<p>Speaking at a campaign event this month at a church in a west side Chicago neighborhood where homicides have spiked in recent years, Rush said it was "the first time in my lifetime" Illinois has a gubernatorial candidate who knows how violence rips apart a family and a community. Kennedy's father was killed as he ran for president in 1968, years after John F. Kennedy's assassination.</p>
<p>"He understands. He gets it," Rush said. "We don't have to sit down and go over violence."</p>
<p>Joining them was Nate Pendleton, whose 15-year-old daughter, Hadiya, was shot and killed days after returning from President Barack Obama's 2013 inauguration, and Kennedy's running mate, Ra Joy, whose 23-year-old son was fatally shot last summer, apparently by someone trying to steal his cellphone.</p>
<p>Chicago police recorded 650 homicides in 2017, down from the year before but still more killings than in New York City and Los Angeles combined.</p>
<p>Kennedy criticized Chicago officials for celebrating the decrease. He said the city is using a strategy of "selective containment" in which violence is allowed to continue in certain neighborhoods and minorities are pushed out Chicago, making the city "whiter."</p>
<p>He says his plan to reduce violence would include more investment in neighborhoods, reducing poverty and tougher gun control measures — an approach similar to that of his opponents.</p>
<p>Emanuel said he has worked to reverse the decline in the city's black population and reduce violence across Chicago.</p>
<p>Also seeking the Democratic nomination are regional schools superintendent Bob Daiber, activist Tio Hardiman and physician Robert Marshall. Rauner faces a GOP primary challenge from conservative state Rep. Jeanne Ives.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Sign up for the AP's weekly newsletter showcasing our best reporting from the Midwest and Texas: <a href="http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv" type="external">http://apne.ws/2u1RMfv</a></p>
| 6,494 |
<p>The airlines would dearly love you to pay attention to the pre-flight safety announcements they make whenever you take a plane journey. But you don't.</p>
<p>However, you might think twice now about zoning out with your book. As the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/passenger-lands-plane-at-humberside-airport-when-pilot-falls-ill-at-controls-8868202.html" type="external">UK's Independent reports</a>, you might end up landing the aircraft yourself.</p>
<p>(Editor's note: The Global Scan can be delivered straight to your inbox every day. Just&#160; <a href="" type="internal">register and sign up</a>&#160;today.)</p>
<p>So how do you persuade pirates to hand over their hostages without a ransom? “With great difficulty,”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/piracy/10360674/Captain-Phillips-the-forgotten-hostages.html" type="external">The Telegraph</a>&#160;interviews&#160;a man who has devoted himself to negotiating with Somali pirates. British Col. John Steed is working to secure the release of dozens of seafarers still being held hostage, who were abandoned by their employers, their governments and even their families.</p>
<p>Would you have the guts to go to Somalia and declare war on the terrorist group once there? <a href="" type="internal">PRI's The World</a> tells the story of the Somali-American imam who did just that.</p>
<p>American basketball player Alex Owumi picked the very worst time to start playing on a Libyan basketball team, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442345/Basketball-star-Alex-Owumi-played-Gadaffi-escaping-Libya.html" type="external">the Daily Mail reports</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/waterboarding-is-a-big-joke-at-cheney-roast" type="external">Buzzfeed</a>&#160;reports on a private&#160;roast this week celebrating former Vice President Dick Cheney. One of the laugh lines, according to the story? Sen. Joe Lieberman joked it was a good thing they could all gather at such a nice New York hotel, rather than in jail cells awaiting war crimes trials.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/what-russia-s-treatment-of-greenpeace-activists-reveals-about-its-arctic-policy/280352/" type="external">The Atlantic</a>explores&#160;why Russian security services have clamped down hard on environmentalists. Hint: it's about oil and gas.</p>
<p>Another tropical system is taking aim at Asia this week. Tropical Cyclone Phailin in the Bay of Bengal is expected to make landfall Saturday or Sunday and bring <a href="http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/india-facing-tropical-cyclone/18611884" type="external">heavy rainfall to eastern India</a>, possibly impacting millions of people.</p>
|
America may be on hold, but bold moves are afoot in Somalia, Libya and the Arctic
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2013-10-09/america-may-be-hold-bold-moves-are-afoot-somalia-libya-and-arctic
|
2013-10-09
| 3left-center
|
America may be on hold, but bold moves are afoot in Somalia, Libya and the Arctic
<p>The airlines would dearly love you to pay attention to the pre-flight safety announcements they make whenever you take a plane journey. But you don't.</p>
<p>However, you might think twice now about zoning out with your book. As the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/passenger-lands-plane-at-humberside-airport-when-pilot-falls-ill-at-controls-8868202.html" type="external">UK's Independent reports</a>, you might end up landing the aircraft yourself.</p>
<p>(Editor's note: The Global Scan can be delivered straight to your inbox every day. Just&#160; <a href="" type="internal">register and sign up</a>&#160;today.)</p>
<p>So how do you persuade pirates to hand over their hostages without a ransom? “With great difficulty,”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/piracy/10360674/Captain-Phillips-the-forgotten-hostages.html" type="external">The Telegraph</a>&#160;interviews&#160;a man who has devoted himself to negotiating with Somali pirates. British Col. John Steed is working to secure the release of dozens of seafarers still being held hostage, who were abandoned by their employers, their governments and even their families.</p>
<p>Would you have the guts to go to Somalia and declare war on the terrorist group once there? <a href="" type="internal">PRI's The World</a> tells the story of the Somali-American imam who did just that.</p>
<p>American basketball player Alex Owumi picked the very worst time to start playing on a Libyan basketball team, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2442345/Basketball-star-Alex-Owumi-played-Gadaffi-escaping-Libya.html" type="external">the Daily Mail reports</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/waterboarding-is-a-big-joke-at-cheney-roast" type="external">Buzzfeed</a>&#160;reports on a private&#160;roast this week celebrating former Vice President Dick Cheney. One of the laugh lines, according to the story? Sen. Joe Lieberman joked it was a good thing they could all gather at such a nice New York hotel, rather than in jail cells awaiting war crimes trials.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/10/what-russia-s-treatment-of-greenpeace-activists-reveals-about-its-arctic-policy/280352/" type="external">The Atlantic</a>explores&#160;why Russian security services have clamped down hard on environmentalists. Hint: it's about oil and gas.</p>
<p>Another tropical system is taking aim at Asia this week. Tropical Cyclone Phailin in the Bay of Bengal is expected to make landfall Saturday or Sunday and bring <a href="http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/india-facing-tropical-cyclone/18611884" type="external">heavy rainfall to eastern India</a>, possibly impacting millions of people.</p>
| 6,495 |
<p>The Dow shot up 889.35 points on Tuesday, a welcome respite from Wall Street’s month of plunges. Things could still get a lot worse: While some buyers snapped up what looked like bargain stocks, others said they expected a major drop before things get better.</p>
<p>Wall Street Journal:</p>
<p>Heading into the end of October, the Dow has plunged 17%, on track to register as the worst month in its history. But that plunge has whetted bargain hunters’ appetites and forced some money managers whose funds are required to hold a certain percentage of money in stocks to come back into the market as the time approaches to mail month-end statements.</p>
<p>Despite Tuesday’s gains, some participants remain concerned that trading volume has been light, making it difficult to gauge investors’ level of conviction that the gains can continue. Exchange-only volume at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday struggled to reach the month-to-date average of 1.7 billion shares.</p>
<p />
<p>Although it didn’t happen Tuesday, the stock market lately has often been plagued by forced selling among hedge-funds and other deep-pocket players, who have to raise cash to cover margin calls as the market goes down. While such activity has often produced avalanches of selling lately, some veteran investors are still looking for a one-time market plunge, accompanied by big volume, to confirm that the forced selling has truly run its course, paving the way for a more sustained rally.</p>
<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122518913601675675.html" type="external">Read more</a></p>
|
What Goes Down ... Dow Up 10 Percent
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/what-goes-down-dow-up-10-percent/
|
2008-10-29
| 4left
|
What Goes Down ... Dow Up 10 Percent
<p>The Dow shot up 889.35 points on Tuesday, a welcome respite from Wall Street’s month of plunges. Things could still get a lot worse: While some buyers snapped up what looked like bargain stocks, others said they expected a major drop before things get better.</p>
<p>Wall Street Journal:</p>
<p>Heading into the end of October, the Dow has plunged 17%, on track to register as the worst month in its history. But that plunge has whetted bargain hunters’ appetites and forced some money managers whose funds are required to hold a certain percentage of money in stocks to come back into the market as the time approaches to mail month-end statements.</p>
<p>Despite Tuesday’s gains, some participants remain concerned that trading volume has been light, making it difficult to gauge investors’ level of conviction that the gains can continue. Exchange-only volume at the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday struggled to reach the month-to-date average of 1.7 billion shares.</p>
<p />
<p>Although it didn’t happen Tuesday, the stock market lately has often been plagued by forced selling among hedge-funds and other deep-pocket players, who have to raise cash to cover margin calls as the market goes down. While such activity has often produced avalanches of selling lately, some veteran investors are still looking for a one-time market plunge, accompanied by big volume, to confirm that the forced selling has truly run its course, paving the way for a more sustained rally.</p>
<p><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122518913601675675.html" type="external">Read more</a></p>
| 6,496 |
<p>Now that the rush to file our income tax returns has come and gone for another year, it’s only natural to wonder what all that money’s paying for.</p>
<p>These days, the money we’re sending to Washington is buying a lot more war and a lot less economic security. In the current White House budget request, Pentagon spending would rocket upward, with a $29 billion increase. If you include military portions of the budgets of Homeland Security, Energy, and other departments, US taxpayers would fork over $ <a href="http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm" type="external">563 billion</a> for military spending in the coming fiscal year.</p>
<p>But wait! (as they say on infomercials) There’s more! That $563 billion doesn’t even include the cost of the war in Iraq! President Bush has submitted a supplemental budget request for $74 billion, of which $61 billion will fund that continuing military occupation.</p>
<p>The Iraq war has cost <a href="http://www.costofwar.com/" type="external">$273 billion</a> so far. But to account for the total cost of the war, according to Nobel-prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, we should project the future costs of fighting and withdrawal, added veterans’ costs, the cost of lifetime care for brain-injured troops, the added interest on the national debt, and other expenses.</p>
<p>Do that, says Stiglitz, and the price tag of the Iraq war will be between <a href="http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/cost_of_war_in_iraq.pdf" type="external">$750 billion and $1.3 trillion</a>. That’s trillion with a ‘t’, and even that figure, says Stiglitz, is “highly conservative”.</p>
<p>To pay off an extra $1.3 trillion would require every dollar of federal individual income taxes paid by every working American for a period of one year and seven months! That’s impossible, so much of it will be borrowed money.</p>
<p>Then there are the costs of the war that can’t be counted in dollars. There are the lost lives of 2364 US troops, 208 other foreign troops, 314 private contractors, 4435 US-backed Iraqi police and military, and 86 journalists.</p>
<p>And of course, there are the <a href="http://www.iraqbodycount.org/" type="external">34,000 to 38,000 Iraqi civilians</a> who have died as the direct result of military violence. Respected estimates put indirect civilian deaths–caused by war-related environmental hazards, declining sanitation, child nutrition, etc.–in the hundreds of thousands.</p>
<p>The number of Iraqi civilians wounded during initial US invasion in March-April 2003 has been estimated at 20,000. The number wounded by fighting in the three years since is unknown but huge.</p>
<p>The Pentagon reports that about 17,500 US troops have been wounded in Iraq. However, that counts only those wounded in combat, not the many thousands injured by war-related accidents or other causes.</p>
<p>By any reckoning, the numbers of American wounded are not declining. In the February-March period of 2004, there were 473 troops officially wounded in combat. In 2005, it was 785 for the same period. This year, 829.</p>
<p>An estimated 6000 US troops have suffered serious physical brain injuries so far. Psychological trauma is even more widespread. Of the 500,000-plus men and women who have served in Iraq to date, the Pentagon estimates that 175,000 have required psychological treatment.</p>
<p>Largely because of the hunger for more military spending, the President’s budget request for fiscal year 2007 would eliminate or slash 141 domestic programs, many of them crucial to the economic survival of many Americans.</p>
<p>Non-military domestic programs (not including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) stand to lose $15 billion. That’s a 4.4% cut in real dollars.</p>
<p>War spending has hurt us. But has it helped the citizens of Iraq? Hardly.</p>
<p>For a second year running, Baghdad has been named the worst city in the world to live in, doing only about half as well as the next worse city, Brazzaville of the Congo Republic.</p>
<p>Almost 5 million fewer Iraqis than before the invasion have access to clean drinking water, and 1.3 million no longer have working sewer connections.</p>
<p>The US Embassy rates only 3 of Iraq’s 18 provinces as militarily “stable”, with 7 in “serious” or “critical” condition. Largely as a result, Bush’s latest Iraq war funding request cuts almost all construction money for rebuilding in the war-ravaged nation, leaving only $100 million, and that’s for building more prisons.</p>
<p>Paying taxes has never been anyone’s idea of an enjoyable activity. But does it have to be so deadly and destructive?</p>
<p>STAN COX is a plant breeder and writer in Salina, Kansas. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
The Real Death Tax
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2006/04/14/the-real-death-tax/
|
2006-04-14
| 4left
|
The Real Death Tax
<p>Now that the rush to file our income tax returns has come and gone for another year, it’s only natural to wonder what all that money’s paying for.</p>
<p>These days, the money we’re sending to Washington is buying a lot more war and a lot less economic security. In the current White House budget request, Pentagon spending would rocket upward, with a $29 billion increase. If you include military portions of the budgets of Homeland Security, Energy, and other departments, US taxpayers would fork over $ <a href="http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm" type="external">563 billion</a> for military spending in the coming fiscal year.</p>
<p>But wait! (as they say on infomercials) There’s more! That $563 billion doesn’t even include the cost of the war in Iraq! President Bush has submitted a supplemental budget request for $74 billion, of which $61 billion will fund that continuing military occupation.</p>
<p>The Iraq war has cost <a href="http://www.costofwar.com/" type="external">$273 billion</a> so far. But to account for the total cost of the war, according to Nobel-prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, we should project the future costs of fighting and withdrawal, added veterans’ costs, the cost of lifetime care for brain-injured troops, the added interest on the national debt, and other expenses.</p>
<p>Do that, says Stiglitz, and the price tag of the Iraq war will be between <a href="http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/cost_of_war_in_iraq.pdf" type="external">$750 billion and $1.3 trillion</a>. That’s trillion with a ‘t’, and even that figure, says Stiglitz, is “highly conservative”.</p>
<p>To pay off an extra $1.3 trillion would require every dollar of federal individual income taxes paid by every working American for a period of one year and seven months! That’s impossible, so much of it will be borrowed money.</p>
<p>Then there are the costs of the war that can’t be counted in dollars. There are the lost lives of 2364 US troops, 208 other foreign troops, 314 private contractors, 4435 US-backed Iraqi police and military, and 86 journalists.</p>
<p>And of course, there are the <a href="http://www.iraqbodycount.org/" type="external">34,000 to 38,000 Iraqi civilians</a> who have died as the direct result of military violence. Respected estimates put indirect civilian deaths–caused by war-related environmental hazards, declining sanitation, child nutrition, etc.–in the hundreds of thousands.</p>
<p>The number of Iraqi civilians wounded during initial US invasion in March-April 2003 has been estimated at 20,000. The number wounded by fighting in the three years since is unknown but huge.</p>
<p>The Pentagon reports that about 17,500 US troops have been wounded in Iraq. However, that counts only those wounded in combat, not the many thousands injured by war-related accidents or other causes.</p>
<p>By any reckoning, the numbers of American wounded are not declining. In the February-March period of 2004, there were 473 troops officially wounded in combat. In 2005, it was 785 for the same period. This year, 829.</p>
<p>An estimated 6000 US troops have suffered serious physical brain injuries so far. Psychological trauma is even more widespread. Of the 500,000-plus men and women who have served in Iraq to date, the Pentagon estimates that 175,000 have required psychological treatment.</p>
<p>Largely because of the hunger for more military spending, the President’s budget request for fiscal year 2007 would eliminate or slash 141 domestic programs, many of them crucial to the economic survival of many Americans.</p>
<p>Non-military domestic programs (not including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) stand to lose $15 billion. That’s a 4.4% cut in real dollars.</p>
<p>War spending has hurt us. But has it helped the citizens of Iraq? Hardly.</p>
<p>For a second year running, Baghdad has been named the worst city in the world to live in, doing only about half as well as the next worse city, Brazzaville of the Congo Republic.</p>
<p>Almost 5 million fewer Iraqis than before the invasion have access to clean drinking water, and 1.3 million no longer have working sewer connections.</p>
<p>The US Embassy rates only 3 of Iraq’s 18 provinces as militarily “stable”, with 7 in “serious” or “critical” condition. Largely as a result, Bush’s latest Iraq war funding request cuts almost all construction money for rebuilding in the war-ravaged nation, leaving only $100 million, and that’s for building more prisons.</p>
<p>Paying taxes has never been anyone’s idea of an enjoyable activity. But does it have to be so deadly and destructive?</p>
<p>STAN COX is a plant breeder and writer in Salina, Kansas. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,497 |
<p>Aug. 29 (UPI) — A group of music fans relaxing to the stylings of a DJ at an Oregon lake captured video of an unusual fan — a snake bobbing its head to the beat.</p>
<p>The video, recorded Wednesday on the shore of a lake at Big Summit Prairie in the Ochoco National Forest, shows a small snake slithering across the ground while moving its head in time with the beat of the music.</p>
<p>The filmer theorized the vibrations in the ground were causing the serpent to react.</p>
<p>“A group of us went to the lake to relax and listen to the DJ performing there. I watched a snake slither by my feet while bobbing its head to the music. I think the vibrations of the ground were causing it to bob to the beat,” the filmer wrote.</p>
|
Snake bobs head in time to music at Oregon concert
| false |
https://newsline.com/snake-bobs-head-in-time-to-music-at-oregon-concert/
|
2017-08-29
| 1right-center
|
Snake bobs head in time to music at Oregon concert
<p>Aug. 29 (UPI) — A group of music fans relaxing to the stylings of a DJ at an Oregon lake captured video of an unusual fan — a snake bobbing its head to the beat.</p>
<p>The video, recorded Wednesday on the shore of a lake at Big Summit Prairie in the Ochoco National Forest, shows a small snake slithering across the ground while moving its head in time with the beat of the music.</p>
<p>The filmer theorized the vibrations in the ground were causing the serpent to react.</p>
<p>“A group of us went to the lake to relax and listen to the DJ performing there. I watched a snake slither by my feet while bobbing its head to the music. I think the vibrations of the ground were causing it to bob to the beat,” the filmer wrote.</p>
| 6,498 |
<p>THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Todd Gurley realizes he could lose his first NFL rushing title — and maybe even the league MVP award — while he stands on the sideline at the Coliseum this Sunday.</p>
<p>The Los Angeles Rams’ do-it-all running back insists he doesn’t mind taking a forced week off, even with just a 13-yard lead in the NFL rushing race.</p>
<p>That’s because Gurley knows he’ll be playing next weekend.</p>
<p>“You’ve just got to look at the bigger picture,” Gurley said. “Coach (Sean McVay) has a plan, and he’s done nothing but right things since we’ve been in here, so you’ve got to trust him on this decision as well.”</p>
<p>Gurley heads into the final weekend of the regular season with 1,305 yards and that slim lead over Kansas City rookie Kareem Hunt (1,292) and Pittsburgh star Le’Veon Bell (1,291). Gurley is also a top candidate for league MVP, with many observers seeing it as a two-man race with New England quarterback Tom Brady.</p>
<p>The Rams, Chiefs and Steelers are all headed to the postseason with minimal reason to risk their workhorse backs in a largely meaningless regular-season finale, but only McVay has confirmed that his star back will sit out Sunday to rest. Gurley doesn’t know whether he’ll finish on top, but he’ll cheer on his replacements in the Rams’ backfield either way.</p>
<p>“I’m happy for the guys that’s going to be able to play,” Gurley said. “They haven’t been able to play this whole season, and this is a great job for these guys to go out and compete. There’s free agency next year, stuff like that.”</p>
<p>Although Gurley is a big football fan who understands what company he would be joining by winning an NFL rushing title, he understands the primacy of the NFC West champion Rams’ first playoff appearance since 2004.</p>
<p>“Your best ability is availability, and being able to play in each game of the season,” Gurley said. “To be healthy, and put points on the board to help your team win, is a great accomplishment for me. I’m just thankful to be in the positon that I’m in.”</p>
<p>Barring a monster final day by Hunt or Bell, this season’s rushing champion will finish with the fewest yards for a champ since 1990, when Barry Sanders won the title with just 1,304 yards. The next-lowest total for a champ since 1990 is LaDainian Tomlinson’s 1,474 yards in 2007.</p>
<p>But Gurley is back among the NFL’s top offensive players after a rough 2016 relocation season with the Rams because of his superb work as a receiver as well as a ball-carrier.</p>
<p>While his rushing success is back at the level of his outstanding rookie season in St. Louis, Gurley has turned himself into a constant threat as a pass-catcher out of the backfield. He leads the NFL with 2,093 all-purpose yards and Bell (1,946) would need a huge game to catch him for that particular title.</p>
<p>Gurley’s 788 yards receiving are the most in the NFL for a running back. Only Alvin Kamara, New Orleans’ dual-threat rookie, is close with 742.</p>
<p>“He has really worked and been intentional about getting better as a receiver,” said McVay, who has exploited Gurley’s pass-catching ability with increasing enthusiasm as the season wore on. “He’s a special back, and he’s been playing at his best these last couple of weeks. He’s got such a great energy and an ability to contribute in a variety of ways.”</p>
<p>Indeed, Gurley’s regular season ended with a bang when he posted 456 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns in the past two games. He put up 276 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in the Rams’ division-clinching win at Tennessee last weekend.</p>
<p>Gurley heralded that game with a clever tweet: “Fantasy owners you’re welcome now leave us alone. Merry Christmas!”</p>
<p>Gurley has a love-hate relationship with fans who bother him about their fantasy teams’ performances, but he was thrilled when a social media movement emerged this week for championship-winning fantasy owners to donate part of their winnings from Gurley’s brilliance to Shriners Hospitals for Children, one of Gurley’s favorite charitable organizations.</p>
<p>“Man, that was dope,” Gurley said. “That’s real cool, just seeing that on social media. It doesn’t matter what the money amount is, $10, $5, $25. Just to see that, and people caring, that means a lot.”</p>
<p>NOTES: The Rams activated safety Cody Davis from injured reserve and placed linebacker Matt Longacre on injured reserve in two long-anticipated moves. ... McVay added two more names to the list of veterans who won’t play much, if at all, against San Francisco on Sunday: linebacker Mark Barron and guard Rodger Saffold. Barron’s Achilles tendon injury could limit him next week and into the playoffs, McVay acknowledged.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
<p>THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Todd Gurley realizes he could lose his first NFL rushing title — and maybe even the league MVP award — while he stands on the sideline at the Coliseum this Sunday.</p>
<p>The Los Angeles Rams’ do-it-all running back insists he doesn’t mind taking a forced week off, even with just a 13-yard lead in the NFL rushing race.</p>
<p>That’s because Gurley knows he’ll be playing next weekend.</p>
<p>“You’ve just got to look at the bigger picture,” Gurley said. “Coach (Sean McVay) has a plan, and he’s done nothing but right things since we’ve been in here, so you’ve got to trust him on this decision as well.”</p>
<p>Gurley heads into the final weekend of the regular season with 1,305 yards and that slim lead over Kansas City rookie Kareem Hunt (1,292) and Pittsburgh star Le’Veon Bell (1,291). Gurley is also a top candidate for league MVP, with many observers seeing it as a two-man race with New England quarterback Tom Brady.</p>
<p>The Rams, Chiefs and Steelers are all headed to the postseason with minimal reason to risk their workhorse backs in a largely meaningless regular-season finale, but only McVay has confirmed that his star back will sit out Sunday to rest. Gurley doesn’t know whether he’ll finish on top, but he’ll cheer on his replacements in the Rams’ backfield either way.</p>
<p>“I’m happy for the guys that’s going to be able to play,” Gurley said. “They haven’t been able to play this whole season, and this is a great job for these guys to go out and compete. There’s free agency next year, stuff like that.”</p>
<p>Although Gurley is a big football fan who understands what company he would be joining by winning an NFL rushing title, he understands the primacy of the NFC West champion Rams’ first playoff appearance since 2004.</p>
<p>“Your best ability is availability, and being able to play in each game of the season,” Gurley said. “To be healthy, and put points on the board to help your team win, is a great accomplishment for me. I’m just thankful to be in the positon that I’m in.”</p>
<p>Barring a monster final day by Hunt or Bell, this season’s rushing champion will finish with the fewest yards for a champ since 1990, when Barry Sanders won the title with just 1,304 yards. The next-lowest total for a champ since 1990 is LaDainian Tomlinson’s 1,474 yards in 2007.</p>
<p>But Gurley is back among the NFL’s top offensive players after a rough 2016 relocation season with the Rams because of his superb work as a receiver as well as a ball-carrier.</p>
<p>While his rushing success is back at the level of his outstanding rookie season in St. Louis, Gurley has turned himself into a constant threat as a pass-catcher out of the backfield. He leads the NFL with 2,093 all-purpose yards and Bell (1,946) would need a huge game to catch him for that particular title.</p>
<p>Gurley’s 788 yards receiving are the most in the NFL for a running back. Only Alvin Kamara, New Orleans’ dual-threat rookie, is close with 742.</p>
<p>“He has really worked and been intentional about getting better as a receiver,” said McVay, who has exploited Gurley’s pass-catching ability with increasing enthusiasm as the season wore on. “He’s a special back, and he’s been playing at his best these last couple of weeks. He’s got such a great energy and an ability to contribute in a variety of ways.”</p>
<p>Indeed, Gurley’s regular season ended with a bang when he posted 456 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns in the past two games. He put up 276 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in the Rams’ division-clinching win at Tennessee last weekend.</p>
<p>Gurley heralded that game with a clever tweet: “Fantasy owners you’re welcome now leave us alone. Merry Christmas!”</p>
<p>Gurley has a love-hate relationship with fans who bother him about their fantasy teams’ performances, but he was thrilled when a social media movement emerged this week for championship-winning fantasy owners to donate part of their winnings from Gurley’s brilliance to Shriners Hospitals for Children, one of Gurley’s favorite charitable organizations.</p>
<p>“Man, that was dope,” Gurley said. “That’s real cool, just seeing that on social media. It doesn’t matter what the money amount is, $10, $5, $25. Just to see that, and people caring, that means a lot.”</p>
<p>NOTES: The Rams activated safety Cody Davis from injured reserve and placed linebacker Matt Longacre on injured reserve in two long-anticipated moves. ... McVay added two more names to the list of veterans who won’t play much, if at all, against San Francisco on Sunday: linebacker Mark Barron and guard Rodger Saffold. Barron’s Achilles tendon injury could limit him next week and into the playoffs, McVay acknowledged.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
|
Rams’ Gurley is OK with losing rush title for playoff health
| false |
https://apnews.com/2b5f8d0a75b8404699990976dd3c4335
|
2017-12-29
| 2least
|
Rams’ Gurley is OK with losing rush title for playoff health
<p>THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Todd Gurley realizes he could lose his first NFL rushing title — and maybe even the league MVP award — while he stands on the sideline at the Coliseum this Sunday.</p>
<p>The Los Angeles Rams’ do-it-all running back insists he doesn’t mind taking a forced week off, even with just a 13-yard lead in the NFL rushing race.</p>
<p>That’s because Gurley knows he’ll be playing next weekend.</p>
<p>“You’ve just got to look at the bigger picture,” Gurley said. “Coach (Sean McVay) has a plan, and he’s done nothing but right things since we’ve been in here, so you’ve got to trust him on this decision as well.”</p>
<p>Gurley heads into the final weekend of the regular season with 1,305 yards and that slim lead over Kansas City rookie Kareem Hunt (1,292) and Pittsburgh star Le’Veon Bell (1,291). Gurley is also a top candidate for league MVP, with many observers seeing it as a two-man race with New England quarterback Tom Brady.</p>
<p>The Rams, Chiefs and Steelers are all headed to the postseason with minimal reason to risk their workhorse backs in a largely meaningless regular-season finale, but only McVay has confirmed that his star back will sit out Sunday to rest. Gurley doesn’t know whether he’ll finish on top, but he’ll cheer on his replacements in the Rams’ backfield either way.</p>
<p>“I’m happy for the guys that’s going to be able to play,” Gurley said. “They haven’t been able to play this whole season, and this is a great job for these guys to go out and compete. There’s free agency next year, stuff like that.”</p>
<p>Although Gurley is a big football fan who understands what company he would be joining by winning an NFL rushing title, he understands the primacy of the NFC West champion Rams’ first playoff appearance since 2004.</p>
<p>“Your best ability is availability, and being able to play in each game of the season,” Gurley said. “To be healthy, and put points on the board to help your team win, is a great accomplishment for me. I’m just thankful to be in the positon that I’m in.”</p>
<p>Barring a monster final day by Hunt or Bell, this season’s rushing champion will finish with the fewest yards for a champ since 1990, when Barry Sanders won the title with just 1,304 yards. The next-lowest total for a champ since 1990 is LaDainian Tomlinson’s 1,474 yards in 2007.</p>
<p>But Gurley is back among the NFL’s top offensive players after a rough 2016 relocation season with the Rams because of his superb work as a receiver as well as a ball-carrier.</p>
<p>While his rushing success is back at the level of his outstanding rookie season in St. Louis, Gurley has turned himself into a constant threat as a pass-catcher out of the backfield. He leads the NFL with 2,093 all-purpose yards and Bell (1,946) would need a huge game to catch him for that particular title.</p>
<p>Gurley’s 788 yards receiving are the most in the NFL for a running back. Only Alvin Kamara, New Orleans’ dual-threat rookie, is close with 742.</p>
<p>“He has really worked and been intentional about getting better as a receiver,” said McVay, who has exploited Gurley’s pass-catching ability with increasing enthusiasm as the season wore on. “He’s a special back, and he’s been playing at his best these last couple of weeks. He’s got such a great energy and an ability to contribute in a variety of ways.”</p>
<p>Indeed, Gurley’s regular season ended with a bang when he posted 456 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns in the past two games. He put up 276 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in the Rams’ division-clinching win at Tennessee last weekend.</p>
<p>Gurley heralded that game with a clever tweet: “Fantasy owners you’re welcome now leave us alone. Merry Christmas!”</p>
<p>Gurley has a love-hate relationship with fans who bother him about their fantasy teams’ performances, but he was thrilled when a social media movement emerged this week for championship-winning fantasy owners to donate part of their winnings from Gurley’s brilliance to Shriners Hospitals for Children, one of Gurley’s favorite charitable organizations.</p>
<p>“Man, that was dope,” Gurley said. “That’s real cool, just seeing that on social media. It doesn’t matter what the money amount is, $10, $5, $25. Just to see that, and people caring, that means a lot.”</p>
<p>NOTES: The Rams activated safety Cody Davis from injured reserve and placed linebacker Matt Longacre on injured reserve in two long-anticipated moves. ... McVay added two more names to the list of veterans who won’t play much, if at all, against San Francisco on Sunday: linebacker Mark Barron and guard Rodger Saffold. Barron’s Achilles tendon injury could limit him next week and into the playoffs, McVay acknowledged.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
<p>THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Todd Gurley realizes he could lose his first NFL rushing title — and maybe even the league MVP award — while he stands on the sideline at the Coliseum this Sunday.</p>
<p>The Los Angeles Rams’ do-it-all running back insists he doesn’t mind taking a forced week off, even with just a 13-yard lead in the NFL rushing race.</p>
<p>That’s because Gurley knows he’ll be playing next weekend.</p>
<p>“You’ve just got to look at the bigger picture,” Gurley said. “Coach (Sean McVay) has a plan, and he’s done nothing but right things since we’ve been in here, so you’ve got to trust him on this decision as well.”</p>
<p>Gurley heads into the final weekend of the regular season with 1,305 yards and that slim lead over Kansas City rookie Kareem Hunt (1,292) and Pittsburgh star Le’Veon Bell (1,291). Gurley is also a top candidate for league MVP, with many observers seeing it as a two-man race with New England quarterback Tom Brady.</p>
<p>The Rams, Chiefs and Steelers are all headed to the postseason with minimal reason to risk their workhorse backs in a largely meaningless regular-season finale, but only McVay has confirmed that his star back will sit out Sunday to rest. Gurley doesn’t know whether he’ll finish on top, but he’ll cheer on his replacements in the Rams’ backfield either way.</p>
<p>“I’m happy for the guys that’s going to be able to play,” Gurley said. “They haven’t been able to play this whole season, and this is a great job for these guys to go out and compete. There’s free agency next year, stuff like that.”</p>
<p>Although Gurley is a big football fan who understands what company he would be joining by winning an NFL rushing title, he understands the primacy of the NFC West champion Rams’ first playoff appearance since 2004.</p>
<p>“Your best ability is availability, and being able to play in each game of the season,” Gurley said. “To be healthy, and put points on the board to help your team win, is a great accomplishment for me. I’m just thankful to be in the positon that I’m in.”</p>
<p>Barring a monster final day by Hunt or Bell, this season’s rushing champion will finish with the fewest yards for a champ since 1990, when Barry Sanders won the title with just 1,304 yards. The next-lowest total for a champ since 1990 is LaDainian Tomlinson’s 1,474 yards in 2007.</p>
<p>But Gurley is back among the NFL’s top offensive players after a rough 2016 relocation season with the Rams because of his superb work as a receiver as well as a ball-carrier.</p>
<p>While his rushing success is back at the level of his outstanding rookie season in St. Louis, Gurley has turned himself into a constant threat as a pass-catcher out of the backfield. He leads the NFL with 2,093 all-purpose yards and Bell (1,946) would need a huge game to catch him for that particular title.</p>
<p>Gurley’s 788 yards receiving are the most in the NFL for a running back. Only Alvin Kamara, New Orleans’ dual-threat rookie, is close with 742.</p>
<p>“He has really worked and been intentional about getting better as a receiver,” said McVay, who has exploited Gurley’s pass-catching ability with increasing enthusiasm as the season wore on. “He’s a special back, and he’s been playing at his best these last couple of weeks. He’s got such a great energy and an ability to contribute in a variety of ways.”</p>
<p>Indeed, Gurley’s regular season ended with a bang when he posted 456 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns in the past two games. He put up 276 yards from scrimmage and two touchdowns in the Rams’ division-clinching win at Tennessee last weekend.</p>
<p>Gurley heralded that game with a clever tweet: “Fantasy owners you’re welcome now leave us alone. Merry Christmas!”</p>
<p>Gurley has a love-hate relationship with fans who bother him about their fantasy teams’ performances, but he was thrilled when a social media movement emerged this week for championship-winning fantasy owners to donate part of their winnings from Gurley’s brilliance to Shriners Hospitals for Children, one of Gurley’s favorite charitable organizations.</p>
<p>“Man, that was dope,” Gurley said. “That’s real cool, just seeing that on social media. It doesn’t matter what the money amount is, $10, $5, $25. Just to see that, and people caring, that means a lot.”</p>
<p>NOTES: The Rams activated safety Cody Davis from injured reserve and placed linebacker Matt Longacre on injured reserve in two long-anticipated moves. ... McVay added two more names to the list of veterans who won’t play much, if at all, against San Francisco on Sunday: linebacker Mark Barron and guard Rodger Saffold. Barron’s Achilles tendon injury could limit him next week and into the playoffs, McVay acknowledged.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>For more NFL coverage: <a href="http://www.pro32.ap.org" type="external">www.pro32.ap.org</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL" type="external">www.twitter.com/AP_NFL</a></p>
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