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<p />
<p>Scientists said they have found evidence the Colorado pikeminnow is reproducing in the San Juan River, and the offspring are surviving.</p>
<p>This conclusion is based on data gathered last year following the spring peak release from Navajo Dam, the Farmington Daily Times recently reported.</p>
<p>Scientists found more Colorado pikeminnow in the San Juan River than in previous years, according to a news release by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Services. They also found 23 yearling fish. Before last year, only one juvenile fish had been caught by scientists since work began in the 1990s to restore habitat.</p>
<p>“Hopefully (the finding) represents important progress along the road to species recovery,” Tom Wesche, a University of Wyoming professor emeritus and a member of the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program’s biology committee, said in a release.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Services said more than 540 Colorado pikeminnow were counted in the San Juan River last year.</p>
<p>The Colorado pikeminnow lives in three river basins: The San Juan River basin, the Colorado River basin and the Green River basin. Both the Colorado and Green river basins have populations of Colorado pikeminnow that are reproducing and surviving to adulthood.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Colorado pikeminnow’s decline in the San Juan River basin was likely caused by human development along the river, including dams, diversions and depletion of water for agricultural uses, said Sharon Whitmore, the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program coordinator.</p>
<p>The Colorado pikeminnow is the largest minnow in North America and can be up to 6 feet (1.83 meters) long, Whitmore said.</p>
<p>Finding the juvenile fish was a step toward reaching San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program’s goal, which is eventually getting the Colorado pikeminnow removed from the federal endangered species list, Whitmore said. Among the criteria that must be met before the fish can be delisted are that there must be more than 800 adult Colorado pikeminnow and more than 1,000 juveniles in the San Juan River basin.</p>
<p />
<p />
|
‘Salmon of the southwest’ found in San Juan River
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1040559/salmon-of-the-southwest-found-in-san-juan-river.html
| 2least
|
‘Salmon of the southwest’ found in San Juan River
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Scientists said they have found evidence the Colorado pikeminnow is reproducing in the San Juan River, and the offspring are surviving.</p>
<p>This conclusion is based on data gathered last year following the spring peak release from Navajo Dam, the Farmington Daily Times recently reported.</p>
<p>Scientists found more Colorado pikeminnow in the San Juan River than in previous years, according to a news release by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Services. They also found 23 yearling fish. Before last year, only one juvenile fish had been caught by scientists since work began in the 1990s to restore habitat.</p>
<p>“Hopefully (the finding) represents important progress along the road to species recovery,” Tom Wesche, a University of Wyoming professor emeritus and a member of the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program’s biology committee, said in a release.</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife Services said more than 540 Colorado pikeminnow were counted in the San Juan River last year.</p>
<p>The Colorado pikeminnow lives in three river basins: The San Juan River basin, the Colorado River basin and the Green River basin. Both the Colorado and Green river basins have populations of Colorado pikeminnow that are reproducing and surviving to adulthood.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Colorado pikeminnow’s decline in the San Juan River basin was likely caused by human development along the river, including dams, diversions and depletion of water for agricultural uses, said Sharon Whitmore, the San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program coordinator.</p>
<p>The Colorado pikeminnow is the largest minnow in North America and can be up to 6 feet (1.83 meters) long, Whitmore said.</p>
<p>Finding the juvenile fish was a step toward reaching San Juan River Recovery Implementation Program’s goal, which is eventually getting the Colorado pikeminnow removed from the federal endangered species list, Whitmore said. Among the criteria that must be met before the fish can be delisted are that there must be more than 800 adult Colorado pikeminnow and more than 1,000 juveniles in the San Juan River basin.</p>
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| 6,900 |
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<p />
<p>“People here are either going to meet with Schumer or get arrested,” said Waleed Shahid, a leader of the group All of Us 2016, which organized the protest.</p>
<p>Two staff assistants stared at their computer screens in Schumer’s Hart Building office, while trying to ignore the sit-in in front of them.</p>
<p>The protest began at about 11:30 a.m. The group said they hoped this would be the start of many protests against “Wall Street Democrats,” whom they blame for Donald Trump’s election as president.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Our goal is to show the Democratic Party needs new leadership and they failed to protect us,” Shahid said. “We want Chuck Schumer to withdraw his name.”</p>
<p>Aside from Sanders, All of Us 2016 would also support Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren for minority because she also has “repeatedly tried to change the party in a different direction,” Shahid said.</p>
<p>The group chanted, “Forward together, not one step back,” and “Chuck Schumer grow a spine, our lives are on the line,” while holding two large banners, one of which read, “Wall St. Democrats Failed Us.”</p>
<p>Shahid said the group formed about a month before the election. It plans to launch similar protests in the offices of other Democratic senators “who don’t do everything they can to filibuster Trump’s legislation that promotes his hatred or his greed.”</p>
<p>“A lot of us are willing to go to jail,” he added.</p>
<p>At 12:35 p.m., protesters moved to the hallway outside the office. Capitol Police officers started making arrests about 10 minutes later.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>©2016 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved</p>
<p>Visit CQ Roll Call at <a href="http://www.rollcall.com" type="external">www.rollcall.com</a></p>
<p>Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</p>
|
Arrests made at protests outside Sen. Charles Schumer’s office
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/888734/arrests-made-at-protests-outside-sen-charles-schumers-office.html
| 2least
|
Arrests made at protests outside Sen. Charles Schumer’s office
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>“People here are either going to meet with Schumer or get arrested,” said Waleed Shahid, a leader of the group All of Us 2016, which organized the protest.</p>
<p>Two staff assistants stared at their computer screens in Schumer’s Hart Building office, while trying to ignore the sit-in in front of them.</p>
<p>The protest began at about 11:30 a.m. The group said they hoped this would be the start of many protests against “Wall Street Democrats,” whom they blame for Donald Trump’s election as president.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Our goal is to show the Democratic Party needs new leadership and they failed to protect us,” Shahid said. “We want Chuck Schumer to withdraw his name.”</p>
<p>Aside from Sanders, All of Us 2016 would also support Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren for minority because she also has “repeatedly tried to change the party in a different direction,” Shahid said.</p>
<p>The group chanted, “Forward together, not one step back,” and “Chuck Schumer grow a spine, our lives are on the line,” while holding two large banners, one of which read, “Wall St. Democrats Failed Us.”</p>
<p>Shahid said the group formed about a month before the election. It plans to launch similar protests in the offices of other Democratic senators “who don’t do everything they can to filibuster Trump’s legislation that promotes his hatred or his greed.”</p>
<p>“A lot of us are willing to go to jail,” he added.</p>
<p>At 12:35 p.m., protesters moved to the hallway outside the office. Capitol Police officers started making arrests about 10 minutes later.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>©2016 CQ-Roll Call, Inc., All Rights Reserved</p>
<p>Visit CQ Roll Call at <a href="http://www.rollcall.com" type="external">www.rollcall.com</a></p>
<p>Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.</p>
| 6,901 |
|
<p>Photo of the Chukchi Sea by rnoblin, &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rnoblin/3523006784/"&gt;via Flickr&lt;/a&gt;.</p>
<p />
<p>The Obama administration put the brakes on drilling expansion last week as the true scope of disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was becoming clear. And on Thursday, the Department of Interior called off plans to lease areas off the coast of Virginia to new oil and gas production. But unless the administration intervenes in the coming weeks, drilling could start in new tracts of the Arctic as soon as July.</p>
<p>A coalition of 15 conservation groups and Alaska Native communities this week <a href="http://www.alaskawild.org/wp-content/wp-content/uploads/Salazar_Petition_5-5-10.pdf" type="external">urged Interior Secretary Ken Salazar</a> to reconsider approval he issued in late 2009 for Royal Dutch Shell to begin exploration in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off the northern coast of Alaska. The groups say that these areas would be particularly vulnerable should a spill occur, and that the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service did an inadequate job of evaluating the potential environmental threats posed by drilling in these seas.</p>
<p>“MMS did not analyze or disclose the effects of a large oil spill from Shell’s activities before approving the plans, even though it acknowledges that such a spill could have devastating consequences and could be difficult to clean up in the Arctic Ocean’s icy waters,” wrote the groups, which include the Alaska Wilderness League, Greenpeace, Earthjustice, and the village of Point Hope.</p>
<p>They may have good reason to be concerned. In the <a href="http://www.mms.gov/alaska/ref/EIS%20EA/2009_Chukchi_2010EA/2009_EA2010_Chukchi_EP.pdf" type="external">MMS evaluation of the Chukchi application</a> issued last December, the agency concluded that a large spill was “too remote and speculative an occurrence to be considered a reasonably foreseeable occurrence.” The MMS evaluation also states that “since 1971, no large crude or condensate spills have occurred from well-control incidents while drilling approximately 14,000 [outer continental shelf] exploration wells.” Clearly, the situation in the Gulf upends that.</p>
<p>Documents released this week make it clear that <a href="" type="internal">MMS failed to conduct adequate environmental analysis</a> on the Deepwater Horizon lease application last year, taking at face value BP’s claims that there was little threat posed by a spill from the operations. And a Government Accountability Office report released last month found that the Alaska regional office of MMS in particular had <a href="" type="internal">failed to conduct adequate environmental analysis</a> of drilling operations at the behest of the oil and gas industries. The GAO report notes that MMS “faces challenges in the Alaska OCS Region in carrying out its responsibilities” under the National Environmental Policy Act. And as I reported earlier this week, <a href="" type="internal">MMS has been plagued</a> by a number of scandals and lapses in regulatory oversight in recent years.</p>
<p>“It’s Salazar’s job to make sure the oil companies aren’t polluting our oceans, and he hasn’t been doing that,” said Rebecca Noblin, director of the Alaska office of the Center for Biological Diversity, another group signing on to the letter.</p>
<p>Groups opposing the Alaska drilling say that an accident there would be far more catastrophic than in the Gulf. The area freezes over for six months out of the year, which would make clean up impossible. The seas are treacherous, with heavy winds and frequent storms, and it’s dark much of the year. “If there’s a disaster in the Arctic, it could be even more significant than what we’re seeing in the Gulf because the ability to respond to an oil spill is almost nonexistent,” said Tom Dillon, senior vice president for field programs at the World Wildlife Fund. “It’s a recipe for disaster.”</p>
<p>In Obama’s <a href="" type="internal">plans to expand drilling</a> in March, he left Bristol Bay, an environmentally sensitive area of the Bering Sea in southwest Alaska, off limits for drilling. The administration also committed to keeping new areas of the Chukchi and Beaufort out of leasing plans, but decided to let the existing leases in the region stand. Under leasing plans put in place by the George W. Bush administration, Shell bought the rights to develop tracts of land in both seas, where the company plans to start exploration in July; Statoil and ConocoPhillips also own leases in the region, but don’t have plans to explore them currently.</p>
<p>MMS granted approval for <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1939479420091019" type="external">Shell’s Beaufort exploration in October 2009</a> and for <a href="www.mms.gov/alaska/latenews/newsrel/2009nr/2009_1207.pdf" type="external">Chukchi in December 2009</a>, though both are conditioned on meeting final approval. Department of Interior deputy press secretary Julie Rodriguez said in a statement Thursday that additional review is scheduled to be completed by May 28, and that the review “will help guide the Department’s decisions” on whether to give final approval to Shell’s applications. A&#160;later <a href="http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Salazar-Meets-with-BP-Officials-and-Engineers-at-Houston-Command-Center-to-Review-Response-Efforts-Activities.cfm" type="external">statement on Thursday</a> from DOI&#160;indicated that MMS Director Liz Birnbaum has sent a letter to Shell president Marvin Odum “confirming that MMS will not make a final decision on the requested permits for the drilling of exploration wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas until the Department of the Interior’s report to the President has been submitted and evaluated.”</p>
<p>There are also a number of lawsuits from environmental and Native groups challenging the development. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland, Ore. heard oral argument today in a challenge from Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, and other groups, which allege that MMS did not conduct adequate environmental reviews. A similar challenge is underway in the federal district court in Anchorage. Groups this week <a href="http://www.courant.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ak-arctic-drilling-air-permits,0,7624277.story" type="external">also filed an appeal</a> challenging the Clean Air Act permit that the Environmental Protection Agency issued for drilling operations. And on Wednesday, the Center for Biological Diversity gave notice to the Department of Interior that it intends to file a suit alleging that the agency did not conduct adequate review under the Endangered Species Act.</p>
<p>Drilling opponents are hoping that the Deepwater Horizon accident will serve as a wake-up call to the administration on the risks that could stem from drilling in the Arctic. “The Gulf situation I think is a game changer,” said Peter Van Tuyn, an Anchorage attorney who has represented plaintiff groups in challenges to the Arctic development for years. “It’s riskier to drill here than in the Gulf, and we know ahead of time we can’t clean it up.”</p>
<p />
|
Will Obama Put the Freeze on Arctic Drilling?
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/05/will-obama-put-freeze-arctic-drilling/
|
2010-05-07
| 4left
|
Will Obama Put the Freeze on Arctic Drilling?
<p>Photo of the Chukchi Sea by rnoblin, &lt;a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rnoblin/3523006784/"&gt;via Flickr&lt;/a&gt;.</p>
<p />
<p>The Obama administration put the brakes on drilling expansion last week as the true scope of disaster in the Gulf of Mexico was becoming clear. And on Thursday, the Department of Interior called off plans to lease areas off the coast of Virginia to new oil and gas production. But unless the administration intervenes in the coming weeks, drilling could start in new tracts of the Arctic as soon as July.</p>
<p>A coalition of 15 conservation groups and Alaska Native communities this week <a href="http://www.alaskawild.org/wp-content/wp-content/uploads/Salazar_Petition_5-5-10.pdf" type="external">urged Interior Secretary Ken Salazar</a> to reconsider approval he issued in late 2009 for Royal Dutch Shell to begin exploration in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas off the northern coast of Alaska. The groups say that these areas would be particularly vulnerable should a spill occur, and that the Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service did an inadequate job of evaluating the potential environmental threats posed by drilling in these seas.</p>
<p>“MMS did not analyze or disclose the effects of a large oil spill from Shell’s activities before approving the plans, even though it acknowledges that such a spill could have devastating consequences and could be difficult to clean up in the Arctic Ocean’s icy waters,” wrote the groups, which include the Alaska Wilderness League, Greenpeace, Earthjustice, and the village of Point Hope.</p>
<p>They may have good reason to be concerned. In the <a href="http://www.mms.gov/alaska/ref/EIS%20EA/2009_Chukchi_2010EA/2009_EA2010_Chukchi_EP.pdf" type="external">MMS evaluation of the Chukchi application</a> issued last December, the agency concluded that a large spill was “too remote and speculative an occurrence to be considered a reasonably foreseeable occurrence.” The MMS evaluation also states that “since 1971, no large crude or condensate spills have occurred from well-control incidents while drilling approximately 14,000 [outer continental shelf] exploration wells.” Clearly, the situation in the Gulf upends that.</p>
<p>Documents released this week make it clear that <a href="" type="internal">MMS failed to conduct adequate environmental analysis</a> on the Deepwater Horizon lease application last year, taking at face value BP’s claims that there was little threat posed by a spill from the operations. And a Government Accountability Office report released last month found that the Alaska regional office of MMS in particular had <a href="" type="internal">failed to conduct adequate environmental analysis</a> of drilling operations at the behest of the oil and gas industries. The GAO report notes that MMS “faces challenges in the Alaska OCS Region in carrying out its responsibilities” under the National Environmental Policy Act. And as I reported earlier this week, <a href="" type="internal">MMS has been plagued</a> by a number of scandals and lapses in regulatory oversight in recent years.</p>
<p>“It’s Salazar’s job to make sure the oil companies aren’t polluting our oceans, and he hasn’t been doing that,” said Rebecca Noblin, director of the Alaska office of the Center for Biological Diversity, another group signing on to the letter.</p>
<p>Groups opposing the Alaska drilling say that an accident there would be far more catastrophic than in the Gulf. The area freezes over for six months out of the year, which would make clean up impossible. The seas are treacherous, with heavy winds and frequent storms, and it’s dark much of the year. “If there’s a disaster in the Arctic, it could be even more significant than what we’re seeing in the Gulf because the ability to respond to an oil spill is almost nonexistent,” said Tom Dillon, senior vice president for field programs at the World Wildlife Fund. “It’s a recipe for disaster.”</p>
<p>In Obama’s <a href="" type="internal">plans to expand drilling</a> in March, he left Bristol Bay, an environmentally sensitive area of the Bering Sea in southwest Alaska, off limits for drilling. The administration also committed to keeping new areas of the Chukchi and Beaufort out of leasing plans, but decided to let the existing leases in the region stand. Under leasing plans put in place by the George W. Bush administration, Shell bought the rights to develop tracts of land in both seas, where the company plans to start exploration in July; Statoil and ConocoPhillips also own leases in the region, but don’t have plans to explore them currently.</p>
<p>MMS granted approval for <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1939479420091019" type="external">Shell’s Beaufort exploration in October 2009</a> and for <a href="www.mms.gov/alaska/latenews/newsrel/2009nr/2009_1207.pdf" type="external">Chukchi in December 2009</a>, though both are conditioned on meeting final approval. Department of Interior deputy press secretary Julie Rodriguez said in a statement Thursday that additional review is scheduled to be completed by May 28, and that the review “will help guide the Department’s decisions” on whether to give final approval to Shell’s applications. A&#160;later <a href="http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Salazar-Meets-with-BP-Officials-and-Engineers-at-Houston-Command-Center-to-Review-Response-Efforts-Activities.cfm" type="external">statement on Thursday</a> from DOI&#160;indicated that MMS Director Liz Birnbaum has sent a letter to Shell president Marvin Odum “confirming that MMS will not make a final decision on the requested permits for the drilling of exploration wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas until the Department of the Interior’s report to the President has been submitted and evaluated.”</p>
<p>There are also a number of lawsuits from environmental and Native groups challenging the development. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland, Ore. heard oral argument today in a challenge from Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity, and other groups, which allege that MMS did not conduct adequate environmental reviews. A similar challenge is underway in the federal district court in Anchorage. Groups this week <a href="http://www.courant.com/business/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-ak-arctic-drilling-air-permits,0,7624277.story" type="external">also filed an appeal</a> challenging the Clean Air Act permit that the Environmental Protection Agency issued for drilling operations. And on Wednesday, the Center for Biological Diversity gave notice to the Department of Interior that it intends to file a suit alleging that the agency did not conduct adequate review under the Endangered Species Act.</p>
<p>Drilling opponents are hoping that the Deepwater Horizon accident will serve as a wake-up call to the administration on the risks that could stem from drilling in the Arctic. “The Gulf situation I think is a game changer,” said Peter Van Tuyn, an Anchorage attorney who has represented plaintiff groups in challenges to the Arctic development for years. “It’s riskier to drill here than in the Gulf, and we know ahead of time we can’t clean it up.”</p>
<p />
| 6,902 |
<p>The Washington Post is reporting that musician and activist <a href="" type="internal">Wyclef Jean is responding to a recent report by the New York Post</a> questioning the spending of Jean's charitable organization, the Yele Haiti Foundation, <a href="" type="internal">again</a>. The New York Post reported that the foundation collected $16 million in 2010, but less than a third of that went to emergency efforts. The Post also says that $1 million was paid to a Florida firm that doesn't appear to exist.</p>
<p>Jean says that he is proud of what the foundation has accomplished after the earthquake almost two years ago. He says his Yele Haiti Foundation rebuilt an orphanage and set up a system of outdoor toilet and shower facilities in one of the largest shanties in the Haitian capital.</p>
<p>The star told the <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/28/2521577/wyclef-jean-defends-his-haiti.html" type="external">Miami Herald</a>:</p>
<p>"The Post [New York Post] conveniently fails to acknowledge that the decisions that Yele made were a response to one of the world's most catastrophic natural disasters in modern history and required an immediate humanitarian response," Jean said in a written statement. "We made decisions that enabled us to provide emergency assistance in the midst of chaos and we stand by those decisions."</p>
<p>We find it interesting that <a href="" type="internal">media outlets are so focused on following Jean's paper trail</a> while ignoring others. What about countries that pledged to send aid to Haiti and still have yet to do so - including the United States, because of congressional shenanigans? The lesson here should be that people should actually donate money to organizations that are in the business of rebuilding after disaster relief, not just famous faces that are known for being musical geniuses. <a href="" type="internal">The two don't translate</a>, much like the numbers.</p>
<p>Read more at <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/haitis-wyclef-jean-defends-charity-following-story-of-questionable-spending/2011/11/27/gIQAxD2p2N_story.html" type="external">the Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>In other news: <a href="" type="internal">Are Open Marriages a Solution or Contradiction?</a></p>
|
Wyclef Jean Defends Yele Charity, Again
| true |
https://theroot.com/wyclef-jean-defends-yele-charity-again-1790867079
|
2011-11-28
| 4left
|
Wyclef Jean Defends Yele Charity, Again
<p>The Washington Post is reporting that musician and activist <a href="" type="internal">Wyclef Jean is responding to a recent report by the New York Post</a> questioning the spending of Jean's charitable organization, the Yele Haiti Foundation, <a href="" type="internal">again</a>. The New York Post reported that the foundation collected $16 million in 2010, but less than a third of that went to emergency efforts. The Post also says that $1 million was paid to a Florida firm that doesn't appear to exist.</p>
<p>Jean says that he is proud of what the foundation has accomplished after the earthquake almost two years ago. He says his Yele Haiti Foundation rebuilt an orphanage and set up a system of outdoor toilet and shower facilities in one of the largest shanties in the Haitian capital.</p>
<p>The star told the <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/11/28/2521577/wyclef-jean-defends-his-haiti.html" type="external">Miami Herald</a>:</p>
<p>"The Post [New York Post] conveniently fails to acknowledge that the decisions that Yele made were a response to one of the world's most catastrophic natural disasters in modern history and required an immediate humanitarian response," Jean said in a written statement. "We made decisions that enabled us to provide emergency assistance in the midst of chaos and we stand by those decisions."</p>
<p>We find it interesting that <a href="" type="internal">media outlets are so focused on following Jean's paper trail</a> while ignoring others. What about countries that pledged to send aid to Haiti and still have yet to do so - including the United States, because of congressional shenanigans? The lesson here should be that people should actually donate money to organizations that are in the business of rebuilding after disaster relief, not just famous faces that are known for being musical geniuses. <a href="" type="internal">The two don't translate</a>, much like the numbers.</p>
<p>Read more at <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/haitis-wyclef-jean-defends-charity-following-story-of-questionable-spending/2011/11/27/gIQAxD2p2N_story.html" type="external">the Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>In other news: <a href="" type="internal">Are Open Marriages a Solution or Contradiction?</a></p>
| 6,903 |
<p>74 year-old Cree musician Buffy Saint Marie has done a lot since she was 24. She got her Phd. She got politically active in the American Indian Movement and the anti-GMO movement. She raised a family. She was even on Sesame Street for five seasons where she has the great honor of being the first woman to breast feed on American television. But most of us know Buffy Saint Marie as an iconic 60s folk singer with such hits as "Universal Soldier" and "It's My Way." And now, some 50 years later since her 1964 LP came out, Buffy has a new one. It’s called “Power in the Blood.”&#160; This new CD proves that this Oscar, Juno, and Golden Globe award-winning woman is not over yet. Not even close.</p>
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Buffy Sainte-Marie on Her New Album, "Power in the Blood"
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2015-07-19/buffy-sainte-marie-her-new-album-power-blood
|
2015-07-19
| 3left-center
|
Buffy Sainte-Marie on Her New Album, "Power in the Blood"
<p>74 year-old Cree musician Buffy Saint Marie has done a lot since she was 24. She got her Phd. She got politically active in the American Indian Movement and the anti-GMO movement. She raised a family. She was even on Sesame Street for five seasons where she has the great honor of being the first woman to breast feed on American television. But most of us know Buffy Saint Marie as an iconic 60s folk singer with such hits as "Universal Soldier" and "It's My Way." And now, some 50 years later since her 1964 LP came out, Buffy has a new one. It’s called “Power in the Blood.”&#160; This new CD proves that this Oscar, Juno, and Golden Globe award-winning woman is not over yet. Not even close.</p>
| 6,904 |
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<p>CHICAGO — The owner of two education-services companies has pleaded guilty to offering bribes and kickbacks to the former head of Chicago Public Schools.</p>
<p>Federal prosecutors on Tuesday said Gary Solomon entered into a plea agreement admitting he offered former school district CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett bribes and kickbacks in exchange for her steering $23 million in contracts to his companies. Byrd-Bennett previously worked for the companies. Prosecutors say the 48-year-old from Wilmette also provided Byrd-Bennett with other perks, including meals and sports tickets.</p>
<p>Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud. Solomon also pleaded guilty to the same charge. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced March 24.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say Solomon’s companies, SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates, also pleaded guilty to wire fraud and face millions in fines.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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Man pleads guilty to fraud in Chicago schools bribery case
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/869993/man-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-in-chicago-schools-bribery-case.html
| 2least
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Man pleads guilty to fraud in Chicago schools bribery case
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<p>CHICAGO — The owner of two education-services companies has pleaded guilty to offering bribes and kickbacks to the former head of Chicago Public Schools.</p>
<p>Federal prosecutors on Tuesday said Gary Solomon entered into a plea agreement admitting he offered former school district CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett bribes and kickbacks in exchange for her steering $23 million in contracts to his companies. Byrd-Bennett previously worked for the companies. Prosecutors say the 48-year-old from Wilmette also provided Byrd-Bennett with other perks, including meals and sports tickets.</p>
<p>Byrd-Bennett pleaded guilty last year to wire fraud. Solomon also pleaded guilty to the same charge. He faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced March 24.</p>
<p>Prosecutors say Solomon’s companies, SUPES Academy and Synesi Associates, also pleaded guilty to wire fraud and face millions in fines.</p>
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<p>President Donald Trump plans to send Congress an outline for a comprehensive plan to overhaul the tax code for individuals and businesses by the end of the month, a move the White House said is intended to kick-start negotiations on the major legislative effort.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Mr. Trump, in a meeting Thursday with airline executives, said his goal of lowering taxes for businesses was moving "ahead of schedule."</p>
<p>"Lowering the overall tax burden on American business is big league," Mr. Trump said. "And we're going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure."</p>
<p>During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump proposed a multi-trillion-dollar tax cut that would lower the corporate tax rate to 15%, cut individual tax rates, and repeal the estate tax. He also proposed expanded tax breaks for child care.</p>
<p>White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday the president's tax overhaul would be "something that's going to spur economic growth" and "recognize the need to give so many working Americans the relief that they need."</p>
<p>Mr. Spicer said Mr. Trump is pursuing the most significant tax overhaul in more than three decades.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"It's going to be a comprehensive plan, something we haven't seen since 1986," he said.</p>
<p>The tax code hasn't been revamped since 1986, when President Ronald Reagan worked with a divided Congress to broaden the tax base and lower marginal tax rates. Attempts by lawmakers in both parties since then have failed, due to the difficult politics of trade-offs and partisan disagreement.</p>
<p>White House officials have been discussing tax issues with House and Senate Republicans, but Thursday's announcement seemed to catch GOP officials by surprise.</p>
<p>Republicans have said repeatedly that they want to work on health care legislation before turning to taxes, partly for procedural reasons. That said, they have a lot of work to do on both the broad strokes and the details of tax policy, and they can try to iron out those differences while they are working on a health care plan.</p>
<p>House Republicans have been pursuing their own tax plan and had hoped for the White House to back their efforts this week. Their proposal has been criticized by others in the Republican Party and figures within the business community in recent weeks over a feature called "border adjustment" that taxes imports and exempts exports.</p>
<p>A senior Republican congressional aide said GOP leaders expect any comprehensive plan to address individual, business and international tax issues, though they are unsure precisely what will be in the White House plan.</p>
<p>Mr. Trump's campaign plan had some important differences with House Republicans' approach. He wanted a deeper corporate tax rate cut, a bigger rate cut for businesses that pay through their owners' individual tax and a tighter limit on individual deductions, including charitable contributions. Mr. Trump has made ambivalent statements on border adjustment; the White House now says it is one option.</p>
<p>As written, his plan also would have raised taxes on millions of middle-income households, though campaign officials said they would ensure that wouldn't happen in the ultimate legislation.</p>
<p>Mr. Trump was also willing to incur significant budget deficits from his tax plan, even after accounting for economic growth. That could prove challenging both within the Republican Party and in the Senate, where deficit-increasing plans may not comply with budget procedures that would be necessary for the GOP to advance a tax cut without Democrats.</p>
<p>Independent analyses during the campaign said Mr. Trump's tax plan would increase budget deficits by at least $4.4 trillion over a decade and wouldn't generate enough economic growth to pay for themselves.</p>
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White House Aims to Send Tax-Plan Outline to Congress Within Weeks
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/09/white-house-aims-to-send-tax-plan-outline-to-congress-within-weeks.html
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2017-02-09
| 0right
|
White House Aims to Send Tax-Plan Outline to Congress Within Weeks
<p />
<p>President Donald Trump plans to send Congress an outline for a comprehensive plan to overhaul the tax code for individuals and businesses by the end of the month, a move the White House said is intended to kick-start negotiations on the major legislative effort.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Mr. Trump, in a meeting Thursday with airline executives, said his goal of lowering taxes for businesses was moving "ahead of schedule."</p>
<p>"Lowering the overall tax burden on American business is big league," Mr. Trump said. "And we're going to be announcing something I would say over the next two or three weeks that will be phenomenal in terms of tax and developing our aviation infrastructure."</p>
<p>During the presidential campaign, Mr. Trump proposed a multi-trillion-dollar tax cut that would lower the corporate tax rate to 15%, cut individual tax rates, and repeal the estate tax. He also proposed expanded tax breaks for child care.</p>
<p>White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday the president's tax overhaul would be "something that's going to spur economic growth" and "recognize the need to give so many working Americans the relief that they need."</p>
<p>Mr. Spicer said Mr. Trump is pursuing the most significant tax overhaul in more than three decades.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>"It's going to be a comprehensive plan, something we haven't seen since 1986," he said.</p>
<p>The tax code hasn't been revamped since 1986, when President Ronald Reagan worked with a divided Congress to broaden the tax base and lower marginal tax rates. Attempts by lawmakers in both parties since then have failed, due to the difficult politics of trade-offs and partisan disagreement.</p>
<p>White House officials have been discussing tax issues with House and Senate Republicans, but Thursday's announcement seemed to catch GOP officials by surprise.</p>
<p>Republicans have said repeatedly that they want to work on health care legislation before turning to taxes, partly for procedural reasons. That said, they have a lot of work to do on both the broad strokes and the details of tax policy, and they can try to iron out those differences while they are working on a health care plan.</p>
<p>House Republicans have been pursuing their own tax plan and had hoped for the White House to back their efforts this week. Their proposal has been criticized by others in the Republican Party and figures within the business community in recent weeks over a feature called "border adjustment" that taxes imports and exempts exports.</p>
<p>A senior Republican congressional aide said GOP leaders expect any comprehensive plan to address individual, business and international tax issues, though they are unsure precisely what will be in the White House plan.</p>
<p>Mr. Trump's campaign plan had some important differences with House Republicans' approach. He wanted a deeper corporate tax rate cut, a bigger rate cut for businesses that pay through their owners' individual tax and a tighter limit on individual deductions, including charitable contributions. Mr. Trump has made ambivalent statements on border adjustment; the White House now says it is one option.</p>
<p>As written, his plan also would have raised taxes on millions of middle-income households, though campaign officials said they would ensure that wouldn't happen in the ultimate legislation.</p>
<p>Mr. Trump was also willing to incur significant budget deficits from his tax plan, even after accounting for economic growth. That could prove challenging both within the Republican Party and in the Senate, where deficit-increasing plans may not comply with budget procedures that would be necessary for the GOP to advance a tax cut without Democrats.</p>
<p>Independent analyses during the campaign said Mr. Trump's tax plan would increase budget deficits by at least $4.4 trillion over a decade and wouldn't generate enough economic growth to pay for themselves.</p>
| 6,906 |
<p>Sen. John McCain faced a choice that balanced friendship, party loyalty and his convictions. He made the decision some of his closest advisers expected.</p>
<p>Looking at the twilight of his career and a grim cancer diagnosis, the Republican senator from Arizona who prides himself on an independent streak could not be moved to go along with a last-ditch GOP push to overhaul the nation’s health care system.</p>
<p>Those close to him say he wrestled with the choice — the legislation was championed by his best friend in the Senate — but rarely strayed from his intention to send a message to the institution where he’s spent three decades.</p>
<p>That message was bipartisanship and what he cast as the integrity of the Senate process that insists on debate and often yields compromise. The call for “regular order” isn’t the stuff of campaign bumper stickers, but it has become McCain’s mission since he’s returned to Washington, to keep up his work and treatment for an often fatal brain tumor.</p>
<p>“If he supported this, then he guts his whole message that he’s been trying to give his colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans,” said Rick Davis, who managed McCain’s two presidential campaigns and remains close to the lawmaker.</p>
<p>Davis said Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., “made his pitch” to his longtime friend, but McCain was motivated by “his drive to move the Senate toward more comity and bipartisanship.”</p>
<p>McCain’s decision probably will kill the bill and crush the GOP’s hopes for repealing the Obama health law this year. Republicans have tried to go it alone in overhauling the Affordable Care Act, speeding two attempts at passage along with minimal hearings and debate.</p>
<p>McCain’s statement declaring his opposition to the legislation Friday was the second time he derailed the effort.</p>
<p>In July, bearing a fresh surgery scar over his left eye, McCain scolded lawmakers from the Senate floor. Incremental progress isn’t glamorous or exciting, and it can be “less satisfying than winning,” said the man who won his party’s nomination but lost the White House in 2008. He struck a similar tone on Friday in a written statement, saying he believed “we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried.”</p>
<p>That McCain is well enough to play this central figure in the Republican healthcare efforts is a surprise to many given the gravity of his diagnosis. He announced this summer that he had an aggressive and usually fatal tumor called glioblastoma, the same type of tumor that killed Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., in 2009 and Beau Biden, son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, in 2015.</p>
<p>Biden is among the many longtime colleagues who has been in touch with McCain since his diagnosis, and the two are scheduled to reunite next month, when Biden presents the senator with the National Constitution Center’s Liberty Medal.</p>
<p>McCain has privately bristled at his return to Washington being covered like a melodrama, and his friends have steadfastly tried to avoid treating him like a man nearing the end of his life. When McCain’s children and some colleagues flocked to his Arizona ranch this summer, the mood was upbeat and the senator often joined his guests for hikes.</p>
<p>“What this man has been through in his life gives him a very calm and reasoned attitude toward death,” said Charlie Black, a veteran McCain adviser. “He believes he’s escaped it many times and maybe will again.”</p>
<p>Persevering against seemingly insurmountable odds has been a constant in McCain’s life and shaped his political career.</p>
<p>As a Navy pilot, McCain survived a fire that killed 134 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War. He was captured after his plane was shot down during a bombing mission over Hanoi and spent five years as a prisoner of war, refusing early release. Later in life, he survived several bouts with melanoma, a dangerous skin cancer.</p>
<p>McCain, his staff and his family have made some adjustments to account for his desire to work through his illness.</p>
<p>After finishing his first round of radiation and chemotherapy this summer at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, McCain and his wife Cindy decided to decamp to Washington, moving the senator’s treatment to the National Institutes of Health. He’s undergoing a second round of therapies now and spends weekends in the nation’s capital rather than returning to Arizona.</p>
<p>Friends notice that the 81-year-old tires more easily in the afternoon, and his staff tries to front-load his schedule most days, a challenge in the sometimes nocturnal Senate. But friends and advisers say the senator is committed to keeping up as much of a regular schedule as possible while Congress is in session. As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he stays in regular touch with top administration officials, including national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.</p>
<p>“The citizens of Arizona are getting their money’s worth,” said Steve Duprey, a friend of the senator.</p>
|
McCain's Moment: Ailing Senator Plays Spoiler Again for GOP
| false |
https://newsline.com/mccains-moment-ailing-senator-plays-spoiler-again-for-gop/
|
2017-09-25
| 1right-center
|
McCain's Moment: Ailing Senator Plays Spoiler Again for GOP
<p>Sen. John McCain faced a choice that balanced friendship, party loyalty and his convictions. He made the decision some of his closest advisers expected.</p>
<p>Looking at the twilight of his career and a grim cancer diagnosis, the Republican senator from Arizona who prides himself on an independent streak could not be moved to go along with a last-ditch GOP push to overhaul the nation’s health care system.</p>
<p>Those close to him say he wrestled with the choice — the legislation was championed by his best friend in the Senate — but rarely strayed from his intention to send a message to the institution where he’s spent three decades.</p>
<p>That message was bipartisanship and what he cast as the integrity of the Senate process that insists on debate and often yields compromise. The call for “regular order” isn’t the stuff of campaign bumper stickers, but it has become McCain’s mission since he’s returned to Washington, to keep up his work and treatment for an often fatal brain tumor.</p>
<p>“If he supported this, then he guts his whole message that he’s been trying to give his colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans,” said Rick Davis, who managed McCain’s two presidential campaigns and remains close to the lawmaker.</p>
<p>Davis said Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., “made his pitch” to his longtime friend, but McCain was motivated by “his drive to move the Senate toward more comity and bipartisanship.”</p>
<p>McCain’s decision probably will kill the bill and crush the GOP’s hopes for repealing the Obama health law this year. Republicans have tried to go it alone in overhauling the Affordable Care Act, speeding two attempts at passage along with minimal hearings and debate.</p>
<p>McCain’s statement declaring his opposition to the legislation Friday was the second time he derailed the effort.</p>
<p>In July, bearing a fresh surgery scar over his left eye, McCain scolded lawmakers from the Senate floor. Incremental progress isn’t glamorous or exciting, and it can be “less satisfying than winning,” said the man who won his party’s nomination but lost the White House in 2008. He struck a similar tone on Friday in a written statement, saying he believed “we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried.”</p>
<p>That McCain is well enough to play this central figure in the Republican healthcare efforts is a surprise to many given the gravity of his diagnosis. He announced this summer that he had an aggressive and usually fatal tumor called glioblastoma, the same type of tumor that killed Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., in 2009 and Beau Biden, son of then-Vice President Joe Biden, in 2015.</p>
<p>Biden is among the many longtime colleagues who has been in touch with McCain since his diagnosis, and the two are scheduled to reunite next month, when Biden presents the senator with the National Constitution Center’s Liberty Medal.</p>
<p>McCain has privately bristled at his return to Washington being covered like a melodrama, and his friends have steadfastly tried to avoid treating him like a man nearing the end of his life. When McCain’s children and some colleagues flocked to his Arizona ranch this summer, the mood was upbeat and the senator often joined his guests for hikes.</p>
<p>“What this man has been through in his life gives him a very calm and reasoned attitude toward death,” said Charlie Black, a veteran McCain adviser. “He believes he’s escaped it many times and maybe will again.”</p>
<p>Persevering against seemingly insurmountable odds has been a constant in McCain’s life and shaped his political career.</p>
<p>As a Navy pilot, McCain survived a fire that killed 134 sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War. He was captured after his plane was shot down during a bombing mission over Hanoi and spent five years as a prisoner of war, refusing early release. Later in life, he survived several bouts with melanoma, a dangerous skin cancer.</p>
<p>McCain, his staff and his family have made some adjustments to account for his desire to work through his illness.</p>
<p>After finishing his first round of radiation and chemotherapy this summer at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix, McCain and his wife Cindy decided to decamp to Washington, moving the senator’s treatment to the National Institutes of Health. He’s undergoing a second round of therapies now and spends weekends in the nation’s capital rather than returning to Arizona.</p>
<p>Friends notice that the 81-year-old tires more easily in the afternoon, and his staff tries to front-load his schedule most days, a challenge in the sometimes nocturnal Senate. But friends and advisers say the senator is committed to keeping up as much of a regular schedule as possible while Congress is in session. As chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he stays in regular touch with top administration officials, including national security adviser H.R. McMaster and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.</p>
<p>“The citizens of Arizona are getting their money’s worth,” said Steve Duprey, a friend of the senator.</p>
| 6,907 |
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on long-term home loans rose this week to the highest level in months.</p>
<p>Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 4.04 percent this week, highest since May and up from 3.99 percent last week. The rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners who are refinancing, rose to 3.49 percent, highest since last March and up from 3.44 percent last week.</p>
<p>“Inflation is firming ... This means upward pressure on long-term rates, like the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, is building,” Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist, says in a statement. He cites a Federal Reserve report out Wednesday showing that employers in more industries were under pressure to give workers pay raises.</p>
<p>The rate on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages was unchanged this week at 3.46 percent.</p>
<p>To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates.</p>
<p>The fee on 30-year mortgages rose to 0.6 point from 0.5 point last week. The fee on 15-year mortgages was unchanged 0.5 percent. And the fee on five-year adjustable home loans dipped to 0.3 point from 0.4 point.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on long-term home loans rose this week to the highest level in months.</p>
<p>Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 4.04 percent this week, highest since May and up from 3.99 percent last week. The rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners who are refinancing, rose to 3.49 percent, highest since last March and up from 3.44 percent last week.</p>
<p>“Inflation is firming ... This means upward pressure on long-term rates, like the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, is building,” Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist, says in a statement. He cites a Federal Reserve report out Wednesday showing that employers in more industries were under pressure to give workers pay raises.</p>
<p>The rate on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages was unchanged this week at 3.46 percent.</p>
<p>To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates.</p>
<p>The fee on 30-year mortgages rose to 0.6 point from 0.5 point last week. The fee on 15-year mortgages was unchanged 0.5 percent. And the fee on five-year adjustable home loans dipped to 0.3 point from 0.4 point.</p>
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Long-term mortgage rates rise: 30-year hits 4.04 percent
| false |
https://apnews.com/f271be6aca8d48878ffc97f52680892a
|
2018-01-18
| 2least
|
Long-term mortgage rates rise: 30-year hits 4.04 percent
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on long-term home loans rose this week to the highest level in months.</p>
<p>Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 4.04 percent this week, highest since May and up from 3.99 percent last week. The rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners who are refinancing, rose to 3.49 percent, highest since last March and up from 3.44 percent last week.</p>
<p>“Inflation is firming ... This means upward pressure on long-term rates, like the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, is building,” Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist, says in a statement. He cites a Federal Reserve report out Wednesday showing that employers in more industries were under pressure to give workers pay raises.</p>
<p>The rate on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages was unchanged this week at 3.46 percent.</p>
<p>To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates.</p>
<p>The fee on 30-year mortgages rose to 0.6 point from 0.5 point last week. The fee on 15-year mortgages was unchanged 0.5 percent. And the fee on five-year adjustable home loans dipped to 0.3 point from 0.4 point.</p>
<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rates on long-term home loans rose this week to the highest level in months.</p>
<p>Mortgage giant Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages rose to 4.04 percent this week, highest since May and up from 3.99 percent last week. The rate on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners who are refinancing, rose to 3.49 percent, highest since last March and up from 3.44 percent last week.</p>
<p>“Inflation is firming ... This means upward pressure on long-term rates, like the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, is building,” Len Kiefer, Freddie Mac’s deputy chief economist, says in a statement. He cites a Federal Reserve report out Wednesday showing that employers in more industries were under pressure to give workers pay raises.</p>
<p>The rate on five-year adjustable-rate mortgages was unchanged this week at 3.46 percent.</p>
<p>To calculate average mortgage rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country between Monday and Wednesday each week. The average doesn’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates.</p>
<p>The fee on 30-year mortgages rose to 0.6 point from 0.5 point last week. The fee on 15-year mortgages was unchanged 0.5 percent. And the fee on five-year adjustable home loans dipped to 0.3 point from 0.4 point.</p>
| 6,908 |
<p>GILBERT, Ariz. (AP) — Six charter school teachers in Gilbert were fired last month after an alcohol-related incident on campus.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman for Imagine West Gilbert confirmed Saturday that the incident was alcohol-related. An initial report of their terminations had not given any details about the nature of the incident.</p>
<p>The school notified parents of the decision during the Christmas break.</p>
<p>School officials say they became aware of the Dec. 21 incident involving six staff members on school property during school hours.</p>
<p>Due to employment confidentiality laws, the school cannot disclose any specifics.</p>
<p>Investigators found all six teachers violated the employment handbook policies.</p>
<p>Imagine West Gilbert officials say they've already hired several highly qualified teachers for the spring semester.</p>
<p>GILBERT, Ariz. (AP) — Six charter school teachers in Gilbert were fired last month after an alcohol-related incident on campus.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman for Imagine West Gilbert confirmed Saturday that the incident was alcohol-related. An initial report of their terminations had not given any details about the nature of the incident.</p>
<p>The school notified parents of the decision during the Christmas break.</p>
<p>School officials say they became aware of the Dec. 21 incident involving six staff members on school property during school hours.</p>
<p>Due to employment confidentiality laws, the school cannot disclose any specifics.</p>
<p>Investigators found all six teachers violated the employment handbook policies.</p>
<p>Imagine West Gilbert officials say they've already hired several highly qualified teachers for the spring semester.</p>
|
Gilbert teachers' firings tied to alcohol-related incident
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/5371dc7912c94c67b617fcec54a751ce
|
2018-01-08
| 2least
|
Gilbert teachers' firings tied to alcohol-related incident
<p>GILBERT, Ariz. (AP) — Six charter school teachers in Gilbert were fired last month after an alcohol-related incident on campus.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman for Imagine West Gilbert confirmed Saturday that the incident was alcohol-related. An initial report of their terminations had not given any details about the nature of the incident.</p>
<p>The school notified parents of the decision during the Christmas break.</p>
<p>School officials say they became aware of the Dec. 21 incident involving six staff members on school property during school hours.</p>
<p>Due to employment confidentiality laws, the school cannot disclose any specifics.</p>
<p>Investigators found all six teachers violated the employment handbook policies.</p>
<p>Imagine West Gilbert officials say they've already hired several highly qualified teachers for the spring semester.</p>
<p>GILBERT, Ariz. (AP) — Six charter school teachers in Gilbert were fired last month after an alcohol-related incident on campus.</p>
<p>A spokeswoman for Imagine West Gilbert confirmed Saturday that the incident was alcohol-related. An initial report of their terminations had not given any details about the nature of the incident.</p>
<p>The school notified parents of the decision during the Christmas break.</p>
<p>School officials say they became aware of the Dec. 21 incident involving six staff members on school property during school hours.</p>
<p>Due to employment confidentiality laws, the school cannot disclose any specifics.</p>
<p>Investigators found all six teachers violated the employment handbook policies.</p>
<p>Imagine West Gilbert officials say they've already hired several highly qualified teachers for the spring semester.</p>
| 6,909 |
<p>Anthony Pignataro:</p>
<p>Thought that would grab you. But seriously, the California chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW) has filed official criminal complaints with district attorneys across the state against <a href="http://www.hooters.com/" type="external">Hooters</a>, the Atlanta-based chain of restaurants that feature really beautiful, voluptuous waitresses and really awful food. But it’s not the dolphin shorts or even the deep-fried chicken wings that have NOW’s feathers ruffled — no, they’re taking umbrage at Hooter’s insistence on being a “family restaurant.” You know, the kind that encourages parents to bring their kids.</p>
<p>“Hooters identifies itself to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) and on its website as a place of ‘vicarious sexual entertainment’ and not as a family restaurant,” reads a NOW letter, dated Dec. 16, that was sent to Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully (NOW’s website mentions that similar complaints were filed with police departments and DAs in San Francisco, San Bruno and Orange counties, as well as the state Attorney General). “It is on the basis of this status as a provider of ‘vicarious sexual entertainment’ and not a ‘family restaurant’ that they avoid compliance with EEOC prohibitions against sexual discrimination. Yet Hooters, Inc. operates as a family restaurant in San Francisco, California without complying with state or local sexual entertainment licensing and security requirements.”</p>
<p>Sigh. None of the NOW letters or statements I reviewed indicate if any NOW representatives actually visited a Hooters. Well, I did, once, about a decade ago, and can report with studied authority that the place is not at all “vicarious” and/or “sexual.” It’s actually kind of creepy, or at least, it was when my buddy and I visited. We sat at the bar, but decided to leave when the bartender for some reason thought it fitting and proper to stand in front of us while prying off her fake fingernails with a toothpick.</p>
<p>Anyway, click <a href="http://www.canow.org/" type="external">here</a>if you want to read California NOW’s complaint.</p>
<p>DEC. 16, 2010</p>
|
NOW Calls Cops On Hooters!
| false |
https://calwatchdog.com/2010/12/16/now-calls-cops-on-hooters/
|
2018-12-20
| 3left-center
|
NOW Calls Cops On Hooters!
<p>Anthony Pignataro:</p>
<p>Thought that would grab you. But seriously, the California chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW) has filed official criminal complaints with district attorneys across the state against <a href="http://www.hooters.com/" type="external">Hooters</a>, the Atlanta-based chain of restaurants that feature really beautiful, voluptuous waitresses and really awful food. But it’s not the dolphin shorts or even the deep-fried chicken wings that have NOW’s feathers ruffled — no, they’re taking umbrage at Hooter’s insistence on being a “family restaurant.” You know, the kind that encourages parents to bring their kids.</p>
<p>“Hooters identifies itself to the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) and on its website as a place of ‘vicarious sexual entertainment’ and not as a family restaurant,” reads a NOW letter, dated Dec. 16, that was sent to Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully (NOW’s website mentions that similar complaints were filed with police departments and DAs in San Francisco, San Bruno and Orange counties, as well as the state Attorney General). “It is on the basis of this status as a provider of ‘vicarious sexual entertainment’ and not a ‘family restaurant’ that they avoid compliance with EEOC prohibitions against sexual discrimination. Yet Hooters, Inc. operates as a family restaurant in San Francisco, California without complying with state or local sexual entertainment licensing and security requirements.”</p>
<p>Sigh. None of the NOW letters or statements I reviewed indicate if any NOW representatives actually visited a Hooters. Well, I did, once, about a decade ago, and can report with studied authority that the place is not at all “vicarious” and/or “sexual.” It’s actually kind of creepy, or at least, it was when my buddy and I visited. We sat at the bar, but decided to leave when the bartender for some reason thought it fitting and proper to stand in front of us while prying off her fake fingernails with a toothpick.</p>
<p>Anyway, click <a href="http://www.canow.org/" type="external">here</a>if you want to read California NOW’s complaint.</p>
<p>DEC. 16, 2010</p>
| 6,910 |
<p>Gloria Allred just couldn’t help herself, she had to get in on the Sandra Fluke / Rush Limbaugh story.</p>
<p>Allred has gone public with <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/84586419/Letter-RE-Rush-Limbaugh" type="external">a letter</a> she sent to officials in Florida seeking to have Rush prosecuted under a Florida&#160;law, which makes it a misdemeanor, with respect to a woman, to “falsely and maliciously imput[e] to her a want of chastity.”</p>
<p>Via <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/gloria-allred-rush-limbaugh_n_1335094.html" type="external">HuffPo</a>:</p>
<p>A high-profile attorney is calling for Rush Limbaugh to be prosecuted for calling a college student a “slut” and a “prostitute” on his radio show.</p>
<p>Gloria Allred sent a letter to the Palm Beach County Attorney’s Office saying an obscure defamation statute should be used against Limbaugh. That law says it’s a misdemeanor to falsely and maliciously question a woman’s chastity.</p>
<p>In an interview Friday, Allred said Limbaugh “should have to bear the consequences of his extremely outrageous” conduct.</p>
<p>Limbaugh lives on Palm Beach and broadcasts his nationally syndicated show from there.</p>
<p>The county attorney’s office doesn’t handle criminal matters and forwarded the letter to the state attorney for Palm Beach County, who had no immediate comment.</p>
<p>Put aside that a prosecution under the statute would require proving that Ms Fluke is “chaste,” and therefore would expose her sexual life to scrutiny.&#160; I could be wrong, but it seems unlikely for a 30-year old birth control advocate, but hey, stranger things have happened.&#160; And in this day and age, who knows what “chastity” means.</p>
<p>Put aside that if this law actually were enforced, hundreds if not thousands of liberal comics, TV personalities, Hollywood actors, and music stars would have to be rounded up.&#160; (Every cloud has a silver lining.)</p>
<p>Any self-respecting liberal should be screaming, “Gloria STOP trying to help.&#160; You’re killing us by perpetuating centuries-old stereotypes about a woman’s lack of chastity being&#160;shameful.”</p>
<p>But there don’t seem to be many self-respecting liberals left, because all is fair in the War on Rush.&#160;&#160; <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nico-pitney" type="external">Nico Pitney</a>, Managing Editor of HuffPo,&#160;has a thrill <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/nicopitney/status/178176924454096898" type="external">running up his leg</a>:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p />
|
Any self-respecting liberal should be screaming, “Gloria STOP trying to help.”
| true |
http://legalinsurrection.com/2012/03/any-self-respecting-liberal-should-be-screaming-gloria-stop-trying-to-help/
|
2012-03-09
| 0right
|
Any self-respecting liberal should be screaming, “Gloria STOP trying to help.”
<p>Gloria Allred just couldn’t help herself, she had to get in on the Sandra Fluke / Rush Limbaugh story.</p>
<p>Allred has gone public with <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/84586419/Letter-RE-Rush-Limbaugh" type="external">a letter</a> she sent to officials in Florida seeking to have Rush prosecuted under a Florida&#160;law, which makes it a misdemeanor, with respect to a woman, to “falsely and maliciously imput[e] to her a want of chastity.”</p>
<p>Via <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/gloria-allred-rush-limbaugh_n_1335094.html" type="external">HuffPo</a>:</p>
<p>A high-profile attorney is calling for Rush Limbaugh to be prosecuted for calling a college student a “slut” and a “prostitute” on his radio show.</p>
<p>Gloria Allred sent a letter to the Palm Beach County Attorney’s Office saying an obscure defamation statute should be used against Limbaugh. That law says it’s a misdemeanor to falsely and maliciously question a woman’s chastity.</p>
<p>In an interview Friday, Allred said Limbaugh “should have to bear the consequences of his extremely outrageous” conduct.</p>
<p>Limbaugh lives on Palm Beach and broadcasts his nationally syndicated show from there.</p>
<p>The county attorney’s office doesn’t handle criminal matters and forwarded the letter to the state attorney for Palm Beach County, who had no immediate comment.</p>
<p>Put aside that a prosecution under the statute would require proving that Ms Fluke is “chaste,” and therefore would expose her sexual life to scrutiny.&#160; I could be wrong, but it seems unlikely for a 30-year old birth control advocate, but hey, stranger things have happened.&#160; And in this day and age, who knows what “chastity” means.</p>
<p>Put aside that if this law actually were enforced, hundreds if not thousands of liberal comics, TV personalities, Hollywood actors, and music stars would have to be rounded up.&#160; (Every cloud has a silver lining.)</p>
<p>Any self-respecting liberal should be screaming, “Gloria STOP trying to help.&#160; You’re killing us by perpetuating centuries-old stereotypes about a woman’s lack of chastity being&#160;shameful.”</p>
<p>But there don’t seem to be many self-respecting liberals left, because all is fair in the War on Rush.&#160;&#160; <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nico-pitney" type="external">Nico Pitney</a>, Managing Editor of HuffPo,&#160;has a thrill <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/nicopitney/status/178176924454096898" type="external">running up his leg</a>:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p />
| 6,911 |
<p>GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Before getting down to business at the two-day G-7 summit, U.S. President Barack Obama drank in some local Bavarian culture. Especially beer.</p>
<p>Police officers lined the roads as Obama's motorcade left the G-7 host site for the small town of Kruen, where local residents in traditional Bavarian outfits awaited the president’s arrival.</p>
<p>Joking that he "forgot to bring his lederhosen," Obama told the crowd that he would "see if I can buy some while I'm here."</p>
<p>Obama sampled the local traditions as world leaders were gathering <a href="" type="internal">for the G-7 meeting at Germany's Schloss Elmau resort</a>.</p>
<p>Ahead of the meetings, Obama praised the relationship between the U.S. and Germany as "one of the strongest alliances the world has ever known."</p>
<p>He said world leaders at the G-7 summit would discuss standing up to Russian "aggression" in Ukraine, the global economy and combating the threats from violent extremism and climate change. The nuclear pact being negotiated with Iran also is expected to be discussed.</p>
<p>"These are all difficult challenges," Obama acknowledged, saying that the example of post-war Germany offers proof that "conflicts can end and great progress is possible."</p>
<p>Until last year, the G-7 included Russia and was thus called the G-8. But the June 2014 summit was held without President Vladimir Putin to protest the country's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. With little sign of the fighting in eastern Ukraine ending despite a ceasefire deal agreed in Minsk more than three months ago, the exclusion has continued for a second year.</p>
<p>German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "delighted" to welcome and show Obama the "beautiful part" of her country before the "hard work" ahead at the summit.</p>
<p>Obama — who sat with Merkel and her husband in the town square for pretzels, beer and sausage as Bavarian brass music played in the background — did make one request of his host.</p>
<p>"We should have all our summit meetings in this incredible village center and drink beer," the president said to laughter.</p>
<p>German police reported minor protests around the summit, with one small group of protesters briefly blocking a local highway.</p>
|
G-7: Obama Says Summit Will Discuss Russian ‘Aggression’ in Ukraine
| false |
http://nbcnews.com/news/world/g-7-obama-says-summit-will-discuss-russian-aggression-ukraine-n371156
|
2015-06-08
| 3left-center
|
G-7: Obama Says Summit Will Discuss Russian ‘Aggression’ in Ukraine
<p>GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany — Before getting down to business at the two-day G-7 summit, U.S. President Barack Obama drank in some local Bavarian culture. Especially beer.</p>
<p>Police officers lined the roads as Obama's motorcade left the G-7 host site for the small town of Kruen, where local residents in traditional Bavarian outfits awaited the president’s arrival.</p>
<p>Joking that he "forgot to bring his lederhosen," Obama told the crowd that he would "see if I can buy some while I'm here."</p>
<p>Obama sampled the local traditions as world leaders were gathering <a href="" type="internal">for the G-7 meeting at Germany's Schloss Elmau resort</a>.</p>
<p>Ahead of the meetings, Obama praised the relationship between the U.S. and Germany as "one of the strongest alliances the world has ever known."</p>
<p>He said world leaders at the G-7 summit would discuss standing up to Russian "aggression" in Ukraine, the global economy and combating the threats from violent extremism and climate change. The nuclear pact being negotiated with Iran also is expected to be discussed.</p>
<p>"These are all difficult challenges," Obama acknowledged, saying that the example of post-war Germany offers proof that "conflicts can end and great progress is possible."</p>
<p>Until last year, the G-7 included Russia and was thus called the G-8. But the June 2014 summit was held without President Vladimir Putin to protest the country's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. With little sign of the fighting in eastern Ukraine ending despite a ceasefire deal agreed in Minsk more than three months ago, the exclusion has continued for a second year.</p>
<p>German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was "delighted" to welcome and show Obama the "beautiful part" of her country before the "hard work" ahead at the summit.</p>
<p>Obama — who sat with Merkel and her husband in the town square for pretzels, beer and sausage as Bavarian brass music played in the background — did make one request of his host.</p>
<p>"We should have all our summit meetings in this incredible village center and drink beer," the president said to laughter.</p>
<p>German police reported minor protests around the summit, with one small group of protesters briefly blocking a local highway.</p>
| 6,912 |
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<p />
<p>The ACA has enacted a variety of other new taxes, some of which, such as the investment surtax, begin in 2013, and others with effective dates delayed as late as 2018. In the past, individuals could claim an itemized deduction for qualified medical expenses that exceeded 7.5 percent of their AGI. This was a fairly high threshold that meant that only those with unreimbursed medical costs that were significant in relation to their income could get any tax benefit.</p>
<p>Beginning in 2013, no deduction is allowed for most individuals unless medical costs exceed 10 percent of AGI. This has been the threshold for the alternative minimum tax, and it will now also apply for regular tax.</p>
<p>If you are age 65 by the end of 2013, you get a four-year reprieve from the new threshold. Your medical costs will continue to be deductible based on the 7.5 percent of AGI threshold until the 2017 tax year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In theory, this new deduction limit will be mitigated if the individual has expanded health insurance benefits that cover “essential” medical care. There will then be less unreimbursed costs.</p>
<p>New Mexico allows a percentage of unreimbursed costs to be deducted for state purposes without regard to the relationship between the costs incurred and AGI. The state has not changed its rules for medical cost deductions.</p>
<p>Some employees, typically those employed by larger companies, participate in a health- care flexible spending account (FSA). An FSA allows the employee to designate a portion of his or her pay to go to an individual account that can be used to reimburse qualified health-care costs.</p>
<p>By using a FSA, the employee effectively can deduct 100 percent of medical costs reimbursed by the FSA, because contributions to the FSA are made with pre-tax dollars, and the reimbursements are not taxable.</p>
<p>Employers have been able to set limits on amounts that could be contributed to a health-care FSA, and many did so because the employer was required to reimburse the full amount that the employee designated for the year, even if the costs were incurred early in the year when only a fraction of the annual commitment had been contributed.</p>
<p>Beginning in 2013, health-care FSA contributions are limited to $2,500 by law. Also beginning in 2013, employers who offer a retiree prescription-drug plan subsidized by HHS will be forced to reduce any tax deduction for their plan costs by the subsidy received from HHS.</p>
<p>A company that receives 25 percent or more of its revenue from offering essential health insurance will, beginning in 2013, no longer be able to deduct more than $500,000 of compensation paid to designated officers. This limitation can also apply to compensation earned after 2009 that was tax-deferred until 2013. The sale of certain medical devices used by individuals and sold beginning in 2013 will now be subject to a 2.3 percent excise tax. This new tax does not apply to items sold at retail for general use by the public, such as eyeglasses and hearing aids.</p>
<p>Next year, 2014, is the big year for ACA tax changes. Large employers must offer essential health coverage to full-time employees or face a penalty, and individuals with income above a threshold will face a penalty if they do not have some insurance coverage that provides minimum essential coverage.</p>
<p>Various subsidies and tax credits will also spring into existence to make coverage affordable for lower-income individuals. Large employers will have new reporting requirements to demonstrate compliance with the ACA provisions.</p>
<p>Beginning in 2018 a hefty 40 percent excise tax will apply to employer-provided “Cadillac” health-insurance coverage. An employer’s plan is a Cadillac if it requires premiums of more than $10,200 for single coverage or $27,500 for family coverage.</p>
<p>The 2018 effective date allows employers time to scale back the Cadillac coverage. But for those who like fireworks shows, 2014 should be the year for political entertainment.</p>
<p>James R. Hamill is the director of Tax Practice at Reynolds, Hix &amp; Co. in Albuquerque. He can be reached at <a href="" type="external">[email protected].</a></p>
|
Bracing for health care tax fireworks
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/198375/bracing-for-health-care-tax-fireworks.html
|
2013-05-13
| 2least
|
Bracing for health care tax fireworks
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>The ACA has enacted a variety of other new taxes, some of which, such as the investment surtax, begin in 2013, and others with effective dates delayed as late as 2018. In the past, individuals could claim an itemized deduction for qualified medical expenses that exceeded 7.5 percent of their AGI. This was a fairly high threshold that meant that only those with unreimbursed medical costs that were significant in relation to their income could get any tax benefit.</p>
<p>Beginning in 2013, no deduction is allowed for most individuals unless medical costs exceed 10 percent of AGI. This has been the threshold for the alternative minimum tax, and it will now also apply for regular tax.</p>
<p>If you are age 65 by the end of 2013, you get a four-year reprieve from the new threshold. Your medical costs will continue to be deductible based on the 7.5 percent of AGI threshold until the 2017 tax year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>In theory, this new deduction limit will be mitigated if the individual has expanded health insurance benefits that cover “essential” medical care. There will then be less unreimbursed costs.</p>
<p>New Mexico allows a percentage of unreimbursed costs to be deducted for state purposes without regard to the relationship between the costs incurred and AGI. The state has not changed its rules for medical cost deductions.</p>
<p>Some employees, typically those employed by larger companies, participate in a health- care flexible spending account (FSA). An FSA allows the employee to designate a portion of his or her pay to go to an individual account that can be used to reimburse qualified health-care costs.</p>
<p>By using a FSA, the employee effectively can deduct 100 percent of medical costs reimbursed by the FSA, because contributions to the FSA are made with pre-tax dollars, and the reimbursements are not taxable.</p>
<p>Employers have been able to set limits on amounts that could be contributed to a health-care FSA, and many did so because the employer was required to reimburse the full amount that the employee designated for the year, even if the costs were incurred early in the year when only a fraction of the annual commitment had been contributed.</p>
<p>Beginning in 2013, health-care FSA contributions are limited to $2,500 by law. Also beginning in 2013, employers who offer a retiree prescription-drug plan subsidized by HHS will be forced to reduce any tax deduction for their plan costs by the subsidy received from HHS.</p>
<p>A company that receives 25 percent or more of its revenue from offering essential health insurance will, beginning in 2013, no longer be able to deduct more than $500,000 of compensation paid to designated officers. This limitation can also apply to compensation earned after 2009 that was tax-deferred until 2013. The sale of certain medical devices used by individuals and sold beginning in 2013 will now be subject to a 2.3 percent excise tax. This new tax does not apply to items sold at retail for general use by the public, such as eyeglasses and hearing aids.</p>
<p>Next year, 2014, is the big year for ACA tax changes. Large employers must offer essential health coverage to full-time employees or face a penalty, and individuals with income above a threshold will face a penalty if they do not have some insurance coverage that provides minimum essential coverage.</p>
<p>Various subsidies and tax credits will also spring into existence to make coverage affordable for lower-income individuals. Large employers will have new reporting requirements to demonstrate compliance with the ACA provisions.</p>
<p>Beginning in 2018 a hefty 40 percent excise tax will apply to employer-provided “Cadillac” health-insurance coverage. An employer’s plan is a Cadillac if it requires premiums of more than $10,200 for single coverage or $27,500 for family coverage.</p>
<p>The 2018 effective date allows employers time to scale back the Cadillac coverage. But for those who like fireworks shows, 2014 should be the year for political entertainment.</p>
<p>James R. Hamill is the director of Tax Practice at Reynolds, Hix &amp; Co. in Albuquerque. He can be reached at <a href="" type="external">[email protected].</a></p>
| 6,913 |
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<p />
<p>SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A six-run fifth inning, thanks in part to Austin Botello’s grand slam, propelled the New Mexico State baseball team to a 7-3 series opening win against UC Santa Barbara Friday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>How It Happened</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara (7-12) went up early on the Aggies, scoring two behind three-straight hits – including back-to-back doubles. The third run came via a wild pitch from Bradish before he got a fly out to end the inning with the bases loaded.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>NMSU (14-9) got a run back in the top of the fourth after Joey Ortiz rounded the bases. The freshman first singled through the right side and advanced to second on a grounder to the second baseman by Austin Botello. Ortiz then crossed the dish when Dan Hetzel drove him in on a single through the right side.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>After having trouble finding his command in the first inning, Kyle Bradish settled down and retired the next nine of 10 UCSB batters.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Aggies had an opportunity to make some noise in the fifth frame when LJ Hatch led things off with a single. Jason Bush’s single then put runners on the corners for NMSU with just one out. With two outs, Ortiz patiently drew a two-out walk to load the bases which set Austin Botello up for a grand slam off the right-field foul pole to give the Aggies the 5-3 lead.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>After the touch ‘em all from Botello, a single by Hetzel and back-to-back walks loaded the bases once more for NMSU, this time with LJ Hatch at the dish. The Shawnee, Kan., product came through for the Aggies with a two-run single up the middle and extended the NMSU lead to 7-3.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Gauchos threatened in their half of the fifth frame, putting runners on first and second behind a lead-off walk and single. Bradish got the next two batters to punch out and pop out before a walk loaded the bases. However, the Aggie starter was able to work his way out of the jam when he got UCSB’s Tommy Jew to hit into a fielder’s choice for the third out.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>UCSB loaded the bases once again against Bradish, this time with just one out in the bottom of the sixth. But, the sophomore once again showed why he was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American last season and worked his way out of the bases-loaded situation. Bradish first battled the Gauchos’ No. 3 batter with 10 pitches before getting him to strike out on the 11th pitch of the at-bat. The 6-4 righty walked off the mound and met with an emphatic bench when he got the next batter to pop up in foul territory for the final out of the inning.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>NMSU was held at bay from the sixth inning on by UCSB’s reliever, Kevin Chandler, who allowed just one hit in 3.1 innings of work with five punch outs. However, the six spot by Aggies in the fifth inning was more than enough for NMSU as it took the first game of the series against the Gauchos, 7-3.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>New Mexico State and UC Santa Barbara return to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium Saturday, March 25, for game two of the three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. (MT) as Marcel Renteria (3-1, 3.75 ERA) takes the hill for NMSU.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>By The Numbers: Kyle Bradish walked away with his third win of the season after tossing six innings of work while giving up just three runs, two earned, on six hits with four walks and five strikeouts. … the 111 pitches for Bradish is a season-high for the sophomore. … With 10 hits Friday, NMSU has now recorded 10-plus hits 13 times. … Friday’s loss for UC Santa Barbara was its first non-conference loss at home since 2013.</p>
<p><a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/24/23-NM-State-7-UCSB-3.pdf" type="external">Box score: NMSU 7, UCSB 3</a></p>
|
Aggie baseball opens series at Santa Barbara with win
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/975884/aggie-baseball-opens-series-at-santa-barbara-with-win.html
| 2least
|
Aggie baseball opens series at Santa Barbara with win
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – A six-run fifth inning, thanks in part to Austin Botello’s grand slam, propelled the New Mexico State baseball team to a 7-3 series opening win against UC Santa Barbara Friday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>How It Happened</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>UC Santa Barbara (7-12) went up early on the Aggies, scoring two behind three-straight hits – including back-to-back doubles. The third run came via a wild pitch from Bradish before he got a fly out to end the inning with the bases loaded.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>NMSU (14-9) got a run back in the top of the fourth after Joey Ortiz rounded the bases. The freshman first singled through the right side and advanced to second on a grounder to the second baseman by Austin Botello. Ortiz then crossed the dish when Dan Hetzel drove him in on a single through the right side.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>After having trouble finding his command in the first inning, Kyle Bradish settled down and retired the next nine of 10 UCSB batters.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Aggies had an opportunity to make some noise in the fifth frame when LJ Hatch led things off with a single. Jason Bush’s single then put runners on the corners for NMSU with just one out. With two outs, Ortiz patiently drew a two-out walk to load the bases which set Austin Botello up for a grand slam off the right-field foul pole to give the Aggies the 5-3 lead.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>After the touch ‘em all from Botello, a single by Hetzel and back-to-back walks loaded the bases once more for NMSU, this time with LJ Hatch at the dish. The Shawnee, Kan., product came through for the Aggies with a two-run single up the middle and extended the NMSU lead to 7-3.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>The Gauchos threatened in their half of the fifth frame, putting runners on first and second behind a lead-off walk and single. Bradish got the next two batters to punch out and pop out before a walk loaded the bases. However, the Aggie starter was able to work his way out of the jam when he got UCSB’s Tommy Jew to hit into a fielder’s choice for the third out.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>UCSB loaded the bases once again against Bradish, this time with just one out in the bottom of the sixth. But, the sophomore once again showed why he was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American last season and worked his way out of the bases-loaded situation. Bradish first battled the Gauchos’ No. 3 batter with 10 pitches before getting him to strike out on the 11th pitch of the at-bat. The 6-4 righty walked off the mound and met with an emphatic bench when he got the next batter to pop up in foul territory for the final out of the inning.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>NMSU was held at bay from the sixth inning on by UCSB’s reliever, Kevin Chandler, who allowed just one hit in 3.1 innings of work with five punch outs. However, the six spot by Aggies in the fifth inning was more than enough for NMSU as it took the first game of the series against the Gauchos, 7-3.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>New Mexico State and UC Santa Barbara return to Caesar Uyesaka Stadium Saturday, March 25, for game two of the three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. (MT) as Marcel Renteria (3-1, 3.75 ERA) takes the hill for NMSU.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>By The Numbers: Kyle Bradish walked away with his third win of the season after tossing six innings of work while giving up just three runs, two earned, on six hits with four walks and five strikeouts. … the 111 pitches for Bradish is a season-high for the sophomore. … With 10 hits Friday, NMSU has now recorded 10-plus hits 13 times. … Friday’s loss for UC Santa Barbara was its first non-conference loss at home since 2013.</p>
<p><a href="https://d3el53au0d7w62.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/24/23-NM-State-7-UCSB-3.pdf" type="external">Box score: NMSU 7, UCSB 3</a></p>
| 6,914 |
|
<p>Last week the <a href="" type="internal">‪</a>U.S. helped its <a href="" type="internal">‪</a>‎Saudi pals bomb another hospital and school in <a href="" type="internal">‪</a>Yemen, killing 25, including at least 10 children. Don’t imagine that its intentions are any more humanitarian in‪ Burundi just because they’re not selling fighter bomber jets, MK-84 laser guided bombs or GBU-31 satellite-guided bombs to their pal Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president for life. Kagame is intent on bringing down President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government in Burundi, as Saudi sheikhs are intent on bringing down the Houthi government in Yemen.</p>
<p>There are no multibillion dollar weapons sales motivating the U.S. to support a coup in Burundi, but access to the strategic mineral wealth required to manufacture weapons is among the stakes. Burundi has nickel, gold, copper, uranium, tungsten, tin, peat, platinum, limestone, vanadium, tantalum, niobium, kaolin and cobalt. Though its output has not yet been globally significant, its government has contracted with a Russian firm to mine its nickel reserves, and <a href="" type="internal">Bloomberg today quotes a Chinese source predicting a bull market in nickel</a> just beginning. Nickel is used to make stainless steal, and nickel alloys are used in electronics, specialist engineering, space vehicles, submarines and the tubing used in desalination plants for converting sea water into fresh water. I haven’t seen Burundi’s mining contract with the Russian firm, but I’ve been told that the Russians valued the country’s nickel reserves far higher than Western firms and offered a much better deal.</p>
<p>More importantly, Burundi shares a western border with the scandalously mineral rich eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and an eastern border with Tanzania, an East African nation with an Indian Ocean port that is also leaning towards the East in the heightening competition between Eastern and Western axes of power.</p>
<p>If the U.S. and Rwanda succeed in taking down the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza, we won’t see video of hair-raising Pentagon special effects. Instead we’ll hear more preposterous rhetoric about the world’s obligation to “intervene,” ignoring Burundi’s’ sovereignty, to “stop genocide” or “stop the next Rwanda.” This argument has also been used to justify war in Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria and even Iraq, where genetic damage caused by toxic U.S. munitions is the most literal genocide the world has yet seen.</p>
<p>The “stop the next Rwanda” argument is more easily made in Burundi because Rwandans and Burundians are close to being the same people. They share both a border and a Hutu majority, Tutsi minority demographic. Their&#160;languages, Burundi’s Kirundi and Rwanda’s Kinyarwanda, vary only slightly.</p>
<p>This recently shrill warning from the UN and the Voice of America – <a href="http://www.voanews.com/a/un-violence-hatred-against-tutsis-in-burundi-could-presage-genocide/3461988.html" type="external">UN: Violence, Hatred Against Burundi Tutsis Could Presage Genocide</a> – is one more in a steady stream published in the U.S. and European press since President Pierre Nkurunziza’s re-election in July 2015. In a nation in which these two groups, Hutus and Tutsis, have been historically polarized and have massacred one another in competitions for power, this is akin to shouting fire in a crowded theatre. If there is an outbreak of violence between Hutus and Tutsis in Burundi, the U.S. will bear huge responsibility as <a href="http://www.blackagendareport.com/rwanda_enduring_lies" type="external">it did for the Rwandan war of 1990 to 1994</a>, which ended in horrific massacres of both groups as U.S. ally Paul Kagame seized power.</p>
<p>Here’s some context that you won’t find in the Western propaganda about Burundi during the past year:</p>
<p>1) &#160;Some, most notably Rwandan scholar <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/rwanda-the-clinton-dynasty-and-the-case-of-dr-leopold-munyakazi/5538635" type="external">Léopold Munyakazi</a>, have argued that Hutus and Tutsis are best understood as social classes, not ethnic groups, and&#160;the Rwandan war of the 1990s as a class war, not a genocide.&#160;Hutus and Tutsis share the same language and culture, eat the same food, and marry each other, and the vast majority are Christian. The Tutsis were a pre-colonial ruling class, the Hutus their peasant subjects, until the Hutus rose up in 1959, in what is sometime called the Rwandan Revolution, sometimes the Hutu Revolution. By 1961 Rwanda had transitioned from a Belgian colony led by a Tutsi monarchy to an independent nation led by elected Hutu politicians and intellectuals.</p>
<p>2) In 1990, U.S.-backed Tutsi general Paul Kagame led a refugee army that invaded Rwanda from Uganda to seize power, re-establish a de facto Tutsi dictatorship, and establish the U.S. as the dominant power in Rwanda, displacing France.&#160;The U.S., Europe and Israel have long found it convenient to favor the Tutsis and depict them as the endangered minority without acknowledging that Hutus suffered for centuries under the Tutsi ruling class or that Hutus as well as Tutsis were massacred by extremists in what came to be known as the Rwandan Genocide. In Rwanda and Burundi, the U.S. and its allies have deemed the Tutsis to be “worthy victims,” the Hutus “unworthy victims,” <a href="" type="internal">in the parlance of Professor Edward S. Herman</a>, co-author with David Peterson of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Genocide-Edward-S-Herman/dp/1583672125" type="external">The Politics of Genocide</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Enduring Lies: Rwanda in the Propaganda System 20 Years On</a>.</p>
<p>3) On October 21, 1993, violence and massacres broke out in Burundi after elites in the Tutsi army assassinated the first Hutu president, political intellectual Melchior Ndadaye.&#160;Hundreds of thousands of Burundians, mostly Hutus, were slain, largely because the Tutsi elite still controlled the army. A civil war began and didn’t end until 2005.&#160;President Pierre Nkurunziza is a Hutu, but Hutus and Tutsis have been integrated in both the government and the army, with the Tutsis enjoying larger percentages because they are perceived, as the minority, to be in greater need of representation.</p>
<p>4) On April 6, 1994, the 100 days of violence known as the “Rwandan Genocide” or, in Rwanda, “genocide against the Tutsi,” began immediately after the assassination of two more Hutu presidents, Rwanda’s Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi’s Cyprien Ntaryamira. Their plane was shot out of the sky over Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, as they returned from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, but this assassination of two African presidents was never investigated by the highly politicized International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, which prosecuted only Hutus.&#160;Susan Thomson, a scholar of Rwandan history and politics and persona non grata in Rwanda, has described what followed in a video interview for a documentary film in progress: “There were pogroms, there were massacres on both sides, disinformation on all sides. At the elite level, as you go down the food chain, people are scared. Regardless of ethnicity, regardless of region, religion, whatever cleavage you want to choose, Rwandans were caught up in the violence. So it’s absurd to say that only Tutsis are victims.”</p>
<p>Now, to repeat two points about the assassination of three presidents: On October 3, 1993, massacres and then civil war broke out in Burundi after the assassination of the country’s first Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye.&#160;On April 6, 1994, Rwanda’s famous hundred days of massacres broke out after the assassination of two more Hutu presidents, Rwanda’s Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi’s Cyprien Ntaryamira. Therefore, if the U.S. were really trying to prevent genocide in Burundi, wouldn’t they be trying to prevent the assassination of another Hutu president, Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza?&#160; Rwandans and Burundians who understand this history know that Nkurunziza’s assassination would be a catastrophe and know that U.S.-backed&#160;insurgents would like to assassinate him, whether the U.S. approved such a plan or not. The months since Nkurunziza’s re-election in July 2015 have been punctuated by the assassination of upper-level army commanders and government officials close to him.</p>
<p>In the third week of <a href="http://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1411951/burundi-insurgents-target-presidential-palace" type="external">November 2015, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported</a> that “Burundian insurgents” had fired mortar rounds at the presidential palace in Burundi’s capital city, Bujumbura.&#160;Near the same time, I spoke to former UN official Jeff Drumtra about his documentation of <a href="" type="internal">Rwanda’s recruitment of Burundian refugees to form a new rebel army to destabilize Burundi</a>.&#160;I also asked him about the mortar rounds fired at the presidential palace, to which he responded, “I can say, having worked on issues of Rwanda and Burundi on and off for more than 20 years, that we know, historically, that the violence gets worse and the risk of mass atrocities becomes much more serious when both sides feel that they have been victimized. And so, a mortar attack on the presidential palace . . . if it were to hit its mark and actually create a large number of deaths, or even the death of a president . . . would certainly create a situation where the ruling party and everyone who voted for the ruling party in Burundi would feel victimized at a whole new level. And if something like that were to happen, that’s when, historically, violence in Burundi becomes much worse, and that’s what everybody fears here.”</p>
<p>I then contacted the U.S. State Department and asked whether they were not alarmed by AFP’s report of mortar fire aimed at the presidential palace, considering that the massacres of the 1990s&#160;in both Rwanda and Burundi had broken out after the assassination of Hutu presidents.</p>
<p>State took the question quite casually and responded that they had submitted a query on my behalf to their Ambassador in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, and they’d get back to me when he responded.&#160;They never did, and that should be the end of any fantasies that the U.S. is trying to stop genocide in Burundi.</p>
<p>The State Department is usually helpful when a question doesn’t threaten their dominant narrative. In Rwanda and Burundi, that dominant narrative has long been that Tutsis are the victims or potential victims to be protected from the Hutus. Hutus are the perpetrators to be tried at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, imprisoned, hunted down in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and demonized as subhuman killers driven by innate bloodlust and singular determination to kill Tutsis. That narrative is repeated endlessly by Western media, as in this 02.19.2002 Guardian report, “ <a href="" type="internal">Pastor who led Tutsis to slaughter is jailed</a>.” Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark represented the pastor, Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda and called his conviction “ <a href="" type="internal">a travesty of justice</a>.”</p>
<p>Like the Houthis in Yemen, the Hutus have been deemed unworthy victims by the U.S. State Department, though&#160;for centuries they were the oppressed class in what is now Rwanda and Burundi, and though hundreds of thousands of them, perhaps as many as a million, have been massacred in the horrific violence of the last 50 years in Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.</p>
<p>Like most Burundians and Rwandans that I know – Hutus and Tutsis – I would love to see this virulent bigotry land in the dustbin of history along with the “Hutu” and “Tutsi” distinctions that have alienated people in this part of the world from one another, but that will not happen so long as the West gives singular victim status to the Tutsis and demonizes the Hutus in its humanitarian interventionist ideology.</p>
|
Unworthy Victims: Houthis and Hutus
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2016/08/26/unworthy-victims-houthis-and-hutus/
|
2016-08-26
| 4left
|
Unworthy Victims: Houthis and Hutus
<p>Last week the <a href="" type="internal">‪</a>U.S. helped its <a href="" type="internal">‪</a>‎Saudi pals bomb another hospital and school in <a href="" type="internal">‪</a>Yemen, killing 25, including at least 10 children. Don’t imagine that its intentions are any more humanitarian in‪ Burundi just because they’re not selling fighter bomber jets, MK-84 laser guided bombs or GBU-31 satellite-guided bombs to their pal Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president for life. Kagame is intent on bringing down President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government in Burundi, as Saudi sheikhs are intent on bringing down the Houthi government in Yemen.</p>
<p>There are no multibillion dollar weapons sales motivating the U.S. to support a coup in Burundi, but access to the strategic mineral wealth required to manufacture weapons is among the stakes. Burundi has nickel, gold, copper, uranium, tungsten, tin, peat, platinum, limestone, vanadium, tantalum, niobium, kaolin and cobalt. Though its output has not yet been globally significant, its government has contracted with a Russian firm to mine its nickel reserves, and <a href="" type="internal">Bloomberg today quotes a Chinese source predicting a bull market in nickel</a> just beginning. Nickel is used to make stainless steal, and nickel alloys are used in electronics, specialist engineering, space vehicles, submarines and the tubing used in desalination plants for converting sea water into fresh water. I haven’t seen Burundi’s mining contract with the Russian firm, but I’ve been told that the Russians valued the country’s nickel reserves far higher than Western firms and offered a much better deal.</p>
<p>More importantly, Burundi shares a western border with the scandalously mineral rich eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and an eastern border with Tanzania, an East African nation with an Indian Ocean port that is also leaning towards the East in the heightening competition between Eastern and Western axes of power.</p>
<p>If the U.S. and Rwanda succeed in taking down the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza, we won’t see video of hair-raising Pentagon special effects. Instead we’ll hear more preposterous rhetoric about the world’s obligation to “intervene,” ignoring Burundi’s’ sovereignty, to “stop genocide” or “stop the next Rwanda.” This argument has also been used to justify war in Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria and even Iraq, where genetic damage caused by toxic U.S. munitions is the most literal genocide the world has yet seen.</p>
<p>The “stop the next Rwanda” argument is more easily made in Burundi because Rwandans and Burundians are close to being the same people. They share both a border and a Hutu majority, Tutsi minority demographic. Their&#160;languages, Burundi’s Kirundi and Rwanda’s Kinyarwanda, vary only slightly.</p>
<p>This recently shrill warning from the UN and the Voice of America – <a href="http://www.voanews.com/a/un-violence-hatred-against-tutsis-in-burundi-could-presage-genocide/3461988.html" type="external">UN: Violence, Hatred Against Burundi Tutsis Could Presage Genocide</a> – is one more in a steady stream published in the U.S. and European press since President Pierre Nkurunziza’s re-election in July 2015. In a nation in which these two groups, Hutus and Tutsis, have been historically polarized and have massacred one another in competitions for power, this is akin to shouting fire in a crowded theatre. If there is an outbreak of violence between Hutus and Tutsis in Burundi, the U.S. will bear huge responsibility as <a href="http://www.blackagendareport.com/rwanda_enduring_lies" type="external">it did for the Rwandan war of 1990 to 1994</a>, which ended in horrific massacres of both groups as U.S. ally Paul Kagame seized power.</p>
<p>Here’s some context that you won’t find in the Western propaganda about Burundi during the past year:</p>
<p>1) &#160;Some, most notably Rwandan scholar <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/rwanda-the-clinton-dynasty-and-the-case-of-dr-leopold-munyakazi/5538635" type="external">Léopold Munyakazi</a>, have argued that Hutus and Tutsis are best understood as social classes, not ethnic groups, and&#160;the Rwandan war of the 1990s as a class war, not a genocide.&#160;Hutus and Tutsis share the same language and culture, eat the same food, and marry each other, and the vast majority are Christian. The Tutsis were a pre-colonial ruling class, the Hutus their peasant subjects, until the Hutus rose up in 1959, in what is sometime called the Rwandan Revolution, sometimes the Hutu Revolution. By 1961 Rwanda had transitioned from a Belgian colony led by a Tutsi monarchy to an independent nation led by elected Hutu politicians and intellectuals.</p>
<p>2) In 1990, U.S.-backed Tutsi general Paul Kagame led a refugee army that invaded Rwanda from Uganda to seize power, re-establish a de facto Tutsi dictatorship, and establish the U.S. as the dominant power in Rwanda, displacing France.&#160;The U.S., Europe and Israel have long found it convenient to favor the Tutsis and depict them as the endangered minority without acknowledging that Hutus suffered for centuries under the Tutsi ruling class or that Hutus as well as Tutsis were massacred by extremists in what came to be known as the Rwandan Genocide. In Rwanda and Burundi, the U.S. and its allies have deemed the Tutsis to be “worthy victims,” the Hutus “unworthy victims,” <a href="" type="internal">in the parlance of Professor Edward S. Herman</a>, co-author with David Peterson of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Genocide-Edward-S-Herman/dp/1583672125" type="external">The Politics of Genocide</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Enduring Lies: Rwanda in the Propaganda System 20 Years On</a>.</p>
<p>3) On October 21, 1993, violence and massacres broke out in Burundi after elites in the Tutsi army assassinated the first Hutu president, political intellectual Melchior Ndadaye.&#160;Hundreds of thousands of Burundians, mostly Hutus, were slain, largely because the Tutsi elite still controlled the army. A civil war began and didn’t end until 2005.&#160;President Pierre Nkurunziza is a Hutu, but Hutus and Tutsis have been integrated in both the government and the army, with the Tutsis enjoying larger percentages because they are perceived, as the minority, to be in greater need of representation.</p>
<p>4) On April 6, 1994, the 100 days of violence known as the “Rwandan Genocide” or, in Rwanda, “genocide against the Tutsi,” began immediately after the assassination of two more Hutu presidents, Rwanda’s Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi’s Cyprien Ntaryamira. Their plane was shot out of the sky over Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, as they returned from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, but this assassination of two African presidents was never investigated by the highly politicized International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, which prosecuted only Hutus.&#160;Susan Thomson, a scholar of Rwandan history and politics and persona non grata in Rwanda, has described what followed in a video interview for a documentary film in progress: “There were pogroms, there were massacres on both sides, disinformation on all sides. At the elite level, as you go down the food chain, people are scared. Regardless of ethnicity, regardless of region, religion, whatever cleavage you want to choose, Rwandans were caught up in the violence. So it’s absurd to say that only Tutsis are victims.”</p>
<p>Now, to repeat two points about the assassination of three presidents: On October 3, 1993, massacres and then civil war broke out in Burundi after the assassination of the country’s first Hutu president, Melchior Ndadaye.&#160;On April 6, 1994, Rwanda’s famous hundred days of massacres broke out after the assassination of two more Hutu presidents, Rwanda’s Juvenal Habyarimana and Burundi’s Cyprien Ntaryamira. Therefore, if the U.S. were really trying to prevent genocide in Burundi, wouldn’t they be trying to prevent the assassination of another Hutu president, Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza?&#160; Rwandans and Burundians who understand this history know that Nkurunziza’s assassination would be a catastrophe and know that U.S.-backed&#160;insurgents would like to assassinate him, whether the U.S. approved such a plan or not. The months since Nkurunziza’s re-election in July 2015 have been punctuated by the assassination of upper-level army commanders and government officials close to him.</p>
<p>In the third week of <a href="http://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/news/1411951/burundi-insurgents-target-presidential-palace" type="external">November 2015, Agence France Presse (AFP) reported</a> that “Burundian insurgents” had fired mortar rounds at the presidential palace in Burundi’s capital city, Bujumbura.&#160;Near the same time, I spoke to former UN official Jeff Drumtra about his documentation of <a href="" type="internal">Rwanda’s recruitment of Burundian refugees to form a new rebel army to destabilize Burundi</a>.&#160;I also asked him about the mortar rounds fired at the presidential palace, to which he responded, “I can say, having worked on issues of Rwanda and Burundi on and off for more than 20 years, that we know, historically, that the violence gets worse and the risk of mass atrocities becomes much more serious when both sides feel that they have been victimized. And so, a mortar attack on the presidential palace . . . if it were to hit its mark and actually create a large number of deaths, or even the death of a president . . . would certainly create a situation where the ruling party and everyone who voted for the ruling party in Burundi would feel victimized at a whole new level. And if something like that were to happen, that’s when, historically, violence in Burundi becomes much worse, and that’s what everybody fears here.”</p>
<p>I then contacted the U.S. State Department and asked whether they were not alarmed by AFP’s report of mortar fire aimed at the presidential palace, considering that the massacres of the 1990s&#160;in both Rwanda and Burundi had broken out after the assassination of Hutu presidents.</p>
<p>State took the question quite casually and responded that they had submitted a query on my behalf to their Ambassador in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura, and they’d get back to me when he responded.&#160;They never did, and that should be the end of any fantasies that the U.S. is trying to stop genocide in Burundi.</p>
<p>The State Department is usually helpful when a question doesn’t threaten their dominant narrative. In Rwanda and Burundi, that dominant narrative has long been that Tutsis are the victims or potential victims to be protected from the Hutus. Hutus are the perpetrators to be tried at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda, imprisoned, hunted down in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and demonized as subhuman killers driven by innate bloodlust and singular determination to kill Tutsis. That narrative is repeated endlessly by Western media, as in this 02.19.2002 Guardian report, “ <a href="" type="internal">Pastor who led Tutsis to slaughter is jailed</a>.” Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark represented the pastor, Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, at the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda and called his conviction “ <a href="" type="internal">a travesty of justice</a>.”</p>
<p>Like the Houthis in Yemen, the Hutus have been deemed unworthy victims by the U.S. State Department, though&#160;for centuries they were the oppressed class in what is now Rwanda and Burundi, and though hundreds of thousands of them, perhaps as many as a million, have been massacred in the horrific violence of the last 50 years in Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.</p>
<p>Like most Burundians and Rwandans that I know – Hutus and Tutsis – I would love to see this virulent bigotry land in the dustbin of history along with the “Hutu” and “Tutsi” distinctions that have alienated people in this part of the world from one another, but that will not happen so long as the West gives singular victim status to the Tutsis and demonizes the Hutus in its humanitarian interventionist ideology.</p>
| 6,915 |
<p>Today is Day 1,190 of the Syrian conflict.</p>
<p>Rule No. 1 for setting up a refugee camp is that it be in a safe place.</p>
<p>Well, those at a camp established in Shajra, southern Syria, five months ago were horrified to find themselves the target of government attacks before dawn on Thursday.</p>
<p>Syrian army helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the camp&#160;near the Jordanian border, killing at least 20 people, mostly women and children.&#160;</p>
<p>"Women were wailing hysterically as they saw their dead children lying on the floor," Abu Mohammad al-Hourani, a farmer in the village, told <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/18/us-syria-refugees-idUSKBN0ET17A20140618" type="external">Reuters</a>. At least eighty people were injured, many seriously, aid workers said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the ISIL militant push next door is prompting the White House to use the word "Iraq" in the same sentence as the word "Syria" more frequently. Higher ups are talking about how the border between the two troubled countries is "melting away," and Western powers are starting to see the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-beginning-to-consider-conflicts-in-syria-and-iraq-as-single-challenge/2014/06/19/b14bd8b4-f7ac-11e3-a606-946fd632f9f1_story.html" type="external">two conflicts as a single challenge</a>.</p>
<p>The conflict(s) continue.</p>
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Day 1,190: Syrian army drops barrel bombs on women and children
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2014-06-19/day-1190-syrian-army-drops-barrel-bombs-women-and-children
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2014-06-19
| 3left-center
|
Day 1,190: Syrian army drops barrel bombs on women and children
<p>Today is Day 1,190 of the Syrian conflict.</p>
<p>Rule No. 1 for setting up a refugee camp is that it be in a safe place.</p>
<p>Well, those at a camp established in Shajra, southern Syria, five months ago were horrified to find themselves the target of government attacks before dawn on Thursday.</p>
<p>Syrian army helicopters dropped barrel bombs on the camp&#160;near the Jordanian border, killing at least 20 people, mostly women and children.&#160;</p>
<p>"Women were wailing hysterically as they saw their dead children lying on the floor," Abu Mohammad al-Hourani, a farmer in the village, told <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/18/us-syria-refugees-idUSKBN0ET17A20140618" type="external">Reuters</a>. At least eighty people were injured, many seriously, aid workers said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the ISIL militant push next door is prompting the White House to use the word "Iraq" in the same sentence as the word "Syria" more frequently. Higher ups are talking about how the border between the two troubled countries is "melting away," and Western powers are starting to see the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-beginning-to-consider-conflicts-in-syria-and-iraq-as-single-challenge/2014/06/19/b14bd8b4-f7ac-11e3-a606-946fd632f9f1_story.html" type="external">two conflicts as a single challenge</a>.</p>
<p>The conflict(s) continue.</p>
| 6,916 |
<p>Miles Bridges had 22 points, Nick Ward supplied 18 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 9 Michigan State crushed Indiana 85-57 on Friday night.</p>
<p>Matt McQuaid tossed in 11 points, Jaren Jackson Jr. added 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks, and Cassius Winston chipped in 10 points and eight assists for Michigan State (17-3 overall, 5-2 Big Ten).</p>
<p>Robert Johnson topped Indiana with 21 points and seven rebounds. Josh Newkirk added 14 points but shot 5-for-17 from the field for the Hoosiers (11-8, 4-3), who saw their three-game win streak snapped.</p>
<p>Michigan State shot 54 percent from the field and held Indiana to 34 percent shooting. The Spartans overwhelmed the Hoosiers on the boards, holding a 45-27 advantage in that category. Michigan State had a 17-6 advantage in second-chance points. The Spartans also outscored the Hoosiers 38-18 in the paint.</p>
<p>Michigan State had lost two of its last three games, including an 82-72 home loss to rival Michigan, but came out strong and led the Hoosiers for over 37 minutes.</p>
<p>The Spartans have won six of the last seven meetings. The 28-point difference was the largest margin of victory against the Hoosiers since March 2008, when the Spartans won in East Lansing 103-74.</p>
<p>Bridges scored 13 first-half points as the Spartans raced to a 42-23 halftime lead. Michigan State outscored Indiana 12-0 in points off turnovers and 18-4 in the paint.</p>
<p>Michigan State took command with 18 unanswered points in the first half. McQuaid and Winston scored five points apiece during that outburst while Bridges and Jackson contributed threes. The Hoosiers missed five field goal attempts and two free throws and also committed two turnovers during that span.</p>
<p>A Bridges 3-pointer pushed the Spartans’ lead to 20 at 37-17 with 6:14 remaining in the half. It was still a 19-point spread at the half even though Michigan State didn’t have a field goal in the final 5:31.</p>
<p>The Spartans led by double digits throughout the second half.</p>
<p>The teams play again at Bloomington, Ind. on Feb. 3.</p>
<p>—Field Level Media</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Iranian-born woman who blogged about surviving in a world filled with “injustice and diseases” opened fire at YouTube’s California headquarters because she was angry at a site she believed was suppressing her videos, police said on Wednesday.</p>
<p>In Persian and English-language online postings, Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, had railed against the video-sharing site owned by Alphabet Inc’s Google before wounding three people and killing herself on Tuesday at its offices in San Bruno, just south of San Francisco.</p>
<p>In an English-language video posted to her YouTube account before the channel was deleted on Tuesday, Aghdam said, “I am being discriminated. I am being filtered on YouTube.”</p>
<p>“We know that she was upset with YouTube ... that’s the motivation,” San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters. “Whether that rises to the level of terrorism hopefully will be determined in the next couple of weeks.”</p>
<p>The shooting on the corporate campus in California’s Silicon Valley came days after Aghdam had a dispute with her family that caused her to leave her San Diego home. On Monday, they reported her missing, police said.</p>
<p>Early the next day, Mountain View police found Aghdam sleeping in her car a few miles from Alphabet’s headquarters. She was “calm and cooperative” with the officers she spoke with, made no mention of YouTube and gave no indication she would harm anyone, Mountain View police said.</p>
<p>The San Jose Mercury News quoted Aghdam’s father, Ismail Aghdam, as saying he told police that his daughter might go to YouTube’s headquarters because she hated the company but Mountain view police disputed that account.</p>
<p>Police said officers had twice spoken with the family after finding her. In an initial call, Aghdam’s father said nothing about his daughter posing a threat but then called back to say she had posted vegan videos to YouTube and was angry about something that had been done to them, police said.</p>
<p>“At no point did her father or brother mention anything about potential acts of violence,” the statement said.</p>
<p>Efforts to reach Aghdam’s relatives by phone were unsuccessful.</p>
<p>However, Los Angeles television station KTLA and other media reported on Wednesday that Aghdam’s family in a statement expressed sorrow over the shooting and support for the victims.</p>
<p>“Our family is in absolute shock and can’t make sense of what has happened yesterday,” the family said, according to KTLA.</p>
<p>Aghdam entered the YouTube parking garage and walked to an open-air plaza, where she opened fire. But she was not able to walk into the building itself, YouTube said in a statement on Wednesday.</p> Nasim Najafi Aghdam appears in a handout photo provided by the San Bruno Police Department, April 4, 2018. San Bruno Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
<p>YouTube is “revisiting this incident in detail” and will increase security at its offices worldwide, the company said.</p>
<p>Aghdam did not appear to have targeted particular victims when she opened fire with a legally purchased Smith &amp; Wesson 9mm semiautomatic handgun, the San Bruno police chief said.</p>
<p>Aghdam had visited an area gun range that morning, police said.</p>
<p>In some online posts before the attack, Aghdam spoke about herself in heroic terms for surviving in a hostile world.</p>
<p>“I think I am doing a great job,” she wrote in Persian on her Instagram account. “I have never fallen in love and have never got married. I have no physical and psychological diseases. But I live on a planet that is full of injustice and diseases.”</p> Slideshow (2 Images)
<p>In videos posted on her YouTube channels, which were taken down on Tuesday, Aghdam alternately bemoaned animal cruelty, promoted what appeared to be handmade jewelry and demonstrated exercise techniques. She offered few specifics about what she believed had been suppressed, other than to complain that her workout videos had been flagged as adults-only content.</p>
<p>YouTube has long faced complaints about alleged censorship on its site, and says it attempts to balance its mission of fostering free speech while providing an appropriate and lawful environment for users.</p>
<p>One of her three victims, a man in his 30s, remained in San Francisco General Hospital in serious condition on Wednesday, the hospital said. Two others were released Tuesday night, it said.</p>
<p>Reporting by Paresh Dave and Heather Somerville; additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in ANKARA, Gina Cherelus in NEW YORK, Ben Klayman in ANN ARBOR, Michigan, and Alex Dobuzinskis in LOS ANGELES,; Writing by Rich McKay and Scott Malone; Editing by Bill Trott, James Dalgleish and Lisa Shumaker</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - An affluent Chicago suburb has banned the possession, sale and manufacture of “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines” in response to the massacre at a Florida high school and other recent mass shootings in the United States.</p> FILE PHOTO - AR-15 rifles are displayed for sale at the Guntoberfest gun show in Oaks, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 6, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
<p>Residents of Democratic-leaning Deerfield, located about 25 miles north of Chicago, have until June 13 to remove any firearms and magazines that fall outside the new restrictions or face a fine of between $250 and $1,000 per day, according to the ordinance passed by the town board on Monday night.</p>
<p>The ban quickly drew a legal challenge from gun-rights group Guns Save Life, with support from the National Rifle Association, on grounds it violated Americans’ Constitutional rights to own firearms.</p>
<p>The Deerfield ordinance said the ban was a direct response to the Feb. 14 killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and the student-led campaign for tighter restrictions on guns inspired by the mass shooting.</p>
<p>“We hope that our local decision helps spur state and national leaders to take steps to make our communities safer,” Deerfield Mayor Harriet Rosenthal said in a statement.</p>
<p>The ban follows a similar 2013 measure enacted by the nearby suburb of Highland Park, located on Chicago’s North Shore, which withstood a challenge that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.</p>
<p>Opponents were quick to take issue with the ban.</p>
<p>“Every law-abiding villager of Deerfield has the right to protect themselves, their homes, and their loved ones with the firearm that best suits their needs,” Chris Cox, head of the NRA’s lobbying arm, said in a statement.</p>
<p>Opponents of the ban said they fear Deerfield will try to outlaw other firearms.</p>
<p>“First it’s going to be assault rifles. There will be new bans in the future. It’s just a matter of time,” Deerfield resident Larry Nordal told the Chicago Tribune. Nordal did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p>
<p>The ban defines assault weapons as a range of firearms such as semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15, a gun similar to the one used in the Florida massacre. High-capacity magazines are defined as those holding more than 10 rounds.</p>
<p>Deerfield High School senior Ariella Kharasch, who supported the legislation, wants more action on local and national levels.</p>
<p>“This is our generation’s fight. We’re going to keep fighting and this is part of it,” Kharasch told the Chicago Tribune. “Change happens gradually step by step.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Andrew Hay; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">FB.O</a>) said on Wednesday that the personal information of up to 87 million users, mostly in the United States, may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, up from a previous news media estimate of more than 50 million.</p>
<p>Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a conference call with reporters that Facebook had not seen “any meaningful impact” on usage or ad sales since the scandal, although he added, “it’s not good” if people are unhappy with the company.</p>
<p>Shares rose more than 3 percent after the bell.</p>
<p>Zuckerberg told reporters that he accepted blame for the data leak, which has angered users, advertisers and lawmakers, while also saying he was still the right person to head the company he founded.</p>
<p>“When you’re building something like Facebook that is unprecedented in the world, there are going to be things that you mess up,” Zuckerberg said, adding that the important thing was to learn from mistakes.</p>
<p>He said he was not aware of any discussions on the Facebook board about him stepping down, although directors would face a challenge if they wanted to oust him because Zuckerberg is the controlling shareholder.</p>
<p>He said he had not fired anyone over the scandal and did not plan to. “I’m not looking to throw anyone else under the bus for mistakes that we made here,” he said.</p>
<p>Facebook first acknowledged last month that personal information about millions of users wrongly ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica.</p>
<p>Zuckerberg will testify about the matter next week before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.</p>
<p>London-based Cambridge Analytica, which has counted U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign among its clients, disputed Facebook’s estimate of affected users. It said in a tweet on Wednesday that it received no more than 30 million records from a researcher it hired to collect data about people on Facebook.</p>
<p>Zuckerberg, on the call with reporters, said Facebook should have done more to audit and oversee third-party app developers like the one that Cambridge Analytica hired in 2014.</p>
<p>“Knowing what I know today, clearly we should have done more,” he said.</p>
<p>Going forward, he said, Facebook was taking steps to restrict which personal data is available to third-party app developers, and he said it might take two more years to fix Facebook's problems. ( <a href="https://bit.ly/2Ejpktb" type="external">bit.ly/2Ejpktb</a>)</p> FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File photo
<p>“We’re broadening our view of our responsibility,” Zuckerberg said.</p>
<p>Most of the up to 87 million people whose data was shared with Cambridge Analytica were in the United States, Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer wrote in a blog post. (Graphic: <a href="https://bit.ly/2q5r5pl" type="external">bit.ly/2q5r5pl</a>)</p>
<p>Shares in Facebook closed down 0.6 percent on Wednesday to $155.10. They have tumbled more than 16 percent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke.</p>
<p>The previous estimate of more than 50 million Facebook users affected by the data leak came from two newspapers, the New York Times and London’s Observer, based on their investigations of Cambridge Analytica.</p>
<p>Zuckerberg said Facebook came to the higher estimate by looking at the number of people who had downloaded a personality quiz app created by Cambridge University academic Aleksandr Kogan, or about 270,000 people, and then adding in the number of friends they had.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">Facebook Inc</a> 155.1 FB.O Nasdaq -1.01 (-0.65%) FB.O
<p>Cambridge Analytica has said that it engaged Kogan “in good faith” to collect Facebook data in a manner similar to how other third-party app developers have harvested personal information.</p>
<p>The scandal has kicked off investigations by Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and by some 37 U.S. state attorneys general.</p>
<p>Nigeria’s government will investigate allegations of improper involvement by Cambridge Analytica in that country’s 2007 and 2015 elections, a presidency spokesman said on Monday.</p>
<p>Reporting by David Ingram in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru and Eric Auchard in London; Editing by Lisa Shumaker</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s Supreme Court was on the verge of rejecting on Wednesday former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s plea to remain out of prison while he appeals a corruption conviction, a case that has sharply divided the country, cast a shadow over this year’s presidential election and stirred rumblings in the army.</p> Supporters of former Brazil president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva react during justice Rosa Weber's session of the Supreme Court to issue a final decision about Lula's habeas corpus plea, in Brasilia, Brazil April 4, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
<p>The leftist leader is still Brazil’s most popular politician, despite his conviction and six separate pending corruption trials. He is the front-runner in all polling for the presidential election in October, though his conviction will likely bar him from running.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court is split on Lula’s request to be allowed to exhaust his appeals before beginning to serve a 12-year prison sentence for taking bribes.</p>
<p>A pivotal vote was cast late Wednesday by justice Rosa Weber, who voted against Lula’s request to avoid jail. Weber was seen as a swing vote, and her decision likely means a majority will vote that the leader can be sent to prison.</p>
<p>However, six justices still must weigh in, and the final result could be delayed until Thursday, or put off indefinitely if any remaining justice requests more time to make a decision.</p>
<p>Lower court judges, the country’s top prosecutor and business groups have urged the court to abide by its own 2016 ruling that defendants can be jailed if a conviction is upheld on a first appeal, as Lula’s was earlier this year.</p>
<p>Before that ruling, appeals in Brazil’s complex and badly backlogged legal system could stretched out for several years, guaranteeing impunity for those rich enough to afford lawyers who could launch countless technical appeals.</p> MILITARY WEIGHS IN
<p>Brazilian society remains deeply divided one and a half years after President Dilma Rousseff was impeached and removed from office amid a corruption scandal and economic crisis.</p>
<p>Tensions increased on Tuesday when the commander of Brazil’s army weighed in with tweets calling on the court to stand guard against impunity. That rattled nerves across Brazil, which endured a 1964-85 military dictatorships and has a long history of coups interrupting democratic regimes.</p> Slideshow (15 Images)
<p>General Eduardo Villas Boas wrote that the army along with “all good citizens, repudiates impunity and respects the Constitution, social peace and democracy.”</p>
<p>Villas Boas wrote that the army would stick to its constitutional role. But retired officers have warned that the military would not take lightly to the Supreme Court, which has rejected nearly all similar appeals in the past two years, ruling that Lula could remain free on appeal.</p>
<p>Army reserve general Luiz Lessa told the Estado de S.Paulo newspaper on Tuesday the military would have to intervene if Lula was allowed to become a candidate in the election. The army said that was his personal opinion.</p>
<p>A decision in favor of Lula would be a boost for the efforts of Brazil’s first working-class president to save his political career from the corruption scandals that have rocked the political establishment and especially his Workers Party, which held the presidency from 2003 until mid-2016.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=PETR4.SA" type="external">Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras</a> 20.38 PETR4.SA Sao Paulo Stock Exchange -0.33 (-1.59%) PETR4.SA
<p>But it would not free Lula to run for president in October. Under Brazil’s election laws, a conviction upheld on appeal bars a candidate from seeking elected office for eight years. Some exemptions have been made in the past, and the ultimate decision in Lula’s case would be made by the nation’s top electoral court if and when Lula official files to be a candidate.</p>
<p>Lula oversaw years of robust growth and falling inequality during a commodity boom and has said he wants to run again for the presidency in October.</p>
<p>His supporters see the conviction as a ploy to stop him returning to power. The Workers Party said the Army commander’s comments widely reported by Brazilian media had brought undue pressure to bear on the Supreme Court to rule against him.</p>
<p>Lula was found guilty in August and sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes worth 3.7 million reais ($1 million) from engineering firm OAS, the amount of money prosecutors said OAS spent refurbishing a beach apartment for Lula in return for his help winning contracts with state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=PETR4.SA" type="external">PETR4.SA</a>).</p>
<p>In January, an appeals court unanimously upheld his conviction and increased the prison sentence to 12 years.</p>
<p>Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Additional reporting by Brad Brooks in Sao Paulo; Editing by Alistair Bell and Rosalba O'Brien</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
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No. 9 Michigan State romps vs. Indiana Video blogger who opened fire at YouTube was angry with company, police say Chicago suburb bans 'assault weapons' after Florida massacre Facebook says data leak hits 87 million users, widening privacy scandal Brazil's Supreme Court close to rejecting Lula's plea to avoid jail
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https://reuters.com/article/basketball-ncaa-msu-ind-recap/no-9-michigan-state-romps-vs-indiana-idUSMTZEE1KU10MFJ
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2018-01-20
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No. 9 Michigan State romps vs. Indiana Video blogger who opened fire at YouTube was angry with company, police say Chicago suburb bans 'assault weapons' after Florida massacre Facebook says data leak hits 87 million users, widening privacy scandal Brazil's Supreme Court close to rejecting Lula's plea to avoid jail
<p>Miles Bridges had 22 points, Nick Ward supplied 18 points and 13 rebounds, and No. 9 Michigan State crushed Indiana 85-57 on Friday night.</p>
<p>Matt McQuaid tossed in 11 points, Jaren Jackson Jr. added 10 points, six rebounds, three assists and three blocks, and Cassius Winston chipped in 10 points and eight assists for Michigan State (17-3 overall, 5-2 Big Ten).</p>
<p>Robert Johnson topped Indiana with 21 points and seven rebounds. Josh Newkirk added 14 points but shot 5-for-17 from the field for the Hoosiers (11-8, 4-3), who saw their three-game win streak snapped.</p>
<p>Michigan State shot 54 percent from the field and held Indiana to 34 percent shooting. The Spartans overwhelmed the Hoosiers on the boards, holding a 45-27 advantage in that category. Michigan State had a 17-6 advantage in second-chance points. The Spartans also outscored the Hoosiers 38-18 in the paint.</p>
<p>Michigan State had lost two of its last three games, including an 82-72 home loss to rival Michigan, but came out strong and led the Hoosiers for over 37 minutes.</p>
<p>The Spartans have won six of the last seven meetings. The 28-point difference was the largest margin of victory against the Hoosiers since March 2008, when the Spartans won in East Lansing 103-74.</p>
<p>Bridges scored 13 first-half points as the Spartans raced to a 42-23 halftime lead. Michigan State outscored Indiana 12-0 in points off turnovers and 18-4 in the paint.</p>
<p>Michigan State took command with 18 unanswered points in the first half. McQuaid and Winston scored five points apiece during that outburst while Bridges and Jackson contributed threes. The Hoosiers missed five field goal attempts and two free throws and also committed two turnovers during that span.</p>
<p>A Bridges 3-pointer pushed the Spartans’ lead to 20 at 37-17 with 6:14 remaining in the half. It was still a 19-point spread at the half even though Michigan State didn’t have a field goal in the final 5:31.</p>
<p>The Spartans led by double digits throughout the second half.</p>
<p>The teams play again at Bloomington, Ind. on Feb. 3.</p>
<p>—Field Level Media</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Iranian-born woman who blogged about surviving in a world filled with “injustice and diseases” opened fire at YouTube’s California headquarters because she was angry at a site she believed was suppressing her videos, police said on Wednesday.</p>
<p>In Persian and English-language online postings, Nasim Najafi Aghdam, 39, had railed against the video-sharing site owned by Alphabet Inc’s Google before wounding three people and killing herself on Tuesday at its offices in San Bruno, just south of San Francisco.</p>
<p>In an English-language video posted to her YouTube account before the channel was deleted on Tuesday, Aghdam said, “I am being discriminated. I am being filtered on YouTube.”</p>
<p>“We know that she was upset with YouTube ... that’s the motivation,” San Bruno Police Chief Ed Barberini told reporters. “Whether that rises to the level of terrorism hopefully will be determined in the next couple of weeks.”</p>
<p>The shooting on the corporate campus in California’s Silicon Valley came days after Aghdam had a dispute with her family that caused her to leave her San Diego home. On Monday, they reported her missing, police said.</p>
<p>Early the next day, Mountain View police found Aghdam sleeping in her car a few miles from Alphabet’s headquarters. She was “calm and cooperative” with the officers she spoke with, made no mention of YouTube and gave no indication she would harm anyone, Mountain View police said.</p>
<p>The San Jose Mercury News quoted Aghdam’s father, Ismail Aghdam, as saying he told police that his daughter might go to YouTube’s headquarters because she hated the company but Mountain view police disputed that account.</p>
<p>Police said officers had twice spoken with the family after finding her. In an initial call, Aghdam’s father said nothing about his daughter posing a threat but then called back to say she had posted vegan videos to YouTube and was angry about something that had been done to them, police said.</p>
<p>“At no point did her father or brother mention anything about potential acts of violence,” the statement said.</p>
<p>Efforts to reach Aghdam’s relatives by phone were unsuccessful.</p>
<p>However, Los Angeles television station KTLA and other media reported on Wednesday that Aghdam’s family in a statement expressed sorrow over the shooting and support for the victims.</p>
<p>“Our family is in absolute shock and can’t make sense of what has happened yesterday,” the family said, according to KTLA.</p>
<p>Aghdam entered the YouTube parking garage and walked to an open-air plaza, where she opened fire. But she was not able to walk into the building itself, YouTube said in a statement on Wednesday.</p> Nasim Najafi Aghdam appears in a handout photo provided by the San Bruno Police Department, April 4, 2018. San Bruno Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
<p>YouTube is “revisiting this incident in detail” and will increase security at its offices worldwide, the company said.</p>
<p>Aghdam did not appear to have targeted particular victims when she opened fire with a legally purchased Smith &amp; Wesson 9mm semiautomatic handgun, the San Bruno police chief said.</p>
<p>Aghdam had visited an area gun range that morning, police said.</p>
<p>In some online posts before the attack, Aghdam spoke about herself in heroic terms for surviving in a hostile world.</p>
<p>“I think I am doing a great job,” she wrote in Persian on her Instagram account. “I have never fallen in love and have never got married. I have no physical and psychological diseases. But I live on a planet that is full of injustice and diseases.”</p> Slideshow (2 Images)
<p>In videos posted on her YouTube channels, which were taken down on Tuesday, Aghdam alternately bemoaned animal cruelty, promoted what appeared to be handmade jewelry and demonstrated exercise techniques. She offered few specifics about what she believed had been suppressed, other than to complain that her workout videos had been flagged as adults-only content.</p>
<p>YouTube has long faced complaints about alleged censorship on its site, and says it attempts to balance its mission of fostering free speech while providing an appropriate and lawful environment for users.</p>
<p>One of her three victims, a man in his 30s, remained in San Francisco General Hospital in serious condition on Wednesday, the hospital said. Two others were released Tuesday night, it said.</p>
<p>Reporting by Paresh Dave and Heather Somerville; additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in ANKARA, Gina Cherelus in NEW YORK, Ben Klayman in ANN ARBOR, Michigan, and Alex Dobuzinskis in LOS ANGELES,; Writing by Rich McKay and Scott Malone; Editing by Bill Trott, James Dalgleish and Lisa Shumaker</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>(Reuters) - An affluent Chicago suburb has banned the possession, sale and manufacture of “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines” in response to the massacre at a Florida high school and other recent mass shootings in the United States.</p> FILE PHOTO - AR-15 rifles are displayed for sale at the Guntoberfest gun show in Oaks, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 6, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
<p>Residents of Democratic-leaning Deerfield, located about 25 miles north of Chicago, have until June 13 to remove any firearms and magazines that fall outside the new restrictions or face a fine of between $250 and $1,000 per day, according to the ordinance passed by the town board on Monday night.</p>
<p>The ban quickly drew a legal challenge from gun-rights group Guns Save Life, with support from the National Rifle Association, on grounds it violated Americans’ Constitutional rights to own firearms.</p>
<p>The Deerfield ordinance said the ban was a direct response to the Feb. 14 killing of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and the student-led campaign for tighter restrictions on guns inspired by the mass shooting.</p>
<p>“We hope that our local decision helps spur state and national leaders to take steps to make our communities safer,” Deerfield Mayor Harriet Rosenthal said in a statement.</p>
<p>The ban follows a similar 2013 measure enacted by the nearby suburb of Highland Park, located on Chicago’s North Shore, which withstood a challenge that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.</p>
<p>Opponents were quick to take issue with the ban.</p>
<p>“Every law-abiding villager of Deerfield has the right to protect themselves, their homes, and their loved ones with the firearm that best suits their needs,” Chris Cox, head of the NRA’s lobbying arm, said in a statement.</p>
<p>Opponents of the ban said they fear Deerfield will try to outlaw other firearms.</p>
<p>“First it’s going to be assault rifles. There will be new bans in the future. It’s just a matter of time,” Deerfield resident Larry Nordal told the Chicago Tribune. Nordal did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.</p>
<p>The ban defines assault weapons as a range of firearms such as semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15, a gun similar to the one used in the Florida massacre. High-capacity magazines are defined as those holding more than 10 rounds.</p>
<p>Deerfield High School senior Ariella Kharasch, who supported the legislation, wants more action on local and national levels.</p>
<p>“This is our generation’s fight. We’re going to keep fighting and this is part of it,” Kharasch told the Chicago Tribune. “Change happens gradually step by step.”</p>
<p>Reporting by Andrew Hay; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Leslie Adler</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">FB.O</a>) said on Wednesday that the personal information of up to 87 million users, mostly in the United States, may have been improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica, up from a previous news media estimate of more than 50 million.</p>
<p>Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a conference call with reporters that Facebook had not seen “any meaningful impact” on usage or ad sales since the scandal, although he added, “it’s not good” if people are unhappy with the company.</p>
<p>Shares rose more than 3 percent after the bell.</p>
<p>Zuckerberg told reporters that he accepted blame for the data leak, which has angered users, advertisers and lawmakers, while also saying he was still the right person to head the company he founded.</p>
<p>“When you’re building something like Facebook that is unprecedented in the world, there are going to be things that you mess up,” Zuckerberg said, adding that the important thing was to learn from mistakes.</p>
<p>He said he was not aware of any discussions on the Facebook board about him stepping down, although directors would face a challenge if they wanted to oust him because Zuckerberg is the controlling shareholder.</p>
<p>He said he had not fired anyone over the scandal and did not plan to. “I’m not looking to throw anyone else under the bus for mistakes that we made here,” he said.</p>
<p>Facebook first acknowledged last month that personal information about millions of users wrongly ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica.</p>
<p>Zuckerberg will testify about the matter next week before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.</p>
<p>London-based Cambridge Analytica, which has counted U.S. President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign among its clients, disputed Facebook’s estimate of affected users. It said in a tweet on Wednesday that it received no more than 30 million records from a researcher it hired to collect data about people on Facebook.</p>
<p>Zuckerberg, on the call with reporters, said Facebook should have done more to audit and oversee third-party app developers like the one that Cambridge Analytica hired in 2014.</p>
<p>“Knowing what I know today, clearly we should have done more,” he said.</p>
<p>Going forward, he said, Facebook was taking steps to restrict which personal data is available to third-party app developers, and he said it might take two more years to fix Facebook's problems. ( <a href="https://bit.ly/2Ejpktb" type="external">bit.ly/2Ejpktb</a>)</p> FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File photo
<p>“We’re broadening our view of our responsibility,” Zuckerberg said.</p>
<p>Most of the up to 87 million people whose data was shared with Cambridge Analytica were in the United States, Facebook Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer wrote in a blog post. (Graphic: <a href="https://bit.ly/2q5r5pl" type="external">bit.ly/2q5r5pl</a>)</p>
<p>Shares in Facebook closed down 0.6 percent on Wednesday to $155.10. They have tumbled more than 16 percent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke.</p>
<p>The previous estimate of more than 50 million Facebook users affected by the data leak came from two newspapers, the New York Times and London’s Observer, based on their investigations of Cambridge Analytica.</p>
<p>Zuckerberg said Facebook came to the higher estimate by looking at the number of people who had downloaded a personality quiz app created by Cambridge University academic Aleksandr Kogan, or about 270,000 people, and then adding in the number of friends they had.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=FB.O" type="external">Facebook Inc</a> 155.1 FB.O Nasdaq -1.01 (-0.65%) FB.O
<p>Cambridge Analytica has said that it engaged Kogan “in good faith” to collect Facebook data in a manner similar to how other third-party app developers have harvested personal information.</p>
<p>The scandal has kicked off investigations by Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and by some 37 U.S. state attorneys general.</p>
<p>Nigeria’s government will investigate allegations of improper involvement by Cambridge Analytica in that country’s 2007 and 2015 elections, a presidency spokesman said on Monday.</p>
<p>Reporting by David Ingram in San Francisco; Additional reporting by Arjun Panchadar in Bengaluru and Eric Auchard in London; Editing by Lisa Shumaker</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
<p>BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil’s Supreme Court was on the verge of rejecting on Wednesday former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s plea to remain out of prison while he appeals a corruption conviction, a case that has sharply divided the country, cast a shadow over this year’s presidential election and stirred rumblings in the army.</p> Supporters of former Brazil president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva react during justice Rosa Weber's session of the Supreme Court to issue a final decision about Lula's habeas corpus plea, in Brasilia, Brazil April 4, 2018. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
<p>The leftist leader is still Brazil’s most popular politician, despite his conviction and six separate pending corruption trials. He is the front-runner in all polling for the presidential election in October, though his conviction will likely bar him from running.</p>
<p>The Supreme Court is split on Lula’s request to be allowed to exhaust his appeals before beginning to serve a 12-year prison sentence for taking bribes.</p>
<p>A pivotal vote was cast late Wednesday by justice Rosa Weber, who voted against Lula’s request to avoid jail. Weber was seen as a swing vote, and her decision likely means a majority will vote that the leader can be sent to prison.</p>
<p>However, six justices still must weigh in, and the final result could be delayed until Thursday, or put off indefinitely if any remaining justice requests more time to make a decision.</p>
<p>Lower court judges, the country’s top prosecutor and business groups have urged the court to abide by its own 2016 ruling that defendants can be jailed if a conviction is upheld on a first appeal, as Lula’s was earlier this year.</p>
<p>Before that ruling, appeals in Brazil’s complex and badly backlogged legal system could stretched out for several years, guaranteeing impunity for those rich enough to afford lawyers who could launch countless technical appeals.</p> MILITARY WEIGHS IN
<p>Brazilian society remains deeply divided one and a half years after President Dilma Rousseff was impeached and removed from office amid a corruption scandal and economic crisis.</p>
<p>Tensions increased on Tuesday when the commander of Brazil’s army weighed in with tweets calling on the court to stand guard against impunity. That rattled nerves across Brazil, which endured a 1964-85 military dictatorships and has a long history of coups interrupting democratic regimes.</p> Slideshow (15 Images)
<p>General Eduardo Villas Boas wrote that the army along with “all good citizens, repudiates impunity and respects the Constitution, social peace and democracy.”</p>
<p>Villas Boas wrote that the army would stick to its constitutional role. But retired officers have warned that the military would not take lightly to the Supreme Court, which has rejected nearly all similar appeals in the past two years, ruling that Lula could remain free on appeal.</p>
<p>Army reserve general Luiz Lessa told the Estado de S.Paulo newspaper on Tuesday the military would have to intervene if Lula was allowed to become a candidate in the election. The army said that was his personal opinion.</p>
<p>A decision in favor of Lula would be a boost for the efforts of Brazil’s first working-class president to save his political career from the corruption scandals that have rocked the political establishment and especially his Workers Party, which held the presidency from 2003 until mid-2016.</p>
<a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=PETR4.SA" type="external">Petroleo Brasileiro SA Petrobras</a> 20.38 PETR4.SA Sao Paulo Stock Exchange -0.33 (-1.59%) PETR4.SA
<p>But it would not free Lula to run for president in October. Under Brazil’s election laws, a conviction upheld on appeal bars a candidate from seeking elected office for eight years. Some exemptions have been made in the past, and the ultimate decision in Lula’s case would be made by the nation’s top electoral court if and when Lula official files to be a candidate.</p>
<p>Lula oversaw years of robust growth and falling inequality during a commodity boom and has said he wants to run again for the presidency in October.</p>
<p>His supporters see the conviction as a ploy to stop him returning to power. The Workers Party said the Army commander’s comments widely reported by Brazilian media had brought undue pressure to bear on the Supreme Court to rule against him.</p>
<p>Lula was found guilty in August and sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting bribes worth 3.7 million reais ($1 million) from engineering firm OAS, the amount of money prosecutors said OAS spent refurbishing a beach apartment for Lula in return for his help winning contracts with state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro ( <a href="/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=PETR4.SA" type="external">PETR4.SA</a>).</p>
<p>In January, an appeals court unanimously upheld his conviction and increased the prison sentence to 12 years.</p>
<p>Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Additional reporting by Brad Brooks in Sao Paulo; Editing by Alistair Bell and Rosalba O'Brien</p> Our Standards:
<a href="" type="internal">The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.</a>
| 6,917 |
<p>Newly declassified documents reveal that the NSA routinely violated court orders covering privacy protections, and, according to officials, its workers often didn’t understand the rules they were supposed to follow.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/11/us-usa-security-nsa-violations-idUSBRE9891F920130911" type="external">Reuters reported</a> Tuesday that the NSA examined private phone records without sufficient cause to link them to suspected terrorist activities for a three year period, 2006-2009.</p>
<p>The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees requests by spy agencies to tap phones and capture email in pursuit of information about foreign targets, required the NSA to have a “reasonable articulable suspicion” that phone numbers were connected to suspected terrorists before agents could search a massive call database to see what other numbers they had connected to, how often and for how long.</p>
<p>But between 2006 and 2009, the agency used an “alert list” to search daily additions to the U.S. calling data, and that list contained mostly numbers that merely been deemed of possible foreign intelligence value, a much lower threshold.</p>
<p />
<p>The alert list grew from about 3,980 phone numbers in 2006 to 17,835 by early 2009, and only 2,000 of the larger number met the required standard for certified reasonable suspicion of a terrorist tie, officials said.</p>
<p>Additionally, some of those numbers were improperly passed along to the CIA, Reuters reports.</p>
<p>Remember, less than a month ago the NSA was assuring the world that it wasn’t misbehaving, and President Obama said, in effect, that the nation should trust the government, even as revelations were surfacing that the secret court assigned to oversee the NSA caught the federal government <a href="" type="internal">lying</a> to cover up breaches of conduct. The new records, released under another legal challenge by the <a href="https://www.eff.org/" type="external">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a> and the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/" type="external">American Civil Liberties Union</a>, show that the abuses were even wider than previously thought. As for the NSA, <a href="http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/191-press-releases-2013/927-draft-document" type="external">it says</a> it’s fixed the problems.</p>
<p>At least two Democratic senators aren’t so sure. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado, who have been sharp critics of the NSA actions, issued a joint statement:</p>
<p>When the executive branch acknowledged last month that ‘rules, regulations and court-imposed standards’ intended to protect Americans’ privacy had been violated thousands of times each year we said that this confirmation was ‘the tip of a larger iceberg.’ With the documents declassified and released this afternoon by the Director of National Intelligence, the public now has new information about the size and shape of that iceberg. Additional information about these violations was contained in other recently-released court opinions, though some significant information — particularly about violations pertaining to the bulk email records collection program — remains classified. …</p>
<p>We have said before that we have seen no evidence that the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records has provided any intelligence that couldn’t be gathered through less intrusive means and that bulk collection should be ended. These documents provide further evidence that bulk collection is not only a significant threat to the constitutional liberties of Americans, but that it is a needless one.</p>
<p>—Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Scott Martelle</a></p>
<p>.</p>
|
New Records Release Points to More NSA Privacy Invasions
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/new-records-release-points-to-more-nsa-privacy-invasions/
|
2013-09-11
| 4left
|
New Records Release Points to More NSA Privacy Invasions
<p>Newly declassified documents reveal that the NSA routinely violated court orders covering privacy protections, and, according to officials, its workers often didn’t understand the rules they were supposed to follow.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/11/us-usa-security-nsa-violations-idUSBRE9891F920130911" type="external">Reuters reported</a> Tuesday that the NSA examined private phone records without sufficient cause to link them to suspected terrorist activities for a three year period, 2006-2009.</p>
<p>The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which oversees requests by spy agencies to tap phones and capture email in pursuit of information about foreign targets, required the NSA to have a “reasonable articulable suspicion” that phone numbers were connected to suspected terrorists before agents could search a massive call database to see what other numbers they had connected to, how often and for how long.</p>
<p>But between 2006 and 2009, the agency used an “alert list” to search daily additions to the U.S. calling data, and that list contained mostly numbers that merely been deemed of possible foreign intelligence value, a much lower threshold.</p>
<p />
<p>The alert list grew from about 3,980 phone numbers in 2006 to 17,835 by early 2009, and only 2,000 of the larger number met the required standard for certified reasonable suspicion of a terrorist tie, officials said.</p>
<p>Additionally, some of those numbers were improperly passed along to the CIA, Reuters reports.</p>
<p>Remember, less than a month ago the NSA was assuring the world that it wasn’t misbehaving, and President Obama said, in effect, that the nation should trust the government, even as revelations were surfacing that the secret court assigned to oversee the NSA caught the federal government <a href="" type="internal">lying</a> to cover up breaches of conduct. The new records, released under another legal challenge by the <a href="https://www.eff.org/" type="external">Electronic Frontier Foundation</a> and the <a href="https://www.aclu.org/" type="external">American Civil Liberties Union</a>, show that the abuses were even wider than previously thought. As for the NSA, <a href="http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/191-press-releases-2013/927-draft-document" type="external">it says</a> it’s fixed the problems.</p>
<p>At least two Democratic senators aren’t so sure. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado, who have been sharp critics of the NSA actions, issued a joint statement:</p>
<p>When the executive branch acknowledged last month that ‘rules, regulations and court-imposed standards’ intended to protect Americans’ privacy had been violated thousands of times each year we said that this confirmation was ‘the tip of a larger iceberg.’ With the documents declassified and released this afternoon by the Director of National Intelligence, the public now has new information about the size and shape of that iceberg. Additional information about these violations was contained in other recently-released court opinions, though some significant information — particularly about violations pertaining to the bulk email records collection program — remains classified. …</p>
<p>We have said before that we have seen no evidence that the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records has provided any intelligence that couldn’t be gathered through less intrusive means and that bulk collection should be ended. These documents provide further evidence that bulk collection is not only a significant threat to the constitutional liberties of Americans, but that it is a needless one.</p>
<p>—Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Scott Martelle</a></p>
<p>.</p>
| 6,918 |
<p>Now that the famous Globe Theater in London is headed by its first female director, the world’s greatest playwright and poet will be subject to the vagaries of current <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/12082858/Noisy-audiences-magical-forests-and-more-women-in-new-look-Shakespeares-Globe.html" type="external">gender swapping</a>.</p>
<p>Emma Rice, who will become the theater’s director, has promised that half of the roles in the Bard’s plays will be played by women. She has already changed the title of Cymbeline to “Imogen.” She asserted, “No one was better at playing with gender than Shakespeare. There’s no reason the Duke of Gloucester can’t be a woman. I would love it to be 50-50 [gender split], so never say never to anything.”</p>
<p>Rice, who has only directed one play of Shakespeare before, has decided that she knows writing better than the Bard, stating, “There’s no way that every line can still be relevant, in my opinion. There is a great case to be made for great editing, making the plays a little bit shorter and punching through the language that has stood the test of time and we do understand.” She told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jan/05/shakespeares-globe-emma-rice-if-anybody-bended-gender" type="external">The Guardian</a>, “I have tried to sit down with Shakespeare but it doesn’t work. I get very sleepy and then suddenly I want to listen to The Archers … He was writing 400 years ago, there is no way in the world every line can still be relevant.”</p>
<p>She wants a rowdy crowd, chortling, “Shakespeare would be cheering me if he heard me speak. This is celebrating Shakespeare in the truest possible way: come in, drink beer, shout at the stage, come and go as you please and get involved.”</p>
<p>The original Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's company and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. The new Globe was opened in 1997 near the site of the original theater.</p>
<p>"There’s no way that every line can still be relevant, in my opinion."</p>
<p>Emma Rice on Shakespeare</p>
<p>Now that the greatest writer in history has been denigrated by a woman who has directed a single play of his, he might appreciate the sentiments of two famous writers who preceded him by over a thousand years:</p>
<p>Juvenal: “You may immediately draw proof of this – that no one rejoices more in revenge than a woman.”</p>
<p>Aristophanes: “There’s nothing worse in the world than a shameless woman – save some other woman.”</p>
|
New Director of Shakespeare Globe Theater Determined To Ruin Shakespeare On Behalf of Feminism
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/2404/new-director-shakespeare-globe-theater-determined-hank-berrien
|
2016-01-06
| 0right
|
New Director of Shakespeare Globe Theater Determined To Ruin Shakespeare On Behalf of Feminism
<p>Now that the famous Globe Theater in London is headed by its first female director, the world’s greatest playwright and poet will be subject to the vagaries of current <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/12082858/Noisy-audiences-magical-forests-and-more-women-in-new-look-Shakespeares-Globe.html" type="external">gender swapping</a>.</p>
<p>Emma Rice, who will become the theater’s director, has promised that half of the roles in the Bard’s plays will be played by women. She has already changed the title of Cymbeline to “Imogen.” She asserted, “No one was better at playing with gender than Shakespeare. There’s no reason the Duke of Gloucester can’t be a woman. I would love it to be 50-50 [gender split], so never say never to anything.”</p>
<p>Rice, who has only directed one play of Shakespeare before, has decided that she knows writing better than the Bard, stating, “There’s no way that every line can still be relevant, in my opinion. There is a great case to be made for great editing, making the plays a little bit shorter and punching through the language that has stood the test of time and we do understand.” She told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jan/05/shakespeares-globe-emma-rice-if-anybody-bended-gender" type="external">The Guardian</a>, “I have tried to sit down with Shakespeare but it doesn’t work. I get very sleepy and then suddenly I want to listen to The Archers … He was writing 400 years ago, there is no way in the world every line can still be relevant.”</p>
<p>She wants a rowdy crowd, chortling, “Shakespeare would be cheering me if he heard me speak. This is celebrating Shakespeare in the truest possible way: come in, drink beer, shout at the stage, come and go as you please and get involved.”</p>
<p>The original Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's company and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. The new Globe was opened in 1997 near the site of the original theater.</p>
<p>"There’s no way that every line can still be relevant, in my opinion."</p>
<p>Emma Rice on Shakespeare</p>
<p>Now that the greatest writer in history has been denigrated by a woman who has directed a single play of his, he might appreciate the sentiments of two famous writers who preceded him by over a thousand years:</p>
<p>Juvenal: “You may immediately draw proof of this – that no one rejoices more in revenge than a woman.”</p>
<p>Aristophanes: “There’s nothing worse in the world than a shameless woman – save some other woman.”</p>
| 6,919 |
<p>LinkedIn Corp said late Friday it was holding a special meeting of shareholders Aug. 19 to vote on the social network's acquisition by Microsoft Corp. . Shareholders are entitled to $196 cash for each share of LinkedIn, the company said. Back in June, LinkedIn said Microsoft had offered $26.2 billion for the company.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
|
LinkedIn Schedules Special Shareholder Meeting For Microsoft Acquisition
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/07/22/linkedin-schedules-special-shareholder-meeting-for-microsoft-acquisition.html
|
2016-07-22
| 0right
|
LinkedIn Schedules Special Shareholder Meeting For Microsoft Acquisition
<p>LinkedIn Corp said late Friday it was holding a special meeting of shareholders Aug. 19 to vote on the social network's acquisition by Microsoft Corp. . Shareholders are entitled to $196 cash for each share of LinkedIn, the company said. Back in June, LinkedIn said Microsoft had offered $26.2 billion for the company.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
| 6,920 |
<p />
<p>Both former President Barack Obama and even relatively new President Donald Trump have experienced their fair share of tragic terrorist attacks to handle.</p>
<p>But a very important distinction between the ways the two presidents have handled these tragedies is coming to light.</p>
<p>Where Obama was all talk, President Trump seems to be action-driven.</p>
<p>A side by side comparison of President Donald Trump’s response to the recent terrorist attack in Manchester and former President Barack Obama’s reaction to the deadly attack in Orlando last year revealed much about the two commander-in-chief’s abilities to combat terrorism.</p>
<p>President Trump shows a more aggressive approach, promising to end the threat of Islamic radicalism and protect the American people – as a President should.</p>
<p>Obama, on the other hand, tended to take a more measured tone and asked for peace from the Islamic state, rather than show any sort of strength and resilience against them.</p>
<p>President Trump spoke most recently about the attacks in Manchester while visiting the Middle East to negotiate allies against ISIS, as reported by the Daily Caller:</p>
<p>Trump addressed the tragedy in the United Kingdom that claimed 22 live and left at 59 injured in no uncertain terms, saying the victims were “murdered by evil losers in life” and targeted in a terrorist attack by extremists. He also added that: “This wicked ideology must be obliterated, and I mean completely obliterated. Life must be protected.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“So many young, beautiful innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers in life,” Trump said in response to the attack. “I won’t call them monsters because they would like that term. They would think that’s a great name. I will call them from now on losers, because that’s what they are. They’re losers. And we’ll have more of them. But they’re losers. Just remember that.”</p>
<p>However, Obama addressed a similar tragedy in a very different light – even going so far as to use it to push his anti-gun agenda.</p>
<p>The Daily Caller continued:</p>
<p>In the wake of the Pulse Nightclub shooting carried out by an Islamic extremist, Obama took a more measured tone. While pointing out the event was an “act of terror,” Obama went on to say they reached “no definitive judgment on the precise motivations of the killer.” Obama also added that he directed authorities to “spare no effort to determine what — if any — inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Obama also used the incident to bring up gun laws in the United States, saying “reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well.”</p>
<p>With the most recent attack against children in Manchester, and the death toll still rising, one thing is certain: President Trump’s actions against Islamic extremism are surely needed in such a time, more so than Obama’s “kind words” and political agenda seeping through.</p>
<p>Who do you believe did a better job in handling terrorist attacks?</p>
<p>Leave us your thoughts in the comments section below.</p>
|
Obama and Trump Had These VERY Different Reactions to Terror
| true |
http://conservativerevival.com/latest-news/obama-and-trump-had-these-very-different-reactions-to-terror/
| 0right
|
Obama and Trump Had These VERY Different Reactions to Terror
<p />
<p>Both former President Barack Obama and even relatively new President Donald Trump have experienced their fair share of tragic terrorist attacks to handle.</p>
<p>But a very important distinction between the ways the two presidents have handled these tragedies is coming to light.</p>
<p>Where Obama was all talk, President Trump seems to be action-driven.</p>
<p>A side by side comparison of President Donald Trump’s response to the recent terrorist attack in Manchester and former President Barack Obama’s reaction to the deadly attack in Orlando last year revealed much about the two commander-in-chief’s abilities to combat terrorism.</p>
<p>President Trump shows a more aggressive approach, promising to end the threat of Islamic radicalism and protect the American people – as a President should.</p>
<p>Obama, on the other hand, tended to take a more measured tone and asked for peace from the Islamic state, rather than show any sort of strength and resilience against them.</p>
<p>President Trump spoke most recently about the attacks in Manchester while visiting the Middle East to negotiate allies against ISIS, as reported by the Daily Caller:</p>
<p>Trump addressed the tragedy in the United Kingdom that claimed 22 live and left at 59 injured in no uncertain terms, saying the victims were “murdered by evil losers in life” and targeted in a terrorist attack by extremists. He also added that: “This wicked ideology must be obliterated, and I mean completely obliterated. Life must be protected.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“So many young, beautiful innocent people living and enjoying their lives murdered by evil losers in life,” Trump said in response to the attack. “I won’t call them monsters because they would like that term. They would think that’s a great name. I will call them from now on losers, because that’s what they are. They’re losers. And we’ll have more of them. But they’re losers. Just remember that.”</p>
<p>However, Obama addressed a similar tragedy in a very different light – even going so far as to use it to push his anti-gun agenda.</p>
<p>The Daily Caller continued:</p>
<p>In the wake of the Pulse Nightclub shooting carried out by an Islamic extremist, Obama took a more measured tone. While pointing out the event was an “act of terror,” Obama went on to say they reached “no definitive judgment on the precise motivations of the killer.” Obama also added that he directed authorities to “spare no effort to determine what — if any — inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Obama also used the incident to bring up gun laws in the United States, saying “reminder of how easy it is for someone to get their hands on a weapon that lets them shoot people in a school, or in a house of worship, or a movie theater, or in a nightclub. And we have to decide if that’s the kind of country we want to be. And to actively do nothing is a decision as well.”</p>
<p>With the most recent attack against children in Manchester, and the death toll still rising, one thing is certain: President Trump’s actions against Islamic extremism are surely needed in such a time, more so than Obama’s “kind words” and political agenda seeping through.</p>
<p>Who do you believe did a better job in handling terrorist attacks?</p>
<p>Leave us your thoughts in the comments section below.</p>
| 6,921 |
|
<p>Photo by G20 Voice | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>“There is one criminal justice system for citizens—especially black and brown ones—and another for police in the United States.”</p>
<p>— <a href="" type="internal">Redditt Hudson, former St. Louis police officer</a></p>
<p>President Trump needs to be reminded that no one is above the law, especially the police.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Trump and Jeff Sessions, head of the Justice Department (much like their predecessors) appear to have&#160; <a href="" type="internal">few qualms</a>&#160;about giving police the green light to kill, shoot, taser, abuse and steal from American citizens in the so-called name of law and order.</p>
<p>Between Trump’s pandering to the police unions and Sessions’ pandering to Trump, this constitutionally illiterate duo has opened the door to a new era of police abuses.</p>
<p>As senior editor Adam Serwer&#160; <a href="" type="internal">warns</a>&#160;in&#160;The Atlantic,</p>
<p>“When local governments violate the basic constitutional rights of citizens, Americans are supposed to be able to look to the federal government to protect those rights. Sessions has made clear that when it comes to police abuses, they’re now on their own. This is the principle at the heart of ‘law and order’ rhetoric: The authorities themselves are bound by neither.”</p>
<p>Brace yourselves: things are about to get downright ugly.</p>
<p>By shielding police from charges of grave misconduct while prosecuting otherwise law-abiding Americans for the most trivial “offenses,” the government has created a world in which there are two sets of laws: one set for the government and its gun-toting agents, and another set for you and me.</p>
<p>No matter which way you spin it, “we the people” are always on the losing end of the deal.</p>
<p>If you’re a cop in the American police state, you can now break the law in a myriad of ways without suffering any major, long-term consequences.</p>
<p>Indeed, not only are cops protected from most charges of wrongdoing—whether it’s shooting unarmed citizens (including children and old people),&#160; <a href="" type="internal">raping and abusing young women, falsifying police reports</a>, trafficking drugs, or soliciting sex with minors—but even on the rare occasions when they are fired for misconduct, it’s only a matter of time before they&#160; <a href="" type="internal">get re-hired again</a>.</p>
<p>For example, Oregon police officer Sean Sullivan was forced to resign after being accused of “grooming” a 10-year-old girl for a sexual relationship. A year later, Sullivan was&#160; <a href="" type="internal">hired on as a police chief</a>&#160;in Kansas.</p>
<p>St. Louis police officer Eddie Boyd III was forced to resign after a series of incidents in which he “ <a href="" type="internal">pistol-whipped a 12-year-old girl in the face</a>&#160;in 2006, and in 2007 struck a child in the face with his gun or handcuffs before falsifying a police report,” he was quickly re-hired by another Missouri police department.</p>
<p>As&#160;The Washington Post&#160; <a href="" type="internal">reports</a>: “</p>
<p>In the District, police were told to rehire an officer who allegedly forged prosecutors’ signatures on court documents. In Texas, police had to reinstate an officer who was investigated for shooting up the truck driven by his ex-girlfriend’s new man. In Philadelphia, police were compelled to reinstate an officer despite viral video of him striking a woman in the face. In Florida, police were ordered to reinstate an officer fired for fatally shooting an unarmed man.”</p>
<p>Much of the “credit” for shielding these rogue cops goes to influential police unions and&#160; <a href="http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/investigation-reveals-east-bay-city-paying-out-ext/nFdWy/" type="external">laws providing for qualified immunity</a>, police contracts that “ <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">provide a shield of protection to officers accused of misdeeds and erect barriers to residents complaining of abuse</a>,” state and federal laws that allow police to walk away without paying a dime for their wrongdoing, and rampant cronyism among government bureaucrats.</p>
<p>Whether it’s at the federal level with President Trump, Congress and the Judiciary, or at the state and local level, those deciding whether a police officer should be immune from having to personally pay for misbehavior on the job&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">all belong to the same system</a>, all with a vested interest in protecting the police and their infamous code of silence: city and county attorneys, police commissioners, city councils and judges.</p>
<p>It’s a pretty sweet deal if you can get it, I suppose: protection from the courts, immunity from wrongdoing, paid leave while you’re under investigation, the assurance that you won’t have to spend a dime of your own money in your defense, the&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">removal of disciplinary charges from your work file</a>, and then the high probability that you will be&#160; <a href="" type="internal">rehired and returned to the streets</a>.</p>
<p>It’s a chilling prospect, isn’t it?</p>
<p>According to the&#160;New York Times, “Some experts say&#160; <a href="" type="internal">thousands of law enforcement officers may have drifted from police department to police department</a>&#160;even after having been fired, forced to resign or convicted of a crime.”</p>
<p>It’s not safe to be one of the “little people” in the American police state.</p>
<p>Consider what happened in San Antonio, Texas.</p>
<p>In 2006, police officer Jackie Neal was accused of putting his hands inside a woman’s panties, lifting up her shirt and feeling her breasts during a routine traffic stop. He remained on the police force. In 2007, Neal was accused of digitally penetrating another woman. Still,&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">he wasn’t fired</a>&#160;or disciplined.</p>
<p>In 2013, Neal—then serving as supervisor of the department’s youth program—was suspended for three days for having sex with a teenage girl participating in the program. As&#160;Reuters&#160;reports, “ <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">Neal never lost a dime in pay or a day off patrol</a>: The union contract allowed him to serve the suspension using vacation days.”</p>
<p>Later that same year, Neal was arrested on charges that he handcuffed a woman in the rear seat of his police vehicle and then raped her. He was eventually fined $5,000 and sentenced to 14 months in prison, with five months off for “work and education.” The taxpayers of San Antonio got saddled with&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">$500,000 to settle the case</a>.</p>
<p>Now here’s the kicker: when the local city council attempted to amend the police union contract to create greater accountability for police misconduct, the&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">police unions flexed their muscles</a>&#160;and engaged in such a heated propaganda campaign that the city backed down.</p>
<p>It’s happening all across the country.</p>
<p>This is how perverse justice in America has become.</p>
<p>Our Bill of Rights has been torn to shreds, and the cops have replaced it with their own Bill of Rights: the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights</a>&#160;(LEOBoR), which protects them from being subjected to the kinds of debilitating indignities heaped upon the average citizen.</p>
<p>Incredibly, while our own protections against government abuses continue to be dismantled, a growing number of states are adopting LEOBoRs—written by police unions—which provides police officers accused of a crime with special due process rights and privileges not afforded to the average citizen.</p>
<p>In other words, the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">LEOBoR protects police officers from being treated as we are treated during criminal investigations</a>: questioned unmercifully for hours on end, harassed, harangued, browbeaten, denied food, water and bathroom breaks, subjected to hostile interrogations, and left in the dark about our accusers and any charges and evidence against us.</p>
<p>Not only are officers given a&#160; <a href="" type="internal">10-day “cooling-off period”</a>&#160;during which they cannot be forced to make&#160;any&#160;statements about the incident, but when they are questioned, it must be “for a reasonable length of time, at a reasonable hour, by only one or two investigators (who must be fellow policemen), and with plenty of breaks for food and water.”</p>
<p>According to investigative journalist Eli Hager, the most common r <a href="" type="internal">ights afforded police officers accused of wrongdoing</a>&#160;are as follows:</p>
<p>+ If a department decides to pursue a complaint against an officer, the department must notify the officer and his union.</p>
<p>+ The officer must be informed of the complainants, and their testimony against him, before he is questioned.</p>
<p>+ During questioning, investigators may not harass, threaten, or promise rewards to the officer, as interrogators not infrequently do to civilian suspects.</p>
<p>+ Bathroom breaks are assured during questioning.</p>
<p>+ In Maryland, the officer may appeal his case to a “hearing board,” whose decision is binding, before a final decision has been made by his superiors about his discipline. The hearing board consists of three of the suspected offender’s fellow officers.</p>
<p>+ In some jurisdictions, the officer may not be disciplined if more than a certain number of days (often 100) have passed since his alleged misconduct, which limits the time for investigation.</p>
<p>+ Even if the officer is suspended, the department must continue to pay salary and benefits, as well as the cost of the officer’s attorney.</p>
<p>+ These LEOBoRs epitomize everything that is wrong with America today.</p>
<p>As Redditt Hudson, a former St. Louis police officer,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">noted</a>,</p>
<p>“We all know – either from personal experience or the experience of someone close to us – that there are officers that will violate citizens’ human rights and civil liberties with impunity and who are comfortable in the knowledge that the system will protect and cover for their actions… These inequities have led, inexorably, to the current national crisis in police-community relations – and the best way forward is to make sure we severely punish officers that violate the rights of the citizens they serve. They must be held accountable for their actions.”</p>
<p>Now once in a while, the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">system appears to work on the side of justice</a>.</p>
<p>Every so often, police officers engaged in wrongdoing are actually charged for abusing their authority and using excessive force against American citizens.</p>
<p>And occasionally, those officers are even sentenced for their crimes against the citizenry.</p>
<p>Yet in just about every case, it’s still the American taxpayer who foots the bill.</p>
<p>For example,&#160; <a href="http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/police-settlements/" type="external">Baltimore taxpayers have paid roughly $5.7 million since 2011</a>&#160;over lawsuits stemming from police abuses, with an additional $5.8 million going towards legal fees.</p>
<p>New York taxpayers have shelled out almost $1,130 per year per police officer (there are 34,500 officers in the NYPD) to address charges of misconduct. That translates to&#160; <a href="" type="internal">$38 million&#160;every year</a>&#160;just to clean up after these so-called public servants.</p>
<p>Over a 10-year-period, Oakland, Calif.,&#160; <a href="http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/investigation-reveals-east-bay-city-paying-out-ext/nFdWy/" type="external">taxpayers were made to cough up more than $57 million</a>&#160;(curiously enough, the same amount as the city’s deficit back in 2011) in order to settle accounts with alleged victims of police abuse.</p>
<p>Chicago&#160; <a href="" type="internal">taxpayers were asked to pay out nearly $33 million on one day alone to victims of police misconduct</a>, with one person slated to receive $22.5 million, potentially the largest single amount settled on any one victim. The City has&#160; <a href="" type="internal">paid more than half a billion dollars to victims</a>&#160;over the course of a decade. The Chicago City Council actually had to&#160; <a href="" type="internal">borrow $100 million just to pay off lawsuits arising over police misconduct</a>&#160;in 2013. The city’s payout for 2014 was estimated to be in the same ballpark, especially with cases pending such as the one involving the man who was reportedly sodomized by a police officer’s gun in order to force him to “cooperate.”</p>
<p>Over 78% of the funds paid out by Denver taxpayers over the course of a decade arose as a result of alleged abuse or&#160; <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=6138459" type="external">excessive use of force by the Denver police</a>&#160;and sheriff departments.</p>
<p>That’s just a small sampling of the most egregious payouts, but just about every community—large and small—feels the pinch when it comes to compensating victims who have been subjected to deadly or excessive force by police.</p>
<p>The&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">ones who rarely ever feel the pinch are the officers</a>&#160;accused or convicted of wrongdoing, “even if they are disciplined or terminated by their department, criminally prosecuted, or even imprisoned.”</p>
<p>In fact, police officers are&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">more likely to be struck by lightning</a>&#160;than be held financially accountable for their actions.</p>
<p>A study published in the&#160;NYU Law Review&#160;reveals that 99.8% of the monies paid in settlements and judgments in police misconduct cases&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">never come out of the officers’ own pockets</a>, even when state laws require them to be held liable. Moreover, these officers rarely ever have to pay for their own legal defense.</p>
<p>For instance, law professor Joanna C. Schwartz references a case in which three Denver police officers chased and then beat a 16-year-old boy, stomping “on the boy’s back while using a fence for leverage, breaking his ribs and causing him to suffer kidney damage and a lacerated liver.”</p>
<p>The cost to Denver taxpayers to settle the lawsuit: $885,000. The&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">amount the officers contributed: 0</a>.</p>
<p>Kathryn Johnston, 92 years old, was shot and killed during a SWAT team raid that went awry. Attempting to cover their backs, the officers falsely claimed Johnston’s home was the site of a cocaine sale and went so far as to plant marijuana in the house to support their claim.</p>
<p>The cost to Atlanta taxpayers to settle the lawsuit: $4.9 million. The&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">amount the officers contributed: 0</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in Albuquerque, a police officer was convicted of raping a woman in his police car, in addition to sexually assaulting four other women and girls, physically abusing two additional women, and kidnapping or falsely imprisoning five men and boys.</p>
<p>The cost to the Albuquerque taxpayers to settle the lawsuit: $1,000,000. The&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">amount the officer contributed: 0</a>.</p>
<p>Human Rights Watch notes that&#160; <a href="" type="internal">taxpayers actually pay three times for officers who repeatedly commit abuses</a>: “once to cover their salaries while they commit abuses; next to pay settlements or civil jury awards against officers; and a third time through payments into police ‘defense’ funds provided by the cities.”</p>
<p>Still, the number of times a police officer is actually held accountable for wrongdoing while on the job is miniscule compared to the number of times cops are allowed to walk away with little more than a slap on the wrist.</p>
<p>Trust me, this is a recipe for disaster.</p>
<p>“In a democratic society,” observed Oakland police chief Sean Whent, “ <a href="" type="internal">people have a say in how they are policed</a>.”</p>
<p>As I point out in my book&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Battlefield America: The War on the American People</a>, America is a constitutional republic, not a democracy, which means that “we the people” not only have a say in how we are policed—we are the chiefs of police.</p>
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Anything Goes When You’re a Cop in America
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2017/08/09/anything-goes-when-youre-a-cop-in-america/
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2017-08-09
| 4left
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Anything Goes When You’re a Cop in America
<p>Photo by G20 Voice | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p>“There is one criminal justice system for citizens—especially black and brown ones—and another for police in the United States.”</p>
<p>— <a href="" type="internal">Redditt Hudson, former St. Louis police officer</a></p>
<p>President Trump needs to be reminded that no one is above the law, especially the police.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Trump and Jeff Sessions, head of the Justice Department (much like their predecessors) appear to have&#160; <a href="" type="internal">few qualms</a>&#160;about giving police the green light to kill, shoot, taser, abuse and steal from American citizens in the so-called name of law and order.</p>
<p>Between Trump’s pandering to the police unions and Sessions’ pandering to Trump, this constitutionally illiterate duo has opened the door to a new era of police abuses.</p>
<p>As senior editor Adam Serwer&#160; <a href="" type="internal">warns</a>&#160;in&#160;The Atlantic,</p>
<p>“When local governments violate the basic constitutional rights of citizens, Americans are supposed to be able to look to the federal government to protect those rights. Sessions has made clear that when it comes to police abuses, they’re now on their own. This is the principle at the heart of ‘law and order’ rhetoric: The authorities themselves are bound by neither.”</p>
<p>Brace yourselves: things are about to get downright ugly.</p>
<p>By shielding police from charges of grave misconduct while prosecuting otherwise law-abiding Americans for the most trivial “offenses,” the government has created a world in which there are two sets of laws: one set for the government and its gun-toting agents, and another set for you and me.</p>
<p>No matter which way you spin it, “we the people” are always on the losing end of the deal.</p>
<p>If you’re a cop in the American police state, you can now break the law in a myriad of ways without suffering any major, long-term consequences.</p>
<p>Indeed, not only are cops protected from most charges of wrongdoing—whether it’s shooting unarmed citizens (including children and old people),&#160; <a href="" type="internal">raping and abusing young women, falsifying police reports</a>, trafficking drugs, or soliciting sex with minors—but even on the rare occasions when they are fired for misconduct, it’s only a matter of time before they&#160; <a href="" type="internal">get re-hired again</a>.</p>
<p>For example, Oregon police officer Sean Sullivan was forced to resign after being accused of “grooming” a 10-year-old girl for a sexual relationship. A year later, Sullivan was&#160; <a href="" type="internal">hired on as a police chief</a>&#160;in Kansas.</p>
<p>St. Louis police officer Eddie Boyd III was forced to resign after a series of incidents in which he “ <a href="" type="internal">pistol-whipped a 12-year-old girl in the face</a>&#160;in 2006, and in 2007 struck a child in the face with his gun or handcuffs before falsifying a police report,” he was quickly re-hired by another Missouri police department.</p>
<p>As&#160;The Washington Post&#160; <a href="" type="internal">reports</a>: “</p>
<p>In the District, police were told to rehire an officer who allegedly forged prosecutors’ signatures on court documents. In Texas, police had to reinstate an officer who was investigated for shooting up the truck driven by his ex-girlfriend’s new man. In Philadelphia, police were compelled to reinstate an officer despite viral video of him striking a woman in the face. In Florida, police were ordered to reinstate an officer fired for fatally shooting an unarmed man.”</p>
<p>Much of the “credit” for shielding these rogue cops goes to influential police unions and&#160; <a href="http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/investigation-reveals-east-bay-city-paying-out-ext/nFdWy/" type="external">laws providing for qualified immunity</a>, police contracts that “ <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">provide a shield of protection to officers accused of misdeeds and erect barriers to residents complaining of abuse</a>,” state and federal laws that allow police to walk away without paying a dime for their wrongdoing, and rampant cronyism among government bureaucrats.</p>
<p>Whether it’s at the federal level with President Trump, Congress and the Judiciary, or at the state and local level, those deciding whether a police officer should be immune from having to personally pay for misbehavior on the job&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">all belong to the same system</a>, all with a vested interest in protecting the police and their infamous code of silence: city and county attorneys, police commissioners, city councils and judges.</p>
<p>It’s a pretty sweet deal if you can get it, I suppose: protection from the courts, immunity from wrongdoing, paid leave while you’re under investigation, the assurance that you won’t have to spend a dime of your own money in your defense, the&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">removal of disciplinary charges from your work file</a>, and then the high probability that you will be&#160; <a href="" type="internal">rehired and returned to the streets</a>.</p>
<p>It’s a chilling prospect, isn’t it?</p>
<p>According to the&#160;New York Times, “Some experts say&#160; <a href="" type="internal">thousands of law enforcement officers may have drifted from police department to police department</a>&#160;even after having been fired, forced to resign or convicted of a crime.”</p>
<p>It’s not safe to be one of the “little people” in the American police state.</p>
<p>Consider what happened in San Antonio, Texas.</p>
<p>In 2006, police officer Jackie Neal was accused of putting his hands inside a woman’s panties, lifting up her shirt and feeling her breasts during a routine traffic stop. He remained on the police force. In 2007, Neal was accused of digitally penetrating another woman. Still,&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">he wasn’t fired</a>&#160;or disciplined.</p>
<p>In 2013, Neal—then serving as supervisor of the department’s youth program—was suspended for three days for having sex with a teenage girl participating in the program. As&#160;Reuters&#160;reports, “ <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">Neal never lost a dime in pay or a day off patrol</a>: The union contract allowed him to serve the suspension using vacation days.”</p>
<p>Later that same year, Neal was arrested on charges that he handcuffed a woman in the rear seat of his police vehicle and then raped her. He was eventually fined $5,000 and sentenced to 14 months in prison, with five months off for “work and education.” The taxpayers of San Antonio got saddled with&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">$500,000 to settle the case</a>.</p>
<p>Now here’s the kicker: when the local city council attempted to amend the police union contract to create greater accountability for police misconduct, the&#160; <a href="http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-police-unions/" type="external">police unions flexed their muscles</a>&#160;and engaged in such a heated propaganda campaign that the city backed down.</p>
<p>It’s happening all across the country.</p>
<p>This is how perverse justice in America has become.</p>
<p>Our Bill of Rights has been torn to shreds, and the cops have replaced it with their own Bill of Rights: the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights</a>&#160;(LEOBoR), which protects them from being subjected to the kinds of debilitating indignities heaped upon the average citizen.</p>
<p>Incredibly, while our own protections against government abuses continue to be dismantled, a growing number of states are adopting LEOBoRs—written by police unions—which provides police officers accused of a crime with special due process rights and privileges not afforded to the average citizen.</p>
<p>In other words, the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">LEOBoR protects police officers from being treated as we are treated during criminal investigations</a>: questioned unmercifully for hours on end, harassed, harangued, browbeaten, denied food, water and bathroom breaks, subjected to hostile interrogations, and left in the dark about our accusers and any charges and evidence against us.</p>
<p>Not only are officers given a&#160; <a href="" type="internal">10-day “cooling-off period”</a>&#160;during which they cannot be forced to make&#160;any&#160;statements about the incident, but when they are questioned, it must be “for a reasonable length of time, at a reasonable hour, by only one or two investigators (who must be fellow policemen), and with plenty of breaks for food and water.”</p>
<p>According to investigative journalist Eli Hager, the most common r <a href="" type="internal">ights afforded police officers accused of wrongdoing</a>&#160;are as follows:</p>
<p>+ If a department decides to pursue a complaint against an officer, the department must notify the officer and his union.</p>
<p>+ The officer must be informed of the complainants, and their testimony against him, before he is questioned.</p>
<p>+ During questioning, investigators may not harass, threaten, or promise rewards to the officer, as interrogators not infrequently do to civilian suspects.</p>
<p>+ Bathroom breaks are assured during questioning.</p>
<p>+ In Maryland, the officer may appeal his case to a “hearing board,” whose decision is binding, before a final decision has been made by his superiors about his discipline. The hearing board consists of three of the suspected offender’s fellow officers.</p>
<p>+ In some jurisdictions, the officer may not be disciplined if more than a certain number of days (often 100) have passed since his alleged misconduct, which limits the time for investigation.</p>
<p>+ Even if the officer is suspended, the department must continue to pay salary and benefits, as well as the cost of the officer’s attorney.</p>
<p>+ These LEOBoRs epitomize everything that is wrong with America today.</p>
<p>As Redditt Hudson, a former St. Louis police officer,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">noted</a>,</p>
<p>“We all know – either from personal experience or the experience of someone close to us – that there are officers that will violate citizens’ human rights and civil liberties with impunity and who are comfortable in the knowledge that the system will protect and cover for their actions… These inequities have led, inexorably, to the current national crisis in police-community relations – and the best way forward is to make sure we severely punish officers that violate the rights of the citizens they serve. They must be held accountable for their actions.”</p>
<p>Now once in a while, the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">system appears to work on the side of justice</a>.</p>
<p>Every so often, police officers engaged in wrongdoing are actually charged for abusing their authority and using excessive force against American citizens.</p>
<p>And occasionally, those officers are even sentenced for their crimes against the citizenry.</p>
<p>Yet in just about every case, it’s still the American taxpayer who foots the bill.</p>
<p>For example,&#160; <a href="http://data.baltimoresun.com/news/police-settlements/" type="external">Baltimore taxpayers have paid roughly $5.7 million since 2011</a>&#160;over lawsuits stemming from police abuses, with an additional $5.8 million going towards legal fees.</p>
<p>New York taxpayers have shelled out almost $1,130 per year per police officer (there are 34,500 officers in the NYPD) to address charges of misconduct. That translates to&#160; <a href="" type="internal">$38 million&#160;every year</a>&#160;just to clean up after these so-called public servants.</p>
<p>Over a 10-year-period, Oakland, Calif.,&#160; <a href="http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/investigation-reveals-east-bay-city-paying-out-ext/nFdWy/" type="external">taxpayers were made to cough up more than $57 million</a>&#160;(curiously enough, the same amount as the city’s deficit back in 2011) in order to settle accounts with alleged victims of police abuse.</p>
<p>Chicago&#160; <a href="" type="internal">taxpayers were asked to pay out nearly $33 million on one day alone to victims of police misconduct</a>, with one person slated to receive $22.5 million, potentially the largest single amount settled on any one victim. The City has&#160; <a href="" type="internal">paid more than half a billion dollars to victims</a>&#160;over the course of a decade. The Chicago City Council actually had to&#160; <a href="" type="internal">borrow $100 million just to pay off lawsuits arising over police misconduct</a>&#160;in 2013. The city’s payout for 2014 was estimated to be in the same ballpark, especially with cases pending such as the one involving the man who was reportedly sodomized by a police officer’s gun in order to force him to “cooperate.”</p>
<p>Over 78% of the funds paid out by Denver taxpayers over the course of a decade arose as a result of alleged abuse or&#160; <a href="http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=6138459" type="external">excessive use of force by the Denver police</a>&#160;and sheriff departments.</p>
<p>That’s just a small sampling of the most egregious payouts, but just about every community—large and small—feels the pinch when it comes to compensating victims who have been subjected to deadly or excessive force by police.</p>
<p>The&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">ones who rarely ever feel the pinch are the officers</a>&#160;accused or convicted of wrongdoing, “even if they are disciplined or terminated by their department, criminally prosecuted, or even imprisoned.”</p>
<p>In fact, police officers are&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">more likely to be struck by lightning</a>&#160;than be held financially accountable for their actions.</p>
<p>A study published in the&#160;NYU Law Review&#160;reveals that 99.8% of the monies paid in settlements and judgments in police misconduct cases&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">never come out of the officers’ own pockets</a>, even when state laws require them to be held liable. Moreover, these officers rarely ever have to pay for their own legal defense.</p>
<p>For instance, law professor Joanna C. Schwartz references a case in which three Denver police officers chased and then beat a 16-year-old boy, stomping “on the boy’s back while using a fence for leverage, breaking his ribs and causing him to suffer kidney damage and a lacerated liver.”</p>
<p>The cost to Denver taxpayers to settle the lawsuit: $885,000. The&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">amount the officers contributed: 0</a>.</p>
<p>Kathryn Johnston, 92 years old, was shot and killed during a SWAT team raid that went awry. Attempting to cover their backs, the officers falsely claimed Johnston’s home was the site of a cocaine sale and went so far as to plant marijuana in the house to support their claim.</p>
<p>The cost to Atlanta taxpayers to settle the lawsuit: $4.9 million. The&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">amount the officers contributed: 0</a>.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in Albuquerque, a police officer was convicted of raping a woman in his police car, in addition to sexually assaulting four other women and girls, physically abusing two additional women, and kidnapping or falsely imprisoning five men and boys.</p>
<p>The cost to the Albuquerque taxpayers to settle the lawsuit: $1,000,000. The&#160; <a href="http://www.nyulawreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/NYULawReview-89-3-Schwartz.pdf" type="external">amount the officer contributed: 0</a>.</p>
<p>Human Rights Watch notes that&#160; <a href="" type="internal">taxpayers actually pay three times for officers who repeatedly commit abuses</a>: “once to cover their salaries while they commit abuses; next to pay settlements or civil jury awards against officers; and a third time through payments into police ‘defense’ funds provided by the cities.”</p>
<p>Still, the number of times a police officer is actually held accountable for wrongdoing while on the job is miniscule compared to the number of times cops are allowed to walk away with little more than a slap on the wrist.</p>
<p>Trust me, this is a recipe for disaster.</p>
<p>“In a democratic society,” observed Oakland police chief Sean Whent, “ <a href="" type="internal">people have a say in how they are policed</a>.”</p>
<p>As I point out in my book&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Battlefield America: The War on the American People</a>, America is a constitutional republic, not a democracy, which means that “we the people” not only have a say in how we are policed—we are the chiefs of police.</p>
| 6,922 |
<p>Perhaps Gov. Jerry Brown’s campaign slogan&#160;is right: “California is back.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-california-unemployment-september-20141017-story.html?track=rss" type="external">Unemployment dropped to 7.3 percent in September</a>, down from 8.8 percent a year ago.</p>
<p>Except the national rate is 5.9 percent. So California clearly is just following the national recovery, slight as it is — albeit not as strongly. We’re still 1.4 percentage points higher than the national rate.</p>
<p>And California still is at <a href="http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm" type="external">sixth worst</a>, tied with Michigan and Tennessee. We’re nowhere near North Dakota, the best state, at 2.8 percent.</p>
<p>Of course, they have a shale-oil boom at the Bakken Formation.</p>
<p>But California has the Monterey Shale deposits, which a <a href="http://gen.usc.edu/assets/001/84955.pdf" type="external">2013 USC study</a>showed would, if developed, grow the state GDP could &#160;by as much as 14 percent; with state revenues increasing by 10 percent.</p>
<p>Brown did sign a bill allowing <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/21/california-fracking-bill_n_3965069.html" type="external">limited extra energy development</a>. But we haven’t seen much from that yet.</p>
<p>Beside which, state taxes and regulations remain the highest in the nation. You can’t create more jobs if you keep killing them.</p>
|
CA unemployment drops to 7.3%
| false |
https://calwatchdog.com/2014/10/20/ca-unemployment-drops-to-7-3/
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2018-10-20
| 3left-center
|
CA unemployment drops to 7.3%
<p>Perhaps Gov. Jerry Brown’s campaign slogan&#160;is right: “California is back.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-california-unemployment-september-20141017-story.html?track=rss" type="external">Unemployment dropped to 7.3 percent in September</a>, down from 8.8 percent a year ago.</p>
<p>Except the national rate is 5.9 percent. So California clearly is just following the national recovery, slight as it is — albeit not as strongly. We’re still 1.4 percentage points higher than the national rate.</p>
<p>And California still is at <a href="http://www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm" type="external">sixth worst</a>, tied with Michigan and Tennessee. We’re nowhere near North Dakota, the best state, at 2.8 percent.</p>
<p>Of course, they have a shale-oil boom at the Bakken Formation.</p>
<p>But California has the Monterey Shale deposits, which a <a href="http://gen.usc.edu/assets/001/84955.pdf" type="external">2013 USC study</a>showed would, if developed, grow the state GDP could &#160;by as much as 14 percent; with state revenues increasing by 10 percent.</p>
<p>Brown did sign a bill allowing <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/21/california-fracking-bill_n_3965069.html" type="external">limited extra energy development</a>. But we haven’t seen much from that yet.</p>
<p>Beside which, state taxes and regulations remain the highest in the nation. You can’t create more jobs if you keep killing them.</p>
| 6,923 |
<p />
<p>BOSTON (MA)Boston GlobeBy Ralph Ranalli and Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, 6/28/2003</p>
<p>Acknowledging victims' pain and promising to ''do everything possible'' to reach a settlement agreement soon, Bishop Richard G. Lennon apologized yesterday to victims of clergy sexual abuse for the church's failure to make an anticipated offer to settle hundreds of civil lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Boston.</p>
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<p>''I am sorry that the resolution is not at hand today,'' Lennon, the interim head of the archdiocese, said in a statement released by the archdiocese. ''I want to again restate my personal pledge to do everything possible to bring the settlement process to a just resolution. I continue to make this my first priority.''</p>
<p>Lennon raised victims' expectations last week when he told reporters at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in St. Louis that he hoped and believed a settlement offer would be made this week. Those expectations were dashed Thursday, however, when church officials announced that they had been unable to come to a financial agreement with their insurance companies, which are expected to contribute a major portion of any settlement.</p>
<p>''While significant progress has been made over the past few months toward a settlement, I appreciate for victim survivors that the fact that we are not at the conclusion of this process is the source of ongoing suffering and distress,'' Lennon said yesterday. ''This distress is shared by family members of survivors, as well as by the community at large, and by myself.</p>
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Contrite Lennon vows settlement is 'first priority'
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https://poynter.org/news/contrite-lennon-vows-settlement-first-priority
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2003-06-28
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Contrite Lennon vows settlement is 'first priority'
<p />
<p>BOSTON (MA)Boston GlobeBy Ralph Ranalli and Michael Paulson, Globe Staff, 6/28/2003</p>
<p>Acknowledging victims' pain and promising to ''do everything possible'' to reach a settlement agreement soon, Bishop Richard G. Lennon apologized yesterday to victims of clergy sexual abuse for the church's failure to make an anticipated offer to settle hundreds of civil lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Boston.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>''I am sorry that the resolution is not at hand today,'' Lennon, the interim head of the archdiocese, said in a statement released by the archdiocese. ''I want to again restate my personal pledge to do everything possible to bring the settlement process to a just resolution. I continue to make this my first priority.''</p>
<p>Lennon raised victims' expectations last week when he told reporters at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting in St. Louis that he hoped and believed a settlement offer would be made this week. Those expectations were dashed Thursday, however, when church officials announced that they had been unable to come to a financial agreement with their insurance companies, which are expected to contribute a major portion of any settlement.</p>
<p>''While significant progress has been made over the past few months toward a settlement, I appreciate for victim survivors that the fact that we are not at the conclusion of this process is the source of ongoing suffering and distress,'' Lennon said yesterday. ''This distress is shared by family members of survivors, as well as by the community at large, and by myself.</p>
| 6,924 |
<p>While it is not a part of NATO territory, the country of Moldova has been on the mind of NATO's General Philip Breedlove lately. He's specifically interested in a small region called Transnistria.</p>
<p>“The Russian forces now gathered are of sufficient size to pose a potential threat, not just to Eastern Ukraine, but also [to] the Transnistria region in Moldova,” said General Breedlove in a recent statement.</p>
<p>If you have never heard of Transnistria, sometimes <a href="stories/2014-03-24/transnistria-slice-cold-war-real-estate-and-even-its-name-dispute" type="external">referred to as Trans Dniester</a> — you're not alone.</p>
<p>Most of the world doesn’t recognize the state of Transnistria, which is considered a breakaway region of the Republic of Moldova.</p>
<p>“It’s a very small strip of land between Ukraine and Moldova and, actually, it’s an official part of Moldova,” said freelance journalist Mitra Nazar, who’s been reporting from the unrecognized capital, Tiraspol, of the unrecognized country.</p>
<p>Just before the Soviet Union collapsed, Transnistria decided to declare independence in 1990.&#160;“They didn’t want to be part of a Moldovan state that leans towards Romania,” said Nazar. “People in Transnistria feel way more Russian, so they declared independence, but were not recognized.”</p>
<p>That declaration of independence led to a civil war in Moldova, which lasted until a ceasefire in 1992.&#160;“They call it a 'frozen conflict' up until today,” said Nazar.</p>
<p>But Transnistrians have been paying particularly close attention to the situation happening just across the border in Ukraine, according to Nazar.&#160;“Since the annexation of Crimea, the atmosphere here in Transnistria has been ecstatic,” she said.&#160;</p>
<p>“People see it as a sign of hope. They believe that now they might be next. That’s very important for the people here, who have been waiting for reunification for the past 20 years. They want to be part of Russia more than anything else.”</p>
<p>One of the hopeful Transnistrians that Nazar spoke with is a pensioner who lives in the countryside.</p>
<p>“She lives under a very small pension with one goat, one pig, and some chickens for eggs,” said Nazar. “Her pension is small now and she knows that, in Russia, pensions are higher. She also hopes for the young generation.”</p>
<p>There’s not a lot of opportunity for young people in the unrecognized country.&#160;“It’s very small and it’s an unrecognized state,” said Nazar. “There’s no trade; there’s no future for young people, so they move away to Russia.”</p>
<p>The pensioner told Nazar that she hoped annexation by Russia would mean more investment in factories and jobs, so that young people would be able to stay in the region.</p>
<p>It's not clear what benefits Russia would gain from annexing the breakaway region.</p>
<p>“In the end, it all comes down to geopolitics,” said Nazar, “For 20 years, Russia hasn’t recognized Transnistria, mainly because Russia needs to keep some influence in Moldova, as well."</p>
<p>Moldova, which according to Nazar was pro-Russia years ago, now leans more towards the European Union. However, it still has many Russian speakers.</p>
<p>Would Russia dare to give up its influence in Moldova by annexing Transnistria? &#160;“People here dare to believe that they will,” said Nazar.</p>
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Where's Transnistria? And why do people there hope Russia will annex them next?
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https://pri.org/stories/2014-03-24/wheres-transnistria-and-why-do-people-there-hope-russia-will-annex-them-next
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2014-03-24
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Where's Transnistria? And why do people there hope Russia will annex them next?
<p>While it is not a part of NATO territory, the country of Moldova has been on the mind of NATO's General Philip Breedlove lately. He's specifically interested in a small region called Transnistria.</p>
<p>“The Russian forces now gathered are of sufficient size to pose a potential threat, not just to Eastern Ukraine, but also [to] the Transnistria region in Moldova,” said General Breedlove in a recent statement.</p>
<p>If you have never heard of Transnistria, sometimes <a href="stories/2014-03-24/transnistria-slice-cold-war-real-estate-and-even-its-name-dispute" type="external">referred to as Trans Dniester</a> — you're not alone.</p>
<p>Most of the world doesn’t recognize the state of Transnistria, which is considered a breakaway region of the Republic of Moldova.</p>
<p>“It’s a very small strip of land between Ukraine and Moldova and, actually, it’s an official part of Moldova,” said freelance journalist Mitra Nazar, who’s been reporting from the unrecognized capital, Tiraspol, of the unrecognized country.</p>
<p>Just before the Soviet Union collapsed, Transnistria decided to declare independence in 1990.&#160;“They didn’t want to be part of a Moldovan state that leans towards Romania,” said Nazar. “People in Transnistria feel way more Russian, so they declared independence, but were not recognized.”</p>
<p>That declaration of independence led to a civil war in Moldova, which lasted until a ceasefire in 1992.&#160;“They call it a 'frozen conflict' up until today,” said Nazar.</p>
<p>But Transnistrians have been paying particularly close attention to the situation happening just across the border in Ukraine, according to Nazar.&#160;“Since the annexation of Crimea, the atmosphere here in Transnistria has been ecstatic,” she said.&#160;</p>
<p>“People see it as a sign of hope. They believe that now they might be next. That’s very important for the people here, who have been waiting for reunification for the past 20 years. They want to be part of Russia more than anything else.”</p>
<p>One of the hopeful Transnistrians that Nazar spoke with is a pensioner who lives in the countryside.</p>
<p>“She lives under a very small pension with one goat, one pig, and some chickens for eggs,” said Nazar. “Her pension is small now and she knows that, in Russia, pensions are higher. She also hopes for the young generation.”</p>
<p>There’s not a lot of opportunity for young people in the unrecognized country.&#160;“It’s very small and it’s an unrecognized state,” said Nazar. “There’s no trade; there’s no future for young people, so they move away to Russia.”</p>
<p>The pensioner told Nazar that she hoped annexation by Russia would mean more investment in factories and jobs, so that young people would be able to stay in the region.</p>
<p>It's not clear what benefits Russia would gain from annexing the breakaway region.</p>
<p>“In the end, it all comes down to geopolitics,” said Nazar, “For 20 years, Russia hasn’t recognized Transnistria, mainly because Russia needs to keep some influence in Moldova, as well."</p>
<p>Moldova, which according to Nazar was pro-Russia years ago, now leans more towards the European Union. However, it still has many Russian speakers.</p>
<p>Would Russia dare to give up its influence in Moldova by annexing Transnistria? &#160;“People here dare to believe that they will,” said Nazar.</p>
| 6,925 |
<p />
<p>When the photographer Kristen Ashburn went to a township outside Harare in 2002, she came upon a woman carrying her grown son in her arms—intent on giving him a bath. For the past two years, 20-year-old Simba had been unable to walk or speak because an AIDS-related fungus had infected his brain. Taking care of him was a 24-hour job; even if she had been able to find employment in a nation where 75 percent are unemployed, and 34 percent are HIV positive, this woman could not have considered it. But statistics alone do not tell this story.</p>
<p />
<p>What Ashburn’s images convey is the tortured psychological reality behind them. A boy preparing coffins. Two children waiting for their sick mother to arrive. An aunt in grief for her nephew. A mother cradling her emaciated son. None of this is normal. What Ashburn’s haunting photographs may obscure, however, is that none of the people on these pages–no son, brother, sister, friend, lover—needed to die. I know of no photographer, journalist, or filmmaker who has traveled to sub-Saharan Africa and not been devastated by what they witnessed: people dying in genocidal proportions of a treatable disease. Last January, President Bush promised $15 billion, over five years, to sub-Saharan African nations and the Caribbean for AIDS prevention and treatment. Bush’s pledge appeared beneficent, but a third of the money he promised for 2004 did not materialize. Meanwhile, the U.S. government, in line with the pharmaceutical lobby, continues to push brutal, unfair drug patents on Third World nations, keeping life-sustaining medicines from 95 percent of the world. It has even worked to sideline the U.N.-backed Global AIDS Fund, which has endorsed cheap, high-quality generics. The fund is thus nearly bankrupt. It may come as a surprise to Americans that, in spite of the high-minded rhetoric, far less than 1 percent of African HIV patients are on anti-retroviral treatment today—an estimated 50,000 people—on a continent in which 34 million are infected.</p>
<p>Time will tell if the controversial WTO accord to export generics can improve access to treatment, but time, as these photographs make painfully clear, is a commodity that people with AIDS in Africa do not have. The Bush administration has also denied AIDS funding to African regimes it finds objectionable, including Zimbabwes. In an open letter to President Bush, T. Kujinga, founder of the Mutare-based AIDS organization, the Life Project, writes, “We are painfully aware that Zimbabwe is not listed as a recipient of the presidents philanthropy.” Zimbabweans are suffering under the double burden of a staggering HIV rate and President Robert Mugabe’s harsh policies, he adds, and “ought not to be excluded from any treatment initiatives…because of government to government hostilities.”</p>
<p>I wrote to Kujinga and received an extraordinary 12-page letter in reply. His story illustrates the maddening inaccessibility of treatment in Zimbabwe, even to the luckiest few who can afford it. Kujinga was a lawyer in private practice–a member of the elite. When a friend, whose wife had died from AIDS, became ill in 2001, Kujinga took him in with his two daughters. The friend soon died, and then, in August 2002, Kujinga discovered that one of the children was positive. “That was the beginning of my nightmare, and was to change my life and career.” What Kujinga then went through in search of anti-retroviral treatment for his daughter–“for that is what I consider her to be”–can only be described as surreal. He bought a months supply of a three-drug cocktail from a doctor, for which he paid $30, “a princely sum” (more than a third of his monthly salary), “but still affordable to a lawyer.” Over the next two months, prices doubled, but he was still able to purchase the cocktail from a local pharmacy. The next month the drugs became scarce, forcing Kujinga to turn to the South African black market to keep his daughter alive. Under Mugabe, Zimbabweans have seen not only massive human-rights violations, but economic devastation. Half the nation now needs food assistance. Inflation is approaching 700 percent. Just finding gasoline and getting to work is a terrible burden for most. Those few who can initially afford anti-retroviral treatment often cannot sustain it because of erratic supplies and hyperinflated costs. “Such an economic system,” he writes, “became a nightmare for me.” Kujinga soon gave up his legal practice to found the Life Project, which helps others find treatment. But he adds that most Zimbabwean AIDS activists are either indifferent to or do not know what anti-retrovirals are. “The situation is desperate and pathetic,” he writes. “People are dying without help and without hope. We now have more orphans than ever before. And our hospitals are flooded with pathetic skeletons of dead people walking.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>TK</p>
<p />
<p>Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and the wealthy wouldn’t fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.</p>
<p>Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation so we can keep on doing the type of journalism that 2018 demands.</p>
<p>Photographs by Malcolm Linton; Text by <a href="" type="internal">Madison Pauly</a></p>
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On Their Own
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https://motherjones.com/politics/2003/10/on-their-own-aids-africa/
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2018-11-01
| 4left
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On Their Own
<p />
<p>When the photographer Kristen Ashburn went to a township outside Harare in 2002, she came upon a woman carrying her grown son in her arms—intent on giving him a bath. For the past two years, 20-year-old Simba had been unable to walk or speak because an AIDS-related fungus had infected his brain. Taking care of him was a 24-hour job; even if she had been able to find employment in a nation where 75 percent are unemployed, and 34 percent are HIV positive, this woman could not have considered it. But statistics alone do not tell this story.</p>
<p />
<p>What Ashburn’s images convey is the tortured psychological reality behind them. A boy preparing coffins. Two children waiting for their sick mother to arrive. An aunt in grief for her nephew. A mother cradling her emaciated son. None of this is normal. What Ashburn’s haunting photographs may obscure, however, is that none of the people on these pages–no son, brother, sister, friend, lover—needed to die. I know of no photographer, journalist, or filmmaker who has traveled to sub-Saharan Africa and not been devastated by what they witnessed: people dying in genocidal proportions of a treatable disease. Last January, President Bush promised $15 billion, over five years, to sub-Saharan African nations and the Caribbean for AIDS prevention and treatment. Bush’s pledge appeared beneficent, but a third of the money he promised for 2004 did not materialize. Meanwhile, the U.S. government, in line with the pharmaceutical lobby, continues to push brutal, unfair drug patents on Third World nations, keeping life-sustaining medicines from 95 percent of the world. It has even worked to sideline the U.N.-backed Global AIDS Fund, which has endorsed cheap, high-quality generics. The fund is thus nearly bankrupt. It may come as a surprise to Americans that, in spite of the high-minded rhetoric, far less than 1 percent of African HIV patients are on anti-retroviral treatment today—an estimated 50,000 people—on a continent in which 34 million are infected.</p>
<p>Time will tell if the controversial WTO accord to export generics can improve access to treatment, but time, as these photographs make painfully clear, is a commodity that people with AIDS in Africa do not have. The Bush administration has also denied AIDS funding to African regimes it finds objectionable, including Zimbabwes. In an open letter to President Bush, T. Kujinga, founder of the Mutare-based AIDS organization, the Life Project, writes, “We are painfully aware that Zimbabwe is not listed as a recipient of the presidents philanthropy.” Zimbabweans are suffering under the double burden of a staggering HIV rate and President Robert Mugabe’s harsh policies, he adds, and “ought not to be excluded from any treatment initiatives…because of government to government hostilities.”</p>
<p>I wrote to Kujinga and received an extraordinary 12-page letter in reply. His story illustrates the maddening inaccessibility of treatment in Zimbabwe, even to the luckiest few who can afford it. Kujinga was a lawyer in private practice–a member of the elite. When a friend, whose wife had died from AIDS, became ill in 2001, Kujinga took him in with his two daughters. The friend soon died, and then, in August 2002, Kujinga discovered that one of the children was positive. “That was the beginning of my nightmare, and was to change my life and career.” What Kujinga then went through in search of anti-retroviral treatment for his daughter–“for that is what I consider her to be”–can only be described as surreal. He bought a months supply of a three-drug cocktail from a doctor, for which he paid $30, “a princely sum” (more than a third of his monthly salary), “but still affordable to a lawyer.” Over the next two months, prices doubled, but he was still able to purchase the cocktail from a local pharmacy. The next month the drugs became scarce, forcing Kujinga to turn to the South African black market to keep his daughter alive. Under Mugabe, Zimbabweans have seen not only massive human-rights violations, but economic devastation. Half the nation now needs food assistance. Inflation is approaching 700 percent. Just finding gasoline and getting to work is a terrible burden for most. Those few who can initially afford anti-retroviral treatment often cannot sustain it because of erratic supplies and hyperinflated costs. “Such an economic system,” he writes, “became a nightmare for me.” Kujinga soon gave up his legal practice to found the Life Project, which helps others find treatment. But he adds that most Zimbabwean AIDS activists are either indifferent to or do not know what anti-retrovirals are. “The situation is desperate and pathetic,” he writes. “People are dying without help and without hope. We now have more orphans than ever before. And our hospitals are flooded with pathetic skeletons of dead people walking.”</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>TK</p>
<p />
<p>Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and the wealthy wouldn’t fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.</p>
<p>Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation so we can keep on doing the type of journalism that 2018 demands.</p>
<p>Photographs by Malcolm Linton; Text by <a href="" type="internal">Madison Pauly</a></p>
| 6,926 |
<p>The White House said Friday that the federal government's budget deficit will drop to $583 billion this year, the lowest level of President Barack Obama's tenure.</p>
<p>Last year's deficit was $680 billion. The latest update from the White House budget office is also $66 billion less than the administration predicted earlier this year when releasing the president's budget.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Obama presided over trillion-dollar-plus deficits during his first term as the economy struggled to recover from a bad recession and financial crisis. Attempts to strike deals with GOP leaders such as House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio have failed, though Obama was successful in muscling through a tax hike on wealthier earners in early 2013. Tight spending on annual agency budgets is also responsible for lower deficits.</p>
<p>The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects an even lower deficit of $492 billion for the budget year ending Sept. 30.</p>
<p>The White House has also lowered its economic growth forecast for the current year to 2.6 percent, reflecting the unexpected 2.9 percent drop in gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year. Its earlier prediction was for a 3.3 percent hike in GDP.</p>
<p>Obama's March budget release called for a variety of tax increases and promised new help for the working poor and additional money for road-building, education and research. It also pulls back from controversial cuts to Social Security cost-of-living increases that had angered Democrats.</p>
<p>The unexpected White House release came as the Treasury Department announced separately that the government ran a surplus of $71 billion for the month of June.</p>
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White House projects 2014 deficit dropping to $583B, almost $100B less than last year
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http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/07/11/white-house-projects-2014-deficit-dropping-to-583b-almost-100b-less-than-last.html
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2016-03-09
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White House projects 2014 deficit dropping to $583B, almost $100B less than last year
<p>The White House said Friday that the federal government's budget deficit will drop to $583 billion this year, the lowest level of President Barack Obama's tenure.</p>
<p>Last year's deficit was $680 billion. The latest update from the White House budget office is also $66 billion less than the administration predicted earlier this year when releasing the president's budget.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Obama presided over trillion-dollar-plus deficits during his first term as the economy struggled to recover from a bad recession and financial crisis. Attempts to strike deals with GOP leaders such as House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio have failed, though Obama was successful in muscling through a tax hike on wealthier earners in early 2013. Tight spending on annual agency budgets is also responsible for lower deficits.</p>
<p>The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects an even lower deficit of $492 billion for the budget year ending Sept. 30.</p>
<p>The White House has also lowered its economic growth forecast for the current year to 2.6 percent, reflecting the unexpected 2.9 percent drop in gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year. Its earlier prediction was for a 3.3 percent hike in GDP.</p>
<p>Obama's March budget release called for a variety of tax increases and promised new help for the working poor and additional money for road-building, education and research. It also pulls back from controversial cuts to Social Security cost-of-living increases that had angered Democrats.</p>
<p>The unexpected White House release came as the Treasury Department announced separately that the government ran a surplus of $71 billion for the month of June.</p>
| 6,927 |
<p>Both MSNBC and CNN have devolved into a feeding frenzy over Rush Limbaugh’s crack last week about a Georgetown law student, with hosts on both networks scolding Limbaugh for his words and fantasizing the conservative radio powerhouse will get knocked off the airwaves. But an MRC review finds those networks had no negative reaction to far more vulgar and sexist language used by HBO host Bill Maher. Instead, both networks have hosted Maher repeatedly (12 times in the past year) in softball formats where the journalists ritually flatter the vulgarian: “Your show is brilliant,” “I love your show,” “You’re the funniest, smartest guy around.”If either CNN or MSNBC genuinely cared about the use of insulting language toward women,&#160; they could stop providing the vile Maher with a regular platform to promote his show and his left-wing views.[Warning: this article includes uncensored vulgarities to accurately represent what Bill Maher has said about conservative women.]Here’s what CNN’s Piers Morgan said about Rush Limbaugh on Friday: “Limbaugh’s disgusting comments are the work of an archaic old dinosaur living in a warped, ugly swamp, who thinks it’s okay to degrade decent young women for sport and ratings. Well, it isn’t it. Shame on you, Rush Limbaugh.”The next morning, NBC’s Today show brought on MSNBC host Al Sharpton to lambaste Limbaugh: “You can’t have him as a major spokesman in your movement and then he says something as offensive and misogynist as this.” Monday, on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, host Ed Schultz — who last year had to apologize after he called conservative radio host Laura Ingraham a “ <a href="" type="internal">slut</a>” — urged liberals to exploit Limbaugh’s use of the same term (also with an apology) to get his show cancelled. Schultz fantasized: “If there is a time to get him off the air, this is the push. I mean, if women in this country are serious about what they hear on the free airwaves of America, there’s no better time.”Now, here’s a rundown of some demeaning language used by Bill Maher in just a nine day period last March:■ On March 18, 2011, Maher, on his HBO show Real Time, employed a <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/03/19/bill-maher-calls-sarah-palin-dumb-vagina" type="external">crude term</a> for a female body part when talking about Sarah Palin: “Sarah Palin finally heard what happened in Japan, and she’s demanding that we invade Tsunami. I mean, she says, ‘These Tsunamians will not get away with this.’ Oh speaking of dumb twats....”</p>
<p />
<p>■ A week later, on his March 25 show, Maher insulted Palin and Michele Bachman as “ <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/03/26/after-nows-weak-response-dumb-vagina-maher-calls-palin-and-bachmann-b" type="external">bimbos</a>.” Talking about the GOP field, Maher argued: “If Bachmann and Palin get in, that’s two bimbos, and then there’s Mitt Romney, a millionaire, and Newt Gingrich, a professor. We just need a skipper and a buddy – we’ve got Gilligan’s Island.”■ Two days after that, on March 28, Maher employed <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/03/29/bill-maher-calls-sarah-palin-vagina-again-time-beginning-c" type="external">the C-word</a> in talking about Palin during a show in Dallas. According to a favorable review in the Dallas Voice: “It’s that fearlessness — he acknowledged that some people would probably be uncomfortable with some of his remarks about religion, not to mention calling Sarah Palin a ‘cunt’ (‘there’s just no other word for her’) — that makes Maher the most dangerous person in comedy.”But none of this prompted any of the scolding that has greeted Limbaugh’s transgression. In fact, in the days and months that followed, CNN and MSNBC cheerfully included Maher a dozen times as a guest in their line-up. Only Chuck Todd, filling for Chris Matthews on Hardball, brought up Maher’s vicious comments just one day after the day after his Dallas event: “Any regrets on what you said?” Maher, predictably, said he wasn’t sorry: “I’m not trying to hurt somebody’s feelings. But if you want me to say ‘I’m sorry, what I said was wrong,’ no, sorry, I can’t go there.”These demeaning comments have not caused the news networks to sour on Maher, as he continues to make regular appearances and receive pats on the back from CNN and MSNBC hosts:■ On March 22, 2011 — in the midst of his storm of nasty comments about conservative women, Maher appeared on CNN’s In the Arena. Host Eliot Spitzer did not ask about Maher’s “dumb twat” insult of Palin from four days earlier, or pose any hostile questions to Maher. Spitzer ended by genuflecting: “Your show is brilliant. I love watching it.”■ On March 29, 2011, Maher made his MSNBC Hardball appearance with Chuck Todd, as noted above. While Todd — unlike CNN’s Spitzer — did ask Maher about how he was “getting hammered in the conservative blogosphere, among a lot of conservative hosts” for his nasty comments about Palin and Bachmann, he was in no way judgmental. Todd ended that interview by publicizing both Maher’s upcoming show on HBO as well as appearances in Indiana and North Carolina. “Bill Maher, always entertaining to have you on.”■ On April 12, 2011, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow hosted Maher, and not once asked about his nasty comments about women. Instead of scolding Maher for his deplorable remarks, Maddow was thrilled to have him: “It is nice to see you....I’m very excited....Thank you so much for being on with us, Bill. It’s really nice to see you. Thank you.”■ On May 3, 2011, Maher popped up on The Joy Behar Show on CNN’s Headline News Network. Behar fawned over her guest: “I love your show. I watch you every week, and I really get irritated when they put you on hiatus.”■ On May 17, 2011, Maher showed up on MSNBC’s Hardball, where Chris Matthews touted him as their “star guest.” Maher trashed Michele Bachmann as a “frothing loon,” jabbing that “Bachmann is the candidate for people who find Palin too intellectual.”■ On June 14, 2011, CNN’s Anderson Cooper interviewed Maher about the GOP debate. Maher unleashed his usual invective, declaring that the Republican candidates “have just horrible, society-killing ideas about America.”■ On July 11, 2011, Maher appeared as a guest on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, and made the host laugh with a crude reference to Palin and Michele Bachmann. Morgan asked Maher about the GOP nomination: “If you had a choice, gun to your head, which one is it? Palin or Bachmann?”</p>
<p>Maher replied: “I would need a gun to my head. I hope Sarah Palin gets in so that they split the MILF vote.” MILF is an acronym for a “Mother I’d Like to Fuck.” The CNN host ended the interview by telling Maher: “May you remain gloriously uncensored on HBO...Love the show.”</p>
<p />
<p>■ On August 3, 2011, fill-in host Michael Eric Dyson had “the great Bill Maher” on MSNBC’s The Ed Show. Dyson touted Maher as “my very good friend.”■ On October 11, 2011, Maher returned to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show, which Maddow eagerly promoted. “The one and only Bill Maher is going to be here for an interview tonight,” she promised viewers. Talking about the radical Occupy protesters, Maher used the occasion to suggest violence against Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch: “If a brick came through Rupert Murdoch’s window, I have a feeling Fox News would be a lot more gentle on the Wall Street people....”■ On January 25, 2012, CNN’s Cooper brought Maher onto his show to talk about Obama’s State of the Union speech and the Republican nomination contest. During that interview, Maher made a derogatory reference to Mormons, predicting Romney would be the nominee and: “I think Obama is going to beat him like a runaway sister wife.” Cooper winced: “Geez, your runaway sister wife? I haven’t heard an LDS punchline in quite a while.”■ On February 27, 2012, Chris Matthews was thrilled to see Maher back on Hardball where he talked about the Republican “crazies” and “idiots.” “Hey, Maher, you’re the best,” Matthews flattered. “You’re the funniest, smartest guy around....Thank you, Bill Maher — you’re an Irish guy, too. Thank you for coming on.”■ That same night, Morgan interviewed Maher again, this time prompted by his $1 million donation to Obama’s SuperPAC. Maher mocked Christianity: “You’re allowed to have your opinion that a Palestinian 2,000 years ago walked on water and did magic tricks and was really —&#160; he’s really still his own father and all that stuff.” As always, Morgan was delighted: “Bill Maher, always a great pleasure.”Obviously, there’s a certain amount of show business in the media fawning over Bill Maher, but it underscores how utterly unbothered they are by his frequent, nasty comments about conservative women. With that as context, it’s hard not to see those networks’ flamboyant outrage at Rush Limbaugh as nothing more than opportunism by liberals out to destroy the most successful conservative in the media.</p>
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Hypocritical Cable Networks Eagerly Bash Rush But Embrace Crude Bill Maher
| true |
http://mrc.org/node/39344
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2012-03-06
| 0right
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Hypocritical Cable Networks Eagerly Bash Rush But Embrace Crude Bill Maher
<p>Both MSNBC and CNN have devolved into a feeding frenzy over Rush Limbaugh’s crack last week about a Georgetown law student, with hosts on both networks scolding Limbaugh for his words and fantasizing the conservative radio powerhouse will get knocked off the airwaves. But an MRC review finds those networks had no negative reaction to far more vulgar and sexist language used by HBO host Bill Maher. Instead, both networks have hosted Maher repeatedly (12 times in the past year) in softball formats where the journalists ritually flatter the vulgarian: “Your show is brilliant,” “I love your show,” “You’re the funniest, smartest guy around.”If either CNN or MSNBC genuinely cared about the use of insulting language toward women,&#160; they could stop providing the vile Maher with a regular platform to promote his show and his left-wing views.[Warning: this article includes uncensored vulgarities to accurately represent what Bill Maher has said about conservative women.]Here’s what CNN’s Piers Morgan said about Rush Limbaugh on Friday: “Limbaugh’s disgusting comments are the work of an archaic old dinosaur living in a warped, ugly swamp, who thinks it’s okay to degrade decent young women for sport and ratings. Well, it isn’t it. Shame on you, Rush Limbaugh.”The next morning, NBC’s Today show brought on MSNBC host Al Sharpton to lambaste Limbaugh: “You can’t have him as a major spokesman in your movement and then he says something as offensive and misogynist as this.” Monday, on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, host Ed Schultz — who last year had to apologize after he called conservative radio host Laura Ingraham a “ <a href="" type="internal">slut</a>” — urged liberals to exploit Limbaugh’s use of the same term (also with an apology) to get his show cancelled. Schultz fantasized: “If there is a time to get him off the air, this is the push. I mean, if women in this country are serious about what they hear on the free airwaves of America, there’s no better time.”Now, here’s a rundown of some demeaning language used by Bill Maher in just a nine day period last March:■ On March 18, 2011, Maher, on his HBO show Real Time, employed a <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/03/19/bill-maher-calls-sarah-palin-dumb-vagina" type="external">crude term</a> for a female body part when talking about Sarah Palin: “Sarah Palin finally heard what happened in Japan, and she’s demanding that we invade Tsunami. I mean, she says, ‘These Tsunamians will not get away with this.’ Oh speaking of dumb twats....”</p>
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<p>■ A week later, on his March 25 show, Maher insulted Palin and Michele Bachman as “ <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/03/26/after-nows-weak-response-dumb-vagina-maher-calls-palin-and-bachmann-b" type="external">bimbos</a>.” Talking about the GOP field, Maher argued: “If Bachmann and Palin get in, that’s two bimbos, and then there’s Mitt Romney, a millionaire, and Newt Gingrich, a professor. We just need a skipper and a buddy – we’ve got Gilligan’s Island.”■ Two days after that, on March 28, Maher employed <a href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/03/29/bill-maher-calls-sarah-palin-vagina-again-time-beginning-c" type="external">the C-word</a> in talking about Palin during a show in Dallas. According to a favorable review in the Dallas Voice: “It’s that fearlessness — he acknowledged that some people would probably be uncomfortable with some of his remarks about religion, not to mention calling Sarah Palin a ‘cunt’ (‘there’s just no other word for her’) — that makes Maher the most dangerous person in comedy.”But none of this prompted any of the scolding that has greeted Limbaugh’s transgression. In fact, in the days and months that followed, CNN and MSNBC cheerfully included Maher a dozen times as a guest in their line-up. Only Chuck Todd, filling for Chris Matthews on Hardball, brought up Maher’s vicious comments just one day after the day after his Dallas event: “Any regrets on what you said?” Maher, predictably, said he wasn’t sorry: “I’m not trying to hurt somebody’s feelings. But if you want me to say ‘I’m sorry, what I said was wrong,’ no, sorry, I can’t go there.”These demeaning comments have not caused the news networks to sour on Maher, as he continues to make regular appearances and receive pats on the back from CNN and MSNBC hosts:■ On March 22, 2011 — in the midst of his storm of nasty comments about conservative women, Maher appeared on CNN’s In the Arena. Host Eliot Spitzer did not ask about Maher’s “dumb twat” insult of Palin from four days earlier, or pose any hostile questions to Maher. Spitzer ended by genuflecting: “Your show is brilliant. I love watching it.”■ On March 29, 2011, Maher made his MSNBC Hardball appearance with Chuck Todd, as noted above. While Todd — unlike CNN’s Spitzer — did ask Maher about how he was “getting hammered in the conservative blogosphere, among a lot of conservative hosts” for his nasty comments about Palin and Bachmann, he was in no way judgmental. Todd ended that interview by publicizing both Maher’s upcoming show on HBO as well as appearances in Indiana and North Carolina. “Bill Maher, always entertaining to have you on.”■ On April 12, 2011, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow hosted Maher, and not once asked about his nasty comments about women. Instead of scolding Maher for his deplorable remarks, Maddow was thrilled to have him: “It is nice to see you....I’m very excited....Thank you so much for being on with us, Bill. It’s really nice to see you. Thank you.”■ On May 3, 2011, Maher popped up on The Joy Behar Show on CNN’s Headline News Network. Behar fawned over her guest: “I love your show. I watch you every week, and I really get irritated when they put you on hiatus.”■ On May 17, 2011, Maher showed up on MSNBC’s Hardball, where Chris Matthews touted him as their “star guest.” Maher trashed Michele Bachmann as a “frothing loon,” jabbing that “Bachmann is the candidate for people who find Palin too intellectual.”■ On June 14, 2011, CNN’s Anderson Cooper interviewed Maher about the GOP debate. Maher unleashed his usual invective, declaring that the Republican candidates “have just horrible, society-killing ideas about America.”■ On July 11, 2011, Maher appeared as a guest on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight, and made the host laugh with a crude reference to Palin and Michele Bachmann. Morgan asked Maher about the GOP nomination: “If you had a choice, gun to your head, which one is it? Palin or Bachmann?”</p>
<p>Maher replied: “I would need a gun to my head. I hope Sarah Palin gets in so that they split the MILF vote.” MILF is an acronym for a “Mother I’d Like to Fuck.” The CNN host ended the interview by telling Maher: “May you remain gloriously uncensored on HBO...Love the show.”</p>
<p />
<p>■ On August 3, 2011, fill-in host Michael Eric Dyson had “the great Bill Maher” on MSNBC’s The Ed Show. Dyson touted Maher as “my very good friend.”■ On October 11, 2011, Maher returned to MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow show, which Maddow eagerly promoted. “The one and only Bill Maher is going to be here for an interview tonight,” she promised viewers. Talking about the radical Occupy protesters, Maher used the occasion to suggest violence against Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch: “If a brick came through Rupert Murdoch’s window, I have a feeling Fox News would be a lot more gentle on the Wall Street people....”■ On January 25, 2012, CNN’s Cooper brought Maher onto his show to talk about Obama’s State of the Union speech and the Republican nomination contest. During that interview, Maher made a derogatory reference to Mormons, predicting Romney would be the nominee and: “I think Obama is going to beat him like a runaway sister wife.” Cooper winced: “Geez, your runaway sister wife? I haven’t heard an LDS punchline in quite a while.”■ On February 27, 2012, Chris Matthews was thrilled to see Maher back on Hardball where he talked about the Republican “crazies” and “idiots.” “Hey, Maher, you’re the best,” Matthews flattered. “You’re the funniest, smartest guy around....Thank you, Bill Maher — you’re an Irish guy, too. Thank you for coming on.”■ That same night, Morgan interviewed Maher again, this time prompted by his $1 million donation to Obama’s SuperPAC. Maher mocked Christianity: “You’re allowed to have your opinion that a Palestinian 2,000 years ago walked on water and did magic tricks and was really —&#160; he’s really still his own father and all that stuff.” As always, Morgan was delighted: “Bill Maher, always a great pleasure.”Obviously, there’s a certain amount of show business in the media fawning over Bill Maher, but it underscores how utterly unbothered they are by his frequent, nasty comments about conservative women. With that as context, it’s hard not to see those networks’ flamboyant outrage at Rush Limbaugh as nothing more than opportunism by liberals out to destroy the most successful conservative in the media.</p>
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<p>Photo by Nicolas Raymond | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
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<p>The stratospheric rise of Mike Lofgren’s “deep state” critique has been matched only by its meteoric fall into the pits of conspiracy theory and caricature. What started off as a potentially interesting analytical framework, which sought to spotlight the U.S. corporate-national security-intelligence apparatus, has quickly devolved into a cartoonish absurdity. This decline was predictable considering that the “deep state” analysis provided by Lofgren was such an expansive, vague concept from the start. The “deep state” framework lacked the nuance of previous versions of “elite theory” developed over the decades, so its adoption by various rightwing partisan stooges and conspiracy theorists doesn’t surprise me. We have now reached the point where the “deep state” rhetoric is no longer useful, and has even become harmful to informed political discourse on American politics.</p>
<p>I will say from the outset that I admire Mike Lofgren, a former Congressman, for drawing attention to the rise of corporate power and the ever-expanding, runaway military state. His book, <a href="" type="internal">The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government</a>, appears to be a genuine, heartfelt effort to fight back against the reactionary forces that control American politics. And his main concerns with the American political system are warranted. He is right to focus on the dangers of the growing national security state, coordinated largely through the NSA and other agencies, and to condemn their assault on citizens’ privacy rights. Lofgren adopts the metaphor of the panopticon to describe the security state, referring to Jeremy Bentham’s conceptual prison design, which was comprised of a circular structure with a central “watchman” tower. The structure is designed so that prisoners cannot tell whether a guard can see them at any given time, despite the central location of the tower, which suggests that the state could be watching you at any moment. <a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>The use of the panopticon as a symbol of the modern-day surveillance state is apt. The NSA, while not recording every phone call in the United States, keeps records of these calls, allowing for closer inspections of conversations on a case-by-case basis. Even if the state is not technically recording every word we speak, it always has its eye on the American people, and is ready to intervene at a moment’s notice. Drawing on the panopticon, Lofgren refers to the rise of “militarized authoritarianism” via the growing power of the U.S. intelligence apparatus, and I find it hard to disagree with him.</p>
<p>Lofgren is also right to emphasize other threats to American democracy. He laments the rise of corporate profiteering in the “War on Terror,” calling back to warnings from decades’ past about the U.S. military industrial complex. Corporate and political actors profit from hundreds of billions a year spent on a bloated “national security” state, at the expense of social spending on education, health care, and infrastructural needs. In an era of record inequality, the fixation of U.S. political and economic elites on militarism exacts a huge cost, draining much needed financial resources that could be allocated toward rebuilding the country and providing for the basic needs of the citizenry.</p>
<p>Finally, Lofgren’s concern with the rise of Wall Street power, which has coincided with the financialization of the U.S. economy, is timely and welcome. Financial deregulation is one of the greatest threats to our economy, and the failure of both political parties to limit the power of financial elites is one of the great tragedies of modern times. The American banking system has historically been a parasitic force in the American economy. Wall Street’s speculation on vital goods such as oil, housing, internet stocks, and other goods has fed stock market bubbles, the collapse of which wreak havoc on the economy and American workers, draining their retirement savings, and fueling the rise of unemployment and underemployment. Financialization undermines the economy – which is now largely driven by speculators and characterized by anemic to non-existent economic growth. What profit gains exist are now largely captured by financial and other corporate elites. Meanwhile, the masses of Americans find themselves working longer hours, with increased productivity, for stagnating to declining wages, amidst huge increases in cost-of-living via out-of-control health care and education costs.</p>
<p>Despite the serious and legitimate concerns that Lofgren raises, there are several serious problems with the “deep state” framework. These problems become harder to deny as Lofgren’s work gains prominence among American pundits, intellectuals, and political elites. Lofgren popularized the “deep state” term, referring to “a hybrid of national security and law enforcement agencies, plus key parts of other branches whose roles given them membership. The Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Justice Department are all part of the Deep State.” But the “deep state” concept lacked nuance and clarity, making it ripe for adoption by partisan hacks and conspiracy theorists. This is not to attack Lofgren for promoting a conspiracy theory, as he is clear in his book that he is providing an institutional analysis of the threats to American democracy. In fact, I find claims that Lofgren is a conspiracy theorist to be rather bizarre and ill-informed. If anything, his analysis comes off as somewhat tame within the broader intellectual history of elite theory, in that he fails to identify corporate capitalism as the primary threat to the U.S. economy and to the American public. Lofgren is no socialist or Marxist, and his analysis is somewhat pedestrian and conservative in that he eschews traditional efforts at institutional analysis that incorporate Marxian tools for spotlighting systemic repression such as alienated labor, economic determinism, hegemony, and commodity fetishism.</p>
<p>Because of the vague nature of the “deep state,” it has become a Rorschach test for American pundits and citizens alike. It is something upon which they can impute whatever beliefs or values they have. It can mean whatever one wants it to mean. Reactionary partisan hacks like Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, Andrew Napolitano, and Sean Spicer freely adopt the term to refer to allegedly pro-Obama elements within the U.S. government and intelligence apparatus. Hannity takes aim at “the liberal media” and “American intelligence agencies,” the latter of which he claims is dominated by a “deep state swamp of Obama holdover DC lifers” who are “hell-bent on destroying Trump.” Of course, Hannity has raised no concern with an emerging deep state swamp of Trump DC lifers populated by plutocratic billionaires, as the president moves to populate the federal bureaucracy with his preferred political supporters and hacks.</p>
<p>We have also seen the rise of conspiratorial rhetoric on “the left” regarding the ominous “deep state.” I’ll refrain from identifying any specific person by name (fratricide is not an endearing trait), but the depth of conspiracy-mongering “deep state” absurdity has clearly afflicted various leftist critics of the American political system. Over the last year, various leftists framed the “deep state” as a secret shadow government, impervious to any controls or regulation by elected officials. It is said to represent a miniature government within the larger government, and it is so nefariously effective that it ensures the American people have zero political influence over American politics. Forget about social movements or protests. They’re pointless. The secret paper-pushers of the “deep state” have already ensured that representation of the masses is a fiction. Don’t even bother with protest or social action – there’s really nothing you can do to promote progressive political change. Furthermore, forget about efforts to stifle U.S. militarism abroad. The “deep state” shadow government secretly pulls the strings of political officials such as Barack Obama, forcing him to escalate wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere, despite growing anti-war sentiment at home.</p>
<p>It should be clear from anyone who studies American history how absurd these claims are. While those on the left have long known that the U.S. political system is captured by corporate power and wealth, to suggest that social movement activism and opposition to the status quo are bound to fail is a horrifically misinformed position, and is contradicted by history itself. The last century of U.S. political activism demonstrates that large numbers of social movements were able to fundamentally transform American culture and politics, as seen in the women’s rights movement, the struggle for civil rights, the rise of modern environmentalism and the struggle against nuclear power, the successes of organized labor activism, the gay and lesbian rights movement, and numerous other progressive uprisings.</p>
<p>Furthermore, to claim that appointed “deep state” bureaucrats hold all the power in Washington, at the expense of elected officials, is equally outlandish. Lofgren doesn’t even try to make this claim in his book, as he refers to “deep state” operatives in the U.S. bureaucracy as largely “order-takers,” serving those who visibly hold power as elected officials or as heads of “national security-related” federal agencies.</p>
<p>Lofgren is right not to frame elected officials as slaves to faceless bureaucrats, and one can see the silliness of such depictions when looking at recent history. For example, looking at the case of the 2009 escalation of the war in Afghanistan, the troop “surge” (which occurred in phases throughout the year) was explicitly supported by Obama when he ran in the 2008 election. Furthermore, anyone closely paying attention to the news at the time could have recognized that the fight between Obama and General Stanley McChrystal (and other elements of U.S. military leadership) was not over whether to expand the war in Afghanistan, but over how quickly to escalate and drawdown the war, and over how many forces would be committed. In other words, the “fight” was over strategy and logistics, not principle or substance. It should be pointed out, by the way, that Obama won this logistical battle with the generals, announcing a smaller infusion of troops than McChrystal wanted, attached to a date (of 2011) in which a drawdown was supposed to begin. This deadline was opposed by the generals (for the story on the surge, see: Peter Baker, “How Obama Came to Plan for ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan,” New York Times, December 5, 2009).</p>
<p>I don’t mean to marginalize concerns that the U.S. is witnessing a creeping authoritarianism, via the growing strength of our institutionalized military-intelligence state. I agree that this is occurring, and is a serious threat to the country. But depictions of U.S. elected leaders as puppets of the bureaucracy – the latter of which retain all the power in U.S. politics – are outlandish caricatures of how the political system really works. Furthermore, we insult the victims of the fully-fledged dictatorships of the world by depicting Americans as suffering under some sort of comparable military dictatorship (remember the “deep state” terminology was originally developed in reference to Turkey). There is simply no equivalent in the United States to the mass torture and mass killings engaged in by brutal dictatorships of history run by Mubarak in Egypt, Assad in Syria, or Erdogan in Turkey, among others. Certainly the U.S. has its own unique and repressive version of a militarized police system, which has long been used to criminalize and suppress minorities and protesters. But to ignore the obvious differences between the U.S. and dictatorships regarding the presence of basic political freedoms to say what one wishes, and to openly disagree with government, is to engage in a distortion of epic proportions.</p>
<p>As an aside, it is also worth pointing out that the U.S. intelligence community is nowhere near as uniform as “deep state” conspiracies claim. Members of the U.S. “security” state have at times sought to pressure elected officials, with harmful effects on democracy. A few recent examples include the hysteria voiced by agencies like the CIA over Russia’s alleged interference in the U.S. election, and in which Democrats have claimed, without presenting evidence, that Vladimir Putin effectively threw the election in favor of Trump. Another example of wheeling and dealing by the intelligence community is the Afghanistan surge. It seems clear, despite Obama’s pro-surge inclinations, that the attacks from McChrystal and the U.S. military did create additional pressure on the Obama administration to escalate war.</p>
<p>Recognizing that the U.S. intelligence community and military apparatus have power in the political process, however, does not mean that these officials always serve state power or imperial interests. One can look no further than the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which represented a collective middle finger to the Bush administration from the intelligence community, on the issue of whether Iran was developing nuclear weapons. Members of the intelligence community were clearly angry at the egg left on their faces following the embarrassment that was the 2002 NIE, which sugar-coated the Bush administration’s case for war with Iraq. Subsequent historical accounts documented how the intelligence community, particularly analysts at the CIA, were bullied by high-level members of the Bush administration in the pre-war period to “get behind” the president and the war effort. The 2007 NIE represented a comprehensive effort on the part of the intelligence community to pump the breaks on Bush’s imperial war agenda, and it was effective in defusing the case for war. The push against war with Iran was not an isolated incident, either. It should be clear by taking a longer historical view recognizing the many intelligence analysts willing to question U.S. militarism and imperialism by leaking sensitive and classified information to the press. Whether one is talking about “Deep Throat” (Mark Felt) or Daniel Ellsberg in the Nixon era, or anonymous intelligence analysts feeding critical information to news outlets like Knight Ridder prior to the 2003 Iraq war, or more recent whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, the U.S. intelligence community is not all of one mind about U.S. militarism and empire.</p>
<p>As a scholar, I’ve struggled with the rise of “deep state” rhetoric in public discourse. Despite Lofgren raising legitimate points about the perversion of power in America, it’s not clear to me what additional analytical value comes with simply referring to U.S. intelligence agencies and the military apparatus as a “deep state.” Many intellectuals and scholars over the decades have offered a variety of “elite theory” frameworks that incorporate U.S. militarism and go well beyond simply examining the “security” related aspects of American plutocracy. So it’s unclear what additional insights Lofgren and his supporters are contributing. To provide a brief run-down of previous theoretical frameworks, consider the following:</p>
<p>In the 1950s, the sociologist C. Wright Mills warned of a “power elite” comprised of political, business, and military leaders. The American political system was captured, Mills warned, through a hegemonic system in which affluent Americans were socialized – as part of the upper-class – to embrace elitist political and economic beliefs, which later drove their decisions as they ran for, and took over major positions in government. Whereas Mills provided a way to understand how affluent Americans are socialized to embrace elite views (since they themselves are elites), no focus on the hegemonic powers of education, the mass media, and political propaganda appear in any serious way in Lofgren’s book.</p>
<p>In the late 1960s, political scientist Ted Lowi warned that the U.S. political process was dominated by a system of “clientelism,” in which multiple groups of economic elites – representing different industries and sectors of the economy, exercised control over specific aspects of public policy. Lowi’s description of multiple elites and various “subgovernments” driven by specific business groups was much more nuanced than Lofgren’s single “deep state,” which fails to discuss how various industries outside of Wall Street and military profiteers manipulate public policy.</p>
<p>In the early 1980s, the political scientist Charles Lindblom offered a compelling analysis of American power, in which he likened the capitalist marketplace to a prison. U.S. corporations exercised power over communities, much like Kings do over feudal serfs, by exercising ownership over the means of production in the U.S. economy. They command worker loyalty due to their ability to hire and fire Americans and provide basic benefits such as health care or 401k and pension benefits. But corporations also possess the power to destroy people’s lives via capital flight. Simply by threatening to leave a community and move factories abroad in pursuit of higher profits and weaker environmental regulations, corporations hold citizens hostage, and can destroy entire cities and states, in pursuit of ever-greater profits. The marketplace is a prison, Lindblom warned, because these corporations ultimately control the levers of the U.S. economy, and control the life outcomes of American workers.</p>
<p>Most recently, a cottage industry of empirical studies document precisely how business elites maintain control over public policy, utilizing the military state, Congress, the White House, and state and local government officials to pervert policy in favor of the interests of the wealthy. Notable in these studies are various books, including Daniel Butler’s Representing the Advantaged, Nicholas Carnes’ White Collar Government, Martin Gilens’ Affluence and Influence, Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson’s Winner-Take-All-Politics, Rebecca Thorpe’s The American Warfare State, and Martin Gilens’ and Ben Pages’ article, “Testing Theories of American Politics.” All these works provide far richer, nuanced documentation of how business elites manipulate policy outcomes in favor of the top 1 to 20 percent of American income earners.</p>
<p>To put it simply, elite theory has come a long way over the last half-century, and especially since the 2008 economic crash. Because of the explosion in the last decade of studies of elite power, we know more about the American plutocracy than ever before. Considering this new informational environment, Lofgren’s book provides an interesting reflection on the experiences of one man in Congress over the decades, and it is a welcome addition to the discussion of elitism in government. But it is not clear how much his “deep state” framework tells us about U.S. policy than we already knew.</p>
<p>I’ve refrained from referring to the “deep state,” seeing the term as more of a faddish framework for studying political power. The term’s value in political discourse appears to be dwindling, as various pundits caricature the original points offered by Lofgren. The concept has come to mean whatever people want it to mean, independent of any clear-headed analysis of the political power structure. Cliched references to the “deep state” will grow in coming months and years, but I’d suggest it’s time to start looking for a more coherent, informed analyses than what is being offered by various conspiracy theorists on the left and right.</p>
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Ditching the “Deep State”: The Rise of a New Conspiracy Theory in American Politics
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https://counterpunch.org/2017/03/24/ditching-the-deep-state-the-rise-of-a-new-conspiracy-theory-in-american-politics/
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2017-03-24
| 4left
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Ditching the “Deep State”: The Rise of a New Conspiracy Theory in American Politics
<p />
<p>Photo by Nicolas Raymond | <a href="" type="internal">CC BY 2.0</a></p>
<p />
<p>The stratospheric rise of Mike Lofgren’s “deep state” critique has been matched only by its meteoric fall into the pits of conspiracy theory and caricature. What started off as a potentially interesting analytical framework, which sought to spotlight the U.S. corporate-national security-intelligence apparatus, has quickly devolved into a cartoonish absurdity. This decline was predictable considering that the “deep state” analysis provided by Lofgren was such an expansive, vague concept from the start. The “deep state” framework lacked the nuance of previous versions of “elite theory” developed over the decades, so its adoption by various rightwing partisan stooges and conspiracy theorists doesn’t surprise me. We have now reached the point where the “deep state” rhetoric is no longer useful, and has even become harmful to informed political discourse on American politics.</p>
<p>I will say from the outset that I admire Mike Lofgren, a former Congressman, for drawing attention to the rise of corporate power and the ever-expanding, runaway military state. His book, <a href="" type="internal">The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government</a>, appears to be a genuine, heartfelt effort to fight back against the reactionary forces that control American politics. And his main concerns with the American political system are warranted. He is right to focus on the dangers of the growing national security state, coordinated largely through the NSA and other agencies, and to condemn their assault on citizens’ privacy rights. Lofgren adopts the metaphor of the panopticon to describe the security state, referring to Jeremy Bentham’s conceptual prison design, which was comprised of a circular structure with a central “watchman” tower. The structure is designed so that prisoners cannot tell whether a guard can see them at any given time, despite the central location of the tower, which suggests that the state could be watching you at any moment. <a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>The use of the panopticon as a symbol of the modern-day surveillance state is apt. The NSA, while not recording every phone call in the United States, keeps records of these calls, allowing for closer inspections of conversations on a case-by-case basis. Even if the state is not technically recording every word we speak, it always has its eye on the American people, and is ready to intervene at a moment’s notice. Drawing on the panopticon, Lofgren refers to the rise of “militarized authoritarianism” via the growing power of the U.S. intelligence apparatus, and I find it hard to disagree with him.</p>
<p>Lofgren is also right to emphasize other threats to American democracy. He laments the rise of corporate profiteering in the “War on Terror,” calling back to warnings from decades’ past about the U.S. military industrial complex. Corporate and political actors profit from hundreds of billions a year spent on a bloated “national security” state, at the expense of social spending on education, health care, and infrastructural needs. In an era of record inequality, the fixation of U.S. political and economic elites on militarism exacts a huge cost, draining much needed financial resources that could be allocated toward rebuilding the country and providing for the basic needs of the citizenry.</p>
<p>Finally, Lofgren’s concern with the rise of Wall Street power, which has coincided with the financialization of the U.S. economy, is timely and welcome. Financial deregulation is one of the greatest threats to our economy, and the failure of both political parties to limit the power of financial elites is one of the great tragedies of modern times. The American banking system has historically been a parasitic force in the American economy. Wall Street’s speculation on vital goods such as oil, housing, internet stocks, and other goods has fed stock market bubbles, the collapse of which wreak havoc on the economy and American workers, draining their retirement savings, and fueling the rise of unemployment and underemployment. Financialization undermines the economy – which is now largely driven by speculators and characterized by anemic to non-existent economic growth. What profit gains exist are now largely captured by financial and other corporate elites. Meanwhile, the masses of Americans find themselves working longer hours, with increased productivity, for stagnating to declining wages, amidst huge increases in cost-of-living via out-of-control health care and education costs.</p>
<p>Despite the serious and legitimate concerns that Lofgren raises, there are several serious problems with the “deep state” framework. These problems become harder to deny as Lofgren’s work gains prominence among American pundits, intellectuals, and political elites. Lofgren popularized the “deep state” term, referring to “a hybrid of national security and law enforcement agencies, plus key parts of other branches whose roles given them membership. The Department of Defense, the Department of State, the Department of Homeland Security, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Justice Department are all part of the Deep State.” But the “deep state” concept lacked nuance and clarity, making it ripe for adoption by partisan hacks and conspiracy theorists. This is not to attack Lofgren for promoting a conspiracy theory, as he is clear in his book that he is providing an institutional analysis of the threats to American democracy. In fact, I find claims that Lofgren is a conspiracy theorist to be rather bizarre and ill-informed. If anything, his analysis comes off as somewhat tame within the broader intellectual history of elite theory, in that he fails to identify corporate capitalism as the primary threat to the U.S. economy and to the American public. Lofgren is no socialist or Marxist, and his analysis is somewhat pedestrian and conservative in that he eschews traditional efforts at institutional analysis that incorporate Marxian tools for spotlighting systemic repression such as alienated labor, economic determinism, hegemony, and commodity fetishism.</p>
<p>Because of the vague nature of the “deep state,” it has become a Rorschach test for American pundits and citizens alike. It is something upon which they can impute whatever beliefs or values they have. It can mean whatever one wants it to mean. Reactionary partisan hacks like Sean Hannity, Newt Gingrich, Andrew Napolitano, and Sean Spicer freely adopt the term to refer to allegedly pro-Obama elements within the U.S. government and intelligence apparatus. Hannity takes aim at “the liberal media” and “American intelligence agencies,” the latter of which he claims is dominated by a “deep state swamp of Obama holdover DC lifers” who are “hell-bent on destroying Trump.” Of course, Hannity has raised no concern with an emerging deep state swamp of Trump DC lifers populated by plutocratic billionaires, as the president moves to populate the federal bureaucracy with his preferred political supporters and hacks.</p>
<p>We have also seen the rise of conspiratorial rhetoric on “the left” regarding the ominous “deep state.” I’ll refrain from identifying any specific person by name (fratricide is not an endearing trait), but the depth of conspiracy-mongering “deep state” absurdity has clearly afflicted various leftist critics of the American political system. Over the last year, various leftists framed the “deep state” as a secret shadow government, impervious to any controls or regulation by elected officials. It is said to represent a miniature government within the larger government, and it is so nefariously effective that it ensures the American people have zero political influence over American politics. Forget about social movements or protests. They’re pointless. The secret paper-pushers of the “deep state” have already ensured that representation of the masses is a fiction. Don’t even bother with protest or social action – there’s really nothing you can do to promote progressive political change. Furthermore, forget about efforts to stifle U.S. militarism abroad. The “deep state” shadow government secretly pulls the strings of political officials such as Barack Obama, forcing him to escalate wars in Afghanistan and elsewhere, despite growing anti-war sentiment at home.</p>
<p>It should be clear from anyone who studies American history how absurd these claims are. While those on the left have long known that the U.S. political system is captured by corporate power and wealth, to suggest that social movement activism and opposition to the status quo are bound to fail is a horrifically misinformed position, and is contradicted by history itself. The last century of U.S. political activism demonstrates that large numbers of social movements were able to fundamentally transform American culture and politics, as seen in the women’s rights movement, the struggle for civil rights, the rise of modern environmentalism and the struggle against nuclear power, the successes of organized labor activism, the gay and lesbian rights movement, and numerous other progressive uprisings.</p>
<p>Furthermore, to claim that appointed “deep state” bureaucrats hold all the power in Washington, at the expense of elected officials, is equally outlandish. Lofgren doesn’t even try to make this claim in his book, as he refers to “deep state” operatives in the U.S. bureaucracy as largely “order-takers,” serving those who visibly hold power as elected officials or as heads of “national security-related” federal agencies.</p>
<p>Lofgren is right not to frame elected officials as slaves to faceless bureaucrats, and one can see the silliness of such depictions when looking at recent history. For example, looking at the case of the 2009 escalation of the war in Afghanistan, the troop “surge” (which occurred in phases throughout the year) was explicitly supported by Obama when he ran in the 2008 election. Furthermore, anyone closely paying attention to the news at the time could have recognized that the fight between Obama and General Stanley McChrystal (and other elements of U.S. military leadership) was not over whether to expand the war in Afghanistan, but over how quickly to escalate and drawdown the war, and over how many forces would be committed. In other words, the “fight” was over strategy and logistics, not principle or substance. It should be pointed out, by the way, that Obama won this logistical battle with the generals, announcing a smaller infusion of troops than McChrystal wanted, attached to a date (of 2011) in which a drawdown was supposed to begin. This deadline was opposed by the generals (for the story on the surge, see: Peter Baker, “How Obama Came to Plan for ‘Surge’ in Afghanistan,” New York Times, December 5, 2009).</p>
<p>I don’t mean to marginalize concerns that the U.S. is witnessing a creeping authoritarianism, via the growing strength of our institutionalized military-intelligence state. I agree that this is occurring, and is a serious threat to the country. But depictions of U.S. elected leaders as puppets of the bureaucracy – the latter of which retain all the power in U.S. politics – are outlandish caricatures of how the political system really works. Furthermore, we insult the victims of the fully-fledged dictatorships of the world by depicting Americans as suffering under some sort of comparable military dictatorship (remember the “deep state” terminology was originally developed in reference to Turkey). There is simply no equivalent in the United States to the mass torture and mass killings engaged in by brutal dictatorships of history run by Mubarak in Egypt, Assad in Syria, or Erdogan in Turkey, among others. Certainly the U.S. has its own unique and repressive version of a militarized police system, which has long been used to criminalize and suppress minorities and protesters. But to ignore the obvious differences between the U.S. and dictatorships regarding the presence of basic political freedoms to say what one wishes, and to openly disagree with government, is to engage in a distortion of epic proportions.</p>
<p>As an aside, it is also worth pointing out that the U.S. intelligence community is nowhere near as uniform as “deep state” conspiracies claim. Members of the U.S. “security” state have at times sought to pressure elected officials, with harmful effects on democracy. A few recent examples include the hysteria voiced by agencies like the CIA over Russia’s alleged interference in the U.S. election, and in which Democrats have claimed, without presenting evidence, that Vladimir Putin effectively threw the election in favor of Trump. Another example of wheeling and dealing by the intelligence community is the Afghanistan surge. It seems clear, despite Obama’s pro-surge inclinations, that the attacks from McChrystal and the U.S. military did create additional pressure on the Obama administration to escalate war.</p>
<p>Recognizing that the U.S. intelligence community and military apparatus have power in the political process, however, does not mean that these officials always serve state power or imperial interests. One can look no further than the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, which represented a collective middle finger to the Bush administration from the intelligence community, on the issue of whether Iran was developing nuclear weapons. Members of the intelligence community were clearly angry at the egg left on their faces following the embarrassment that was the 2002 NIE, which sugar-coated the Bush administration’s case for war with Iraq. Subsequent historical accounts documented how the intelligence community, particularly analysts at the CIA, were bullied by high-level members of the Bush administration in the pre-war period to “get behind” the president and the war effort. The 2007 NIE represented a comprehensive effort on the part of the intelligence community to pump the breaks on Bush’s imperial war agenda, and it was effective in defusing the case for war. The push against war with Iran was not an isolated incident, either. It should be clear by taking a longer historical view recognizing the many intelligence analysts willing to question U.S. militarism and imperialism by leaking sensitive and classified information to the press. Whether one is talking about “Deep Throat” (Mark Felt) or Daniel Ellsberg in the Nixon era, or anonymous intelligence analysts feeding critical information to news outlets like Knight Ridder prior to the 2003 Iraq war, or more recent whistleblowers like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, the U.S. intelligence community is not all of one mind about U.S. militarism and empire.</p>
<p>As a scholar, I’ve struggled with the rise of “deep state” rhetoric in public discourse. Despite Lofgren raising legitimate points about the perversion of power in America, it’s not clear to me what additional analytical value comes with simply referring to U.S. intelligence agencies and the military apparatus as a “deep state.” Many intellectuals and scholars over the decades have offered a variety of “elite theory” frameworks that incorporate U.S. militarism and go well beyond simply examining the “security” related aspects of American plutocracy. So it’s unclear what additional insights Lofgren and his supporters are contributing. To provide a brief run-down of previous theoretical frameworks, consider the following:</p>
<p>In the 1950s, the sociologist C. Wright Mills warned of a “power elite” comprised of political, business, and military leaders. The American political system was captured, Mills warned, through a hegemonic system in which affluent Americans were socialized – as part of the upper-class – to embrace elitist political and economic beliefs, which later drove their decisions as they ran for, and took over major positions in government. Whereas Mills provided a way to understand how affluent Americans are socialized to embrace elite views (since they themselves are elites), no focus on the hegemonic powers of education, the mass media, and political propaganda appear in any serious way in Lofgren’s book.</p>
<p>In the late 1960s, political scientist Ted Lowi warned that the U.S. political process was dominated by a system of “clientelism,” in which multiple groups of economic elites – representing different industries and sectors of the economy, exercised control over specific aspects of public policy. Lowi’s description of multiple elites and various “subgovernments” driven by specific business groups was much more nuanced than Lofgren’s single “deep state,” which fails to discuss how various industries outside of Wall Street and military profiteers manipulate public policy.</p>
<p>In the early 1980s, the political scientist Charles Lindblom offered a compelling analysis of American power, in which he likened the capitalist marketplace to a prison. U.S. corporations exercised power over communities, much like Kings do over feudal serfs, by exercising ownership over the means of production in the U.S. economy. They command worker loyalty due to their ability to hire and fire Americans and provide basic benefits such as health care or 401k and pension benefits. But corporations also possess the power to destroy people’s lives via capital flight. Simply by threatening to leave a community and move factories abroad in pursuit of higher profits and weaker environmental regulations, corporations hold citizens hostage, and can destroy entire cities and states, in pursuit of ever-greater profits. The marketplace is a prison, Lindblom warned, because these corporations ultimately control the levers of the U.S. economy, and control the life outcomes of American workers.</p>
<p>Most recently, a cottage industry of empirical studies document precisely how business elites maintain control over public policy, utilizing the military state, Congress, the White House, and state and local government officials to pervert policy in favor of the interests of the wealthy. Notable in these studies are various books, including Daniel Butler’s Representing the Advantaged, Nicholas Carnes’ White Collar Government, Martin Gilens’ Affluence and Influence, Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson’s Winner-Take-All-Politics, Rebecca Thorpe’s The American Warfare State, and Martin Gilens’ and Ben Pages’ article, “Testing Theories of American Politics.” All these works provide far richer, nuanced documentation of how business elites manipulate policy outcomes in favor of the top 1 to 20 percent of American income earners.</p>
<p>To put it simply, elite theory has come a long way over the last half-century, and especially since the 2008 economic crash. Because of the explosion in the last decade of studies of elite power, we know more about the American plutocracy than ever before. Considering this new informational environment, Lofgren’s book provides an interesting reflection on the experiences of one man in Congress over the decades, and it is a welcome addition to the discussion of elitism in government. But it is not clear how much his “deep state” framework tells us about U.S. policy than we already knew.</p>
<p>I’ve refrained from referring to the “deep state,” seeing the term as more of a faddish framework for studying political power. The term’s value in political discourse appears to be dwindling, as various pundits caricature the original points offered by Lofgren. The concept has come to mean whatever people want it to mean, independent of any clear-headed analysis of the political power structure. Cliched references to the “deep state” will grow in coming months and years, but I’d suggest it’s time to start looking for a more coherent, informed analyses than what is being offered by various conspiracy theorists on the left and right.</p>
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<p>Every four years this happens to me again.&#160; My phone stops ringing, my emails aren’t returned, my liberal friends avert their gaze if we chance upon the same aisle at Safeway.</p>
<p>Was it something I said?&#160; Did I hog the mushroom dip and the Cote du Rhone at their last soire?&#160; Have I not been flossing?&#160; But then it hits me: they know I will not be supporting the Democratic nominee for President again.</p>
<p>Now, I am no Republican, and certainly not a centrist “Independent,” a euphemism for “I have no opinions—I am just here to shop.”&#160; No, I am, in a quite literal sense, a born Democrat.&#160; My parents actually met at the 1956 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and my birth announcement featured a little Donkey cartoon and said, “It’s a Democrat!” &#160;In the last three decades, though, I have voted for the Democratic nominee only once, and that, I here confess, was Obama in 2008.&#160; I have never voted for the Republicans, of course.&#160; Even this year, I sit eagerly eyeing the weather forecast, hoping that Tropical Storm Isaac will build to a Category 5 Hurricane, zero in on the Republican convention like some hapless trailer park, and confirm for me at last the existence of God.</p>
<p>But I have no patience for my liberal friends’ insistence on robotic support for Obama, or even for my progressive friends’ qualms about whether to remove their Obama bumper stickers.&#160; &#160;You could pick a topic absolutely at random to demonstrate Obama’s betrayal of his supposed “base,” but let’s look for now at just one, his record in the area of “National Security.”</p>
<p>Start with torture, kind of an important subject, at least in days past.&#160; Billions will be strewn along this interminable “campaign trail” without either candidate ever once stepping in that unmentionable topic, a practice candidate Obama denounced four years ago.&#160; Notwithstanding his order to close the CIA’s “black sites,” this President has nothing to crow about in the human rights department.&#160; As Prof. Alfred McCoy has <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175582/tomgram:_alfred_mccoy,_perfecting_illegality/" type="external">written</a>, Obama’s legacy here is two-fold: impunity at home and rendition abroad.</p>
<p>Meet the New Boss.&#160; Same as the Old Boss</p>
<p>At home, the “Justice” Department (evidently named by a staff comedy writer) has pursued a strict policy of blocking prosecutions of Bush-era torturers or architects of torture, and denying victims a chance for a day in court.&#160; This was no mean task, by the way. &#160;The Bush people had run their “enemy combatants” operation like Mafia dons muscling in on Vegas, with a network of CIA “black sites” &#160;on multiple continents, as well as an extensive “outsourcing” program to client torture states (those neoliberals, always sending American jobs abroad).</p>
<p>As the U.S. is a signatory to the 1994 Convention Against Torture, Obama was required by law to prosecute all acts of torture. And with him being a Constitutional law professor, I’m betting he knew that. &#160;He not only declined to do so (something about wanting to Look Forward Not Backward, which I have been unable to locate in the text of aforementioned Convention), but he even stopped other countries from trying to do anything.</p>
<p>As we <a href="" type="internal">know</a> from Wikileaks, Obama secretly collaborated with Congressional Republicans to block the Spanish judiciary from indicting six former Bush officials for torture. (Spain had a “universal jurisdiction” law governing crimes against humanity, under which they prosecuted Chilean dictator Pinochet, for example.) Now, Obama couldn’t have been blamed for Spain trying to do something that he himself was unwilling to do.&#160; We wouldn’t have expected him to order Spain around like a servant, Spain being its own country and all.&#160;&#160; (He is manifestly unable to order Israel around, and they’re on the federal payroll). So this was purely gratis.</p>
<p>Not even private contractors had to worry.&#160; When a conscience-stricken whistleblower revealed that a Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen Dataplan, arranged the CIA’s international “torture flights” ferrying “extraordinary rendition” prisoners to their foreign appointments, Jeppesen became the target of a lawsuit by some of the victims.&#160; Obama succeeded in crushing this effort in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.&#160; As Jane Mayer (one of the best journalists writing on this issue) wrote in The New Yorker,</p>
<p>An eleven-judge panel sided, 6-5, with lawyers working for Obama’s Justice Department, which essentially claimed that protecting state secrets is more important than protecting human rights. Amazingly, the Justice Department argued successfully that the entire subject of “extraordinary rendition”—dispatching torture (sic) suspects to other countries to be interrogated harshly—was so sensitive that it had to be hidden from the American public, to the point of barring its victims from seeking redress in court.</p>
<p>Let Them Eat Maple Syrup</p>
<p>No Obama supporter should be allowed near a voting booth before passing a written test on the case of Maher Arar.&#160; He was a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, the father of young children, who happened to be changing planes at JFK (not trying to enter the U.S.).&#160; By some typically shabby intelligence work, he was arrested by Bush’s agents, accused of having ties to Al Qaeda, and bundled off to Syria (yes, that Syria) for a year of torture in a cramped underground “coffin.”&#160; When his shattered psyche and body were released, he was returned to Canada.&#160; The Canadians acknowledged his innocence, apologized, and awarded him a multi-million dollar settlement in what was still an obviously inadequate compensation.</p>
<p>As for the Americans who did the dirty work?&#160; “We’re sorry. Your case raises too many sensitive security concerns.&#160; The Land of the Free is closed today.&#160; Please try your call again later.”</p>
<p>Obama weighed in on Arar’s case in 2010, arguing successfully against a Supreme Court hearing, and ensuring that Arar will never have his day in a U.S. courtroom.&#160; As the Center for Constitutional Rights <a href="http://www.ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/obama-administration-sides-bush-doj%2C-asks-supreme-court-keep-canadian-rendit" type="external">wrote</a></p>
<p>The Obama administration could have settled the case, recognizing the wrongs done to Mr. Arar – as Canada itself has done. Yet it chose to come to the defense of Bush administration officials, arguing that even if they conspired to send Maher Arar to torture, they should not be held accountable by the judiciary.</p>
<p>They All Look Alike</p>
<p>Then there was the case of Khaled el Masri, a German citizen trying to go on holiday in Macedonia in 2003.&#160; But he had the twin problems of 1. Being a Muslim and 2. Having one of those funny names that sounded kind of like another guy we were looking for. So, instead of seeing Galichnik National Park, Khaled got a surprise tourist package courtesy of the CIA.&#160; First, he was interrogated for 23 days in a Macedonia hotel. By this time, they suspected they had the wrong guy, but under orders from CIA headquarters, as The New Yorker &#160;reported, “he was handcuffed, blindfolded, driven to an airport, severely beaten, stripped, anally probed, dressed in a diaper and tracksuit, placed on a plane, drugged, and flown to Afghanistan, where he was imprisoned for more than four months.” Your standard “Rendition” fare.&#160; &#160;As Jane Mayer wrote, “Masri says that he was chained in a freezing cell with no bed, and given water so putrid that he could smell it across the room. He was threatened and stripped, and could hear other detainees crying all around him.”&#160; After going on a hunger strike, and losing sixty pounds, he was finally released after being flown, handcuffed and blindfolded, to Albania.</p>
<p>Obama continues to maintain that the very existence of the Renditions program is a state secret, blocking Khaled el-Masri’s access to an American courtroom.&#160; The CIA officer involved in the case has twice been promoted. According to Mayer, “no criminal charges have ever been brought against any C.I.A. officer involved in the torture program, despite the fact that at least three prisoners interrogated by agency personnel died as the result of mistreatment.” Last year, as Alfred McCoy writes,</p>
<p>Attorney General Eric Holder announced an end to any investigation of harsh CIA interrogations and to the possibility of bringing any of the CIA torturers to court. (Consider it striking, then, that the only “torture” case brought to court by the administration involved a former CIA agent, John Kiriakou, who had leaked the names of some torturers.)</p>
<p>That would be in keeping with Obama’s policy of going after not the criminals, but only the whistleblowers, like Bradley Manning, Wikileaks, Thomas Drake (look him up), etc.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in places like Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, the Obama administration continues to avail itself of the services of its allies, who it knows are committing systematic torture.&#160; McCoy again:</p>
<p>As the CIA expanded covert operations inside Somalia under Obama, its renditions of terror suspects from neighboring East African nations continued just as they had under Bush. In July 2009, for example, Kenyan police snatched an al-Qaeda suspect, Ahmed Abdullahi Hassan, from a Nairobi slum and delivered him to that city’s airport for a CIA flight to Mogadishu. There he joined dozens of prisoners grabbed off the streets of Kenya inside “The Hole” — a filthy underground prison buried in the windowless basement of Somalia’s National Security Agency. While Somali guards (paid for with U.S. funds) ran the prison, CIA operatives, reported the Nation’s Jeremy Scahill, have open access for extended interrogation.</p>
<p>“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; George Orwell, “Notes on Nationalism”</p>
<p>In a society as coarsened as ours, saturated in violent media spectacle, it was only a matter of time before Jack Bauer torturing the stuffing out of some sorry-assed terrorist would need some jazzing-up.&#160; Which is why the Good Lord gave us Predator drones! &#160;&#160;Now, instead of having to capture all those suspects, and go to the trouble and expense of flying them around for torture sessions, we just call in the Predators, or the even nastier Reaper drones, and bring on the Hellfire missiles.&#160; (Is there a secret committee of deranged televangelists that thinks up these names?&#160; I am just curious.)&#160;&#160; Under this new program, which grew dramatically under Obama, now we just kill people.&#160; The funny thing is, Americans don’t seem very interested in the new spectator sport yet. What’s up here?</p>
<p>John Pilger brings up an interesting fact, writing that “in the week Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he ordered bombing attacks on Yemen, killing a reported 63 people, 28 of them children.”</p>
<p>Did anyone else miss this besides me?&#160; I am sorry, but I think that if Martin Luther King had killed 28 children the same week he won the Nobel Peace Prize, it would have made the papers.</p>
<p>There is something very creepy about how little people seem to know or care about this new techno video game form of warfare.&#160; Jane Mayer, writing in 2009, noted that</p>
<p>…the embrace of the Predator program has occurred with remarkably little public discussion, given that it represents a radically new and geographically unbounded use of state-sanctioned lethal force. And, because of the C.I.A. program’s secrecy, there is no visible system of accountability in place, despite the fact that the agency has killed many civilians inside a politically fragile, nuclear-armed country with which the U.S. is not at war.</p>
<p>From fewer than fifty drones in 2000, the Pentagon now has more than 7,500.&#160; This is clearly what they intend to be the new way of doing business.&#160; And we don’t even know what the price tag is.&#160; As Medea Benjamin notes in her recent book <a href="" type="internal">Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control</a>, “At the height of government deficit-reducing cuts in 2012, the US taxpayer was shelling out $3.9 billion for the procurement of unmanned aircraft, not counting the separate drone budgets for the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security.”</p>
<p>“Sentence First, Verdict Later!”</p>
<p>(The Queen of Hearts, Alice in Wonderland)&#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160;&#160;</p>
<p>But Obama, mustering ever more “audacity,” has extended the drone war to target the very Constitution itself.&#160;&#160; Last year he authorized–and carried out—the execution of three U.S. citizens, without charge or trial.&#160; The three were Anwar Al-Awlaki, Samir Khan, and Anwar’s sixteen year-old son Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki (there are those funny names again).&#160; All were put on a government “kill list” and assassinated in drone strikes in Yemen. Other bystanders, including another teenager, were also killed in the attacks. &#160;&#160;(All military-age males in a target zone get counted as combatants unless there is specific intelligence posthumously proving they were innocent.)</p>
<p>This is from the Center for Constitutional Rights:</p>
<p>“When a 16 year-old boy who has never been charged with a crime nor ever alleged to have committed a violent act is blown to pieces by U.S. missiles, alarm bells should go off,” said CCR Senior Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei. “The U.S. program of sending drones into countries in and against which it is not at war and eliminating so-called enemies on the basis of executive memos and conference calls is illegal, out of control, and must end.”</p>
<p>Call me old-fashioned, but I think that all Democrats should be able to agree on that.&#160; Which in a sane country would raise the question of whether Obama should be impeached, rather than re-elected.&#160; But we live in this country, don’t we?&#160; And in this country, earnest liberal-minded people feel they must concentrate on stopping Mitt Romney, or there will soon be public beheadings of Planned Parenthood workers, and all that.&#160; What I am wondering is this: is there no limit, beyond which Democrats will not support Obama?&#160; Beyond which they just have to say, “Not with my vote–Not in my name?”</p>
<p>But we are sooooo far from that.&#160; I think we are mostly like Orwell’s “nationalist,” never even hearing about the atrocities of our own side.&#160; Like victims of&#160; Dementor attacks in Harry Potter, our very souls are being sucked out by the endless series of compromises and adjustments to an ever more debased and violent National Security State.&#160; Swept up by the inexorable gravitational pull of unlimited corporate money, we have lost our political parties, our res publica, the commons.&#160; The means of mass communication, in their ever-growing sophistication, are deployed as the tools of human consciousness production, and are used only to distract us, stimulate consumer demand, misinform, disempower.&#160; &#160;&#160;We don’t denounce Obama’s crimes because we’ve already forgotten about them, or—more likely—we never heard about them in the first place.&#160; They weren’t talking about them on The View.&#160; &#160;Everyone on NPR seems to think things are okay, and if they aren’t, we can start an Internet petition and Obama will do better in his second term. He certainly seems like a nice man, and he’s trying to do the right thing.&#160; He’ll come around. &#160;&#160;Plus, he sings just like Al Green.</p>
<p>Fortunately for most of my liberal friends, they won’t have to agonize too much about their vote, because they live out here on the Commie West Coast, and the Electoral College has already nullified their importance in the grand scheme of things.&#160; It will all come down to a few people in the divided “swing states,” like that Mormon bastion of Nevada, best known for its gambling and legalized prostitution (you gotta love this country!)&#160; You all vote for Obama if you wish.</p>
<p>But they’ll have to waterboard me.</p>
<p>Tom Wright lives in Olympia, Washington. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>, or, in the near future, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba</p>
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The Soul Suckers of Endless Compromise
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2012/08/31/the-soul-suckers-of-endless-compromise/
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2012-08-31
| 4left
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The Soul Suckers of Endless Compromise
<p>Every four years this happens to me again.&#160; My phone stops ringing, my emails aren’t returned, my liberal friends avert their gaze if we chance upon the same aisle at Safeway.</p>
<p>Was it something I said?&#160; Did I hog the mushroom dip and the Cote du Rhone at their last soire?&#160; Have I not been flossing?&#160; But then it hits me: they know I will not be supporting the Democratic nominee for President again.</p>
<p>Now, I am no Republican, and certainly not a centrist “Independent,” a euphemism for “I have no opinions—I am just here to shop.”&#160; No, I am, in a quite literal sense, a born Democrat.&#160; My parents actually met at the 1956 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and my birth announcement featured a little Donkey cartoon and said, “It’s a Democrat!” &#160;In the last three decades, though, I have voted for the Democratic nominee only once, and that, I here confess, was Obama in 2008.&#160; I have never voted for the Republicans, of course.&#160; Even this year, I sit eagerly eyeing the weather forecast, hoping that Tropical Storm Isaac will build to a Category 5 Hurricane, zero in on the Republican convention like some hapless trailer park, and confirm for me at last the existence of God.</p>
<p>But I have no patience for my liberal friends’ insistence on robotic support for Obama, or even for my progressive friends’ qualms about whether to remove their Obama bumper stickers.&#160; &#160;You could pick a topic absolutely at random to demonstrate Obama’s betrayal of his supposed “base,” but let’s look for now at just one, his record in the area of “National Security.”</p>
<p>Start with torture, kind of an important subject, at least in days past.&#160; Billions will be strewn along this interminable “campaign trail” without either candidate ever once stepping in that unmentionable topic, a practice candidate Obama denounced four years ago.&#160; Notwithstanding his order to close the CIA’s “black sites,” this President has nothing to crow about in the human rights department.&#160; As Prof. Alfred McCoy has <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175582/tomgram:_alfred_mccoy,_perfecting_illegality/" type="external">written</a>, Obama’s legacy here is two-fold: impunity at home and rendition abroad.</p>
<p>Meet the New Boss.&#160; Same as the Old Boss</p>
<p>At home, the “Justice” Department (evidently named by a staff comedy writer) has pursued a strict policy of blocking prosecutions of Bush-era torturers or architects of torture, and denying victims a chance for a day in court.&#160; This was no mean task, by the way. &#160;The Bush people had run their “enemy combatants” operation like Mafia dons muscling in on Vegas, with a network of CIA “black sites” &#160;on multiple continents, as well as an extensive “outsourcing” program to client torture states (those neoliberals, always sending American jobs abroad).</p>
<p>As the U.S. is a signatory to the 1994 Convention Against Torture, Obama was required by law to prosecute all acts of torture. And with him being a Constitutional law professor, I’m betting he knew that. &#160;He not only declined to do so (something about wanting to Look Forward Not Backward, which I have been unable to locate in the text of aforementioned Convention), but he even stopped other countries from trying to do anything.</p>
<p>As we <a href="" type="internal">know</a> from Wikileaks, Obama secretly collaborated with Congressional Republicans to block the Spanish judiciary from indicting six former Bush officials for torture. (Spain had a “universal jurisdiction” law governing crimes against humanity, under which they prosecuted Chilean dictator Pinochet, for example.) Now, Obama couldn’t have been blamed for Spain trying to do something that he himself was unwilling to do.&#160; We wouldn’t have expected him to order Spain around like a servant, Spain being its own country and all.&#160;&#160; (He is manifestly unable to order Israel around, and they’re on the federal payroll). So this was purely gratis.</p>
<p>Not even private contractors had to worry.&#160; When a conscience-stricken whistleblower revealed that a Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen Dataplan, arranged the CIA’s international “torture flights” ferrying “extraordinary rendition” prisoners to their foreign appointments, Jeppesen became the target of a lawsuit by some of the victims.&#160; Obama succeeded in crushing this effort in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.&#160; As Jane Mayer (one of the best journalists writing on this issue) wrote in The New Yorker,</p>
<p>An eleven-judge panel sided, 6-5, with lawyers working for Obama’s Justice Department, which essentially claimed that protecting state secrets is more important than protecting human rights. Amazingly, the Justice Department argued successfully that the entire subject of “extraordinary rendition”—dispatching torture (sic) suspects to other countries to be interrogated harshly—was so sensitive that it had to be hidden from the American public, to the point of barring its victims from seeking redress in court.</p>
<p>Let Them Eat Maple Syrup</p>
<p>No Obama supporter should be allowed near a voting booth before passing a written test on the case of Maher Arar.&#160; He was a Syrian-born Canadian citizen, the father of young children, who happened to be changing planes at JFK (not trying to enter the U.S.).&#160; By some typically shabby intelligence work, he was arrested by Bush’s agents, accused of having ties to Al Qaeda, and bundled off to Syria (yes, that Syria) for a year of torture in a cramped underground “coffin.”&#160; When his shattered psyche and body were released, he was returned to Canada.&#160; The Canadians acknowledged his innocence, apologized, and awarded him a multi-million dollar settlement in what was still an obviously inadequate compensation.</p>
<p>As for the Americans who did the dirty work?&#160; “We’re sorry. Your case raises too many sensitive security concerns.&#160; The Land of the Free is closed today.&#160; Please try your call again later.”</p>
<p>Obama weighed in on Arar’s case in 2010, arguing successfully against a Supreme Court hearing, and ensuring that Arar will never have his day in a U.S. courtroom.&#160; As the Center for Constitutional Rights <a href="http://www.ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/obama-administration-sides-bush-doj%2C-asks-supreme-court-keep-canadian-rendit" type="external">wrote</a></p>
<p>The Obama administration could have settled the case, recognizing the wrongs done to Mr. Arar – as Canada itself has done. Yet it chose to come to the defense of Bush administration officials, arguing that even if they conspired to send Maher Arar to torture, they should not be held accountable by the judiciary.</p>
<p>They All Look Alike</p>
<p>Then there was the case of Khaled el Masri, a German citizen trying to go on holiday in Macedonia in 2003.&#160; But he had the twin problems of 1. Being a Muslim and 2. Having one of those funny names that sounded kind of like another guy we were looking for. So, instead of seeing Galichnik National Park, Khaled got a surprise tourist package courtesy of the CIA.&#160; First, he was interrogated for 23 days in a Macedonia hotel. By this time, they suspected they had the wrong guy, but under orders from CIA headquarters, as The New Yorker &#160;reported, “he was handcuffed, blindfolded, driven to an airport, severely beaten, stripped, anally probed, dressed in a diaper and tracksuit, placed on a plane, drugged, and flown to Afghanistan, where he was imprisoned for more than four months.” Your standard “Rendition” fare.&#160; &#160;As Jane Mayer wrote, “Masri says that he was chained in a freezing cell with no bed, and given water so putrid that he could smell it across the room. He was threatened and stripped, and could hear other detainees crying all around him.”&#160; After going on a hunger strike, and losing sixty pounds, he was finally released after being flown, handcuffed and blindfolded, to Albania.</p>
<p>Obama continues to maintain that the very existence of the Renditions program is a state secret, blocking Khaled el-Masri’s access to an American courtroom.&#160; The CIA officer involved in the case has twice been promoted. According to Mayer, “no criminal charges have ever been brought against any C.I.A. officer involved in the torture program, despite the fact that at least three prisoners interrogated by agency personnel died as the result of mistreatment.” Last year, as Alfred McCoy writes,</p>
<p>Attorney General Eric Holder announced an end to any investigation of harsh CIA interrogations and to the possibility of bringing any of the CIA torturers to court. (Consider it striking, then, that the only “torture” case brought to court by the administration involved a former CIA agent, John Kiriakou, who had leaked the names of some torturers.)</p>
<p>That would be in keeping with Obama’s policy of going after not the criminals, but only the whistleblowers, like Bradley Manning, Wikileaks, Thomas Drake (look him up), etc.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, in places like Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, the Obama administration continues to avail itself of the services of its allies, who it knows are committing systematic torture.&#160; McCoy again:</p>
<p>As the CIA expanded covert operations inside Somalia under Obama, its renditions of terror suspects from neighboring East African nations continued just as they had under Bush. In July 2009, for example, Kenyan police snatched an al-Qaeda suspect, Ahmed Abdullahi Hassan, from a Nairobi slum and delivered him to that city’s airport for a CIA flight to Mogadishu. There he joined dozens of prisoners grabbed off the streets of Kenya inside “The Hole” — a filthy underground prison buried in the windowless basement of Somalia’s National Security Agency. While Somali guards (paid for with U.S. funds) ran the prison, CIA operatives, reported the Nation’s Jeremy Scahill, have open access for extended interrogation.</p>
<p>“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.”</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; George Orwell, “Notes on Nationalism”</p>
<p>In a society as coarsened as ours, saturated in violent media spectacle, it was only a matter of time before Jack Bauer torturing the stuffing out of some sorry-assed terrorist would need some jazzing-up.&#160; Which is why the Good Lord gave us Predator drones! &#160;&#160;Now, instead of having to capture all those suspects, and go to the trouble and expense of flying them around for torture sessions, we just call in the Predators, or the even nastier Reaper drones, and bring on the Hellfire missiles.&#160; (Is there a secret committee of deranged televangelists that thinks up these names?&#160; I am just curious.)&#160;&#160; Under this new program, which grew dramatically under Obama, now we just kill people.&#160; The funny thing is, Americans don’t seem very interested in the new spectator sport yet. What’s up here?</p>
<p>John Pilger brings up an interesting fact, writing that “in the week Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he ordered bombing attacks on Yemen, killing a reported 63 people, 28 of them children.”</p>
<p>Did anyone else miss this besides me?&#160; I am sorry, but I think that if Martin Luther King had killed 28 children the same week he won the Nobel Peace Prize, it would have made the papers.</p>
<p>There is something very creepy about how little people seem to know or care about this new techno video game form of warfare.&#160; Jane Mayer, writing in 2009, noted that</p>
<p>…the embrace of the Predator program has occurred with remarkably little public discussion, given that it represents a radically new and geographically unbounded use of state-sanctioned lethal force. And, because of the C.I.A. program’s secrecy, there is no visible system of accountability in place, despite the fact that the agency has killed many civilians inside a politically fragile, nuclear-armed country with which the U.S. is not at war.</p>
<p>From fewer than fifty drones in 2000, the Pentagon now has more than 7,500.&#160; This is clearly what they intend to be the new way of doing business.&#160; And we don’t even know what the price tag is.&#160; As Medea Benjamin notes in her recent book <a href="" type="internal">Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control</a>, “At the height of government deficit-reducing cuts in 2012, the US taxpayer was shelling out $3.9 billion for the procurement of unmanned aircraft, not counting the separate drone budgets for the CIA and the Department of Homeland Security.”</p>
<p>“Sentence First, Verdict Later!”</p>
<p>(The Queen of Hearts, Alice in Wonderland)&#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160; &#160;&#160;</p>
<p>But Obama, mustering ever more “audacity,” has extended the drone war to target the very Constitution itself.&#160;&#160; Last year he authorized–and carried out—the execution of three U.S. citizens, without charge or trial.&#160; The three were Anwar Al-Awlaki, Samir Khan, and Anwar’s sixteen year-old son Abdulrahman Al-Awlaki (there are those funny names again).&#160; All were put on a government “kill list” and assassinated in drone strikes in Yemen. Other bystanders, including another teenager, were also killed in the attacks. &#160;&#160;(All military-age males in a target zone get counted as combatants unless there is specific intelligence posthumously proving they were innocent.)</p>
<p>This is from the Center for Constitutional Rights:</p>
<p>“When a 16 year-old boy who has never been charged with a crime nor ever alleged to have committed a violent act is blown to pieces by U.S. missiles, alarm bells should go off,” said CCR Senior Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei. “The U.S. program of sending drones into countries in and against which it is not at war and eliminating so-called enemies on the basis of executive memos and conference calls is illegal, out of control, and must end.”</p>
<p>Call me old-fashioned, but I think that all Democrats should be able to agree on that.&#160; Which in a sane country would raise the question of whether Obama should be impeached, rather than re-elected.&#160; But we live in this country, don’t we?&#160; And in this country, earnest liberal-minded people feel they must concentrate on stopping Mitt Romney, or there will soon be public beheadings of Planned Parenthood workers, and all that.&#160; What I am wondering is this: is there no limit, beyond which Democrats will not support Obama?&#160; Beyond which they just have to say, “Not with my vote–Not in my name?”</p>
<p>But we are sooooo far from that.&#160; I think we are mostly like Orwell’s “nationalist,” never even hearing about the atrocities of our own side.&#160; Like victims of&#160; Dementor attacks in Harry Potter, our very souls are being sucked out by the endless series of compromises and adjustments to an ever more debased and violent National Security State.&#160; Swept up by the inexorable gravitational pull of unlimited corporate money, we have lost our political parties, our res publica, the commons.&#160; The means of mass communication, in their ever-growing sophistication, are deployed as the tools of human consciousness production, and are used only to distract us, stimulate consumer demand, misinform, disempower.&#160; &#160;&#160;We don’t denounce Obama’s crimes because we’ve already forgotten about them, or—more likely—we never heard about them in the first place.&#160; They weren’t talking about them on The View.&#160; &#160;Everyone on NPR seems to think things are okay, and if they aren’t, we can start an Internet petition and Obama will do better in his second term. He certainly seems like a nice man, and he’s trying to do the right thing.&#160; He’ll come around. &#160;&#160;Plus, he sings just like Al Green.</p>
<p>Fortunately for most of my liberal friends, they won’t have to agonize too much about their vote, because they live out here on the Commie West Coast, and the Electoral College has already nullified their importance in the grand scheme of things.&#160; It will all come down to a few people in the divided “swing states,” like that Mormon bastion of Nevada, best known for its gambling and legalized prostitution (you gotta love this country!)&#160; You all vote for Obama if you wish.</p>
<p>But they’ll have to waterboard me.</p>
<p>Tom Wright lives in Olympia, Washington. He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a>, or, in the near future, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba</p>
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<p>Equipment that should be taxed is missing from the tax rolls, said Jerry Wisdom owns Total Assessment Solutions Corp., which has done work valuing energy company assets in Rio Arriba, Eddy and Lea counties. He testified recently before a panel of state lawmakers.</p>
<p>Wisdom’s appraisers drive thousands of miles (kilometers) to locate gas pipelines, rigs and other equipment. They then cross-check county records to see of the assets are being reported and properly taxed. Even equipment that is mobile is supposed to be reported as taxable property while operating in New Mexico.</p>
<p>The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that if various assets are not reported or are underreported, then homeowners and other businesses end up paying higher property tax bills. For schools, colleges and hospitals, which collect a set rate on the value of all taxable property, money is actually lost, so there is less to cover bond debt or pay for services.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“From a fairness standpoint, we have a huge problem here,” said Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee.</p>
<p>Like some other states, New Mexico relies on a self-reporting method since county property appraisers do not have the staff or the expertise for on-site inspections of all machinery and equipment.</p>
<p>Wisdom said that honor system is not working for New Mexico counties at a time of record crude oil production.</p>
<p>“We deal with these companies, and we know how they report property,” Wisdom told the Taxation and Revenue Stabilization Committee. “It’s all self-reporting; this is the process we go through to find these items. These omissions are creating an inequity among the other taxpayers.”</p>
<p>A map presented to lawmakers showed the number of rigs operating in Eddy County on Jan. 1 of each year from 2007-16. Of 318 rigs, just 111 were reported as personal property and taxed.</p>
<p>Data for Lea County showed that of 247 operating rigs, 136 were omitted from the tax rolls.</p>
<p>As for natural gas compressors in Eddy County, 623 were inspected, but half were not reported for tax purposes.</p>
<p>The lawmakers were also told that the state Taxation and Revenue Department’s valuation table guideline for counties has not been updated since 1978, while the cost of new drilling rigs has nearly doubled.</p>
<p>So even in cases where assets are being taxed, local governments are not assessing the equipment at full value and are losing out on tax money as a result.</p>
<p>The state general fund gets a small amount of property tax revenue, less than 5 percent. But the issue came to the Legislature because of concerns that assessors are not receiving support from county commissioners to hire the staff and experts they need so the taxes can be collected.</p>
<p>Smith agreed that no one at the county level is trained to do such appraisals.</p>
<p>“We need to be giving local governments the tools they need,” he said. “Shame on county elected officials not stepping to the plate to provide those resources to county assessors. If you escape paying your fair share, that burden is passed on to the residential user.”</p>
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Expert: New Mexico counties losing out on oil and gas taxes
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Expert: New Mexico counties losing out on oil and gas taxes
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<p>Equipment that should be taxed is missing from the tax rolls, said Jerry Wisdom owns Total Assessment Solutions Corp., which has done work valuing energy company assets in Rio Arriba, Eddy and Lea counties. He testified recently before a panel of state lawmakers.</p>
<p>Wisdom’s appraisers drive thousands of miles (kilometers) to locate gas pipelines, rigs and other equipment. They then cross-check county records to see of the assets are being reported and properly taxed. Even equipment that is mobile is supposed to be reported as taxable property while operating in New Mexico.</p>
<p>The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that if various assets are not reported or are underreported, then homeowners and other businesses end up paying higher property tax bills. For schools, colleges and hospitals, which collect a set rate on the value of all taxable property, money is actually lost, so there is less to cover bond debt or pay for services.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“From a fairness standpoint, we have a huge problem here,” said Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who chairs the Senate Finance Committee.</p>
<p>Like some other states, New Mexico relies on a self-reporting method since county property appraisers do not have the staff or the expertise for on-site inspections of all machinery and equipment.</p>
<p>Wisdom said that honor system is not working for New Mexico counties at a time of record crude oil production.</p>
<p>“We deal with these companies, and we know how they report property,” Wisdom told the Taxation and Revenue Stabilization Committee. “It’s all self-reporting; this is the process we go through to find these items. These omissions are creating an inequity among the other taxpayers.”</p>
<p>A map presented to lawmakers showed the number of rigs operating in Eddy County on Jan. 1 of each year from 2007-16. Of 318 rigs, just 111 were reported as personal property and taxed.</p>
<p>Data for Lea County showed that of 247 operating rigs, 136 were omitted from the tax rolls.</p>
<p>As for natural gas compressors in Eddy County, 623 were inspected, but half were not reported for tax purposes.</p>
<p>The lawmakers were also told that the state Taxation and Revenue Department’s valuation table guideline for counties has not been updated since 1978, while the cost of new drilling rigs has nearly doubled.</p>
<p>So even in cases where assets are being taxed, local governments are not assessing the equipment at full value and are losing out on tax money as a result.</p>
<p>The state general fund gets a small amount of property tax revenue, less than 5 percent. But the issue came to the Legislature because of concerns that assessors are not receiving support from county commissioners to hire the staff and experts they need so the taxes can be collected.</p>
<p>Smith agreed that no one at the county level is trained to do such appraisals.</p>
<p>“We need to be giving local governments the tools they need,” he said. “Shame on county elected officials not stepping to the plate to provide those resources to county assessors. If you escape paying your fair share, that burden is passed on to the residential user.”</p>
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<p>Makuach Maluach, of Australia, signed with UNM Lobos on July 20. (Courtesy photo)</p>
<p>The Lobos went international for their latest hoops recruit.</p>
<p>Makuach Maluach, a highly athletic 6-foot-5 wing player born in Sudan who now lives in Australia and is a member of the Australian junior national team, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play this season with the University of New Mexico.</p>
<p>Rex Nottage, his guardian and coach at Newington College, a boarding school in Stanmore, New South Wales, Australia (near Sydney), said the obvious gifts Maluach will bring to Albuquerque are his athleticism and work ethic.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“He’s deadly dangerous in transition,” Nottage told the Journal in a telephone interview Thursday night (Friday in Australia). “He can rebound and really likes to play above the rim. … He is super quick and can find his way to the hole.”</p>
<p>But there’s more than just the ability on the court, added Nottage.</p>
<p>“He just really likes being a part of a team and helping his team,” Nottage said. “He’ll melt most people’s heart with his smile. Oh, women just love his smile.”</p>
<p>That smile is expected to arrive in Albuquerque in August in time to start classes as a freshman. He will have five years to play four seasons of Division I basketball.</p>
<p>His length (he has a 6-foot-11 wing span), athleticism and versatility are what the Lobos have consistently said they’re looking for since the April hiring of head coach Paul Weir.</p>
<p>“Makuach fits the mold of all of our signees — high-end speed and shooting ability,” Weir said. “As we transform our style on and off the court I can’t think of a more perfect fit for us. We have been very picky with our remaining scholarships and held out for someone exactly like this.”</p>
<p>He was recruited heavily by UNM associate head coach Chris Harriman and turned down offers from TCU and Hawaii. Those three schools stuck with him in recent months, Nottage said, while the NCAA hadn’t cleared him because of a class he didn’t complete in ninth grade. Maluach retook the course and was cleared by the NCAA earlier this week.</p>
<p>An attempt to reach Maluach by telephone Thursday night was unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Maluach announced his signing via Instagram, where he posted a picture on his private account of himself signing the scholarship papers. He wrote the message: “Happy to announce that I’ve signed with the University of New Mexico. Beginning of a new journey. #GOLOBOS.”</p>
<p>Maluach is the oldest of three brothers who have lived in Australia for four years.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, Harriman, who is also from Australia, was in Guam to watch the Oceania Championships Maluach played in. After that he also went to Australia to recruit Maluach.</p>
<p>Maluach is the sixth player to sign with UNM this offseason. The Lobos have two remaining scholarships. UNM has also signed Antino Jackson (5-11), Troy Simons (6-1), Chris McNeal (6-1), Jachai Simmons (6-7) and Vance Jackson (6-8). All but Vance Jackson are eligible to play this season.</p>
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Lobos return Down Under, sign athletic wing from Aussie Jr. National Team
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<p>Makuach Maluach, of Australia, signed with UNM Lobos on July 20. (Courtesy photo)</p>
<p>The Lobos went international for their latest hoops recruit.</p>
<p>Makuach Maluach, a highly athletic 6-foot-5 wing player born in Sudan who now lives in Australia and is a member of the Australian junior national team, has signed a National Letter of Intent to play this season with the University of New Mexico.</p>
<p>Rex Nottage, his guardian and coach at Newington College, a boarding school in Stanmore, New South Wales, Australia (near Sydney), said the obvious gifts Maluach will bring to Albuquerque are his athleticism and work ethic.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“He’s deadly dangerous in transition,” Nottage told the Journal in a telephone interview Thursday night (Friday in Australia). “He can rebound and really likes to play above the rim. … He is super quick and can find his way to the hole.”</p>
<p>But there’s more than just the ability on the court, added Nottage.</p>
<p>“He just really likes being a part of a team and helping his team,” Nottage said. “He’ll melt most people’s heart with his smile. Oh, women just love his smile.”</p>
<p>That smile is expected to arrive in Albuquerque in August in time to start classes as a freshman. He will have five years to play four seasons of Division I basketball.</p>
<p>His length (he has a 6-foot-11 wing span), athleticism and versatility are what the Lobos have consistently said they’re looking for since the April hiring of head coach Paul Weir.</p>
<p>“Makuach fits the mold of all of our signees — high-end speed and shooting ability,” Weir said. “As we transform our style on and off the court I can’t think of a more perfect fit for us. We have been very picky with our remaining scholarships and held out for someone exactly like this.”</p>
<p>He was recruited heavily by UNM associate head coach Chris Harriman and turned down offers from TCU and Hawaii. Those three schools stuck with him in recent months, Nottage said, while the NCAA hadn’t cleared him because of a class he didn’t complete in ninth grade. Maluach retook the course and was cleared by the NCAA earlier this week.</p>
<p>An attempt to reach Maluach by telephone Thursday night was unsuccessful.</p>
<p>Maluach announced his signing via Instagram, where he posted a picture on his private account of himself signing the scholarship papers. He wrote the message: “Happy to announce that I’ve signed with the University of New Mexico. Beginning of a new journey. #GOLOBOS.”</p>
<p>Maluach is the oldest of three brothers who have lived in Australia for four years.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, Harriman, who is also from Australia, was in Guam to watch the Oceania Championships Maluach played in. After that he also went to Australia to recruit Maluach.</p>
<p>Maluach is the sixth player to sign with UNM this offseason. The Lobos have two remaining scholarships. UNM has also signed Antino Jackson (5-11), Troy Simons (6-1), Chris McNeal (6-1), Jachai Simmons (6-7) and Vance Jackson (6-8). All but Vance Jackson are eligible to play this season.</p>
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<p>I must immediately dissociate myself from the bombastic critics, mostly Republicans, who have accused Obama of grievously insulting Christians by noting that “terrible deeds” have been committed “in the name of Christ.” Obviously, this is true. Anyone who believes otherwise needs to crack a history book.</p>
<p>My objection is that Obama – in drawing parallels between past atrocities perpetrated in the name of Christianity and current ones by terrorists acting in the name of Islam – constructed an all-too-pat narrative that lets everyone off the hook, including himself.</p>
<p>The admonition not to “get on our high horse” about jihadist terror as a “unique” phenomenon rings hollow, coming from a leader who routinely sends missile-firing drones to blow suspected militants to bits.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>For the record, Obama’s history lesson was also incomplete.</p>
<p>“In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ,” the president said. Indeed, slave owners claimed to find justification for their hideous crimes in the Bible, citing passages in both the Old and New Testaments that appear to authorize slavery and describe how human chattel should be treated.</p>
<p>But it is also true that the abolitionist movement grew out of Christian belief and the Christian church.</p>
<p>William Wilberforce, the great British activist who spurred the abolition of slavery throughout the empire – and greatly inspired abolitionists in the U.S. – was a born-again Christian. Long before the Civil War, the religious and moral argument had been won by the anti-slavery side. Perpetuating the horror was, for slave owners, essentially an economic imperative.</p>
<p>Likewise, the architects of Jim Crow segregation sought absolution by citing various biblical passages. But it is fair to say that the civil rights movement never could have triumphed without the Christian churches, both in the South and the North, which served as organizational nodes.</p>
<p>The institution led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.</p>
<p>Obama also noted that “during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.” No argument there.</p>
<p>It should be noted, however, that the Spanish Inquisition took place 500 years ago and the First Crusade nearly 1,000 years ago. The world has changed a bit since then, as has the state of human knowledge.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>By reaching so far back into history, Obama seemed to echo those who argue that today’s turmoil and terrorism are taking place because Islam has not yet had a Reformation or the Muslim world an Enlightenment. I won’t put words in the president’s mouth. But I will say that whatever he meant, to compare the depredations of the Islamic State with those of the Crusaders is patronizing in the extreme.</p>
<p>Why? Because Muslims are not slow learners who can only be held to a medieval moral standard.</p>
<p>Everyone in the world can be expected to know that it is wrong to burn a helpless human being alive, as Islamic State murderers did to a captive Jordanian pilot in video released last week. The fact that Joan of Arc met a similar fate in 1431 does not somehow make it improper to “get on our high horse” about unspeakable acts being committed in our time.</p>
<p>Broad historical context is less relevant than the proximate causes of terror. Western nations – acting not in the name of Christianity but mostly out of thirst for oil – installed or supported authoritarian rulers throughout the Middle East. Those autocrats left religion as the only possible outlet for political expression. That impulse has been exploited, and is still being exploited, by cynical jihadist leaders whose true aim is power, not salvation.</p>
<p>Obama took office hoping to be the president who orchestrated a reconciliation between the West and the Muslim world. His rhetoric has continued in that vein, but his actions have tended toward realpolitik: In Egypt, he supported the generals. In Syria, he refused to put any real muscle behind his call for Bashar al-Assad to go.</p>
<p>But Obama should realize that who was right or wrong in the Crusades is beside the point. We’ve moved on.</p>
<p />
|
Obama patronizing at the National Prayer Breakfast
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/539245/obama-patronizing-at-the-national-prayer-breakfast.html
| 2least
|
Obama patronizing at the National Prayer Breakfast
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>I must immediately dissociate myself from the bombastic critics, mostly Republicans, who have accused Obama of grievously insulting Christians by noting that “terrible deeds” have been committed “in the name of Christ.” Obviously, this is true. Anyone who believes otherwise needs to crack a history book.</p>
<p>My objection is that Obama – in drawing parallels between past atrocities perpetrated in the name of Christianity and current ones by terrorists acting in the name of Islam – constructed an all-too-pat narrative that lets everyone off the hook, including himself.</p>
<p>The admonition not to “get on our high horse” about jihadist terror as a “unique” phenomenon rings hollow, coming from a leader who routinely sends missile-firing drones to blow suspected militants to bits.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>For the record, Obama’s history lesson was also incomplete.</p>
<p>“In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ,” the president said. Indeed, slave owners claimed to find justification for their hideous crimes in the Bible, citing passages in both the Old and New Testaments that appear to authorize slavery and describe how human chattel should be treated.</p>
<p>But it is also true that the abolitionist movement grew out of Christian belief and the Christian church.</p>
<p>William Wilberforce, the great British activist who spurred the abolition of slavery throughout the empire – and greatly inspired abolitionists in the U.S. – was a born-again Christian. Long before the Civil War, the religious and moral argument had been won by the anti-slavery side. Perpetuating the horror was, for slave owners, essentially an economic imperative.</p>
<p>Likewise, the architects of Jim Crow segregation sought absolution by citing various biblical passages. But it is fair to say that the civil rights movement never could have triumphed without the Christian churches, both in the South and the North, which served as organizational nodes.</p>
<p>The institution led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was called the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.</p>
<p>Obama also noted that “during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ.” No argument there.</p>
<p>It should be noted, however, that the Spanish Inquisition took place 500 years ago and the First Crusade nearly 1,000 years ago. The world has changed a bit since then, as has the state of human knowledge.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>By reaching so far back into history, Obama seemed to echo those who argue that today’s turmoil and terrorism are taking place because Islam has not yet had a Reformation or the Muslim world an Enlightenment. I won’t put words in the president’s mouth. But I will say that whatever he meant, to compare the depredations of the Islamic State with those of the Crusaders is patronizing in the extreme.</p>
<p>Why? Because Muslims are not slow learners who can only be held to a medieval moral standard.</p>
<p>Everyone in the world can be expected to know that it is wrong to burn a helpless human being alive, as Islamic State murderers did to a captive Jordanian pilot in video released last week. The fact that Joan of Arc met a similar fate in 1431 does not somehow make it improper to “get on our high horse” about unspeakable acts being committed in our time.</p>
<p>Broad historical context is less relevant than the proximate causes of terror. Western nations – acting not in the name of Christianity but mostly out of thirst for oil – installed or supported authoritarian rulers throughout the Middle East. Those autocrats left religion as the only possible outlet for political expression. That impulse has been exploited, and is still being exploited, by cynical jihadist leaders whose true aim is power, not salvation.</p>
<p>Obama took office hoping to be the president who orchestrated a reconciliation between the West and the Muslim world. His rhetoric has continued in that vein, but his actions have tended toward realpolitik: In Egypt, he supported the generals. In Syria, he refused to put any real muscle behind his call for Bashar al-Assad to go.</p>
<p>But Obama should realize that who was right or wrong in the Crusades is beside the point. We’ve moved on.</p>
<p />
| 6,933 |
|
<p>There’s a “Trump factor” to stock market and jobs gains and improving economic picture, economist Larry Kudlow says.</p>
<p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/the-answer-hosts/8-6-17-larry-kudlow" type="external">In an interview</a>&#160;with radio host John Catsimatidis that aired Sunday on <a href="http://catsroundtable.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2a_PysnC1QIVViSBCh1J-QrzEAAYASAAEgLqyvD_BwE" type="external">“The Cats Roundtable,”</a>&#160;the former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump said the “Trump market” along with increases in other global and domestic markets is “playing into a bull market that is going to help everybody’s retirement outlook.”</p>
<p>“I do think there’s a Trump factor here,” Kudlow said. “Trump has made good on his promise to roll back hundreds of regulations: energy, finance, labor laws, you name it.”</p>
<p>According to Kudlow, those rollbacks represent “a huge cost savings for businesses.”</p>
<p>“And that has instilled a lot of confidence,” he continued. “This is a pretty confident market. I would not mess with it right now. It looks awfully good.”</p>
<p>The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in July, <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/Economy/payrolls-jobs-employment-wages/2017/08/04/id/805798/" type="external">exceeding economists’ estimates.</a> And so far this year, the Dow is up 11 percent, crossing the 20,000 threshold in late January and 21,000 two months later, <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/345476-kudlow-trump-factor-behind-recent-economic-gains" type="external">The Hill noted.</a></p>
<p>“On the stock market rally,” Kudlow said, “profits are the mother’s milk of stocks. And the profit reports continue to exceed expectations. That’s the backbone of the stock market rally.”</p>
|
Kudlow: “Trump Factor' Benefiting Stocks, Jobs and Overall Economy
| false |
https://newsline.com/kudlow-trump-factor-benefiting-stocks-jobs-and-overall-economy/
|
2017-08-06
| 1right-center
|
Kudlow: “Trump Factor' Benefiting Stocks, Jobs and Overall Economy
<p>There’s a “Trump factor” to stock market and jobs gains and improving economic picture, economist Larry Kudlow says.</p>
<p><a href="https://soundcloud.com/the-answer-hosts/8-6-17-larry-kudlow" type="external">In an interview</a>&#160;with radio host John Catsimatidis that aired Sunday on <a href="http://catsroundtable.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2a_PysnC1QIVViSBCh1J-QrzEAAYASAAEgLqyvD_BwE" type="external">“The Cats Roundtable,”</a>&#160;the former campaign adviser to President Donald Trump said the “Trump market” along with increases in other global and domestic markets is “playing into a bull market that is going to help everybody’s retirement outlook.”</p>
<p>“I do think there’s a Trump factor here,” Kudlow said. “Trump has made good on his promise to roll back hundreds of regulations: energy, finance, labor laws, you name it.”</p>
<p>According to Kudlow, those rollbacks represent “a huge cost savings for businesses.”</p>
<p>“And that has instilled a lot of confidence,” he continued. “This is a pretty confident market. I would not mess with it right now. It looks awfully good.”</p>
<p>The U.S. economy added 209,000 jobs in July, <a href="http://www.newsmax.com/Finance/Economy/payrolls-jobs-employment-wages/2017/08/04/id/805798/" type="external">exceeding economists’ estimates.</a> And so far this year, the Dow is up 11 percent, crossing the 20,000 threshold in late January and 21,000 two months later, <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/345476-kudlow-trump-factor-behind-recent-economic-gains" type="external">The Hill noted.</a></p>
<p>“On the stock market rally,” Kudlow said, “profits are the mother’s milk of stocks. And the profit reports continue to exceed expectations. That’s the backbone of the stock market rally.”</p>
| 6,934 |
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Mustwitt.jpg" type="external" />By The Right Scoop This is what happens when your country is run by the Muslim Brotherhood. Although I must say I wasn't aware that Turkey had officially adopted Sharia Law. They must've because clearly, that's what this is: HURRIYET DAILY NEWS - A Twitter user in Turkey has [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://therightscoop.com/turkish-user-gets-prison-time-for-using-allah-in-twitter-handle/" type="external">Click here to view original web page at therightscoop.com</a></p>
<p />
|
Turkish Tweeter Gets Prison Time for using 'Allah' in handle
| true |
http://politicalillusionsexposed.com/turkish-user-gets-prison-time-for-using-allah-in-twitter-handle/
| 0right
|
Turkish Tweeter Gets Prison Time for using 'Allah' in handle
<p><a href="http://pienews.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Mustwitt.jpg" type="external" />By The Right Scoop This is what happens when your country is run by the Muslim Brotherhood. Although I must say I wasn't aware that Turkey had officially adopted Sharia Law. They must've because clearly, that's what this is: HURRIYET DAILY NEWS - A Twitter user in Turkey has [?]</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://therightscoop.com/turkish-user-gets-prison-time-for-using-allah-in-twitter-handle/" type="external">Click here to view original web page at therightscoop.com</a></p>
<p />
| 6,935 |
|
<p>When considering&#160;the legal system, most people conjure images of criminal trials ripped from Law and Order. People probably&#160;know that there’s a separate civil system where you can sue,&#160;but I don’t usually remember to include the vast constellation of federal (and state and municipal) agencies in my image of the legal system, even though they have the power to adjudicate within their defined area of the law. Beyond all the laws on the books and in the courts, we’re also governed by a massive apparatus of administrative rules.</p>
<p>And like laws, rules can change. Last&#160;week, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released&#160; <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/qa-201404-title-ix.pdf" type="external">new guidelines</a>&#160;covering gender identity-based discrimination under Title IX.</p>
<p>The news has been&#160; <a href="http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/04/29/us-department-education-extends-protections-trans-students" type="external">rightly heralded</a>&#160;by transgender rights advocates as a major breakthrough in legal protections for trans* kids in public school, and follows similar efforts in&#160; <a href="http://schools.nyc.gov/RulesPolicies/TransgenderStudentGuidelines/default.htm" type="external">New York City</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-law-allows-transgender-students-to-pick-bathrooms-sports-teams-they-identify-with/" type="external">California</a>&#160;to protect trans* students from various forms of bullying and allow them to choose which bathrooms and sports facilities they’re most comfortable using. The critical line reads: “Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on&#160;gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity.” My butch heart is all aflutter.</p>
<p>It’s good news, but it’s not new law, at least not technically. In fact, it’s not even an administrative rule, which is subject to&#160; <a href="http://www.federalregister.gov/uploads/2011/01/the_rulemaking_process.pdf" type="external">a six-part review process</a>&#160;including public comment. Rather, this is yet another ambiguously defined internal document called a guideline. Bear with me, it gets interesting.</p>
<p>Turns out the Office for Civil Rights took its lead from a 2007&#160; <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/fedreg/2007/012507_good_guidance.pdf" type="external">OMB bulletin&#160;</a>to all the administrative agencies. Evidently&#160;pressure was growing to define “guidance documents,” since they weren’t subject to the same review process as rules, and this bulletin was the final word on what constitutes a guidance document, who can make one, and best practices for an approval process.</p>
<p>Buried in what I highly recommend you don’t bother reading is a terrific quote from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals decision in&#160;Appalachian Power v. EPA&#160;(1999), which summarizes the issue far better than I could:</p>
<p>The phenomenon we see in this case is familiar. Congress passes a broadly worded statute. The agency follows with regulations containing broad language, open-ended phrases, ambiguous standards and the like. Then as years pass, the agency issues circulars or guidance or memoranda, explaining, interpreting, defining and often expanding the commands in the regulations.</p>
<p>One guidance document may yield another and then another and so on. Several words in a regulation may spawn hundreds of pages of text as the agency offers more and more detail regarding what its regulations demand of regulated entities.&#160;Law is made, without notice and comment, without public participation .&#160;.&#160;. The agency may also think there is another advantage&#160;—&#160;immunizing its lawmaking from judicial review.</p>
<p>The tension here is clear: On the one hand are the expediencies of running a huge bureaucracy whose actions are accountable to the laws which established them and the Constitution, but not much else. On the other hand is representative democracy, which has a lot of strong ideas about public participation in governance.&#160;Say what you will about the public comment period (and I’m sure many have —&#160;I’d love to see some numbers on how much those comments ultimately matter), it’s not the way the Constitution <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otbml6WIQPo" type="external">&#160;lays out lawmaking</a>.</p>
<p>As welcome, and indeed necessary, as queer legal protections are, we should be cautious about endorsing the discretionary interpretation of law by agencies. There’s nothing to say that they couldn’t just as easily have had opposite findings in these cases, thus perpetuating legal discrimination without any input from Congress, the President, or the courts. As the court wrote above, it’s a subversion of the democratic system.</p>
<p>Another way to look at this is&#160;to ask how laws differ practically from administrative rules. Technically, one has authority and the other clarifies use of that authority. Courts aren’t bound by rules and guidelines, for example. On the ground, things look different. For a trans student defending his right to the boy’s locker room, or a trans woman defending her right to employment, administrative guidelines&#160; <a href="http://www.washingtonblade.com/2014/04/20/macy-2-year-anniversary/" type="external">can have strikingly “law-like” impact</a>&#160;by&#160;creating legal grounds to seek recourse.</p>
<p>Legal scholars have only started to address the&#160;question of how we got to this system of shadow laws. From what has been written, we do know that this DOE regulation isn’t the first time an agency interpretation has been out ahead of federal law or courts.&#160; <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1651483" type="external">This Virginia Law Review article</a>&#160;showed, for example, that the FCC used its own vanguard interpretation of equal protection in the 1960s to withhold licenses if broadcasters used discriminatory hiring practices.</p>
<p>In fact, Tuesday’s DOE announcement isn’t even the first time in the past few years that an agency has interpreted federal law to protect trans* and queer people without the cover of court precedent: A&#160; <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/decisions/0120120821%20Macy%20v%20DOJ%20ATF.txt" type="external">series</a>&#160;of&#160; <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/decisions/0520110649.txt" type="external">decisions</a>&#160;at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects against gender identity-based and gender presentation-based discrimination.&#160;In a settlement last year between a California school district and a trans student, the Department of Justice&#160; <a href="http://www.nclrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Arcadia_Notification_Letter_07.24.2013.pdf" type="external">actually cited those cases</a>, as&#160; <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner" type="external">Chris Geidner</a>&#160;has pointed out.</p>
<p>When the Employment Non-Discrimination Act has failed to pass for nearly a decade, these advances feel like a rare step forward in the fight against transphobia. They also raise troubling questions about administrative discretion and authority. Hopefully we’ll find out that where agencies lead, courts will follow.</p>
|
An Unlikely Transgender Rights Vanguard
| true |
https://jacobinmag.com/2014/05/an-unlikely-transgender-rights-vanguard/
|
2018-10-03
| 4left
|
An Unlikely Transgender Rights Vanguard
<p>When considering&#160;the legal system, most people conjure images of criminal trials ripped from Law and Order. People probably&#160;know that there’s a separate civil system where you can sue,&#160;but I don’t usually remember to include the vast constellation of federal (and state and municipal) agencies in my image of the legal system, even though they have the power to adjudicate within their defined area of the law. Beyond all the laws on the books and in the courts, we’re also governed by a massive apparatus of administrative rules.</p>
<p>And like laws, rules can change. Last&#160;week, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released&#160; <a href="http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/qa-201404-title-ix.pdf" type="external">new guidelines</a>&#160;covering gender identity-based discrimination under Title IX.</p>
<p>The news has been&#160; <a href="http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/04/29/us-department-education-extends-protections-trans-students" type="external">rightly heralded</a>&#160;by transgender rights advocates as a major breakthrough in legal protections for trans* kids in public school, and follows similar efforts in&#160; <a href="http://schools.nyc.gov/RulesPolicies/TransgenderStudentGuidelines/default.htm" type="external">New York City</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-law-allows-transgender-students-to-pick-bathrooms-sports-teams-they-identify-with/" type="external">California</a>&#160;to protect trans* students from various forms of bullying and allow them to choose which bathrooms and sports facilities they’re most comfortable using. The critical line reads: “Title IX’s sex discrimination prohibition extends to claims of discrimination based on&#160;gender identity or failure to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity or femininity.” My butch heart is all aflutter.</p>
<p>It’s good news, but it’s not new law, at least not technically. In fact, it’s not even an administrative rule, which is subject to&#160; <a href="http://www.federalregister.gov/uploads/2011/01/the_rulemaking_process.pdf" type="external">a six-part review process</a>&#160;including public comment. Rather, this is yet another ambiguously defined internal document called a guideline. Bear with me, it gets interesting.</p>
<p>Turns out the Office for Civil Rights took its lead from a 2007&#160; <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/fedreg/2007/012507_good_guidance.pdf" type="external">OMB bulletin&#160;</a>to all the administrative agencies. Evidently&#160;pressure was growing to define “guidance documents,” since they weren’t subject to the same review process as rules, and this bulletin was the final word on what constitutes a guidance document, who can make one, and best practices for an approval process.</p>
<p>Buried in what I highly recommend you don’t bother reading is a terrific quote from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals decision in&#160;Appalachian Power v. EPA&#160;(1999), which summarizes the issue far better than I could:</p>
<p>The phenomenon we see in this case is familiar. Congress passes a broadly worded statute. The agency follows with regulations containing broad language, open-ended phrases, ambiguous standards and the like. Then as years pass, the agency issues circulars or guidance or memoranda, explaining, interpreting, defining and often expanding the commands in the regulations.</p>
<p>One guidance document may yield another and then another and so on. Several words in a regulation may spawn hundreds of pages of text as the agency offers more and more detail regarding what its regulations demand of regulated entities.&#160;Law is made, without notice and comment, without public participation .&#160;.&#160;. The agency may also think there is another advantage&#160;—&#160;immunizing its lawmaking from judicial review.</p>
<p>The tension here is clear: On the one hand are the expediencies of running a huge bureaucracy whose actions are accountable to the laws which established them and the Constitution, but not much else. On the other hand is representative democracy, which has a lot of strong ideas about public participation in governance.&#160;Say what you will about the public comment period (and I’m sure many have —&#160;I’d love to see some numbers on how much those comments ultimately matter), it’s not the way the Constitution <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Otbml6WIQPo" type="external">&#160;lays out lawmaking</a>.</p>
<p>As welcome, and indeed necessary, as queer legal protections are, we should be cautious about endorsing the discretionary interpretation of law by agencies. There’s nothing to say that they couldn’t just as easily have had opposite findings in these cases, thus perpetuating legal discrimination without any input from Congress, the President, or the courts. As the court wrote above, it’s a subversion of the democratic system.</p>
<p>Another way to look at this is&#160;to ask how laws differ practically from administrative rules. Technically, one has authority and the other clarifies use of that authority. Courts aren’t bound by rules and guidelines, for example. On the ground, things look different. For a trans student defending his right to the boy’s locker room, or a trans woman defending her right to employment, administrative guidelines&#160; <a href="http://www.washingtonblade.com/2014/04/20/macy-2-year-anniversary/" type="external">can have strikingly “law-like” impact</a>&#160;by&#160;creating legal grounds to seek recourse.</p>
<p>Legal scholars have only started to address the&#160;question of how we got to this system of shadow laws. From what has been written, we do know that this DOE regulation isn’t the first time an agency interpretation has been out ahead of federal law or courts.&#160; <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1651483" type="external">This Virginia Law Review article</a>&#160;showed, for example, that the FCC used its own vanguard interpretation of equal protection in the 1960s to withhold licenses if broadcasters used discriminatory hiring practices.</p>
<p>In fact, Tuesday’s DOE announcement isn’t even the first time in the past few years that an agency has interpreted federal law to protect trans* and queer people without the cover of court precedent: A&#160; <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/decisions/0120120821%20Macy%20v%20DOJ%20ATF.txt" type="external">series</a>&#160;of&#160; <a href="http://www.eeoc.gov/decisions/0520110649.txt" type="external">decisions</a>&#160;at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission found that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects against gender identity-based and gender presentation-based discrimination.&#160;In a settlement last year between a California school district and a trans student, the Department of Justice&#160; <a href="http://www.nclrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Arcadia_Notification_Letter_07.24.2013.pdf" type="external">actually cited those cases</a>, as&#160; <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner" type="external">Chris Geidner</a>&#160;has pointed out.</p>
<p>When the Employment Non-Discrimination Act has failed to pass for nearly a decade, these advances feel like a rare step forward in the fight against transphobia. They also raise troubling questions about administrative discretion and authority. Hopefully we’ll find out that where agencies lead, courts will follow.</p>
| 6,936 |
<p>Published time: 6 Oct, 2017 05:50Edited time: 6 Oct, 2017 06:26</p>
<p>The 100km area around the US Al-Tanf base near the Syrian-Jordanian border has become a “black hole” which ISIS terrorists use to carry out attacks against Syrian troops and civilians, the Russian Defense Ministry said.</p>
<p>The base, set up by the US in April 2017 near the border town of Al-Tanf, is becoming a problem for Syrian troops combatting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists in Deir ez-Zor province, the statement says.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/404838-isis-surrounded-deir-syria/" type="external" /></p>
<p>“Unlawful establishment by the US of this military base on Syria-Jordan border in April this year has been publicly justified by ‘the need to conduct operations against IS,’” the statement reads.</p>
<p>However, “there were no reports of a single American operation against Islamic State during the six months of its existence,” The Russian Defense Ministry said.</p>
<p>“Though the Pentagon repeatedly claimed that the base is used to train the so-called ‘New Syrian Army’ by the coalition instructors from the US, the UK and Norway,” it has become “a 100-kilometer black hole” on the Syria-Jordan border, the statement added.</p>
<p>The ministry also accused the US of not letting humanitarian convoys through the area to reach the Rukban refugee camp, which is located close to the base.</p>
<p>The camp is reportedly hosting around 60,000 women and children from Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor.</p>
<p>The refugees in Rukban serve as a “human shield” for the American base, the ministry’s spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said.</p>
|
ISIS carries out attacks from US-controlled ‘black-hole’ area near Al-Tanf base – Russian MoD
| false |
https://newsline.com/isis-carries-out-attacks-from-us-controlled-black-hole-area-near-al-tanf-base-russian-mod/
|
2017-10-06
| 1right-center
|
ISIS carries out attacks from US-controlled ‘black-hole’ area near Al-Tanf base – Russian MoD
<p>Published time: 6 Oct, 2017 05:50Edited time: 6 Oct, 2017 06:26</p>
<p>The 100km area around the US Al-Tanf base near the Syrian-Jordanian border has become a “black hole” which ISIS terrorists use to carry out attacks against Syrian troops and civilians, the Russian Defense Ministry said.</p>
<p>The base, set up by the US in April 2017 near the border town of Al-Tanf, is becoming a problem for Syrian troops combatting Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorists in Deir ez-Zor province, the statement says.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/404838-isis-surrounded-deir-syria/" type="external" /></p>
<p>“Unlawful establishment by the US of this military base on Syria-Jordan border in April this year has been publicly justified by ‘the need to conduct operations against IS,’” the statement reads.</p>
<p>However, “there were no reports of a single American operation against Islamic State during the six months of its existence,” The Russian Defense Ministry said.</p>
<p>“Though the Pentagon repeatedly claimed that the base is used to train the so-called ‘New Syrian Army’ by the coalition instructors from the US, the UK and Norway,” it has become “a 100-kilometer black hole” on the Syria-Jordan border, the statement added.</p>
<p>The ministry also accused the US of not letting humanitarian convoys through the area to reach the Rukban refugee camp, which is located close to the base.</p>
<p>The camp is reportedly hosting around 60,000 women and children from Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor.</p>
<p>The refugees in Rukban serve as a “human shield” for the American base, the ministry’s spokesman, Major-General Igor Konashenkov, said.</p>
| 6,937 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>BEVERLY HILS, Calif. — The sunny musical “La La Land” may have danced its way to a Golden Globes record Sunday night, but the film’s seven accolades were a mere sideshow to the eloquence of honoree Meryl Streep, whose speech encapsulated the evening’s prevailing themes of hope, inclusivity and action over anger about the imminent presidency of Donald Trump.</p>
<p>“You and all of us in this room really belong to the most vilified segments in American society right now,” Streep said. “Think about it, Hollywood, foreigners, and the press.”</p>
<p>Without even mentioning Trump by name, Streep, in accepting the year’s Cecil B. DeMille Award, eviscerated the President-elect’s use of his power and rank in the mocking of a disabled New York Times reporter on the campaign trail this year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose,” Streep said, imploring those in the room to remember “the privilege and the responsibility of the act of empathy” and also the vital role of the press in holding “power to account.”</p>
<p>On Twitter early Monday, Trump again denied mocking the reporter and took shots of his own at Streep, calling her “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood” and “a Hillary flunky who lost big.”</p>
<p>Streep’s speech was the kind of show-stopping moment that could make an audience forget that they’re watching what is generally a booze-soaked, star-studded party of irreverence and a few inevitable left-field winners in the annual Awards season stop on the way to the Oscars. The only true shocker there was Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s supporting actor win for his performance in Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals” over favorites Mahershala Ali from “Moonlight” and Jeff Bridges from “Hell or High Water.”</p>
<p>As expected the joyous Los Angeles-set musical “La La Land” swept the awards, winning all of its leading seven nominations including</p>
<p>Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling and Damien Chazelle all spoke of the film’s hopeful message of pursuing dreams despite obstacles. The escapism of “La La Land” was contrasted with the realism of Barry Jenkins’ coming-of-age drama “Moonlight,” which won its only award of the night for best motion picture drama, possibly foreshadowing an ideological showdown between the two very different films at the Oscars, whose nominations are announced on Jan. 24.</p>
<p>While “Moonlight” didn’t shine as brightly as expected at the Globes, just one year after a second-straight season of OscarsSoWhite protests, the night was notable for the widespread diversity of its winners, in film and TV. Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” won best comedy series over heavyweights like “Veep” and “Transparent” and later added best actor in a comedy.</p>
<p>“I really want to thank Atlanta and all the black folks in Atlanta,” said a stunned-looking Glover.</p>
<p>Tracee Ellis Ross, accepting the award for best actress in a TV comedy for “Black-ish,” dedicated her award to “all of the women of color and colorful people whose stories, ideas, thoughts are not always considered worthy and valid and important.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I want you to know that I see you, we see you,” said Ross, who was the first black woman to win in the category since Debbie Allen in 1982.</p>
<p>Viola Davis, who won the best supporting actress award for Denzel Washington’s adaptation of August Wilson’s “Fences,” said that Wilson’s words and subjects were so important to her because “very seldom does the average person get their due, especially people of color.”</p>
<p>Davis continued what appears to be a certain path to the Oscar. Another favorite, Casey Affleck, also padded his favorite status. The “Manchester by the Sea” star took best actor.</p>
<p>While there were milestones and progress to be celebrated, Trump loomed nonetheless, even if explicit remarks during the show were kept somewhat to a minimum, save for host Jimmy Fallon, who was criticized for his allegedly softball interview of Trump on “The Tonight Show,” and Hugh Laurie. Fallon, in his opening monologue, compared the president elect to the belligerent teenage king Joffrey of “Games of Thrones.” Laurie, accepting for “The Night Manager,” said “I accept this award on behalf of psychopathic billionaires everywhere.”</p>
<p>Backstage, however was a different story. Davis, for one, wondered what Trump’s Presidency says about Americans.</p>
<p>“There is no way that we can have anyone in office who is not an extension of our own belief system,” Davis said. “What does that say about us? I think if you can answer that question, it says it all.”</p>
<p>Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, whose controversial “Elle” won best foreign language film and a best actress in a drama award for star Isabelle Huppert, said that he’s very scared for the presidency.</p>
<p>Janelle Monae, who co-stars in “Moonlight” and “Hidden Figures” also said that while “anybody who is representing hate is part of the problem” she hoped that “at the end of the day, we can all remember that we all bleed the same color.”</p>
<p>In an evening of such inclusiveness, there was a glaring flub made twice on Sunday that had nothing to do with a malfunctioning teleprompter. Both red carpet reporter Jenna Bush Hager and then Michael Keaton during the show both mistakenly called the NASA film “Hidden Figures,” “Hidden Fences.” It quickly became a popular, if dismaying, joke on social media.</p>
<p>In television, as expected, “The People v. O.J. Simpson” took best miniseries, as well as an award for Sarah Paulson. And Netflix’s Elizabeth II series “The Crown” won both best drama series and best actress in a drama series for Claire Foy.</p>
<p>The ceremony included a memorial reel, which was added following the recent deaths of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, who were laid to rest Friday in Los Angeles. Streep quoted the latter to end her speech.</p>
<p>Quoting Fisher, Streep said: “Take your broken heart, make it into art.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Film Writer Jake Coyle in New York and Associated Press writer Patrick Mairs in Philadelphia contributed to this report.</p>
|
Hope, Trump upstage ‘La La Land’s’ moment in the sun
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/923309/golden-globes-to-kick-off-and-maybe-end-with-la-la-land.html
|
2017-01-08
| 2least
|
Hope, Trump upstage ‘La La Land’s’ moment in the sun
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>BEVERLY HILS, Calif. — The sunny musical “La La Land” may have danced its way to a Golden Globes record Sunday night, but the film’s seven accolades were a mere sideshow to the eloquence of honoree Meryl Streep, whose speech encapsulated the evening’s prevailing themes of hope, inclusivity and action over anger about the imminent presidency of Donald Trump.</p>
<p>“You and all of us in this room really belong to the most vilified segments in American society right now,” Streep said. “Think about it, Hollywood, foreigners, and the press.”</p>
<p>Without even mentioning Trump by name, Streep, in accepting the year’s Cecil B. DeMille Award, eviscerated the President-elect’s use of his power and rank in the mocking of a disabled New York Times reporter on the campaign trail this year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose,” Streep said, imploring those in the room to remember “the privilege and the responsibility of the act of empathy” and also the vital role of the press in holding “power to account.”</p>
<p>On Twitter early Monday, Trump again denied mocking the reporter and took shots of his own at Streep, calling her “one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood” and “a Hillary flunky who lost big.”</p>
<p>Streep’s speech was the kind of show-stopping moment that could make an audience forget that they’re watching what is generally a booze-soaked, star-studded party of irreverence and a few inevitable left-field winners in the annual Awards season stop on the way to the Oscars. The only true shocker there was Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s supporting actor win for his performance in Tom Ford’s “Nocturnal Animals” over favorites Mahershala Ali from “Moonlight” and Jeff Bridges from “Hell or High Water.”</p>
<p>As expected the joyous Los Angeles-set musical “La La Land” swept the awards, winning all of its leading seven nominations including</p>
<p>Emma Stone, Ryan Gosling and Damien Chazelle all spoke of the film’s hopeful message of pursuing dreams despite obstacles. The escapism of “La La Land” was contrasted with the realism of Barry Jenkins’ coming-of-age drama “Moonlight,” which won its only award of the night for best motion picture drama, possibly foreshadowing an ideological showdown between the two very different films at the Oscars, whose nominations are announced on Jan. 24.</p>
<p>While “Moonlight” didn’t shine as brightly as expected at the Globes, just one year after a second-straight season of OscarsSoWhite protests, the night was notable for the widespread diversity of its winners, in film and TV. Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” won best comedy series over heavyweights like “Veep” and “Transparent” and later added best actor in a comedy.</p>
<p>“I really want to thank Atlanta and all the black folks in Atlanta,” said a stunned-looking Glover.</p>
<p>Tracee Ellis Ross, accepting the award for best actress in a TV comedy for “Black-ish,” dedicated her award to “all of the women of color and colorful people whose stories, ideas, thoughts are not always considered worthy and valid and important.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I want you to know that I see you, we see you,” said Ross, who was the first black woman to win in the category since Debbie Allen in 1982.</p>
<p>Viola Davis, who won the best supporting actress award for Denzel Washington’s adaptation of August Wilson’s “Fences,” said that Wilson’s words and subjects were so important to her because “very seldom does the average person get their due, especially people of color.”</p>
<p>Davis continued what appears to be a certain path to the Oscar. Another favorite, Casey Affleck, also padded his favorite status. The “Manchester by the Sea” star took best actor.</p>
<p>While there were milestones and progress to be celebrated, Trump loomed nonetheless, even if explicit remarks during the show were kept somewhat to a minimum, save for host Jimmy Fallon, who was criticized for his allegedly softball interview of Trump on “The Tonight Show,” and Hugh Laurie. Fallon, in his opening monologue, compared the president elect to the belligerent teenage king Joffrey of “Games of Thrones.” Laurie, accepting for “The Night Manager,” said “I accept this award on behalf of psychopathic billionaires everywhere.”</p>
<p>Backstage, however was a different story. Davis, for one, wondered what Trump’s Presidency says about Americans.</p>
<p>“There is no way that we can have anyone in office who is not an extension of our own belief system,” Davis said. “What does that say about us? I think if you can answer that question, it says it all.”</p>
<p>Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, whose controversial “Elle” won best foreign language film and a best actress in a drama award for star Isabelle Huppert, said that he’s very scared for the presidency.</p>
<p>Janelle Monae, who co-stars in “Moonlight” and “Hidden Figures” also said that while “anybody who is representing hate is part of the problem” she hoped that “at the end of the day, we can all remember that we all bleed the same color.”</p>
<p>In an evening of such inclusiveness, there was a glaring flub made twice on Sunday that had nothing to do with a malfunctioning teleprompter. Both red carpet reporter Jenna Bush Hager and then Michael Keaton during the show both mistakenly called the NASA film “Hidden Figures,” “Hidden Fences.” It quickly became a popular, if dismaying, joke on social media.</p>
<p>In television, as expected, “The People v. O.J. Simpson” took best miniseries, as well as an award for Sarah Paulson. And Netflix’s Elizabeth II series “The Crown” won both best drama series and best actress in a drama series for Claire Foy.</p>
<p>The ceremony included a memorial reel, which was added following the recent deaths of Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, who were laid to rest Friday in Los Angeles. Streep quoted the latter to end her speech.</p>
<p>Quoting Fisher, Streep said: “Take your broken heart, make it into art.”</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP Film Writer Jake Coyle in New York and Associated Press writer Patrick Mairs in Philadelphia contributed to this report.</p>
| 6,938 |
<p>An EU-funded group of arms experts went to Iraq and Syria to explore Islamic State’s well-oiled manufacturing machine and found out that the US routinely violated arms control clauses, a story published by Wired reveals.</p>
<p>This week the Conflict Armament Research (CAR), a London-based organization partly funded by the European Union, has published a 200-page report that summarizes three years of work done by its field teams in Iraq. CAR experts were documenting what weapons Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group used on battlefields and how exactly it acquired them. In a story <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/terror-industrial-complex-isis-munitions-supply-chain/" type="external">published</a> by Wired, writer <a href="https://briancastner.com/bio/" type="external">Brian Castner</a>, a former Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer and veteran of the Iraq War, reports his experience following CAR field expert, Damien Spleeters, as he gathered evidence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/413252-report-isis-weapons-syria/" type="external" /></p>
<p>CAR field research is about finding weapons and weapon components, documenting markings and tell-tale signs like particular shades of paint indicating country of origin and tracing the weapons back to their origin. Serial numbers allowed the group to confirm numerous cases, in which weapons produced by EU members like Romania and Bulgaria and purchased by the US and Saudi Arabia ended up in the hands of IS.</p>
<p>Spleeters was the one who discovered in Tal Afar a batch of dismantled Romanian PG-9 73mm rocket-propelled grenades. The batch was sold to the US in 2014 and later apparently sent to Syria to arm a group called Jaysh Suriyah al-Jadid in violation of clauses forbidding re-export of the weapons. The Romanian government has provided CAR with documents confirming the delivery and the fact that the US signed an end-use certificate. This case along with several others is detailed in the CAR report.</p>
<p>The CAR investigation has also uncovered the scale and ingenuity of IS arms manufacturers, who managed to organize production of “a nation-state’s worth of weapons”, according to Castner. The terrorist group did not simply grab whatever weapons they could, but spurred a complex production network, which repurposed components of weapons made in other countries and complemented them with domestically-produced components to create a range of arms tailored for IS own needs.</p>
<p>“Iraq’s oil fields provided the industrial base–tool-and-die sets, high-end saws, injection-­molding machines–and skilled workers who knew how to quickly fashion intricate parts to spec. Raw materials came from cannibalizing steel pipe and melting down scrap. ISIS engineers forged new fuzes, new rockets and launchers, and new bomblets to be dropped by drones, all assembled using instruction plans drawn up by ISIS officials,” Castner writes.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/412918-trump-ndaa-troops-projects/" type="external" /></p>
<p>The military defeat of IS does not mean the loss of all the know-how – weapon designs, solved engineering problems, industrial processes, blueprints and schematics – which the self-proclaimed caliphate generated over three years. The effort needed to mass-produce arms will only become smaller as technologies like metal 3D-printing are becoming more accessible, he warned.</p>
<p>CAR’s field expert Spleeters has become fascinated with tracing supply chains in modern conflicts started in 2011 in his native Belgium. Working as a reporter, he wanted to understand and report to the public how Belgian-made weapons came into possession of Libyan rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. He discovered that the only way to get to the bottom of the story was to travel to Libya, which he did in his spare time. Spleeters became a freelance journalist after returning, reporting on arms trafficking for newspapers and think-tanks specializing in tracing arms and joined CAR as a fulltime investigator in 2014.</p>
<p>The expert says field trips are the only way to properly collect evidence necessary to establish the truth. The data collected this way cannot be replicated by analyzing online videos, a method favored by some investigative groups like Bellingcat.</p>
<p>“With all the social media things, when you see ordnance or small arms from afar, you might think, ‘Oh, that’s an M16.’ But if you see it close up, you figure out it’s a CQ-556 rifle from China, a copy of the M16. But you need to be close by to see it,” Castner cites him as saying. Spleeters believes that the camera conceals more than it reveals.</p>
<p>He said the situation in Iraq and Syria was a mess. “Nobody knows what’s going on, and there’s all these conspiracy theories. We live in a post-truth era, where facts don’t matter anymore. And with this work, it’s like you can finally grab onto something that’s true.”</p>
|
Journalist reveals how illicit US supplies got busted in Iraq after ending up with ISIS
| false |
https://newsline.com/journalist-reveals-how-illicit-us-supplies-got-busted-in-iraq-after-ending-up-with-isis/
|
2017-12-17
| 1right-center
|
Journalist reveals how illicit US supplies got busted in Iraq after ending up with ISIS
<p>An EU-funded group of arms experts went to Iraq and Syria to explore Islamic State’s well-oiled manufacturing machine and found out that the US routinely violated arms control clauses, a story published by Wired reveals.</p>
<p>This week the Conflict Armament Research (CAR), a London-based organization partly funded by the European Union, has published a 200-page report that summarizes three years of work done by its field teams in Iraq. CAR experts were documenting what weapons Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group used on battlefields and how exactly it acquired them. In a story <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/terror-industrial-complex-isis-munitions-supply-chain/" type="external">published</a> by Wired, writer <a href="https://briancastner.com/bio/" type="external">Brian Castner</a>, a former Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer and veteran of the Iraq War, reports his experience following CAR field expert, Damien Spleeters, as he gathered evidence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/413252-report-isis-weapons-syria/" type="external" /></p>
<p>CAR field research is about finding weapons and weapon components, documenting markings and tell-tale signs like particular shades of paint indicating country of origin and tracing the weapons back to their origin. Serial numbers allowed the group to confirm numerous cases, in which weapons produced by EU members like Romania and Bulgaria and purchased by the US and Saudi Arabia ended up in the hands of IS.</p>
<p>Spleeters was the one who discovered in Tal Afar a batch of dismantled Romanian PG-9 73mm rocket-propelled grenades. The batch was sold to the US in 2014 and later apparently sent to Syria to arm a group called Jaysh Suriyah al-Jadid in violation of clauses forbidding re-export of the weapons. The Romanian government has provided CAR with documents confirming the delivery and the fact that the US signed an end-use certificate. This case along with several others is detailed in the CAR report.</p>
<p>The CAR investigation has also uncovered the scale and ingenuity of IS arms manufacturers, who managed to organize production of “a nation-state’s worth of weapons”, according to Castner. The terrorist group did not simply grab whatever weapons they could, but spurred a complex production network, which repurposed components of weapons made in other countries and complemented them with domestically-produced components to create a range of arms tailored for IS own needs.</p>
<p>“Iraq’s oil fields provided the industrial base–tool-and-die sets, high-end saws, injection-­molding machines–and skilled workers who knew how to quickly fashion intricate parts to spec. Raw materials came from cannibalizing steel pipe and melting down scrap. ISIS engineers forged new fuzes, new rockets and launchers, and new bomblets to be dropped by drones, all assembled using instruction plans drawn up by ISIS officials,” Castner writes.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/usa/412918-trump-ndaa-troops-projects/" type="external" /></p>
<p>The military defeat of IS does not mean the loss of all the know-how – weapon designs, solved engineering problems, industrial processes, blueprints and schematics – which the self-proclaimed caliphate generated over three years. The effort needed to mass-produce arms will only become smaller as technologies like metal 3D-printing are becoming more accessible, he warned.</p>
<p>CAR’s field expert Spleeters has become fascinated with tracing supply chains in modern conflicts started in 2011 in his native Belgium. Working as a reporter, he wanted to understand and report to the public how Belgian-made weapons came into possession of Libyan rebels fighting to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. He discovered that the only way to get to the bottom of the story was to travel to Libya, which he did in his spare time. Spleeters became a freelance journalist after returning, reporting on arms trafficking for newspapers and think-tanks specializing in tracing arms and joined CAR as a fulltime investigator in 2014.</p>
<p>The expert says field trips are the only way to properly collect evidence necessary to establish the truth. The data collected this way cannot be replicated by analyzing online videos, a method favored by some investigative groups like Bellingcat.</p>
<p>“With all the social media things, when you see ordnance or small arms from afar, you might think, ‘Oh, that’s an M16.’ But if you see it close up, you figure out it’s a CQ-556 rifle from China, a copy of the M16. But you need to be close by to see it,” Castner cites him as saying. Spleeters believes that the camera conceals more than it reveals.</p>
<p>He said the situation in Iraq and Syria was a mess. “Nobody knows what’s going on, and there’s all these conspiracy theories. We live in a post-truth era, where facts don’t matter anymore. And with this work, it’s like you can finally grab onto something that’s true.”</p>
| 6,939 |
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Indiana Lottery’s “Cash 5” game were:</p>
<p>05-21-30-36-39</p>
<p>(five, twenty-one, thirty, thirty-six, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $173,000</p>
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Indiana Lottery’s “Cash 5” game were:</p>
<p>05-21-30-36-39</p>
<p>(five, twenty-one, thirty, thirty-six, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $173,000</p>
|
Winning numbers drawn in ‘Cash 5’ game
| false |
https://apnews.com/747e6552886349a1ab556d7abffbc7f7
|
2018-01-11
| 2least
|
Winning numbers drawn in ‘Cash 5’ game
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Indiana Lottery’s “Cash 5” game were:</p>
<p>05-21-30-36-39</p>
<p>(five, twenty-one, thirty, thirty-six, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $173,000</p>
<p>INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday evening’s drawing of the Indiana Lottery’s “Cash 5” game were:</p>
<p>05-21-30-36-39</p>
<p>(five, twenty-one, thirty, thirty-six, thirty-nine)</p>
<p>Estimated jackpot: $173,000</p>
| 6,940 |
<p>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say the man whose body was recovered from the Des Moines River was being sought by police on robbery and assault charges.</p>
<p>Des Moines police said Thursday in a news release that the body was identified as that of 20-year-old Des Moines resident Phillip Philavanh. He’d been reported missing by his family on Dec. 12.</p>
<p>The Police Department says the body was reported around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, south of the Grand Avenue bridge.</p>
<p>Police say he assaulted a family member and later attempted to steal a car on Nov. 5. The death investigation is continuing.</p>
<p>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say the man whose body was recovered from the Des Moines River was being sought by police on robbery and assault charges.</p>
<p>Des Moines police said Thursday in a news release that the body was identified as that of 20-year-old Des Moines resident Phillip Philavanh. He’d been reported missing by his family on Dec. 12.</p>
<p>The Police Department says the body was reported around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, south of the Grand Avenue bridge.</p>
<p>Police say he assaulted a family member and later attempted to steal a car on Nov. 5. The death investigation is continuing.</p>
|
Body found in river that of man sought by Des Moines police
| false |
https://apnews.com/21d0470d85bb490ba705d695d24fa6a7
|
2018-01-25
| 2least
|
Body found in river that of man sought by Des Moines police
<p>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say the man whose body was recovered from the Des Moines River was being sought by police on robbery and assault charges.</p>
<p>Des Moines police said Thursday in a news release that the body was identified as that of 20-year-old Des Moines resident Phillip Philavanh. He’d been reported missing by his family on Dec. 12.</p>
<p>The Police Department says the body was reported around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, south of the Grand Avenue bridge.</p>
<p>Police say he assaulted a family member and later attempted to steal a car on Nov. 5. The death investigation is continuing.</p>
<p>DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Authorities say the man whose body was recovered from the Des Moines River was being sought by police on robbery and assault charges.</p>
<p>Des Moines police said Thursday in a news release that the body was identified as that of 20-year-old Des Moines resident Phillip Philavanh. He’d been reported missing by his family on Dec. 12.</p>
<p>The Police Department says the body was reported around 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, south of the Grand Avenue bridge.</p>
<p>Police say he assaulted a family member and later attempted to steal a car on Nov. 5. The death investigation is continuing.</p>
| 6,941 |
<p>Every month or so, there's a new viral story about some charming human being who left a snide note instead of a tip on a receipt at a restaurant. This week, some newlywed lady who was at a restaurant with her husband decided that, <a href="http://kfor.com/2015/11/10/server-posts-advice-in-open-letter-for-newlywed-who-refused-to-leave-a-tip/" type="external">in lieu of a tip</a>, she should probably write, "He's my husband! Find your own! Good luck! :)."</p>
<p>This, as you might imagine, was a poor idea. The server, Jessica - who is ALSO actually married to another server at the restaurant'responded on Facebook with an open letter and a picture of the receipt. Before&#160;the post was deleted, it had over 50,000 shares. Why?</p>
<p>Because the customer&#160;who wrote this little receipt note&#160;is the exact kind of person the world loves to hate.</p>
<p>First of all, people who don't tip are jerks! This is a fact. There is literally no way of defending your lack of tipping in a way that is not going to make someone go "Wow! You're an asshole!" Please note that to this day, though many have tried, no one has managed to write a defense of not tipping servers who are paid less than the minimum wage that has come across as anything but utterly repulsive and disconcertingly crappy. It cannot be done. I mean, you can defend your stance on this all you want, but there's pretty much nothing you can say about not tipping that makes you seem like an appealing person.</p>
<p>Now, if not tipping in the first place is rude and crappy, I think probably everyone can agree that leaving a weird rude note in place of a tip is even worse. To boot, thanks to the internet, it is likely that lots of people will see your weird rude note should the server upload it to social media. It's also possible that some of your friends, acquaintances and co-workers might figure out who you are, and be rightfully appalled and horrified by you.</p>
<p>The lady who wrote this note likely thought she was totally teaching this server a lesson.&#160;I'll show her!&#160;she probably thought. That'll keep that hussy from trying to steal my man!&#160;However, that is just not a good look for anyone other than Dolly Parton, and now this random lady is a bona fide internet villain.</p>
<p>Think about it - the absolute&#160;best case scenario on your end is that, by leaving your snide note, you ruin someone's day and make them feel like shit.&#160;And if that is a thing you actually enjoy doing, you probably have worse issues than being a non-tipper that you might want to examine. The worst case scenario is that they post the receipt with your name attached, and then everyone you know finds out that you're an asshole! This woman is lucky that her server is a nicer person than I am, because I for sure would have posted her name.</p>
<p>[ <a href="http://forum.davidicke.com/showthread.php?t=153442" type="external">KFOR</a>]</p>
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HOT TIP: Don't Write Rude Notes In The Place Of A Tip On Your Reciept
| true |
http://thefrisky.com/2015-11-12/hot-tip-dont-write-rude-notes-in-the-place-of-a-tip-on-your-reciept/?utm_source%3Dsc-fb%26utm_medium%3Dref%26utm_campaign%3Dtipping
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2018-10-03
| 4left
|
HOT TIP: Don't Write Rude Notes In The Place Of A Tip On Your Reciept
<p>Every month or so, there's a new viral story about some charming human being who left a snide note instead of a tip on a receipt at a restaurant. This week, some newlywed lady who was at a restaurant with her husband decided that, <a href="http://kfor.com/2015/11/10/server-posts-advice-in-open-letter-for-newlywed-who-refused-to-leave-a-tip/" type="external">in lieu of a tip</a>, she should probably write, "He's my husband! Find your own! Good luck! :)."</p>
<p>This, as you might imagine, was a poor idea. The server, Jessica - who is ALSO actually married to another server at the restaurant'responded on Facebook with an open letter and a picture of the receipt. Before&#160;the post was deleted, it had over 50,000 shares. Why?</p>
<p>Because the customer&#160;who wrote this little receipt note&#160;is the exact kind of person the world loves to hate.</p>
<p>First of all, people who don't tip are jerks! This is a fact. There is literally no way of defending your lack of tipping in a way that is not going to make someone go "Wow! You're an asshole!" Please note that to this day, though many have tried, no one has managed to write a defense of not tipping servers who are paid less than the minimum wage that has come across as anything but utterly repulsive and disconcertingly crappy. It cannot be done. I mean, you can defend your stance on this all you want, but there's pretty much nothing you can say about not tipping that makes you seem like an appealing person.</p>
<p>Now, if not tipping in the first place is rude and crappy, I think probably everyone can agree that leaving a weird rude note in place of a tip is even worse. To boot, thanks to the internet, it is likely that lots of people will see your weird rude note should the server upload it to social media. It's also possible that some of your friends, acquaintances and co-workers might figure out who you are, and be rightfully appalled and horrified by you.</p>
<p>The lady who wrote this note likely thought she was totally teaching this server a lesson.&#160;I'll show her!&#160;she probably thought. That'll keep that hussy from trying to steal my man!&#160;However, that is just not a good look for anyone other than Dolly Parton, and now this random lady is a bona fide internet villain.</p>
<p>Think about it - the absolute&#160;best case scenario on your end is that, by leaving your snide note, you ruin someone's day and make them feel like shit.&#160;And if that is a thing you actually enjoy doing, you probably have worse issues than being a non-tipper that you might want to examine. The worst case scenario is that they post the receipt with your name attached, and then everyone you know finds out that you're an asshole! This woman is lucky that her server is a nicer person than I am, because I for sure would have posted her name.</p>
<p>[ <a href="http://forum.davidicke.com/showthread.php?t=153442" type="external">KFOR</a>]</p>
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<p>Vance Koppenhafer of Kopp Ranch in Mancos, said he held the drawing for the past four or five years because his children played football for the team and he is a Mancos High graduate.</p>
<p>"I went to school there. I have cousins that went to school there. We support the athletic program," Koppenhafer said. He said Mancos is home to a lot of hunters and said the prize is appropriate.</p>
<p>A school spokesman said Koppenhafer raffles the firearm as a private citizen and donates proceeds to the football team. He said the school does not take part in the raffle.</p>
<p>"We wouldn't do that as a school because A, we don't have a raffle license and B, I'm not sure that would be appropriate," said Mancos School District Re-6 Superintendent Brian Hanson.</p>
<p>Koppenhafer and school officials said students are ineligible to claim the prize.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Drawing entrants must be 21 or older and pass a background check conducted by Shooters World in Cortez in compliance with Colorado law, officials said.</p>
<p>In Colorado, only registered nonprofit organizations that have been in existence for at least five years are eligible to apply for a raffle license, the Cortez Journal reported.</p>
<p>State officials said a raffle requires payment to get into a random drawing to get something. Koppenhafer said a $5 donation is suggested, but some local businesses have chosen to donate and don't want a raffle ticket.</p>
<p />
<p />
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Raffle of rifle for high school fundraiser draws fire
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/680322/raffle-of-rifle-for-high-school-fundraiser-draws-fire.html
| 2least
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Raffle of rifle for high school fundraiser draws fire
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Vance Koppenhafer of Kopp Ranch in Mancos, said he held the drawing for the past four or five years because his children played football for the team and he is a Mancos High graduate.</p>
<p>"I went to school there. I have cousins that went to school there. We support the athletic program," Koppenhafer said. He said Mancos is home to a lot of hunters and said the prize is appropriate.</p>
<p>A school spokesman said Koppenhafer raffles the firearm as a private citizen and donates proceeds to the football team. He said the school does not take part in the raffle.</p>
<p>"We wouldn't do that as a school because A, we don't have a raffle license and B, I'm not sure that would be appropriate," said Mancos School District Re-6 Superintendent Brian Hanson.</p>
<p>Koppenhafer and school officials said students are ineligible to claim the prize.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Drawing entrants must be 21 or older and pass a background check conducted by Shooters World in Cortez in compliance with Colorado law, officials said.</p>
<p>In Colorado, only registered nonprofit organizations that have been in existence for at least five years are eligible to apply for a raffle license, the Cortez Journal reported.</p>
<p>State officials said a raffle requires payment to get into a random drawing to get something. Koppenhafer said a $5 donation is suggested, but some local businesses have chosen to donate and don't want a raffle ticket.</p>
<p />
<p />
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<p>More than 100,000 tons of rubber tires are disposed of every year in Argentina. The majority of them are burned, contributing to the country’s <a href="http://www.cleanairinstitute.org/calidaddelaireamericalatina/" type="external">already huge</a> air pollution problem. So, when Alejandro Malgor and two of his friends, Ezequiel Gatti and Nazareno El Hom,&#160;realized they wanted to start a business, they decided to focus on&#160;tackling the problem — and make shoes from the discarded tire scraps.</p>
<p>But the trio didn’t stop at tackling environmental issues; they wanted to generate opportunities for the unemployed, and particularly single mothers, in their hometown of Mendoza.</p>
<p>“The garbage we generate creates opportunities for everyone,” Malgor explains.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.xinca.com.ar/web/" type="external">Xinca</a> currently employs 25 women from rural areas, where much of the production is done. Malgor says he is committed to working with local communities and enabling single mothers to remain heads of their families by providing them with employment opportunities.</p>
<p>This is part an Across Women's Lives project:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Wear and Tear series: The women who make our clothes</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>“We like people and companies who buy our products to know they are helping empower women and people excluded by the system,” he says.&#160;</p>
<p>Although Argentina <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-21/argentine-economy-exits-recession-easing-pressure-on-macri" type="external">has finally pulled itself out of recession</a>, the gap between poor and rich remains vast, with <a href="https://www.infobae.com/economia/2016/10/31/la-mitad-de-los-ocupados-cobran-menos-del-salario-minimo-legal/" type="external">50 percent of workers</a> earning less than the minimum wage, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-unemployment/argentina-unemployment-drops-in-breath-of-fresh-air-for-government-idUSKBN13K26P" type="external">more than 32 percent of Argentinians</a>&#160;living in poverty.</p>
<p>Xinca’s main objective is to empower women who don’t have access to education&#160;by providing them the training they need to work. Malgor says he and his co-founders want to give women back their dignity by helping them become independent through earning their own income.</p>
<p>"We want to help single mothers because they are so important to society. They are strong women who want to give the best lives for their children, but sometimes they do not have the resources or the tools to do this," Malgor says.</p>
<p />
<p>Alejandro Malgor is shown with the tires his group recycles and uses to make&#160;shoes.</p>
<p>Courtesy of Xinca&#160;</p>
<p>That's where Xinca comes in: “We teach the women how to work as a team, how to take responsibility in a job. When they learn new skills, the women get better self-esteem and more confidence. Having a job means they don’t only learn new tools for work but they grow personally, too.”</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/family-realities-changing-argentina" type="external">2014 study found</a> around one in four Argentine homes are led by single parents, 72 percent of whom are single mothers.</p>
<p>Mauricia Vargas is one of those women. At 40 years old, she is the mother of two children, and she raises them alone. Before joining Xinca in 2014, she worked in agriculture. The farm work was hard, required long hours and paid little. Xinca offered her a chance to learn new skills and earn more money to support her family.</p>
<p>“For me, having a job means economic help and at the same time, to learn things I like,” Vargas explains. “This opportunity is very good because you are not just learning, you are meeting incredible people in the job and earning money at the same time.”</p>
<p>A <a href="http://ghdx.healthdata.org/record/argentina-population-and-housing-census-2010" type="external">2010 census in Argentina</a> found 1.7 million of the country’s women worked in rural areas. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, rural women represent one-fourth of the world’s population and produce more than half the global food supply, but still face economic, social and gender inequality. The FAO <a href="http://www.fao.org/argentina/campana-mujeres-rurales/es/" type="external">identified key problems</a> for rural Argentine women including lack of opportunities for education, training and employment and difficulty in accessing credit&#160;and&#160;to plan an “autonomous future.”&#160;</p>
<p>“The women we employ are women who want to get ahead, who want to improve the quality of life for their children, but who don’t know how to do it,” Malgor says. “So, we generate economic and social opportunities so they can do this for themselves.”</p>
<p>Since launching in 2013, Xinca has already recycled 20,000 kilograms of tires, which are provided by a recycling plant in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires. Malgor and his team don’t just focus on recycling tires, either. To make the shoe itself, they collect textile scraps from the fashion industry and have established several partnerships with companies who donate the fabric to Xinca.</p>
<p>“The process starts in the recycling plant, where we separate the metals from rubber,” Malgor explains. “Then, we cut the shoes directly from the tires. For the other part of the shoe, we reuse fabric from the fashion industry. We have partnerships with different brands that want to communicate that they are taking care of their waste."</p>
<p>Xinca sells its products, which now include&#160;backpacks and caps, online&#160;as well as through the ethical clothing giant Patagonia. It's hoping to use the money it won in a 2017 competition, <a href="https://www.chivas.com/the-venture" type="external">The Chivas Venture,</a>&#160;to expand to Australia, Chile and Uruguay. The company currently makes 1,500 pairs of shoes a month.</p>
<p />
<p>These shoes are an example of what Xinca produces from recycled tires.&#160;</p>
<p>Courtesy of Xinca&#160;</p>
<p>Argentinian law requires companies to provide their employees with new shoes every six months, and Xinca recently signed a contract with the municipality of Quilmes to be the official supplier. The company also has a partnership with Boca Juniors, so that for every pair of shoes sold, one is donated to a boy from a low-income background.</p>
<p>Long-term, Malgor is looking to encourage other businesses to adopt a sustainable model of labor that includes women.</p>
<p>Malgor is aware of his own privilege&#160;and says his “easy life with many opportunities” has spurred him to give “at least one” opportunity to people who have not had the same start in life.</p>
<p>“We want to redefine what it means to be successful in business. We want to think of success as who we help&#160;and not just the money we make.”</p>
<p>Lucy Sherriff reported from Colombia.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Her job at the mill bought her a new, better life</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">How a sweatshop raid in an LA suburb changed the American garment industry&#160;</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Are factories better in Bangladesh after Rana Plaza? That depends on who you ask</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">How do consumers make good choices about clothes? Spider silk and brand transparency</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">How we can create fashion that is inclusive and adaptive&#160;</a>or&#160;participate in our interactive:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">How fair is your fashion? Take the quiz.</a>&#160;</p>
|
An Argentine startup that makes shoes from discarded tire scraps and employs single mothers
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2017-12-08/argentine-startup-makes-shoes-discarded-tire-scraps-and-employs-single-mothers
|
2017-12-08
| 3left-center
|
An Argentine startup that makes shoes from discarded tire scraps and employs single mothers
<p>More than 100,000 tons of rubber tires are disposed of every year in Argentina. The majority of them are burned, contributing to the country’s <a href="http://www.cleanairinstitute.org/calidaddelaireamericalatina/" type="external">already huge</a> air pollution problem. So, when Alejandro Malgor and two of his friends, Ezequiel Gatti and Nazareno El Hom,&#160;realized they wanted to start a business, they decided to focus on&#160;tackling the problem — and make shoes from the discarded tire scraps.</p>
<p>But the trio didn’t stop at tackling environmental issues; they wanted to generate opportunities for the unemployed, and particularly single mothers, in their hometown of Mendoza.</p>
<p>“The garbage we generate creates opportunities for everyone,” Malgor explains.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.xinca.com.ar/web/" type="external">Xinca</a> currently employs 25 women from rural areas, where much of the production is done. Malgor says he is committed to working with local communities and enabling single mothers to remain heads of their families by providing them with employment opportunities.</p>
<p>This is part an Across Women's Lives project:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Wear and Tear series: The women who make our clothes</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>“We like people and companies who buy our products to know they are helping empower women and people excluded by the system,” he says.&#160;</p>
<p>Although Argentina <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-03-21/argentine-economy-exits-recession-easing-pressure-on-macri" type="external">has finally pulled itself out of recession</a>, the gap between poor and rich remains vast, with <a href="https://www.infobae.com/economia/2016/10/31/la-mitad-de-los-ocupados-cobran-menos-del-salario-minimo-legal/" type="external">50 percent of workers</a> earning less than the minimum wage, and <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-argentina-unemployment/argentina-unemployment-drops-in-breath-of-fresh-air-for-government-idUSKBN13K26P" type="external">more than 32 percent of Argentinians</a>&#160;living in poverty.</p>
<p>Xinca’s main objective is to empower women who don’t have access to education&#160;by providing them the training they need to work. Malgor says he and his co-founders want to give women back their dignity by helping them become independent through earning their own income.</p>
<p>"We want to help single mothers because they are so important to society. They are strong women who want to give the best lives for their children, but sometimes they do not have the resources or the tools to do this," Malgor says.</p>
<p />
<p>Alejandro Malgor is shown with the tires his group recycles and uses to make&#160;shoes.</p>
<p>Courtesy of Xinca&#160;</p>
<p>That's where Xinca comes in: “We teach the women how to work as a team, how to take responsibility in a job. When they learn new skills, the women get better self-esteem and more confidence. Having a job means they don’t only learn new tools for work but they grow personally, too.”</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/family-realities-changing-argentina" type="external">2014 study found</a> around one in four Argentine homes are led by single parents, 72 percent of whom are single mothers.</p>
<p>Mauricia Vargas is one of those women. At 40 years old, she is the mother of two children, and she raises them alone. Before joining Xinca in 2014, she worked in agriculture. The farm work was hard, required long hours and paid little. Xinca offered her a chance to learn new skills and earn more money to support her family.</p>
<p>“For me, having a job means economic help and at the same time, to learn things I like,” Vargas explains. “This opportunity is very good because you are not just learning, you are meeting incredible people in the job and earning money at the same time.”</p>
<p>A <a href="http://ghdx.healthdata.org/record/argentina-population-and-housing-census-2010" type="external">2010 census in Argentina</a> found 1.7 million of the country’s women worked in rural areas. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, rural women represent one-fourth of the world’s population and produce more than half the global food supply, but still face economic, social and gender inequality. The FAO <a href="http://www.fao.org/argentina/campana-mujeres-rurales/es/" type="external">identified key problems</a> for rural Argentine women including lack of opportunities for education, training and employment and difficulty in accessing credit&#160;and&#160;to plan an “autonomous future.”&#160;</p>
<p>“The women we employ are women who want to get ahead, who want to improve the quality of life for their children, but who don’t know how to do it,” Malgor says. “So, we generate economic and social opportunities so they can do this for themselves.”</p>
<p>Since launching in 2013, Xinca has already recycled 20,000 kilograms of tires, which are provided by a recycling plant in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires. Malgor and his team don’t just focus on recycling tires, either. To make the shoe itself, they collect textile scraps from the fashion industry and have established several partnerships with companies who donate the fabric to Xinca.</p>
<p>“The process starts in the recycling plant, where we separate the metals from rubber,” Malgor explains. “Then, we cut the shoes directly from the tires. For the other part of the shoe, we reuse fabric from the fashion industry. We have partnerships with different brands that want to communicate that they are taking care of their waste."</p>
<p>Xinca sells its products, which now include&#160;backpacks and caps, online&#160;as well as through the ethical clothing giant Patagonia. It's hoping to use the money it won in a 2017 competition, <a href="https://www.chivas.com/the-venture" type="external">The Chivas Venture,</a>&#160;to expand to Australia, Chile and Uruguay. The company currently makes 1,500 pairs of shoes a month.</p>
<p />
<p>These shoes are an example of what Xinca produces from recycled tires.&#160;</p>
<p>Courtesy of Xinca&#160;</p>
<p>Argentinian law requires companies to provide their employees with new shoes every six months, and Xinca recently signed a contract with the municipality of Quilmes to be the official supplier. The company also has a partnership with Boca Juniors, so that for every pair of shoes sold, one is donated to a boy from a low-income background.</p>
<p>Long-term, Malgor is looking to encourage other businesses to adopt a sustainable model of labor that includes women.</p>
<p>Malgor is aware of his own privilege&#160;and says his “easy life with many opportunities” has spurred him to give “at least one” opportunity to people who have not had the same start in life.</p>
<p>“We want to redefine what it means to be successful in business. We want to think of success as who we help&#160;and not just the money we make.”</p>
<p>Lucy Sherriff reported from Colombia.&#160;</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Her job at the mill bought her a new, better life</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">How a sweatshop raid in an LA suburb changed the American garment industry&#160;</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Are factories better in Bangladesh after Rana Plaza? That depends on who you ask</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">How do consumers make good choices about clothes? Spider silk and brand transparency</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="" type="internal">How we can create fashion that is inclusive and adaptive&#160;</a>or&#160;participate in our interactive:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">How fair is your fashion? Take the quiz.</a>&#160;</p>
| 6,944 |
<p>For decades, the factors that decided what noteworthy stories would not find their way into print or on the air came down to the media’s ignorance, laziness or from advertising restraints. How else can one explain the many years that passed before the tobacco, auto and junk food industries became the subject of regular consumer reporting? For too long, the explosive material for good journalism in these and other areas had remained hidden in plain sight.</p>
<p>With the intensification of soundbite journalism, fueled by audiences’ increasingly short attention spans, twitter addiction, the stupefaction of video culture and a willful disregard of both history and contemplation, a new form of censorship has emerged. The domination of “breaking news”—increasingly defined by episodes of violence, natural disasters and celebrity/political outrages and lurid scandals—is rampant.</p>
<p>When any one of these sensationalized episodes is seen as the “big story,” its massive over-coverage crowds out much of what normally would be communicated through the media. At their most frenetic periods, Fox News and CNN represent the worst of these lucrative culs de sac.</p>
<p>More and more, this phenomenon of fewer and fewer types of stories crowding out diverse and crucial reporting has become contagious. Our self-selecting social media bubbles further isolate us by validating, but not challenging, our opinions.&#160;Sunday&#160;morning network television “news” shows display the same subject, the same invited guests that were in that week’s newscasts. It has become almost impossible to introduce any subject matter, especially fresh disclosures and reports, outside of this tightening circle of opinion oligopolists.</p>
<p>Notice the near maniacal focus on Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, which amplified his insults, falsifications, howls of outrage and damaging rhetoric. Shut out was any attempt by civic groups to widen the election period’s public discussions of important topics that were taken off the table by the two parties and unchallenged by a dittohead media.</p>
<p>When I ask modestly liberal syndicated columnists why they are not writing about what in earlier times would have been their chosen stories, they tell me that editors demand that they address what has already been “in the news.”</p>
<p>I began to notice our various citizen groups experiencing difficulty in getting “newstime” or “newsprint” because their subjects—clearly newsworthy and affecting people directly—weren’t already in the corporate news media by some high profile story. Among the many severely neglected topics are looted pensions, food and auto safety, hospital malpractice, a predatory pharmaceutical industry, massive billing frauds, the dark sides of corporate welfare, an unauditable Pentagon budget and the devastation caused by stock buybacks. The paucity of “beat” reporters due to ever-winnowing newsroom populations has worsened this spreading blackout. Meanwhile, thousands of commercial radio stations using our public airwaves for free are increasingly syndicated and automated.</p>
<p>This contagion has spread to public radio and public broadcasting. They too have to be, to use the current euphemism, “contemporary.” More experienced and thoughtful perspectives, expressed in paragraphs rather than Tweets, are not “contemporary.” Former regular guests on NPR and PBS, if they are not part of the commentariate for the day’s “breaking news” are no longer regular. Even the prime national and state programs for NPR and PBS are falling in line. Check out the exclusion on&#160;Charlie Rose&#160;and Judy Woodruff’s&#160;Newshour.</p>
<p>Last year, the mass media declined to cover any part of 8 days at our “Breaking Through Power” convocations at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. These were gatherings of more accomplished civic doers and advocacy leaders—many having fundamentally shaped our country for the better— mobilizing around more reforms and redirections than ever brought together in modern American history. They came prepared to share their compelling stories, warnings and plans for action with an eager press. They were not seen as breaking news and therefore “not contemporary” (see&#160; <a href="http://breakingthroughpower.org/" type="external">breakingthroughpower.org</a>).</p>
<p>Even the estimable Minnesota Public Radio has narrowed its vision. I had complained about the cessation of interviews for my books, reports and commentaries in recent years. Nancy Cassutt, executive director of news and programming for Minnesota Public Radio explained: “we prefer to pick show topics using our editorial judgment about what is in the national conversation, once we do that we search for the voices with diverse opinions and backgrounds to build the show.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately it is not Minnesota Public Radio that determines what is in the national conversation. That choice comes from a very select group of producers, editors, performers and corporate advertisers from Washington, DC and New York City.</p>
<p>In today’s media ecosystem, I could not, for example, have been invited on&#160;Meet the Press&#160;to introduce my charges against the auto industry’s unsafe vehicles. Scientist Michael Jacobson could not have gotten national media for his revelations concerning the lethal effects of sugar, fat and salt in processed, non-nutritious foods. Likewise Dr. Sidney Wolfe could not have reached millions of people through national news networks and the&#160;Phil Donahue Show&#160;to alert the public about dangerous medicines. Because they were able to reach and inform the public, their groups expanded and changed America for the better.</p>
<p>Alas, no more such access. The fractured, increasingly cluttered and trivialized Internet is no substitute. The trends are getting worse, especially for younger people. Enough of us, individually or in new organizations, must reclaim the use of our FCC-licensed public airwaves, demanding conditions for serious programming in our community cable contracts and creating a climate for reading and contemplation in our educational institutions.</p>
<p>Remember the high points of American history. Major justice movements were achieved with one percent or less of the population serving as active citizens reflecting majority public opinion. That is what will lead to a more serious media and redefine for them what is truly “contemporary”, because what is portrayed as “contemporary” in the media should reflect the necessities of the people, and not the whims of media executives and advertisers.</p>
<p>If you want a different example of what is newsworthy, tune in to my weekly radio show, the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Ralph Nader Radio Hour</a>.</p>
|
The Censorious Vortex of the “Flash News” Barons
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2017/09/22/the-censorious-vortex-of-the-flash-news-barons/
|
2017-09-22
| 4left
|
The Censorious Vortex of the “Flash News” Barons
<p>For decades, the factors that decided what noteworthy stories would not find their way into print or on the air came down to the media’s ignorance, laziness or from advertising restraints. How else can one explain the many years that passed before the tobacco, auto and junk food industries became the subject of regular consumer reporting? For too long, the explosive material for good journalism in these and other areas had remained hidden in plain sight.</p>
<p>With the intensification of soundbite journalism, fueled by audiences’ increasingly short attention spans, twitter addiction, the stupefaction of video culture and a willful disregard of both history and contemplation, a new form of censorship has emerged. The domination of “breaking news”—increasingly defined by episodes of violence, natural disasters and celebrity/political outrages and lurid scandals—is rampant.</p>
<p>When any one of these sensationalized episodes is seen as the “big story,” its massive over-coverage crowds out much of what normally would be communicated through the media. At their most frenetic periods, Fox News and CNN represent the worst of these lucrative culs de sac.</p>
<p>More and more, this phenomenon of fewer and fewer types of stories crowding out diverse and crucial reporting has become contagious. Our self-selecting social media bubbles further isolate us by validating, but not challenging, our opinions.&#160;Sunday&#160;morning network television “news” shows display the same subject, the same invited guests that were in that week’s newscasts. It has become almost impossible to introduce any subject matter, especially fresh disclosures and reports, outside of this tightening circle of opinion oligopolists.</p>
<p>Notice the near maniacal focus on Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, which amplified his insults, falsifications, howls of outrage and damaging rhetoric. Shut out was any attempt by civic groups to widen the election period’s public discussions of important topics that were taken off the table by the two parties and unchallenged by a dittohead media.</p>
<p>When I ask modestly liberal syndicated columnists why they are not writing about what in earlier times would have been their chosen stories, they tell me that editors demand that they address what has already been “in the news.”</p>
<p>I began to notice our various citizen groups experiencing difficulty in getting “newstime” or “newsprint” because their subjects—clearly newsworthy and affecting people directly—weren’t already in the corporate news media by some high profile story. Among the many severely neglected topics are looted pensions, food and auto safety, hospital malpractice, a predatory pharmaceutical industry, massive billing frauds, the dark sides of corporate welfare, an unauditable Pentagon budget and the devastation caused by stock buybacks. The paucity of “beat” reporters due to ever-winnowing newsroom populations has worsened this spreading blackout. Meanwhile, thousands of commercial radio stations using our public airwaves for free are increasingly syndicated and automated.</p>
<p>This contagion has spread to public radio and public broadcasting. They too have to be, to use the current euphemism, “contemporary.” More experienced and thoughtful perspectives, expressed in paragraphs rather than Tweets, are not “contemporary.” Former regular guests on NPR and PBS, if they are not part of the commentariate for the day’s “breaking news” are no longer regular. Even the prime national and state programs for NPR and PBS are falling in line. Check out the exclusion on&#160;Charlie Rose&#160;and Judy Woodruff’s&#160;Newshour.</p>
<p>Last year, the mass media declined to cover any part of 8 days at our “Breaking Through Power” convocations at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. These were gatherings of more accomplished civic doers and advocacy leaders—many having fundamentally shaped our country for the better— mobilizing around more reforms and redirections than ever brought together in modern American history. They came prepared to share their compelling stories, warnings and plans for action with an eager press. They were not seen as breaking news and therefore “not contemporary” (see&#160; <a href="http://breakingthroughpower.org/" type="external">breakingthroughpower.org</a>).</p>
<p>Even the estimable Minnesota Public Radio has narrowed its vision. I had complained about the cessation of interviews for my books, reports and commentaries in recent years. Nancy Cassutt, executive director of news and programming for Minnesota Public Radio explained: “we prefer to pick show topics using our editorial judgment about what is in the national conversation, once we do that we search for the voices with diverse opinions and backgrounds to build the show.”</p>
<p>Unfortunately it is not Minnesota Public Radio that determines what is in the national conversation. That choice comes from a very select group of producers, editors, performers and corporate advertisers from Washington, DC and New York City.</p>
<p>In today’s media ecosystem, I could not, for example, have been invited on&#160;Meet the Press&#160;to introduce my charges against the auto industry’s unsafe vehicles. Scientist Michael Jacobson could not have gotten national media for his revelations concerning the lethal effects of sugar, fat and salt in processed, non-nutritious foods. Likewise Dr. Sidney Wolfe could not have reached millions of people through national news networks and the&#160;Phil Donahue Show&#160;to alert the public about dangerous medicines. Because they were able to reach and inform the public, their groups expanded and changed America for the better.</p>
<p>Alas, no more such access. The fractured, increasingly cluttered and trivialized Internet is no substitute. The trends are getting worse, especially for younger people. Enough of us, individually or in new organizations, must reclaim the use of our FCC-licensed public airwaves, demanding conditions for serious programming in our community cable contracts and creating a climate for reading and contemplation in our educational institutions.</p>
<p>Remember the high points of American history. Major justice movements were achieved with one percent or less of the population serving as active citizens reflecting majority public opinion. That is what will lead to a more serious media and redefine for them what is truly “contemporary”, because what is portrayed as “contemporary” in the media should reflect the necessities of the people, and not the whims of media executives and advertisers.</p>
<p>If you want a different example of what is newsworthy, tune in to my weekly radio show, the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Ralph Nader Radio Hour</a>.</p>
| 6,945 |
<p>Have you noticed that when liberals win it’s the “law of the land” and when liberals lose it’s an injustice which needs to be corrected?</p>
<p>A new Texas law allows college students to carry guns on campus but opponents aren’t happy.</p>
<p>FOX News <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/02/19/showdown-looms-in-texas-over-universitys-reading-campus-carry-law.html" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>Showdown looms in Texas over university’s reading of campus carry law</p>
<p>Texas’ new law allowing college students to carry guns on public campuses doesn’t take effect until August, but it’s already triggered a showdown.</p>
<p>University of Texas-Austin President Gregory Fenves declared this week that he’ll comply with the law, but claimed a loophole allows him to ban firearms in dormitories.</p>
<p />
<p>“I do not believe handguns belong on a university campus, so this decision has been the greatest challenge of my presidency to date,” Fenves wrote in a Feb. 17 letter to students, faculty and staff. “However, as president, I have an obligation to uphold the law.”</p>
<p>The law authorizes those with permits “to carry a concealed handgun while on the campus of a public, private, or independent institution of higher education.” But Fenves believes the law allows him to impose a dormitory ban.</p>
<p>That interpretation is not likely to sit well with state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who in December said that a ban on guns in dorms would be flouting the law.</p>
<p>“If an institution placed a prohibition on handguns in the institution’s residential facilities, however, it would effectively prohibit license holders in those facilities from carrying concealed handguns on campus, in violation of S.B. 11,” Paxton wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “This is because ‘rules, regulations, or other provisions concerning the storage of handguns in dormitories’ presupposes their presence in dormitories.”</p>
<p>Here’s a video report about the law from Wochit News:</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/university-texas-austin-fenves-campus-carry-428586" type="external">Newsweek</a> reports that there will be lawsuits:</p>
<p>University of Texas at Austin Could Face Lawsuits Over Campus Carry</p>
<p>There are also restrictions on people carrying guns while working with minors. And while carrying a semi-automatic handgun, carriers cannot have a round of ammunition in the chamber.</p>
<p>The policies do not generally prohibit guns in classrooms, a point for which faculty members had voiced concern. A working group had recommended against such a sweeping prohibition.</p>
<p>“Under the law, I cannot adopt a policy that has the general effect of excluding licensed concealed handguns from campus. I agree with the working group that a classroom exclusion would have this effect,” Fenves wrote in the letter.</p>
<p>“It’s a case where he wasn’t willing to take the political risk of going farther and acting on his convictions and for that we’re disappointed,” says Max Snodderly, a member of the group Gun Free UT and a neuroscience professor at UT Austin.</p>
<p>“We intend to continue to push for not having guns in classrooms and not having guns in the dormitories,” Snodderly says, adding that the push is “going to entail legal action.”</p>
<p>Why must liberals stand in the way of progress?</p>
<p>Featured image via <a href="https://youtu.be/hMgqeRyjw-Q" type="external">YouTube</a>.</p>
|
Texas Campus Carry Opponents Fight the Law
| true |
http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/02/texas-campus-carry-opponents-fight-the-law/
|
2016-02-21
| 0right
|
Texas Campus Carry Opponents Fight the Law
<p>Have you noticed that when liberals win it’s the “law of the land” and when liberals lose it’s an injustice which needs to be corrected?</p>
<p>A new Texas law allows college students to carry guns on campus but opponents aren’t happy.</p>
<p>FOX News <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/02/19/showdown-looms-in-texas-over-universitys-reading-campus-carry-law.html" type="external">reports</a>:</p>
<p>Showdown looms in Texas over university’s reading of campus carry law</p>
<p>Texas’ new law allowing college students to carry guns on public campuses doesn’t take effect until August, but it’s already triggered a showdown.</p>
<p>University of Texas-Austin President Gregory Fenves declared this week that he’ll comply with the law, but claimed a loophole allows him to ban firearms in dormitories.</p>
<p />
<p>“I do not believe handguns belong on a university campus, so this decision has been the greatest challenge of my presidency to date,” Fenves wrote in a Feb. 17 letter to students, faculty and staff. “However, as president, I have an obligation to uphold the law.”</p>
<p>The law authorizes those with permits “to carry a concealed handgun while on the campus of a public, private, or independent institution of higher education.” But Fenves believes the law allows him to impose a dormitory ban.</p>
<p>That interpretation is not likely to sit well with state Attorney General Ken Paxton, who in December said that a ban on guns in dorms would be flouting the law.</p>
<p>“If an institution placed a prohibition on handguns in the institution’s residential facilities, however, it would effectively prohibit license holders in those facilities from carrying concealed handguns on campus, in violation of S.B. 11,” Paxton wrote in a letter to lawmakers. “This is because ‘rules, regulations, or other provisions concerning the storage of handguns in dormitories’ presupposes their presence in dormitories.”</p>
<p>Here’s a video report about the law from Wochit News:</p>
<p />
<p><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/university-texas-austin-fenves-campus-carry-428586" type="external">Newsweek</a> reports that there will be lawsuits:</p>
<p>University of Texas at Austin Could Face Lawsuits Over Campus Carry</p>
<p>There are also restrictions on people carrying guns while working with minors. And while carrying a semi-automatic handgun, carriers cannot have a round of ammunition in the chamber.</p>
<p>The policies do not generally prohibit guns in classrooms, a point for which faculty members had voiced concern. A working group had recommended against such a sweeping prohibition.</p>
<p>“Under the law, I cannot adopt a policy that has the general effect of excluding licensed concealed handguns from campus. I agree with the working group that a classroom exclusion would have this effect,” Fenves wrote in the letter.</p>
<p>“It’s a case where he wasn’t willing to take the political risk of going farther and acting on his convictions and for that we’re disappointed,” says Max Snodderly, a member of the group Gun Free UT and a neuroscience professor at UT Austin.</p>
<p>“We intend to continue to push for not having guns in classrooms and not having guns in the dormitories,” Snodderly says, adding that the push is “going to entail legal action.”</p>
<p>Why must liberals stand in the way of progress?</p>
<p>Featured image via <a href="https://youtu.be/hMgqeRyjw-Q" type="external">YouTube</a>.</p>
| 6,946 |
<p>On the streets of South Africa today there's an air of uncertainty about the future. Mbeki told audiences last night he was stepping down and had been recalled by his own party. He appeared stoic and somber. His departure reveals the deep decisions in the ANC. The firing is fueled by supporters of Jacob Zuma who want him to become president despite allegations of fraud and corruption against him. Whether these divisions can be healed may affect the future of the ANC. This analyst says Mbeki's quiet departure could calm things for the moment, but there are fears that the ANC will break along tribal lines giving the potential for civil strife. Mbeki's departure may also affect Africa's largest economy in economic ways. Mbeki has been viewed as a pro-business politician but Zuma is viewed as a pro-labor leader. For his part, Zuma is trying to downplay events and today he blamed the media for making too much of Mbeki's departure. Zuma isn't president�not yet, there will be an interim president until formal elections can be held next year.</p>
|
South African president on way out
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2008-09-22/south-african-president-way-out
|
2008-09-22
| 3left-center
|
South African president on way out
<p>On the streets of South Africa today there's an air of uncertainty about the future. Mbeki told audiences last night he was stepping down and had been recalled by his own party. He appeared stoic and somber. His departure reveals the deep decisions in the ANC. The firing is fueled by supporters of Jacob Zuma who want him to become president despite allegations of fraud and corruption against him. Whether these divisions can be healed may affect the future of the ANC. This analyst says Mbeki's quiet departure could calm things for the moment, but there are fears that the ANC will break along tribal lines giving the potential for civil strife. Mbeki's departure may also affect Africa's largest economy in economic ways. Mbeki has been viewed as a pro-business politician but Zuma is viewed as a pro-labor leader. For his part, Zuma is trying to downplay events and today he blamed the media for making too much of Mbeki's departure. Zuma isn't president�not yet, there will be an interim president until formal elections can be held next year.</p>
| 6,947 |
<p>OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphia’s schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team.</p>
<p>Three wins against the A’s, three different uniforms — in the same season. What a thing.</p>
<p>Williams pitched the Phillies to a 3-0 victory at Oakland on Saturday, adding to his wins against the A’s while with Houston and Texas earlier this year.</p>
<p>The right-hander is the first pitcher since at least 1900 to have at least one win against the same opponent with three different teams in the same season, according to STATS.</p>
<p>“I’ve been aware of it since I knew I was going to pitch against these guys,” Williams said. “That is crazy. For one, you would never think that you would face the same team. Obviously I was with the AL West so I knew I was going to face them, but coming over to the Phillies in interleague play, you didn’t think you were going to face the team again. It’s a good feat.”</p>
<p>Freddy Galvis hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning against Dan Otero (8-2), and Marlon Byrd added an RBI single in the eighth.</p>
<p>No. 9 hitter Galvis reached double digits in RBIs.</p>
<p>“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was a gapper. I tried to run fast. Then I saw it was gone,” Galvis said. “You’re happy when you put your team in that position.”</p>
<p>Williams allowed four hits, struck out three and walked one in seven innings. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 4.08 ERA in his previous three starts. He was aided by double plays in the second and fifth innings.</p>
<p>Oakland lost for the seventh time in 10 games, again failing to support its starting pitcher. The A’s squandered a bases-loaded chance in the second when Derek Norris grounded into an inning-ending double play.</p>
<p>“Jerome doesn’t really give in, so he’s going to give you something over the outer part of the plate,” Norris said.</p>
<p>Drew Pomeranz gave the A’s all they hoped for from him in a spot start, allowing one hit and walking two in five scoreless innings. Manager Bob Melvin expected him to throw between 75-80 pitches and he finished at 86.</p>
<p>Pomeranz escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first and retired 10 straight batters from there.</p>
<p>The left-hander made his first start since another spot outing Aug. 27 at Houston. Jason Hammel will return to the rotation Thursday when he rejoins the club from his paternity leave.</p>
<p>Ken Giles became only the second Phillies pitcher to earn a save this season, finishing the four-hitter on his 24th birthday for his first career save. Suspended closer Jonathan Papelbon has the other 37.</p>
<p>“It’s awesome. I’m going to remember it forever,” Giles said. “I’ve been waiting for my time to come. I’m blessed that I got the opportunity to get it on my birthday.”</p>
<p>Philadelphia earned just its third win in eight games at the Coliseum and improved to 2-4 on its final road trip of the year.</p>
<p>TRAINER’S ROOM</p>
<p>Phillies: Oakland native Jimmy Rollins, still recovering from a strained left hamstring that has sidelined him since Sept. 8, expected a few family members in the stands Saturday but the infielder told some there was no pressure to come with him being hurt.</p>
<p>Athletics: CF Coco Crisp had most of the day off until entering as a pinch hitter in the eighth. He had played 14 straight games since missing five with a strained neck. ... RHP Jarrod Parker, who has missed the season following a second Tommy John surgery, will travel to Arizona on Wednesday to continue his throwing program. He hopes to pitch at least twice off the mound this fall before shutting it down in November for the rest of the year. He hopes to be back by next June.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Phillies: RHP A.J. Burnett (8-17, 4.40 ERA) tries to end a two-start losing streak when he makes his first start against the A’s since losing with the Yankees on July 23, 2011.</p>
<p>Athletics: LHP Scott Kazmir (14-9, 3.44 ERA) looks to snap an 0-4 skid over his last five starts. He is 14-6 with a 4.31 ERA in 26 interleague starts.</p>
<p>OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphia’s schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team.</p>
<p>Three wins against the A’s, three different uniforms — in the same season. What a thing.</p>
<p>Williams pitched the Phillies to a 3-0 victory at Oakland on Saturday, adding to his wins against the A’s while with Houston and Texas earlier this year.</p>
<p>The right-hander is the first pitcher since at least 1900 to have at least one win against the same opponent with three different teams in the same season, according to STATS.</p>
<p>“I’ve been aware of it since I knew I was going to pitch against these guys,” Williams said. “That is crazy. For one, you would never think that you would face the same team. Obviously I was with the AL West so I knew I was going to face them, but coming over to the Phillies in interleague play, you didn’t think you were going to face the team again. It’s a good feat.”</p>
<p>Freddy Galvis hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning against Dan Otero (8-2), and Marlon Byrd added an RBI single in the eighth.</p>
<p>No. 9 hitter Galvis reached double digits in RBIs.</p>
<p>“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was a gapper. I tried to run fast. Then I saw it was gone,” Galvis said. “You’re happy when you put your team in that position.”</p>
<p>Williams allowed four hits, struck out three and walked one in seven innings. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 4.08 ERA in his previous three starts. He was aided by double plays in the second and fifth innings.</p>
<p>Oakland lost for the seventh time in 10 games, again failing to support its starting pitcher. The A’s squandered a bases-loaded chance in the second when Derek Norris grounded into an inning-ending double play.</p>
<p>“Jerome doesn’t really give in, so he’s going to give you something over the outer part of the plate,” Norris said.</p>
<p>Drew Pomeranz gave the A’s all they hoped for from him in a spot start, allowing one hit and walking two in five scoreless innings. Manager Bob Melvin expected him to throw between 75-80 pitches and he finished at 86.</p>
<p>Pomeranz escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first and retired 10 straight batters from there.</p>
<p>The left-hander made his first start since another spot outing Aug. 27 at Houston. Jason Hammel will return to the rotation Thursday when he rejoins the club from his paternity leave.</p>
<p>Ken Giles became only the second Phillies pitcher to earn a save this season, finishing the four-hitter on his 24th birthday for his first career save. Suspended closer Jonathan Papelbon has the other 37.</p>
<p>“It’s awesome. I’m going to remember it forever,” Giles said. “I’ve been waiting for my time to come. I’m blessed that I got the opportunity to get it on my birthday.”</p>
<p>Philadelphia earned just its third win in eight games at the Coliseum and improved to 2-4 on its final road trip of the year.</p>
<p>TRAINER’S ROOM</p>
<p>Phillies: Oakland native Jimmy Rollins, still recovering from a strained left hamstring that has sidelined him since Sept. 8, expected a few family members in the stands Saturday but the infielder told some there was no pressure to come with him being hurt.</p>
<p>Athletics: CF Coco Crisp had most of the day off until entering as a pinch hitter in the eighth. He had played 14 straight games since missing five with a strained neck. ... RHP Jarrod Parker, who has missed the season following a second Tommy John surgery, will travel to Arizona on Wednesday to continue his throwing program. He hopes to pitch at least twice off the mound this fall before shutting it down in November for the rest of the year. He hopes to be back by next June.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Phillies: RHP A.J. Burnett (8-17, 4.40 ERA) tries to end a two-start losing streak when he makes his first start against the A’s since losing with the Yankees on July 23, 2011.</p>
<p>Athletics: LHP Scott Kazmir (14-9, 3.44 ERA) looks to snap an 0-4 skid over his last five starts. He is 14-6 with a 4.31 ERA in 26 interleague starts.</p>
|
Williams beats A’s for third time with third team
| false |
https://apnews.com/21263a4cd577483ebac7a4865ae164af
|
2014-09-21
| 2least
|
Williams beats A’s for third time with third team
<p>OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphia’s schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team.</p>
<p>Three wins against the A’s, three different uniforms — in the same season. What a thing.</p>
<p>Williams pitched the Phillies to a 3-0 victory at Oakland on Saturday, adding to his wins against the A’s while with Houston and Texas earlier this year.</p>
<p>The right-hander is the first pitcher since at least 1900 to have at least one win against the same opponent with three different teams in the same season, according to STATS.</p>
<p>“I’ve been aware of it since I knew I was going to pitch against these guys,” Williams said. “That is crazy. For one, you would never think that you would face the same team. Obviously I was with the AL West so I knew I was going to face them, but coming over to the Phillies in interleague play, you didn’t think you were going to face the team again. It’s a good feat.”</p>
<p>Freddy Galvis hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning against Dan Otero (8-2), and Marlon Byrd added an RBI single in the eighth.</p>
<p>No. 9 hitter Galvis reached double digits in RBIs.</p>
<p>“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was a gapper. I tried to run fast. Then I saw it was gone,” Galvis said. “You’re happy when you put your team in that position.”</p>
<p>Williams allowed four hits, struck out three and walked one in seven innings. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 4.08 ERA in his previous three starts. He was aided by double plays in the second and fifth innings.</p>
<p>Oakland lost for the seventh time in 10 games, again failing to support its starting pitcher. The A’s squandered a bases-loaded chance in the second when Derek Norris grounded into an inning-ending double play.</p>
<p>“Jerome doesn’t really give in, so he’s going to give you something over the outer part of the plate,” Norris said.</p>
<p>Drew Pomeranz gave the A’s all they hoped for from him in a spot start, allowing one hit and walking two in five scoreless innings. Manager Bob Melvin expected him to throw between 75-80 pitches and he finished at 86.</p>
<p>Pomeranz escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first and retired 10 straight batters from there.</p>
<p>The left-hander made his first start since another spot outing Aug. 27 at Houston. Jason Hammel will return to the rotation Thursday when he rejoins the club from his paternity leave.</p>
<p>Ken Giles became only the second Phillies pitcher to earn a save this season, finishing the four-hitter on his 24th birthday for his first career save. Suspended closer Jonathan Papelbon has the other 37.</p>
<p>“It’s awesome. I’m going to remember it forever,” Giles said. “I’ve been waiting for my time to come. I’m blessed that I got the opportunity to get it on my birthday.”</p>
<p>Philadelphia earned just its third win in eight games at the Coliseum and improved to 2-4 on its final road trip of the year.</p>
<p>TRAINER’S ROOM</p>
<p>Phillies: Oakland native Jimmy Rollins, still recovering from a strained left hamstring that has sidelined him since Sept. 8, expected a few family members in the stands Saturday but the infielder told some there was no pressure to come with him being hurt.</p>
<p>Athletics: CF Coco Crisp had most of the day off until entering as a pinch hitter in the eighth. He had played 14 straight games since missing five with a strained neck. ... RHP Jarrod Parker, who has missed the season following a second Tommy John surgery, will travel to Arizona on Wednesday to continue his throwing program. He hopes to pitch at least twice off the mound this fall before shutting it down in November for the rest of the year. He hopes to be back by next June.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Phillies: RHP A.J. Burnett (8-17, 4.40 ERA) tries to end a two-start losing streak when he makes his first start against the A’s since losing with the Yankees on July 23, 2011.</p>
<p>Athletics: LHP Scott Kazmir (14-9, 3.44 ERA) looks to snap an 0-4 skid over his last five starts. He is 14-6 with a 4.31 ERA in 26 interleague starts.</p>
<p>OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Jerome Williams glanced at Philadelphia’s schedule and realized he would be facing the Oakland Athletics yet again, with another new team.</p>
<p>Three wins against the A’s, three different uniforms — in the same season. What a thing.</p>
<p>Williams pitched the Phillies to a 3-0 victory at Oakland on Saturday, adding to his wins against the A’s while with Houston and Texas earlier this year.</p>
<p>The right-hander is the first pitcher since at least 1900 to have at least one win against the same opponent with three different teams in the same season, according to STATS.</p>
<p>“I’ve been aware of it since I knew I was going to pitch against these guys,” Williams said. “That is crazy. For one, you would never think that you would face the same team. Obviously I was with the AL West so I knew I was going to face them, but coming over to the Phillies in interleague play, you didn’t think you were going to face the team again. It’s a good feat.”</p>
<p>Freddy Galvis hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning against Dan Otero (8-2), and Marlon Byrd added an RBI single in the eighth.</p>
<p>No. 9 hitter Galvis reached double digits in RBIs.</p>
<p>“As soon as I hit it, I knew it was a gapper. I tried to run fast. Then I saw it was gone,” Galvis said. “You’re happy when you put your team in that position.”</p>
<p>Williams allowed four hits, struck out three and walked one in seven innings. The right-hander was 0-2 with a 4.08 ERA in his previous three starts. He was aided by double plays in the second and fifth innings.</p>
<p>Oakland lost for the seventh time in 10 games, again failing to support its starting pitcher. The A’s squandered a bases-loaded chance in the second when Derek Norris grounded into an inning-ending double play.</p>
<p>“Jerome doesn’t really give in, so he’s going to give you something over the outer part of the plate,” Norris said.</p>
<p>Drew Pomeranz gave the A’s all they hoped for from him in a spot start, allowing one hit and walking two in five scoreless innings. Manager Bob Melvin expected him to throw between 75-80 pitches and he finished at 86.</p>
<p>Pomeranz escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first and retired 10 straight batters from there.</p>
<p>The left-hander made his first start since another spot outing Aug. 27 at Houston. Jason Hammel will return to the rotation Thursday when he rejoins the club from his paternity leave.</p>
<p>Ken Giles became only the second Phillies pitcher to earn a save this season, finishing the four-hitter on his 24th birthday for his first career save. Suspended closer Jonathan Papelbon has the other 37.</p>
<p>“It’s awesome. I’m going to remember it forever,” Giles said. “I’ve been waiting for my time to come. I’m blessed that I got the opportunity to get it on my birthday.”</p>
<p>Philadelphia earned just its third win in eight games at the Coliseum and improved to 2-4 on its final road trip of the year.</p>
<p>TRAINER’S ROOM</p>
<p>Phillies: Oakland native Jimmy Rollins, still recovering from a strained left hamstring that has sidelined him since Sept. 8, expected a few family members in the stands Saturday but the infielder told some there was no pressure to come with him being hurt.</p>
<p>Athletics: CF Coco Crisp had most of the day off until entering as a pinch hitter in the eighth. He had played 14 straight games since missing five with a strained neck. ... RHP Jarrod Parker, who has missed the season following a second Tommy John surgery, will travel to Arizona on Wednesday to continue his throwing program. He hopes to pitch at least twice off the mound this fall before shutting it down in November for the rest of the year. He hopes to be back by next June.</p>
<p>UP NEXT</p>
<p>Phillies: RHP A.J. Burnett (8-17, 4.40 ERA) tries to end a two-start losing streak when he makes his first start against the A’s since losing with the Yankees on July 23, 2011.</p>
<p>Athletics: LHP Scott Kazmir (14-9, 3.44 ERA) looks to snap an 0-4 skid over his last five starts. He is 14-6 with a 4.31 ERA in 26 interleague starts.</p>
| 6,948 |
<p>Published time: 18 Jul, 2017 16:32</p>
<p>A German court has told a Syrian woman that she must take off her headscarf to appear in court for divorce proceedings against her husband.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/brandenburg-scheidung-vor-amtsgericht-nur-ohne-kopftuch/20071934.html" type="external">report in Tagesspiegel</a>, the woman, who arrived in Germany as a refugee, sought a divorce from her husband before a magistrate in Luckenwalde in the state of Brandenburg.</p>
<p>Before the hearing, however, the presiding judge sent a letter to the woman’s lawyer informing her that she would not be allowed wear a headscarf during the court case.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/386378-austrian-president-women-headscarves/" type="external">READ MORE: ‘All women’ could be asked to wear headscarves in ‘solidarity’ with Muslims – Austrian president</a></p>
<p>“Religiously motivated statements, such as the wearing of a headscarf, will not be allowed,” the letter reportedly reads.</p>
<p>The letter outlined that the woman, who is Muslim, could face sanctions if she wears the traditional headgear at the proceedings, which she was ordered to attend.</p>
<p>Officials in German courts are required to be religiously neutral and are not allowed to wear religious symbols, however, the same requirement doesn’t apply to civilians. The woman’s lawyer has labelled the decision unconstitutional.</p>
<p>Defence lawyers are also not bound by rules on religious neutrality, and may wear a headscarf or other symbols of religion.</p>
<p>Tagesspiegel notes that in 2006 Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled that a judge cannot expel a spectator from a court proceeding because they are wearing a headscarf.</p>
<p>The court in Luckenwalde defended the decision, telling Tagesspiegel that the judge “is responsible for ensuring rules are adhered to in the courtroom, where religious symbols have no place.”</p>
<p>Last month the state of Berlin was ordered to pay a Muslim teacher €6,900 after she was rejected from a job because her hijab contravened a German law restricting religious symbols in the workplace.</p>
<p>German courts have held other similar proceedings this year, challenging the workplace neutrality law.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/394297-berlin-teacher-headscarf-compensation/" type="external">READ MORE: Muslim teacher awarded €7k compensation for hijab job rejection</a></p>
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‘No religious symbols’: Muslim woman banned from wearing headscarf in German court
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https://newsline.com/no-religious-symbols-muslim-woman-banned-from-wearing-headscarf-in-german-court/
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2017-07-18
| 1right-center
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‘No religious symbols’: Muslim woman banned from wearing headscarf in German court
<p>Published time: 18 Jul, 2017 16:32</p>
<p>A German court has told a Syrian woman that she must take off her headscarf to appear in court for divorce proceedings against her husband.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://www.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/brandenburg-scheidung-vor-amtsgericht-nur-ohne-kopftuch/20071934.html" type="external">report in Tagesspiegel</a>, the woman, who arrived in Germany as a refugee, sought a divorce from her husband before a magistrate in Luckenwalde in the state of Brandenburg.</p>
<p>Before the hearing, however, the presiding judge sent a letter to the woman’s lawyer informing her that she would not be allowed wear a headscarf during the court case.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/386378-austrian-president-women-headscarves/" type="external">READ MORE: ‘All women’ could be asked to wear headscarves in ‘solidarity’ with Muslims – Austrian president</a></p>
<p>“Religiously motivated statements, such as the wearing of a headscarf, will not be allowed,” the letter reportedly reads.</p>
<p>The letter outlined that the woman, who is Muslim, could face sanctions if she wears the traditional headgear at the proceedings, which she was ordered to attend.</p>
<p>Officials in German courts are required to be religiously neutral and are not allowed to wear religious symbols, however, the same requirement doesn’t apply to civilians. The woman’s lawyer has labelled the decision unconstitutional.</p>
<p>Defence lawyers are also not bound by rules on religious neutrality, and may wear a headscarf or other symbols of religion.</p>
<p>Tagesspiegel notes that in 2006 Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruled that a judge cannot expel a spectator from a court proceeding because they are wearing a headscarf.</p>
<p>The court in Luckenwalde defended the decision, telling Tagesspiegel that the judge “is responsible for ensuring rules are adhered to in the courtroom, where religious symbols have no place.”</p>
<p>Last month the state of Berlin was ordered to pay a Muslim teacher €6,900 after she was rejected from a job because her hijab contravened a German law restricting religious symbols in the workplace.</p>
<p>German courts have held other similar proceedings this year, challenging the workplace neutrality law.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/news/394297-berlin-teacher-headscarf-compensation/" type="external">READ MORE: Muslim teacher awarded €7k compensation for hijab job rejection</a></p>
| 6,949 |
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<p>AUSTIN, Texas — Federal prosecutors say the part-owner of a Southeast Texas pharmacy has pleaded guilty to federal bribery and tax charges in a health care kickbacks scheme.</p>
<p>With his plea before a federal judge in Austin, 37-year-old Brian David Haney admits paying more than $800,000 to the owner of a chain of clinics who referred patients to his Vidor pharmacy for drugs.</p>
<p>The clinic owner, chiropractor Garry Wayne Craighead, was sentenced earlier this year to 14 years in prison and must repay nearly $18 million to the government.</p>
<p>Craighead had clinics in Dallas, Fort Worth, Killeen, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Weslaco and Beaumont and mainly treated U.S. Postal Service workers.</p>
<p>Haney faces up to five years in prison for the bribery charge and up to three years for the tax charge.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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Vidor pharmacy owner pleads guilty in drug referral scheme
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Vidor pharmacy owner pleads guilty in drug referral scheme
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<p>AUSTIN, Texas — Federal prosecutors say the part-owner of a Southeast Texas pharmacy has pleaded guilty to federal bribery and tax charges in a health care kickbacks scheme.</p>
<p>With his plea before a federal judge in Austin, 37-year-old Brian David Haney admits paying more than $800,000 to the owner of a chain of clinics who referred patients to his Vidor pharmacy for drugs.</p>
<p>The clinic owner, chiropractor Garry Wayne Craighead, was sentenced earlier this year to 14 years in prison and must repay nearly $18 million to the government.</p>
<p>Craighead had clinics in Dallas, Fort Worth, Killeen, Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Weslaco and Beaumont and mainly treated U.S. Postal Service workers.</p>
<p>Haney faces up to five years in prison for the bribery charge and up to three years for the tax charge.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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<p>COMMERCE CITY, Colo. - Authorities are offering a reward for information that can solve the shooting of a Denver area police officer during a traffic stop.</p>
<p>Commerce City police and federal authorities on Thursday announced the reward of up to $20,000 for clues about the Sunday shooting of Officer Kevin Lord. Authorities say Lord was shot while making a traffic stop but was protected by a ballistic vest. He was treated at a hospital and released.</p>
<p>The shooting suspect was driving a late 1990s maroon Nissan Pathfinder with possible Colorado plates 679UNZ or 697UNZ. Police say the vehicle might have damage from gunshots Lord fired at it as it fled.</p>
<p>Police say they believe the suspect remains in the Denver area.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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Reward for information on Commerce City officer's shooting
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Reward for information on Commerce City officer's shooting
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<p>COMMERCE CITY, Colo. - Authorities are offering a reward for information that can solve the shooting of a Denver area police officer during a traffic stop.</p>
<p>Commerce City police and federal authorities on Thursday announced the reward of up to $20,000 for clues about the Sunday shooting of Officer Kevin Lord. Authorities say Lord was shot while making a traffic stop but was protected by a ballistic vest. He was treated at a hospital and released.</p>
<p>The shooting suspect was driving a late 1990s maroon Nissan Pathfinder with possible Colorado plates 679UNZ or 697UNZ. Police say the vehicle might have damage from gunshots Lord fired at it as it fled.</p>
<p>Police say they believe the suspect remains in the Denver area.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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<p />
<p>MEXICO CITY — TV Azteca, the underdog that shook up Mexico’s television industry more than two decades ago, is now the one being challenged as new broadcasters prepare to enter the market.</p>
<p>Billionaire Ricardo Salinas purchased the state-owned broadcaster in 1993 to compete with Grupo Televisa, and today the company reaches three out of 10 Mexican TV viewers with soap operas and musical talent shows. After years of Azteca and Televisa dominating the TV industry, Mexico’s regulator is now accelerating plans to auction off two new broadcast networks by March.</p>
<p>While shared rights to the World Cup boosted Azteca’s advertising revenue this year, the company will now have to compete with more networks to attract marketers and acquire rights for TV shows, leading to lower ad rates and less content to purchase. Barclays projects Azteca’s sales growth will slow to 1.6 percent and 1 percent in the next two years, down from an estimated 7.9 percent jump this year. Azteca depended on advertisers for about 91 percent of its revenue last year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Azteca “will be impacted more if these two new channels are successful,” Gilberto Garcia, a Mexico City-based analyst with Barclays, said in a phone interview. “The company hasn’t signaled a radical change in strategy, and in Mexico, there’s a relative shortage of content up for grabs.”</p>
<p>Azteca’s stock had fallen 15 percent this year since Mexico’s telecommunications regulator approved new rules to boost competition, including the auction of two national broadcast networks.</p>
<p>The auction is designed to give viewers more options on the TV dial, born out of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s push to increase competition in the highly-concentrated industry. Televisa, run by billionaire Emilio Azcarraga, has loomed over Mexico’s media landscape for half a century and draws about 70 percent of the country’s TV viewers.</p>
<p>Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute, known as IFT, said last month that it plans to select winning bidders for the new networks by the end of March, instead of the end of June as originally planned. At least five parties have expressed interest in participating in the auction, the IFT said last month, declining to provide more information.</p>
<p>Billionaire German Larrea, who controls Mexico’s biggest mining company, resigned from Televisa’s board last month to avoid a potential conflict of interest because he intends to participate in the auction.</p>
<p>In addition to the new networks being introduced, Televisa and Azteca have also been forced by regulators to offer up their two most popular channels to cable and satellite operators for free. That’s made advertising income even more crucial to the network owners.</p>
<p>“The pressure will depend on how soon these operators can bring in new content, how far they can reach and how much that content pleases the Mexican audience,” said Alexis Milo, chief Mexico economist at Deutsche Bank AG and the former commissioner of Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Commission.</p>
<p>Televisa, as the largest maker of Spanish content in the world, has a strong grip on the advertising market, Barclays’s Garcia said. The company produced 90,500 hours of shows, movies and telenovelas in 2012 and exported 92,877 hours of it overseas. Salinas’ operator depends more on third-party material, producing 70 percent of the content for its channel 13 and only 29 percent for channel 7.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Once the two new channels are fully operational, buying the rights to popular content may get more competitive, according to Garcia. That could mean more bidders vying for prime-time hits such as Avenida Brasil, the telenovela that tells the story of a young woman exacting revenge on her gold-digging stepmother. Azteca acquired the telenovela from Brazil’s Globo Comunicacao &amp; Participacoes.</p>
<p>Roberto Romagnoli, TV Azteca’s Entertainment Director, said the channel’s production capacity and quality of content means the company is prepared for the new rivals.</p>
<p>“Nowadays we have global chains seeking us to co- produce,” he said in a brief interview at an event last week at Azteca Novelas’ headquarters in Southern Mexico City, surrounded by studio sets filled with props like phone booths and bed frames. “Mexico is one of the best markets to make television.”</p>
<p>Azteca is in favor of competition and always has been, according to an e-mailed statement from the company. Since starting to broadcast more than two decades ago, consolidation has given Azteca the confidence to compete with more players, according to the statement.</p>
<p>A press official for Televisa declined to comment.</p>
<p>Televisa’s other advantage is that it has the most pay-TV subscribers in the nation. Its recent acquisition of Cablecom SA added at least 840,000 new video customers to the 8.9 million subscribers it already serves through cable and satellite units.</p>
<p>Salinas has been investing in other countries to hedge against Mexico’s push for more competition. Azteca is finalizing the deployment of a nationwide fiber-optic network to offer telecommunications, banking and retail services in Colombia, and was awarded a similar contract in Peru at the end of last year.</p>
<p>More players in over-the-air TV will encourage companies to compete in new ways, IFT’s President Gabriel Contreras said at an event in Mexico City last week. For example, Salinas last year acquired Blockbuster Mexico, which could promote other branches of his empire, including Azteca’s original video content and the Totalmovie pay-per-view movie system.</p>
<p>The success of the two new channels — and resulting impact on Azteca — may also hinge on the success of Mexico’s push to switch consumer to digital transmissions, Deutsche Bank’s Milo said. The new networks will only be distributed digitally, meaning they will reach a smaller audience than Televisa and Azteca until the transition is complete.</p>
<p>The government is giving away free high-definition televisions to low-income households to speed the switch, which it expects to complete by the end of next year.</p>
<p>While Azteca has the most to lose, IFT’s Contreras has been more focused on the benefits to TV viewers of having more competition in the industry.</p>
<p>“Right now we have such a concentrated market in over-the- air TV,” Contreras said. “What will this generate? Better competition for content and better business models. I see no adverse effect.”</p>
<p>bc-tv-mexico (TPN)</p>
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In Mexico, TV Azteca goes from underdog to turf defender
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In Mexico, TV Azteca goes from underdog to turf defender
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>MEXICO CITY — TV Azteca, the underdog that shook up Mexico’s television industry more than two decades ago, is now the one being challenged as new broadcasters prepare to enter the market.</p>
<p>Billionaire Ricardo Salinas purchased the state-owned broadcaster in 1993 to compete with Grupo Televisa, and today the company reaches three out of 10 Mexican TV viewers with soap operas and musical talent shows. After years of Azteca and Televisa dominating the TV industry, Mexico’s regulator is now accelerating plans to auction off two new broadcast networks by March.</p>
<p>While shared rights to the World Cup boosted Azteca’s advertising revenue this year, the company will now have to compete with more networks to attract marketers and acquire rights for TV shows, leading to lower ad rates and less content to purchase. Barclays projects Azteca’s sales growth will slow to 1.6 percent and 1 percent in the next two years, down from an estimated 7.9 percent jump this year. Azteca depended on advertisers for about 91 percent of its revenue last year.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Azteca “will be impacted more if these two new channels are successful,” Gilberto Garcia, a Mexico City-based analyst with Barclays, said in a phone interview. “The company hasn’t signaled a radical change in strategy, and in Mexico, there’s a relative shortage of content up for grabs.”</p>
<p>Azteca’s stock had fallen 15 percent this year since Mexico’s telecommunications regulator approved new rules to boost competition, including the auction of two national broadcast networks.</p>
<p>The auction is designed to give viewers more options on the TV dial, born out of President Enrique Pena Nieto’s push to increase competition in the highly-concentrated industry. Televisa, run by billionaire Emilio Azcarraga, has loomed over Mexico’s media landscape for half a century and draws about 70 percent of the country’s TV viewers.</p>
<p>Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute, known as IFT, said last month that it plans to select winning bidders for the new networks by the end of March, instead of the end of June as originally planned. At least five parties have expressed interest in participating in the auction, the IFT said last month, declining to provide more information.</p>
<p>Billionaire German Larrea, who controls Mexico’s biggest mining company, resigned from Televisa’s board last month to avoid a potential conflict of interest because he intends to participate in the auction.</p>
<p>In addition to the new networks being introduced, Televisa and Azteca have also been forced by regulators to offer up their two most popular channels to cable and satellite operators for free. That’s made advertising income even more crucial to the network owners.</p>
<p>“The pressure will depend on how soon these operators can bring in new content, how far they can reach and how much that content pleases the Mexican audience,” said Alexis Milo, chief Mexico economist at Deutsche Bank AG and the former commissioner of Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Commission.</p>
<p>Televisa, as the largest maker of Spanish content in the world, has a strong grip on the advertising market, Barclays’s Garcia said. The company produced 90,500 hours of shows, movies and telenovelas in 2012 and exported 92,877 hours of it overseas. Salinas’ operator depends more on third-party material, producing 70 percent of the content for its channel 13 and only 29 percent for channel 7.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Once the two new channels are fully operational, buying the rights to popular content may get more competitive, according to Garcia. That could mean more bidders vying for prime-time hits such as Avenida Brasil, the telenovela that tells the story of a young woman exacting revenge on her gold-digging stepmother. Azteca acquired the telenovela from Brazil’s Globo Comunicacao &amp; Participacoes.</p>
<p>Roberto Romagnoli, TV Azteca’s Entertainment Director, said the channel’s production capacity and quality of content means the company is prepared for the new rivals.</p>
<p>“Nowadays we have global chains seeking us to co- produce,” he said in a brief interview at an event last week at Azteca Novelas’ headquarters in Southern Mexico City, surrounded by studio sets filled with props like phone booths and bed frames. “Mexico is one of the best markets to make television.”</p>
<p>Azteca is in favor of competition and always has been, according to an e-mailed statement from the company. Since starting to broadcast more than two decades ago, consolidation has given Azteca the confidence to compete with more players, according to the statement.</p>
<p>A press official for Televisa declined to comment.</p>
<p>Televisa’s other advantage is that it has the most pay-TV subscribers in the nation. Its recent acquisition of Cablecom SA added at least 840,000 new video customers to the 8.9 million subscribers it already serves through cable and satellite units.</p>
<p>Salinas has been investing in other countries to hedge against Mexico’s push for more competition. Azteca is finalizing the deployment of a nationwide fiber-optic network to offer telecommunications, banking and retail services in Colombia, and was awarded a similar contract in Peru at the end of last year.</p>
<p>More players in over-the-air TV will encourage companies to compete in new ways, IFT’s President Gabriel Contreras said at an event in Mexico City last week. For example, Salinas last year acquired Blockbuster Mexico, which could promote other branches of his empire, including Azteca’s original video content and the Totalmovie pay-per-view movie system.</p>
<p>The success of the two new channels — and resulting impact on Azteca — may also hinge on the success of Mexico’s push to switch consumer to digital transmissions, Deutsche Bank’s Milo said. The new networks will only be distributed digitally, meaning they will reach a smaller audience than Televisa and Azteca until the transition is complete.</p>
<p>The government is giving away free high-definition televisions to low-income households to speed the switch, which it expects to complete by the end of next year.</p>
<p>While Azteca has the most to lose, IFT’s Contreras has been more focused on the benefits to TV viewers of having more competition in the industry.</p>
<p>“Right now we have such a concentrated market in over-the- air TV,” Contreras said. “What will this generate? Better competition for content and better business models. I see no adverse effect.”</p>
<p>bc-tv-mexico (TPN)</p>
| 6,952 |
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<p><a href="" type="internal" />Today is Vanessa’s birthday, which means it’s our excuse to talk about how great she is. Yay!</p>
<p>I’ll be honest: Before I actually starting writing for Feministing, I didn’t fully appreciate just how valuable Vanessa is to making the site the wonderful blog–and community–it’s been since she and Jessica started it <a href="" type="internal">more than eight years ago</a>. In part, that’s because, as managing editor, she does a whole lot of behind the scenes work that’s invisible–not only to all our readers but often even to us as contributors. Trust me, managing a group of passionate but busy bloggers is no easy task. And it’s not an exaggeration to say that, in no small part, you can thank for Vanessa for the fact that there’s content here every day.</p>
<p>But it’s also because I didn’t really get what an amazingly skilled blogger Vanessa is. Because before I started blogging every week, I didn’t truly understand just how damn hard it is. To blog well you must constantly have a grasp on the most important stories of the day and know how to quickly distill them into accessible and engaging posts. Vanessa is the best at this. I mean that literally. Not only does she seem to always have her finger on the many pulses of the online feminist world at once, she’s the most concise and snappy writer on the crew. Vanessa tells you <a href="" type="internal">what you need to know</a>–and get’s <a href="" type="internal">straight to the point</a>.</p>
<p>Vanessa, thanks for all the thankless work you’ve done to keep Feministing going and thriving for all these years. And to all you <a href="" type="internal">aspiring</a> feminist bloggers out there, take your cues from Vanessa. She’s one of the masters.</p>
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Happy Birthday Vanessa!
| true |
http://feministing.com/2012/08/29/happy-birthday-vanessa-3/
| 4left
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Happy Birthday Vanessa!
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Today is Vanessa’s birthday, which means it’s our excuse to talk about how great she is. Yay!</p>
<p>I’ll be honest: Before I actually starting writing for Feministing, I didn’t fully appreciate just how valuable Vanessa is to making the site the wonderful blog–and community–it’s been since she and Jessica started it <a href="" type="internal">more than eight years ago</a>. In part, that’s because, as managing editor, she does a whole lot of behind the scenes work that’s invisible–not only to all our readers but often even to us as contributors. Trust me, managing a group of passionate but busy bloggers is no easy task. And it’s not an exaggeration to say that, in no small part, you can thank for Vanessa for the fact that there’s content here every day.</p>
<p>But it’s also because I didn’t really get what an amazingly skilled blogger Vanessa is. Because before I started blogging every week, I didn’t truly understand just how damn hard it is. To blog well you must constantly have a grasp on the most important stories of the day and know how to quickly distill them into accessible and engaging posts. Vanessa is the best at this. I mean that literally. Not only does she seem to always have her finger on the many pulses of the online feminist world at once, she’s the most concise and snappy writer on the crew. Vanessa tells you <a href="" type="internal">what you need to know</a>–and get’s <a href="" type="internal">straight to the point</a>.</p>
<p>Vanessa, thanks for all the thankless work you’ve done to keep Feministing going and thriving for all these years. And to all you <a href="" type="internal">aspiring</a> feminist bloggers out there, take your cues from Vanessa. She’s one of the masters.</p>
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<p />
<p>AVITIA: Takes over a role vacant since March 2011</p>
<p>After two years, the search is over.</p>
<p>The National Hispanic Cultural Center has found a permanent executive director in Albuquerque attorney – and New Mexico native – Rebecca L. Avitia.</p>
<p>Avitia’s appointment will mark the first time a woman is at the helm of the center.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Avitia will fill a role that has been vacant since March 2011, when then-director Estevan Rael-Gálvez resigned after more than a year in the position. Avitia begins her post Feb. 1. The estimated salary range is from $75,000 to $85,000 a year.</p>
<p>“I am pleased our extensive and thorough search has brought us an outstanding leader from New Mexico,” said Veronica N. Gonzales, state Department of Cultural Affairs secretary. “Ms. Avitia is a young and exciting leader with a formidable record of accomplishment. Her impressive skills will complement the Center’s exceptional staff and move the NHCC forward in its further development as the nation’s preeminent facility celebrating Hispanic culture, arts and humanities.”</p>
<p>The NHCC board of directors and Cultural Affairs conducted a national search for the past two years to fill the position. Members of the NHCC board were determined to find the right candidate because the nation’s only Hispanic cultural center has had 10 directors or interim directors over the past 12 years.</p>
<p>Christopher Saucedo, NHCC board president, has said the board wanted to find a candidate who is invested in the center and feels that both candidates sent to Gov. Susana Martinez for approval were more than qualified.</p>
<p>Former NHCC marketing director Danny Lopez, who is now at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., was the other candidate.</p>
<p>Avitia leaves the Montgomery &amp; Andrews Law Firm to accept the position. She also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law and was previously an assistant district attorney for the 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Valencia County.</p>
<p>Before returning to New Mexico, Avitia worked in New York as a litigation associate for the Akin Gump Strauss Hauer &amp; Feld LLP law firm. While a law student, she was an extern for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, then with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.</p>
<p />
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<p />
<p>AVITIA: Takes over a role vacant since March 2011</p>
<p>After two years, the search is over.</p>
<p>The National Hispanic Cultural Center has found a permanent executive director in Albuquerque attorney – and New Mexico native – Rebecca L. Avitia.</p>
<p>Avitia’s appointment will mark the first time a woman is at the helm of the center.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Avitia will fill a role that has been vacant since March 2011, when then-director Estevan Rael-Gálvez resigned after more than a year in the position. Avitia begins her post Feb. 1. The estimated salary range is from $75,000 to $85,000 a year.</p>
<p>“I am pleased our extensive and thorough search has brought us an outstanding leader from New Mexico,” said Veronica N. Gonzales, state Department of Cultural Affairs secretary. “Ms. Avitia is a young and exciting leader with a formidable record of accomplishment. Her impressive skills will complement the Center’s exceptional staff and move the NHCC forward in its further development as the nation’s preeminent facility celebrating Hispanic culture, arts and humanities.”</p>
<p>The NHCC board of directors and Cultural Affairs conducted a national search for the past two years to fill the position. Members of the NHCC board were determined to find the right candidate because the nation’s only Hispanic cultural center has had 10 directors or interim directors over the past 12 years.</p>
<p>Christopher Saucedo, NHCC board president, has said the board wanted to find a candidate who is invested in the center and feels that both candidates sent to Gov. Susana Martinez for approval were more than qualified.</p>
<p>Former NHCC marketing director Danny Lopez, who is now at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., was the other candidate.</p>
<p>Avitia leaves the Montgomery &amp; Andrews Law Firm to accept the position. She also serves as an adjunct professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law and was previously an assistant district attorney for the 13th Judicial District Attorney’s Office in Valencia County.</p>
<p>Before returning to New Mexico, Avitia worked in New York as a litigation associate for the Akin Gump Strauss Hauer &amp; Feld LLP law firm. While a law student, she was an extern for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, then with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 6,954 |
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<p>By Rania El Gamal, Osamu Tsukimori and Dmitry Zhdannikov</p>
<p>DUBAI/TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) – Iraq has hired Japan’s Toyo Engineering (T:) to help build a gas pipeline to Kuwait and a related petrochemical plant as Baghdad looks to reduce flaring and finish paying reparations owed for its 1990 invasion of its neighbor.</p>
<p>The project, details of which have not been reported before, would allow Kuwait to diversify its gas imports in the wake a political crisis between Gulf states and major supplier Qatar.</p>
<p>It would also deal a blow to Royal Dutch Shell (L:), which aimed to be the dominant gas player in Iraq before relations with Baghdad soured following Shell’s exit from large oil projects.</p>
<p>“Iraq needs to urgently reduce gas flaring as it trails behind all targets it has promised the World Bank,” said a senior industry source working on the project but not allowed to discuss it publicly.</p>
<p>“The Kuwaiti gas project is a quick fix and an easy way to monetize gas resources.”</p>
<p>The World Bank, which has repeatedly made reducing gas flaring a condition of lending to Baghdad, did not respond to a request for immediate comment.</p>
<p>Toyo is proposing to construct a gas pipeline and start deliveries after 2019, industry sources said.</p>
<p>Toyo’s chief financial officer, Kensuke Waki, told Reuters that talks about a pipeline and a petrochemical plant were ongoing but a final investment decision had not yet been made.</p>
<p>Kuwait is very keen on the project and has offered a sovereign guarantee for up to 80 percent of the costs, industry sources said. No total cost has been announced.</p>
<p>Kuwait’s oil ministry did not respond to a request for immediate comment. Oil minister Issam Al-Marzouq said last month that talks between Kuwait and Iraq were focused on a proposal to use gas to help pay Baghdad’s final $4.6 billion in war compensation payments.</p>
<p>Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said talks were focusing on price and confirmed that supplies could be used to help pay off reparations.</p>
<p>DIFFERENCES OVER PRICE, PLANT</p>
<p>Industry sources told Reuters the talks have faltered over price, however.</p>
<p>They said Kuwait is pushing for a price of less than $3 per mbtu (million British thermal unit), in line with U.S. Henry Hub prices. But that is less than half what Iraq pays in the north when importing gas from neighboring Iran.</p>
<p>“The price of gas remains the key sticking point for now,” one of the sources said.</p>
<p>He also said both Iraq and Kuwait were pushing to have the petrochemical plant built on their territory to further capitalize on gas deliveries.</p>
<p>Discussions with Iraq are ongoing, a senior Kuwaiti oil industry source with knowledge of the project said, adding that it was not yet clear if gas would come from West Qurna 2 operated by Russia’s Lukoil (MM:) or from Rumaila, operated by BP (L:).</p>
<p>Iraq used to supply Kuwait with gas from Rumaila. Volumes reached as much as 400 mcf per day but stopped shortly after the 1990 invasion.</p>
<p>More than a million claimants in Kuwait have been paid as part of Baghdad’s $52.4 billion reparations bill for the invasion. But Iraq, hurt by the 2014 fall in oil prices and its war with Islamic State militants, requested a delay on the last and largest tranche, which is due this year.</p>
<p>CHALLENGE TO SHELL</p>
<p>Kuwait, although one of OPEC’s leading oil producers, has struggled to meet growing domestic gas demand. The shortfall has been estimated at 500 million cubic feet per day and is being covered mainly by LNG imports, including from Qatar.</p>
<p>A decade ago Kuwait tried to build a pipeline from Qatar, but the move was blocked by Saudi Arabia. With relations between Riyadh and Doha worsening this year, Kuwait is looking to diversify its gas imports.</p>
<p>Last year, Kuwait said it would be ready to buy up to 200 mcf/day of gas from Baghdad.</p>
<p>Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Jihad said volumes could start at 50 mcf/d rising gradually to 200 mcf/d.</p>
<p>Iraq’s gas reserves of 3.7 trillion cubic meters rank as 12th largest in the world but represent only a tenth of those of Iran, the world’s largest.</p>
<p>It extracts large quantities of gas together with oil, however, and that gas is currently being flared.</p>
<p>Iraq’s gas development plans have long focused on the Basra gas company, a $17 billion, 25-year project in which Iraq has 51 percent, Shell owns 44 percent and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp (T:) 5 percent.</p>
<p>The project was designed to aggregate gas from fields in the south including West Qurna 1 operated by Exxon Mobil Corp (N:), Zubair operated by Italy’s ENI (MI:) and BP’s Rumaila.</p>
<p>“Shell’s main aim was always to develop an LNG terminal and ultimately a petchem complex in Iraq,” said a Shell insider who worked on the gas project.</p>
<p>With Iraq refusing to agree on a gas price with Shell, the project has hit a major impasse, industry sources said. Talks have also been complicated by Shell pulling out of the Majnoon oil fields earlier this year.</p>
<p>“Iraq is furious at Shell and prospects don’t look that great for the Basra gas company,” one Iraqi industry source said.</p>
<p>Asked about the negotiations, both Shell and the Iraqi oil ministry said discussions were ongoing and both sides remained committed to the project.</p>
|
Exclusive: Iraq looks to Kuwait gas pipeline to pay off reparations
| false |
https://newsline.com/exclusive-iraq-looks-to-kuwait-gas-pipeline-to-pay-off-reparations/
|
2017-11-22
| 1right-center
|
Exclusive: Iraq looks to Kuwait gas pipeline to pay off reparations
<p>By Rania El Gamal, Osamu Tsukimori and Dmitry Zhdannikov</p>
<p>DUBAI/TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) – Iraq has hired Japan’s Toyo Engineering (T:) to help build a gas pipeline to Kuwait and a related petrochemical plant as Baghdad looks to reduce flaring and finish paying reparations owed for its 1990 invasion of its neighbor.</p>
<p>The project, details of which have not been reported before, would allow Kuwait to diversify its gas imports in the wake a political crisis between Gulf states and major supplier Qatar.</p>
<p>It would also deal a blow to Royal Dutch Shell (L:), which aimed to be the dominant gas player in Iraq before relations with Baghdad soured following Shell’s exit from large oil projects.</p>
<p>“Iraq needs to urgently reduce gas flaring as it trails behind all targets it has promised the World Bank,” said a senior industry source working on the project but not allowed to discuss it publicly.</p>
<p>“The Kuwaiti gas project is a quick fix and an easy way to monetize gas resources.”</p>
<p>The World Bank, which has repeatedly made reducing gas flaring a condition of lending to Baghdad, did not respond to a request for immediate comment.</p>
<p>Toyo is proposing to construct a gas pipeline and start deliveries after 2019, industry sources said.</p>
<p>Toyo’s chief financial officer, Kensuke Waki, told Reuters that talks about a pipeline and a petrochemical plant were ongoing but a final investment decision had not yet been made.</p>
<p>Kuwait is very keen on the project and has offered a sovereign guarantee for up to 80 percent of the costs, industry sources said. No total cost has been announced.</p>
<p>Kuwait’s oil ministry did not respond to a request for immediate comment. Oil minister Issam Al-Marzouq said last month that talks between Kuwait and Iraq were focused on a proposal to use gas to help pay Baghdad’s final $4.6 billion in war compensation payments.</p>
<p>Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said talks were focusing on price and confirmed that supplies could be used to help pay off reparations.</p>
<p>DIFFERENCES OVER PRICE, PLANT</p>
<p>Industry sources told Reuters the talks have faltered over price, however.</p>
<p>They said Kuwait is pushing for a price of less than $3 per mbtu (million British thermal unit), in line with U.S. Henry Hub prices. But that is less than half what Iraq pays in the north when importing gas from neighboring Iran.</p>
<p>“The price of gas remains the key sticking point for now,” one of the sources said.</p>
<p>He also said both Iraq and Kuwait were pushing to have the petrochemical plant built on their territory to further capitalize on gas deliveries.</p>
<p>Discussions with Iraq are ongoing, a senior Kuwaiti oil industry source with knowledge of the project said, adding that it was not yet clear if gas would come from West Qurna 2 operated by Russia’s Lukoil (MM:) or from Rumaila, operated by BP (L:).</p>
<p>Iraq used to supply Kuwait with gas from Rumaila. Volumes reached as much as 400 mcf per day but stopped shortly after the 1990 invasion.</p>
<p>More than a million claimants in Kuwait have been paid as part of Baghdad’s $52.4 billion reparations bill for the invasion. But Iraq, hurt by the 2014 fall in oil prices and its war with Islamic State militants, requested a delay on the last and largest tranche, which is due this year.</p>
<p>CHALLENGE TO SHELL</p>
<p>Kuwait, although one of OPEC’s leading oil producers, has struggled to meet growing domestic gas demand. The shortfall has been estimated at 500 million cubic feet per day and is being covered mainly by LNG imports, including from Qatar.</p>
<p>A decade ago Kuwait tried to build a pipeline from Qatar, but the move was blocked by Saudi Arabia. With relations between Riyadh and Doha worsening this year, Kuwait is looking to diversify its gas imports.</p>
<p>Last year, Kuwait said it would be ready to buy up to 200 mcf/day of gas from Baghdad.</p>
<p>Iraqi oil ministry spokesman Jihad said volumes could start at 50 mcf/d rising gradually to 200 mcf/d.</p>
<p>Iraq’s gas reserves of 3.7 trillion cubic meters rank as 12th largest in the world but represent only a tenth of those of Iran, the world’s largest.</p>
<p>It extracts large quantities of gas together with oil, however, and that gas is currently being flared.</p>
<p>Iraq’s gas development plans have long focused on the Basra gas company, a $17 billion, 25-year project in which Iraq has 51 percent, Shell owns 44 percent and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp (T:) 5 percent.</p>
<p>The project was designed to aggregate gas from fields in the south including West Qurna 1 operated by Exxon Mobil Corp (N:), Zubair operated by Italy’s ENI (MI:) and BP’s Rumaila.</p>
<p>“Shell’s main aim was always to develop an LNG terminal and ultimately a petchem complex in Iraq,” said a Shell insider who worked on the gas project.</p>
<p>With Iraq refusing to agree on a gas price with Shell, the project has hit a major impasse, industry sources said. Talks have also been complicated by Shell pulling out of the Majnoon oil fields earlier this year.</p>
<p>“Iraq is furious at Shell and prospects don’t look that great for the Basra gas company,” one Iraqi industry source said.</p>
<p>Asked about the negotiations, both Shell and the Iraqi oil ministry said discussions were ongoing and both sides remained committed to the project.</p>
| 6,955 |
<p>Drugs have been flowing from Mexico into the U.S. through various veins for decades, but in the last few years the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has looked closely at the Sinaloa drug cartel, one of the largest distributors and Mexico’s most powerful organized crime group.</p>
<p>A series of stories by the Los Angeles Times captured the detailed narrative that emerged from the DEA investigations and from interviews with cartel employees who were convicted as a result of the investigation. The picture is one of a thriving, multibillion-dollar industry, snaking its way from drug lord to drug users in the far corners of the U.S. –BF</p>
<p>Los Angeles Times:</p>
<p>Smugglers were your next-door neighbor, the guy ringing you up at Wal-Mart, the big tipper at Applebee’s, the old friend at your high school reunion.</p>
<p />
<p>Lopez was friends with a man named Sergio Kaiser, who had married into his family. Kaiser said he owned a body shop, but his tastes seemed too flamboyant for that. He was building a house with a grand staircase modeled on the mansion in the movie “Scarface.”</p>
<p>In reality, Kaiser was Cuevas’ top lieutenant, and he told Lopez he could help him with his money troubles. There were several possibilities.</p>
<p>For a night’s work driving a load car from Mexicali to Los Angeles, a driver shared $5,000 with his recruiter and got to keep the car.</p>
<p>Another entry-level position was as a lookout. One kind of lookout followed the load car from the stash house in Mexicali to the border. Another stood watch at the port of entry and reported when the car had cleared customs. Yet another tailed the load car up the freeway to Los Angeles.</p>
<p>Lopez accepted Kaiser’s offer. Being a lookout was harmless, he figured: Just stand there and watch a car cross the border. “[He] didn’t say it involved drugs, but I knew,” Lopez said. “I thought, ‘What’s the big deal?’“</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/cartel/la-me-cartel-20110724,0,6282239.story?page=1" type="external">Read more</a></p>
|
The Deep Reach of Mexico's Most Powerful Drug Cartel
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/the-deep-reach-of-mexicos-most-powerful-drug-cartel/
|
2011-07-28
| 4left
|
The Deep Reach of Mexico's Most Powerful Drug Cartel
<p>Drugs have been flowing from Mexico into the U.S. through various veins for decades, but in the last few years the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has looked closely at the Sinaloa drug cartel, one of the largest distributors and Mexico’s most powerful organized crime group.</p>
<p>A series of stories by the Los Angeles Times captured the detailed narrative that emerged from the DEA investigations and from interviews with cartel employees who were convicted as a result of the investigation. The picture is one of a thriving, multibillion-dollar industry, snaking its way from drug lord to drug users in the far corners of the U.S. –BF</p>
<p>Los Angeles Times:</p>
<p>Smugglers were your next-door neighbor, the guy ringing you up at Wal-Mart, the big tipper at Applebee’s, the old friend at your high school reunion.</p>
<p />
<p>Lopez was friends with a man named Sergio Kaiser, who had married into his family. Kaiser said he owned a body shop, but his tastes seemed too flamboyant for that. He was building a house with a grand staircase modeled on the mansion in the movie “Scarface.”</p>
<p>In reality, Kaiser was Cuevas’ top lieutenant, and he told Lopez he could help him with his money troubles. There were several possibilities.</p>
<p>For a night’s work driving a load car from Mexicali to Los Angeles, a driver shared $5,000 with his recruiter and got to keep the car.</p>
<p>Another entry-level position was as a lookout. One kind of lookout followed the load car from the stash house in Mexicali to the border. Another stood watch at the port of entry and reported when the car had cleared customs. Yet another tailed the load car up the freeway to Los Angeles.</p>
<p>Lopez accepted Kaiser’s offer. Being a lookout was harmless, he figured: Just stand there and watch a car cross the border. “[He] didn’t say it involved drugs, but I knew,” Lopez said. “I thought, ‘What’s the big deal?’“</p>
<p><a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/local/cartel/la-me-cartel-20110724,0,6282239.story?page=1" type="external">Read more</a></p>
| 6,956 |
<p>Gap plans to close 175 of its namesake stores and 250 jobs at its headquarters as the company tries to strengthen the struggling brand.</p>
<p>Gap Inc., which owns Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, said Monday it will close about 140 Gap stores in North America in the fiscal year that ends Jan. 31 — and the remainder afterward — based on factors that include location and performance. The San Francisco company also is closing an undisclosed number of stores in Europe. And it's cutting jobs at its headquarters in an attempt to make it faster and more decisive.</p>
<p>The moves are the latest attempt by the once high-flying company to improve the shaky performance at its namesake brand. The brand that used to be a go-to for generations of khaki pants wearers has suffered in more recent years as it's failed to keep up with the right design trends.</p>
<p>To help right the ship, Gap has shaken up its management ranks: Art Peck became CEO in February and leadership of the Gap and Banana Republic brands was changed. The company also has been working to overhaul its fashions to improve their appeal. And it got rid of its Piperlime line.</p>
<p>The latest moves are aimed at making the company more nimble. Gap said the job cuts at its headquarters, in particular, are intended to make it faster and more decisive. In total, Gap said store closings and job cuts will save it around $25 million a year. The company said it will take about $140 million to $160 million in charges related to the moves.</p>
<p>The stores that will close, which won't include Gap Factory or Gap Outlet locations, have about $300 million in annual sales out of Gap's total of $16 billion. After the closings the company will have about 800 Gap stores in North America, down from around 960 now. The company declined to say how many people work in those stores. The company also did not say whether those workers would be laid off or displaced.</p>
<p>Gap doesn't expect the moves to affect its other brands, most of which have been performing better than Gap stores. In fact, Gap Global President Jeff Kirwan told The Associated Press that the company will apply lessons it's learned from its Old Navy brand, which has been a bright spot, to Gap.</p>
|
Gap Closing 175 Namesake Stores to Boost Brand
| false |
http://nbcnews.com/nightly-news/gap-closing-175-namesake-stores-boost-brand-n375971
|
2015-06-15
| 3left-center
|
Gap Closing 175 Namesake Stores to Boost Brand
<p>Gap plans to close 175 of its namesake stores and 250 jobs at its headquarters as the company tries to strengthen the struggling brand.</p>
<p>Gap Inc., which owns Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, said Monday it will close about 140 Gap stores in North America in the fiscal year that ends Jan. 31 — and the remainder afterward — based on factors that include location and performance. The San Francisco company also is closing an undisclosed number of stores in Europe. And it's cutting jobs at its headquarters in an attempt to make it faster and more decisive.</p>
<p>The moves are the latest attempt by the once high-flying company to improve the shaky performance at its namesake brand. The brand that used to be a go-to for generations of khaki pants wearers has suffered in more recent years as it's failed to keep up with the right design trends.</p>
<p>To help right the ship, Gap has shaken up its management ranks: Art Peck became CEO in February and leadership of the Gap and Banana Republic brands was changed. The company also has been working to overhaul its fashions to improve their appeal. And it got rid of its Piperlime line.</p>
<p>The latest moves are aimed at making the company more nimble. Gap said the job cuts at its headquarters, in particular, are intended to make it faster and more decisive. In total, Gap said store closings and job cuts will save it around $25 million a year. The company said it will take about $140 million to $160 million in charges related to the moves.</p>
<p>The stores that will close, which won't include Gap Factory or Gap Outlet locations, have about $300 million in annual sales out of Gap's total of $16 billion. After the closings the company will have about 800 Gap stores in North America, down from around 960 now. The company declined to say how many people work in those stores. The company also did not say whether those workers would be laid off or displaced.</p>
<p>Gap doesn't expect the moves to affect its other brands, most of which have been performing better than Gap stores. In fact, Gap Global President Jeff Kirwan told The Associated Press that the company will apply lessons it's learned from its Old Navy brand, which has been a bright spot, to Gap.</p>
| 6,957 |
<p>Puerto Rico made payments of around $1 billion to creditors due on July 1, alleviating fears of an imminent default.</p>
<p>A spokesman for the commonwealth confirmed on Wednesday that Puerto Rico made a payment amounting to around $645 million on its general obligation bonds. Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing a source with knowledge of the transaction, that this payment would be made.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Puerto Rico's power authority PREPA also made a payment of $415 million due July 1, the authority said. That payment was met with the help of a $128 million advance from bond insurers.</p>
<p>Puerto Rico's Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla roiled markets earlier this week by asking for a payment moratorium after producing a report that suggested the U.S. territory's $72 billion debt load was unsustainable.</p>
<p>Puerto Rico's benchmark general obligation bonds that carry an 8 percent coupon traded up at an average price of 68.714 cents on the dollar on Wednesday compared to 66.316 cents on the dollar the day before.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Alan Crosby and Diane Craft)</p>
|
Puerto Rico Makes July 1 Bond Payments, Avoids Default
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2015/07/01/report-july-1-payment-on-puerto-rico-go-bonds-in-pipeline.html
|
2016-03-05
| 0right
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Puerto Rico Makes July 1 Bond Payments, Avoids Default
<p>Puerto Rico made payments of around $1 billion to creditors due on July 1, alleviating fears of an imminent default.</p>
<p>A spokesman for the commonwealth confirmed on Wednesday that Puerto Rico made a payment amounting to around $645 million on its general obligation bonds. Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing a source with knowledge of the transaction, that this payment would be made.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Puerto Rico's power authority PREPA also made a payment of $415 million due July 1, the authority said. That payment was met with the help of a $128 million advance from bond insurers.</p>
<p>Puerto Rico's Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla roiled markets earlier this week by asking for a payment moratorium after producing a report that suggested the U.S. territory's $72 billion debt load was unsustainable.</p>
<p>Puerto Rico's benchmark general obligation bonds that carry an 8 percent coupon traded up at an average price of 68.714 cents on the dollar on Wednesday compared to 66.316 cents on the dollar the day before.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Alan Crosby and Diane Craft)</p>
| 6,958 |
<p />
<p>FRIDAY, Aug. 4, 2017 — The expiration dates on over-the-counter and prescription medications seem pretty black and white, but there’s some question about whether drugs last even longer.</p>
<p>Expiration dates typically range from 12 to 60 months after production. But manufacturers aren’t required to determine how long they’ll remain potent after that, enabling them to set their own expiration dates and possibly shortchange consumers.</p>
<p>Testing reported in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that eight medications with 15 different active ingredients were still potent decades beyond their expiration dates.</p>
<p>The U.S. government’s own Shelf Life Extension Program extends the dates on some drugs in federal stockpiles to save the military from the cost of replacing them. Its own study found that 90 percent of more than 100 drugs were perfectly good even 15 years after expiration.</p>
<p>But what about the meds in your home? A lot depends on how carefully you store them — you probably don’t do as good a job as the U.S. Army. That’s why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends never taking drugs beyond their expiration date — it’s just too risky. In particular, nitroglycerin, insulin and liquid antibiotics shouldn’t be used after their expiration dates.</p>
<p>To safeguard all medications, protect them from heat, light and humidity by keeping them in a cool, dry, dark place. A steamy bathroom isn’t a good environment.</p>
<p>Know, too, that some drugs can lose their potency more quickly than others, including aspirin. If you take aspirin for heart health, be sure to replace it as needed.</p>
<p>More information</p>
<p>Read the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s position on the hazards of taking <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/specialfeatures/ucm481139.htm" type="external">expired drugs</a>, as well as safe ways to dispose of them.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.</p>
|
Research casts doubt on medication expiration dates on bottles
| false |
https://newsline.com/research-casts-doubt-on-medication-expiration-dates-on-bottles/
|
2017-08-04
| 1right-center
|
Research casts doubt on medication expiration dates on bottles
<p />
<p>FRIDAY, Aug. 4, 2017 — The expiration dates on over-the-counter and prescription medications seem pretty black and white, but there’s some question about whether drugs last even longer.</p>
<p>Expiration dates typically range from 12 to 60 months after production. But manufacturers aren’t required to determine how long they’ll remain potent after that, enabling them to set their own expiration dates and possibly shortchange consumers.</p>
<p>Testing reported in JAMA Internal Medicine showed that eight medications with 15 different active ingredients were still potent decades beyond their expiration dates.</p>
<p>The U.S. government’s own Shelf Life Extension Program extends the dates on some drugs in federal stockpiles to save the military from the cost of replacing them. Its own study found that 90 percent of more than 100 drugs were perfectly good even 15 years after expiration.</p>
<p>But what about the meds in your home? A lot depends on how carefully you store them — you probably don’t do as good a job as the U.S. Army. That’s why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommends never taking drugs beyond their expiration date — it’s just too risky. In particular, nitroglycerin, insulin and liquid antibiotics shouldn’t be used after their expiration dates.</p>
<p>To safeguard all medications, protect them from heat, light and humidity by keeping them in a cool, dry, dark place. A steamy bathroom isn’t a good environment.</p>
<p>Know, too, that some drugs can lose their potency more quickly than others, including aspirin. If you take aspirin for heart health, be sure to replace it as needed.</p>
<p>More information</p>
<p>Read the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s position on the hazards of taking <a href="https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/specialfeatures/ucm481139.htm" type="external">expired drugs</a>, as well as safe ways to dispose of them.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.</p>
| 6,959 |
<p>Published time: 21 Jul, 2017 15:38</p>
<p>Crime is on the rise in Britain, as an increase in violence pushes the number of offences to the highest level in over 10 years.</p>
<p>According to a new report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of criminal acts in the UK boomed over the past year, reaching a historic record of almost five million.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/368893-violent-serious-crime-increase/" type="external" /></p>
<p>It was the 18-percent annual increase in violent crime, such as gun offences, knife attacks, and robberies that pushed the overall crime levels up by 10 percent in England and Wales.</p>
<p>The murder rate also increased by nine percent, with 723 homicides recorded by the police over the last year.</p>
<p>This constitutes the largest increase in recorded crime for over a decade, and corresponds to the lowest number of police officers in more than 30 years.ONS spokesman John Flatley said that “the latest figures show the largest annual rise in crimes recorded by the police in a decade.</p>
<p>“While ongoing improvements to recording practices are driving this volume rise, we believe actual increases in crime are also a factor in a number of categories.”</p>
<p>The new ONS figures contradict an earlier study made by the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW), which was based on interviews with 35,000 households, showing a seven percent decrease in the perception of crime, as opposed to actual recorded violence.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/349077-hate-crime-increase-brexit/" type="external" /></p>
<p>However, even the CSEW estimate acknowledged that the number of crimes doubled if offences such as fraud and digital misuse are considered.</p>
<p>The new report will put more pressure on British Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who has recently been confronted by a string of acid attacks and gang-related violence in the face of a shrinking police force.</p>
<p>Policing Minister Nick Hurd was quoted by the Times as pledging UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s government would do more to combat violent crime.</p>
<p>“We recognise that crime is changing and we are determined to get ahead of emerging threats to the safety and security of our families and communities,” Hurd said.</p>
|
UK crime hits highest level in over a decade
| false |
https://newsline.com/uk-crime-hits-highest-level-in-over-a-decade/
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2017-07-21
| 1right-center
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UK crime hits highest level in over a decade
<p>Published time: 21 Jul, 2017 15:38</p>
<p>Crime is on the rise in Britain, as an increase in violence pushes the number of offences to the highest level in over 10 years.</p>
<p>According to a new report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of criminal acts in the UK boomed over the past year, reaching a historic record of almost five million.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/368893-violent-serious-crime-increase/" type="external" /></p>
<p>It was the 18-percent annual increase in violent crime, such as gun offences, knife attacks, and robberies that pushed the overall crime levels up by 10 percent in England and Wales.</p>
<p>The murder rate also increased by nine percent, with 723 homicides recorded by the police over the last year.</p>
<p>This constitutes the largest increase in recorded crime for over a decade, and corresponds to the lowest number of police officers in more than 30 years.ONS spokesman John Flatley said that “the latest figures show the largest annual rise in crimes recorded by the police in a decade.</p>
<p>“While ongoing improvements to recording practices are driving this volume rise, we believe actual increases in crime are also a factor in a number of categories.”</p>
<p>The new ONS figures contradict an earlier study made by the Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW), which was based on interviews with 35,000 households, showing a seven percent decrease in the perception of crime, as opposed to actual recorded violence.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/uk/349077-hate-crime-increase-brexit/" type="external" /></p>
<p>However, even the CSEW estimate acknowledged that the number of crimes doubled if offences such as fraud and digital misuse are considered.</p>
<p>The new report will put more pressure on British Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who has recently been confronted by a string of acid attacks and gang-related violence in the face of a shrinking police force.</p>
<p>Policing Minister Nick Hurd was quoted by the Times as pledging UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s government would do more to combat violent crime.</p>
<p>“We recognise that crime is changing and we are determined to get ahead of emerging threats to the safety and security of our families and communities,” Hurd said.</p>
| 6,960 |
<p>&gt; <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58484-2004Nov17.html" type="external">Judge refuses to quash subpoena seeking Cooper's testimony (WP)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58852-2004Nov17.html" type="external">Accuracy in Media founder, liberal bias critic Irvine dies at 82 (WP)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000722714" type="external">FNC's Rivera sells his award-winning Red Bank, N.J. newspaper (E&amp;P)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20041118/a_exitpoll18.art.htm" type="external">In future, news orgs won't get exit poll results until late in day (USAT)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/business/col/story/253783p-217279c.html" type="external">Ex-"Today" show producer Friedman assigned to retool CNBC (NYDN)</a></p>
|
Additional items for November 18, 2004
| false |
https://poynter.org/news/additional-items-november-18-2004
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2004-11-18
| 2least
|
Additional items for November 18, 2004
<p>&gt; <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58484-2004Nov17.html" type="external">Judge refuses to quash subpoena seeking Cooper's testimony (WP)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58852-2004Nov17.html" type="external">Accuracy in Media founder, liberal bias critic Irvine dies at 82 (WP)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000722714" type="external">FNC's Rivera sells his award-winning Red Bank, N.J. newspaper (E&amp;P)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20041118/a_exitpoll18.art.htm" type="external">In future, news orgs won't get exit poll results until late in day (USAT)</a> &gt; <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/business/col/story/253783p-217279c.html" type="external">Ex-"Today" show producer Friedman assigned to retool CNBC (NYDN)</a></p>
| 6,961 |
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>In a clear 70 in favor, 10 against vote, the Catalan regional parliament agreed to declare independence from Spain, just as the Spanish parliament voted to approve direct rule over the rebellious region.</p>
<p />
<p>Live footage of Catalan independence celebrations from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Barcelona?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#Barcelona</a>'s Parc de la Ciutadella. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Catalonia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#Catalonia</a> <a href="https://t.co/D4HXUsgFq9" type="external">pic.twitter.com/D4HXUsgFq9</a></p>
<p />
<p />
<p>It is now anyone's guess as to what will happen next, but it is clear that neither side is willing to blink first at this point.</p>
<p>Although the Catalan parliament's declaration was in effect a symbolic gesture (Spain nor the international community will accept it), this moves takes Spain's worst political crisis ever to a whole new level.</p>
<p>Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy immediately called for calm and said the rule of law would be restored. It is anyone's guess whether he still has control of the police forces in the region or whether he will now need to send in additional troops (just as he did during the illegal independence referendum a few weeks ago).</p>
<p />
<p>Catalan Parliament votes for independence from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spain?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#Spain</a>. MPS sing "Els Segador" as results are announced. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Catalonia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#Catalonia</a> <a href="https://t.co/osvX8HcwJx" type="external">pic.twitter.com/osvX8HcwJx</a></p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catalonia declared it wanted to open talks with the government in Madrid in order to peacefully set up a new republic.</p>
<p>Ms Marta Rovira of the Junts pel Si pro-independence alliance "It is not going to be easy, it is not going to be free, it is not going to change in a day. But there is no alternative to a process towards the Catalan Republic."</p>
<p>The instigator of the revolt, Catalan leader Mr Carles Puigdemont was chanted as he left the parliament whilst his supporters called him "President!".</p>
<p>Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy commented: "Exceptional measures should only be adopted when no other remedy is possible. In my opinion there is no alternative. The only thing that can be done and should be done is to accept and comply with the law."</p>
<p>"We are facing a challenge unprecedented in our recent history."</p>
<p />
<p>These actions by both Catalonia and Spain are clearly setting up a showdown which will unfold over the next few days.</p>
<p>As always, we here at the Goldwater will keep you updated.</p>
<p>Source:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41780116" type="external">bbc.com/news/world-europe-41780116</a></p>
|
Video: Catalonia Declares Independence From Spain
| true |
http://thegoldwater.com/news/10452-Video-Catalonia-Declares-Independence-From-Spain
|
2017-10-27
| 0right
|
Video: Catalonia Declares Independence From Spain
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>In a clear 70 in favor, 10 against vote, the Catalan regional parliament agreed to declare independence from Spain, just as the Spanish parliament voted to approve direct rule over the rebellious region.</p>
<p />
<p>Live footage of Catalan independence celebrations from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Barcelona?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#Barcelona</a>'s Parc de la Ciutadella. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Catalonia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#Catalonia</a> <a href="https://t.co/D4HXUsgFq9" type="external">pic.twitter.com/D4HXUsgFq9</a></p>
<p />
<p />
<p>It is now anyone's guess as to what will happen next, but it is clear that neither side is willing to blink first at this point.</p>
<p>Although the Catalan parliament's declaration was in effect a symbolic gesture (Spain nor the international community will accept it), this moves takes Spain's worst political crisis ever to a whole new level.</p>
<p>Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy immediately called for calm and said the rule of law would be restored. It is anyone's guess whether he still has control of the police forces in the region or whether he will now need to send in additional troops (just as he did during the illegal independence referendum a few weeks ago).</p>
<p />
<p>Catalan Parliament votes for independence from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Spain?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#Spain</a>. MPS sing "Els Segador" as results are announced. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Catalonia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" type="external">#Catalonia</a> <a href="https://t.co/osvX8HcwJx" type="external">pic.twitter.com/osvX8HcwJx</a></p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Catalonia declared it wanted to open talks with the government in Madrid in order to peacefully set up a new republic.</p>
<p>Ms Marta Rovira of the Junts pel Si pro-independence alliance "It is not going to be easy, it is not going to be free, it is not going to change in a day. But there is no alternative to a process towards the Catalan Republic."</p>
<p>The instigator of the revolt, Catalan leader Mr Carles Puigdemont was chanted as he left the parliament whilst his supporters called him "President!".</p>
<p>Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy commented: "Exceptional measures should only be adopted when no other remedy is possible. In my opinion there is no alternative. The only thing that can be done and should be done is to accept and comply with the law."</p>
<p>"We are facing a challenge unprecedented in our recent history."</p>
<p />
<p>These actions by both Catalonia and Spain are clearly setting up a showdown which will unfold over the next few days.</p>
<p>As always, we here at the Goldwater will keep you updated.</p>
<p>Source:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-41780116" type="external">bbc.com/news/world-europe-41780116</a></p>
| 6,962 |
<p>Tampa Bay Times/Zuma Press</p>
<p />
<p>The case before the Supreme Court concerned a specific question: Was a certain sort of capital punishment via lethal injection constitutional? In a <a href="" type="internal">decision issued Monday morning</a>, the four conservative justices plus swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy said yes, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion for the court’s liberals taking the opposite position. But in a stinging <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf" type="external">dissent</a> of his own, Justice Stephen Breyer, who was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, went much further: He called for abolishing the death penalty, contending that capital punishment, as it is currently practiced, violates the Constitution. His opinion was methodically argued and chockfull of research (on exonerations, various disparities in the application of the death sentence, and more). Breyer, who in 2008 <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/553/35/concurrence5.html" type="external">sided</a> with the court majority in upholding the use of lethal injections in Kentucky, noted that his own experience overseeing capital punishment cases has led him to a forceful and passionate position: The death penalty must go.</p>
<p>Here are the best passages from his opinion.</p>
<p>In 1976, the Court thought that the constitutional in­firmities in the death penalty could be healed; the Court in effect delegated significant responsibility to the States to develop procedures that would protect against those con­stitutional problems. Almost 40 years of studies, surveys, and experience strongly indicate, however, that this effort has failed. Today’s administration of the death penalty involves three fundamental constitutional defects: (1) serious unreliability, (2) arbitrariness in application, and (3) unconscionably long delays that undermine the death penalty’s penological purpose. Perhaps as a result, (4) most places within the United States have abandoned its use.</p>
<p>I shall describe each of these considerations, emphasiz­ing changes that have occurred during the past four dec­ades. For it is those changes, taken together with my own 20 years of experience on this Court, that lead me to be­lieve that the death penalty, in and of itself, now likely constitutes a legally prohibited “cruel and unusual pun­ishmen[t].” U. S. Const., Amdt. 8.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[R]esearchers have found convincing evidence that, in the past three decades, innocent people have been executed.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[T]he evidence that the death penalty has been wrongly imposed (whether or not it was carried out), is striking. As of 2002, this Court used the word “disturb­ing” to describe the number of instances in which individ­uals had been sentenced to death but later exonerated. At that time, there was evidence of approximately 60 exonerations in capital cases….Since 2002, the number of exonerations in capital cases has risen to 115……Last year, in 2014, six death row inmates were exonerated based on actual innocence. All had been imprisoned for more than 30 years (and one for almost 40 years) at the time of their exonerations.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[T]he crimes at issue in capital cases are typically horren­dous murders, and thus accompanied by intense community pressure on police, prosecutors, and jurors to secure a conviction. This pressure creates a greater likelihood of convicting the wrong person.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[R]esearchers estimate that about 4% of those sentenced to death are actually innocent.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[B]etween 1973 and 1995, courts identified prejudicial errors in 68% of the capital cases before them.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>This research and these figures are likely controversial. Full briefing would allow us to scrutinize them with more care. But, at a minimum, they suggest a serious problem of reliability. They suggest that there are too many in­stances in which courts sentence defendants to death without complying with the necessary procedures; and they suggest that, in a significant number of cases, the death sentence is imposed on a person who did not commit the crime….Unlike 40 years ago, we now have plausible evidence of unreliability that (perhaps due to DNA evidence) is stronger than the evidence we had before. In sum, there is significantly more research-based evidence today indicating that courts sentence to death individuals who may well be actually innocent or whose convictions (in the law’s view) do not warrant the death penalty’s application.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>Thus, whether one looks at research indicating that irrelevant or improper factors—such as race, gender, local geography, and resources—do significantly determine who receives the death penalty, or whether one looks at re­search indicating that proper factors—such as “egregious­ness”—do not determine who receives the death penalty, the legal conclusion must be the same: The research strongly suggests that the death penalty is imposed arbitrarily.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>The studies bear out my own view, reached after consid­ering thousands of death penalty cases and last-minute petitions over the course of more than 20 years. I see discrepancies for which I can find no rational explanations… Why does one defendant who committed a single-victim murder receive the death pen­alty (due to aggravators of a prior felony conviction and an after-the-fact robbery), while another defendant does not, despite having kidnapped, raped, and murdered a young mother while leaving her infant baby to die at the scene of the crime…Why does one defendant who committed a single-victim murder receive the death penalty (due to aggravators of a prior felony conviction and acting recklessly with a gun), while another defendant does not, despite having committed a “triple murder” by killing a young man and his pregnant wife?… For that matter, why does one defendant who participated in a single-victim murder-for-hire scheme (plus an after-the­ fact robbery) receive the death penalty, while another defendant does not, despite having stabbed his wife 60 times and killed his 6-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son while they slept?… In each instance, the sentences compared were imposed in the same State at about the same time.</p>
<p>The question raised by these examples (and the many more I could give but do not), as well as by the research to which I have referred, is the same question Justice Stew­art, Justice Powell, and others raised over the course of several decades: The imposition and implementation of the death penalty seems capricious, random, indeed, arbitrary. From a defendant’s perspective, to receive that sentence, and certainly to find it implemented, is the equivalent of being struck by lightning. How then can we reconcile the death penalty with the demands of a Constitution that first and foremost insists upon a rule of law?</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[N]early all death penalty States keep death row inmates in isolation for 22 or more hours per day….This occurs even though the ABA has suggested that death row inmates be housed in conditions similar to the general population, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture has called for a global ban on solitary confinement longer than 15 days…&#160; And it is well documented that such prolonged solitary confinement produces numerous deleterious harms. See, e.g., Haney, Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary and “Supermax” Confinement, 49 Crime &amp; Delinquency 124, 130 (2003) (cataloging studies finding that solitary confinement can cause prisoners to experience “anxiety, panic, rage, loss of control, paranoia, hallucinations, and self-mutilations,” among many other symptoms)</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>The dehumanizing effect of solitary confinement is aggravated by uncertainty as to whether a death sentence will in fact be carried out. In 1890, this Court recognized that, “when a prisoner sentenced by a court to death is confined in the penitentiary awaiting the execution of the sentence, one of the most horrible feelings to which he can be subjected during that time is the uncertainty during the whole of it.”… The Court was there describing a delay of a mere four weeks. In the past century and a quarter, little has changed in this respect— except for duration. Today we must describe delays measured, not in weeks, but in decades.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>The second constitutional difficulty resulting from lengthy delays is that those delays undermine the death penalty’s penological rationale, perhaps irreparably so. The rationale for capital punishment, as for any punishment, classically rests upon society’s need to secure deter­rence, incapacitation, retribution, or rehabilitation. Capital punishment by definition does not rehabilitate. It does, of course, incapacitate the offender. But the major alternative to capital punishment—namely, life in prison without possibility of parole—also incapacitates.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>Recently, the National Research Council (whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine) reviewed 30 years of empirical evidence and concluded that it was insufficient to establish a deterrent effect and thus should “not be used to inform” discussion about the deterrent value of the death penalty.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>Sometimes the community believes that an execution could provide closure. Nevertheless, the delays and low probability of execution must play some role in any calculation that leads a community to insist on death as retribution. As I have already suggested, they may well attenuate the community’s interest in retribution to the point where it cannot by itself amount to a significant justification for the death penalty…. In any event, I believe that whatever interest in retribution might be served by the death penalty as currently administered, that interest can be served almost as well by a sentence of life in prison without parole (a sentence that every State now permits.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>The upshot is that lengthy delays both aggravate the cruelty of the death penalty and undermine its jurisprudential rationale. And this Court has said that, if the death penalty does not fulfill the goals of deterrence or retribution, “it is nothing more than the purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering and hence an unconstitutional punishment.”</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>And that fact creates a dilemma: A death penalty sys­tem that seeks procedural fairness and reliability brings with it delays that severely aggravate the cruelty of capi­tal punishment and significantly undermine the rationale for imposing a sentence of death in the first place…(one of the primary causes of the delay is the States’ “failure to apply constitutionally sufficient procedures at the time of initial [conviction or] sentenc­ing”). But a death penalty system that minimizes delays would undermine the legal system’s efforts to secure relia­bility and procedural fairness.</p>
<p>In this world, or at least in this Nation, we can have a death penalty that at least arguably serves legitimate penological purposes or we can have a procedural system that at least arguably seeks reliability and fairness in the death penalty’s application. We cannot have both. And that simple fact, demonstrated convincingly over the past 40 years, strongly supports the claim that the death pen­alty violates the Eighth Amendment.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; * The Eighth Amendment forbids punishments that are cruel and unusual. Last year, in 2014, only seven States carried out an execution. Perhaps more importantly, in the last two decades, the imposition and implementation of the death penalty have increasingly become unusual.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[I]f we look to States, in more than 60% there is effectively no death penalty, in an additional 18% an execution is rare and unusual, and 6%, i.e., three States, account for 80% of all executions. If we look to population, about 66% of the Nation lives in a State that has not carried out an execution in the last three years. And if we look to counties, in 86% there is effectively no death penalty. It seems fair to say that it is now unusual to find capital punishment in the United States, at least when we consider the Nation as a whole.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>I recognize a strong counterargument that favors consti­tutionality. We are a court. Why should we not leave the matter up to the people acting democratically through legislatures? The Constitution foresees a country that will make most important decisions democratically. Most nations that have abandoned the death penalty have done so through legislation, not judicial decision. And legisla­tors, unlike judges, are free to take account of matters such as monetary costs, which I do not claim are relevant here….</p>
<p>The answer is that the matters I have discussed, such as lack of reliability, the arbitrary application of a serious and irreversible punishment, individual suffering caused by long delays, and lack of penological purpose are quin­tessentially judicial matters. They concern the infliction— indeed the unfair, cruel, and unusual infliction—of a serious punishment upon an individual.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>I believe it highly likely that the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment. At the very least, the Court should call for full briefing on the basic question.</p>
<p />
|
The 20 Best Lines From the Supreme Court Dissent Calling to End the Death Penalty
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2015/06/breyer-dissent-death-penalty-glossip-gross-scotus/
|
2015-06-29
| 4left
|
The 20 Best Lines From the Supreme Court Dissent Calling to End the Death Penalty
<p>Tampa Bay Times/Zuma Press</p>
<p />
<p>The case before the Supreme Court concerned a specific question: Was a certain sort of capital punishment via lethal injection constitutional? In a <a href="" type="internal">decision issued Monday morning</a>, the four conservative justices plus swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy said yes, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a dissenting opinion for the court’s liberals taking the opposite position. But in a stinging <a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-7955_aplc.pdf" type="external">dissent</a> of his own, Justice Stephen Breyer, who was joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, went much further: He called for abolishing the death penalty, contending that capital punishment, as it is currently practiced, violates the Constitution. His opinion was methodically argued and chockfull of research (on exonerations, various disparities in the application of the death sentence, and more). Breyer, who in 2008 <a href="https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/553/35/concurrence5.html" type="external">sided</a> with the court majority in upholding the use of lethal injections in Kentucky, noted that his own experience overseeing capital punishment cases has led him to a forceful and passionate position: The death penalty must go.</p>
<p>Here are the best passages from his opinion.</p>
<p>In 1976, the Court thought that the constitutional in­firmities in the death penalty could be healed; the Court in effect delegated significant responsibility to the States to develop procedures that would protect against those con­stitutional problems. Almost 40 years of studies, surveys, and experience strongly indicate, however, that this effort has failed. Today’s administration of the death penalty involves three fundamental constitutional defects: (1) serious unreliability, (2) arbitrariness in application, and (3) unconscionably long delays that undermine the death penalty’s penological purpose. Perhaps as a result, (4) most places within the United States have abandoned its use.</p>
<p>I shall describe each of these considerations, emphasiz­ing changes that have occurred during the past four dec­ades. For it is those changes, taken together with my own 20 years of experience on this Court, that lead me to be­lieve that the death penalty, in and of itself, now likely constitutes a legally prohibited “cruel and unusual pun­ishmen[t].” U. S. Const., Amdt. 8.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[R]esearchers have found convincing evidence that, in the past three decades, innocent people have been executed.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[T]he evidence that the death penalty has been wrongly imposed (whether or not it was carried out), is striking. As of 2002, this Court used the word “disturb­ing” to describe the number of instances in which individ­uals had been sentenced to death but later exonerated. At that time, there was evidence of approximately 60 exonerations in capital cases….Since 2002, the number of exonerations in capital cases has risen to 115……Last year, in 2014, six death row inmates were exonerated based on actual innocence. All had been imprisoned for more than 30 years (and one for almost 40 years) at the time of their exonerations.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[T]he crimes at issue in capital cases are typically horren­dous murders, and thus accompanied by intense community pressure on police, prosecutors, and jurors to secure a conviction. This pressure creates a greater likelihood of convicting the wrong person.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[R]esearchers estimate that about 4% of those sentenced to death are actually innocent.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[B]etween 1973 and 1995, courts identified prejudicial errors in 68% of the capital cases before them.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>This research and these figures are likely controversial. Full briefing would allow us to scrutinize them with more care. But, at a minimum, they suggest a serious problem of reliability. They suggest that there are too many in­stances in which courts sentence defendants to death without complying with the necessary procedures; and they suggest that, in a significant number of cases, the death sentence is imposed on a person who did not commit the crime….Unlike 40 years ago, we now have plausible evidence of unreliability that (perhaps due to DNA evidence) is stronger than the evidence we had before. In sum, there is significantly more research-based evidence today indicating that courts sentence to death individuals who may well be actually innocent or whose convictions (in the law’s view) do not warrant the death penalty’s application.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>Thus, whether one looks at research indicating that irrelevant or improper factors—such as race, gender, local geography, and resources—do significantly determine who receives the death penalty, or whether one looks at re­search indicating that proper factors—such as “egregious­ness”—do not determine who receives the death penalty, the legal conclusion must be the same: The research strongly suggests that the death penalty is imposed arbitrarily.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>The studies bear out my own view, reached after consid­ering thousands of death penalty cases and last-minute petitions over the course of more than 20 years. I see discrepancies for which I can find no rational explanations… Why does one defendant who committed a single-victim murder receive the death pen­alty (due to aggravators of a prior felony conviction and an after-the-fact robbery), while another defendant does not, despite having kidnapped, raped, and murdered a young mother while leaving her infant baby to die at the scene of the crime…Why does one defendant who committed a single-victim murder receive the death penalty (due to aggravators of a prior felony conviction and acting recklessly with a gun), while another defendant does not, despite having committed a “triple murder” by killing a young man and his pregnant wife?… For that matter, why does one defendant who participated in a single-victim murder-for-hire scheme (plus an after-the­ fact robbery) receive the death penalty, while another defendant does not, despite having stabbed his wife 60 times and killed his 6-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son while they slept?… In each instance, the sentences compared were imposed in the same State at about the same time.</p>
<p>The question raised by these examples (and the many more I could give but do not), as well as by the research to which I have referred, is the same question Justice Stew­art, Justice Powell, and others raised over the course of several decades: The imposition and implementation of the death penalty seems capricious, random, indeed, arbitrary. From a defendant’s perspective, to receive that sentence, and certainly to find it implemented, is the equivalent of being struck by lightning. How then can we reconcile the death penalty with the demands of a Constitution that first and foremost insists upon a rule of law?</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[N]early all death penalty States keep death row inmates in isolation for 22 or more hours per day….This occurs even though the ABA has suggested that death row inmates be housed in conditions similar to the general population, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture has called for a global ban on solitary confinement longer than 15 days…&#160; And it is well documented that such prolonged solitary confinement produces numerous deleterious harms. See, e.g., Haney, Mental Health Issues in Long-Term Solitary and “Supermax” Confinement, 49 Crime &amp; Delinquency 124, 130 (2003) (cataloging studies finding that solitary confinement can cause prisoners to experience “anxiety, panic, rage, loss of control, paranoia, hallucinations, and self-mutilations,” among many other symptoms)</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>The dehumanizing effect of solitary confinement is aggravated by uncertainty as to whether a death sentence will in fact be carried out. In 1890, this Court recognized that, “when a prisoner sentenced by a court to death is confined in the penitentiary awaiting the execution of the sentence, one of the most horrible feelings to which he can be subjected during that time is the uncertainty during the whole of it.”… The Court was there describing a delay of a mere four weeks. In the past century and a quarter, little has changed in this respect— except for duration. Today we must describe delays measured, not in weeks, but in decades.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>The second constitutional difficulty resulting from lengthy delays is that those delays undermine the death penalty’s penological rationale, perhaps irreparably so. The rationale for capital punishment, as for any punishment, classically rests upon society’s need to secure deter­rence, incapacitation, retribution, or rehabilitation. Capital punishment by definition does not rehabilitate. It does, of course, incapacitate the offender. But the major alternative to capital punishment—namely, life in prison without possibility of parole—also incapacitates.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>Recently, the National Research Council (whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine) reviewed 30 years of empirical evidence and concluded that it was insufficient to establish a deterrent effect and thus should “not be used to inform” discussion about the deterrent value of the death penalty.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>Sometimes the community believes that an execution could provide closure. Nevertheless, the delays and low probability of execution must play some role in any calculation that leads a community to insist on death as retribution. As I have already suggested, they may well attenuate the community’s interest in retribution to the point where it cannot by itself amount to a significant justification for the death penalty…. In any event, I believe that whatever interest in retribution might be served by the death penalty as currently administered, that interest can be served almost as well by a sentence of life in prison without parole (a sentence that every State now permits.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>The upshot is that lengthy delays both aggravate the cruelty of the death penalty and undermine its jurisprudential rationale. And this Court has said that, if the death penalty does not fulfill the goals of deterrence or retribution, “it is nothing more than the purposeless and needless imposition of pain and suffering and hence an unconstitutional punishment.”</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>And that fact creates a dilemma: A death penalty sys­tem that seeks procedural fairness and reliability brings with it delays that severely aggravate the cruelty of capi­tal punishment and significantly undermine the rationale for imposing a sentence of death in the first place…(one of the primary causes of the delay is the States’ “failure to apply constitutionally sufficient procedures at the time of initial [conviction or] sentenc­ing”). But a death penalty system that minimizes delays would undermine the legal system’s efforts to secure relia­bility and procedural fairness.</p>
<p>In this world, or at least in this Nation, we can have a death penalty that at least arguably serves legitimate penological purposes or we can have a procedural system that at least arguably seeks reliability and fairness in the death penalty’s application. We cannot have both. And that simple fact, demonstrated convincingly over the past 40 years, strongly supports the claim that the death pen­alty violates the Eighth Amendment.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; * The Eighth Amendment forbids punishments that are cruel and unusual. Last year, in 2014, only seven States carried out an execution. Perhaps more importantly, in the last two decades, the imposition and implementation of the death penalty have increasingly become unusual.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>[I]f we look to States, in more than 60% there is effectively no death penalty, in an additional 18% an execution is rare and unusual, and 6%, i.e., three States, account for 80% of all executions. If we look to population, about 66% of the Nation lives in a State that has not carried out an execution in the last three years. And if we look to counties, in 86% there is effectively no death penalty. It seems fair to say that it is now unusual to find capital punishment in the United States, at least when we consider the Nation as a whole.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>I recognize a strong counterargument that favors consti­tutionality. We are a court. Why should we not leave the matter up to the people acting democratically through legislatures? The Constitution foresees a country that will make most important decisions democratically. Most nations that have abandoned the death penalty have done so through legislation, not judicial decision. And legisla­tors, unlike judges, are free to take account of matters such as monetary costs, which I do not claim are relevant here….</p>
<p>The answer is that the matters I have discussed, such as lack of reliability, the arbitrary application of a serious and irreversible punishment, individual suffering caused by long delays, and lack of penological purpose are quin­tessentially judicial matters. They concern the infliction— indeed the unfair, cruel, and unusual infliction—of a serious punishment upon an individual.</p>
<p>*&#160;&#160; *&#160;&#160; *</p>
<p>I believe it highly likely that the death penalty violates the Eighth Amendment. At the very least, the Court should call for full briefing on the basic question.</p>
<p />
| 6,963 |
<p>Scientists have captured amazing images of light as both a particle and a wave, a first that illustrates the dual nature of light.</p>
<p>Until now, scientists had not been able to try an experiment that would document light as both a wave and a particle simultaneously, but a team of Swiss and American researchers were finally able to achieve that recently, according to a <a href="http://news.discovery.com/tech/photo-first-lights-captured-as-both-particle-and-wave-150302.htm" type="external">Discovery News report</a>.</p>
<p>They used an advanced electron microscope that is one of only two on the planet at Switzerland’s EPFL labs, and they were able to create a quantum photograph of the light showcasing its dual nature.</p>
<p>To achieve the results, scientists fired a laser light at a microscopic metallic nanowire, which causes the light to travel as a wave along the wire. The waves then meet going in opposite directions, creating a “standing wave” that emits light as particles. The team was able to shoot a stream of electrons close to the nanowire that allowed it to capture the image, which shows both light in its particle form and in its wave form, according to the report.</p>
<p>Fabrizio Carbone of EPFL, the project’s lead researcher, said on the lab’s project page that the experiment is important because it demonstrates that scientists can film quantum mechanics and its paradoxical nature.</p>
<p>Light is essentially electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye. Albert Einstein proposed the idea of light quanta to explain that light is both a wave and a particle. Today, modern theory of quantum mechanics holds that light is in some sense both a particle and a wave, and in another sense neither a particle nor a wave.</p>
<p />
|
Scientists capture first ever image of light as both a particle and a wave
| false |
http://natmonitor.com/2015/03/03/scientists-capture-first-ever-image-of-light-as-both-a-particle-and-a-wave/
|
2015-03-03
| 3left-center
|
Scientists capture first ever image of light as both a particle and a wave
<p>Scientists have captured amazing images of light as both a particle and a wave, a first that illustrates the dual nature of light.</p>
<p>Until now, scientists had not been able to try an experiment that would document light as both a wave and a particle simultaneously, but a team of Swiss and American researchers were finally able to achieve that recently, according to a <a href="http://news.discovery.com/tech/photo-first-lights-captured-as-both-particle-and-wave-150302.htm" type="external">Discovery News report</a>.</p>
<p>They used an advanced electron microscope that is one of only two on the planet at Switzerland’s EPFL labs, and they were able to create a quantum photograph of the light showcasing its dual nature.</p>
<p>To achieve the results, scientists fired a laser light at a microscopic metallic nanowire, which causes the light to travel as a wave along the wire. The waves then meet going in opposite directions, creating a “standing wave” that emits light as particles. The team was able to shoot a stream of electrons close to the nanowire that allowed it to capture the image, which shows both light in its particle form and in its wave form, according to the report.</p>
<p>Fabrizio Carbone of EPFL, the project’s lead researcher, said on the lab’s project page that the experiment is important because it demonstrates that scientists can film quantum mechanics and its paradoxical nature.</p>
<p>Light is essentially electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye. Albert Einstein proposed the idea of light quanta to explain that light is both a wave and a particle. Today, modern theory of quantum mechanics holds that light is in some sense both a particle and a wave, and in another sense neither a particle nor a wave.</p>
<p />
| 6,964 |
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<p>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX said Monday it will fly two people to the moon next year, a feat not attempted since NASA’s Apollo heyday close to half a century ago.</p>
<p>Tech billionaire Elon Musk — the company’s founder and chief executive officer — announced the surprising news barely a week after launching his first rocket from NASA’s legendary moon pad.</p>
<p>Two people who know one another approached the company about sending them on a weeklong flight just beyond the moon, according to Musk. He won’t identify the pair or the price tag. They’ve already paid a “significant” deposit and are “very serious” about it, he noted.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Fly me to the moon … Ok,” Musk said in a light-hearted tweet following the news conference.</p>
<p>Musk said SpaceX is on track to launch astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA in mid-2018. This moon mission would follow about six months later, by the end of the year under the current schedule, using a Dragon crew capsule and a Falcon heavy rocket launched from NASA’s former moon pad in Florida.</p>
<p>If all goes as planned, it could happen close to the 50th anniversary of NASA’s first manned flight to the moon, on Apollo 8.</p>
<p>The SpaceX moonshot is designed to be autonomous — unless something goes wrong, Musk said.</p>
<p>“I think they are entering this with their eyes open, knowing that there is some risk here,” Musk told reporters in the telephone conference, a day after teasing via Twitter that an announcement of some sort was forthcoming.</p>
<p>“They’re certainly not naive, and we’ll do everything we can to minimize that risk, but it’s not zero. But they’re coming into this with their eyes open,” said Musk, adding that the pair will receive “extensive” training before the flight.</p>
<p>Musk said he does not have permission to release the passengers’ names, and he was hesitant to even say if they were men, women or even pilots. He would only admit, “It’s nobody from Hollywood.”</p>
<p>The paying passengers would make a long loop around the moon, skimming the lunar surface and then going well beyond, perhaps 300,000 or 400,000 miles distance altogether. It’s about 240,000 miles to the moon alone, one way.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The mission would not involve a lunar landing.</p>
<p>“This should be a really exciting mission that hopefully gets the world really excited about sending people into deep space again,” Musk said.</p>
<p>NASA will have first dibs on a similar mission if it so chooses, he said. The space agency learned of his plan at the same time as reporters.</p>
<p>In a statement, NASA commended SpaceX “for reaching higher.” In all, 24 astronauts flew to the moon and 12 walked its surface from 1969 to 1972.</p>
<p>The California-based SpaceX already has a long list of firsts, with its sights ultimately set on Mars. It became the first private company to launch a spacecraft into orbit and safely return it to Earth in 2010, and the first commercial enterprise to fly to the space station in 2012 on a supply mission.</p>
<p>Just a week ago, SpaceX made its latest delivery from Kennedy Space Center’s legendary Launch Complex 39A, where the Apollo astronauts flew to the moon and shuttle crews rocketed into orbit. That will be where the private moon mission will originate as well.</p>
<p>The crew Dragon capsule — an upgraded version of the cargo Dragon — has yet to fly in space. Neither has a Falcon Heavy rocket, which is essentially a Falcon 9 rocket with two strap-on boosters, according to Musk. A Falcon Heavy test flight is planned this summer, while an empty crew capsule is set to launch to the space station late this year. He said there will be ample time to test both the spacecraft and the rocket, before the moon mission.</p>
<p>NASA last week announced it was studying the possibility of adding crew to the test flight of its megarocket, at the request of the Trump administration. Such a flight to the lunar neighborhood wouldn’t happen before 2019 at best — if, indeed, that option is even implemented.</p>
<p>Musk said anything that advances the space exploration cause is good, no matter who goes first.</p>
<p>Retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who will celebrate his homecoming this week from a one-year space mission, was quick to tweet: “It’s been almost a year. Send me!”</p>
<p>Musk said he expects to have more moon-mission customers as time goes by.</p>
<p>At the same time, SpaceX is also working on a so-called Red Dragon, meant to fly to Mars around 2020 with experiments, but no people — and actually land. His ultimate goal is to establish a human settlement on Mars.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>SpaceX: <a href="http://www.spacex.com/" type="external">http://www.spacex.com/</a></p>
|
SpaceX says it will fly 2 people to moon next year
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/958471/spacex-says-it-will-fly-2-people-to-moon-next-year.html
|
2017-02-27
| 2least
|
SpaceX says it will fly 2 people to moon next year
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX said Monday it will fly two people to the moon next year, a feat not attempted since NASA’s Apollo heyday close to half a century ago.</p>
<p>Tech billionaire Elon Musk — the company’s founder and chief executive officer — announced the surprising news barely a week after launching his first rocket from NASA’s legendary moon pad.</p>
<p>Two people who know one another approached the company about sending them on a weeklong flight just beyond the moon, according to Musk. He won’t identify the pair or the price tag. They’ve already paid a “significant” deposit and are “very serious” about it, he noted.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“Fly me to the moon … Ok,” Musk said in a light-hearted tweet following the news conference.</p>
<p>Musk said SpaceX is on track to launch astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA in mid-2018. This moon mission would follow about six months later, by the end of the year under the current schedule, using a Dragon crew capsule and a Falcon heavy rocket launched from NASA’s former moon pad in Florida.</p>
<p>If all goes as planned, it could happen close to the 50th anniversary of NASA’s first manned flight to the moon, on Apollo 8.</p>
<p>The SpaceX moonshot is designed to be autonomous — unless something goes wrong, Musk said.</p>
<p>“I think they are entering this with their eyes open, knowing that there is some risk here,” Musk told reporters in the telephone conference, a day after teasing via Twitter that an announcement of some sort was forthcoming.</p>
<p>“They’re certainly not naive, and we’ll do everything we can to minimize that risk, but it’s not zero. But they’re coming into this with their eyes open,” said Musk, adding that the pair will receive “extensive” training before the flight.</p>
<p>Musk said he does not have permission to release the passengers’ names, and he was hesitant to even say if they were men, women or even pilots. He would only admit, “It’s nobody from Hollywood.”</p>
<p>The paying passengers would make a long loop around the moon, skimming the lunar surface and then going well beyond, perhaps 300,000 or 400,000 miles distance altogether. It’s about 240,000 miles to the moon alone, one way.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The mission would not involve a lunar landing.</p>
<p>“This should be a really exciting mission that hopefully gets the world really excited about sending people into deep space again,” Musk said.</p>
<p>NASA will have first dibs on a similar mission if it so chooses, he said. The space agency learned of his plan at the same time as reporters.</p>
<p>In a statement, NASA commended SpaceX “for reaching higher.” In all, 24 astronauts flew to the moon and 12 walked its surface from 1969 to 1972.</p>
<p>The California-based SpaceX already has a long list of firsts, with its sights ultimately set on Mars. It became the first private company to launch a spacecraft into orbit and safely return it to Earth in 2010, and the first commercial enterprise to fly to the space station in 2012 on a supply mission.</p>
<p>Just a week ago, SpaceX made its latest delivery from Kennedy Space Center’s legendary Launch Complex 39A, where the Apollo astronauts flew to the moon and shuttle crews rocketed into orbit. That will be where the private moon mission will originate as well.</p>
<p>The crew Dragon capsule — an upgraded version of the cargo Dragon — has yet to fly in space. Neither has a Falcon Heavy rocket, which is essentially a Falcon 9 rocket with two strap-on boosters, according to Musk. A Falcon Heavy test flight is planned this summer, while an empty crew capsule is set to launch to the space station late this year. He said there will be ample time to test both the spacecraft and the rocket, before the moon mission.</p>
<p>NASA last week announced it was studying the possibility of adding crew to the test flight of its megarocket, at the request of the Trump administration. Such a flight to the lunar neighborhood wouldn’t happen before 2019 at best — if, indeed, that option is even implemented.</p>
<p>Musk said anything that advances the space exploration cause is good, no matter who goes first.</p>
<p>Retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who will celebrate his homecoming this week from a one-year space mission, was quick to tweet: “It’s been almost a year. Send me!”</p>
<p>Musk said he expects to have more moon-mission customers as time goes by.</p>
<p>At the same time, SpaceX is also working on a so-called Red Dragon, meant to fly to Mars around 2020 with experiments, but no people — and actually land. His ultimate goal is to establish a human settlement on Mars.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online:</p>
<p>SpaceX: <a href="http://www.spacex.com/" type="external">http://www.spacex.com/</a></p>
| 6,965 |
<p>For the next three years, as many as 15 D.C. residents will enjoy a right denied their neighbors - the right to own recently banned semiautomatic weapons.</p>
<p>A discrepancy between D.C. laws approved last year enabled the residents to register semiautomatic firearms now listed as illegal in the nation’s capital. D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles said roughly 15 weapons registered in the city “sit in this zone of uncertainty.”</p>
<p>The city’s statutes now state residents must register their guns every three years.</p>
<p>Mr. Nickles said those who have the semiautomatics will be prohibited from renewing their registrations, meaning the weapons would no longer be legal in the District.</p>
<p>The loophole is the result of the District’s repeated attempts to comply with the Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down the city’s decades-old ban on handguns.</p>
<p>Initial stopgap legislation approved by the D.C. Council a month later allowed residents to register handguns but prohibited them from registering automatic and semiautomatic handguns because they met the city’s definition of a machine gun.</p>
<p>After a lawsuit challenging the ban on semiautomatics - and amid a congressional effort to weaken the city’s laws even further - council members passed emergency legislation in September that legalized semiautomatics with magazine capacities of no more than 10 rounds.</p>
<p>That law expired in December, and the council approved another measure prohibiting specific types of semiautomatic firearms. Meanwhile, some residents have been able to register now-prohibited weapons with the Metropolitan Police Department.</p>
<p>“I think [police are] caught between a rock and a hard place on this,” said Maryland. “It has caused a real problem, and a lot of confusion.”</p>
<p>George Lyon - an initial plaintiff on the city’s gun-ban case decided by the high court - said he registered a semiautomatic rifle in late October.</p>
<p>“My understanding is under the new legislation, they would not register that weapon,” he said.</p>
<p>D.C. officials still must decide when they will notify residents of that decision, Mr. Nickles said.</p>
<p>“The question is when we tell them that and whether we decide to do something before the end of the three years,” he said. “But you know, we have to be fair about this.”</p>
<p>The issue could become moot if the Senate version of a measure granting the District congressional voting rights is signed into law.</p>
<p>Nevada Republican, last week successfully attached an amendment to the approved bill that would repeal some of the city’s strict gun laws, including a ban on semiautomatics.</p>
<p>But if a voting rights bill that does not include the gun amendment is passed in the House - which is expected to consider its version of the legislation this week - members of both chambers would resolve the differences between their bills in conference committee.</p>
<p>“Since the bill is not final, my administration will continue to work with both the Senate and House leadership to ensure the bill reflects the priorities of District residents and is passed in final form as swiftly as humanly possible,” said D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, a Democrat.</p>
<p>The discrepancy in the D.C. law has already caused problems for some. Mr. Schneider said more than 10 of his customers have purchased firearms they hoped to register with the city, but were turned away.</p>
<p>“They’re not going to be registrable, apparently, and they’ll have to get rid of the guns,” he said.</p>
<p>Gillian St. Lawrence, another initial plaintiff in the gun-ban case, said she purchased an AR-15 rifle in December, days before the latest law’s passage.</p>
<p>Miss St. Lawrence said she intends to use the gun largely as “a hobby,” but was told she will have to move the weapon out of the city when it’s time to renew her registration.</p>
<p>“They said that I’m fine for now, but I won’t be able to re-register it in three years,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen at that point, or if I’m going to have to go store it in my sister’s house.”</p>
<p>Copyright © 2018 The Washington Times, LLC. <a href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.7280?icx_id=/news/2009/mar/3/loophole-lets-15-semiautomatics-in-dc-for-3-years/" type="external">Click here for reprint permission</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Loophole lets 15 semiautomatics in D.C. for 3 years
| true |
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/03/loophole-lets-15-semiautomatics-in-dc-for-3-years/
|
2009-03-03
| 0right
|
Loophole lets 15 semiautomatics in D.C. for 3 years
<p>For the next three years, as many as 15 D.C. residents will enjoy a right denied their neighbors - the right to own recently banned semiautomatic weapons.</p>
<p>A discrepancy between D.C. laws approved last year enabled the residents to register semiautomatic firearms now listed as illegal in the nation’s capital. D.C. Attorney General Peter J. Nickles said roughly 15 weapons registered in the city “sit in this zone of uncertainty.”</p>
<p>The city’s statutes now state residents must register their guns every three years.</p>
<p>Mr. Nickles said those who have the semiautomatics will be prohibited from renewing their registrations, meaning the weapons would no longer be legal in the District.</p>
<p>The loophole is the result of the District’s repeated attempts to comply with the Supreme Court ruling in June that struck down the city’s decades-old ban on handguns.</p>
<p>Initial stopgap legislation approved by the D.C. Council a month later allowed residents to register handguns but prohibited them from registering automatic and semiautomatic handguns because they met the city’s definition of a machine gun.</p>
<p>After a lawsuit challenging the ban on semiautomatics - and amid a congressional effort to weaken the city’s laws even further - council members passed emergency legislation in September that legalized semiautomatics with magazine capacities of no more than 10 rounds.</p>
<p>That law expired in December, and the council approved another measure prohibiting specific types of semiautomatic firearms. Meanwhile, some residents have been able to register now-prohibited weapons with the Metropolitan Police Department.</p>
<p>“I think [police are] caught between a rock and a hard place on this,” said Maryland. “It has caused a real problem, and a lot of confusion.”</p>
<p>George Lyon - an initial plaintiff on the city’s gun-ban case decided by the high court - said he registered a semiautomatic rifle in late October.</p>
<p>“My understanding is under the new legislation, they would not register that weapon,” he said.</p>
<p>D.C. officials still must decide when they will notify residents of that decision, Mr. Nickles said.</p>
<p>“The question is when we tell them that and whether we decide to do something before the end of the three years,” he said. “But you know, we have to be fair about this.”</p>
<p>The issue could become moot if the Senate version of a measure granting the District congressional voting rights is signed into law.</p>
<p>Nevada Republican, last week successfully attached an amendment to the approved bill that would repeal some of the city’s strict gun laws, including a ban on semiautomatics.</p>
<p>But if a voting rights bill that does not include the gun amendment is passed in the House - which is expected to consider its version of the legislation this week - members of both chambers would resolve the differences between their bills in conference committee.</p>
<p>“Since the bill is not final, my administration will continue to work with both the Senate and House leadership to ensure the bill reflects the priorities of District residents and is passed in final form as swiftly as humanly possible,” said D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, a Democrat.</p>
<p>The discrepancy in the D.C. law has already caused problems for some. Mr. Schneider said more than 10 of his customers have purchased firearms they hoped to register with the city, but were turned away.</p>
<p>“They’re not going to be registrable, apparently, and they’ll have to get rid of the guns,” he said.</p>
<p>Gillian St. Lawrence, another initial plaintiff in the gun-ban case, said she purchased an AR-15 rifle in December, days before the latest law’s passage.</p>
<p>Miss St. Lawrence said she intends to use the gun largely as “a hobby,” but was told she will have to move the weapon out of the city when it’s time to renew her registration.</p>
<p>“They said that I’m fine for now, but I won’t be able to re-register it in three years,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen at that point, or if I’m going to have to go store it in my sister’s house.”</p>
<p>Copyright © 2018 The Washington Times, LLC. <a href="http://license.icopyright.net/3.7280?icx_id=/news/2009/mar/3/loophole-lets-15-semiautomatics-in-dc-for-3-years/" type="external">Click here for reprint permission</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,966 |
<p>John Seiler:</p>
<p>Illegal aliens, once again, <a href="http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/10/22/1219722/in-wa-illegal-immigrants-canvassing.html" type="external">are doing Jobs Americans Won’t Do</a>:</p>
<p>SEATTLE&#160;When Maria Gianni is knocking on voters’ doors, she’s not bashful about telling people she is in the country illegally. She knows it’s a risk to advertise to strangers that she’s here illegally – but one worth taking in what she sees as a crucial election.</p>
<p>The 42-year-old is one of dozens of volunteers – many of them illegal immigrants – canvassing neighborhoods in the Seattle area trying to get naturalized citizens to cast a ballot for candidates like Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who is in a neck-to-neck race with Republican Dino Rossi….</p>
<p>In Bellevue, a city of nearly 123,000 east of Seattle, Gianni knocked on 25 doors and spoke to 15 people, she said.</p>
<p>Oct. 22, 2010</p>
|
Another Job Americans Won't Do
| false |
https://calwatchdog.com/2010/10/22/jobs-americans-wont-do/
|
2018-10-20
| 3left-center
|
Another Job Americans Won't Do
<p>John Seiler:</p>
<p>Illegal aliens, once again, <a href="http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/10/22/1219722/in-wa-illegal-immigrants-canvassing.html" type="external">are doing Jobs Americans Won’t Do</a>:</p>
<p>SEATTLE&#160;When Maria Gianni is knocking on voters’ doors, she’s not bashful about telling people she is in the country illegally. She knows it’s a risk to advertise to strangers that she’s here illegally – but one worth taking in what she sees as a crucial election.</p>
<p>The 42-year-old is one of dozens of volunteers – many of them illegal immigrants – canvassing neighborhoods in the Seattle area trying to get naturalized citizens to cast a ballot for candidates like Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who is in a neck-to-neck race with Republican Dino Rossi….</p>
<p>In Bellevue, a city of nearly 123,000 east of Seattle, Gianni knocked on 25 doors and spoke to 15 people, she said.</p>
<p>Oct. 22, 2010</p>
| 6,967 |
<p>GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.Christy Bowe/Globe Photos/ZUMApress.com</p>
<p />
<p>GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s latest endorsement comes from New Hampshire State Rep. DJ Bettencourt, the number two Republican in the state’s House of Representatives. “I think Gov. Romney’s experience in Massachusetts best suits him to take on the challenges of the country,” Bettencourt <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62509.html#ixzz1Wnm5Bbxy" type="external">told</a> Politico.</p>
<p>Bettencourt would be just another relatively obscure state legislator—especially in New Hampshire, where the state House includes a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_House_of_Representatives" type="external">whopping 400 members</a>—except for a particularly inflammatory remark he made in April. On his Facebook page, Bettencourt <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/us/02bishop.html?_r=1" type="external">called</a> Bishop John McCormack a “pedophile pimp” after the bishop spoke out against the state House leadership’s proposed budget plan at a statehouse rally. That budget <a href="http://re-bluenh.blogspot.com/2011/03/more-on-horror-of-nh-gop-budget.html" type="external">called for</a> deep, painful cuts to health-care spending, services for the disabled, and education funding. Here’s what Bettencourt wrote on his Facebook page:</p>
<p>“Would the Bishop like to discuss his history of protecting the ‘vulnerable’? This man is a pedophile pimp who should have been led away from the state House in handcuffs with a rain coat over his head in disgrace. He has absolutely no moral credibility to lecture anyone.”</p>
<p>Bettencourt’s criticism referred to a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/us/02bishop.html?_r=1" type="external">2002 settlement</a> with New Hampshire prosecutors in which the diocese that included McCormack admitted to shielding abusive priests. It agreed to audits of its handling of complaints that minors had been sexually abused. Bettencourt later said he’d been “undiplomatic” in his attack on McCormack.</p>
<p>In New Hampshire’s rough-and-tumble legislature, of course, Bettencourt was not alone in unleashing nasty rhetoric on budget protesters. The speaker of the state House, William O’Brien, <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/249571/coarse-talk-sullies-houses-reputation?CSAuthResp=1314968825%3Aodki1dhk28c2bgkaleh69870g6%3ACSUserId%7CCSGroupId%3Aapproved%3AEC2C3144FB0FDA900D54F627B8C7F2ED&amp;CSUserId=94&amp;CSGroupId=1" type="external">called</a> those protesting the GOP-backed budget “thugs”; the House finance committee chairman, Ken Weyler, <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/249571/coarse-talk-sullies-houses-reputation?CSAuthResp=1314968825%3Aodki1dhk28c2bgkaleh69870g6%3ACSUserId%7CCSGroupId%3Aapproved%3AEC2C3144FB0FDA900D54F627B8C7F2ED&amp;CSUserId=94&amp;CSGroupId=1" type="external">told</a> protesters to “shut up”; and a freshman state legislator, Martin Harty, <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/245163/lawmaker-advocates-eugenics?CSAuthResp=1314970181%3Aodki1dhk28c2bgkaleh69870g6%3ACSUserId%7CCSGroupId%3Aapproved%3A324C7756E13277512E1B226D8938C0BE&amp;CSUserId=94&amp;CSGroupId=1" type="external">said he supported eugenics</a> and also a world without “defective people.” (Harty later said his comments were a joke.)</p>
<p>Catholics United, a non-partisan advocacy group, has called on Romney to reject Bettencourt’s endorsement based on his attack on Bishop McCormack. “[Bettencourt] attacked the character of a religious leader for choosing to stand with the poor and working class,” James Salt, executive director of Catholics United, said in a statement. “By accepting this endorsement, Mitt Romney raises concerns amongst Catholic voters that he approves of Bettencourt’s corrosive and disrespectful campaign tactics.”</p>
<p />
|
Mitt Romney’s Latest Endorser Called Catholic Bishop “Pedophile Pimp”
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2011/09/mitt-romney-dj-bettencourt-pedophile-pimp/
|
2011-09-02
| 4left
|
Mitt Romney’s Latest Endorser Called Catholic Bishop “Pedophile Pimp”
<p>GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.Christy Bowe/Globe Photos/ZUMApress.com</p>
<p />
<p>GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s latest endorsement comes from New Hampshire State Rep. DJ Bettencourt, the number two Republican in the state’s House of Representatives. “I think Gov. Romney’s experience in Massachusetts best suits him to take on the challenges of the country,” Bettencourt <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/62509.html#ixzz1Wnm5Bbxy" type="external">told</a> Politico.</p>
<p>Bettencourt would be just another relatively obscure state legislator—especially in New Hampshire, where the state House includes a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_House_of_Representatives" type="external">whopping 400 members</a>—except for a particularly inflammatory remark he made in April. On his Facebook page, Bettencourt <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/us/02bishop.html?_r=1" type="external">called</a> Bishop John McCormack a “pedophile pimp” after the bishop spoke out against the state House leadership’s proposed budget plan at a statehouse rally. That budget <a href="http://re-bluenh.blogspot.com/2011/03/more-on-horror-of-nh-gop-budget.html" type="external">called for</a> deep, painful cuts to health-care spending, services for the disabled, and education funding. Here’s what Bettencourt wrote on his Facebook page:</p>
<p>“Would the Bishop like to discuss his history of protecting the ‘vulnerable’? This man is a pedophile pimp who should have been led away from the state House in handcuffs with a rain coat over his head in disgrace. He has absolutely no moral credibility to lecture anyone.”</p>
<p>Bettencourt’s criticism referred to a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/us/02bishop.html?_r=1" type="external">2002 settlement</a> with New Hampshire prosecutors in which the diocese that included McCormack admitted to shielding abusive priests. It agreed to audits of its handling of complaints that minors had been sexually abused. Bettencourt later said he’d been “undiplomatic” in his attack on McCormack.</p>
<p>In New Hampshire’s rough-and-tumble legislature, of course, Bettencourt was not alone in unleashing nasty rhetoric on budget protesters. The speaker of the state House, William O’Brien, <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/249571/coarse-talk-sullies-houses-reputation?CSAuthResp=1314968825%3Aodki1dhk28c2bgkaleh69870g6%3ACSUserId%7CCSGroupId%3Aapproved%3AEC2C3144FB0FDA900D54F627B8C7F2ED&amp;CSUserId=94&amp;CSGroupId=1" type="external">called</a> those protesting the GOP-backed budget “thugs”; the House finance committee chairman, Ken Weyler, <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/249571/coarse-talk-sullies-houses-reputation?CSAuthResp=1314968825%3Aodki1dhk28c2bgkaleh69870g6%3ACSUserId%7CCSGroupId%3Aapproved%3AEC2C3144FB0FDA900D54F627B8C7F2ED&amp;CSUserId=94&amp;CSGroupId=1" type="external">told</a> protesters to “shut up”; and a freshman state legislator, Martin Harty, <a href="http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/245163/lawmaker-advocates-eugenics?CSAuthResp=1314970181%3Aodki1dhk28c2bgkaleh69870g6%3ACSUserId%7CCSGroupId%3Aapproved%3A324C7756E13277512E1B226D8938C0BE&amp;CSUserId=94&amp;CSGroupId=1" type="external">said he supported eugenics</a> and also a world without “defective people.” (Harty later said his comments were a joke.)</p>
<p>Catholics United, a non-partisan advocacy group, has called on Romney to reject Bettencourt’s endorsement based on his attack on Bishop McCormack. “[Bettencourt] attacked the character of a religious leader for choosing to stand with the poor and working class,” James Salt, executive director of Catholics United, said in a statement. “By accepting this endorsement, Mitt Romney raises concerns amongst Catholic voters that he approves of Bettencourt’s corrosive and disrespectful campaign tactics.”</p>
<p />
| 6,968 |
<p>Sunday morning, before dawn, I read in the New York Times that “the Pentagon is planning to add more than 20,000 troops to Afghanistan” within the next 18 months — “raising American force levels to about 58,000” in that country. Then I scraped ice off a windshield and drove to the C-SPAN studios, where a picture window showed a serene daybreak over the Capitol dome.</p>
<p>While I was on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” for a live interview, the program aired some rarely seen footage with the voices of two courageous politicians who challenged the warfare state.</p>
<p>So, on Sunday morning, viewers across the country saw Barbara Lee speaking on the House floor three days after 9/11 — just before she became the only member of Congress to vote against the president’s green-light resolution to begin the U.S. military attack on Afghanistan.</p>
<p>“However difficult this vote may be, some of us must urge the use of restraint,” she said. The date was Sept. 14, 2001. Congresswoman Lee continued: “Our country is in a state of mourning. Some of us must say, Let’s step back for a moment, let’s just pause just for a minute, and think through the implications of our actions today so that this does not spiral out of control.”</p>
<p>And she said: “As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore.”</p>
<p>The footage of Barbara Lee was an excerpt from the “War Made Easy” documentary film (based on my book of the same name). As she appeared on a TV monitor, I glanced out the picture window. The glowing blue sky and streaky clouds above the Hill looked postcard-serene.</p>
<p>But the silence now enveloping the political non-response to plans for the Afghanistan war is a message of acquiescence that echoes what happened when the escalation of the Vietnam War gathered momentum.</p>
<p>During the mid-1960s, the conventional wisdom was what everyone with a modicum of smarts kept saying: higher U.S. troop levels in Vietnam were absolutely necessary. Today, the conventional wisdom is that higher U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan are absolutely necessary.</p>
<p>Many people who think otherwise — including, I’d guess, quite a few members of Congress — are keeping their thoughts to themselves, heads down and mouths shut, for roughly the same reasons that so many remained quiet as the deployment numbers rolled upward like an odometer of political mileage on the road to death in Vietnam.</p>
<p>Right now, the basic ingredients of further Afghan disasters are in place — including, pivotally, a dire lack of wide-ranging debate over Washington’s options. In an atmosphere reminiscent of 1965, when almost all of the esteemed public voices concurred with the decision by newly elected President Lyndon Johnson to deploy more troops to Vietnam, the tenet that the United States must send additional troops to Afghanistan is axiomatic in U.S. news media, on Capitol Hill and — as far as can be discerned — at the top of the incoming administration.</p>
<p>But the problem with such a foreign-policy “no brainer” is that the parameters of thinking have already been put in the rough equivalent of a lockbox. Dean Rusk, Robert McNamara and Lyndon Johnson approached Vietnam policy options no more rigidly than Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates and Barack Obama appear poised to pursue Afghanistan policy options.</p>
<p>I was thinking about this when I left the C-SPAN building in the full light of day. The morning glow made the Capitol look majestic. Yet it was almost possible to see, streaked across the dome, an invisible new stain of blood and shattered bones.</p>
<p>Along with the grim patterns, there’s a tradition of brave dissent on Capitol Hill. It’s epitomized by Barbara Lee’s prophetic statement just after 9/11 — and by an earlier kindred spirit, the fierce Vietnam War opponent Senator Wayne Morse. If you’d like to see historic footage of them, retrieved from the nation’s Orwellian memory hole, watch the “ <a href="http://www.cspan.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=HP-A-13214" type="external">Washington Journal</a>” segment by clicking here.</p>
<p>This morning, USA Today reports that the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan “has asked the Pentagon for more than 20,000 soldiers, Marines and airmen” to raise the U.S. troop level in Afghanistan to 55,000 or 60,000. General David McKiernan says that is “needed until we get to this tipping point where the Afghan army and the Afghan police have both the capacity and capability to provide security for their people.” Such a tipping point “is at least three or four more years away,” the general explained. So, “if we put these additional forces in here, it’s going to be for the next few years. It’s not a temporary increase of combat strength.”</p>
<p>Is Afghanistan the same as Vietnam? Of course, competent geographers would say no. But the United States is the United States — with domestic continuity between two eras of military intervention, spanning five decades, much more significant than we might think.</p>
<p>Bedrock faith in the Pentagon’s massive capacity for inflicting violence is implicit in the nostrums from anointed foreign-policy experts. The echo chamber is echoing: the Afghanistan war is worth the cost that others will pay.</p>
<p>NORMAN SOLOMON is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Made Love, Got War</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
The Silent Winter of Escalation
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2008/12/08/the-silent-winter-of-escalation/
|
2008-12-08
| 4left
|
The Silent Winter of Escalation
<p>Sunday morning, before dawn, I read in the New York Times that “the Pentagon is planning to add more than 20,000 troops to Afghanistan” within the next 18 months — “raising American force levels to about 58,000” in that country. Then I scraped ice off a windshield and drove to the C-SPAN studios, where a picture window showed a serene daybreak over the Capitol dome.</p>
<p>While I was on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” for a live interview, the program aired some rarely seen footage with the voices of two courageous politicians who challenged the warfare state.</p>
<p>So, on Sunday morning, viewers across the country saw Barbara Lee speaking on the House floor three days after 9/11 — just before she became the only member of Congress to vote against the president’s green-light resolution to begin the U.S. military attack on Afghanistan.</p>
<p>“However difficult this vote may be, some of us must urge the use of restraint,” she said. The date was Sept. 14, 2001. Congresswoman Lee continued: “Our country is in a state of mourning. Some of us must say, Let’s step back for a moment, let’s just pause just for a minute, and think through the implications of our actions today so that this does not spiral out of control.”</p>
<p>And she said: “As we act, let us not become the evil that we deplore.”</p>
<p>The footage of Barbara Lee was an excerpt from the “War Made Easy” documentary film (based on my book of the same name). As she appeared on a TV monitor, I glanced out the picture window. The glowing blue sky and streaky clouds above the Hill looked postcard-serene.</p>
<p>But the silence now enveloping the political non-response to plans for the Afghanistan war is a message of acquiescence that echoes what happened when the escalation of the Vietnam War gathered momentum.</p>
<p>During the mid-1960s, the conventional wisdom was what everyone with a modicum of smarts kept saying: higher U.S. troop levels in Vietnam were absolutely necessary. Today, the conventional wisdom is that higher U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan are absolutely necessary.</p>
<p>Many people who think otherwise — including, I’d guess, quite a few members of Congress — are keeping their thoughts to themselves, heads down and mouths shut, for roughly the same reasons that so many remained quiet as the deployment numbers rolled upward like an odometer of political mileage on the road to death in Vietnam.</p>
<p>Right now, the basic ingredients of further Afghan disasters are in place — including, pivotally, a dire lack of wide-ranging debate over Washington’s options. In an atmosphere reminiscent of 1965, when almost all of the esteemed public voices concurred with the decision by newly elected President Lyndon Johnson to deploy more troops to Vietnam, the tenet that the United States must send additional troops to Afghanistan is axiomatic in U.S. news media, on Capitol Hill and — as far as can be discerned — at the top of the incoming administration.</p>
<p>But the problem with such a foreign-policy “no brainer” is that the parameters of thinking have already been put in the rough equivalent of a lockbox. Dean Rusk, Robert McNamara and Lyndon Johnson approached Vietnam policy options no more rigidly than Hillary Clinton, Robert Gates and Barack Obama appear poised to pursue Afghanistan policy options.</p>
<p>I was thinking about this when I left the C-SPAN building in the full light of day. The morning glow made the Capitol look majestic. Yet it was almost possible to see, streaked across the dome, an invisible new stain of blood and shattered bones.</p>
<p>Along with the grim patterns, there’s a tradition of brave dissent on Capitol Hill. It’s epitomized by Barbara Lee’s prophetic statement just after 9/11 — and by an earlier kindred spirit, the fierce Vietnam War opponent Senator Wayne Morse. If you’d like to see historic footage of them, retrieved from the nation’s Orwellian memory hole, watch the “ <a href="http://www.cspan.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=HP-A-13214" type="external">Washington Journal</a>” segment by clicking here.</p>
<p>This morning, USA Today reports that the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan “has asked the Pentagon for more than 20,000 soldiers, Marines and airmen” to raise the U.S. troop level in Afghanistan to 55,000 or 60,000. General David McKiernan says that is “needed until we get to this tipping point where the Afghan army and the Afghan police have both the capacity and capability to provide security for their people.” Such a tipping point “is at least three or four more years away,” the general explained. So, “if we put these additional forces in here, it’s going to be for the next few years. It’s not a temporary increase of combat strength.”</p>
<p>Is Afghanistan the same as Vietnam? Of course, competent geographers would say no. But the United States is the United States — with domestic continuity between two eras of military intervention, spanning five decades, much more significant than we might think.</p>
<p>Bedrock faith in the Pentagon’s massive capacity for inflicting violence is implicit in the nostrums from anointed foreign-policy experts. The echo chamber is echoing: the Afghanistan war is worth the cost that others will pay.</p>
<p>NORMAN SOLOMON is the author of <a href="" type="internal">Made Love, Got War</a>.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,969 |
<p>And here we thought that saving lives and rebuilding a devastated area should be the focus . . . Proving that when you wield an anti-racism hammer, everything looks like a nail, a guest on Al Sharpton’s MSNBC show this morning declared that “race and class . . are the most significant aspects of this particular hurricane.”</p>
<p>The guest in question, Charles D. Ellison, is the Washington correspondent of The Philadelphia Tribune, and hosts a show on WURD, an African-American owned radio station in Philly.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Ellison began by lamenting the failure of the mainstream narrative about the hurricane to note the “intersecting” issues of race and class. Bonus “woke” points for alluding to intersectionality!</p>
<p>AL SHARPTON: Lots of talk this past week about getting billions of dollars of aid to hurricane victims, but are resources and donations getting to the communities most in need. And do race and class play a role in the storm’s aftermath?</p>
<p>Want to bring in Charles D. Ellison, radio host of “Reality Check” on WURD and and Brentin Mock, staff writer with City Lab. Charles, we’ve seen situations too often where a lot of reaction, billions raised, and then we hear not long after it did not get to the people that need it. Where are these concerns in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, and how do we safeguard against what we’ve seen, at least alleged, in other locations.</p>
<p>CHARLES D. ELLISON: Thanks for having me on, Reverend, good morning. The intersecting issues of race and class aren’t really being discussed that much, really if at all, in the mainstream narrative. And so, right now the focus is obviously one of recovery. Primarily that conversation centers on the assumption that everyone in the Houston area is a middle-class home owner, and that’s just not the case. We have a city that has a 30% poverty rate. Over 40% of the population actually rents. It doesn’t own a home. And that population is disproportionately black, and also brown. So we’re going to have to have a difficult, very uncomfortable, but very necessary conversation about race and class, which are the most significant aspects of this particular hurricane, particularly in the aftermath of it and as we head into recovery.</p>
<p>Note: you can view the longer version of segment, as transcribed above, <a href="https://youtu.be/BEqg7JgGQ3Q" type="external">here</a>.</p>
|
Journalist: “Race and Class . . . Most Significant Aspects” of Hurricane Harvey
| true |
http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/09/journalist-race-and-class-most-significant-aspects-of-hurricane-harvey/
|
2017-09-03
| 0right
|
Journalist: “Race and Class . . . Most Significant Aspects” of Hurricane Harvey
<p>And here we thought that saving lives and rebuilding a devastated area should be the focus . . . Proving that when you wield an anti-racism hammer, everything looks like a nail, a guest on Al Sharpton’s MSNBC show this morning declared that “race and class . . are the most significant aspects of this particular hurricane.”</p>
<p>The guest in question, Charles D. Ellison, is the Washington correspondent of The Philadelphia Tribune, and hosts a show on WURD, an African-American owned radio station in Philly.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>Ellison began by lamenting the failure of the mainstream narrative about the hurricane to note the “intersecting” issues of race and class. Bonus “woke” points for alluding to intersectionality!</p>
<p>AL SHARPTON: Lots of talk this past week about getting billions of dollars of aid to hurricane victims, but are resources and donations getting to the communities most in need. And do race and class play a role in the storm’s aftermath?</p>
<p>Want to bring in Charles D. Ellison, radio host of “Reality Check” on WURD and and Brentin Mock, staff writer with City Lab. Charles, we’ve seen situations too often where a lot of reaction, billions raised, and then we hear not long after it did not get to the people that need it. Where are these concerns in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, and how do we safeguard against what we’ve seen, at least alleged, in other locations.</p>
<p>CHARLES D. ELLISON: Thanks for having me on, Reverend, good morning. The intersecting issues of race and class aren’t really being discussed that much, really if at all, in the mainstream narrative. And so, right now the focus is obviously one of recovery. Primarily that conversation centers on the assumption that everyone in the Houston area is a middle-class home owner, and that’s just not the case. We have a city that has a 30% poverty rate. Over 40% of the population actually rents. It doesn’t own a home. And that population is disproportionately black, and also brown. So we’re going to have to have a difficult, very uncomfortable, but very necessary conversation about race and class, which are the most significant aspects of this particular hurricane, particularly in the aftermath of it and as we head into recovery.</p>
<p>Note: you can view the longer version of segment, as transcribed above, <a href="https://youtu.be/BEqg7JgGQ3Q" type="external">here</a>.</p>
| 6,970 |
<p />
<p>William F. Buckley once said, “I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.”</p>
<p>A great populist call from a man who, thank goodness, was no populist. But the thought rings through American politics today. Sarah Palin, no Buckley she, is the current spokeswoman for the attitude that the problem with American politics is that there are too many smart and informed people running the country. She is the champion of the ordinary, as a onetime Nebraska senator named Roman Hruska was for the mediocre.</p>
<p>If you remember, and I suppose few do, in 1970, Hruska defended the nomination of G. Harrold Carswell, a strikingly unqualified choice for the United States Supreme Court, by saying: “Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance? We can’t have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos.”;</p>
<p />
<p>Well, California decided to test that thesis. A majority of voters approved a proposition denying the right of the state Legislature to draw the boundaries of legislative and congressional districts. From now on, the districts will be drawn by 14 ordinary citizens, men and women whose names have been drawn from a hat — not exactly a hat, just one of those spinning cages full of pingpong balls they use in lotteries.</p>
<p>The devils of politics have always been in the details, and in recent American politics the details have been jiggered to favor incumbent congressmen and state legislators, many of them charmingly mediocre. They had the power, and still do in most states, to craftily craft districts to make it difficult to unseat incumbents of either party. In other words, American election laws are basically a contract between the Democrats and Republicans in office to preserve each other and keep outsiders where they belong, outside. Election rules. Ballot designs. Voter registration. All these things were designed to protect incumbents against ordinary voters.</p>
<p>No more in California. Proposition 20 in this month’s election won the approval of 50.9 percent of voters. The proposition completed a series of ballot measures mandating that election districts — from school boards to Congress — will be redrawn by 14 randomly selected citizens. There were 30,000 applicants for these $300-a-day jobs, and the lottery wheel spun for the first time Thursday and the first balls that popped out named eight of the 14: a bookstore owner, an attorney, a retired engineer, a marketing consultant, a caregiver, an insurance executive, a guy who tracks consumer trends and an activist who represents low-income tenants. They will select the other six members of the Citizens Redistricting Commission.</p>
<p>Next, the commission — five Republicans, five Democrats and four independents — will look at the maps they’ve made and vote again. This time nine of the 14 members must approve the final district lines.</p>
<p>That not-so-little revolution will complement another proposition that last year mandated that all California primaries be open. Democrats, Republicans, independents and oddballs of various kinds will all be on the same ballot, and the top two finishers, even if they are in the same party, will run against each other in the general election. That system has been used in various Southern states in the past, but the official Citizens Commission is another California innovation.</p>
<p>Will it work? Probably not. But it is politically exciting to live in a state that will try anything. There are a lot of Californians who think that the problem with things such as tea-partying are that they are just too moderate.</p>
<p>© 2010 UNIVERSAL UCLICK</p>
|
While You Were Sleeping, California Made New Election Laws
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/while-you-were-sleeping-california-made-new-election-laws/
|
2010-11-24
| 4left
|
While You Were Sleeping, California Made New Election Laws
<p />
<p>William F. Buckley once said, “I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.”</p>
<p>A great populist call from a man who, thank goodness, was no populist. But the thought rings through American politics today. Sarah Palin, no Buckley she, is the current spokeswoman for the attitude that the problem with American politics is that there are too many smart and informed people running the country. She is the champion of the ordinary, as a onetime Nebraska senator named Roman Hruska was for the mediocre.</p>
<p>If you remember, and I suppose few do, in 1970, Hruska defended the nomination of G. Harrold Carswell, a strikingly unqualified choice for the United States Supreme Court, by saying: “Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance? We can’t have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos.”;</p>
<p />
<p>Well, California decided to test that thesis. A majority of voters approved a proposition denying the right of the state Legislature to draw the boundaries of legislative and congressional districts. From now on, the districts will be drawn by 14 ordinary citizens, men and women whose names have been drawn from a hat — not exactly a hat, just one of those spinning cages full of pingpong balls they use in lotteries.</p>
<p>The devils of politics have always been in the details, and in recent American politics the details have been jiggered to favor incumbent congressmen and state legislators, many of them charmingly mediocre. They had the power, and still do in most states, to craftily craft districts to make it difficult to unseat incumbents of either party. In other words, American election laws are basically a contract between the Democrats and Republicans in office to preserve each other and keep outsiders where they belong, outside. Election rules. Ballot designs. Voter registration. All these things were designed to protect incumbents against ordinary voters.</p>
<p>No more in California. Proposition 20 in this month’s election won the approval of 50.9 percent of voters. The proposition completed a series of ballot measures mandating that election districts — from school boards to Congress — will be redrawn by 14 randomly selected citizens. There were 30,000 applicants for these $300-a-day jobs, and the lottery wheel spun for the first time Thursday and the first balls that popped out named eight of the 14: a bookstore owner, an attorney, a retired engineer, a marketing consultant, a caregiver, an insurance executive, a guy who tracks consumer trends and an activist who represents low-income tenants. They will select the other six members of the Citizens Redistricting Commission.</p>
<p>Next, the commission — five Republicans, five Democrats and four independents — will look at the maps they’ve made and vote again. This time nine of the 14 members must approve the final district lines.</p>
<p>That not-so-little revolution will complement another proposition that last year mandated that all California primaries be open. Democrats, Republicans, independents and oddballs of various kinds will all be on the same ballot, and the top two finishers, even if they are in the same party, will run against each other in the general election. That system has been used in various Southern states in the past, but the official Citizens Commission is another California innovation.</p>
<p>Will it work? Probably not. But it is politically exciting to live in a state that will try anything. There are a lot of Californians who think that the problem with things such as tea-partying are that they are just too moderate.</p>
<p>© 2010 UNIVERSAL UCLICK</p>
| 6,971 |
<p>BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — It was quite the homecoming for Ohio State senior forward Stephanie Mavunga.</p>
<p>Not only were her parents in attendance but her brother Julian, who plays professional basketball overseas, saw her play of the first time in college.</p>
<p>Mavunga, the 2013 Indiana Miss Basketball from Brownsburg, Ind., had 20 points and 18 rebounds to lead No. 10 Ohio State to a 77-62 victory over Indiana on Saturday.</p>
<p>“It was fantastic, seeing all my friends and family was an indescribable feeling for sure,” she said. “It was great to have them all in my ear.”</p>
<p>Linnae Harper chipped in with 19 points and Kelsey Mitchell added 15 points for the Buckeyes (16-2, 5-0 Big Ten).</p>
<p>“(Mavunga) got off to a great start and she played really hard (Saturday),” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “She was very efficient. She had a great game.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes won their ninth consecutive game and are the only unbeaten team in the conference. Ohio State has won 12 in a row against the Hoosiers, including an 85-70 home win on Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Jaelynn Penn scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the Hoosiers (8-11, 1-5). Amanda Cahill had 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Tyra Buss, who averages a team-leading 20.4 points, had just 10 on 4-of-14 shooting. She had only two at the half.</p>
<p>“(Buss) is an unbelievable player and we expended a lot of energy on her,” McGuff said. “We make her work for everything she got, so I think we wore her down a little bit.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes expanded the 16-point halftime lead to 18 points twice before settling for a 61-49 advantage after three quarters. Indiana had trimmed the deficit to seven points at 56-49 on a 3-pointer by Buss with 1:31 left in the quarter, but Ohio State finished the period with five unanswered points by Harper. McGuff had called a timeout after IU cut it to seven.</p>
<p>“He was frustrated,” Mavunga said. “He’s passionate and he knows we can do better that. We weren’t executing, that was bad on our part but we turned it around.”</p>
<p>Indiana never got closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>“I knew Indiana would play well, they’ve been playing very good of late,” McGuff said. “We had some great stretches (Saturday) and didn’t sustain it for as long as I’d like.”</p>
<p>Mitchell, Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer became the 13th player to score 3,000 points in NCAA history. She needed just two points for the milestone entering the game and sank her first basket with her 6:17 left in the second quarter.</p>
<p>IU committed 23 turnovers, eight more than the Buckeyes.</p>
<p>“Obviously our issue was the turnovers,” Hoosiers coach Teri Moren said. “They had 22 points off our turnovers.”</p>
<p>KEY NUMBERS:</p>
<p>Ohio State: Buckeyes got out to a 9-0 start, including first seven by Mavunga,</p>
<p>Indiana: The Hoosiers were 4 of 11 from the free throw line while the Buckeyes were 16 of 22.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes started the Big Ten 5-0 for the ninth time in school history. The last time they did it was in the 2009-10 season. Ohio State entered the game third in the NCAA in scoring average at 89.1.</p>
<p>Indiana: Buss, who became the school’s all-time leading scorer against Penn State, needs 22 points to reach 2,000 points.</p>
<p>THEY SAID IT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: “Linnae (Harper) righted the ship and we went from there,” McGuff said of her five unanswered points to boost the Buckeyes lead to 61-49 at the end of the third quarter.</p>
<p>Indiana: “I really felt like this is game we could have won and had some positive takeaways. I’m just waiting for this group to collectively have one of those nights like they did against Purdue, where they all show up,” Moren said.</p>
<p>UP NEXT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes will host No. 23 Michigan on Tuesday night</p>
<p>Indiana: It doesn’t get any easier for the Hoosiers, who will play at No. 11 Maryland on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — It was quite the homecoming for Ohio State senior forward Stephanie Mavunga.</p>
<p>Not only were her parents in attendance but her brother Julian, who plays professional basketball overseas, saw her play of the first time in college.</p>
<p>Mavunga, the 2013 Indiana Miss Basketball from Brownsburg, Ind., had 20 points and 18 rebounds to lead No. 10 Ohio State to a 77-62 victory over Indiana on Saturday.</p>
<p>“It was fantastic, seeing all my friends and family was an indescribable feeling for sure,” she said. “It was great to have them all in my ear.”</p>
<p>Linnae Harper chipped in with 19 points and Kelsey Mitchell added 15 points for the Buckeyes (16-2, 5-0 Big Ten).</p>
<p>“(Mavunga) got off to a great start and she played really hard (Saturday),” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “She was very efficient. She had a great game.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes won their ninth consecutive game and are the only unbeaten team in the conference. Ohio State has won 12 in a row against the Hoosiers, including an 85-70 home win on Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Jaelynn Penn scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the Hoosiers (8-11, 1-5). Amanda Cahill had 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Tyra Buss, who averages a team-leading 20.4 points, had just 10 on 4-of-14 shooting. She had only two at the half.</p>
<p>“(Buss) is an unbelievable player and we expended a lot of energy on her,” McGuff said. “We make her work for everything she got, so I think we wore her down a little bit.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes expanded the 16-point halftime lead to 18 points twice before settling for a 61-49 advantage after three quarters. Indiana had trimmed the deficit to seven points at 56-49 on a 3-pointer by Buss with 1:31 left in the quarter, but Ohio State finished the period with five unanswered points by Harper. McGuff had called a timeout after IU cut it to seven.</p>
<p>“He was frustrated,” Mavunga said. “He’s passionate and he knows we can do better that. We weren’t executing, that was bad on our part but we turned it around.”</p>
<p>Indiana never got closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>“I knew Indiana would play well, they’ve been playing very good of late,” McGuff said. “We had some great stretches (Saturday) and didn’t sustain it for as long as I’d like.”</p>
<p>Mitchell, Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer became the 13th player to score 3,000 points in NCAA history. She needed just two points for the milestone entering the game and sank her first basket with her 6:17 left in the second quarter.</p>
<p>IU committed 23 turnovers, eight more than the Buckeyes.</p>
<p>“Obviously our issue was the turnovers,” Hoosiers coach Teri Moren said. “They had 22 points off our turnovers.”</p>
<p>KEY NUMBERS:</p>
<p>Ohio State: Buckeyes got out to a 9-0 start, including first seven by Mavunga,</p>
<p>Indiana: The Hoosiers were 4 of 11 from the free throw line while the Buckeyes were 16 of 22.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes started the Big Ten 5-0 for the ninth time in school history. The last time they did it was in the 2009-10 season. Ohio State entered the game third in the NCAA in scoring average at 89.1.</p>
<p>Indiana: Buss, who became the school’s all-time leading scorer against Penn State, needs 22 points to reach 2,000 points.</p>
<p>THEY SAID IT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: “Linnae (Harper) righted the ship and we went from there,” McGuff said of her five unanswered points to boost the Buckeyes lead to 61-49 at the end of the third quarter.</p>
<p>Indiana: “I really felt like this is game we could have won and had some positive takeaways. I’m just waiting for this group to collectively have one of those nights like they did against Purdue, where they all show up,” Moren said.</p>
<p>UP NEXT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes will host No. 23 Michigan on Tuesday night</p>
<p>Indiana: It doesn’t get any easier for the Hoosiers, who will play at No. 11 Maryland on Tuesday night.</p>
|
Mavunga lifts No. 10 Ohio State to 77-62 win over Indiana
| false |
https://apnews.com/ad8b951923174759b0aa907d08b80376
|
2018-01-13
| 2least
|
Mavunga lifts No. 10 Ohio State to 77-62 win over Indiana
<p>BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — It was quite the homecoming for Ohio State senior forward Stephanie Mavunga.</p>
<p>Not only were her parents in attendance but her brother Julian, who plays professional basketball overseas, saw her play of the first time in college.</p>
<p>Mavunga, the 2013 Indiana Miss Basketball from Brownsburg, Ind., had 20 points and 18 rebounds to lead No. 10 Ohio State to a 77-62 victory over Indiana on Saturday.</p>
<p>“It was fantastic, seeing all my friends and family was an indescribable feeling for sure,” she said. “It was great to have them all in my ear.”</p>
<p>Linnae Harper chipped in with 19 points and Kelsey Mitchell added 15 points for the Buckeyes (16-2, 5-0 Big Ten).</p>
<p>“(Mavunga) got off to a great start and she played really hard (Saturday),” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “She was very efficient. She had a great game.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes won their ninth consecutive game and are the only unbeaten team in the conference. Ohio State has won 12 in a row against the Hoosiers, including an 85-70 home win on Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Jaelynn Penn scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the Hoosiers (8-11, 1-5). Amanda Cahill had 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Tyra Buss, who averages a team-leading 20.4 points, had just 10 on 4-of-14 shooting. She had only two at the half.</p>
<p>“(Buss) is an unbelievable player and we expended a lot of energy on her,” McGuff said. “We make her work for everything she got, so I think we wore her down a little bit.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes expanded the 16-point halftime lead to 18 points twice before settling for a 61-49 advantage after three quarters. Indiana had trimmed the deficit to seven points at 56-49 on a 3-pointer by Buss with 1:31 left in the quarter, but Ohio State finished the period with five unanswered points by Harper. McGuff had called a timeout after IU cut it to seven.</p>
<p>“He was frustrated,” Mavunga said. “He’s passionate and he knows we can do better that. We weren’t executing, that was bad on our part but we turned it around.”</p>
<p>Indiana never got closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>“I knew Indiana would play well, they’ve been playing very good of late,” McGuff said. “We had some great stretches (Saturday) and didn’t sustain it for as long as I’d like.”</p>
<p>Mitchell, Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer became the 13th player to score 3,000 points in NCAA history. She needed just two points for the milestone entering the game and sank her first basket with her 6:17 left in the second quarter.</p>
<p>IU committed 23 turnovers, eight more than the Buckeyes.</p>
<p>“Obviously our issue was the turnovers,” Hoosiers coach Teri Moren said. “They had 22 points off our turnovers.”</p>
<p>KEY NUMBERS:</p>
<p>Ohio State: Buckeyes got out to a 9-0 start, including first seven by Mavunga,</p>
<p>Indiana: The Hoosiers were 4 of 11 from the free throw line while the Buckeyes were 16 of 22.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes started the Big Ten 5-0 for the ninth time in school history. The last time they did it was in the 2009-10 season. Ohio State entered the game third in the NCAA in scoring average at 89.1.</p>
<p>Indiana: Buss, who became the school’s all-time leading scorer against Penn State, needs 22 points to reach 2,000 points.</p>
<p>THEY SAID IT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: “Linnae (Harper) righted the ship and we went from there,” McGuff said of her five unanswered points to boost the Buckeyes lead to 61-49 at the end of the third quarter.</p>
<p>Indiana: “I really felt like this is game we could have won and had some positive takeaways. I’m just waiting for this group to collectively have one of those nights like they did against Purdue, where they all show up,” Moren said.</p>
<p>UP NEXT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes will host No. 23 Michigan on Tuesday night</p>
<p>Indiana: It doesn’t get any easier for the Hoosiers, who will play at No. 11 Maryland on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — It was quite the homecoming for Ohio State senior forward Stephanie Mavunga.</p>
<p>Not only were her parents in attendance but her brother Julian, who plays professional basketball overseas, saw her play of the first time in college.</p>
<p>Mavunga, the 2013 Indiana Miss Basketball from Brownsburg, Ind., had 20 points and 18 rebounds to lead No. 10 Ohio State to a 77-62 victory over Indiana on Saturday.</p>
<p>“It was fantastic, seeing all my friends and family was an indescribable feeling for sure,” she said. “It was great to have them all in my ear.”</p>
<p>Linnae Harper chipped in with 19 points and Kelsey Mitchell added 15 points for the Buckeyes (16-2, 5-0 Big Ten).</p>
<p>“(Mavunga) got off to a great start and she played really hard (Saturday),” Ohio State coach Kevin McGuff said. “She was very efficient. She had a great game.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes won their ninth consecutive game and are the only unbeaten team in the conference. Ohio State has won 12 in a row against the Hoosiers, including an 85-70 home win on Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Jaelynn Penn scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting to lead the Hoosiers (8-11, 1-5). Amanda Cahill had 15 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Tyra Buss, who averages a team-leading 20.4 points, had just 10 on 4-of-14 shooting. She had only two at the half.</p>
<p>“(Buss) is an unbelievable player and we expended a lot of energy on her,” McGuff said. “We make her work for everything she got, so I think we wore her down a little bit.”</p>
<p>The Buckeyes expanded the 16-point halftime lead to 18 points twice before settling for a 61-49 advantage after three quarters. Indiana had trimmed the deficit to seven points at 56-49 on a 3-pointer by Buss with 1:31 left in the quarter, but Ohio State finished the period with five unanswered points by Harper. McGuff had called a timeout after IU cut it to seven.</p>
<p>“He was frustrated,” Mavunga said. “He’s passionate and he knows we can do better that. We weren’t executing, that was bad on our part but we turned it around.”</p>
<p>Indiana never got closer than 10 points in the fourth quarter.</p>
<p>“I knew Indiana would play well, they’ve been playing very good of late,” McGuff said. “We had some great stretches (Saturday) and didn’t sustain it for as long as I’d like.”</p>
<p>Mitchell, Ohio State’s all-time leading scorer became the 13th player to score 3,000 points in NCAA history. She needed just two points for the milestone entering the game and sank her first basket with her 6:17 left in the second quarter.</p>
<p>IU committed 23 turnovers, eight more than the Buckeyes.</p>
<p>“Obviously our issue was the turnovers,” Hoosiers coach Teri Moren said. “They had 22 points off our turnovers.”</p>
<p>KEY NUMBERS:</p>
<p>Ohio State: Buckeyes got out to a 9-0 start, including first seven by Mavunga,</p>
<p>Indiana: The Hoosiers were 4 of 11 from the free throw line while the Buckeyes were 16 of 22.</p>
<p>BIG PICTURE:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes started the Big Ten 5-0 for the ninth time in school history. The last time they did it was in the 2009-10 season. Ohio State entered the game third in the NCAA in scoring average at 89.1.</p>
<p>Indiana: Buss, who became the school’s all-time leading scorer against Penn State, needs 22 points to reach 2,000 points.</p>
<p>THEY SAID IT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: “Linnae (Harper) righted the ship and we went from there,” McGuff said of her five unanswered points to boost the Buckeyes lead to 61-49 at the end of the third quarter.</p>
<p>Indiana: “I really felt like this is game we could have won and had some positive takeaways. I’m just waiting for this group to collectively have one of those nights like they did against Purdue, where they all show up,” Moren said.</p>
<p>UP NEXT:</p>
<p>Ohio State: The Buckeyes will host No. 23 Michigan on Tuesday night</p>
<p>Indiana: It doesn’t get any easier for the Hoosiers, who will play at No. 11 Maryland on Tuesday night.</p>
| 6,972 |
<p />
<p>Conflicting signs from the&#160;White&#160;House&#160;have left brokerage firms and lobbyists unsure whether a controversial rule governing retirement advice will ever be put in place, but they are taking no chances and complying anyway.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>President Donald Trump's Friday memorandum ordered the Labor Department to review the so-called "fiduciary" rule, which requires brokers to put their clients' interests first when advising them about 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.</p>
<p>But that call for a review was significantly weaker than an earlier draft, seen by Reuters, that requested a 180-day delay in the scheduled April 10 effective date of the rule, which is already on the books.</p>
<p>Trump's memo did not go as far as&#160;White&#160;House&#160;early guidance to reporters that the memo would ask the department to "defer implementation" of the rule.</p>
<p>It is not clear to Washington insiders just how quickly or easily the Labor Department can delay implementation of the rule.</p>
<p>And while most expect there will eventually be a delay, it still is not clear to Wall Streeters who have already started changing their business models whether they can count on a deferral or reversal of the regulation.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>“There’s confusion because it injected a whole lot more noise into the system with very little specificity about what is to come,” said Michael Spellacy, the head of PWC's wealth management consultancy, who said he spent most of his weekend on the phone with the heads of 35 U.S. brokerages they are advising discussing the memo and its implications.</p>
<p>Legal experts say the Labor Department likely will have to undertake a formal rulemaking process in order to delay the rule's implementation - a process that cannot happen overnight, and that may be further delayed by the lack of a permanent Labor Secretary.</p>
<p>Trump's choice to be Labor Secretary, Andrew Puzder, has seen his own confirmation indefinitely postponed in the Senate amidst delays with his ethics paperwork.</p>
<p>One other possible wrinkle that could impact the rule's implementation, meanwhile, is a pending legal challenge in a federal court in Texas.</p>
<p>Last week, the judge said she plans to rule no later than Feb. 10.</p>
<p>The fiduciary rule is separate from the banking rules that were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. Trump has also ordered a review of the 2010 Dodd-Frank reform.</p>
<p>EXPECTING A DELAY, BUT COMPLYING ANYWAY</p>
<p>In the meantime, lawyers are advising their financial services clients to continue preparing for the upcoming deadline.</p>
<p>"What is clear from the memo is that we don't have certainty yet," said Michael Kreps, an attorney with the Groom Law Group.</p>
<p>The&#160;White&#160;House&#160;did not explain why it scaled back its memo, but legal experts say it was most likely changed because the prior version may have violated the Administrative Procedures Act - a federal law that governs the rulemaking process.</p>
<p>That law requires public notice and a comment period before changes to a rule can be made.</p>
<p>Had Trump proceeded with the original plan for a 180-day delay, the change could have been vulnerable to legal challenges.</p>
<p>Legal experts say the Labor Department has a few possible options.</p>
<p>It can issue what is known as an "interim final rule," which would immediately delay the effective date while seeking comments from the public on why a delay is justified.</p>
<p>Or, it can issue a proposed rulemaking to delay the rule's compliance deadline, give the public 30 days to comment, and then issue a final rule.</p>
<p>A Labor Department spokeswoman reiterated on Monday that the department is reviewing its legal options to delay the rule, but declined to elaborate.</p>
<p>Kenneth Laverriere, an attorney at Shearman &amp; Sterling, said he fully expects the rule to be delayed eventually, though it will come after companies have already spent a lot of money to comply.</p>
<p>Three of the biggest U.S. brokerages, Bank of America Corp’s Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Advisors , said Friday’s memo will not change compliance plans the firms already have in place.</p>
<p>Of those, Bank of America intends to adopt the most aggressive changes with its plans to scrap selling brokerage IRA accounts starting in April.</p>
<p>"The genie is certainly out of the bottle," Laverriere said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Elizabeth Dilts in New York; Additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe in Washington; Editing by Linda Stern and Lisa Shumaker)</p>
|
Memo From White House Confuses Wall Street on Fate of Fiduciary Rule
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/07/memo-from-white-house-confuses-wall-street-on-fate-fiduciary-rule.html
|
2017-02-07
| 0right
|
Memo From White House Confuses Wall Street on Fate of Fiduciary Rule
<p />
<p>Conflicting signs from the&#160;White&#160;House&#160;have left brokerage firms and lobbyists unsure whether a controversial rule governing retirement advice will ever be put in place, but they are taking no chances and complying anyway.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>President Donald Trump's Friday memorandum ordered the Labor Department to review the so-called "fiduciary" rule, which requires brokers to put their clients' interests first when advising them about 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts.</p>
<p>But that call for a review was significantly weaker than an earlier draft, seen by Reuters, that requested a 180-day delay in the scheduled April 10 effective date of the rule, which is already on the books.</p>
<p>Trump's memo did not go as far as&#160;White&#160;House&#160;early guidance to reporters that the memo would ask the department to "defer implementation" of the rule.</p>
<p>It is not clear to Washington insiders just how quickly or easily the Labor Department can delay implementation of the rule.</p>
<p>And while most expect there will eventually be a delay, it still is not clear to Wall Streeters who have already started changing their business models whether they can count on a deferral or reversal of the regulation.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>“There’s confusion because it injected a whole lot more noise into the system with very little specificity about what is to come,” said Michael Spellacy, the head of PWC's wealth management consultancy, who said he spent most of his weekend on the phone with the heads of 35 U.S. brokerages they are advising discussing the memo and its implications.</p>
<p>Legal experts say the Labor Department likely will have to undertake a formal rulemaking process in order to delay the rule's implementation - a process that cannot happen overnight, and that may be further delayed by the lack of a permanent Labor Secretary.</p>
<p>Trump's choice to be Labor Secretary, Andrew Puzder, has seen his own confirmation indefinitely postponed in the Senate amidst delays with his ethics paperwork.</p>
<p>One other possible wrinkle that could impact the rule's implementation, meanwhile, is a pending legal challenge in a federal court in Texas.</p>
<p>Last week, the judge said she plans to rule no later than Feb. 10.</p>
<p>The fiduciary rule is separate from the banking rules that were put in place after the 2008 financial crisis. Trump has also ordered a review of the 2010 Dodd-Frank reform.</p>
<p>EXPECTING A DELAY, BUT COMPLYING ANYWAY</p>
<p>In the meantime, lawyers are advising their financial services clients to continue preparing for the upcoming deadline.</p>
<p>"What is clear from the memo is that we don't have certainty yet," said Michael Kreps, an attorney with the Groom Law Group.</p>
<p>The&#160;White&#160;House&#160;did not explain why it scaled back its memo, but legal experts say it was most likely changed because the prior version may have violated the Administrative Procedures Act - a federal law that governs the rulemaking process.</p>
<p>That law requires public notice and a comment period before changes to a rule can be made.</p>
<p>Had Trump proceeded with the original plan for a 180-day delay, the change could have been vulnerable to legal challenges.</p>
<p>Legal experts say the Labor Department has a few possible options.</p>
<p>It can issue what is known as an "interim final rule," which would immediately delay the effective date while seeking comments from the public on why a delay is justified.</p>
<p>Or, it can issue a proposed rulemaking to delay the rule's compliance deadline, give the public 30 days to comment, and then issue a final rule.</p>
<p>A Labor Department spokeswoman reiterated on Monday that the department is reviewing its legal options to delay the rule, but declined to elaborate.</p>
<p>Kenneth Laverriere, an attorney at Shearman &amp; Sterling, said he fully expects the rule to be delayed eventually, though it will come after companies have already spent a lot of money to comply.</p>
<p>Three of the biggest U.S. brokerages, Bank of America Corp’s Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo Advisors , said Friday’s memo will not change compliance plans the firms already have in place.</p>
<p>Of those, Bank of America intends to adopt the most aggressive changes with its plans to scrap selling brokerage IRA accounts starting in April.</p>
<p>"The genie is certainly out of the bottle," Laverriere said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Elizabeth Dilts in New York; Additional reporting by Ayesha Rascoe in Washington; Editing by Linda Stern and Lisa Shumaker)</p>
| 6,973 |
<p />
<p>I’ve been watching the Harvey Weinstein circus for a few days now. Aside from being horribly disgusted over this creep, I can’t get over the hypocrisy from Hollywood. Weinstein is a sexual predator and has been for decades… and everyone knew it in Hollywood. But they didn’t speak of it. Because what happens on Hollywood’s casting couches, stays in Hollywood. Until now that is. A former New York Times reporter broke this story and she did great work doing so. Now, the reporter is saying that Matt Damon and Russell Crowe were among the actors who lobbied the New York Times to kill the story. What is this? Boy’s club? Shame on them.</p>
<p>In a column for The Wrap, the entertainment industry trade outlet she founded, former reporter Sharon Waxman stated that while she was looking into the then-recently appointed head of Miramax, Italy, Fabrizio Lombardo, she had sources tell her that he was given the position solely to arrange escorts for Weinstein. He had no prior filmmaking experience whatsoever. To cover for Weinstein, both Damon and Crowe called Waxman to “vouch” for Lombardo’s credentials. “After intense pressure from Weinstein, which included having Matt Damon and Russell Crowe call me directly to vouch for Lombardo and unknown discussions well above my head at the Times, the story was gutted,” Laxman wrote. “I was told at the time that Weinstein had visited the newsroom in person to make his displeasure known.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>John Hawkins's book 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know is filled with lessons that newly minted adults need in order to get the most out of life. Gleaned from a lifetime of trial, error, and writing it down, Hawkins provides advice everyone can benefit from in short, digestible chapters.</p>
<p>Waxman was also told by a British woman that she had been paid off by Weinstein after an “unwanted sexual encounter,” but was bound by a non-disclosure agreement. Wonder if that was another instance of him cornering women in restaurants and masturbating in front of them. Swell guy. Pure Hollywood. The New York Times killed that story after the then-culture editor Jon Landman found it unimportant. That was probably after pressure was applied as well. “‘He’s not a publicly elected official,’ he told me. I explained, to no avail, that a public company would certainly have a problem with a procurer on the payroll for hundreds of thousands of dollars. At the time, Disney told me they had no idea Lombardo existed,” Waxman wrote. Right. There’s nothing the House of Mouse doesn’t know.</p>
<p>Waxman added that she was “devastated” that her story was finally published over a decade after she corroborated the evidence. “I was devastated after traveling to two countries and overcoming immense challenges to confirm at least part of the story that wound up running last week, more than a decade later,” she stated. “Today I wonder: If this story had come to light at the time, would Weinstein have continued his behavior for another decade.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Today, Weinstein was fired from his own company over the sexual harassment allegations. No sympathy here whatsoever for this troll. He has also threatened to sue the New York Times for “reckless reporting,” although he has admitted to a “whole way of behavior that is not good.” Wow, that’s the understatement of the century. “I can’t talk specifics, but I put myself in positions that were stupid, I want to respect women and do things better,” Weinstein said last week. So, everyone should just forgive and forget? Not likely. Rose McGowan and others aren’t going to, I can tell you that much. She says Weinstein is a monster and I believe her. Looks like Damon, Crowe, the New York Times and most of Hollywood are enablers for yet another sexual deviant. So not shocked.</p>
<p>Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is an editor and writer for Right Wing News. She owns and blogs at <a href="http://www.noisyroom.net/blog/" type="external">NoisyRoom.net</a>. She is a Constitutional Conservative and NoisyRoom focuses on political and national issues of interest to the American public. Terresa is the editor at Trevor Loudon's site, New Zeal - <a href="http://www.trevorloudon.com/" type="external">trevorloudon.com</a>. She also does research at <a href="http://www.keywiki.org" type="external">KeyWiki.org</a>. You can <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">email Terresa here</a>. NoisyRoom can be found on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/noisyroom.net" type="external">Facebook</a> and on <a href="https://twitter.com/terresamonroe" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p>
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JUST IN: Matt Damon, Russell Crowe Helped Kill Harvey Weinstein Sexual Harassment Story
| true |
http://rightwingnews.com/celebrities/just-in-matt-damon-russell-crowe-helped-kill-harvey-weinstein-sexual-harassment-story/
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2018-10-20
| 0right
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JUST IN: Matt Damon, Russell Crowe Helped Kill Harvey Weinstein Sexual Harassment Story
<p />
<p>I’ve been watching the Harvey Weinstein circus for a few days now. Aside from being horribly disgusted over this creep, I can’t get over the hypocrisy from Hollywood. Weinstein is a sexual predator and has been for decades… and everyone knew it in Hollywood. But they didn’t speak of it. Because what happens on Hollywood’s casting couches, stays in Hollywood. Until now that is. A former New York Times reporter broke this story and she did great work doing so. Now, the reporter is saying that Matt Damon and Russell Crowe were among the actors who lobbied the New York Times to kill the story. What is this? Boy’s club? Shame on them.</p>
<p>In a column for The Wrap, the entertainment industry trade outlet she founded, former reporter Sharon Waxman stated that while she was looking into the then-recently appointed head of Miramax, Italy, Fabrizio Lombardo, she had sources tell her that he was given the position solely to arrange escorts for Weinstein. He had no prior filmmaking experience whatsoever. To cover for Weinstein, both Damon and Crowe called Waxman to “vouch” for Lombardo’s credentials. “After intense pressure from Weinstein, which included having Matt Damon and Russell Crowe call me directly to vouch for Lombardo and unknown discussions well above my head at the Times, the story was gutted,” Laxman wrote. “I was told at the time that Weinstein had visited the newsroom in person to make his displeasure known.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>John Hawkins's book 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know is filled with lessons that newly minted adults need in order to get the most out of life. Gleaned from a lifetime of trial, error, and writing it down, Hawkins provides advice everyone can benefit from in short, digestible chapters.</p>
<p>Waxman was also told by a British woman that she had been paid off by Weinstein after an “unwanted sexual encounter,” but was bound by a non-disclosure agreement. Wonder if that was another instance of him cornering women in restaurants and masturbating in front of them. Swell guy. Pure Hollywood. The New York Times killed that story after the then-culture editor Jon Landman found it unimportant. That was probably after pressure was applied as well. “‘He’s not a publicly elected official,’ he told me. I explained, to no avail, that a public company would certainly have a problem with a procurer on the payroll for hundreds of thousands of dollars. At the time, Disney told me they had no idea Lombardo existed,” Waxman wrote. Right. There’s nothing the House of Mouse doesn’t know.</p>
<p>Waxman added that she was “devastated” that her story was finally published over a decade after she corroborated the evidence. “I was devastated after traveling to two countries and overcoming immense challenges to confirm at least part of the story that wound up running last week, more than a decade later,” she stated. “Today I wonder: If this story had come to light at the time, would Weinstein have continued his behavior for another decade.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Today, Weinstein was fired from his own company over the sexual harassment allegations. No sympathy here whatsoever for this troll. He has also threatened to sue the New York Times for “reckless reporting,” although he has admitted to a “whole way of behavior that is not good.” Wow, that’s the understatement of the century. “I can’t talk specifics, but I put myself in positions that were stupid, I want to respect women and do things better,” Weinstein said last week. So, everyone should just forgive and forget? Not likely. Rose McGowan and others aren’t going to, I can tell you that much. She says Weinstein is a monster and I believe her. Looks like Damon, Crowe, the New York Times and most of Hollywood are enablers for yet another sexual deviant. So not shocked.</p>
<p>Terresa Monroe-Hamilton is an editor and writer for Right Wing News. She owns and blogs at <a href="http://www.noisyroom.net/blog/" type="external">NoisyRoom.net</a>. She is a Constitutional Conservative and NoisyRoom focuses on political and national issues of interest to the American public. Terresa is the editor at Trevor Loudon's site, New Zeal - <a href="http://www.trevorloudon.com/" type="external">trevorloudon.com</a>. She also does research at <a href="http://www.keywiki.org" type="external">KeyWiki.org</a>. You can <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">email Terresa here</a>. NoisyRoom can be found on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/noisyroom.net" type="external">Facebook</a> and on <a href="https://twitter.com/terresamonroe" type="external">Twitter</a>.</p>
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<p>FILE – In this Dec. 13, 2009 file photo, an Iraqi worker operates valves at the Rumaila oil refinery near the city of Basra, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The turmoil in Iraq has thrown the OPEC member’s ambitious plans to boost oil production into doubt, threatening to crimp its most vital economic lifeline. Northern oil fields imperiled by the militants’ advance have been shut down, and companies have begun evacuating workers elsewhere in the country. Iraq’s Kurdish minority has moved to solidify control over the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other disputed areas, weakening Baghdad’s claims to the energy riches buried beneath while bolstering the Kurds’ aspirations of greater autonomy. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani, File)</p>
<p>BRUSSELS — The head of OPEC, the group of major oil exporters, says recent crude price increases are to blame on market fears caused by the crisis in Iraq but not on a drop in output.</p>
<p>OPEC Secretary General Abdullah Al-Badry said Tuesday that Iraq is “still producing as normal,” with 95 percent of its capacity in the country’s south being unaffected by the violence.</p>
<p>The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the key international benchmark, has risen from a stable level of $110 held over the past four years to about $115 following the takeover of some parts of Iraq by Sunni insurgents.</p>
<p>Al-Badry says prices are not rising because of supply shortages but because the market is “nervous” and investors are speculating.</p>
<p>He adds OPEC still has spare capacity.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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OPEC: Iraq violence not causing oil output drop
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https://abqjournal.com/420100/opec-iraq-violence-not-causing-oil-output-drop.html
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OPEC: Iraq violence not causing oil output drop
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>FILE – In this Dec. 13, 2009 file photo, an Iraqi worker operates valves at the Rumaila oil refinery near the city of Basra, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The turmoil in Iraq has thrown the OPEC member’s ambitious plans to boost oil production into doubt, threatening to crimp its most vital economic lifeline. Northern oil fields imperiled by the militants’ advance have been shut down, and companies have begun evacuating workers elsewhere in the country. Iraq’s Kurdish minority has moved to solidify control over the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other disputed areas, weakening Baghdad’s claims to the energy riches buried beneath while bolstering the Kurds’ aspirations of greater autonomy. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani, File)</p>
<p>BRUSSELS — The head of OPEC, the group of major oil exporters, says recent crude price increases are to blame on market fears caused by the crisis in Iraq but not on a drop in output.</p>
<p>OPEC Secretary General Abdullah Al-Badry said Tuesday that Iraq is “still producing as normal,” with 95 percent of its capacity in the country’s south being unaffected by the violence.</p>
<p>The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the key international benchmark, has risen from a stable level of $110 held over the past four years to about $115 following the takeover of some parts of Iraq by Sunni insurgents.</p>
<p>Al-Badry says prices are not rising because of supply shortages but because the market is “nervous” and investors are speculating.</p>
<p>He adds OPEC still has spare capacity.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
| 6,975 |
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<p>From Manhattan, to Nashville, to St Louis, to Portland, Oregon, to Oakland, California, the police this week moved in to clear out the Occupy Wall Street protesters from the various downtown plazas or squares where they’d established their peaceable focos. The mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, had earlier acknowledged a conference call between 18 mayors, (at obvious federal instigation from the Justice Department) across the US discussing strategy, and the mode elected was clear enough. Get them out, by any means necessary.</p>
<p>These marching orders were taken most seriously in – where else? — &#160;the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement back in 1964, at Sproul Plaza, entry way into the University of California at Berkeley. FSM’s birth was prompted by the arrest of Jack Weinberg for soliciting money for the civil rights movement. He was put into a police car, but a spontaneous sit-down trapped it. Eventually the roof was used as a FSM platform.</p>
<p>Last week hundreds of students massed in&#160; Sproul Plaza to protest proposed fee hikes of 81 per cent that would bring UC tuition from $13,000 to over $22,000. The students pointed out that the banks caused the financial crisis, which in turn caused the budget crisis. So the banks, not the students, should pay for it. The students set up their own small encampment on the lawn outside Sproul Hall.</p>
<p>An eyewitness, Michael Levien, <a href="" type="internal">described</a> on this site what happened at around 9.30 pm this Monday night:</p>
<p>“A phalanx of police in riot gear turned the corner of Sproul Hall and rapidly charged, thrusting their batons with violent force into the crowd. Chanting ‘non-violent protest’ and ‘stop beating students,’ student after student took fierce baton thrusts to their chests and limbs.</p>
<p>“Then the police started swinging, brutally beating people’s chests, arms, knees, and backs. They were swinging to hurt. With the crowd behind and the police in front there was no way for people to leave even if they wanted to. A few people tried to escape in the narrow gap between the students and police. They were savagely beaten. Throughout what can only be described as a terrifying physical attack that has left many with serious injuries, the students stayed entirely non-violent.”</p>
<p>Enter Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, who often likes to reminisce about his Freedom Rider days. At the fortieth anniversary of the founding of FSM, they had a mock police car and platform and Chancellor Birgeneau spoke from it, reminiscing warmly about the birth of FSM and the importance of free speech. I spoke at the same anniversary, giving measured praise for subversive free speech in an event organized by Lenni Brenner, “FSM and the Sixties: Lessons for Today.”</p>
<p>Chancellor Birgeneau seems to be a man changed from the freedom rider of the mid-1960s or even the man perched on the platform in 2004. Last week he emailed&#160; the campus, defending&#160; the administration’s response by saying that it was necessary to remove the encampment for “practical” considerations of “hygiene, safety, space and conflict issues”. He remarked: “It is unfortunate that some protesters chose to obstruct the police by linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents. This is not non-violent civil disobedience.” So Rosa Parks prevented a white person from sitting in the seat reserved for them&#160; on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Club her to the ground!</p>
<p>So chapter one of the Occupy movement draws to a close, and maybe the concerted onslaught by uniformed goons actually did the movement a favor – scant comfort to those battered to the ground – by leaving the Occupiers with a positive bank balance in&#160;·terms of imagery at the moment of their enforced departures. Besides, this will allow trained teams of OWSers to hunt down all members of those drumming circles and dispose of them by any means necessary.&#160; This is not protected speech.</p>
<p>What next? Thus far the OWS movement has mostly been evoked by its participants in terms of self-education and consciousness-raising about the nature of America’s political economy. There’s been a lot of talk about a brave new world being born. One fellow chided me for not writing more about the movement which he hailed as “the most militant upsurge from the Left since the Vietnam War, the most frontal assault on the worst features of capitalism since the Great Depression.”
&#160;
This is a vast overstatement. In terms of substantive achievements, OWS has a long way to go, which is scarcely a reason for reproof since it only really got going in September. “The most frontal assault on the worst features of capitalism since the Great Depression?” Scarcely.</p>
<p>The early 1960s Civil Rights Movement&#160; prompted the Civil Rights Act, and Medicare, the latter being effectively socialized healthg insurance for the senior crowd. Pushed by the popular movements, President Johnson and a Democratic Congress passed a flood of laws.</p>
<p>As the historian Alan Nasser pointed out <a href="" type="internal">here</a> last week, “In less than four years, Congress enacted the Truth In Lending Act, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the National Gas Pipeline Safety Act, the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, the Flammable Fabrics Act, the federal Meat Inspection Act and the Child Protection Act.</p>
<p>“Business-government relations had never before seen such an avalanche of legislation limiting the freedom of capital in the interests of working people. Between 1964 and 1968 Congress passed 226 of 252 worker-friendly bills into law. Federal funds transferred to the poor increased from $9.9 billion in 1960 to $30 billion in 1968. One million workers received job training from these bills and 2 million children were enrolled in pre-school Head Start programs by 1968.”</p>
<p>Resistance to the war in Indochina was fierce. In Vietnam the troops mutinied. Units shot their officers in the back or threw grenades into their tents. In 1971 the Pentagon counted 503,926 ‘incidents of desertion’ since 1966 and reckoned that more than half of US ground forces in Vietnam openly opposed the war. At Christmas 1971, Vietnam Vets Against the War seized the Statue of Liberty for 48 hours and draped it with a banner demanding ‘Bring our Brothers Home’.</p>
<p>On the home front, people fought the draft or simply fled it. Major American cities were torn by riots. The anti-war movement, coming on the heels of the civil rights movement, transformed a generation. In the end, Congress simply denied Nixon the money for the war in Indochina.</p>
<p>To evoke those stormy times is to underline that whereas America was at the peak of its economic power in the late 1960s, whereas &#160;today Moody’s warns the world that US T-bills are a risky investment, American corporate capitalism is infinitely better protected in its perquisites than it was 45 years ago when those worker-friendly laws shot through Congress.</p>
<p>These days corporate lobbies own the President and the US Congress and the regulatory agencies. National economic policy is laid down by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, an errand boy of the banks. He took over from Hank Paulson, also an errand boy for the banks. If Obama is not re-elected in 2012, another errand boy will be waiting in the wings.</p>
<p>In the 1930s Roosevelt developed his New Deal program in part to head off mass movements to his left. In the 1960s Kennedy and Johnson similarly responded to the challenge of mass movements. Today, the OWSers have registered a presence and won considerable public support, which should not be surprising because America is in poor shape, the rich unpopular and politicians despised. But, as yet, there is no sign of any material political consequence deriving from this popularity.</p>
<p>Four years ago a candidacy was gathering momentum, declaring that the time had come in America for a moral awakening, for a change in national consciousness, a rising above self-interest and partisanship. Young people rallied to the call. Obama swept into the White House and promptly stuck a ‘Business As Usual’ sign on the door of the Oval Office.</p>
<p>Suppose the OWS movement had begun in the early fall of 2008, just when the economy was imploding, amid widespread public fury at Wall Street’s corruption, notably the banks and big investment houses? Would candidate Obama have felt quite so blithe in lobbying his fellow senators to support Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s TARP bailout of the nine biggest banks? Obama had been in close touch with top-tier Wall Street men all year long and was their point man rallying his fellow senators – and of course the recipient of their campaign contributions, far outstripping what Wall Street gave McCain.</p>
<p>On October 1, 2008, the US senate voted 74 to 25 for the unconditional bank bailout, with eight Democrats voting No, among them Dorgan, Feingold, Wyden, and Landrieu. Sanders also voted No.&#160; (Dorgan always had a healthy mistrust of Obama. In his recent book <a href="" type="internal">Confidence Men</a>, Ron Suskind writes that at a December 2008 meeting during the transition, after Obama had announced his appointments of Geithner and Summers – thus making absolutely clear where his priorities would lie – Dorgan told him bluntly, “You’ve picked the wrong people. I don’t understand how you could do this. You’ve picked the wrong people!”)</p>
<p>Imagine an OWS movement spreading across the country through September and October of 2008, piercing through Obama’s vapid rhetoric about change, excoriating the bipartisan congressional&#160; support for de facto financial dictatorship by Wall Street. There would have been a thousand opportunities for dramatic actions. Birgeneau’s Freedom Rides could this time have been “Freedom from Debt” rides&#160; with OWS trucks collecting maxed out credit cards from every voting district in the country and driving them to Washington to dump in front of the White House and Congress.</p>
<p>Okay, so you’re a realist and you can’t imagine it, and you’d be right, because in the late summer and fall of 2008, it was All Aboard for Obama and the Change Express. The pressure to conform to this ecstatic, albeit totally irrational call was intense. One of my friends – an left militant from way back –&#160; told me he didn’t dare voice his doubts publicly in front of his wife and children. All he could do was mumble to the family dog out in the garden.</p>
<p>So now, four years later, we have OWS, in part a&#160; re-run of the idealistic hopes of those Obama zealots of 2008, minus illusions about crusading candidacies. There’s lots of talk about What Next. Somebody will think of something, no doubt. A friend from Portland recently wrote privately, apropos OWS:</p>
<p>“It doesn’t seem to me that the OWS is ready to be fully political. Didn’t it take the new left years to build to 1968? Was part of its less-than-fully ‘successful’ push because it was premature or exhausted? Was it because it never had full enough backing from social forces to be overwhelming? The new left didn’t spring ready formed into mass collective action in 1960 but built up powerful oppositions through solidarities only formed through practical common struggles. We see this happening now but we can’t expect it to happen overnight. On the contrary, OWS has shaky grounds to build on, but a more propitious moment. The early sixties were a period of rising affluence with a strong labor movement, albeit with a corrupt and conservative bureaucracy, a strong potential for working-class solidarity and powerful social movements demanding change. OWS faces a largely anomic society after decades of economic erosion and declining political power at every level, with the exception of alterglobalization movements that were the older brother and sisters of OWS. Our folks in Portland are still being arrested and still occupying and re-occupying. They have it pretty easy for now because they have tremendous support from the public. Let us hope that in one way there is rounding of the circle. Where the unintended consequences of parts of new left agitation became identity politics, the OWS might bring us back to class politics. From there, we can join the Greeks.”</p>
<p>On this sit this weekend Michael Hudson lays out a minimal economic program on how to clean out the Augean stables. He calls for a financial Clean Slate:</p>
<p>“To restore the kind of normalcy that made America rich, the most important long-term policy would be to recognize what is going to be inevitable for every economy. Debts need to be written down – and the politically easiest way to cut through the tangle is to write them off altogether. That would free the bottom 99% from their debt bondage to the top 1%. It would be a Clean Slate, starting over – and trying to do things right this time around. The creditors have not used the banking system to make America more productive and richer. They have used it as a vehicle to reduce the population to debt serfdom.</p>
<p>“A debt write-down sounds radical and unworkable, but it’s been done since World War II with great success. It is the program the Allies carried out in the German economy in that country’s 1947 currency reform. This was the policy that created Germany’s Economic Miracle. And America could experience a similar miracle.”</p>
<p>Hudson is a fascinating scholar of the history of debt cancellations. He just sent me his pamphlet, The Lost Tradition of Biblical Debt Cancellations. It has this illustration on its cover:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>It’s a drawing of the cuneiform transcription of a debt cancellation (amargi law) by Enmetena, ruler of the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, c. 2400 BC, the first known legal proclamation. The original is in the Louvre.</p>
<p>Let’s hoist our Babylonian banner!</p>
<p>Our Latest Newsletter</p>
<p>We offer two terrific pieces, by Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Fred Gardner. A distinguished anthropologist,&#160; Scheper-Hughes is one of our favorite writers. Indeed your CounterPunch editors listed her Death without Weeping in its top 100 non-fiction books published in English in the 20th Century.&#160; A few months ago we ran her amazing investigation of the international trade in body parts.&#160; This time she contributes a very powerful piece – in part autobiographical – on the slow death of the Roman Catholic Church, centered on the Vatican’s&#160; appalling response to the&#160; disclosures of the past few years of the sexual predations of Catholic priests on children, among them indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>On September 23, 2011,&#160; Scheper-Hughes writes, human rights lawyers and former clerical sex abuse victims filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court in the Hague, asking for an investigation to prosecute Pope Benedict XVI and three of his top officials, including William Levada, a cardinal, and the former bishop of the diocese of San Francisco, for crimes against humanity.</p>
<p>“The request to war crimes court may seem theatrical. The Vatican did not ratify the Rome statute that created the court, although both Germany (Benedict’s birthplace) and Italy (home of the Vatican) have done so. The ICC only has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed after 2002. Nonetheless, the International Criminal Court has agreed to examine the papers, and a spokesperson has said that the case has merit.</p>
<p>So, finally, what’s a former Catholic to do when her Church is corrupt and moribund? Today, the defections are not just of unhappy priests and nuns, but of the global Catholic community at large. Churches are closing in European and in American cities. The will and the desire to fight the Vatican are mostly gone. The damage, beyond the current sex scandal, to women’s bodies, the indifference to maternal and infant mortalities, to the populations at risk of the AIDS epidemic, especially in Catholic parts of Africa, are too much to bear.</p>
<p>“Some former Catholics take solace in other spiritual traditions. Given the animistic quality of Catholic ancestor worship, some former Catholics embrace a cult of everyday saints, virgins, and martyrs, adding Steven Biko, Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Einstein, Dorothy Day, and Harvey Milk to their older devotion to Saint Joan, San Antonio, and Saint Francis of Assisi. Others look to a green theology based on reverence for earth, and sky and sea, and all the critters that slither and crawl, walk and swim. Some, like Paul Farmer, continue along the Vatican-savaged remains of a once vibrant liberation theology, a theology of hope.</p>
<p>“I am grieved and not relieved by my loss of a faith that once gave beauty, richness and fullness to my life. The secular humanism of anthropology offers an alternative form of discipleship, built around the practice of studied observation, contemplation and reflection. I know that anthropology is a powerful tool capable of taming unruly emotions, replacing disgust with respect, ignorance with understanding, hatred with empathy, and a practice of compassionate and modest witnessing to human sorrows. But it is cold comfort for the former believer, when the mystery is gone and with it the light has gone out of one’s soul.”</p>
<p>Don’t miss this marvelous essay.</p>
<p>Also don’t miss Fred Gardner’s contribution to our ongoing series on Obama’s record. Gardner examines the pledges on medical&#160; marijuana&#160; he made on the campaign trail and his substantive record thereafter and the current onslaught of the Justice Department on medical marijuana dispensaries in California. Gardner’s question to the leaders of the marijuana reform movement: Did they really read his lips? Did they “over-read” and too optimistically interpret what the candidate was saying.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/Annual_Subscriptions.html" type="external">SUBSCRIBE NOW!</a></p>
<p>Alexander Cockburn can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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Are Drum Circles Protected Under the Constitution?
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2011/11/18/are-drum-circles-protected-under-the-constitution/
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2011-11-18
| 4left
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Are Drum Circles Protected Under the Constitution?
<p>From Manhattan, to Nashville, to St Louis, to Portland, Oregon, to Oakland, California, the police this week moved in to clear out the Occupy Wall Street protesters from the various downtown plazas or squares where they’d established their peaceable focos. The mayor of Oakland, Jean Quan, had earlier acknowledged a conference call between 18 mayors, (at obvious federal instigation from the Justice Department) across the US discussing strategy, and the mode elected was clear enough. Get them out, by any means necessary.</p>
<p>These marching orders were taken most seriously in – where else? — &#160;the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement back in 1964, at Sproul Plaza, entry way into the University of California at Berkeley. FSM’s birth was prompted by the arrest of Jack Weinberg for soliciting money for the civil rights movement. He was put into a police car, but a spontaneous sit-down trapped it. Eventually the roof was used as a FSM platform.</p>
<p>Last week hundreds of students massed in&#160; Sproul Plaza to protest proposed fee hikes of 81 per cent that would bring UC tuition from $13,000 to over $22,000. The students pointed out that the banks caused the financial crisis, which in turn caused the budget crisis. So the banks, not the students, should pay for it. The students set up their own small encampment on the lawn outside Sproul Hall.</p>
<p>An eyewitness, Michael Levien, <a href="" type="internal">described</a> on this site what happened at around 9.30 pm this Monday night:</p>
<p>“A phalanx of police in riot gear turned the corner of Sproul Hall and rapidly charged, thrusting their batons with violent force into the crowd. Chanting ‘non-violent protest’ and ‘stop beating students,’ student after student took fierce baton thrusts to their chests and limbs.</p>
<p>“Then the police started swinging, brutally beating people’s chests, arms, knees, and backs. They were swinging to hurt. With the crowd behind and the police in front there was no way for people to leave even if they wanted to. A few people tried to escape in the narrow gap between the students and police. They were savagely beaten. Throughout what can only be described as a terrifying physical attack that has left many with serious injuries, the students stayed entirely non-violent.”</p>
<p>Enter Chancellor Robert Birgeneau, who often likes to reminisce about his Freedom Rider days. At the fortieth anniversary of the founding of FSM, they had a mock police car and platform and Chancellor Birgeneau spoke from it, reminiscing warmly about the birth of FSM and the importance of free speech. I spoke at the same anniversary, giving measured praise for subversive free speech in an event organized by Lenni Brenner, “FSM and the Sixties: Lessons for Today.”</p>
<p>Chancellor Birgeneau seems to be a man changed from the freedom rider of the mid-1960s or even the man perched on the platform in 2004. Last week he emailed&#160; the campus, defending&#160; the administration’s response by saying that it was necessary to remove the encampment for “practical” considerations of “hygiene, safety, space and conflict issues”. He remarked: “It is unfortunate that some protesters chose to obstruct the police by linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents. This is not non-violent civil disobedience.” So Rosa Parks prevented a white person from sitting in the seat reserved for them&#160; on the bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Club her to the ground!</p>
<p>So chapter one of the Occupy movement draws to a close, and maybe the concerted onslaught by uniformed goons actually did the movement a favor – scant comfort to those battered to the ground – by leaving the Occupiers with a positive bank balance in&#160;·terms of imagery at the moment of their enforced departures. Besides, this will allow trained teams of OWSers to hunt down all members of those drumming circles and dispose of them by any means necessary.&#160; This is not protected speech.</p>
<p>What next? Thus far the OWS movement has mostly been evoked by its participants in terms of self-education and consciousness-raising about the nature of America’s political economy. There’s been a lot of talk about a brave new world being born. One fellow chided me for not writing more about the movement which he hailed as “the most militant upsurge from the Left since the Vietnam War, the most frontal assault on the worst features of capitalism since the Great Depression.”
&#160;
This is a vast overstatement. In terms of substantive achievements, OWS has a long way to go, which is scarcely a reason for reproof since it only really got going in September. “The most frontal assault on the worst features of capitalism since the Great Depression?” Scarcely.</p>
<p>The early 1960s Civil Rights Movement&#160; prompted the Civil Rights Act, and Medicare, the latter being effectively socialized healthg insurance for the senior crowd. Pushed by the popular movements, President Johnson and a Democratic Congress passed a flood of laws.</p>
<p>As the historian Alan Nasser pointed out <a href="" type="internal">here</a> last week, “In less than four years, Congress enacted the Truth In Lending Act, the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, the National Gas Pipeline Safety Act, the Federal Hazardous Substances Act, the Flammable Fabrics Act, the federal Meat Inspection Act and the Child Protection Act.</p>
<p>“Business-government relations had never before seen such an avalanche of legislation limiting the freedom of capital in the interests of working people. Between 1964 and 1968 Congress passed 226 of 252 worker-friendly bills into law. Federal funds transferred to the poor increased from $9.9 billion in 1960 to $30 billion in 1968. One million workers received job training from these bills and 2 million children were enrolled in pre-school Head Start programs by 1968.”</p>
<p>Resistance to the war in Indochina was fierce. In Vietnam the troops mutinied. Units shot their officers in the back or threw grenades into their tents. In 1971 the Pentagon counted 503,926 ‘incidents of desertion’ since 1966 and reckoned that more than half of US ground forces in Vietnam openly opposed the war. At Christmas 1971, Vietnam Vets Against the War seized the Statue of Liberty for 48 hours and draped it with a banner demanding ‘Bring our Brothers Home’.</p>
<p>On the home front, people fought the draft or simply fled it. Major American cities were torn by riots. The anti-war movement, coming on the heels of the civil rights movement, transformed a generation. In the end, Congress simply denied Nixon the money for the war in Indochina.</p>
<p>To evoke those stormy times is to underline that whereas America was at the peak of its economic power in the late 1960s, whereas &#160;today Moody’s warns the world that US T-bills are a risky investment, American corporate capitalism is infinitely better protected in its perquisites than it was 45 years ago when those worker-friendly laws shot through Congress.</p>
<p>These days corporate lobbies own the President and the US Congress and the regulatory agencies. National economic policy is laid down by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, an errand boy of the banks. He took over from Hank Paulson, also an errand boy for the banks. If Obama is not re-elected in 2012, another errand boy will be waiting in the wings.</p>
<p>In the 1930s Roosevelt developed his New Deal program in part to head off mass movements to his left. In the 1960s Kennedy and Johnson similarly responded to the challenge of mass movements. Today, the OWSers have registered a presence and won considerable public support, which should not be surprising because America is in poor shape, the rich unpopular and politicians despised. But, as yet, there is no sign of any material political consequence deriving from this popularity.</p>
<p>Four years ago a candidacy was gathering momentum, declaring that the time had come in America for a moral awakening, for a change in national consciousness, a rising above self-interest and partisanship. Young people rallied to the call. Obama swept into the White House and promptly stuck a ‘Business As Usual’ sign on the door of the Oval Office.</p>
<p>Suppose the OWS movement had begun in the early fall of 2008, just when the economy was imploding, amid widespread public fury at Wall Street’s corruption, notably the banks and big investment houses? Would candidate Obama have felt quite so blithe in lobbying his fellow senators to support Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s TARP bailout of the nine biggest banks? Obama had been in close touch with top-tier Wall Street men all year long and was their point man rallying his fellow senators – and of course the recipient of their campaign contributions, far outstripping what Wall Street gave McCain.</p>
<p>On October 1, 2008, the US senate voted 74 to 25 for the unconditional bank bailout, with eight Democrats voting No, among them Dorgan, Feingold, Wyden, and Landrieu. Sanders also voted No.&#160; (Dorgan always had a healthy mistrust of Obama. In his recent book <a href="" type="internal">Confidence Men</a>, Ron Suskind writes that at a December 2008 meeting during the transition, after Obama had announced his appointments of Geithner and Summers – thus making absolutely clear where his priorities would lie – Dorgan told him bluntly, “You’ve picked the wrong people. I don’t understand how you could do this. You’ve picked the wrong people!”)</p>
<p>Imagine an OWS movement spreading across the country through September and October of 2008, piercing through Obama’s vapid rhetoric about change, excoriating the bipartisan congressional&#160; support for de facto financial dictatorship by Wall Street. There would have been a thousand opportunities for dramatic actions. Birgeneau’s Freedom Rides could this time have been “Freedom from Debt” rides&#160; with OWS trucks collecting maxed out credit cards from every voting district in the country and driving them to Washington to dump in front of the White House and Congress.</p>
<p>Okay, so you’re a realist and you can’t imagine it, and you’d be right, because in the late summer and fall of 2008, it was All Aboard for Obama and the Change Express. The pressure to conform to this ecstatic, albeit totally irrational call was intense. One of my friends – an left militant from way back –&#160; told me he didn’t dare voice his doubts publicly in front of his wife and children. All he could do was mumble to the family dog out in the garden.</p>
<p>So now, four years later, we have OWS, in part a&#160; re-run of the idealistic hopes of those Obama zealots of 2008, minus illusions about crusading candidacies. There’s lots of talk about What Next. Somebody will think of something, no doubt. A friend from Portland recently wrote privately, apropos OWS:</p>
<p>“It doesn’t seem to me that the OWS is ready to be fully political. Didn’t it take the new left years to build to 1968? Was part of its less-than-fully ‘successful’ push because it was premature or exhausted? Was it because it never had full enough backing from social forces to be overwhelming? The new left didn’t spring ready formed into mass collective action in 1960 but built up powerful oppositions through solidarities only formed through practical common struggles. We see this happening now but we can’t expect it to happen overnight. On the contrary, OWS has shaky grounds to build on, but a more propitious moment. The early sixties were a period of rising affluence with a strong labor movement, albeit with a corrupt and conservative bureaucracy, a strong potential for working-class solidarity and powerful social movements demanding change. OWS faces a largely anomic society after decades of economic erosion and declining political power at every level, with the exception of alterglobalization movements that were the older brother and sisters of OWS. Our folks in Portland are still being arrested and still occupying and re-occupying. They have it pretty easy for now because they have tremendous support from the public. Let us hope that in one way there is rounding of the circle. Where the unintended consequences of parts of new left agitation became identity politics, the OWS might bring us back to class politics. From there, we can join the Greeks.”</p>
<p>On this sit this weekend Michael Hudson lays out a minimal economic program on how to clean out the Augean stables. He calls for a financial Clean Slate:</p>
<p>“To restore the kind of normalcy that made America rich, the most important long-term policy would be to recognize what is going to be inevitable for every economy. Debts need to be written down – and the politically easiest way to cut through the tangle is to write them off altogether. That would free the bottom 99% from their debt bondage to the top 1%. It would be a Clean Slate, starting over – and trying to do things right this time around. The creditors have not used the banking system to make America more productive and richer. They have used it as a vehicle to reduce the population to debt serfdom.</p>
<p>“A debt write-down sounds radical and unworkable, but it’s been done since World War II with great success. It is the program the Allies carried out in the German economy in that country’s 1947 currency reform. This was the policy that created Germany’s Economic Miracle. And America could experience a similar miracle.”</p>
<p>Hudson is a fascinating scholar of the history of debt cancellations. He just sent me his pamphlet, The Lost Tradition of Biblical Debt Cancellations. It has this illustration on its cover:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>It’s a drawing of the cuneiform transcription of a debt cancellation (amargi law) by Enmetena, ruler of the Sumerian city-state of Lagash, c. 2400 BC, the first known legal proclamation. The original is in the Louvre.</p>
<p>Let’s hoist our Babylonian banner!</p>
<p>Our Latest Newsletter</p>
<p>We offer two terrific pieces, by Nancy Scheper-Hughes and Fred Gardner. A distinguished anthropologist,&#160; Scheper-Hughes is one of our favorite writers. Indeed your CounterPunch editors listed her Death without Weeping in its top 100 non-fiction books published in English in the 20th Century.&#160; A few months ago we ran her amazing investigation of the international trade in body parts.&#160; This time she contributes a very powerful piece – in part autobiographical – on the slow death of the Roman Catholic Church, centered on the Vatican’s&#160; appalling response to the&#160; disclosures of the past few years of the sexual predations of Catholic priests on children, among them indigenous peoples.</p>
<p>On September 23, 2011,&#160; Scheper-Hughes writes, human rights lawyers and former clerical sex abuse victims filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court in the Hague, asking for an investigation to prosecute Pope Benedict XVI and three of his top officials, including William Levada, a cardinal, and the former bishop of the diocese of San Francisco, for crimes against humanity.</p>
<p>“The request to war crimes court may seem theatrical. The Vatican did not ratify the Rome statute that created the court, although both Germany (Benedict’s birthplace) and Italy (home of the Vatican) have done so. The ICC only has jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed after 2002. Nonetheless, the International Criminal Court has agreed to examine the papers, and a spokesperson has said that the case has merit.</p>
<p>So, finally, what’s a former Catholic to do when her Church is corrupt and moribund? Today, the defections are not just of unhappy priests and nuns, but of the global Catholic community at large. Churches are closing in European and in American cities. The will and the desire to fight the Vatican are mostly gone. The damage, beyond the current sex scandal, to women’s bodies, the indifference to maternal and infant mortalities, to the populations at risk of the AIDS epidemic, especially in Catholic parts of Africa, are too much to bear.</p>
<p>“Some former Catholics take solace in other spiritual traditions. Given the animistic quality of Catholic ancestor worship, some former Catholics embrace a cult of everyday saints, virgins, and martyrs, adding Steven Biko, Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Einstein, Dorothy Day, and Harvey Milk to their older devotion to Saint Joan, San Antonio, and Saint Francis of Assisi. Others look to a green theology based on reverence for earth, and sky and sea, and all the critters that slither and crawl, walk and swim. Some, like Paul Farmer, continue along the Vatican-savaged remains of a once vibrant liberation theology, a theology of hope.</p>
<p>“I am grieved and not relieved by my loss of a faith that once gave beauty, richness and fullness to my life. The secular humanism of anthropology offers an alternative form of discipleship, built around the practice of studied observation, contemplation and reflection. I know that anthropology is a powerful tool capable of taming unruly emotions, replacing disgust with respect, ignorance with understanding, hatred with empathy, and a practice of compassionate and modest witnessing to human sorrows. But it is cold comfort for the former believer, when the mystery is gone and with it the light has gone out of one’s soul.”</p>
<p>Don’t miss this marvelous essay.</p>
<p>Also don’t miss Fred Gardner’s contribution to our ongoing series on Obama’s record. Gardner examines the pledges on medical&#160; marijuana&#160; he made on the campaign trail and his substantive record thereafter and the current onslaught of the Justice Department on medical marijuana dispensaries in California. Gardner’s question to the leaders of the marijuana reform movement: Did they really read his lips? Did they “over-read” and too optimistically interpret what the candidate was saying.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.easycartsecure.com/CounterPunch/Annual_Subscriptions.html" type="external">SUBSCRIBE NOW!</a></p>
<p>Alexander Cockburn can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
| 6,976 |
<p>Its debut on a California ballot might still be two years away. But this month, supporters successfully verified the&#160;quixotic, Silicon Valley-powered Six Californias initiative obtained&#160;the necessary signatures to receive an up or down vote.</p>
<p>As the Los Angeles Times <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-six-californias-petition-signatures-20140623-story.html" type="external">reported</a>, the Six Californias movement needed approximately 808,000 signatures by July 18. Venture capitalist Tim Draper, who masterminded the proposal, put almost $5 million of his own money toward achieving the figure.</p>
<p>Last week, Draper, a political independent,&#160;announced in a press conference that his street teams had amassed 1.3 million signatures. Amid a flurry of questions, he also <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-pol-six-californias-20140716-story.html" type="external">acknowledged</a>&#160;the two-year run-up to 2016 will provide Six Californias advocates much-needed time to sway public opinion, which stands at 59 percent against&#160;a state breakup.</p>
<p>Adding an extra layer of drama, the rival group <a href="" type="internal">One California</a> <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-six-calif-complaint-20140717-story.html" type="external">petitioned</a> Secretary of State Debra Bowen to investigate voter fraud surrounding the collected signatures — alleging that signature gatherers in at least a few instances intentionally misrepresented the goal of the initiative. That’s a misdemeanor in California.</p>
<p>Alone, a few thousand discarded signatures won’t strip&#160;Six Californias from the ballot. But even if it passes, the Golden State’s dismemberment would have to receive a stamp of approval both from the California Legislature and the U.S. Congress.</p>
<p>It’s not just supporters of Draper’s six statelets, however, who are hoping the secession scheme comes before voters. Capturing widespread rural and conservative discontent,&#160;the plan has attracted the admiration of some Republicans for its spirit, if not its practicability.</p>
<p>Although California’s Republican members of Congress are almost all reluctant to embrace the Six Californias plan itself, more than a few sympathize with the frustrations behind it. GOP Reps.&#160;Jeff Denham and Doug LaMalfa, both of the Golden State, <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/199643-gop-lawmakers-lukewarm-on-splicing-california" type="external">told</a> The Hill that Californians’ different needs call for different ideas. For Denham, “dividing up into states would be something to look at.”&#160;But, said LaMalfa, “I would think that if you are going to divide California, it’s ambitious to do three states or just two.”&#160;</p>
<p>Without resounding support from sitting state officials, Draper and company have the luxury of choosing for themselves how they intend to appeal to voters. Fittingly for a proposal that relies on sectional interests and identities, Six Californias likely requires more than one rationale to maximize support.</p>
<p>In a new <a href="http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2013/130771.aspx" type="external">report</a> issued by the California Legislative Analyst, for instance, the plan is shown to leave two&#160;of the new states richer, and four&#160;poorer. That might be a problem for some voters. But for at least some in northern California, the prospect of a short-term economic hit is more appealing than&#160;the alternative.</p>
<p>Jefferson Declaration Committee spokesman Mark Baird <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/4/six-californias-plan-difficult-but-doable-assessme/?page=all" type="external">told</a> the Washington Times that “the short-term economic hit would be far preferable to the state’s slide into a morass of ever-greater debt, taxes and regulation.”</p>
<p>In interviews, Draper himself takes a more cheerily libertarian approach to framing California’s challenges with sectionalism. Rather than berating Bay Area Democrats for capturing state policy, he talks up what classic libertarian theorists such as <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/nozick/" type="external">Robert Nozick</a> call “exit options.”</p>
<p>As Draper <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2014/06/21/why-venture-capitalist-tim-draper-wants-to-divide-california-into-six-states-interview/" type="external">put it</a>,&#160;six&#160;states would give Californians “a chance to make it our government. We can make it more local, better representation, closer to us. It also creates a choice. If some people feel that their government isn’t working for them – and I know a lot of people in very poor regions feel that the status quo is not working for them – this would be an opportunity for them to easily move to another state without leaving the beautiful weather we get here.”</p>
<p>It’s a logical rethink of long-familiar, but often inconsequential, Republican arguments in favor of “devolving” power from Washington and “returning” it to states. As residents of red and blue states alike have discovered, state governments can sow just as much partisan and policy&#160;opposition as the federal government.</p>
<p>Ostensibly, it’s easier to bring about change in government at the state level than it is to alter the federal landscape. But in states that are deep red or, like California, deep blue, any kind of fundamental political change&#160;requires a longer time span than many residents are willing to accept.</p>
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‘Six Californias’ will go before voters
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https://calwatchdog.com/2014/07/23/six-californias-will-go-before-voters/
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2018-07-20
| 3left-center
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‘Six Californias’ will go before voters
<p>Its debut on a California ballot might still be two years away. But this month, supporters successfully verified the&#160;quixotic, Silicon Valley-powered Six Californias initiative obtained&#160;the necessary signatures to receive an up or down vote.</p>
<p>As the Los Angeles Times <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-six-californias-petition-signatures-20140623-story.html" type="external">reported</a>, the Six Californias movement needed approximately 808,000 signatures by July 18. Venture capitalist Tim Draper, who masterminded the proposal, put almost $5 million of his own money toward achieving the figure.</p>
<p>Last week, Draper, a political independent,&#160;announced in a press conference that his street teams had amassed 1.3 million signatures. Amid a flurry of questions, he also <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-pol-six-californias-20140716-story.html" type="external">acknowledged</a>&#160;the two-year run-up to 2016 will provide Six Californias advocates much-needed time to sway public opinion, which stands at 59 percent against&#160;a state breakup.</p>
<p>Adding an extra layer of drama, the rival group <a href="" type="internal">One California</a> <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-me-pc-six-calif-complaint-20140717-story.html" type="external">petitioned</a> Secretary of State Debra Bowen to investigate voter fraud surrounding the collected signatures — alleging that signature gatherers in at least a few instances intentionally misrepresented the goal of the initiative. That’s a misdemeanor in California.</p>
<p>Alone, a few thousand discarded signatures won’t strip&#160;Six Californias from the ballot. But even if it passes, the Golden State’s dismemberment would have to receive a stamp of approval both from the California Legislature and the U.S. Congress.</p>
<p>It’s not just supporters of Draper’s six statelets, however, who are hoping the secession scheme comes before voters. Capturing widespread rural and conservative discontent,&#160;the plan has attracted the admiration of some Republicans for its spirit, if not its practicability.</p>
<p>Although California’s Republican members of Congress are almost all reluctant to embrace the Six Californias plan itself, more than a few sympathize with the frustrations behind it. GOP Reps.&#160;Jeff Denham and Doug LaMalfa, both of the Golden State, <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/199643-gop-lawmakers-lukewarm-on-splicing-california" type="external">told</a> The Hill that Californians’ different needs call for different ideas. For Denham, “dividing up into states would be something to look at.”&#160;But, said LaMalfa, “I would think that if you are going to divide California, it’s ambitious to do three states or just two.”&#160;</p>
<p>Without resounding support from sitting state officials, Draper and company have the luxury of choosing for themselves how they intend to appeal to voters. Fittingly for a proposal that relies on sectional interests and identities, Six Californias likely requires more than one rationale to maximize support.</p>
<p>In a new <a href="http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2013/130771.aspx" type="external">report</a> issued by the California Legislative Analyst, for instance, the plan is shown to leave two&#160;of the new states richer, and four&#160;poorer. That might be a problem for some voters. But for at least some in northern California, the prospect of a short-term economic hit is more appealing than&#160;the alternative.</p>
<p>Jefferson Declaration Committee spokesman Mark Baird <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/4/six-californias-plan-difficult-but-doable-assessme/?page=all" type="external">told</a> the Washington Times that “the short-term economic hit would be far preferable to the state’s slide into a morass of ever-greater debt, taxes and regulation.”</p>
<p>In interviews, Draper himself takes a more cheerily libertarian approach to framing California’s challenges with sectionalism. Rather than berating Bay Area Democrats for capturing state policy, he talks up what classic libertarian theorists such as <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/nozick/" type="external">Robert Nozick</a> call “exit options.”</p>
<p>As Draper <a href="http://venturebeat.com/2014/06/21/why-venture-capitalist-tim-draper-wants-to-divide-california-into-six-states-interview/" type="external">put it</a>,&#160;six&#160;states would give Californians “a chance to make it our government. We can make it more local, better representation, closer to us. It also creates a choice. If some people feel that their government isn’t working for them – and I know a lot of people in very poor regions feel that the status quo is not working for them – this would be an opportunity for them to easily move to another state without leaving the beautiful weather we get here.”</p>
<p>It’s a logical rethink of long-familiar, but often inconsequential, Republican arguments in favor of “devolving” power from Washington and “returning” it to states. As residents of red and blue states alike have discovered, state governments can sow just as much partisan and policy&#160;opposition as the federal government.</p>
<p>Ostensibly, it’s easier to bring about change in government at the state level than it is to alter the federal landscape. But in states that are deep red or, like California, deep blue, any kind of fundamental political change&#160;requires a longer time span than many residents are willing to accept.</p>
| 6,977 |
<p />
<p>Apple Inc rejoined the "EPEAT" environmental ratings system on Friday, acknowledging that its decision to stop participating in a program that rates the green credentials of electronic products was a mistake.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The about-face comes after reports that various government agencies and schools that use the EPEAT certification system were considering dropping Apple's products, which include Macintosh computers and iPads.</p>
<p>"We've recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system. I recognize that this was a mistake," senior vice president of hardware engineering, Bob Mansfield, said in a statement on Apple's website.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
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Apple Rejoins 'Green Registry'
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2012/07/13/apple-rejoins-green-registry.html
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2016-01-29
| 0right
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Apple Rejoins 'Green Registry'
<p />
<p>Apple Inc rejoined the "EPEAT" environmental ratings system on Friday, acknowledging that its decision to stop participating in a program that rates the green credentials of electronic products was a mistake.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The about-face comes after reports that various government agencies and schools that use the EPEAT certification system were considering dropping Apple's products, which include Macintosh computers and iPads.</p>
<p>"We've recently heard from many loyal Apple customers who were disappointed to learn that we had removed our products from the EPEAT rating system. I recognize that this was a mistake," senior vice president of hardware engineering, Bob Mansfield, said in a statement on Apple's website.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
| 6,978 |
<p />
<p>It's Facebook day here on MoJoBlog! The two posts we've had about it today ( <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2007/09/5565_that_facebook_k.html" type="external">here's the first</a>) may be two more than we've ever had.</p>
<p>Here's the occasion for the second post: The candidate-based Facebook group that had the most members for many, many months - "Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)" - has <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/5989.html" type="external">finally been topped</a>. And it's been topped by Hillary Clinton, but not in a good way for the New York senator.</p>
<p>The group "Stop Hillary Clinton (One Million Strong AGAINST Hillary)" has more than 418,000 members, which beats Obama's 355,000 members. And it crushes any pro-Clinton groups, the two biggest of which combine for just under 10,000 members.</p>
<p>So Hillary Fever isn't catching on with the kids. Obama's campaign is very aware of the advantage it has among this demographic, and has made it a crucial part of its Iowa strategy. From an internal Obama campaign memo that <a href="http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/09/obamas_search_for_the_higgs_bo_1.php" type="external">Marc Ambinder</a> nabbed:</p>
<p>On a related point, polls consistently under-represent in Iowa, and elsewhere, the strength of Barack's support among younger voters for at least three reasons. In more than one survey, Barack's support among Iowa young voters exceeded the support of all the other candidates combined. First, young voters are dramatically less likely to have caucused or voted regularly in primaries in the past, so pollsters heavily under-represent them. Second, young voters are more mobile and are much less likely to be at home in the early evening and thus less likely to be interviewed in any survey. Third, young voters are much less likely to have a landline phone and much more likely to rely exclusively upon cell phones, which are automatically excluded from phone surveys. So all of these state and national surveys have and will continue to under-represent Barack's core support - in effect, his hidden vote in each of these pivotal early states.</p>
<p>Update: It was Rudy Giuliani's daughter's membership in the Barack Obama Facebook group mentioned above that tipped the media to the fact that she <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2007/08/5100_on_person_who_w.html" type="external">disagrees with her dad's politics</a>.</p>
<p />
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?Stop Hillary Clinton? Now the Largest Political Facebook Group
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https://motherjones.com/politics/2007/09/stop-hillary-clinton-now-largest-political-facebook-group/
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2007-09-25
| 4left
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?Stop Hillary Clinton? Now the Largest Political Facebook Group
<p />
<p>It's Facebook day here on MoJoBlog! The two posts we've had about it today ( <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2007/09/5565_that_facebook_k.html" type="external">here's the first</a>) may be two more than we've ever had.</p>
<p>Here's the occasion for the second post: The candidate-based Facebook group that had the most members for many, many months - "Barack Obama (One Million Strong for Barack)" - has <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/5989.html" type="external">finally been topped</a>. And it's been topped by Hillary Clinton, but not in a good way for the New York senator.</p>
<p>The group "Stop Hillary Clinton (One Million Strong AGAINST Hillary)" has more than 418,000 members, which beats Obama's 355,000 members. And it crushes any pro-Clinton groups, the two biggest of which combine for just under 10,000 members.</p>
<p>So Hillary Fever isn't catching on with the kids. Obama's campaign is very aware of the advantage it has among this demographic, and has made it a crucial part of its Iowa strategy. From an internal Obama campaign memo that <a href="http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/09/obamas_search_for_the_higgs_bo_1.php" type="external">Marc Ambinder</a> nabbed:</p>
<p>On a related point, polls consistently under-represent in Iowa, and elsewhere, the strength of Barack's support among younger voters for at least three reasons. In more than one survey, Barack's support among Iowa young voters exceeded the support of all the other candidates combined. First, young voters are dramatically less likely to have caucused or voted regularly in primaries in the past, so pollsters heavily under-represent them. Second, young voters are more mobile and are much less likely to be at home in the early evening and thus less likely to be interviewed in any survey. Third, young voters are much less likely to have a landline phone and much more likely to rely exclusively upon cell phones, which are automatically excluded from phone surveys. So all of these state and national surveys have and will continue to under-represent Barack's core support - in effect, his hidden vote in each of these pivotal early states.</p>
<p>Update: It was Rudy Giuliani's daughter's membership in the Barack Obama Facebook group mentioned above that tipped the media to the fact that she <a href="/mojoblog/archives/2007/08/5100_on_person_who_w.html" type="external">disagrees with her dad's politics</a>.</p>
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<p />
<p>I spent the week of Dec. 3 in Artesia as a volunteer lawyer in the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s pro bono project. Hundreds of lawyers have come from all over the country to volunteer, but there were only three volunteers there that week – a law professor, a law firm attorney and me. We tried to represent as many families as possible in bond hearings so that they could be released before Christmas.</p>
<p>These women and children have proven they are refugees entitled to protection under U.S. and international law. Immigration judges have granted asylum to virtually all of the families whose cases have gone to a final hearing. Hundreds more have been found to have a credible fear of persecution, the first step in having an asylum case heard.</p>
<p>The women’s stories of survival against the odds, the horror of watching sick children get sicker from the trauma of confinement, and my disbelief at how government attorneys via video monitor could argue that these women and children should be kept in detention, will all stay with me. And I believe that the government’s efforts to swiftly deport these refugees are wrong and that we must continue to fight for fair treatment of refugees fleeing violence.</p>
<p>But the experiences that really changed me were the ones where humanity was allowed to surface despite the inhuman protocols we were supposed to follow – the ones that highlighted the interconnectedness of all of us.</p>
<p>The stark brown landscape, makeshift trailers, chain link fences with barbed wire, and the uniformed officers made to look tough with muscles and guns certainly do nothing to soften the harsh reality of detention. But, as the days passed, I began noticing the way the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers smiled and greeted the detainees, the way they joked in bad Spanish with the children, and their countless attempts to entertain toddlers with paper airplanes, toys and singing along to Pixar movies in Spanish.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I remember the Honduran woman who wailed, “God is Great!” with her hands uplifted while ICE officers smiled and congratulated her on her release on bond; the little Guatemalan boy who, mimicking his mother’s emotional response to being granted bond, ran to me and threw his arms around my legs; the ICE officer who brought me coffee in my 12th hour of work when he could see I was flailing; the judge who didn’t make a woman stand to be sworn in because she was holding her sleeping, sick child in her arms; the little boy who drew me a picture of his house in El Salvador, with rivers and animals and rainbows, while his mother testified about her brutal rape in that very house in the next room.</p>
<p>An ICE officer said everything I was feeling: “These are not the people we should be detaining. All of us on the ground know that. But nobody listens to us.” Like the unnatural feeling soldiers must feel when sent to kill people they have never met, we – the refugees, the lawyers and the ICE officers – felt as though we had all become pawns in Washington’s games.</p>
<p>I do not know how many of the families we represented will be granted asylum or in the end deported back to their countries. What I do know is that, if given the chance to connect with one another, we will always naturally lean toward compassion over disdain, understanding over quick judgment and love over hate.</p>
<p />
|
‘These are not the people’ we should detain
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/517837/these-are-not-the-people-we-should-detain.html
| 2least
|
‘These are not the people’ we should detain
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>I spent the week of Dec. 3 in Artesia as a volunteer lawyer in the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s pro bono project. Hundreds of lawyers have come from all over the country to volunteer, but there were only three volunteers there that week – a law professor, a law firm attorney and me. We tried to represent as many families as possible in bond hearings so that they could be released before Christmas.</p>
<p>These women and children have proven they are refugees entitled to protection under U.S. and international law. Immigration judges have granted asylum to virtually all of the families whose cases have gone to a final hearing. Hundreds more have been found to have a credible fear of persecution, the first step in having an asylum case heard.</p>
<p>The women’s stories of survival against the odds, the horror of watching sick children get sicker from the trauma of confinement, and my disbelief at how government attorneys via video monitor could argue that these women and children should be kept in detention, will all stay with me. And I believe that the government’s efforts to swiftly deport these refugees are wrong and that we must continue to fight for fair treatment of refugees fleeing violence.</p>
<p>But the experiences that really changed me were the ones where humanity was allowed to surface despite the inhuman protocols we were supposed to follow – the ones that highlighted the interconnectedness of all of us.</p>
<p>The stark brown landscape, makeshift trailers, chain link fences with barbed wire, and the uniformed officers made to look tough with muscles and guns certainly do nothing to soften the harsh reality of detention. But, as the days passed, I began noticing the way the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers smiled and greeted the detainees, the way they joked in bad Spanish with the children, and their countless attempts to entertain toddlers with paper airplanes, toys and singing along to Pixar movies in Spanish.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>I remember the Honduran woman who wailed, “God is Great!” with her hands uplifted while ICE officers smiled and congratulated her on her release on bond; the little Guatemalan boy who, mimicking his mother’s emotional response to being granted bond, ran to me and threw his arms around my legs; the ICE officer who brought me coffee in my 12th hour of work when he could see I was flailing; the judge who didn’t make a woman stand to be sworn in because she was holding her sleeping, sick child in her arms; the little boy who drew me a picture of his house in El Salvador, with rivers and animals and rainbows, while his mother testified about her brutal rape in that very house in the next room.</p>
<p>An ICE officer said everything I was feeling: “These are not the people we should be detaining. All of us on the ground know that. But nobody listens to us.” Like the unnatural feeling soldiers must feel when sent to kill people they have never met, we – the refugees, the lawyers and the ICE officers – felt as though we had all become pawns in Washington’s games.</p>
<p>I do not know how many of the families we represented will be granted asylum or in the end deported back to their countries. What I do know is that, if given the chance to connect with one another, we will always naturally lean toward compassion over disdain, understanding over quick judgment and love over hate.</p>
<p />
| 6,980 |
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<p />
<p>WASHINGTON – For the first time since Election Day, President Obama is on the defensive. That’s because on March 1, automatic spending cuts (“sequestration”) go into effect – $1.2 trillion over 10 years, half from domestic (discretionary) programs, half from defense.</p>
<p>The idea had been proposed and promoted by the White House during the July 2011 debt-ceiling negotiations. The political calculation was that such draconian defense cuts would drive the GOP to offer concessions.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It backfired. The Republicans have offered no concessions. Obama’s bluff is being called, and he’s the desperate party. He abhors the domestic cuts. And as commander in chief he must worry about indiscriminate Pentagon cuts that his own defense secretary calls catastrophic.</p>
<p>So Tuesday, Obama urgently called on Congress to head off the sequester with a short-term fix. But instead of offering an alternative $1.2 trillion in cuts, Obama demanded a “balanced approach,” coupling any cuts with new tax increases.</p>
<p>What should the Republicans do? Nothing.</p>
<p>Republicans should explain – message No. 1 – that in the fiscal-cliff deal the president already got major tax hikes with no corresponding spending cuts. Now it is time for a nation $16 trillion in debt to cut spending. That’s balance.</p>
<p>The Republicans finally have leverage. They should use it. Obama capitalized on the automaticity of the expiring Bush tax cuts to get what he wanted at the fiscal cliff – higher tax rates. Republicans now have automaticity on their side.</p>
<p>If they do nothing, the $1.2 trillion in cuts go into effect. This is the one time Republicans can get cuts under an administration that has no intent of cutting anything. Get them while you can.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Of course, the sequester is terrible policy. The domestic cuts will be crude and the Pentagon cuts damaging. This is why the Republican House has twice passed bills offering more rationally allocated cuts. (They curb, for example, entitlement spending as well.)</p>
<p>Naturally, the Democratic Senate, which hasn’t passed a budget since before the iPad, has done nothing. Nor has the president – until his Tuesday plea.</p>
<p>The GOP should reject it out of hand and plainly explain (message No. 2): We are quite prepared to cut elsewhere. But we already raised taxes last month. If the president wants to avoid the sequester – as we do – he must offer a substitute set of cuts.</p>
<p>Otherwise, Mr. President, there is nothing to discuss. Your sequester – Republicans need to reiterate that the sequester was the president’s idea in the first place – will go ahead.</p>
<p>Obama is trying to sell his “balanced” approach with a linguistic sleight-of-hand. He insists on calling his proposed tax hikes – through eliminating deductions and exemptions – “tax reform.”</p>
<p>It’s not. Tax reform, as defined even by the White House’s own webpage on the subject, begins with lowering tax rates. It then makes up the lost revenue by closing loopholes.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Real tax reform is revenue neutral. It’s a way to clean the tax code by eliminating unfair, inefficient and market-distorting loopholes on the one hand while lowering rates to stimulate economic growth on the other.</p>
<p>Obama has zero interest in lowering tax rates. He just got through raising them at the fiscal cliff and has made perfectly clear ever since that he fully intends to keep raising taxes. His only interest in eliminating loopholes is to raise more cash for the Treasury – not to use them to lower rates.</p>
<p>That’s not tax reform. That’s a naked, old-fashioned tax increase.</p>
<p>Hence Republican message No. 3: The sequester is one thing, real tax reform quite another. The sequester is for cutting. The only question is whether it will be done automatically and indiscriminately – or whether the president will offer an alternative set of cuts.</p>
<p>Then we can take up real tax reform. Reprise the landmark Reagan-Tip O’Neill-Bill Bradley tax reform of 1986, a revenue-neutral spur to economic growth and efficiency, and to fairness for those not powerful enough to manipulate the tax code.</p>
<p>The country needs tax reform. But first it needs to rein in out-of-control spending. To succeed in doing that, Republicans must remain united under one demand: cuts with no taxes – or we will let the sequester go into effect.</p>
<p>The morning after, they should sit down with Obama for negotiations on real tax reform as recommended by the president’s own Simpson-Bowles commission: broaden the base, lower the rates.</p>
<p>Any time, any place. Geneva, perhaps? The skiing is good. Skeet shooting, too.</p>
<p>Krauthammer’s columns, including those not published in the Journal, can be read at abqjournal.com/opinion – look for the syndicated columnist link. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group; e-mail to <a href="" type="external">[email protected]. &gt;</a></p>
|
Sequestration Gives GOP the Edge
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/167288/sequestration-gives-gop-the-edge.html
|
2013-02-09
| 2least
|
Sequestration Gives GOP the Edge
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>WASHINGTON – For the first time since Election Day, President Obama is on the defensive. That’s because on March 1, automatic spending cuts (“sequestration”) go into effect – $1.2 trillion over 10 years, half from domestic (discretionary) programs, half from defense.</p>
<p>The idea had been proposed and promoted by the White House during the July 2011 debt-ceiling negotiations. The political calculation was that such draconian defense cuts would drive the GOP to offer concessions.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It backfired. The Republicans have offered no concessions. Obama’s bluff is being called, and he’s the desperate party. He abhors the domestic cuts. And as commander in chief he must worry about indiscriminate Pentagon cuts that his own defense secretary calls catastrophic.</p>
<p>So Tuesday, Obama urgently called on Congress to head off the sequester with a short-term fix. But instead of offering an alternative $1.2 trillion in cuts, Obama demanded a “balanced approach,” coupling any cuts with new tax increases.</p>
<p>What should the Republicans do? Nothing.</p>
<p>Republicans should explain – message No. 1 – that in the fiscal-cliff deal the president already got major tax hikes with no corresponding spending cuts. Now it is time for a nation $16 trillion in debt to cut spending. That’s balance.</p>
<p>The Republicans finally have leverage. They should use it. Obama capitalized on the automaticity of the expiring Bush tax cuts to get what he wanted at the fiscal cliff – higher tax rates. Republicans now have automaticity on their side.</p>
<p>If they do nothing, the $1.2 trillion in cuts go into effect. This is the one time Republicans can get cuts under an administration that has no intent of cutting anything. Get them while you can.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Of course, the sequester is terrible policy. The domestic cuts will be crude and the Pentagon cuts damaging. This is why the Republican House has twice passed bills offering more rationally allocated cuts. (They curb, for example, entitlement spending as well.)</p>
<p>Naturally, the Democratic Senate, which hasn’t passed a budget since before the iPad, has done nothing. Nor has the president – until his Tuesday plea.</p>
<p>The GOP should reject it out of hand and plainly explain (message No. 2): We are quite prepared to cut elsewhere. But we already raised taxes last month. If the president wants to avoid the sequester – as we do – he must offer a substitute set of cuts.</p>
<p>Otherwise, Mr. President, there is nothing to discuss. Your sequester – Republicans need to reiterate that the sequester was the president’s idea in the first place – will go ahead.</p>
<p>Obama is trying to sell his “balanced” approach with a linguistic sleight-of-hand. He insists on calling his proposed tax hikes – through eliminating deductions and exemptions – “tax reform.”</p>
<p>It’s not. Tax reform, as defined even by the White House’s own webpage on the subject, begins with lowering tax rates. It then makes up the lost revenue by closing loopholes.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Real tax reform is revenue neutral. It’s a way to clean the tax code by eliminating unfair, inefficient and market-distorting loopholes on the one hand while lowering rates to stimulate economic growth on the other.</p>
<p>Obama has zero interest in lowering tax rates. He just got through raising them at the fiscal cliff and has made perfectly clear ever since that he fully intends to keep raising taxes. His only interest in eliminating loopholes is to raise more cash for the Treasury – not to use them to lower rates.</p>
<p>That’s not tax reform. That’s a naked, old-fashioned tax increase.</p>
<p>Hence Republican message No. 3: The sequester is one thing, real tax reform quite another. The sequester is for cutting. The only question is whether it will be done automatically and indiscriminately – or whether the president will offer an alternative set of cuts.</p>
<p>Then we can take up real tax reform. Reprise the landmark Reagan-Tip O’Neill-Bill Bradley tax reform of 1986, a revenue-neutral spur to economic growth and efficiency, and to fairness for those not powerful enough to manipulate the tax code.</p>
<p>The country needs tax reform. But first it needs to rein in out-of-control spending. To succeed in doing that, Republicans must remain united under one demand: cuts with no taxes – or we will let the sequester go into effect.</p>
<p>The morning after, they should sit down with Obama for negotiations on real tax reform as recommended by the president’s own Simpson-Bowles commission: broaden the base, lower the rates.</p>
<p>Any time, any place. Geneva, perhaps? The skiing is good. Skeet shooting, too.</p>
<p>Krauthammer’s columns, including those not published in the Journal, can be read at abqjournal.com/opinion – look for the syndicated columnist link. Copyright, Washington Post Writers Group; e-mail to <a href="" type="external">[email protected]. &gt;</a></p>
| 6,981 |
<p>Over half a million women die each year from complications during pregnancy, delivery or shortly afterward. To address the problem, the UN Population Fund is holding a high level maternal health meeting in Ethiopia. One of the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by 2015. So which countries of the world are rising to the challenge and which are showing little evidence of improvement? The BBC has been looking at the situation for women giving birth in different countries. Listen to Lyse Doucet's report from Afghanistan.</p>
|
Best of the BBC: Maternal mortality worldwide
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2009-10-27/best-bbc-maternal-mortality-worldwide
|
2009-10-27
| 3left-center
|
Best of the BBC: Maternal mortality worldwide
<p>Over half a million women die each year from complications during pregnancy, delivery or shortly afterward. To address the problem, the UN Population Fund is holding a high level maternal health meeting in Ethiopia. One of the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce maternal mortality by 75% by 2015. So which countries of the world are rising to the challenge and which are showing little evidence of improvement? The BBC has been looking at the situation for women giving birth in different countries. Listen to Lyse Doucet's report from Afghanistan.</p>
| 6,982 |
<p>If there was one specific time that Team USA really needed its veteran players to come through in the powder keg of pressure that is the Solheim Cup, it was in Sunday’s singles matches. Even with a huge lead entering the final day, the Americans needed, and got, a steadying influence to repel any chance of a dramatic comeback from their European counterparts.</p>
<p>Team USA posted two early singles-match victories and a halve in the first three pairings on the way to a 16 1/2-11 1/2 victory in the 15th Solheim Cup, which concluded play on Sunday at Des Moines Golf &amp; Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa.</p>
<p>After building a 10 1/2-5 1/2 points lead over the first two day of competition, the Americans needed to earn just 3 1/2 points in the singles matches on Sunday to retain the cup and post back-to-back victories in this event for the first time since 2007 and 2009.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Juli_Inkster/" type="external">Juli Inkster</a> sent four of her most experienced players to the course first in singles, and three of them came through with points. First <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Lexi-Thompson/" type="external">Lexi Thompson</a> fought back from a 4-down deficit against Team Europe’s <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Anna_Nordqvist/" type="external">Anna Nordqvist</a> of Sweden to halve the lead match. <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Paula_Creamer/" type="external">Paula Creamer</a> followed with a 1-up win over Georgia Hall of England and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Cristie_Kerr/" type="external">Cristie Kerr</a> defeated England’s Mel Reid 2 and 1 to put Team USA on the brink of victory.</p>
<p>Creamer was added to the team when Jessica Korda had to withdraw because of a shoulder injury. She played in four matches over the three days and posted a 3-1 record.</p>
<p>“I know that Juli got a hard time for picking me, but I told her I could do it,” Creamer said. “For her to play me four times as an alternate, it means that she believes in me. And I’m so glad that I came out and played my game and didn’t let any other noise bother me. And I just have had such a great week. It’s been awesome. I’ve had so much fun.”</p>
<p>Team Europe fought back with victories by <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Catriona_Matthew/" type="external">Catriona Matthew</a> of Scotland over American <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Stacy_Lewis/" type="external">Stacy Lewis</a>, 1 up, and a 4 and 2 win by Germany’s Caroline Masson over <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Michelle_Wie/" type="external">Michelle Wie</a>, but by then the only thing that could keep Team USA from retaining the Cup would be a huge collapse.</p>
<p>That never came close to happening, but the Europeans fought to the very end, matching Team USA with five wins in singles.</p>
<p>The Americans clinched at least a tie in the competition when rookie Angel Yin holed a five-foot par putt on the 18th hole to halve her match with <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Karine_Icher/" type="external">Karine Icher</a> of France to give Team USA 14 points. At that juncture, there were five matches still being played with the Americans leading in three of them, Team Europe leading in another and another all square.</p>
<p>Lizette Salas pushed Team USA’s point total to 14 1/2, assuring a win rather than just a tie, when she holed a six-foot putt for par to beat Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England, 1 up. By that time, the American team – and its boisterous, but respectful, crowd – had already started celebrating.</p>
<p>“I’m just proud of my team,” Inkster said. “The Europeans fought hard today — I’m glad we had a lead because Europe came out firing. And I knew they would. They made it really close. I really haven’t been nervous all week. But today I was a little bit nervous. So it’s just an honor to captain this team and I’m really proud of the girls.”</p>
<p>Inkster and Team Europe captain <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Annika_Sorenstam/" type="external">Annika Sorenstam</a> had agreed before this competition started that all matches would be played to their conclusion even if one team clinches the victory earlier during the Sunday singles matches.</p>
<p>Team USA also posted wins by Gerina Piller over Florentyna Parker of England, 4 and 2, and by Daniele Kang over Emily Pedersen of Denmark 3 and 2.</p>
<p>Team Europe’s other victories came from England’s Charley Hull over <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Brittany_Lang/" type="external">Brittany Lang</a>, 1 up, by Carlota Ciganda of Spain over <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Brittany_Lincicome/" type="external">Brittany Lincicome</a> 4 and 3, and Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden over Austin Ernst, 3 and 2.</p>
<p>“We just got outplayed — there’s no doubt about it,” Sorenstam said. “I’m so proud how hard my team fought. And it’s not easy coming out here on a Sunday with the team so far behind. But I’m proud of them. They’re out there fighting every single match, every single point. What can I say? Just congratulate the U.S.A. because they played some awesome golf.</p>
<p>“Sometimes it’s not always about the results,” Sorenstam added. “I must say that this has been a lot about the journey. I’ve learned a lot the last 18 months. It’s been a pleasure to represent the European Tour. I’m so proud of these young girls, and to get to know them, new friendships, new memories.”</p>
<p>Team USA now holds a 10-5 lead over the Europeans in the Solheim Cup.</p>
<p>NOTES: American captain Juli Inkster became just the second captain of Team USA to win back-to-back Solheim Cups, joining Judy Rankin. … The 2019 Solheim Cup will be held at Gleneagles in Scotland on Sept. 13-15. … Team USA’s victory margin was built in the fourball (better ball) competitions on Friday and Saturday, when it won seven of the possible eight points in those matches. Team Europe earned a 4 1/2-3 1/2 edge in foursomes (alternate shots) on Friday and Saturday.</p>
|
LPGA Solheim Cup results, leaderboard: Team USA rides early wave to Solheim Cup repeat
| false |
https://newsline.com/lpga-solheim-cup-results-leaderboard-team-usa-rides-early-wave-to-solheim-cup-repeat/
|
2017-08-20
| 1right-center
|
LPGA Solheim Cup results, leaderboard: Team USA rides early wave to Solheim Cup repeat
<p>If there was one specific time that Team USA really needed its veteran players to come through in the powder keg of pressure that is the Solheim Cup, it was in Sunday’s singles matches. Even with a huge lead entering the final day, the Americans needed, and got, a steadying influence to repel any chance of a dramatic comeback from their European counterparts.</p>
<p>Team USA posted two early singles-match victories and a halve in the first three pairings on the way to a 16 1/2-11 1/2 victory in the 15th Solheim Cup, which concluded play on Sunday at Des Moines Golf &amp; Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa.</p>
<p>After building a 10 1/2-5 1/2 points lead over the first two day of competition, the Americans needed to earn just 3 1/2 points in the singles matches on Sunday to retain the cup and post back-to-back victories in this event for the first time since 2007 and 2009.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Juli_Inkster/" type="external">Juli Inkster</a> sent four of her most experienced players to the course first in singles, and three of them came through with points. First <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Lexi-Thompson/" type="external">Lexi Thompson</a> fought back from a 4-down deficit against Team Europe’s <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Anna_Nordqvist/" type="external">Anna Nordqvist</a> of Sweden to halve the lead match. <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Paula_Creamer/" type="external">Paula Creamer</a> followed with a 1-up win over Georgia Hall of England and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Cristie_Kerr/" type="external">Cristie Kerr</a> defeated England’s Mel Reid 2 and 1 to put Team USA on the brink of victory.</p>
<p>Creamer was added to the team when Jessica Korda had to withdraw because of a shoulder injury. She played in four matches over the three days and posted a 3-1 record.</p>
<p>“I know that Juli got a hard time for picking me, but I told her I could do it,” Creamer said. “For her to play me four times as an alternate, it means that she believes in me. And I’m so glad that I came out and played my game and didn’t let any other noise bother me. And I just have had such a great week. It’s been awesome. I’ve had so much fun.”</p>
<p>Team Europe fought back with victories by <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Catriona_Matthew/" type="external">Catriona Matthew</a> of Scotland over American <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Stacy_Lewis/" type="external">Stacy Lewis</a>, 1 up, and a 4 and 2 win by Germany’s Caroline Masson over <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Michelle_Wie/" type="external">Michelle Wie</a>, but by then the only thing that could keep Team USA from retaining the Cup would be a huge collapse.</p>
<p>That never came close to happening, but the Europeans fought to the very end, matching Team USA with five wins in singles.</p>
<p>The Americans clinched at least a tie in the competition when rookie Angel Yin holed a five-foot par putt on the 18th hole to halve her match with <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Karine_Icher/" type="external">Karine Icher</a> of France to give Team USA 14 points. At that juncture, there were five matches still being played with the Americans leading in three of them, Team Europe leading in another and another all square.</p>
<p>Lizette Salas pushed Team USA’s point total to 14 1/2, assuring a win rather than just a tie, when she holed a six-foot putt for par to beat Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England, 1 up. By that time, the American team – and its boisterous, but respectful, crowd – had already started celebrating.</p>
<p>“I’m just proud of my team,” Inkster said. “The Europeans fought hard today — I’m glad we had a lead because Europe came out firing. And I knew they would. They made it really close. I really haven’t been nervous all week. But today I was a little bit nervous. So it’s just an honor to captain this team and I’m really proud of the girls.”</p>
<p>Inkster and Team Europe captain <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Annika_Sorenstam/" type="external">Annika Sorenstam</a> had agreed before this competition started that all matches would be played to their conclusion even if one team clinches the victory earlier during the Sunday singles matches.</p>
<p>Team USA also posted wins by Gerina Piller over Florentyna Parker of England, 4 and 2, and by Daniele Kang over Emily Pedersen of Denmark 3 and 2.</p>
<p>Team Europe’s other victories came from England’s Charley Hull over <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Brittany_Lang/" type="external">Brittany Lang</a>, 1 up, by Carlota Ciganda of Spain over <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Brittany_Lincicome/" type="external">Brittany Lincicome</a> 4 and 3, and Madelene Sagstrom of Sweden over Austin Ernst, 3 and 2.</p>
<p>“We just got outplayed — there’s no doubt about it,” Sorenstam said. “I’m so proud how hard my team fought. And it’s not easy coming out here on a Sunday with the team so far behind. But I’m proud of them. They’re out there fighting every single match, every single point. What can I say? Just congratulate the U.S.A. because they played some awesome golf.</p>
<p>“Sometimes it’s not always about the results,” Sorenstam added. “I must say that this has been a lot about the journey. I’ve learned a lot the last 18 months. It’s been a pleasure to represent the European Tour. I’m so proud of these young girls, and to get to know them, new friendships, new memories.”</p>
<p>Team USA now holds a 10-5 lead over the Europeans in the Solheim Cup.</p>
<p>NOTES: American captain Juli Inkster became just the second captain of Team USA to win back-to-back Solheim Cups, joining Judy Rankin. … The 2019 Solheim Cup will be held at Gleneagles in Scotland on Sept. 13-15. … Team USA’s victory margin was built in the fourball (better ball) competitions on Friday and Saturday, when it won seven of the possible eight points in those matches. Team Europe earned a 4 1/2-3 1/2 edge in foursomes (alternate shots) on Friday and Saturday.</p>
| 6,983 |
<p>Gold prices climbed Thursday after the European Central Bank left its accommodative monetary policies in place.</p>
<p>Gold for December delivery closed up 0.8% at $1,350.30 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange -- its highest close since Sept. 6, 2016. The precious metal has risen in seven of the last nine sessions, supported by a weaker dollar, geopolitical tensions and doubts about when central banks will be more aggressive about raising interest rates.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>After falling Wednesday following President Donald Trump's announcement that he and congressional leaders had agreed to raise the federal government's borrowing limit for three months, prices rebounded a day later.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the ECB left all its key interest rates unchanged and said it would continue its bond-buying program through December, "or beyond if necessary."</p>
<p>The ECB also raised its economic growth forecasts Thursday, pushing the euro higher against the dollar. A weaker dollar makes gold cheaper to foreign buyers. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 16 others, was recently down 0.6% after closing at its lowest level since August 2016 on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Doubts that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates a third time in 2017 amid sluggish inflation have also pushed gold higher in recent sessions because gold struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets like Treasurys when interest rates rise.</p>
<p>Still, more hawkish comments from central bankers regarding rate increases or another Fed rate increase could quickly change the outlook for gold, cautioned Carsten Menke, commodities research analyst at Julius Baer.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Investors and analysts were also keeping an eye on tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, which have pushed gold higher in recent weeks because many investors favor gold during times of political uncertainty.</p>
<p>Among base metals, copper for December delivery closed down 0.3% at $3.1435 a pound. Prices have soared in the past two months to their highest level in almost three years, but some analysts warn that record amounts of speculative interest could lead to a sharp pullback if some investors take their chips off the table.</p>
<p>"This copper market is not in deficit and is not going to move into deficit in the rest of the year, which puts this rally on quite a weak footing," Mr. Menke said.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 07, 2017 15:12 ET (19:12 GMT)</p>
|
Gold Prices Rise Amid Dollar Weakness After ECB Stands Pat
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2017/09/07/gold-prices-rise-amid-dollar-weakness-after-ecb-stands-pat.html
|
2017-09-07
| 0right
|
Gold Prices Rise Amid Dollar Weakness After ECB Stands Pat
<p>Gold prices climbed Thursday after the European Central Bank left its accommodative monetary policies in place.</p>
<p>Gold for December delivery closed up 0.8% at $1,350.30 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange -- its highest close since Sept. 6, 2016. The precious metal has risen in seven of the last nine sessions, supported by a weaker dollar, geopolitical tensions and doubts about when central banks will be more aggressive about raising interest rates.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>After falling Wednesday following President Donald Trump's announcement that he and congressional leaders had agreed to raise the federal government's borrowing limit for three months, prices rebounded a day later.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the ECB left all its key interest rates unchanged and said it would continue its bond-buying program through December, "or beyond if necessary."</p>
<p>The ECB also raised its economic growth forecasts Thursday, pushing the euro higher against the dollar. A weaker dollar makes gold cheaper to foreign buyers. The WSJ Dollar Index, which tracks the U.S. currency against 16 others, was recently down 0.6% after closing at its lowest level since August 2016 on Wednesday.</p>
<p>Doubts that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates a third time in 2017 amid sluggish inflation have also pushed gold higher in recent sessions because gold struggles to compete with yield-bearing assets like Treasurys when interest rates rise.</p>
<p>Still, more hawkish comments from central bankers regarding rate increases or another Fed rate increase could quickly change the outlook for gold, cautioned Carsten Menke, commodities research analyst at Julius Baer.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Investors and analysts were also keeping an eye on tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, which have pushed gold higher in recent weeks because many investors favor gold during times of political uncertainty.</p>
<p>Among base metals, copper for December delivery closed down 0.3% at $3.1435 a pound. Prices have soared in the past two months to their highest level in almost three years, but some analysts warn that record amounts of speculative interest could lead to a sharp pullback if some investors take their chips off the table.</p>
<p>"This copper market is not in deficit and is not going to move into deficit in the rest of the year, which puts this rally on quite a weak footing," Mr. Menke said.</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>September 07, 2017 15:12 ET (19:12 GMT)</p>
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<p />
<p>UNM President Bob Frank</p>
<p>The meeting was originally scheduled from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Friday, but has since been rescheduled to the same day from 10:30 a.m. to noon.</p>
<p>The next president will be UNM’s 22nd since the school’s beginning in 1889. And it has been roughly two decades since a president has served a term lasting more than five years.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, President Bob Frank said he would not seek a second term after his contract expires May 31. He has the option of moving to a $350,000-a-year tenured position at the Health Sciences Center.</p>
<p>The regents recently said they hope to find a replacement for Frank by spring 2017 with a new president starting on June 1, 2017.</p>
<p>Regent Jack Fortner, the longest serving member of the seven-member board of regents, will chair the Friday forum.</p>
<p>The regents have specifically asked for comment on the following four questions:</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>1. What’s your vision for UNM five years from now?</p>
<p>2. What are the major challenges and opportunities currently facing UNM?</p>
<p>3. What knowledge, skills, experience and characteristics are needed in a President to address the challenges, take advantage of the opportunities and carry the University forward into the future?</p>
<p>4. Are there any other considerations the Regents and Search Committee should take into account as we undergo the search process?</p>
<p>Public comment will be limited to three minutes, though UNM is also taking written input.</p>
|
UNM to host forum on Presidential search
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/883894/unm-to-host-forum-on-presidential-search.html
| 2least
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UNM to host forum on Presidential search
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>UNM President Bob Frank</p>
<p>The meeting was originally scheduled from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Friday, but has since been rescheduled to the same day from 10:30 a.m. to noon.</p>
<p>The next president will be UNM’s 22nd since the school’s beginning in 1889. And it has been roughly two decades since a president has served a term lasting more than five years.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, President Bob Frank said he would not seek a second term after his contract expires May 31. He has the option of moving to a $350,000-a-year tenured position at the Health Sciences Center.</p>
<p>The regents recently said they hope to find a replacement for Frank by spring 2017 with a new president starting on June 1, 2017.</p>
<p>Regent Jack Fortner, the longest serving member of the seven-member board of regents, will chair the Friday forum.</p>
<p>The regents have specifically asked for comment on the following four questions:</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>1. What’s your vision for UNM five years from now?</p>
<p>2. What are the major challenges and opportunities currently facing UNM?</p>
<p>3. What knowledge, skills, experience and characteristics are needed in a President to address the challenges, take advantage of the opportunities and carry the University forward into the future?</p>
<p>4. Are there any other considerations the Regents and Search Committee should take into account as we undergo the search process?</p>
<p>Public comment will be limited to three minutes, though UNM is also taking written input.</p>
| 6,985 |
|
<p>Investing.com – The China Caixin services PMI jumped to 52.7, well above the 51.8 level expected, the private survey released on Tuesday showed.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the Caixin manufacturing PMI jumped in August to 51.6, beating a 50.9 level expected, data showed on Friday, showing the fastest pace of new orders in three years.</p>
<p>The figure follows the official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index from China on Thursday came in at 51.7 in August, beating expectations. Analysts polled by Reuters expected China to post official PMI of 51.3 for August, a tick down from 51.4 in July. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below that signals contraction.</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>
|
Caixin services PMI jumps to 52.7, beating expectations
| false |
https://newsline.com/caixin-services-pmi-jumps-to-52-7-beating-expectations/
|
2017-09-04
| 1right-center
|
Caixin services PMI jumps to 52.7, beating expectations
<p>Investing.com – The China Caixin services PMI jumped to 52.7, well above the 51.8 level expected, the private survey released on Tuesday showed.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the Caixin manufacturing PMI jumped in August to 51.6, beating a 50.9 level expected, data showed on Friday, showing the fastest pace of new orders in three years.</p>
<p>The figure follows the official manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index from China on Thursday came in at 51.7 in August, beating expectations. Analysts polled by Reuters expected China to post official PMI of 51.3 for August, a tick down from 51.4 in July. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below that signals contraction.</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>
| 6,986 |
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<p />
<p>Omar Ndiaye stands near the basketball court outside of Monte del Sol Charter School in Santa Fe. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>The point guard for Santa Fe’s Monte del Sol Charter School Dragons still has one good hand and a nub just below the elbow on his right arm with which he can dribble. Opening the season with 21 points and a half-dozen assists in an 82-69 win at Peñasco last Saturday, Ndiaye is hoping to put together a senior season that will catch the eyes of college basketball recruiters.</p>
<p>“That would be such a surreal feeling, stepping on the court and playing at the collegiate level. That’s been my dream my whole life,” said Ndiaye, who was talking about Zach Hodskins, a one-handed walk-on freshman at SEC powerhouse University of Florida who played two minutes but did not score in a blowout win over William and Mary two weeks ago. “Seeing someone else with one hand doing it makes it seem so much more possible.”</p>
<p>And that wasn’t even the first time. Kevin Laue played three years at the Division 1 level for Manhattan College from 2009-12 and was the subject of a 2012 documentary “Long Shot: The Kevin Laue Story.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Omar Ndiaye story</p>
<p>Ndiaye was born in Germany to a German mother and a Senegalese father.</p>
<p>His parents were completely shocked to see their son born without a right forearm.</p>
<p>“I thought, ‘How is he going to make it in this life?’ ” said his mother, Andrea. “But he’s been very independent and able to do things.”</p>
<p>Absent the father, who is no longer in the family picture, Andrea, Omar and his older sister followed Andrea’s American mother to Washington state. Omar was about 3 or 4 years old then, and that was about the time he first picked up a basketball.</p>
<p>The family later moved to northern New Mexico and then to the Santa Fe area when Ndiaye began his teenage years. By then, he adopted basketball as his thing.</p>
<p>“I chose to play basketball because I knew it was a sport where people would doubt my success,” he said. “I had something within me – I knew – that basketball was for me.”</p>
<p>Ndiaye can dribble and catch the ball with his right arm. There’s enough of it there to help guide the ball when shooting.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“You’re supposed to shoot the ball with one hand, anyway,” he says.</p>
<p>Ndiaye’s mother took him to get fitted for a prosthetic arm when he was about 11.</p>
<p>“I didn’t like it. It was an uncomfortable feeling for me. I feel like I’m perfectly fine without one,” he said.</p>
<p>Ndiaye played other sports too. Growing up, he idolized Jim Abbott, who spent 11 seasons as a Major League Baseball pitcher despite being born without a right hand. He also played two seasons of varsity soccer, a sport that more or less put him on equal terms with other players.</p>
<p>Ndiaye guards Ryan Vander Ham during practice at Monte del Sol in Santa Fe on Monday. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>While some would say being born without a right hand is a handicap, Ndiaye doesn’t see it that way.</p>
<p>“Especially on the basketball court, it all kind of disappears. I just feel like I have two hands just like everyone else,” he said.</p>
<p>Ryan Vander Ham is Ndiaye’s best friend and backcourt mate. He says he doesn’t think of Ndiaye as being one-handed.</p>
<p>“It never occurs to me. It’s not a factor in anything he does,” he said. “When I think of Omar, I don’t think of that. I just think of him as the kind-hearted person he is.”</p>
<p>Vander Ham said his friend is an inspiration because he strives to be the best.</p>
<p>“If he’s doing good at something, he always wants to do better. He’s never satisfied,” he said. “He never lets having one arm get in the way. It’s really cool to see.”</p>
<p>“He has an optimistic, positive outlook,” Ndiaye’s mother said of her son. “I don’t know how it came. It just seems to be with him to guide him.”</p>
<p>Dragons third-year head coach Nick Rivera said Ndiaye’s determination is a quality that probably grew from lacking a right forearm. He said he’s seen Ndiaye improve in leaps and bounds from his sophomore to his junior year, and from his junior year to his senior season.</p>
<p>“It’s been really fun coaching him with all the obstacles, or what you would think were obstacles. But he doesn’t let any of that hinder him,” he said.</p>
<p>Rivera says he doesn’t cut Ndiaye any slack, “but I don’t think he’d want me to. He’s very determined. You cannot tell him no.”</p>
<p>He got game</p>
<p>Ndiaye, who averaged about 17 points and 4.5 assists per game as a junior, says he has more to show during his senior year. He worked on his game over the summer and can now dribble between his legs and wrap the ball around his back.</p>
<p>“I was surprised myself,” he said of his newfound ability to wrap around.</p>
<p>Ndiaye says his lack of a right hand sometimes works to his advantage on the basketball court.</p>
<p>Omar Ndiaye practices with his team at Monte del Sol Charter School in Santa Fe. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>“It usually happens when we play teams that haven’t played us before,” he said. “They’re like, ‘Who’s this one-handed kid? He’s not going to be able to do anything.’ And then after a few plays, I score some baskets, they realize I can actually play.”</p>
<p>Coach Rivera has seen that happen plenty of times. Pretty soon opposing teams realize how hard it is to handle the one-handed point guard.</p>
<p>“He’s got a really quick first step. If you’re not on top of him, he’s going to take you,” the coach said. “When they press him, or try to trap him, he handles that really well. He doesn’t try to force anything. He has good court sense and he knows how to get rid of the ball.”</p>
<p>Not only is he smart – academically and on the hardwood – Ndiaye has other strong attributes, the coach said.</p>
<p>“He’s an athlete, so he can elevate. He’s 6-2 and he’s dunking the ball,” said Rivera. “And he’s a born leader. He brings guys together and gets them going.”</p>
<p>“We wouldn’t be the same team without him,” adds his best friend. “He’s a good ball handler and takes the pressure off the other guys and is a good all-around player. He’s quick, he can shoot and rebound. He can do it all.”</p>
<p>Coach Rivera says Ndiaye and Vander Ham complement each other on the court and make a great 1-2 combo. “Like peanut butter and jelly,” he said.</p>
<p>The duo accounted for 52 of the Dragons’ 82 points against Peñasco, with Vander Ham sticking four 3-pointers in scoring a game-high 31 points.</p>
<p>While Ndiaye can shoot the 3, he says he prefers to take the ball to the hoop.</p>
<p>“I’m a drive first player, so 3-point baskets aren’t the first thing I look for,” he said.</p>
<p>Monte del Sol, which went 14-15 overall last year, moved to a new district this year. They’re in District 2-3A with the Academy for Technology and the Classics, Desert Academy, Dulce, Pecos and Santa Fe Prep.</p>
<p>Prep is considered the favorite.</p>
<p>“They’re a better team, but we’ll give them competition,” coach Rivera said. “Prep is a proven team. This is probably their year, but I think we can be right there with them.”</p>
<p>To the next level</p>
<p>Ndiaye will almost certainly end up in college next year, whether he plays basketball there or not. He takes school seriously and is taking a trigonometry class at Santa Fe Community College this semester. He’ll take a calculus class there next semester.</p>
<p>Right now, Ndiaye is thinking about going into engineering. He’s not sure, but he may want to pursue a career in the prosthetics field.</p>
<p>“I’m thinking about helping other people who are disabled and being an example to them,” he said.</p>
<p>He’s already been accepted to the University of New Mexico and Northern Arizona as a student and expects other acceptance letters from colleges in California. But he really wants to go to college as a basketball player.</p>
<p>“Playing in college would be a dream come true,” he said. “Once I reach that level I feel that anything is possible as long as I put the work in.”</p>
<p />
|
‘He can do it all’
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/502618/basketball.html
| 2least
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‘He can do it all’
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Omar Ndiaye stands near the basketball court outside of Monte del Sol Charter School in Santa Fe. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>The point guard for Santa Fe’s Monte del Sol Charter School Dragons still has one good hand and a nub just below the elbow on his right arm with which he can dribble. Opening the season with 21 points and a half-dozen assists in an 82-69 win at Peñasco last Saturday, Ndiaye is hoping to put together a senior season that will catch the eyes of college basketball recruiters.</p>
<p>“That would be such a surreal feeling, stepping on the court and playing at the collegiate level. That’s been my dream my whole life,” said Ndiaye, who was talking about Zach Hodskins, a one-handed walk-on freshman at SEC powerhouse University of Florida who played two minutes but did not score in a blowout win over William and Mary two weeks ago. “Seeing someone else with one hand doing it makes it seem so much more possible.”</p>
<p>And that wasn’t even the first time. Kevin Laue played three years at the Division 1 level for Manhattan College from 2009-12 and was the subject of a 2012 documentary “Long Shot: The Kevin Laue Story.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Omar Ndiaye story</p>
<p>Ndiaye was born in Germany to a German mother and a Senegalese father.</p>
<p>His parents were completely shocked to see their son born without a right forearm.</p>
<p>“I thought, ‘How is he going to make it in this life?’ ” said his mother, Andrea. “But he’s been very independent and able to do things.”</p>
<p>Absent the father, who is no longer in the family picture, Andrea, Omar and his older sister followed Andrea’s American mother to Washington state. Omar was about 3 or 4 years old then, and that was about the time he first picked up a basketball.</p>
<p>The family later moved to northern New Mexico and then to the Santa Fe area when Ndiaye began his teenage years. By then, he adopted basketball as his thing.</p>
<p>“I chose to play basketball because I knew it was a sport where people would doubt my success,” he said. “I had something within me – I knew – that basketball was for me.”</p>
<p>Ndiaye can dribble and catch the ball with his right arm. There’s enough of it there to help guide the ball when shooting.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“You’re supposed to shoot the ball with one hand, anyway,” he says.</p>
<p>Ndiaye’s mother took him to get fitted for a prosthetic arm when he was about 11.</p>
<p>“I didn’t like it. It was an uncomfortable feeling for me. I feel like I’m perfectly fine without one,” he said.</p>
<p>Ndiaye played other sports too. Growing up, he idolized Jim Abbott, who spent 11 seasons as a Major League Baseball pitcher despite being born without a right hand. He also played two seasons of varsity soccer, a sport that more or less put him on equal terms with other players.</p>
<p>Ndiaye guards Ryan Vander Ham during practice at Monte del Sol in Santa Fe on Monday. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>While some would say being born without a right hand is a handicap, Ndiaye doesn’t see it that way.</p>
<p>“Especially on the basketball court, it all kind of disappears. I just feel like I have two hands just like everyone else,” he said.</p>
<p>Ryan Vander Ham is Ndiaye’s best friend and backcourt mate. He says he doesn’t think of Ndiaye as being one-handed.</p>
<p>“It never occurs to me. It’s not a factor in anything he does,” he said. “When I think of Omar, I don’t think of that. I just think of him as the kind-hearted person he is.”</p>
<p>Vander Ham said his friend is an inspiration because he strives to be the best.</p>
<p>“If he’s doing good at something, he always wants to do better. He’s never satisfied,” he said. “He never lets having one arm get in the way. It’s really cool to see.”</p>
<p>“He has an optimistic, positive outlook,” Ndiaye’s mother said of her son. “I don’t know how it came. It just seems to be with him to guide him.”</p>
<p>Dragons third-year head coach Nick Rivera said Ndiaye’s determination is a quality that probably grew from lacking a right forearm. He said he’s seen Ndiaye improve in leaps and bounds from his sophomore to his junior year, and from his junior year to his senior season.</p>
<p>“It’s been really fun coaching him with all the obstacles, or what you would think were obstacles. But he doesn’t let any of that hinder him,” he said.</p>
<p>Rivera says he doesn’t cut Ndiaye any slack, “but I don’t think he’d want me to. He’s very determined. You cannot tell him no.”</p>
<p>He got game</p>
<p>Ndiaye, who averaged about 17 points and 4.5 assists per game as a junior, says he has more to show during his senior year. He worked on his game over the summer and can now dribble between his legs and wrap the ball around his back.</p>
<p>“I was surprised myself,” he said of his newfound ability to wrap around.</p>
<p>Ndiaye says his lack of a right hand sometimes works to his advantage on the basketball court.</p>
<p>Omar Ndiaye practices with his team at Monte del Sol Charter School in Santa Fe. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>“It usually happens when we play teams that haven’t played us before,” he said. “They’re like, ‘Who’s this one-handed kid? He’s not going to be able to do anything.’ And then after a few plays, I score some baskets, they realize I can actually play.”</p>
<p>Coach Rivera has seen that happen plenty of times. Pretty soon opposing teams realize how hard it is to handle the one-handed point guard.</p>
<p>“He’s got a really quick first step. If you’re not on top of him, he’s going to take you,” the coach said. “When they press him, or try to trap him, he handles that really well. He doesn’t try to force anything. He has good court sense and he knows how to get rid of the ball.”</p>
<p>Not only is he smart – academically and on the hardwood – Ndiaye has other strong attributes, the coach said.</p>
<p>“He’s an athlete, so he can elevate. He’s 6-2 and he’s dunking the ball,” said Rivera. “And he’s a born leader. He brings guys together and gets them going.”</p>
<p>“We wouldn’t be the same team without him,” adds his best friend. “He’s a good ball handler and takes the pressure off the other guys and is a good all-around player. He’s quick, he can shoot and rebound. He can do it all.”</p>
<p>Coach Rivera says Ndiaye and Vander Ham complement each other on the court and make a great 1-2 combo. “Like peanut butter and jelly,” he said.</p>
<p>The duo accounted for 52 of the Dragons’ 82 points against Peñasco, with Vander Ham sticking four 3-pointers in scoring a game-high 31 points.</p>
<p>While Ndiaye can shoot the 3, he says he prefers to take the ball to the hoop.</p>
<p>“I’m a drive first player, so 3-point baskets aren’t the first thing I look for,” he said.</p>
<p>Monte del Sol, which went 14-15 overall last year, moved to a new district this year. They’re in District 2-3A with the Academy for Technology and the Classics, Desert Academy, Dulce, Pecos and Santa Fe Prep.</p>
<p>Prep is considered the favorite.</p>
<p>“They’re a better team, but we’ll give them competition,” coach Rivera said. “Prep is a proven team. This is probably their year, but I think we can be right there with them.”</p>
<p>To the next level</p>
<p>Ndiaye will almost certainly end up in college next year, whether he plays basketball there or not. He takes school seriously and is taking a trigonometry class at Santa Fe Community College this semester. He’ll take a calculus class there next semester.</p>
<p>Right now, Ndiaye is thinking about going into engineering. He’s not sure, but he may want to pursue a career in the prosthetics field.</p>
<p>“I’m thinking about helping other people who are disabled and being an example to them,” he said.</p>
<p>He’s already been accepted to the University of New Mexico and Northern Arizona as a student and expects other acceptance letters from colleges in California. But he really wants to go to college as a basketball player.</p>
<p>“Playing in college would be a dream come true,” he said. “Once I reach that level I feel that anything is possible as long as I put the work in.”</p>
<p />
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<p>People are starting to get fed up with Donald Trump’s hate speech.&#160; Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore is so angry about Trump’s seemingly endless diatribe against the marginalized people of the world that he has started recruiting an army of Facebook users to get the Republican presidential primary front runner’s posts taken down from the site.</p>
<p>Moore posted his call to action on his own Facebook page, citing Facebook’s terms of service that state one must not post content that is hate speech. He then gives instructions on how to report Trump’s posts for violating Facebook’s community guidelines. Moore writes:</p>
<p>“Facebook prohibits all its users from using hate speech on its site (“You will not post content that is hate speech”). I’m joining others today in filing a complaint with Facebook that Trump’s Facebook page is using hate speech to promote racism and bigotry. Please file your complaint, too. Here’s how: Go to Trump’s page facebook.com/DonaldTrump. Click “Report”. Then click “It shouldn’t be on FB”. Then click “Hate Speech”. Then click either “race or ethnicity” or “religious group”. That’s it. Let’s get a few million doing this by the end of the day!”</p>
<p>Trump has faced an ever growing backlash against his proposal to ban all Muslims from entering into the United States. Among the outrages, is Facebook’s creator Mark Zuckerberg who released a letter of welcome to all Muslims, <a href="" type="internal">stating that they will</a> always be welcomed on the social network. Zuckerberg wrote that “we [Facebook staff] will fight to protect your rights and create a peaceful and safe environment for you.”</p>
<p>https://www.facebook.com/mmflint/photos/a.10150288227701857.331023.24674986856/10153171560321857/?type=3&amp;theater</p>
<p>It has been argued that Donald Trump’s actions and rhetoric could be interpreted as hate crimes, under the law. I don’t think it is even controversial to say that much of what Trump posts to Facebook does actually violate Facebook’s terms of service agreement.</p>
<p>The idea that a private company could censor a popular presidential candidate’s thoughts from one of the largest communications platforms in the world leads to some serious ethical concerns about the nature of the media, politics, and corporate control of political discourse. But people are rightfully mad and Trump is espousing fear and anger for his remarks that are targeted towards marginalized communities and there is no freedom of speech on Facebook.</p>
<p>Featured Image Credit: Screenshot via Facebook</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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Micheal Moore Just Unleashed An Army On Trump’s Social Media
| true |
http://addictinginfo.org/2015/12/12/jf-micheal-moore-just-unleashed-an-army-on-trumps-social-media/
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2015-12-12
| 4left
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Micheal Moore Just Unleashed An Army On Trump’s Social Media
<p>People are starting to get fed up with Donald Trump’s hate speech.&#160; Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore is so angry about Trump’s seemingly endless diatribe against the marginalized people of the world that he has started recruiting an army of Facebook users to get the Republican presidential primary front runner’s posts taken down from the site.</p>
<p>Moore posted his call to action on his own Facebook page, citing Facebook’s terms of service that state one must not post content that is hate speech. He then gives instructions on how to report Trump’s posts for violating Facebook’s community guidelines. Moore writes:</p>
<p>“Facebook prohibits all its users from using hate speech on its site (“You will not post content that is hate speech”). I’m joining others today in filing a complaint with Facebook that Trump’s Facebook page is using hate speech to promote racism and bigotry. Please file your complaint, too. Here’s how: Go to Trump’s page facebook.com/DonaldTrump. Click “Report”. Then click “It shouldn’t be on FB”. Then click “Hate Speech”. Then click either “race or ethnicity” or “religious group”. That’s it. Let’s get a few million doing this by the end of the day!”</p>
<p>Trump has faced an ever growing backlash against his proposal to ban all Muslims from entering into the United States. Among the outrages, is Facebook’s creator Mark Zuckerberg who released a letter of welcome to all Muslims, <a href="" type="internal">stating that they will</a> always be welcomed on the social network. Zuckerberg wrote that “we [Facebook staff] will fight to protect your rights and create a peaceful and safe environment for you.”</p>
<p>https://www.facebook.com/mmflint/photos/a.10150288227701857.331023.24674986856/10153171560321857/?type=3&amp;theater</p>
<p>It has been argued that Donald Trump’s actions and rhetoric could be interpreted as hate crimes, under the law. I don’t think it is even controversial to say that much of what Trump posts to Facebook does actually violate Facebook’s terms of service agreement.</p>
<p>The idea that a private company could censor a popular presidential candidate’s thoughts from one of the largest communications platforms in the world leads to some serious ethical concerns about the nature of the media, politics, and corporate control of political discourse. But people are rightfully mad and Trump is espousing fear and anger for his remarks that are targeted towards marginalized communities and there is no freedom of speech on Facebook.</p>
<p>Featured Image Credit: Screenshot via Facebook</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 6,988 |
<p>Jan. 14 (UPI) — The 10-part, suspense thriller The Terror is to debut with a 2-hour episode on AMC on March 26.</p>
<p>From executive producers <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ridley_Scott/" type="external">Ridley Scott</a>, David Kajganich and Soo Hugh, the fact-based drama is set in the 19th century. It stars Jared Harris as Capt. Francis Crozier, Tobias Menzies as Capt. James Fitzjames, Ciarán Hinds as Sir John Franklin, Paul Ready as Dr. Harry Goodsir, Adam Nagaitis as Cornelius Hickey, Nive Nielsen as Lady Silence and Ian Hart as Thomas Blanky.</p>
<p>The series “centers on the Royal Navy’s perilous voyage into uncharted territory as the crew attempts to discover the Northwest Passage,” a news release said.</p>
<p>“Faced with treacherous conditions, limited resources, dwindling hope and fear of the unknown, the crew is pushed to the brink of extinction. Frozen, isolated and stuck at the end of the earth, The Terror highlights all that can go wrong when a group of men, desperate to survive, struggle not only with the elements, but with each other.”</p>
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‘Terror,’ starring Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, gets trailer
| false |
https://newsline.com/terror-starring-jared-harris-tobias-menzies-gets-trailer/
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2018-01-14
| 1right-center
|
‘Terror,’ starring Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, gets trailer
<p>Jan. 14 (UPI) — The 10-part, suspense thriller The Terror is to debut with a 2-hour episode on AMC on March 26.</p>
<p>From executive producers <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Ridley_Scott/" type="external">Ridley Scott</a>, David Kajganich and Soo Hugh, the fact-based drama is set in the 19th century. It stars Jared Harris as Capt. Francis Crozier, Tobias Menzies as Capt. James Fitzjames, Ciarán Hinds as Sir John Franklin, Paul Ready as Dr. Harry Goodsir, Adam Nagaitis as Cornelius Hickey, Nive Nielsen as Lady Silence and Ian Hart as Thomas Blanky.</p>
<p>The series “centers on the Royal Navy’s perilous voyage into uncharted territory as the crew attempts to discover the Northwest Passage,” a news release said.</p>
<p>“Faced with treacherous conditions, limited resources, dwindling hope and fear of the unknown, the crew is pushed to the brink of extinction. Frozen, isolated and stuck at the end of the earth, The Terror highlights all that can go wrong when a group of men, desperate to survive, struggle not only with the elements, but with each other.”</p>
| 6,989 |
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A boil water advisory issued for Carlsbad residents living near the Pecos River applies only to those who rely on well water as their primary water source, the Eddy County emergency operations office said today in a written statement.</p>
<p>At this time, the City of Carlsbad’s water supply has not experienced contamination due to the recent rains and runoff, the office said. Additional sampling will occur as a precautionary measure.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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Carlsbad boil water advisory only for well users
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/467123/carlsbad-boil-water-advisory-only-for-well-users.html
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Carlsbad boil water advisory only for well users
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<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A boil water advisory issued for Carlsbad residents living near the Pecos River applies only to those who rely on well water as their primary water source, the Eddy County emergency operations office said today in a written statement.</p>
<p>At this time, the City of Carlsbad’s water supply has not experienced contamination due to the recent rains and runoff, the office said. Additional sampling will occur as a precautionary measure.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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<p />
<p>Chinh Huynh, 21, could face up to 18 years in prison after being convicted Wednesday on charges including aggravated assault on a peace officer, aggravated fleeing and firing a weapon from a motor vehicle. In the trial that began this week, officers accused him of being the shooter, and said he put numerous police officer and public lives at risk.</p>
<p>Huynh and two other passengers led police on the chase down U.S. 550 and N.M. 4 to Jemez Springs. Police said he tried to shoot his 9 mm handgun at officers, but it jammed. Officers returned fire, striking him in the shoulder, and he was booked on being released from the hospital.</p>
<p>“If it hadn’t been jammed or misfired, we might have had worse charges and maybe injuries to our law enforcement officers,” Thirteenth Judicial District Attorney Lemuel Martinez said Thursday. “So I’m glad none of them was injured in this.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>On Feb. 9, Huynh, Patrick Moran, 30, and Patricia Baca, 30, tried to rob a man at an ATM in Rio Rancho around 10 a.m., police said. Police arrived and the chase began. Police said at the time that someone in the vehicle fired on officers before jumping out of the vehicle.</p>
<p>The other passengers have yet to go to trial.</p>
<p>Huynh’s attorney said he tried to instill reasonable doubt in jurors’ minds that his client was not the shooter, but seven officers testified that they believed Huynh was the gunman. He also said Huynh claimed he urged Moran and Baca, the driver, to stop and that he was an unwilling passenger throughout the robbery and chase.</p>
<p>“But obviously the testimony was pretty overwhelming the other way,” said Arthur Hernandez, Huynh’s attorney. “I just argued it was reasonable doubt.”</p>
<p>Hernandez also had high praise for the Rio Rancho officers and their supervisor during the chase, saying then-Lt. Jason Bowie, now a captain, was very professional in handling the chase. He said officers rendered Huynh first aid and got him to the hospital after shooting him, which “very well could have saved his life,” he said.</p>
<p>Huynh was convicted on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer, one count of assault with intent to commit a violent felony, one count of aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.</p>
<p>State District Judge George Eichwald tossed out seven counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer, Hernandez and Martinez said, because the judge said the gunfire did not actually threaten the officers at the tail end of the police chase. That knocked an additional 21 years off Huynh’s potential sentence.</p>
<p>Huynh has been jailed since the February arrest and he should be sentenced in a couple of months, Hernandez said.</p>
<p />
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Man faces 18 years after shooting at police officers
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/534548/man-faces-18-years-after-shooting-at-police-officers.html
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Man faces 18 years after shooting at police officers
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<p />
<p>Chinh Huynh, 21, could face up to 18 years in prison after being convicted Wednesday on charges including aggravated assault on a peace officer, aggravated fleeing and firing a weapon from a motor vehicle. In the trial that began this week, officers accused him of being the shooter, and said he put numerous police officer and public lives at risk.</p>
<p>Huynh and two other passengers led police on the chase down U.S. 550 and N.M. 4 to Jemez Springs. Police said he tried to shoot his 9 mm handgun at officers, but it jammed. Officers returned fire, striking him in the shoulder, and he was booked on being released from the hospital.</p>
<p>“If it hadn’t been jammed or misfired, we might have had worse charges and maybe injuries to our law enforcement officers,” Thirteenth Judicial District Attorney Lemuel Martinez said Thursday. “So I’m glad none of them was injured in this.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>On Feb. 9, Huynh, Patrick Moran, 30, and Patricia Baca, 30, tried to rob a man at an ATM in Rio Rancho around 10 a.m., police said. Police arrived and the chase began. Police said at the time that someone in the vehicle fired on officers before jumping out of the vehicle.</p>
<p>The other passengers have yet to go to trial.</p>
<p>Huynh’s attorney said he tried to instill reasonable doubt in jurors’ minds that his client was not the shooter, but seven officers testified that they believed Huynh was the gunman. He also said Huynh claimed he urged Moran and Baca, the driver, to stop and that he was an unwilling passenger throughout the robbery and chase.</p>
<p>“But obviously the testimony was pretty overwhelming the other way,” said Arthur Hernandez, Huynh’s attorney. “I just argued it was reasonable doubt.”</p>
<p>Hernandez also had high praise for the Rio Rancho officers and their supervisor during the chase, saying then-Lt. Jason Bowie, now a captain, was very professional in handling the chase. He said officers rendered Huynh first aid and got him to the hospital after shooting him, which “very well could have saved his life,” he said.</p>
<p>Huynh was convicted on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer, one count of assault with intent to commit a violent felony, one count of aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and conspiracy to commit armed robbery.</p>
<p>State District Judge George Eichwald tossed out seven counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon against a peace officer, Hernandez and Martinez said, because the judge said the gunfire did not actually threaten the officers at the tail end of the police chase. That knocked an additional 21 years off Huynh’s potential sentence.</p>
<p>Huynh has been jailed since the February arrest and he should be sentenced in a couple of months, Hernandez said.</p>
<p />
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<p>At approximately 7:40 p.m. on Monday, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a call to check on the welfare of a family located near the suburban valley neighborhood of the city. The call, made by a relative of the family, would lead to the discovery of four bodies, including a dog, on the 10300 block of Numaga Road, near South Rainbow Road and West Cactus Avenue, according to the <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/homicides/las-vegas-neighborhood-shocked-in-wake-of-murder-suicide/" type="external">Las Vegas Review Journal</a>.</p>
<p>Police are reporting that a doctor killed his girlfriend, family dog, and toddler son, before turning the gun on himself in a horrific murder-suicide incident that has shocked the local community.</p>
<p>“The family was identified, through public records and interviews with neighbors, as John Henry Lunetta, 40, and Karen Michelle Jackson, 35. Neighbors named the baby as John Jr.” reports Las Vegas Review Journal. “His first birthday would have been Wednesday.”</p>
<p>Flowers and teddy bears have been placed in front of the family home by neighbors mourning the tragic loss of life.</p>
<p>Neighbors hadn’t reported any incidents of domestic abuse or loud fights prior to the murder-suicide, although a moving truck was seen in front of the family residence over the weekend. Currently, police are looking into all leads that may explain a motive.</p>
<p>At least from the outside looking in, the family appeared stable and happy. Jackson, Dr. Lunetta’s girlfriend, had passed an exam last week to become a nurse practitioner. The couple’s toddler was about to turn one year old before he was brutally murdered by his father.</p>
<p>Dr. Lunetta himself appeared to be well-regarded in the community. He was a medical doctor for the American Red Cross, according to his LinkedIn profile. According to neighbors, he invited Jackson to move in last year after entertaining a slew of women over the past couple of years at his home, which he purchased in 2013.</p>
<p>H/t <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/homicides/las-vegas-neighborhood-shocked-in-wake-of-murder-suicide/" type="external">Las Vegas Review Journal</a></p>
|
Las Vegas Doctor Kills Toddler Son, Family Dog, Girlfriend, Then Turns Gun On Himself In Horrific Murder-Suicide
| true |
https://dailywire.com/news/18529/las-vegas-doctor-kills-toddler-son-family-dog-michael-qazvini
|
2017-07-12
| 0right
|
Las Vegas Doctor Kills Toddler Son, Family Dog, Girlfriend, Then Turns Gun On Himself In Horrific Murder-Suicide
<p>At approximately 7:40 p.m. on Monday, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department received a call to check on the welfare of a family located near the suburban valley neighborhood of the city. The call, made by a relative of the family, would lead to the discovery of four bodies, including a dog, on the 10300 block of Numaga Road, near South Rainbow Road and West Cactus Avenue, according to the <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/homicides/las-vegas-neighborhood-shocked-in-wake-of-murder-suicide/" type="external">Las Vegas Review Journal</a>.</p>
<p>Police are reporting that a doctor killed his girlfriend, family dog, and toddler son, before turning the gun on himself in a horrific murder-suicide incident that has shocked the local community.</p>
<p>“The family was identified, through public records and interviews with neighbors, as John Henry Lunetta, 40, and Karen Michelle Jackson, 35. Neighbors named the baby as John Jr.” reports Las Vegas Review Journal. “His first birthday would have been Wednesday.”</p>
<p>Flowers and teddy bears have been placed in front of the family home by neighbors mourning the tragic loss of life.</p>
<p>Neighbors hadn’t reported any incidents of domestic abuse or loud fights prior to the murder-suicide, although a moving truck was seen in front of the family residence over the weekend. Currently, police are looking into all leads that may explain a motive.</p>
<p>At least from the outside looking in, the family appeared stable and happy. Jackson, Dr. Lunetta’s girlfriend, had passed an exam last week to become a nurse practitioner. The couple’s toddler was about to turn one year old before he was brutally murdered by his father.</p>
<p>Dr. Lunetta himself appeared to be well-regarded in the community. He was a medical doctor for the American Red Cross, according to his LinkedIn profile. According to neighbors, he invited Jackson to move in last year after entertaining a slew of women over the past couple of years at his home, which he purchased in 2013.</p>
<p>H/t <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/homicides/las-vegas-neighborhood-shocked-in-wake-of-murder-suicide/" type="external">Las Vegas Review Journal</a></p>
| 6,992 |
<p>In mid-2008, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) came under strong criticism from both Brazil’s Lula and Venezuela’s Chavez. Lula said, “The waging of armed struggle as a means of achieving power should end in Latin America. The belief that armed struggle can solve anything is out of date.” Chavez mirrored these views, saying, “The guerrilla war is history. At this moment in Latin America, an armed guerrilla movement is out of place.”</p>
<p>Chavez is no stranger to the armed road. His brother Adan, now a leading Chavista, was a member of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization, and later with the Party of the Venezuelan Revolution, an urban underground organization affiliated with the former guerrilla commander Douglas Bravo.</p>
<p>But, from Adan, Hugo Chavez also saw first hand the limitations of this work. As Adan put it to Alan Woods, “We conducted urban guerrilla work. But because of its clandestine character [of the Party of the Venezuelan Revolution] did not have contact with the masses. Furthermore they were very dogmatic and sectarian. Like the MIR, it split and ended up disappearing. In order to achieve a revolutionary popular movement, which would allow the taking of power, one had to have a strong influence within the popular masses and have support within the Armed Forces.”</p>
<p>Adan’s prognosis mirrors the self-criticism of the Venezuelan Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), whose leadership wrote in 1964 that they had fallen prey to “infantile subjectivism of petty bourgeois origin – the swollen enthusiasm due to a long chain of successes which we gained for a time, which made us appear each day, in Venezuela as well as abroad, like an almost mythological force of immeasurable power.” This led to an underestimation of the Venezuelan state and a grave overestimation of the fellowship between the masses and the FALN. The assessment is gloomy, but its victim was not simply the guerrilla army. It was equally the Venezuelan Communist Party, which took refuge in a quiescence that led in 1967 to its open break with Fidel Castro.</p>
<p>Hugo Chavez was part of the Venezuelan armed forces, within which he led a small clandestine leftist group. His band attempted a coup in 1992 that failed. Hugo Chavez went on television to tell his comrades to give up, por ahora, for now. That phrase, por ahora, struck a chord. Chavez converted his popularity into a mass movement, into which the small parties and the social movements threw themselves.</p>
<p>I remember meeting various left activists at the Central University of Venezuela in the years between the Chavez coup attempt (1992) and before his eventual electoral victory (1998) – their gloom was evident, nostalgia for Cuba, circa 1959, but desolation for their own future. Guerrilla warfare had ended by the mid-1990s: the leading edge for the Maoists of the continent was the Shining Path of Peru, whose leader, Guzman, was captured by the Peruvian military in 1991, with mopping up operations at work around the Maoists’ stronghold of Ayacucho. The Venezuelan left activists were in small bands, unable yet to see what had begun in the barrios, the slums of the poor that ring the city.</p>
<p>The fatigue with the parties of the Right and the Center-Right and the enthusiasm for the populism of Chavez’ party and his style enabled the first victory. Against US pressure and the machinations of the oligarchy, Chavez’s movement held firm. It then conducted its “long march through the institutions,” bringing the various state agencies in line with the values of the Bolivarian movement. All this culminated in the revision of the Constitution, which now better represented the aspirations of the vast mass of the Venezuelan population. State power was the goal, but it had been clear to the Bolivarian movement that state power does not only mean control of the state apparatus; if it meant only this, then the Bolivarians would have to do the dirty work of the oligarchy’s 1961 Constitution.</p>
<p>To write the new Bolivarian Constitution (1999), the Venezuelan population voted in a Constituent Assembly, who drafted a Constitution which was then ratified in a popular vote, the first time ever in the country’s history. The Constitution draws from a variety of sources, including from Latin America’s revolutionary history (from the liberator Simon Bolivar and the Marxist Jose Carlos Mariategui) and from Marxist theory (notably the remarkable Soviet jurist Evgeny Pashukanis). It is an astounding document, with provisions for deeper democracy at one level, and another for the widest recognition of human rights. The Chavez government had already formed the Barrio Adentro program to provide government-sponsored healthcare for the population. But this would have simply been at the mercy of the government. Now, the Constitution directs the government to provide healthcare, as it is now legally binding. All of this funded, propitiously, by the oil revenues that flooded into Venezuela’s state coffers. Guns remained holstered. The struggle was taken through the ballot box.</p>
<p>The successes of the Bolivarian project threatened the oligarchy with extinction and the US with the loss of its own power in its backyard. Distracted by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as by the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran, the US was unable to extend itself against the Bolivarians. The armies in the region too were not enthused to leave the barracks. The tide of history in Latin America favored the Bolivarians. Nevertheless, the US pushed for a counter-revolutionary coup in 2002. It failed, as the people rallied in large numbers behind the Bolivarian project. They had everything to lose, and they had been organized for just this eventuality. Chavez would not allow himself to fall like Pinochet. He had the support of the military, and he had not allowed the population to remain demobilized. They were now part of neighborhood committees and various self-defense leagues. They won by the numbers. The time of “terrible necessity,” to unholster the gun, was not yet at hand.</p>
<p>Lula, too, was also no stranger to the politics of the gun. When he was nineteen, the military deposed the left-liberal President Joåo Goulart to open an era of military rule that ran from 1964 to 1985. Lula lost the little finger of his left hand while working a press in an auto factory during the coup year, and by the time the dictatorship ended, he was a leader in the trade union movement and in the Workers’ Party (PT). During this long era, the urban middle class that leaned left went either into clandestine trade union organizational work or into gclandestine urban guerrilla units. Of the latter, the most spectacular was Carlos Marighella’s National Liberation Alliance; Marighella was the author of the influential Small Manual of the Urban Guerrilla (June 1969), a touchstone for the urban guerrilla from Montevideo to Mexico City. The police killed Marighella the same year as his manual came out (he was 57 years old, a veteran of the Brazilian CP who had broken with it over the strategy of violence).</p>
<p>The urban guerrilla did not influence Lula. Nor did the sectarianism of the Brazilian Communist Party during the Goulart era. The Brazilian CP took a hard line against the left-liberal regime of Goulart, letting him feel the heat from both the much less powerful Left and the much more powerful Right-wing (including the oligarchy and the military). In 1965, the Central Committee of the Brazilian CP conceded its errors, mainly “the underestimation of the danger of a rightist coup, which was considered to be a mere scarecrow, intended to frighten the masses. Concentrating our fire on the government, we demanded more and more drastic measures while overlooking our own weaknesses and the shortcomings of the national-democratic movement, as well as the effective correlation of social forces that existed at that time.” Neither the isolated guerrilla nor the sectarian line of the Goulart era CP.</p>
<p>The lessons for Lula were straightforward, and these went with him and the other labor activists into the Workers’ Party (PT) in 1980. &#160;A few years later, the Brazilian campesinos formed two of the most resilient peasant organizations, the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers and Movimiento Los Sin Tierra (MST) – they built up a membership of about eleven million members. These groups became fundamental constituents of the PT. Even in the most difficult situation, Lula and his current remained with mass organizing, building a movement of Brazilian workers through small actions that build the confidence of individuals to create a strong collectivity. It was this long campaign that resulted in the Diretas Ja! (Direct Elections Now) movement of 1984 that finally toppled the dictatorship. Not once did Lula move to the gun. Some of this is certainly temperamental; he was a working-class organizer who believed in making the fullest use of whatever institutions are available to build the power of the working-class.</p>
<p>It was not easy for a Latin American leftist to stray too far from the gun. US imperialism has always treated Latin America as its property. The Roosevelt Corollary (1904) to the Monroe Doctrine (1823) pointed out that the US government had the right to intervene in Latin America when it saw instances of “flagrant and chronic wrongdoing by a Latin American Nation.” It was for the US President to make this assessment. And he made it often, from the 1846 invasion of Mexico to the 2009 soft coup in Honduras. If the US did not come by way of the Marines or the Bombers, it came equally powerfully with its Dollars and Free Trade Agreements. This was clear to the Uruguayan Communist Party leader Rodney Arismendi by 1947, when he wrote, “The United States is profiting from this vying for power, from advantages obtained during the war, and in particular from commitments and agreements made under the Pan-American system. There is, therefore, no Pan American economic combination that does not lay South America at the feet of Yankee industry.”</p>
<p>A combined Latin America needed to stand tall against the attempt by “Anglo-Yankee financial oligarchies,” which were trying to “dynamite the foundation of the newly laid peace.” Any attempt to push a peace agenda was met with the same tonic from the local oligarchs and their North American allies: military coups and murder of the organizers of the peace. No wonder the gun for the revolutionary, drowning in the sorrows of futility.</p>
<p>The agony of the Left saw its deliverance in 1959 with the Cuban Revolution. It was almost miraculous. A small detachment of poorly armed men and women came off a boat from Mexico to hold off the Cuban military in the highlands. From there, luck and pluck enabled them to enlarge their base (their foco) and create firm alliances with the urban mass movements, which had themselves been awoken from a deep slumber by Castro and his brigands. The dictatorship crumbled with barely a few armed engagements. It was an extraordinary moment. Young people across Latin America took refuge in it, and, in particular, with Che Guevara’s call to revolt (his Guerrilla Warfare, 1961).</p>
<p>The French student, Regis Debray, wrote a manifesto for Castroism (1965) which extolled the ideas in motion which do not exist “except in those towns and mountains where at the present moment thousands of militants are fighting, beleaguered, with no guarantee for the future.” Debray was careful to point out in his survey that the tendency had already failed to take flight (“armed struggle is not in itself a panacea”), and yet he willed the idea of the “organic link between armed struggle and mass struggle.” Debray’s teacher, Louis Althusser responded tartly, “It may be that your theses are correct, but your text doesn’t really provide a positive demonstration of this; it simply gives what we could call a negative demonstration. In your writings, the validity of guerrilla warfare is demonstrated less by its own merits than through the defects or drawbacks of past forms of struggle that you examine; it is supported less by its positive qualities than by the negative aspects of other forms of struggle.”</p>
<p>Che Guevara ultimately went to Bolivia, to try out his method for the last time. He went to a remote region, hoping to enthuse the peasantry of the north-east and the miners to throw in their lot with him. The futility of the effort comes across in Che’s last entry into his diary: “Eleven months since our inauguration as guerrillas; the day was being spent without complications, even bucolically, until 12:30 when an old woman shepherding her goats came into the canyon where we had camped and it was necessary to apprehend her. The woman gave no truthful news about the soldiers, saying that she didn’t know anything, as it was a long time since she had been here. She only gave information about the roads…Fifty pesos were given to her with the request that she not say a word, but with little hope that she would keep her promise.”</p>
<p>Not only were the guerrillas isolated geographically, but also they were isolated from the people. They did not trust them. It is this image that provoked Teododo Petkoff of the Venezuelan CP and then of the MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo), and now a fierce critic of Chavez, to write in 1976, “Reality showed that a revolutionary will, deprived of favorable circumstances and supported by generalities like ‘Latin America is ready for revolution’ could do nothing when faced with those ‘stony eyes’ of the Bolivian peasants who looked at Guevara without understanding his efforts to communicate with them.”</p>
<p>By 1976, when Petkoff wrote his screed, the guerrilla movements had dissolved into driblets. Little remained in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile), and much less still in Brazil and Venezuela. Bolivia had been rendered mute, and Paraguay never was much of an option. The activists who remained alive took refuge in incubation: they seeded movements with their careful gestures, working among the Amerindians or the trade unions, in the Amazon forests or in the working-class barrios. The armed struggle, however, took root in the Andes, from southern Peru to the highlands of Colombia. In the former, it was the Shining Path, which would be obliterated by the mid-1990s. In the latter, it was the FARC.</p>
<p>Formed in 1964 by a rump group of the Colombian Communist Party (and led by the remarkable leader Manuel Marulanda, also known as Tiro Fijo, sure shot), the FARC went deep into the roots of Colombia’s rural life (Colombia profunda), building rural leadership to replace the few urban militants who had retreated into the countryside. Massive assault by the US-financed Colombian military could not destroy it, and indeed it seemed to grow like a mythical beast with each attack. In the 1980s, the Colombian Left signed a peace agreement with the oligarchy, and took to the polls. FARC supported the accord, but did not sign the agreement; it did not leave the mountains for the cities. It held its guns. The accord failed, as the politicians of the Left were killed, one by one, by the oligarchy’s military. FARC restarted the armed struggle. It was the resilience of the FARC that pushed the Plan Colombia, with the US government making that country the base of its Latin American operations. But it could not defeat FARC. The situation went to a stalemate.</p>
<p>It is in this stalemate that other forces emerged. In the northern regions, where the FARC is also popular, came new social institutions of the Nasa Indians. They held peace in their hearts, exhausted by the protracted civil war that has claimed too many of their loved ones. For them, another path was necessary. FARC was not going anywhere. It bounced back from its demise in 1970-74, and neither Plan Colombia (1998-2006) nor Plan Patriota (2003-2006) has dented the stalemate. And yet, as the Colombian activist and economist Hector Mondragon put it recently, the FARC has long eschewed the mass line for the military line. It is devoted to its military campaign, and pays little attention to the building up of mass struggles. As Mondragon points out, “This is a political error. It has become a tragedy for popular struggles. It has permitted the strengthening of the extreme right, which today is running the country. Not only has it failed to stop the displacement of hundreds of thousands of peasants and afro-Colombians, but it has actually exacerbated that process, and even provoked the forced displacement of indigenous peoples in various parts of the country.” From this perspective one must see Chavez and Lula’s plea to FARC. They want the muscle of this organization to come above ground, join the “Pink Tide” in Latin America by assisting the Democratic Pole move Colombia’s institutions leftward.</p>
<p>The Bolivarian project has created a breakthrough in Latin America. It has inspired similar attempts to build electoral-parliamentary movements in concert with social movements, to use the power of the majority to seize state power and reshape the moral compact between the state and society. The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) is the mechanism to bring the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution to the hemisphere – this an alternative to the Free Trade Areas of the Americas favored by the oligarchies and Washington, DC. ALBA is no longer simply an alternative; it is now an alliance for a new kind of inter-state reiation.</p>
<p>Chavez’s call for the creation of a Fifth International, as “an instrument for the unification and the articulation of the struggle of the peoples to save this planet,” takes the project to the planetary level. This is Marxism without the Blanquist move to the gun. It based on a sober analysis of the social forces arrayed around the planet, with an eye to the possibility of using what institutions exist to move a progressive agenda, and to build toward the formation of a new moral-social compact such as the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution and ALBA.</p>
<p>What we have today, to borrow from Debray, is the Promethean lyricism of revolutionary construction and a lucidity with regard to its own actions, an alliance symbolized by the uneven but combined efforts from Brasilia to Caracas, La Paz to Havana.</p>
<p>VIJAY PRASHAD is the George and Martha Kellner Chair of South Asian History and Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, CT His new book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565847857/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World,</a> New York: The New Press, 2007. &#160;This essay also appears in Student Struggle, New Delhi.He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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The Long March in Latin America
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https://counterpunch.org/2010/01/08/the-long-march-in-latin-america/
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2010-01-08
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The Long March in Latin America
<p>In mid-2008, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) came under strong criticism from both Brazil’s Lula and Venezuela’s Chavez. Lula said, “The waging of armed struggle as a means of achieving power should end in Latin America. The belief that armed struggle can solve anything is out of date.” Chavez mirrored these views, saying, “The guerrilla war is history. At this moment in Latin America, an armed guerrilla movement is out of place.”</p>
<p>Chavez is no stranger to the armed road. His brother Adan, now a leading Chavista, was a member of the Revolutionary Left Movement (MIR), a Marxist-Leninist guerrilla organization, and later with the Party of the Venezuelan Revolution, an urban underground organization affiliated with the former guerrilla commander Douglas Bravo.</p>
<p>But, from Adan, Hugo Chavez also saw first hand the limitations of this work. As Adan put it to Alan Woods, “We conducted urban guerrilla work. But because of its clandestine character [of the Party of the Venezuelan Revolution] did not have contact with the masses. Furthermore they were very dogmatic and sectarian. Like the MIR, it split and ended up disappearing. In order to achieve a revolutionary popular movement, which would allow the taking of power, one had to have a strong influence within the popular masses and have support within the Armed Forces.”</p>
<p>Adan’s prognosis mirrors the self-criticism of the Venezuelan Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), whose leadership wrote in 1964 that they had fallen prey to “infantile subjectivism of petty bourgeois origin – the swollen enthusiasm due to a long chain of successes which we gained for a time, which made us appear each day, in Venezuela as well as abroad, like an almost mythological force of immeasurable power.” This led to an underestimation of the Venezuelan state and a grave overestimation of the fellowship between the masses and the FALN. The assessment is gloomy, but its victim was not simply the guerrilla army. It was equally the Venezuelan Communist Party, which took refuge in a quiescence that led in 1967 to its open break with Fidel Castro.</p>
<p>Hugo Chavez was part of the Venezuelan armed forces, within which he led a small clandestine leftist group. His band attempted a coup in 1992 that failed. Hugo Chavez went on television to tell his comrades to give up, por ahora, for now. That phrase, por ahora, struck a chord. Chavez converted his popularity into a mass movement, into which the small parties and the social movements threw themselves.</p>
<p>I remember meeting various left activists at the Central University of Venezuela in the years between the Chavez coup attempt (1992) and before his eventual electoral victory (1998) – their gloom was evident, nostalgia for Cuba, circa 1959, but desolation for their own future. Guerrilla warfare had ended by the mid-1990s: the leading edge for the Maoists of the continent was the Shining Path of Peru, whose leader, Guzman, was captured by the Peruvian military in 1991, with mopping up operations at work around the Maoists’ stronghold of Ayacucho. The Venezuelan left activists were in small bands, unable yet to see what had begun in the barrios, the slums of the poor that ring the city.</p>
<p>The fatigue with the parties of the Right and the Center-Right and the enthusiasm for the populism of Chavez’ party and his style enabled the first victory. Against US pressure and the machinations of the oligarchy, Chavez’s movement held firm. It then conducted its “long march through the institutions,” bringing the various state agencies in line with the values of the Bolivarian movement. All this culminated in the revision of the Constitution, which now better represented the aspirations of the vast mass of the Venezuelan population. State power was the goal, but it had been clear to the Bolivarian movement that state power does not only mean control of the state apparatus; if it meant only this, then the Bolivarians would have to do the dirty work of the oligarchy’s 1961 Constitution.</p>
<p>To write the new Bolivarian Constitution (1999), the Venezuelan population voted in a Constituent Assembly, who drafted a Constitution which was then ratified in a popular vote, the first time ever in the country’s history. The Constitution draws from a variety of sources, including from Latin America’s revolutionary history (from the liberator Simon Bolivar and the Marxist Jose Carlos Mariategui) and from Marxist theory (notably the remarkable Soviet jurist Evgeny Pashukanis). It is an astounding document, with provisions for deeper democracy at one level, and another for the widest recognition of human rights. The Chavez government had already formed the Barrio Adentro program to provide government-sponsored healthcare for the population. But this would have simply been at the mercy of the government. Now, the Constitution directs the government to provide healthcare, as it is now legally binding. All of this funded, propitiously, by the oil revenues that flooded into Venezuela’s state coffers. Guns remained holstered. The struggle was taken through the ballot box.</p>
<p>The successes of the Bolivarian project threatened the oligarchy with extinction and the US with the loss of its own power in its backyard. Distracted by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as by the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran, the US was unable to extend itself against the Bolivarians. The armies in the region too were not enthused to leave the barracks. The tide of history in Latin America favored the Bolivarians. Nevertheless, the US pushed for a counter-revolutionary coup in 2002. It failed, as the people rallied in large numbers behind the Bolivarian project. They had everything to lose, and they had been organized for just this eventuality. Chavez would not allow himself to fall like Pinochet. He had the support of the military, and he had not allowed the population to remain demobilized. They were now part of neighborhood committees and various self-defense leagues. They won by the numbers. The time of “terrible necessity,” to unholster the gun, was not yet at hand.</p>
<p>Lula, too, was also no stranger to the politics of the gun. When he was nineteen, the military deposed the left-liberal President Joåo Goulart to open an era of military rule that ran from 1964 to 1985. Lula lost the little finger of his left hand while working a press in an auto factory during the coup year, and by the time the dictatorship ended, he was a leader in the trade union movement and in the Workers’ Party (PT). During this long era, the urban middle class that leaned left went either into clandestine trade union organizational work or into gclandestine urban guerrilla units. Of the latter, the most spectacular was Carlos Marighella’s National Liberation Alliance; Marighella was the author of the influential Small Manual of the Urban Guerrilla (June 1969), a touchstone for the urban guerrilla from Montevideo to Mexico City. The police killed Marighella the same year as his manual came out (he was 57 years old, a veteran of the Brazilian CP who had broken with it over the strategy of violence).</p>
<p>The urban guerrilla did not influence Lula. Nor did the sectarianism of the Brazilian Communist Party during the Goulart era. The Brazilian CP took a hard line against the left-liberal regime of Goulart, letting him feel the heat from both the much less powerful Left and the much more powerful Right-wing (including the oligarchy and the military). In 1965, the Central Committee of the Brazilian CP conceded its errors, mainly “the underestimation of the danger of a rightist coup, which was considered to be a mere scarecrow, intended to frighten the masses. Concentrating our fire on the government, we demanded more and more drastic measures while overlooking our own weaknesses and the shortcomings of the national-democratic movement, as well as the effective correlation of social forces that existed at that time.” Neither the isolated guerrilla nor the sectarian line of the Goulart era CP.</p>
<p>The lessons for Lula were straightforward, and these went with him and the other labor activists into the Workers’ Party (PT) in 1980. &#160;A few years later, the Brazilian campesinos formed two of the most resilient peasant organizations, the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers and Movimiento Los Sin Tierra (MST) – they built up a membership of about eleven million members. These groups became fundamental constituents of the PT. Even in the most difficult situation, Lula and his current remained with mass organizing, building a movement of Brazilian workers through small actions that build the confidence of individuals to create a strong collectivity. It was this long campaign that resulted in the Diretas Ja! (Direct Elections Now) movement of 1984 that finally toppled the dictatorship. Not once did Lula move to the gun. Some of this is certainly temperamental; he was a working-class organizer who believed in making the fullest use of whatever institutions are available to build the power of the working-class.</p>
<p>It was not easy for a Latin American leftist to stray too far from the gun. US imperialism has always treated Latin America as its property. The Roosevelt Corollary (1904) to the Monroe Doctrine (1823) pointed out that the US government had the right to intervene in Latin America when it saw instances of “flagrant and chronic wrongdoing by a Latin American Nation.” It was for the US President to make this assessment. And he made it often, from the 1846 invasion of Mexico to the 2009 soft coup in Honduras. If the US did not come by way of the Marines or the Bombers, it came equally powerfully with its Dollars and Free Trade Agreements. This was clear to the Uruguayan Communist Party leader Rodney Arismendi by 1947, when he wrote, “The United States is profiting from this vying for power, from advantages obtained during the war, and in particular from commitments and agreements made under the Pan-American system. There is, therefore, no Pan American economic combination that does not lay South America at the feet of Yankee industry.”</p>
<p>A combined Latin America needed to stand tall against the attempt by “Anglo-Yankee financial oligarchies,” which were trying to “dynamite the foundation of the newly laid peace.” Any attempt to push a peace agenda was met with the same tonic from the local oligarchs and their North American allies: military coups and murder of the organizers of the peace. No wonder the gun for the revolutionary, drowning in the sorrows of futility.</p>
<p>The agony of the Left saw its deliverance in 1959 with the Cuban Revolution. It was almost miraculous. A small detachment of poorly armed men and women came off a boat from Mexico to hold off the Cuban military in the highlands. From there, luck and pluck enabled them to enlarge their base (their foco) and create firm alliances with the urban mass movements, which had themselves been awoken from a deep slumber by Castro and his brigands. The dictatorship crumbled with barely a few armed engagements. It was an extraordinary moment. Young people across Latin America took refuge in it, and, in particular, with Che Guevara’s call to revolt (his Guerrilla Warfare, 1961).</p>
<p>The French student, Regis Debray, wrote a manifesto for Castroism (1965) which extolled the ideas in motion which do not exist “except in those towns and mountains where at the present moment thousands of militants are fighting, beleaguered, with no guarantee for the future.” Debray was careful to point out in his survey that the tendency had already failed to take flight (“armed struggle is not in itself a panacea”), and yet he willed the idea of the “organic link between armed struggle and mass struggle.” Debray’s teacher, Louis Althusser responded tartly, “It may be that your theses are correct, but your text doesn’t really provide a positive demonstration of this; it simply gives what we could call a negative demonstration. In your writings, the validity of guerrilla warfare is demonstrated less by its own merits than through the defects or drawbacks of past forms of struggle that you examine; it is supported less by its positive qualities than by the negative aspects of other forms of struggle.”</p>
<p>Che Guevara ultimately went to Bolivia, to try out his method for the last time. He went to a remote region, hoping to enthuse the peasantry of the north-east and the miners to throw in their lot with him. The futility of the effort comes across in Che’s last entry into his diary: “Eleven months since our inauguration as guerrillas; the day was being spent without complications, even bucolically, until 12:30 when an old woman shepherding her goats came into the canyon where we had camped and it was necessary to apprehend her. The woman gave no truthful news about the soldiers, saying that she didn’t know anything, as it was a long time since she had been here. She only gave information about the roads…Fifty pesos were given to her with the request that she not say a word, but with little hope that she would keep her promise.”</p>
<p>Not only were the guerrillas isolated geographically, but also they were isolated from the people. They did not trust them. It is this image that provoked Teododo Petkoff of the Venezuelan CP and then of the MAS (Movimiento al Socialismo), and now a fierce critic of Chavez, to write in 1976, “Reality showed that a revolutionary will, deprived of favorable circumstances and supported by generalities like ‘Latin America is ready for revolution’ could do nothing when faced with those ‘stony eyes’ of the Bolivian peasants who looked at Guevara without understanding his efforts to communicate with them.”</p>
<p>By 1976, when Petkoff wrote his screed, the guerrilla movements had dissolved into driblets. Little remained in the Southern Cone (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile), and much less still in Brazil and Venezuela. Bolivia had been rendered mute, and Paraguay never was much of an option. The activists who remained alive took refuge in incubation: they seeded movements with their careful gestures, working among the Amerindians or the trade unions, in the Amazon forests or in the working-class barrios. The armed struggle, however, took root in the Andes, from southern Peru to the highlands of Colombia. In the former, it was the Shining Path, which would be obliterated by the mid-1990s. In the latter, it was the FARC.</p>
<p>Formed in 1964 by a rump group of the Colombian Communist Party (and led by the remarkable leader Manuel Marulanda, also known as Tiro Fijo, sure shot), the FARC went deep into the roots of Colombia’s rural life (Colombia profunda), building rural leadership to replace the few urban militants who had retreated into the countryside. Massive assault by the US-financed Colombian military could not destroy it, and indeed it seemed to grow like a mythical beast with each attack. In the 1980s, the Colombian Left signed a peace agreement with the oligarchy, and took to the polls. FARC supported the accord, but did not sign the agreement; it did not leave the mountains for the cities. It held its guns. The accord failed, as the politicians of the Left were killed, one by one, by the oligarchy’s military. FARC restarted the armed struggle. It was the resilience of the FARC that pushed the Plan Colombia, with the US government making that country the base of its Latin American operations. But it could not defeat FARC. The situation went to a stalemate.</p>
<p>It is in this stalemate that other forces emerged. In the northern regions, where the FARC is also popular, came new social institutions of the Nasa Indians. They held peace in their hearts, exhausted by the protracted civil war that has claimed too many of their loved ones. For them, another path was necessary. FARC was not going anywhere. It bounced back from its demise in 1970-74, and neither Plan Colombia (1998-2006) nor Plan Patriota (2003-2006) has dented the stalemate. And yet, as the Colombian activist and economist Hector Mondragon put it recently, the FARC has long eschewed the mass line for the military line. It is devoted to its military campaign, and pays little attention to the building up of mass struggles. As Mondragon points out, “This is a political error. It has become a tragedy for popular struggles. It has permitted the strengthening of the extreme right, which today is running the country. Not only has it failed to stop the displacement of hundreds of thousands of peasants and afro-Colombians, but it has actually exacerbated that process, and even provoked the forced displacement of indigenous peoples in various parts of the country.” From this perspective one must see Chavez and Lula’s plea to FARC. They want the muscle of this organization to come above ground, join the “Pink Tide” in Latin America by assisting the Democratic Pole move Colombia’s institutions leftward.</p>
<p>The Bolivarian project has created a breakthrough in Latin America. It has inspired similar attempts to build electoral-parliamentary movements in concert with social movements, to use the power of the majority to seize state power and reshape the moral compact between the state and society. The Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) is the mechanism to bring the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution to the hemisphere – this an alternative to the Free Trade Areas of the Americas favored by the oligarchies and Washington, DC. ALBA is no longer simply an alternative; it is now an alliance for a new kind of inter-state reiation.</p>
<p>Chavez’s call for the creation of a Fifth International, as “an instrument for the unification and the articulation of the struggle of the peoples to save this planet,” takes the project to the planetary level. This is Marxism without the Blanquist move to the gun. It based on a sober analysis of the social forces arrayed around the planet, with an eye to the possibility of using what institutions exist to move a progressive agenda, and to build toward the formation of a new moral-social compact such as the 1999 Venezuelan Constitution and ALBA.</p>
<p>What we have today, to borrow from Debray, is the Promethean lyricism of revolutionary construction and a lucidity with regard to its own actions, an alliance symbolized by the uneven but combined efforts from Brasilia to Caracas, La Paz to Havana.</p>
<p>VIJAY PRASHAD is the George and Martha Kellner Chair of South Asian History and Director of International Studies at Trinity College, Hartford, CT His new book is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1565847857/counterpunchmaga" type="external">The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World,</a> New York: The New Press, 2007. &#160;This essay also appears in Student Struggle, New Delhi.He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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<p>The Declaration of Independence printed with the names of the signers. Mary Katherine Goddard’s name is at the bottom. (Library of Congress/Rare Book and Special Collections Division/Continental Congress &amp; Constitutional Convention Broadsides Collection)</p>
<p>This Fourth of July, look closely at one of those printed copies of the Declaration of Independence.</p>
<p>See it? The woman’s name at the bottom?</p>
<p>It’s right there. Mary Katherine Goddard.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>If you’ve never noticed it or heard of her, you aren’t alone. She’s a Founding Mother, of sorts, yet few folks know about her. And some of America’s earliest bureaucrats did their best to shut her down. Same old, same old.</p>
<p>Goddard was fearless her entire career as one of America’s first female publishers, printing scoops from Revolutionary War battles from Concord to Bunker Hill and continuing to publish after her offices were twice raided and her life was repeatedly threatened by haters.</p>
<p>Yup, she faced down the Twitter trolls of 1776.</p>
<p>In her boldest move, Goddard put her full name at the bottom of all the copies of the Declaration that her printing presses churned out and distributed to the colonies. It was the first copy young America would see that included the original signer’s names – and Congress commissioned her for the important job.</p>
<p>Mary Katherine Goddard on the cover of the Baltimore Almanack from 1783. (John Carter/Brown University)</p>
<p>Her fiery editorials, had, after all, set the tone for pivotal moments in the revolution.</p>
<p>“The ever memorable 19th of April gave a conclusive answer to the questions of American freedom,” she wrote in her Maryland Journal editorial after the start of the Revolutionary War. “What think ye of Congress now? That day. . . evidenced that Americans would rather die than live slaves!”</p>
<p>Until Goddard got the assignment from Congress to print and distribute copies of the Declaration, it was more like an anonymous internet post than a document of record.</p>
<p>Sure, there’s the famous original copy in Thomas Jefferson’s elegant penmanship.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Beautifully written, boldly stated, it was famously signed by the Founding Fathers on July 4th. But neither Americans nor the British saw that copy.</p>
<p>Instead, days and weeks later, they got a hastily-printed, mistake-laden, nearly anonymous document that was the 1776 version of the ALL CAPS EMAIL signed by PATRIOT1776. Signing your name to something like this was considered treason.</p>
<p>It was done on the night of that July 4, when the founders asked Irish immigrant John Dunlap to print 200 copies. The only names on it were John Hancock and secretary Charles Thomson, who was listed as a witness. It was read to troops on the front lines and a copy was sent to England.</p>
<p>But without all the names of the founders, the Declaration was less devastating.</p>
<p>Goddard’s edition changed that.</p>
<p>And by including her name at the bottom, “Baltimore, in Maryland: Printed by Mary Katherine Goddard,” she became a patriot worth remembering.</p>
<p>Goddard wasn’t always so bold declaring her name.</p>
<p>When she ran the Baltimore newspaper that her brother had abandoned, she used the gender-neutral M.K. Goddard.</p>
<p>She was also quietly named the first female postmaster in the colonies in 1775, running the busy and crucial Baltimore Post Office as well as a bookstore, printshop and newspaper. At the time, Congress was meeting just down the street from her office. So she was basically the pipeline for a lot of information during our nation’s founding years – her little shop was a combination Washington Post, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram from 1775 to 1784. (It’s now a Rite Aid.)</p>
<p>Goddard may have been an early version of The Post’s Katharine Graham, but she wasn’t the only woman who made history running America’s free press.</p>
<p>In 1739, Elizabeth Timothy took over the South Carolina Gazette after her husband died, also taking over his partnership with Benjamin Franklin.</p>
<p>Franklin said the Widow Timothy was far more skilled at business than her husband had been. “Her accounts were clearer, she collected on more bills, and she cut off advertisements if payments were not current,” Franklin said according to Kay Mills in A Place in the News.</p>
<p>Goddard eventually lost her job as publisher after her brother married and returned to Baltimore in 1784, taking over the Maryland Journal and ousting his sister.</p>
<p>But she was still the Baltimore postmaster, and ran that office with efficiency and aplomb for a total of 14 years until the newly appointed national Postmaster General moved to replace her with someone with no experience, one of his political pals.</p>
<p>U.S. Postmaster Samuel Osgood said he didn’t think a woman could handle all the travel associated with the job, that she didn’t have the, ahem, stamina. Remember, it’s a job she’d successfully done – along with publishing a newspaper and printing the Declaration of Independence – for more than a decade.</p>
<p>The folks who knew her were outraged and more than 200 merchants and residents in Baltimore sent the postmaster a petition asking to keep her in place. But Osgood held firm and though Goddard fought for reinstatement for years, it was to no avail.</p>
<p>She continued to run her bookstore in Baltimore until her death in 1816.</p>
<p>On this Independence Day, let’s also celebrate the story of a forgotten patriot who used the power of the press to help build this nation.</p>
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A woman’s name appears on the Declaration of Independence
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https://abqjournal.com/1027603/this-womans-name-appears-on-the-declaration-of-independence-so-why-dont-we-know-her-story.html
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A woman’s name appears on the Declaration of Independence
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<p>The Declaration of Independence printed with the names of the signers. Mary Katherine Goddard’s name is at the bottom. (Library of Congress/Rare Book and Special Collections Division/Continental Congress &amp; Constitutional Convention Broadsides Collection)</p>
<p>This Fourth of July, look closely at one of those printed copies of the Declaration of Independence.</p>
<p>See it? The woman’s name at the bottom?</p>
<p>It’s right there. Mary Katherine Goddard.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>If you’ve never noticed it or heard of her, you aren’t alone. She’s a Founding Mother, of sorts, yet few folks know about her. And some of America’s earliest bureaucrats did their best to shut her down. Same old, same old.</p>
<p>Goddard was fearless her entire career as one of America’s first female publishers, printing scoops from Revolutionary War battles from Concord to Bunker Hill and continuing to publish after her offices were twice raided and her life was repeatedly threatened by haters.</p>
<p>Yup, she faced down the Twitter trolls of 1776.</p>
<p>In her boldest move, Goddard put her full name at the bottom of all the copies of the Declaration that her printing presses churned out and distributed to the colonies. It was the first copy young America would see that included the original signer’s names – and Congress commissioned her for the important job.</p>
<p>Mary Katherine Goddard on the cover of the Baltimore Almanack from 1783. (John Carter/Brown University)</p>
<p>Her fiery editorials, had, after all, set the tone for pivotal moments in the revolution.</p>
<p>“The ever memorable 19th of April gave a conclusive answer to the questions of American freedom,” she wrote in her Maryland Journal editorial after the start of the Revolutionary War. “What think ye of Congress now? That day. . . evidenced that Americans would rather die than live slaves!”</p>
<p>Until Goddard got the assignment from Congress to print and distribute copies of the Declaration, it was more like an anonymous internet post than a document of record.</p>
<p>Sure, there’s the famous original copy in Thomas Jefferson’s elegant penmanship.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Beautifully written, boldly stated, it was famously signed by the Founding Fathers on July 4th. But neither Americans nor the British saw that copy.</p>
<p>Instead, days and weeks later, they got a hastily-printed, mistake-laden, nearly anonymous document that was the 1776 version of the ALL CAPS EMAIL signed by PATRIOT1776. Signing your name to something like this was considered treason.</p>
<p>It was done on the night of that July 4, when the founders asked Irish immigrant John Dunlap to print 200 copies. The only names on it were John Hancock and secretary Charles Thomson, who was listed as a witness. It was read to troops on the front lines and a copy was sent to England.</p>
<p>But without all the names of the founders, the Declaration was less devastating.</p>
<p>Goddard’s edition changed that.</p>
<p>And by including her name at the bottom, “Baltimore, in Maryland: Printed by Mary Katherine Goddard,” she became a patriot worth remembering.</p>
<p>Goddard wasn’t always so bold declaring her name.</p>
<p>When she ran the Baltimore newspaper that her brother had abandoned, she used the gender-neutral M.K. Goddard.</p>
<p>She was also quietly named the first female postmaster in the colonies in 1775, running the busy and crucial Baltimore Post Office as well as a bookstore, printshop and newspaper. At the time, Congress was meeting just down the street from her office. So she was basically the pipeline for a lot of information during our nation’s founding years – her little shop was a combination Washington Post, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram from 1775 to 1784. (It’s now a Rite Aid.)</p>
<p>Goddard may have been an early version of The Post’s Katharine Graham, but she wasn’t the only woman who made history running America’s free press.</p>
<p>In 1739, Elizabeth Timothy took over the South Carolina Gazette after her husband died, also taking over his partnership with Benjamin Franklin.</p>
<p>Franklin said the Widow Timothy was far more skilled at business than her husband had been. “Her accounts were clearer, she collected on more bills, and she cut off advertisements if payments were not current,” Franklin said according to Kay Mills in A Place in the News.</p>
<p>Goddard eventually lost her job as publisher after her brother married and returned to Baltimore in 1784, taking over the Maryland Journal and ousting his sister.</p>
<p>But she was still the Baltimore postmaster, and ran that office with efficiency and aplomb for a total of 14 years until the newly appointed national Postmaster General moved to replace her with someone with no experience, one of his political pals.</p>
<p>U.S. Postmaster Samuel Osgood said he didn’t think a woman could handle all the travel associated with the job, that she didn’t have the, ahem, stamina. Remember, it’s a job she’d successfully done – along with publishing a newspaper and printing the Declaration of Independence – for more than a decade.</p>
<p>The folks who knew her were outraged and more than 200 merchants and residents in Baltimore sent the postmaster a petition asking to keep her in place. But Osgood held firm and though Goddard fought for reinstatement for years, it was to no avail.</p>
<p>She continued to run her bookstore in Baltimore until her death in 1816.</p>
<p>On this Independence Day, let’s also celebrate the story of a forgotten patriot who used the power of the press to help build this nation.</p>
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<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>While California is already facing another $20 billion shortfall, and with the state legislature bickering about which programs are responsible for the crisis, California voters are being asked (via Prop 21) to pay an $18 vehicle license fee that will specifically be devoted to maintaining the state’s parks.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; “California state parks and wildlife are priceless public assets and vital legacies for our children and grandchildren. But today, state parks are in peril because they have no reliable source of funding,” the official website <a href="http://www.yesforstateparks.com/get-the-facts/faq" type="external">states</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>If passed, the extra charge will go into effect January 1, 2011 with “free admission” to California state parks in exchange for an $18 vehicle license fee. Exempt from the surcharge are larger commercial vehicles, mobile homes, or permanent trailers.</p>
<p>As much sense as it makes to pay $18 for “free admission” into California’s state parks for the year, proponents of the measure seem to be very careful in not using the word “tax” in association with the new measure on this November’s ballot.&#160; After all, voters aren’t apt to support new taxes for their vehicles especially when many people are already having a hard time in cash-strapped California.&#160; Yet, a new tax is precisely what Proposition 21 seems to be. If approved, the new $18 fee will be applied to vehicles registered at the DMV, whether or not a driver utilizes the state parks privilege.</p>
<p>If voters on Tuesday reject Proposition 21, then existing state and local funding resources would continue to fund state parks. With the budget for state parks being slashed by the legislature in an attempt to deal with the state’s fiscal shortfall, supporters of the proposition highlight the fact that&#160;this is precisely the necessity voters should approve.&#160; On the other side of the aisle, those against the proposition are hoping that the surcharge collected by the DMV will resonate with voters as being something that they don’t want at this point in time.&#160;</p>
<p>To some, the proposition is just another reflection of bureaucracy’s mindset that it is justified to generate revenue with&#160;magical approval at the ballot box.&#160; In essence, their line of argument <a href="http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/no_on_proposition_21.html" type="external">says</a>&#160;that imposing these license fees absolves the legislature from working with the resources that they&#160;possess at the moment to fix the problem. It&#160;prevents them from evaluating the reckless spending and superfluous state-funded programs that led to the current fiscal mess in the first place.&#160;</p>
<p>On Tuesday, in deciding this proposition, voters will decide whether or not they should pay the new fees. Furthermore, they will decide whether they trust the California legislature to be responsible for these additional monetary resources.</p>
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Prop 21 could be a tough sell for cash-strapped California voters
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https://ivn.us/2010/10/29/prop-21-could-be-tough-sell-cash-strapped-california-voters/
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2010-10-29
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Prop 21 could be a tough sell for cash-strapped California voters
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>While California is already facing another $20 billion shortfall, and with the state legislature bickering about which programs are responsible for the crisis, California voters are being asked (via Prop 21) to pay an $18 vehicle license fee that will specifically be devoted to maintaining the state’s parks.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160; “California state parks and wildlife are priceless public assets and vital legacies for our children and grandchildren. But today, state parks are in peril because they have no reliable source of funding,” the official website <a href="http://www.yesforstateparks.com/get-the-facts/faq" type="external">states</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>If passed, the extra charge will go into effect January 1, 2011 with “free admission” to California state parks in exchange for an $18 vehicle license fee. Exempt from the surcharge are larger commercial vehicles, mobile homes, or permanent trailers.</p>
<p>As much sense as it makes to pay $18 for “free admission” into California’s state parks for the year, proponents of the measure seem to be very careful in not using the word “tax” in association with the new measure on this November’s ballot.&#160; After all, voters aren’t apt to support new taxes for their vehicles especially when many people are already having a hard time in cash-strapped California.&#160; Yet, a new tax is precisely what Proposition 21 seems to be. If approved, the new $18 fee will be applied to vehicles registered at the DMV, whether or not a driver utilizes the state parks privilege.</p>
<p>If voters on Tuesday reject Proposition 21, then existing state and local funding resources would continue to fund state parks. With the budget for state parks being slashed by the legislature in an attempt to deal with the state’s fiscal shortfall, supporters of the proposition highlight the fact that&#160;this is precisely the necessity voters should approve.&#160; On the other side of the aisle, those against the proposition are hoping that the surcharge collected by the DMV will resonate with voters as being something that they don’t want at this point in time.&#160;</p>
<p>To some, the proposition is just another reflection of bureaucracy’s mindset that it is justified to generate revenue with&#160;magical approval at the ballot box.&#160; In essence, their line of argument <a href="http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/no_on_proposition_21.html" type="external">says</a>&#160;that imposing these license fees absolves the legislature from working with the resources that they&#160;possess at the moment to fix the problem. It&#160;prevents them from evaluating the reckless spending and superfluous state-funded programs that led to the current fiscal mess in the first place.&#160;</p>
<p>On Tuesday, in deciding this proposition, voters will decide whether or not they should pay the new fees. Furthermore, they will decide whether they trust the California legislature to be responsible for these additional monetary resources.</p>
| 6,995 |
<p>&lt;img class="alignright size-full wp-image-433456" src="http://www.bizpacreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/DCNF-2-1-1.jpg" alt="DCNF" width="200" height="60" /&gt; Ted Goodman,&#160; <a href="http://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2017/08/16/we-got-behind-the-lines-of-white-supremacy-in-charlottesville-heres-what-we-saw/" type="external">DCNF</a></p>
<p>It took some persuading, but eventually a man who identified himself as Thomas let us behind the lines of a white nationalist group girding itself to conduct melee combat against Antifa protesters&#160;in Charlottesville, Va.</p>
<p>Thomas, a semi-spokesman for the group, wasted no time giving us the official line. “We’re here to protect white identity, white culture, white heritage, and we’re here to promote the new American nation that is currently under construction,” he told TheDCNF. “We’re not just white nationalists, because we believe in more than just a white nation,” he added. “We want a nation of values, of heritage, of culture. We don’t want just borders with white people inside. We strive for more than that.”</p>
<p>“We’re more than that, we’re fascists,” he said. “We believe in a strong centralized government. We believe in unity and strength among its people.”</p>
<p>He and some seven hundred members of fringe groups on the right were gathering in the park for what they dubbed a “Unite the Right” rally — partly to speak to an ongoing debate over the presence of Civil War monuments on public property. A large statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is the focal point of the park, which was called Lee Park until the city council voted to rename it Emancipation Park in June.</p>
<p>The white nationalist groups, including Vanguard America and The League of the South, had arrived to the park early (they had a permit) and tightly controlled the entrances.</p>
<p>Outside the park, a large contingent of counter-protesters was mobilizing on E. Market Street. These included local residents and University of Virginia students upset by the presence of white supremacists rallying in their backyard, but members of radical leftist groups including Antifa and the Workers World Party dominated the group.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>“We came out here to protest for our identity as white Americans,” Cody, a young man initially hesitant to speak, told TheDCNF. “We feel like everybody has a right to defend their own group and own ethnic interests and white people are the only ones where this is socially and culturally taboo.”</p>
<p>Cody’s perspective that white culture was under attack seemed to be shared by those around him.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>“If we were black people and we said we want to support black identity and we don’t want black people to go extinct, and we wanna have black communities and black culture, nobody would have a problem,” Cody said.</p>
<p>“If we were Hispanic, nobody would have a problem. If we were Jewish, nobody would have a problem,” Cody continued. “It’s only because we’re white that they wanna call us names, that they think we’re bad.”</p>
<p>Police had cordoned off the other three sides of the park.</p>
<p>&lt;img class="size-full wp-image-5824388" src="http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/V-1.jpg" alt="Map of Charlottesville, Va. (Google Maps screen grab)" width="1210" height="713" /&gt;</p>
<p>Map of Charlottesville, Va. (Google maps screen grab.)</p>
<p>Three lines of human buffers initially separated the rally-goers from the counter-protesters outside the park. A line of uniformed Virginia State Police officers cordoned off the rally inside. A row of faith leaders and activists stood in front of the police on the side of the counter-protesters, singing hymns including “This Little Light Of Mine.” About thirty “militiamen” armed with heavy weapons and donning military apparel positioned themselves as the third barrier between the rally and the counter-protesters.</p>
<p>“We don’t support the hard left or the hard right,” Christian Yingling, the commanding officer of the Pennsylvania lightfoot militia, told TheDCNF. “We come out here strictly to ensure people can say their piece, peacefully.”</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>The militiamen would remain at their position, even as State Police later withdrew.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>As the morning progressed, columns of 20 to 30 white nationalist at a time made their way through the growing crowd of counter-protesters in order to reach the inside of the park. A line of (mostly) young men lined up along the southern edge of the park to control access, shields ready.</p>
<p>&lt;img class="wp-image-5825541 size-full" src="http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_4989.jpg" alt="White supremacists in Charlottesville Saturday (Henry Rodgers, TheDCNF)" width="3264" height="2448" /&gt;</p>
<p>White supremacists inside Emancipation Park in Charlottesville. (Henry Rodgers, TheDCNF)</p>
<p>While most of the shields included symbols closely associated to fringe groups and white supremacist causes, two shields featured the logo for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League with a prominent white nationalist symbol in the middle. The team released a statement&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/status/896398114659217408/photo/1" type="external">disassociating from the events</a>&#160;in Charlottesville when notified.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>Down on the street, the counter-protest steadily grew in size, and both sides began hurling accusations.</p>
<p>&lt;img class="wp-image-5825535 size-full" src="http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_4960.jpg" alt="Counter-protesters in Charlottesville Saturday (Henry Rodgers, TheDCNF)" width="3264" height="2448" /&gt;</p>
<p>Counter-protesters in Charlottesville Saturday. (Henry Rodgers, TheDCNF)</p>
<p>“Black lives matter!” from the counter-protesters was met with, “White lives matter!” Projectiles started flying. People began hurling water bottles and water balloons, then concrete blocks. Others started spraying mace.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>Police initially held their position around the three sides of the park but later left the clashing factions to their own devices.&#160;Emotions boiled over into intense hand-to-hand combat before noon. Individuals from both sides began throwing themselves at one another without hesitation.&#160;Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency before the event had officially begun.</p>
<p>Inside the park, men and women from the front line stumbled to the back of the park for medical treatment. A sort of ad hoc medical zone was created, where people were treated for injuries ranging from head wounds to chemical burns.</p>
<p>&lt;img class="size-full wp-image-5825572" src="http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_5490.jpg" alt="White supremacists poor milk onto the face of a member who was hit with tear gas. (Ted Goodman/TheDCNF)" width="4032" height="3024" /&gt;</p>
<p>White supremacists poor milk onto the face of a member who was hit with tear gas. (Ted Goodman/TheDCNF)</p>
<p>After McAuliffe declared a state of emergency, police announced that the gathering in the park unlawful and ordered everyone to vacate the premises. Officers in full riot gear mobilized onto the park, forcing the white nationalists down onto E. Market where thousands of counter-protesters were waiting. Some in the group resisted the police.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>As a group moved away from the park and into a parking garage next to the police station, one antifa activist broke away from his friends.</p>
<p>White supremacists pounced, armed with sticks and large wooden planks. In seconds, the protester was on the ground, blood pouring from his head.&#160;He attempted to get up, legs wobbly. Police stood by, watching it all happen. Of all the images we captured that day, this is surely the most haunting.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>After the group of white supremacists fell out of sight,&#160;the counter-protesters in the downtown area celebrated. Loud hoots and hollers of victory peeled through the crowds of counter protesters as supremacists were driven from the park, and seemingly from the city.</p>
<p>Members of the press gathered quietly around tables, and police officers started to regroup, assuming the action was largely over. Then, a 2010 Dodge Challenger tore through a crowd of counter-protesters.</p>
<p>Bodies flew. Screaming and confusion gripped the crowd as the car plowed through the people, slammed into the back of a sedan and reversed out at a dizzying speed.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>Heather Heyer was killed and 19 others were injured. The driver was later identified as James Alex Fields Jr., an Ohio man sympathetic to Adolph Hitler and Nazism.</p>
<p>TheDCNF was on scene moments after the attack.</p>
<p />
<p>The&#160;chaotic scene&#160;was exacerbated by narrow streets&#160;filled with people and emergency vehicles. Bodies were strewn across the street as first responders and emergency personnel worked feverishly to stabilize the injured.</p>
<p>We caught the immediate response of Dr. Cornel West, a prominent and provocative left-wing activist.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>“Each life is precious, no matter whose it is,” West told us on scene. “It’s out of control man. We’ve got to get some love and justice.”</p>
<p>Following the vehicle incident, very few members of the white supremacist movement remained in the downtown area.</p>
<p>After receiving a tip that some of the white nationalists were holed up in a parking structure, TheDCNF was able to catch up with Isaac Baker of the League of the South, a neo-confederate organization pushing for a second secession from the Union.</p>
<p>“We came to exercise our rights in a peaceful manner,” Baker told TheDCNF. “The Godless destructors of civilization known as antifa came here to meet us, prevent us from exercising our rights, and we refuse to back down.”</p>
<p>Baker denied any knowledge of the vehicle incident, and another member claimed that it was a “Black Lives Matter chick” who had run people over.</p>
<p>“Antifa attacked us,” he said. “Don’t get that wrong. Antifa attacked us.”</p>
<p>“Keep f**king pushing leftists,” he added.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>While tracking the movements of the white nationalists, we learned the group had attempted to relocate to another park in the city. While driving, we noticed a string of emergency vehicles making their way towards the outskirts of town. We chose to follow the sirens and found ourselves in a sleepy neighborhood seemingly a world away from the chaos downtown.</p>
<p>“I saw the helicopter go down,” Robby Noll, a local resident, told TheDCNF. “It was mechanical problems I suspect. The helicopter appeared to maybe invert, and then it appeared to go sort of vertical and some pieces came off of the craft I guess, and then it seemed to go to the earth pretty quick.”</p>
<p>Noll said police were on the scene within three minutes.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>TheDCNF was the first media outlet on scene. For the next hour, emergency personnel flooded the scene and neighbors milled about. At about 6:00 p.m., Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller informed a gaggle of reporters that two state troopers had died as a result of the crash.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>McAuliffe, Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer and community leaders staged a press conference a short time later, where they urged calm and denounced the actions of the white supremacists.</p>
<p>After the sun set, three were dead and dozens injured. News outlets projected the images around the world as the nation began to digest. While cable news pundits and columnists opine over who is to blame for the events of Saturday, one thing must be made unequivocally clear — Charlottesville was ground zero for hate and intolerance Saturday.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/TedCGoodman" type="external">Follow Ted on Twitter</a></p>
<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact&#160; <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected].</a></p>
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Behind the lines of white supremacy in Charlottesville. An inside look…
| true |
http://bizpacreview.com/2017/08/17/behind-lines-white-supremacy-charlottesville-inside-look-526357
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2017-08-17
| 0right
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Behind the lines of white supremacy in Charlottesville. An inside look…
<p>&lt;img class="alignright size-full wp-image-433456" src="http://www.bizpacreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/DCNF-2-1-1.jpg" alt="DCNF" width="200" height="60" /&gt; Ted Goodman,&#160; <a href="http://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2017/08/16/we-got-behind-the-lines-of-white-supremacy-in-charlottesville-heres-what-we-saw/" type="external">DCNF</a></p>
<p>It took some persuading, but eventually a man who identified himself as Thomas let us behind the lines of a white nationalist group girding itself to conduct melee combat against Antifa protesters&#160;in Charlottesville, Va.</p>
<p>Thomas, a semi-spokesman for the group, wasted no time giving us the official line. “We’re here to protect white identity, white culture, white heritage, and we’re here to promote the new American nation that is currently under construction,” he told TheDCNF. “We’re not just white nationalists, because we believe in more than just a white nation,” he added. “We want a nation of values, of heritage, of culture. We don’t want just borders with white people inside. We strive for more than that.”</p>
<p>“We’re more than that, we’re fascists,” he said. “We believe in a strong centralized government. We believe in unity and strength among its people.”</p>
<p>He and some seven hundred members of fringe groups on the right were gathering in the park for what they dubbed a “Unite the Right” rally — partly to speak to an ongoing debate over the presence of Civil War monuments on public property. A large statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee is the focal point of the park, which was called Lee Park until the city council voted to rename it Emancipation Park in June.</p>
<p>The white nationalist groups, including Vanguard America and The League of the South, had arrived to the park early (they had a permit) and tightly controlled the entrances.</p>
<p>Outside the park, a large contingent of counter-protesters was mobilizing on E. Market Street. These included local residents and University of Virginia students upset by the presence of white supremacists rallying in their backyard, but members of radical leftist groups including Antifa and the Workers World Party dominated the group.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>“We came out here to protest for our identity as white Americans,” Cody, a young man initially hesitant to speak, told TheDCNF. “We feel like everybody has a right to defend their own group and own ethnic interests and white people are the only ones where this is socially and culturally taboo.”</p>
<p>Cody’s perspective that white culture was under attack seemed to be shared by those around him.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>“If we were black people and we said we want to support black identity and we don’t want black people to go extinct, and we wanna have black communities and black culture, nobody would have a problem,” Cody said.</p>
<p>“If we were Hispanic, nobody would have a problem. If we were Jewish, nobody would have a problem,” Cody continued. “It’s only because we’re white that they wanna call us names, that they think we’re bad.”</p>
<p>Police had cordoned off the other three sides of the park.</p>
<p>&lt;img class="size-full wp-image-5824388" src="http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/V-1.jpg" alt="Map of Charlottesville, Va. (Google Maps screen grab)" width="1210" height="713" /&gt;</p>
<p>Map of Charlottesville, Va. (Google maps screen grab.)</p>
<p>Three lines of human buffers initially separated the rally-goers from the counter-protesters outside the park. A line of uniformed Virginia State Police officers cordoned off the rally inside. A row of faith leaders and activists stood in front of the police on the side of the counter-protesters, singing hymns including “This Little Light Of Mine.” About thirty “militiamen” armed with heavy weapons and donning military apparel positioned themselves as the third barrier between the rally and the counter-protesters.</p>
<p>“We don’t support the hard left or the hard right,” Christian Yingling, the commanding officer of the Pennsylvania lightfoot militia, told TheDCNF. “We come out here strictly to ensure people can say their piece, peacefully.”</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>The militiamen would remain at their position, even as State Police later withdrew.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>As the morning progressed, columns of 20 to 30 white nationalist at a time made their way through the growing crowd of counter-protesters in order to reach the inside of the park. A line of (mostly) young men lined up along the southern edge of the park to control access, shields ready.</p>
<p>&lt;img class="wp-image-5825541 size-full" src="http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_4989.jpg" alt="White supremacists in Charlottesville Saturday (Henry Rodgers, TheDCNF)" width="3264" height="2448" /&gt;</p>
<p>White supremacists inside Emancipation Park in Charlottesville. (Henry Rodgers, TheDCNF)</p>
<p>While most of the shields included symbols closely associated to fringe groups and white supremacist causes, two shields featured the logo for the Detroit Red Wings of the National Hockey League with a prominent white nationalist symbol in the middle. The team released a statement&#160; <a href="https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/status/896398114659217408/photo/1" type="external">disassociating from the events</a>&#160;in Charlottesville when notified.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>Down on the street, the counter-protest steadily grew in size, and both sides began hurling accusations.</p>
<p>&lt;img class="wp-image-5825535 size-full" src="http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_4960.jpg" alt="Counter-protesters in Charlottesville Saturday (Henry Rodgers, TheDCNF)" width="3264" height="2448" /&gt;</p>
<p>Counter-protesters in Charlottesville Saturday. (Henry Rodgers, TheDCNF)</p>
<p>“Black lives matter!” from the counter-protesters was met with, “White lives matter!” Projectiles started flying. People began hurling water bottles and water balloons, then concrete blocks. Others started spraying mace.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>Police initially held their position around the three sides of the park but later left the clashing factions to their own devices.&#160;Emotions boiled over into intense hand-to-hand combat before noon. Individuals from both sides began throwing themselves at one another without hesitation.&#160;Virginia Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency before the event had officially begun.</p>
<p>Inside the park, men and women from the front line stumbled to the back of the park for medical treatment. A sort of ad hoc medical zone was created, where people were treated for injuries ranging from head wounds to chemical burns.</p>
<p>&lt;img class="size-full wp-image-5825572" src="http://dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/IMG_5490.jpg" alt="White supremacists poor milk onto the face of a member who was hit with tear gas. (Ted Goodman/TheDCNF)" width="4032" height="3024" /&gt;</p>
<p>White supremacists poor milk onto the face of a member who was hit with tear gas. (Ted Goodman/TheDCNF)</p>
<p>After McAuliffe declared a state of emergency, police announced that the gathering in the park unlawful and ordered everyone to vacate the premises. Officers in full riot gear mobilized onto the park, forcing the white nationalists down onto E. Market where thousands of counter-protesters were waiting. Some in the group resisted the police.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>As a group moved away from the park and into a parking garage next to the police station, one antifa activist broke away from his friends.</p>
<p>White supremacists pounced, armed with sticks and large wooden planks. In seconds, the protester was on the ground, blood pouring from his head.&#160;He attempted to get up, legs wobbly. Police stood by, watching it all happen. Of all the images we captured that day, this is surely the most haunting.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>After the group of white supremacists fell out of sight,&#160;the counter-protesters in the downtown area celebrated. Loud hoots and hollers of victory peeled through the crowds of counter protesters as supremacists were driven from the park, and seemingly from the city.</p>
<p>Members of the press gathered quietly around tables, and police officers started to regroup, assuming the action was largely over. Then, a 2010 Dodge Challenger tore through a crowd of counter-protesters.</p>
<p>Bodies flew. Screaming and confusion gripped the crowd as the car plowed through the people, slammed into the back of a sedan and reversed out at a dizzying speed.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>Heather Heyer was killed and 19 others were injured. The driver was later identified as James Alex Fields Jr., an Ohio man sympathetic to Adolph Hitler and Nazism.</p>
<p>TheDCNF was on scene moments after the attack.</p>
<p />
<p>The&#160;chaotic scene&#160;was exacerbated by narrow streets&#160;filled with people and emergency vehicles. Bodies were strewn across the street as first responders and emergency personnel worked feverishly to stabilize the injured.</p>
<p>We caught the immediate response of Dr. Cornel West, a prominent and provocative left-wing activist.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>“Each life is precious, no matter whose it is,” West told us on scene. “It’s out of control man. We’ve got to get some love and justice.”</p>
<p>Following the vehicle incident, very few members of the white supremacist movement remained in the downtown area.</p>
<p>After receiving a tip that some of the white nationalists were holed up in a parking structure, TheDCNF was able to catch up with Isaac Baker of the League of the South, a neo-confederate organization pushing for a second secession from the Union.</p>
<p>“We came to exercise our rights in a peaceful manner,” Baker told TheDCNF. “The Godless destructors of civilization known as antifa came here to meet us, prevent us from exercising our rights, and we refuse to back down.”</p>
<p>Baker denied any knowledge of the vehicle incident, and another member claimed that it was a “Black Lives Matter chick” who had run people over.</p>
<p>“Antifa attacked us,” he said. “Don’t get that wrong. Antifa attacked us.”</p>
<p>“Keep f**king pushing leftists,” he added.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>While tracking the movements of the white nationalists, we learned the group had attempted to relocate to another park in the city. While driving, we noticed a string of emergency vehicles making their way towards the outskirts of town. We chose to follow the sirens and found ourselves in a sleepy neighborhood seemingly a world away from the chaos downtown.</p>
<p>“I saw the helicopter go down,” Robby Noll, a local resident, told TheDCNF. “It was mechanical problems I suspect. The helicopter appeared to maybe invert, and then it appeared to go sort of vertical and some pieces came off of the craft I guess, and then it seemed to go to the earth pretty quick.”</p>
<p>Noll said police were on the scene within three minutes.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>TheDCNF was the first media outlet on scene. For the next hour, emergency personnel flooded the scene and neighbors milled about. At about 6:00 p.m., Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller informed a gaggle of reporters that two state troopers had died as a result of the crash.</p>
<p>WATCH:</p>
<p />
<p>McAuliffe, Charlottesville Mayor Michael Signer and community leaders staged a press conference a short time later, where they urged calm and denounced the actions of the white supremacists.</p>
<p>After the sun set, three were dead and dozens injured. News outlets projected the images around the world as the nation began to digest. While cable news pundits and columnists opine over who is to blame for the events of Saturday, one thing must be made unequivocally clear — Charlottesville was ground zero for hate and intolerance Saturday.</p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/TedCGoodman" type="external">Follow Ted on Twitter</a></p>
<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact&#160; <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected].</a></p>
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<p>When Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed of Malaysia recently declared that “Jews rule this world by proxy” and urged Muslim nations to unite to avoid being “defeated by a few million Jews,” he was heavily criticized throughout the Western world for anti-Semitism. Largely obscured was the fact that in the same address, Mahathir had been much more harsh with his fellow Muslims, calling them a backward people, crippled by religious superstition and enfeebled by infighting. But no one in the West accused him of being anti-Muslim. And when the US Senate voted — without dissent — to restrict military aid to Malaysia in retaliation (for his remark about Jews, not the one about Muslims), who amongst Mahathir’s critics conceded that this lent some credence to his statement about Jewish influence?</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>The Most Reverend Pat Robertson recently called for the nuking of the State Department. “If I could just get a nuclear device inside Foggy Bottom,” he said over the radio. “I think that’s the answer.” Imagine that a Muslim minister — or any Muslim — had said the same on the radio — or even in a private conversation. Imagine anyone who wasn’t an influential conservative Christian or Jew saying the same in this day and age. Imagine the consequences.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>George W. recently designated Otto Reich, his Special Envoy for Western Hemisphere Initiatives, to lead a delegation to attend the commemoration ceremony of the 20th Anniversary of “the restoration of democracy to Grenada”. Bad enough that Reich has on his resume abetting anti-Cuban terrorists who bombed a plane out of the air killing 73 people, bad enough that what actually happened in October 1983 in Grenada was the US overthrowing another government which was not a threat to anyone and covering it up with a campaign of lies that stood unmatched until the present-day Iraq fiasco, but here’s what “the restoration of democracy to Grenada” looked like at the time: At the end of 1984, former Premier Herbert Blaize was elected prime minister, his party capturing 14 of the 15 parliamentary seats. Blaize, who in the wake of the invasion had proclaimed to the United States: “We say thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” had been favored by the Reagan administration. The candidate who won the sole opposition seat announced that he would not occupy it because of what he called “vote rigging and interference in the election by outside forces.” One year later, the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs reported on Grenada as part of its annual survey of human rights abuses:</p>
<p>Reliable accounts are circulating of prisoners being beaten, denied medical attention and confined for long periods without being able to see lawyers. The country’s new US-trained police force has acquired a reputation for brutality, arbitrary arrest and abuse of authority.</p>
<p>The report added that an offending all-music radio station had been closed and that US-trained counter-insurgency forces were eroding civil rights. By the late 1980s, the government began confiscating many books arriving from abroad, including Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana and Nelson Mandela Speaks. In April 1989, it issued a list of more than 80 books which were prohibited from being imported. Four months later, Prime Minister Blaize suspended Parliament to forestall a threatened no-confidence vote resulting from what his critics called “an increasingly authoritarian style”.[1]</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>A seemingly odd dispute broke out recently between the White House and a majority of the members of Congress, including many Republicans, over the nature of the Iraq reconstruction funds. Congress insisted that a significant portion of the money be in the form of loans, while the Bush administration wanted it all to be grants, even threatening a veto of the spending bill if it required Iraq to repay any of the money. In the end, the White House got its way. But what was it all about? Could it be that the Bushgang wanted to be more generous to the people of Iraq? That’s hardly in keeping with its bombing, invasion and occupation of the same people. Rather, it’s probably another indication that the Bush Administration has no intention of leaving Iraq. A loan which has to be repaid would be money owed by the US occupation authorities, providing them with less funds for the likes of Halliburton, Bechtel and other friends of George and Dick.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Comparisons between the current Iraq quagmire and the infamous Vietnam quagmire are being raised more and more these days. But one vital difference is never pointed out; namely, that in Vietnam the US had a temporary objective, while in Iraq it’s permanent. In Vietnam, the object was to destroy the possibility of a state arising there that could serve as an example of an alternative to the capitalist development model for other Asian countries. Ideally, this could be achieved by instituting a pro-American government. Although this proved beyond Washington’s means, once Vietnam had been bombed, napalmed and Agent-Oranged into a basket case, which would not inspire anyone, the US was free to leave, with mission accomplished. In Iraq, the object is to colonize the place for a host of ongoing imperial needs, so there’s no plan to leave in the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Clinton’s former chief of staff, John Podesta, has formed a new think tank, the Center for American Progress. This was characterized by the Washington Post[2] as “the liberal’s answer to the conservative Heritage Foundation”. This is a very common misunderstanding in the mainstream media and among the public — the idea that neo-conservatives (far to the right on the political spectrum) and liberals (ever so slightly to the left of center) are ideological polar opposites. Thus, a radio or TV show with a neo-con and a liberal thinks of itself as “balanced”. However, the opposite of a conservative — particularly the new breed that prominently advise the White House and Pentagon, and often occupy positions there — is a left-wing radical, progressive or socialist. Liberals are often closer to conservatives, especially in foreign policy, than they are to these groups on the far left. In this light, the never-ending debate about whether the media has a conservative or a liberal bias takes on much less significance.</p>
<p>NOTES</p>
<p>1. For all the details, see WILLIAM BLUM, “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II”, chapter 45.</p>
<p>2. November 5, 2003. p.C3</p>
<p>WILLIAM BLUM is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567511945/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Rogue State: a guide to the World’s Only Super Power</a>. and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1887128727/counterpunchmaga" type="external">West-Bloc Dissident: a Cold War Political Memoir</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567511945/counterpunchmaga" type="external">.</a>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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The Anti-Empire Report
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https://counterpunch.org/2003/11/07/the-anti-empire-report/
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2003-11-07
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The Anti-Empire Report
<p>When Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed of Malaysia recently declared that “Jews rule this world by proxy” and urged Muslim nations to unite to avoid being “defeated by a few million Jews,” he was heavily criticized throughout the Western world for anti-Semitism. Largely obscured was the fact that in the same address, Mahathir had been much more harsh with his fellow Muslims, calling them a backward people, crippled by religious superstition and enfeebled by infighting. But no one in the West accused him of being anti-Muslim. And when the US Senate voted — without dissent — to restrict military aid to Malaysia in retaliation (for his remark about Jews, not the one about Muslims), who amongst Mahathir’s critics conceded that this lent some credence to his statement about Jewish influence?</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>The Most Reverend Pat Robertson recently called for the nuking of the State Department. “If I could just get a nuclear device inside Foggy Bottom,” he said over the radio. “I think that’s the answer.” Imagine that a Muslim minister — or any Muslim — had said the same on the radio — or even in a private conversation. Imagine anyone who wasn’t an influential conservative Christian or Jew saying the same in this day and age. Imagine the consequences.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>George W. recently designated Otto Reich, his Special Envoy for Western Hemisphere Initiatives, to lead a delegation to attend the commemoration ceremony of the 20th Anniversary of “the restoration of democracy to Grenada”. Bad enough that Reich has on his resume abetting anti-Cuban terrorists who bombed a plane out of the air killing 73 people, bad enough that what actually happened in October 1983 in Grenada was the US overthrowing another government which was not a threat to anyone and covering it up with a campaign of lies that stood unmatched until the present-day Iraq fiasco, but here’s what “the restoration of democracy to Grenada” looked like at the time: At the end of 1984, former Premier Herbert Blaize was elected prime minister, his party capturing 14 of the 15 parliamentary seats. Blaize, who in the wake of the invasion had proclaimed to the United States: “We say thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” had been favored by the Reagan administration. The candidate who won the sole opposition seat announced that he would not occupy it because of what he called “vote rigging and interference in the election by outside forces.” One year later, the Washington-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs reported on Grenada as part of its annual survey of human rights abuses:</p>
<p>Reliable accounts are circulating of prisoners being beaten, denied medical attention and confined for long periods without being able to see lawyers. The country’s new US-trained police force has acquired a reputation for brutality, arbitrary arrest and abuse of authority.</p>
<p>The report added that an offending all-music radio station had been closed and that US-trained counter-insurgency forces were eroding civil rights. By the late 1980s, the government began confiscating many books arriving from abroad, including Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana and Nelson Mandela Speaks. In April 1989, it issued a list of more than 80 books which were prohibited from being imported. Four months later, Prime Minister Blaize suspended Parliament to forestall a threatened no-confidence vote resulting from what his critics called “an increasingly authoritarian style”.[1]</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>A seemingly odd dispute broke out recently between the White House and a majority of the members of Congress, including many Republicans, over the nature of the Iraq reconstruction funds. Congress insisted that a significant portion of the money be in the form of loans, while the Bush administration wanted it all to be grants, even threatening a veto of the spending bill if it required Iraq to repay any of the money. In the end, the White House got its way. But what was it all about? Could it be that the Bushgang wanted to be more generous to the people of Iraq? That’s hardly in keeping with its bombing, invasion and occupation of the same people. Rather, it’s probably another indication that the Bush Administration has no intention of leaving Iraq. A loan which has to be repaid would be money owed by the US occupation authorities, providing them with less funds for the likes of Halliburton, Bechtel and other friends of George and Dick.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Comparisons between the current Iraq quagmire and the infamous Vietnam quagmire are being raised more and more these days. But one vital difference is never pointed out; namely, that in Vietnam the US had a temporary objective, while in Iraq it’s permanent. In Vietnam, the object was to destroy the possibility of a state arising there that could serve as an example of an alternative to the capitalist development model for other Asian countries. Ideally, this could be achieved by instituting a pro-American government. Although this proved beyond Washington’s means, once Vietnam had been bombed, napalmed and Agent-Oranged into a basket case, which would not inspire anyone, the US was free to leave, with mission accomplished. In Iraq, the object is to colonize the place for a host of ongoing imperial needs, so there’s no plan to leave in the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>Clinton’s former chief of staff, John Podesta, has formed a new think tank, the Center for American Progress. This was characterized by the Washington Post[2] as “the liberal’s answer to the conservative Heritage Foundation”. This is a very common misunderstanding in the mainstream media and among the public — the idea that neo-conservatives (far to the right on the political spectrum) and liberals (ever so slightly to the left of center) are ideological polar opposites. Thus, a radio or TV show with a neo-con and a liberal thinks of itself as “balanced”. However, the opposite of a conservative — particularly the new breed that prominently advise the White House and Pentagon, and often occupy positions there — is a left-wing radical, progressive or socialist. Liberals are often closer to conservatives, especially in foreign policy, than they are to these groups on the far left. In this light, the never-ending debate about whether the media has a conservative or a liberal bias takes on much less significance.</p>
<p>NOTES</p>
<p>1. For all the details, see WILLIAM BLUM, “Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II”, chapter 45.</p>
<p>2. November 5, 2003. p.C3</p>
<p>WILLIAM BLUM is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567511945/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Rogue State: a guide to the World’s Only Super Power</a>. and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1887128727/counterpunchmaga" type="external">West-Bloc Dissident: a Cold War Political Memoir</a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567511945/counterpunchmaga" type="external">.</a>He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
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<p>SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Latest on a Utah plan to specifically legalize free-range parenting (all times local):</p>
<p>3:27 p.m.</p>
<p>A panel of Utah lawmakers has approved a proposal aimed at ensuring parents aren’t investigated for letting their kids do things like walk to school or play outside alone, known as free-range parenting.</p>
<p>The bill passed unanimously Tuesday would revise state law to say allowing mature kids to do things like travel to school or play outside isn’t neglect if the children are otherwise well cared-for. It now moves to the Senate floor.</p>
<p>Republican sponsor Sen. Lincoln Fillmore told several stories of parents investigated and some who briefly lost custody after people reported seeing their kids playing basketball in their yards or walking to school alone. None happened in Utah.</p>
<p>Democratic Sen. Luz Escamilla says she’s glad people report unsupervised children, though she said the official responses may have been overzealous.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>12:19 p.m.</p>
<p>Free-range parenting is a modern buzzword for families aiming to raise self-sufficient kids, but how much freedom at what age remains a fierce debate.</p>
<p>Now, one Utah lawmaker wants to ensure parents are not accused of neglect for allowing mature kids to do things alone like travel to school, explore a playground or stay in the car.</p>
<p>A panel of lawmakers is set to hear the bill on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Republican Sen. Lincoln Fillmore says allowing kids to make their own way helps keep the joy in childhood and prepare them for the future.</p>
<p>Still, some question whether the measure is needed. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill says Utah authorities don’t micromanage parents. He worries such a law could be used as a defense in child abuse cases.</p>
<p>SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Latest on a Utah plan to specifically legalize free-range parenting (all times local):</p>
<p>3:27 p.m.</p>
<p>A panel of Utah lawmakers has approved a proposal aimed at ensuring parents aren’t investigated for letting their kids do things like walk to school or play outside alone, known as free-range parenting.</p>
<p>The bill passed unanimously Tuesday would revise state law to say allowing mature kids to do things like travel to school or play outside isn’t neglect if the children are otherwise well cared-for. It now moves to the Senate floor.</p>
<p>Republican sponsor Sen. Lincoln Fillmore told several stories of parents investigated and some who briefly lost custody after people reported seeing their kids playing basketball in their yards or walking to school alone. None happened in Utah.</p>
<p>Democratic Sen. Luz Escamilla says she’s glad people report unsupervised children, though she said the official responses may have been overzealous.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>12:19 p.m.</p>
<p>Free-range parenting is a modern buzzword for families aiming to raise self-sufficient kids, but how much freedom at what age remains a fierce debate.</p>
<p>Now, one Utah lawmaker wants to ensure parents are not accused of neglect for allowing mature kids to do things alone like travel to school, explore a playground or stay in the car.</p>
<p>A panel of lawmakers is set to hear the bill on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Republican Sen. Lincoln Fillmore says allowing kids to make their own way helps keep the joy in childhood and prepare them for the future.</p>
<p>Still, some question whether the measure is needed. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill says Utah authorities don’t micromanage parents. He worries such a law could be used as a defense in child abuse cases.</p>
|
The Latest: Utah lawmakers OK free-range parenting bill
| false |
https://apnews.com/dc6faaa559654530bc0d0dc773469640
|
2018-01-23
| 2least
|
The Latest: Utah lawmakers OK free-range parenting bill
<p>SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Latest on a Utah plan to specifically legalize free-range parenting (all times local):</p>
<p>3:27 p.m.</p>
<p>A panel of Utah lawmakers has approved a proposal aimed at ensuring parents aren’t investigated for letting their kids do things like walk to school or play outside alone, known as free-range parenting.</p>
<p>The bill passed unanimously Tuesday would revise state law to say allowing mature kids to do things like travel to school or play outside isn’t neglect if the children are otherwise well cared-for. It now moves to the Senate floor.</p>
<p>Republican sponsor Sen. Lincoln Fillmore told several stories of parents investigated and some who briefly lost custody after people reported seeing their kids playing basketball in their yards or walking to school alone. None happened in Utah.</p>
<p>Democratic Sen. Luz Escamilla says she’s glad people report unsupervised children, though she said the official responses may have been overzealous.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>12:19 p.m.</p>
<p>Free-range parenting is a modern buzzword for families aiming to raise self-sufficient kids, but how much freedom at what age remains a fierce debate.</p>
<p>Now, one Utah lawmaker wants to ensure parents are not accused of neglect for allowing mature kids to do things alone like travel to school, explore a playground or stay in the car.</p>
<p>A panel of lawmakers is set to hear the bill on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Republican Sen. Lincoln Fillmore says allowing kids to make their own way helps keep the joy in childhood and prepare them for the future.</p>
<p>Still, some question whether the measure is needed. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill says Utah authorities don’t micromanage parents. He worries such a law could be used as a defense in child abuse cases.</p>
<p>SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Latest on a Utah plan to specifically legalize free-range parenting (all times local):</p>
<p>3:27 p.m.</p>
<p>A panel of Utah lawmakers has approved a proposal aimed at ensuring parents aren’t investigated for letting their kids do things like walk to school or play outside alone, known as free-range parenting.</p>
<p>The bill passed unanimously Tuesday would revise state law to say allowing mature kids to do things like travel to school or play outside isn’t neglect if the children are otherwise well cared-for. It now moves to the Senate floor.</p>
<p>Republican sponsor Sen. Lincoln Fillmore told several stories of parents investigated and some who briefly lost custody after people reported seeing their kids playing basketball in their yards or walking to school alone. None happened in Utah.</p>
<p>Democratic Sen. Luz Escamilla says she’s glad people report unsupervised children, though she said the official responses may have been overzealous.</p>
<p>__</p>
<p>12:19 p.m.</p>
<p>Free-range parenting is a modern buzzword for families aiming to raise self-sufficient kids, but how much freedom at what age remains a fierce debate.</p>
<p>Now, one Utah lawmaker wants to ensure parents are not accused of neglect for allowing mature kids to do things alone like travel to school, explore a playground or stay in the car.</p>
<p>A panel of lawmakers is set to hear the bill on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Republican Sen. Lincoln Fillmore says allowing kids to make their own way helps keep the joy in childhood and prepare them for the future.</p>
<p>Still, some question whether the measure is needed. Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill says Utah authorities don’t micromanage parents. He worries such a law could be used as a defense in child abuse cases.</p>
| 6,998 |
<p />
<p>Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) spoke on marriage and abortion during the debate. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p />
<p>In the debate at St. Anselm College just before the New Hampshire primary, Mary Katharine Ham, editor of the conservative website HotAir, asked Rubio to respond to Millennials’ strong support for same-sex marriage, but also at least some restrictions on abortion.</p>
<p>On same-sex marriage, Rubio was emphatic about his opposition, but also left room to “respect” those who may have a differing views in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court decision extending marriage rights for gay couples across the country.</p>
<p>“I don’t think believing in traditional marriage, as I do, makes you a bigot or a hater,” Rubio said. “It means that you believe that this institution that’s been around for millennia is an important cornerstone of our society. I respect people who believe differently, but I believe deeply that marriage should be between one man and one woman.”</p>
<p>On restricting abortion rights, Rubio was at first even-handed as well, saying the issue represents two rights in conflict, but he ultimately comes down as pro-life.</p>
<p>“To me, the issue of life is not a political issue; it’s a human rights issue,” Rubio said. “But it’s a difficult issue because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body, which is a real right, and on the other is the right of an unborn human child to live. They’re in conflict and as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. I’ve chosen to error on the side of life.”</p>
<p>But unlike with marriage, Rubio invoked abortion as an issue in which he said he’s eager to challenge Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a general election.</p>
<p>“Here’s what I find outrageous: In five Democratic debates, the media has not asked them a single question on abortion,” Rubio said. “And on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn’t the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don’t they ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that partial-birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that is a fundamental right? They are the extremists when it comes to the issue of abortion, and I can’t wait to expose them in a general election.”</p>
<p />
<p>Rubio has said he opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest (although not explicitly during the debate), which Jeb Bush referenced in his subsequent response to the question, hinting that view would harm Rubio if he were in the GOP nominee.</p>
<p>“I’m pro-life, but I believe there should exceptions: Rape, incest and [when] the life of the mother is danger,” Bush said. “And so, that belief and my consistency on this makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have I different view, and I respect it, but I think we have to be cognizant of the fact that a lot of people are concerned about having a pro-life position without any exceptions.”</p>
<p>But Rubio was unapologetic in his views, saying although he supports an exception for the life of a mother he’ll stand by his pro-life views despite any difficultly in the general election.</p>
<p>“I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of our laws,” Rubio said. “If I’m elected president, and there’s a bill passed that saves lives, but it has exceptions, I’ll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of our laws. I’ve already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue, and I want to frank, I would rather lose an election, then be wrong on the issue of life.”</p>
<p>The more fiery response from Rubio on abortion as opposed to marriage is consistent with polling. According to Gallup, in 2015 there was 23 percent increase in support for gay and lesbian relations since 2001, but only a 3 percent uptick in support on abortion.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">abortion</a> <a href="" type="internal">Marco Rubio</a> <a href="" type="internal">same-sex marriage</a></p>
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In debate, Rubio reflects public shift on marriage, consistency on abortion
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http://washingtonblade.com/2016/02/07/in-debate-rubio-reflects-public-views-on-marriage-abortion/
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In debate, Rubio reflects public shift on marriage, consistency on abortion
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<p>Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) spoke on marriage and abortion during the debate. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)</p>
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<p>In the debate at St. Anselm College just before the New Hampshire primary, Mary Katharine Ham, editor of the conservative website HotAir, asked Rubio to respond to Millennials’ strong support for same-sex marriage, but also at least some restrictions on abortion.</p>
<p>On same-sex marriage, Rubio was emphatic about his opposition, but also left room to “respect” those who may have a differing views in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court decision extending marriage rights for gay couples across the country.</p>
<p>“I don’t think believing in traditional marriage, as I do, makes you a bigot or a hater,” Rubio said. “It means that you believe that this institution that’s been around for millennia is an important cornerstone of our society. I respect people who believe differently, but I believe deeply that marriage should be between one man and one woman.”</p>
<p>On restricting abortion rights, Rubio was at first even-handed as well, saying the issue represents two rights in conflict, but he ultimately comes down as pro-life.</p>
<p>“To me, the issue of life is not a political issue; it’s a human rights issue,” Rubio said. “But it’s a difficult issue because it puts in conflict two competing rights. On the one hand is the right of a woman to choose what to do with her body, which is a real right, and on the other is the right of an unborn human child to live. They’re in conflict and as a policy maker, I must choose which one of these two sides takes precedence. I’ve chosen to error on the side of life.”</p>
<p>But unlike with marriage, Rubio invoked abortion as an issue in which he said he’s eager to challenge Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in a general election.</p>
<p>“Here’s what I find outrageous: In five Democratic debates, the media has not asked them a single question on abortion,” Rubio said. “And on abortion, the Democrats are extremists. Why doesn’t the media ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that all abortion should be legal, even on the due date of that unborn child. Why don’t they ask Hillary Clinton why she believes that partial-birth abortion, which is a gruesome procedure that has been outlawed in this country, she thinks that is a fundamental right? They are the extremists when it comes to the issue of abortion, and I can’t wait to expose them in a general election.”</p>
<p />
<p>Rubio has said he opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest (although not explicitly during the debate), which Jeb Bush referenced in his subsequent response to the question, hinting that view would harm Rubio if he were in the GOP nominee.</p>
<p>“I’m pro-life, but I believe there should exceptions: Rape, incest and [when] the life of the mother is danger,” Bush said. “And so, that belief and my consistency on this makes me, I think, poised to be in the right place, the sweet spot for a Republican nominee. And others may have I different view, and I respect it, but I think we have to be cognizant of the fact that a lot of people are concerned about having a pro-life position without any exceptions.”</p>
<p>But Rubio was unapologetic in his views, saying although he supports an exception for the life of a mother he’ll stand by his pro-life views despite any difficultly in the general election.</p>
<p>“I just believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of our laws,” Rubio said. “If I’m elected president, and there’s a bill passed that saves lives, but it has exceptions, I’ll sign it. But I do believe deeply that all human life is worthy of the protection of our laws. I’ve already said, for me, the issue of life is not a political issue, and I want to frank, I would rather lose an election, then be wrong on the issue of life.”</p>
<p>The more fiery response from Rubio on abortion as opposed to marriage is consistent with polling. According to Gallup, in 2015 there was 23 percent increase in support for gay and lesbian relations since 2001, but only a 3 percent uptick in support on abortion.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">abortion</a> <a href="" type="internal">Marco Rubio</a> <a href="" type="internal">same-sex marriage</a></p>
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