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<p>“Today I can say that our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays,” President Obama declared Friday, helpfully noting that this withdrawal plan makes good on one of his campaign promises. No doubt what he said strikes fear in the hearts of Republican presidential hopefuls and their supporting casts. Yes, this was a good week in Obama PR.</p>
<p>This announcement may be spun to play like a victory, but the reality of what the war in Iraq was about at its beginning and the state the country will be in when American troops leave aren’t changed by Obama’s rhetoric. The president himself made vague noises about the less triumphant aspects of the Iraqi situation during his speech, gesturing at the future of U.S.-Iraqi relations by hinting that “the United States will continue to have an interest in an Iraq that is stable, secure and self-reliant.” We’ll have to wait until 2012 to start seeing what that looks like. –KA</p>
<p>AP via YouTube:</p>
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President Obama: 'America's War in Iraq Will Be Over' by Year-End
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/president-obama-americas-war-in-iraq-will-be-over-by-year-end/
|
2011-10-21
| 4left
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President Obama: 'America's War in Iraq Will Be Over' by Year-End
<p>“Today I can say that our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays,” President Obama declared Friday, helpfully noting that this withdrawal plan makes good on one of his campaign promises. No doubt what he said strikes fear in the hearts of Republican presidential hopefuls and their supporting casts. Yes, this was a good week in Obama PR.</p>
<p>This announcement may be spun to play like a victory, but the reality of what the war in Iraq was about at its beginning and the state the country will be in when American troops leave aren’t changed by Obama’s rhetoric. The president himself made vague noises about the less triumphant aspects of the Iraqi situation during his speech, gesturing at the future of U.S.-Iraqi relations by hinting that “the United States will continue to have an interest in an Iraq that is stable, secure and self-reliant.” We’ll have to wait until 2012 to start seeing what that looks like. –KA</p>
<p>AP via YouTube:</p>
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<p>Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates is joining Georgetown University Law School as a lecturer, <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/351713-sally-yates-joining-georgetown-law" type="external">The Hill is reporting.</a></p>
<p>Yates was fired by President Donald Trump after refusing to defend his travel ban, the website noted.</p>
<p>“Sally Yates is an extraordinary public servant who has had a career of the greatest consequence,”&#160;William M. Treanor, the dean of Georgetown Law, said. “It is a privilege to have her join our faculty this fall.”</p>
<p>Ironically, Trump’s 23-year-old daughter, Tiffany, is a student at Georgetown Law, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2017/09/21/tiffany-trump-may-be-schooled-by-her-dads-nemesis-sally-yates-a-new-lecturer-at-georgetown-law/?utm_term=.dc33b8fcf17f" type="external">The Washington Post</a> noted.</p>
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Sally Yates to Lecture at Georgetown Law School
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https://newsline.com/sally-yates-to-lecture-at-georgetown-law-school/
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2017-09-21
| 1right-center
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Sally Yates to Lecture at Georgetown Law School
<p>Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates is joining Georgetown University Law School as a lecturer, <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/351713-sally-yates-joining-georgetown-law" type="external">The Hill is reporting.</a></p>
<p>Yates was fired by President Donald Trump after refusing to defend his travel ban, the website noted.</p>
<p>“Sally Yates is an extraordinary public servant who has had a career of the greatest consequence,”&#160;William M. Treanor, the dean of Georgetown Law, said. “It is a privilege to have her join our faculty this fall.”</p>
<p>Ironically, Trump’s 23-year-old daughter, Tiffany, is a student at Georgetown Law, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2017/09/21/tiffany-trump-may-be-schooled-by-her-dads-nemesis-sally-yates-a-new-lecturer-at-georgetown-law/?utm_term=.dc33b8fcf17f" type="external">The Washington Post</a> noted.</p>
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<p>ABU DHABI/DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates central bank and securities regulator have asked banks and finance companies in the UAE to provide information on the accounts of 19 Saudi citizens, banking sources told Reuters on Thursday.</p>
<p>The 19 include some people which Saudi authorities have said are being held in a sweeping corruption investigation. One of those is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of international investment firm Kingdom Holding.</p>
<p>The regulators’ request was contained in a circular sent earlier this week and banks have responded, the banking sources said, adding that banks had not been asked to freeze the accounts. Officials at the regulatory agencies were not immediately available to comment.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p>
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UAE asks banks for information on 19 Saudis' accounts
| false |
https://newsline.com/uae-asks-banks-for-information-on-19-saudis039-accounts/
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2017-11-09
| 1right-center
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UAE asks banks for information on 19 Saudis' accounts
<p>ABU DHABI/DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates central bank and securities regulator have asked banks and finance companies in the UAE to provide information on the accounts of 19 Saudi citizens, banking sources told Reuters on Thursday.</p>
<p>The 19 include some people which Saudi authorities have said are being held in a sweeping corruption investigation. One of those is Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of international investment firm Kingdom Holding.</p>
<p>The regulators’ request was contained in a circular sent earlier this week and banks have responded, the banking sources said, adding that banks had not been asked to freeze the accounts. Officials at the regulatory agencies were not immediately available to comment.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p>
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<p>CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A woman recycling some items she found on her South Texas property included what turned out to be a piece of old military explosives.</p>
<p>Corpus Christi police say a bomb squad was dispatched and the mortar round was safely destroyed. Nobody was hurt.</p>
<p>Police say the 62-year-old woman apparently did not know that the item she picked up and transported Monday was an old mortar round. Police do not believe the woman knew the piece was potentially explosive.</p>
<p>She told authorities that she found the item while cleaning her property in Sandia, about 30 miles northwest of Corpus Christi.</p>
<p>Employees at the recycling center recognized the mortar round, cleared out the place and called bomb experts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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Woman drops off old mortar round at Texas recycling site
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https://abqjournal.com/559805/woman-drops-off-old-mortar-round-at-texas-recycling-site.html
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Woman drops off old mortar round at Texas recycling site
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<p>CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A woman recycling some items she found on her South Texas property included what turned out to be a piece of old military explosives.</p>
<p>Corpus Christi police say a bomb squad was dispatched and the mortar round was safely destroyed. Nobody was hurt.</p>
<p>Police say the 62-year-old woman apparently did not know that the item she picked up and transported Monday was an old mortar round. Police do not believe the woman knew the piece was potentially explosive.</p>
<p>She told authorities that she found the item while cleaning her property in Sandia, about 30 miles northwest of Corpus Christi.</p>
<p>Employees at the recycling center recognized the mortar round, cleared out the place and called bomb experts.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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<p>Snow accumulates on cars in the East Mountains on Sunday morning, November 24, 2013. (Nancy Tipton/Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A wave of snow that blanketed New Mexico is tapering off and has stopped falling in certain parts of the state.</p>
<p>David Craft, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said the storm that produced icy rain and fog for much of Saturday turned into snow that fell over nearly every part of the state Sunday. The state’s northern and western mountains received the highest levels of snowfall.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Five road closures were reported across the southern part of the state. Twice as many roads had been closed earlier Sunday.</p>
<p>Officials say driving conditions were difficult across many areas of northern New Mexico. Crews with the state Department of Transportation were busy running snowplows up and down the roadways and spreading cinder to remove snow and ice.</p>
<p>As the snowfall tapers off, lingering rain and snow showers are expected Monday, when temperatures are expected to be warmer and snow accumulation is likely to be less.</p>
<p>The storms have resulted in difficult driving conditions. On Friday, state police reported the first weather-related fatality — a 4-year-old girl from Clovis — in Roosevelt County.</p>
<p>Esmeralda Trejo died Friday when her family’s car started to slide across U.S. 70. The vehicle traveled across the traffic lanes and overturned on the shoulder. Trejo was not wearing a seat belt and was killed. The driver, front passenger and another child suffered minor injuries.</p>
<p>Albuquerque residents get a morning run in during snowy conditions in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights on Sunday, November 24, 2013. (Donn Friedman/Journal)</p>
<p>— The following article appeared on page C1 of the Sunday, November 24, 2013, edition of the Albuquerque Journal.</p>
<p>by Nicole Perez / Journal Staff Writer</p>
<p>Clouds settle on the Sandia Mountains on Saturday, as seen from near Embudito Canyon. The brunt of a storm moving east from California was expected to hit the state around midnight last night, leaving from 2 to 6 inches of snow in the Albuquerque metro area. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>Steady snowfall was expected in Albuquerque into this morning from the big storm that brought bitterly cold, blustery weather to the city on Saturday, and inches of snow to northern New Mexico mountains and icy conditions to southern and eastern parts of the state, creating tough driving conditions.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The winter storm that swirled to life off the West Coast has been moving east over the past few days, gathering moisture as it’s expected to dump more than a foot of snow on New Mexico’s mountains, and at least 2 inches across other parts of the state, according to the National Weather Service. The brunt of the storm was forecast to move out of the state this evening, but showers will likely remain until Monday. A winter storm warning remains in effect until Monday.</p>
<p>Rachel Skeet, right, and Shawn Begaye brave icy winds as they head out for a hike in the Sandia foothills. Gusts were as high as 51 mph in Albuquerque over the past 78 hours, the National Weather Service said. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>The storm was expected to deliver its biggest punch to the state overnight, but Saturday’s daytime conditions were already ominous, and one weather-related fatality was reported by authorities.</p>
<p>Freezing rain Friday into Saturday created icy roads in the eastern part of the state, with reports of black ice on Interstate 40. Chuck Jones, the Albuquerque National Weather Service’s senior meteorologist, said Ruidoso, Roswell and Roosevelt County had the iciest conditions.</p>
<p>“The past 24 hours there’s been some freezing rain and sleet that have been creating problems on the roads, a couple roads were closed down there,” Jones said Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p>A section of U.S. 380 between Roswell and the Texas state line was closed by State Police due to numerous accidents, according to the state Department of Transportation.</p>
<p>A quarter-of-an-inch of ice was measured at Clines Corner on I-40 east of Moriarty.</p>
<p>A crash on eastbound I-40, near Grants, had traffic at a standstill for hours Saturday night. Road conditions in that area were described as “snow-packed and icy” with low visibility by the DOT. N.M. 529 near Artesia and N.M. 152 near Silver City were also closed due to bad conditions, according to the DOT.</p>
<p>Jones also said a strong eastern wind could allow for snow to pileup on Albuquerque’s West Mesa.</p>
<p>National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Shoemake said Saturday’s highest peak wind gusts in the Duke City were around 46 mph at the Sunport, with a high temperature of 34 degrees. Winds were expected to die down by early this morning, and today’s high in Albuquerque is expected to be around 32 degrees.</p>
<p>The fatality attributed to the wintry weather occurred shortly before 1 p.m. Friday near Elida, southwest of Clovis, when a car with two adults and two children slid off U.S. 70., killing 4-year-old Esmeralda Trejo of Clovis. The other child, a 5-year-old boy, was critically injured and taken to Roosevelt General Hospital.</p>
<p>State Police spokesman Sgt. Emmanuel Gutierrez said neither child was wearing a seat belt or in a car seat, but the two adults were wearing seatbelts. The adults suffered minor injuries, Gutierrez said.</p>
<p>As of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Taos County had received the most snow in the state over the past 78 hours, with 17 inches reported at the ski area. The Sandia Peak ski area received around 5 inches; Rio Arriba County received up to 9 inches; Los Alamos County received up to 7 inches; and Santa Fe County received up to 12 inches.</p>
<p>In the Albuquerque area, 0.3 of an inch was recorded at Griegos and Rio Grande and 0.5 of an inch in Tijeras, according to preliminary snowfall reports. Rain was more prevalent in the metro area over the past 78 hours, with 0.68 of an inch recorded at Westside and Golf Course NW.</p>
<p>Jones said people should avoid driving unless it’s absolutely necessary.</p>
<p>Source: National Weather Service preliminary reports</p>
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Snow tapers off after blanketing New Mexico
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https://abqjournal.com/308097/snow-freezing-rain-hit-nm-2.html
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2013-11-24
| 2least
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Snow tapers off after blanketing New Mexico
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<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Snow accumulates on cars in the East Mountains on Sunday morning, November 24, 2013. (Nancy Tipton/Journal)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A wave of snow that blanketed New Mexico is tapering off and has stopped falling in certain parts of the state.</p>
<p>David Craft, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Albuquerque, said the storm that produced icy rain and fog for much of Saturday turned into snow that fell over nearly every part of the state Sunday. The state’s northern and western mountains received the highest levels of snowfall.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Five road closures were reported across the southern part of the state. Twice as many roads had been closed earlier Sunday.</p>
<p>Officials say driving conditions were difficult across many areas of northern New Mexico. Crews with the state Department of Transportation were busy running snowplows up and down the roadways and spreading cinder to remove snow and ice.</p>
<p>As the snowfall tapers off, lingering rain and snow showers are expected Monday, when temperatures are expected to be warmer and snow accumulation is likely to be less.</p>
<p>The storms have resulted in difficult driving conditions. On Friday, state police reported the first weather-related fatality — a 4-year-old girl from Clovis — in Roosevelt County.</p>
<p>Esmeralda Trejo died Friday when her family’s car started to slide across U.S. 70. The vehicle traveled across the traffic lanes and overturned on the shoulder. Trejo was not wearing a seat belt and was killed. The driver, front passenger and another child suffered minor injuries.</p>
<p>Albuquerque residents get a morning run in during snowy conditions in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights on Sunday, November 24, 2013. (Donn Friedman/Journal)</p>
<p>— The following article appeared on page C1 of the Sunday, November 24, 2013, edition of the Albuquerque Journal.</p>
<p>by Nicole Perez / Journal Staff Writer</p>
<p>Clouds settle on the Sandia Mountains on Saturday, as seen from near Embudito Canyon. The brunt of a storm moving east from California was expected to hit the state around midnight last night, leaving from 2 to 6 inches of snow in the Albuquerque metro area. (Roberto E. Rosales/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>Steady snowfall was expected in Albuquerque into this morning from the big storm that brought bitterly cold, blustery weather to the city on Saturday, and inches of snow to northern New Mexico mountains and icy conditions to southern and eastern parts of the state, creating tough driving conditions.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The winter storm that swirled to life off the West Coast has been moving east over the past few days, gathering moisture as it’s expected to dump more than a foot of snow on New Mexico’s mountains, and at least 2 inches across other parts of the state, according to the National Weather Service. The brunt of the storm was forecast to move out of the state this evening, but showers will likely remain until Monday. A winter storm warning remains in effect until Monday.</p>
<p>Rachel Skeet, right, and Shawn Begaye brave icy winds as they head out for a hike in the Sandia foothills. Gusts were as high as 51 mph in Albuquerque over the past 78 hours, the National Weather Service said. (Marla Brose/Albuquerque Journal)</p>
<p>The storm was expected to deliver its biggest punch to the state overnight, but Saturday’s daytime conditions were already ominous, and one weather-related fatality was reported by authorities.</p>
<p>Freezing rain Friday into Saturday created icy roads in the eastern part of the state, with reports of black ice on Interstate 40. Chuck Jones, the Albuquerque National Weather Service’s senior meteorologist, said Ruidoso, Roswell and Roosevelt County had the iciest conditions.</p>
<p>“The past 24 hours there’s been some freezing rain and sleet that have been creating problems on the roads, a couple roads were closed down there,” Jones said Saturday afternoon.</p>
<p>A section of U.S. 380 between Roswell and the Texas state line was closed by State Police due to numerous accidents, according to the state Department of Transportation.</p>
<p>A quarter-of-an-inch of ice was measured at Clines Corner on I-40 east of Moriarty.</p>
<p>A crash on eastbound I-40, near Grants, had traffic at a standstill for hours Saturday night. Road conditions in that area were described as “snow-packed and icy” with low visibility by the DOT. N.M. 529 near Artesia and N.M. 152 near Silver City were also closed due to bad conditions, according to the DOT.</p>
<p>Jones also said a strong eastern wind could allow for snow to pileup on Albuquerque’s West Mesa.</p>
<p>National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Shoemake said Saturday’s highest peak wind gusts in the Duke City were around 46 mph at the Sunport, with a high temperature of 34 degrees. Winds were expected to die down by early this morning, and today’s high in Albuquerque is expected to be around 32 degrees.</p>
<p>The fatality attributed to the wintry weather occurred shortly before 1 p.m. Friday near Elida, southwest of Clovis, when a car with two adults and two children slid off U.S. 70., killing 4-year-old Esmeralda Trejo of Clovis. The other child, a 5-year-old boy, was critically injured and taken to Roosevelt General Hospital.</p>
<p>State Police spokesman Sgt. Emmanuel Gutierrez said neither child was wearing a seat belt or in a car seat, but the two adults were wearing seatbelts. The adults suffered minor injuries, Gutierrez said.</p>
<p>As of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Taos County had received the most snow in the state over the past 78 hours, with 17 inches reported at the ski area. The Sandia Peak ski area received around 5 inches; Rio Arriba County received up to 9 inches; Los Alamos County received up to 7 inches; and Santa Fe County received up to 12 inches.</p>
<p>In the Albuquerque area, 0.3 of an inch was recorded at Griegos and Rio Grande and 0.5 of an inch in Tijeras, according to preliminary snowfall reports. Rain was more prevalent in the metro area over the past 78 hours, with 0.68 of an inch recorded at Westside and Golf Course NW.</p>
<p>Jones said people should avoid driving unless it’s absolutely necessary.</p>
<p>Source: National Weather Service preliminary reports</p>
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<p />
<p>Ziegfeld’s-Secrets (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p />
<p>News of the impending sale of the Ziegfeld’s-Secrets building comes more than two years after the D.C. government announced it would purchase a parcel of land across the street from the gay club to facilitate the construction of a new stadium for the D.C. United soccer team.</p>
<p>Denver businessman and real estate investor Martin Chernoff told the Washington Blade he reached a pre-sales agreement with the D.C. development company MRP Realty to sell the Ziegfeld’s-Secret building along with adjacent warehouse buildings he owns on the 1800 block of Half Street, S.W., a little over six months ago.</p>
<p>“This was an incremental step this week,” he told the Blade on Feb. 13. “Money was deposited” to advance the deal, he said.</p>
<p>“But my best guess is it will be at least three years before Ziegfeld’s-Secrets will have to move,” Chernoff said. “The buyer wants to develop the entire area. Dealing with me was only the first step.”</p>
<p>The Washington Business Journal was the first to report the deal between Chernoff and MRP Realty for the sale of the Ziegfeld’s-Secrets building in its Feb. 12 edition.</p>
<p>Alan Carroll, the owner of Ziegfeld’s-Secrets and who rents the building from Chernoff, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Sources familiar with the club have said Carroll has told longtime customers he is considering retiring in the near future and may put the business up for sale.</p>
<p>It took Carroll nearly two years to arrange to move into the current building after the club was displaced from its former location on the unit block of O Street, S.E., by the construction of the Washington Nationals baseball stadium.</p>
<p>The current building on Half Street, S.W., is in the heart of the city’s Buzzard Point section. The area is transitioning from a warehouse-industrial district into an upscale retail, residential and entertainment district with the new soccer stadium serving as the anchor, city officials have said.</p>
<p>MRP Realty told the Washington Business Journal it plans to build a 300,000-square-foot multifamily apartment building on the site of Ziegfeld’s-Secrets and adjacent buildings, with retail businesses planned for the ground floor.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Alan Carroll</a> <a href="" type="internal">D.C.</a> <a href="" type="internal">gay</a> <a href="" type="internal">Martin Chernoff</a> <a href="" type="internal">MRP Realty</a> <a href="" type="internal">Ziegfelds-Secrets</a></p>
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Ziegfeld’s-Secrets building to be sold to developer
| false |
http://washingtonblade.com/2016/02/16/ziegfelds-secrets-building-sold-developer/
| 3left-center
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Ziegfeld’s-Secrets building to be sold to developer
<p />
<p>Ziegfeld’s-Secrets (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)</p>
<p />
<p>News of the impending sale of the Ziegfeld’s-Secrets building comes more than two years after the D.C. government announced it would purchase a parcel of land across the street from the gay club to facilitate the construction of a new stadium for the D.C. United soccer team.</p>
<p>Denver businessman and real estate investor Martin Chernoff told the Washington Blade he reached a pre-sales agreement with the D.C. development company MRP Realty to sell the Ziegfeld’s-Secret building along with adjacent warehouse buildings he owns on the 1800 block of Half Street, S.W., a little over six months ago.</p>
<p>“This was an incremental step this week,” he told the Blade on Feb. 13. “Money was deposited” to advance the deal, he said.</p>
<p>“But my best guess is it will be at least three years before Ziegfeld’s-Secrets will have to move,” Chernoff said. “The buyer wants to develop the entire area. Dealing with me was only the first step.”</p>
<p>The Washington Business Journal was the first to report the deal between Chernoff and MRP Realty for the sale of the Ziegfeld’s-Secrets building in its Feb. 12 edition.</p>
<p>Alan Carroll, the owner of Ziegfeld’s-Secrets and who rents the building from Chernoff, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Sources familiar with the club have said Carroll has told longtime customers he is considering retiring in the near future and may put the business up for sale.</p>
<p>It took Carroll nearly two years to arrange to move into the current building after the club was displaced from its former location on the unit block of O Street, S.E., by the construction of the Washington Nationals baseball stadium.</p>
<p>The current building on Half Street, S.W., is in the heart of the city’s Buzzard Point section. The area is transitioning from a warehouse-industrial district into an upscale retail, residential and entertainment district with the new soccer stadium serving as the anchor, city officials have said.</p>
<p>MRP Realty told the Washington Business Journal it plans to build a 300,000-square-foot multifamily apartment building on the site of Ziegfeld’s-Secrets and adjacent buildings, with retail businesses planned for the ground floor.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Alan Carroll</a> <a href="" type="internal">D.C.</a> <a href="" type="internal">gay</a> <a href="" type="internal">Martin Chernoff</a> <a href="" type="internal">MRP Realty</a> <a href="" type="internal">Ziegfelds-Secrets</a></p>
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<p />
<p><a href="https://weedmaps.com/" type="external">Weedmaps Opens a New Window.</a>, the self-proclaimed “Yelp for marijuana,” is eyeing a major ad campaign in New York to push marijuana legalization.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Irvine, Calif.-based startup lists information and online reviews for legal medical marijuana and adult-use dispensaries in states like California, Colorado and Washington. CEO and co-founder Justin Hartfield says the company is prepared to spend significant money on advertising in markets that could soon open doors to legalized weed.</p>
<p>“Whether there’s medical marijuana in New York this year or next year, or whether recreational marijuana comes in 2016 thanks to a voter initiative, we wanted to get our brand out there in New York and promote marijuana legalization,” says Hartfield.</p>
<p>He says Weedmaps is prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads in New York alone. If New York were to legalize recreational-use marijuana, Hartfield says it could mean as much as $1 million per month for Weedmaps in listing fees. He says the entirely bootstrapped startup currently brings in $30 million in annual revenue, thanks to monthly listing fees that range from $195 all the way up to $20,000. In a February Quinnipiac poll, 88% of New York voters said they would support legalizing medical marijuana, and over half would vote in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana.</p>
<p>But like marijuana dispensaries, Weedmaps is running into trouble when it comes to dealing with more traditional businesses. Because marijuana is still viewed as a Schedule 1 narcotic by the federal government, banks have mostly closed their doors to legal dispensaries, forcing them to run all-cash businesses.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>But for Weedmaps, which doesn’t actually sell marijuana, the issue isn’t banking – it’s getting airtime. Hartfield says earlier this week, CBS “pulled for review” a Weedmaps commercial scheduled to run on the network’s 520-square-foot Super Screen in Times Square. The 8-second ad, previously scheduled to run from April 1 to July 1, came with a price tag of $50,000.</p>
<p>CBS declined to speak about the review process for the Weedmaps ad. A source close to the matter says the screen is not actually owned by CBS but bears CBS branding. As a result, the network retains the ability to review ads that would air between CBS Interactive content. Neutron Media, the company which sells the ad space for the Super Screen, told FOXBusiness.com they had no problem with the Weedmaps commercial.</p>
<p>“There’s no profanity, nothing absurd in there,” said Neutron vice president of screen and event marketing Ray Shapira. “It’s something I thought was fine, so we booked it.”</p>
<p>Despite the hold-up, Hartfield says he’s confident the startup will find a way to advertise in New York.</p>
<p>“CBS isn’t the only game in town in terms of display ads. There is other local media, newspapers, print, radio and television that we’re looking at,” says Hartfield.</p>
<p>And like the cannabis advocates pointing to Colorado’s marijuana tax revenues ($3.5 million in January alone), Hartfield says he believes the big business of weed will change people’s tune, sooner or later.</p>
<p>“Someone else will step up and say, ‘Justin, I’ll take your money,’” says Hartfield.</p>
|
‘Yelp for Marijuana’ Plans Six-Figure Ad Blitz to Legalize Weed
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2014/04/04/yelp-for-marijuana-plans-six-figure-ad-blitz-to-legalize-weed.html
|
2016-04-07
| 0right
|
‘Yelp for Marijuana’ Plans Six-Figure Ad Blitz to Legalize Weed
<p />
<p><a href="https://weedmaps.com/" type="external">Weedmaps Opens a New Window.</a>, the self-proclaimed “Yelp for marijuana,” is eyeing a major ad campaign in New York to push marijuana legalization.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Irvine, Calif.-based startup lists information and online reviews for legal medical marijuana and adult-use dispensaries in states like California, Colorado and Washington. CEO and co-founder Justin Hartfield says the company is prepared to spend significant money on advertising in markets that could soon open doors to legalized weed.</p>
<p>“Whether there’s medical marijuana in New York this year or next year, or whether recreational marijuana comes in 2016 thanks to a voter initiative, we wanted to get our brand out there in New York and promote marijuana legalization,” says Hartfield.</p>
<p>He says Weedmaps is prepared to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on ads in New York alone. If New York were to legalize recreational-use marijuana, Hartfield says it could mean as much as $1 million per month for Weedmaps in listing fees. He says the entirely bootstrapped startup currently brings in $30 million in annual revenue, thanks to monthly listing fees that range from $195 all the way up to $20,000. In a February Quinnipiac poll, 88% of New York voters said they would support legalizing medical marijuana, and over half would vote in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana.</p>
<p>But like marijuana dispensaries, Weedmaps is running into trouble when it comes to dealing with more traditional businesses. Because marijuana is still viewed as a Schedule 1 narcotic by the federal government, banks have mostly closed their doors to legal dispensaries, forcing them to run all-cash businesses.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>But for Weedmaps, which doesn’t actually sell marijuana, the issue isn’t banking – it’s getting airtime. Hartfield says earlier this week, CBS “pulled for review” a Weedmaps commercial scheduled to run on the network’s 520-square-foot Super Screen in Times Square. The 8-second ad, previously scheduled to run from April 1 to July 1, came with a price tag of $50,000.</p>
<p>CBS declined to speak about the review process for the Weedmaps ad. A source close to the matter says the screen is not actually owned by CBS but bears CBS branding. As a result, the network retains the ability to review ads that would air between CBS Interactive content. Neutron Media, the company which sells the ad space for the Super Screen, told FOXBusiness.com they had no problem with the Weedmaps commercial.</p>
<p>“There’s no profanity, nothing absurd in there,” said Neutron vice president of screen and event marketing Ray Shapira. “It’s something I thought was fine, so we booked it.”</p>
<p>Despite the hold-up, Hartfield says he’s confident the startup will find a way to advertise in New York.</p>
<p>“CBS isn’t the only game in town in terms of display ads. There is other local media, newspapers, print, radio and television that we’re looking at,” says Hartfield.</p>
<p>And like the cannabis advocates pointing to Colorado’s marijuana tax revenues ($3.5 million in January alone), Hartfield says he believes the big business of weed will change people’s tune, sooner or later.</p>
<p>“Someone else will step up and say, ‘Justin, I’ll take your money,’” says Hartfield.</p>
| 7,406 |
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — The actor who plays Aladdin on Broadway has gotten yet another cool wish — a spot on "'Jeopardy!'"</p>
<p>Adam Jacobs, who plays the title role in the new Disney blockbuster, will help represent the show Thursday when it appears as an entire category of answers.</p>
<p>"I think it's going to be great exposure and get people excited to possibly see our show," Jacobs said. "'Jeopardy!'" has been around forever and Broadway has been around forever — at least in my lifetime — so it's kind of cool the two worlds are meeting."</p>
<p>This will be the third time the game show hosted by Alex Trebek has joined with a show to dedicate a whole category to a single Broadway offering. It also did so twice in 2013 for "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" and the 10th anniversary of "Wicked."</p>
<p>"Jeopardy!" has long given Broadway a boost since its debut in 1984, offering such categories as "Broadway Musicals" and "Pop Singers on Broadway." That's priceless publicity for stage shows because "Jeopardy!" is seen by an average of 25 million viewers a week. Last season, total attendance on Broadway reached 12.2 million.</p>
<p>Actors from Broadway shows have also previously presented clues, including from "Mamma Mia!" ''Jersey Boys" and "The Color Purple." Playwright Edward Albee and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber even had their own five-question categories.</p>
<p>For a Broadway musical to get an entire category, the show has to be able to spark questions beyond the stage, said Rocky Schmidt, the supervising producer of the game show and a Broadway fan.</p>
<p>"We can't really do a whole category if a lot of people haven't seen the show, so there are only certain kinds of shows we can do this with," he said. "Anything is fair game for a clue. Categories are always a challenge."</p>
<p>"Aladdin," based in the 1992, Robin Williams-voiced animated version has songs by theater legend Alan Menken including "Friend Like Me" and "A Whole New World" and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Casey Nicholaw. It's Genie, James Monroe Iglehart, won a best featured actor Tony last year.</p>
<p>Though sworn to secrecy, Jacobs did say that the actual source story for "Aladdin" is thousands of years old, was turned into a beloved film and has well-known songs. "That's some of the source of the clues," he said. The death of Williams over the summer didn't alter the show since he wasn't a clue.</p>
<p>Jacobs was joined in costume at the taping in August by co-stars Iglehart, Jonathan Freeman, who plays Jafar, and Courtney Reed, who plays princess Jasmine. The "Jeopardy!" team shot onstage at the show's home at the New Amsterdam Theatre and included the musical's marketplace and the Cave of Wonders backdrops.</p>
<p>All five clues will have mini-clips from the show including music and dancing. "People are actually going to get a little taste of what 'Aladdin' on Broadway looks and sounds and feels like," Schmidt said.</p>
<p>Jacobs said he grew up watching "Jeopardy!" and remembers turning in to see contestant Ken Jennings' famous run in the early 2000s. "I was never that great at answering the questions, it was a little bit out of my league," Jacobs said. "But when they had the college kid versions, I did pretty well at that."</p>
<p>It will be the latest TV appearance for Jacobs, the father of 1-year-old twin boys. He and the "Aladdin" team also sang and danced on "Good Morning America," ''The View" and the Tony Award telecast.</p>
<p>"I'm grateful for Disney for helping my star rise," he said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://www.jeopardy.com" type="external">http://www.jeopardy.com</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.aladdinthemusical.com" type="external">http://www.aladdinthemusical.com</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits" type="external">http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits</a></p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — The actor who plays Aladdin on Broadway has gotten yet another cool wish — a spot on "'Jeopardy!'"</p>
<p>Adam Jacobs, who plays the title role in the new Disney blockbuster, will help represent the show Thursday when it appears as an entire category of answers.</p>
<p>"I think it's going to be great exposure and get people excited to possibly see our show," Jacobs said. "'Jeopardy!'" has been around forever and Broadway has been around forever — at least in my lifetime — so it's kind of cool the two worlds are meeting."</p>
<p>This will be the third time the game show hosted by Alex Trebek has joined with a show to dedicate a whole category to a single Broadway offering. It also did so twice in 2013 for "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" and the 10th anniversary of "Wicked."</p>
<p>"Jeopardy!" has long given Broadway a boost since its debut in 1984, offering such categories as "Broadway Musicals" and "Pop Singers on Broadway." That's priceless publicity for stage shows because "Jeopardy!" is seen by an average of 25 million viewers a week. Last season, total attendance on Broadway reached 12.2 million.</p>
<p>Actors from Broadway shows have also previously presented clues, including from "Mamma Mia!" ''Jersey Boys" and "The Color Purple." Playwright Edward Albee and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber even had their own five-question categories.</p>
<p>For a Broadway musical to get an entire category, the show has to be able to spark questions beyond the stage, said Rocky Schmidt, the supervising producer of the game show and a Broadway fan.</p>
<p>"We can't really do a whole category if a lot of people haven't seen the show, so there are only certain kinds of shows we can do this with," he said. "Anything is fair game for a clue. Categories are always a challenge."</p>
<p>"Aladdin," based in the 1992, Robin Williams-voiced animated version has songs by theater legend Alan Menken including "Friend Like Me" and "A Whole New World" and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Casey Nicholaw. It's Genie, James Monroe Iglehart, won a best featured actor Tony last year.</p>
<p>Though sworn to secrecy, Jacobs did say that the actual source story for "Aladdin" is thousands of years old, was turned into a beloved film and has well-known songs. "That's some of the source of the clues," he said. The death of Williams over the summer didn't alter the show since he wasn't a clue.</p>
<p>Jacobs was joined in costume at the taping in August by co-stars Iglehart, Jonathan Freeman, who plays Jafar, and Courtney Reed, who plays princess Jasmine. The "Jeopardy!" team shot onstage at the show's home at the New Amsterdam Theatre and included the musical's marketplace and the Cave of Wonders backdrops.</p>
<p>All five clues will have mini-clips from the show including music and dancing. "People are actually going to get a little taste of what 'Aladdin' on Broadway looks and sounds and feels like," Schmidt said.</p>
<p>Jacobs said he grew up watching "Jeopardy!" and remembers turning in to see contestant Ken Jennings' famous run in the early 2000s. "I was never that great at answering the questions, it was a little bit out of my league," Jacobs said. "But when they had the college kid versions, I did pretty well at that."</p>
<p>It will be the latest TV appearance for Jacobs, the father of 1-year-old twin boys. He and the "Aladdin" team also sang and danced on "Good Morning America," ''The View" and the Tony Award telecast.</p>
<p>"I'm grateful for Disney for helping my star rise," he said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://www.jeopardy.com" type="external">http://www.jeopardy.com</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.aladdinthemusical.com" type="external">http://www.aladdinthemusical.com</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits" type="external">http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits</a></p>
|
TV game show 'Jeopardy!' to highlight 'Aladdin' on Thursday
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/4206d7f290e747b3abcbd9a345a57bec
|
2015-01-12
| 2least
|
TV game show 'Jeopardy!' to highlight 'Aladdin' on Thursday
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — The actor who plays Aladdin on Broadway has gotten yet another cool wish — a spot on "'Jeopardy!'"</p>
<p>Adam Jacobs, who plays the title role in the new Disney blockbuster, will help represent the show Thursday when it appears as an entire category of answers.</p>
<p>"I think it's going to be great exposure and get people excited to possibly see our show," Jacobs said. "'Jeopardy!'" has been around forever and Broadway has been around forever — at least in my lifetime — so it's kind of cool the two worlds are meeting."</p>
<p>This will be the third time the game show hosted by Alex Trebek has joined with a show to dedicate a whole category to a single Broadway offering. It also did so twice in 2013 for "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" and the 10th anniversary of "Wicked."</p>
<p>"Jeopardy!" has long given Broadway a boost since its debut in 1984, offering such categories as "Broadway Musicals" and "Pop Singers on Broadway." That's priceless publicity for stage shows because "Jeopardy!" is seen by an average of 25 million viewers a week. Last season, total attendance on Broadway reached 12.2 million.</p>
<p>Actors from Broadway shows have also previously presented clues, including from "Mamma Mia!" ''Jersey Boys" and "The Color Purple." Playwright Edward Albee and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber even had their own five-question categories.</p>
<p>For a Broadway musical to get an entire category, the show has to be able to spark questions beyond the stage, said Rocky Schmidt, the supervising producer of the game show and a Broadway fan.</p>
<p>"We can't really do a whole category if a lot of people haven't seen the show, so there are only certain kinds of shows we can do this with," he said. "Anything is fair game for a clue. Categories are always a challenge."</p>
<p>"Aladdin," based in the 1992, Robin Williams-voiced animated version has songs by theater legend Alan Menken including "Friend Like Me" and "A Whole New World" and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Casey Nicholaw. It's Genie, James Monroe Iglehart, won a best featured actor Tony last year.</p>
<p>Though sworn to secrecy, Jacobs did say that the actual source story for "Aladdin" is thousands of years old, was turned into a beloved film and has well-known songs. "That's some of the source of the clues," he said. The death of Williams over the summer didn't alter the show since he wasn't a clue.</p>
<p>Jacobs was joined in costume at the taping in August by co-stars Iglehart, Jonathan Freeman, who plays Jafar, and Courtney Reed, who plays princess Jasmine. The "Jeopardy!" team shot onstage at the show's home at the New Amsterdam Theatre and included the musical's marketplace and the Cave of Wonders backdrops.</p>
<p>All five clues will have mini-clips from the show including music and dancing. "People are actually going to get a little taste of what 'Aladdin' on Broadway looks and sounds and feels like," Schmidt said.</p>
<p>Jacobs said he grew up watching "Jeopardy!" and remembers turning in to see contestant Ken Jennings' famous run in the early 2000s. "I was never that great at answering the questions, it was a little bit out of my league," Jacobs said. "But when they had the college kid versions, I did pretty well at that."</p>
<p>It will be the latest TV appearance for Jacobs, the father of 1-year-old twin boys. He and the "Aladdin" team also sang and danced on "Good Morning America," ''The View" and the Tony Award telecast.</p>
<p>"I'm grateful for Disney for helping my star rise," he said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://www.jeopardy.com" type="external">http://www.jeopardy.com</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.aladdinthemusical.com" type="external">http://www.aladdinthemusical.com</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits" type="external">http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits</a></p>
<p>NEW YORK (AP) — The actor who plays Aladdin on Broadway has gotten yet another cool wish — a spot on "'Jeopardy!'"</p>
<p>Adam Jacobs, who plays the title role in the new Disney blockbuster, will help represent the show Thursday when it appears as an entire category of answers.</p>
<p>"I think it's going to be great exposure and get people excited to possibly see our show," Jacobs said. "'Jeopardy!'" has been around forever and Broadway has been around forever — at least in my lifetime — so it's kind of cool the two worlds are meeting."</p>
<p>This will be the third time the game show hosted by Alex Trebek has joined with a show to dedicate a whole category to a single Broadway offering. It also did so twice in 2013 for "Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella" and the 10th anniversary of "Wicked."</p>
<p>"Jeopardy!" has long given Broadway a boost since its debut in 1984, offering such categories as "Broadway Musicals" and "Pop Singers on Broadway." That's priceless publicity for stage shows because "Jeopardy!" is seen by an average of 25 million viewers a week. Last season, total attendance on Broadway reached 12.2 million.</p>
<p>Actors from Broadway shows have also previously presented clues, including from "Mamma Mia!" ''Jersey Boys" and "The Color Purple." Playwright Edward Albee and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber even had their own five-question categories.</p>
<p>For a Broadway musical to get an entire category, the show has to be able to spark questions beyond the stage, said Rocky Schmidt, the supervising producer of the game show and a Broadway fan.</p>
<p>"We can't really do a whole category if a lot of people haven't seen the show, so there are only certain kinds of shows we can do this with," he said. "Anything is fair game for a clue. Categories are always a challenge."</p>
<p>"Aladdin," based in the 1992, Robin Williams-voiced animated version has songs by theater legend Alan Menken including "Friend Like Me" and "A Whole New World" and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Casey Nicholaw. It's Genie, James Monroe Iglehart, won a best featured actor Tony last year.</p>
<p>Though sworn to secrecy, Jacobs did say that the actual source story for "Aladdin" is thousands of years old, was turned into a beloved film and has well-known songs. "That's some of the source of the clues," he said. The death of Williams over the summer didn't alter the show since he wasn't a clue.</p>
<p>Jacobs was joined in costume at the taping in August by co-stars Iglehart, Jonathan Freeman, who plays Jafar, and Courtney Reed, who plays princess Jasmine. The "Jeopardy!" team shot onstage at the show's home at the New Amsterdam Theatre and included the musical's marketplace and the Cave of Wonders backdrops.</p>
<p>All five clues will have mini-clips from the show including music and dancing. "People are actually going to get a little taste of what 'Aladdin' on Broadway looks and sounds and feels like," Schmidt said.</p>
<p>Jacobs said he grew up watching "Jeopardy!" and remembers turning in to see contestant Ken Jennings' famous run in the early 2000s. "I was never that great at answering the questions, it was a little bit out of my league," Jacobs said. "But when they had the college kid versions, I did pretty well at that."</p>
<p>It will be the latest TV appearance for Jacobs, the father of 1-year-old twin boys. He and the "Aladdin" team also sang and danced on "Good Morning America," ''The View" and the Tony Award telecast.</p>
<p>"I'm grateful for Disney for helping my star rise," he said.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://www.jeopardy.com" type="external">http://www.jeopardy.com</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.aladdinthemusical.com" type="external">http://www.aladdinthemusical.com</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Follow Mark Kennedy on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits" type="external">http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits</a></p>
| 7,407 |
<p>SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore has suspended trade relations with North Korea, the latest of Pyongyang’s major trade partners to cut commercial ties under toughening U.N. sanctions over its weapons program, a customs notice obtained on Thursday showed.</p>
<p>The move comes about two months after the United States imposed North Korea-related sanctions on a number of firms and individuals, including two entities based in Singapore.</p>
<p>“Singapore will prohibit all commercially traded goods from, or to, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” the city-state’s customs said in the notice sent to traders and declaring agents last Tuesday, referring to the country by its official name.</p>
<p>The suspension would take effect from Nov. 8, Fauziah A. Sani, head of trade strategy and security for the director-general of customs, said in the notice.</p>
<p>Repeated breach of the new prohibitions is punishable by a fine of up to S$200,000 ($147,340.50) or four times the value of the goods traded, imprisonment of up to three years, or both, it added.</p>
<p>Singapore is North Korea’s seventh largest trading partner. The Philippines, Pyongyang’s fifth biggest trading partner, suspended trade with North Korea in September to comply with a U.N. resolution.</p>
<p>Tension on the Korean peninsula has escalated as North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong Un, has stepped up the development of weapons in defiance of U.N. sanctions.</p>
<p>North Korea has tested a series of missiles this year, including one that flew over Japan, and conducted its sixth and biggest nuclear test in September.</p>
<p>Pyongyang maintains a diplomatic presence in Singapore, with an embassy in its financial district.</p>
<p>In September, Singapore issued a travel advisory urging citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to North Korea, where it does not have diplomatic representation.</p>
<p>In an interview with National Public Radio in May, Singapore’s minister of foreign affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, had said the country was not ready to cut all diplomatic ties with North Korea.</p>
<p>In January last year, Singapore-based Chinpo Shipping Company (Private) Ltd was fined S$180,000 for facilitating a shipment of arms to North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions. (http://reut.rs/2ARbm14)</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>
|
Singapore suspends trade relations with North Korea
| false |
https://newsline.com/singapore-suspends-trade-relations-with-north-korea/
|
2017-11-16
| 1right-center
|
Singapore suspends trade relations with North Korea
<p>SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore has suspended trade relations with North Korea, the latest of Pyongyang’s major trade partners to cut commercial ties under toughening U.N. sanctions over its weapons program, a customs notice obtained on Thursday showed.</p>
<p>The move comes about two months after the United States imposed North Korea-related sanctions on a number of firms and individuals, including two entities based in Singapore.</p>
<p>“Singapore will prohibit all commercially traded goods from, or to, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK),” the city-state’s customs said in the notice sent to traders and declaring agents last Tuesday, referring to the country by its official name.</p>
<p>The suspension would take effect from Nov. 8, Fauziah A. Sani, head of trade strategy and security for the director-general of customs, said in the notice.</p>
<p>Repeated breach of the new prohibitions is punishable by a fine of up to S$200,000 ($147,340.50) or four times the value of the goods traded, imprisonment of up to three years, or both, it added.</p>
<p>Singapore is North Korea’s seventh largest trading partner. The Philippines, Pyongyang’s fifth biggest trading partner, suspended trade with North Korea in September to comply with a U.N. resolution.</p>
<p>Tension on the Korean peninsula has escalated as North Korea’s young leader, Kim Jong Un, has stepped up the development of weapons in defiance of U.N. sanctions.</p>
<p>North Korea has tested a series of missiles this year, including one that flew over Japan, and conducted its sixth and biggest nuclear test in September.</p>
<p>Pyongyang maintains a diplomatic presence in Singapore, with an embassy in its financial district.</p>
<p>In September, Singapore issued a travel advisory urging citizens to avoid all non-essential travel to North Korea, where it does not have diplomatic representation.</p>
<p>In an interview with National Public Radio in May, Singapore’s minister of foreign affairs, Vivian Balakrishnan, had said the country was not ready to cut all diplomatic ties with North Korea.</p>
<p>In January last year, Singapore-based Chinpo Shipping Company (Private) Ltd was fined S$180,000 for facilitating a shipment of arms to North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions. (http://reut.rs/2ARbm14)</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>
| 7,408 |
<p>Sept. 27 (UPI) — A rockfall on Yosemite National Park’s iconic El Capitan granite monolith killed one park visitor and injured another Wednesday afternoon, the National Park Service said.</p>
<p>The incident happened at about 1:55 p.m. along the popular Waterfall Route climbing path above Yosemite Valley in central California, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/news/rockfall-in-yosemite-national-park.htm" type="external">according to a park service news release</a>.</p>
<p>The service deployed a helicopter, park rangers and search-and-rescue workers to assess the situation on El Capitan Wednesday afternoon.</p>
<p>The release said workers were trying to transport the injured visitor out of the park to receive medical attention.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=yosemite+death+sf+chronicle&amp;source=lnms&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjiz8OE4sbWAhXBTSYKHRucAqsQ_AUICSgA&amp;biw=1243&amp;bih=604&amp;dpr=1" type="external">San Francisco Chronicle reported</a> that the rockfall happened at the peak of climbing season in the park.</p>
|
El Capitan rockfall kills one, injures another in Yosemite
| false |
https://newsline.com/el-capitan-rockfall-kills-one-injures-another-in-yosemite/
|
2017-09-27
| 1right-center
|
El Capitan rockfall kills one, injures another in Yosemite
<p>Sept. 27 (UPI) — A rockfall on Yosemite National Park’s iconic El Capitan granite monolith killed one park visitor and injured another Wednesday afternoon, the National Park Service said.</p>
<p>The incident happened at about 1:55 p.m. along the popular Waterfall Route climbing path above Yosemite Valley in central California, <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yose/learn/news/rockfall-in-yosemite-national-park.htm" type="external">according to a park service news release</a>.</p>
<p>The service deployed a helicopter, park rangers and search-and-rescue workers to assess the situation on El Capitan Wednesday afternoon.</p>
<p>The release said workers were trying to transport the injured visitor out of the park to receive medical attention.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=yosemite+death+sf+chronicle&amp;source=lnms&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjiz8OE4sbWAhXBTSYKHRucAqsQ_AUICSgA&amp;biw=1243&amp;bih=604&amp;dpr=1" type="external">San Francisco Chronicle reported</a> that the rockfall happened at the peak of climbing season in the park.</p>
| 7,409 |
<p>By Alan Baldwin</p>
<p>VERSAILLES, France (Reuters) – Britain’s Lewis Hamilton was handed the Formula One world championship trophy for the fourth time on Friday at a gala prizegiving ceremony in the sumptuous palace of France’s former monarchy.</p>
<p>With Formula One chairman Chase Carey looking on, newly-re-elected International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Jean Todt handed the 32-year-old Mercedes driver the silverware he won in Mexico with two races to spare.</p>
<p>“This has been an amazing year,” Hamilton told the audience of champions and FIA members gathered in the palace’s 18th century opera.</p>
<p>“I hope that next year’s an even better year for all of you. I know for me that I’m going to try to do better.”</p>
<p>Hamilton won nine of 20 races in 2017 and set an all-time record of 72 career pole positions as well as scoring points in every grand prix.</p>
<p>Asked earlier for his highlight of the season, Hamilton singled out his home British Grand Prix at Silverstone because of the support he received after the ‘negativity’ surrounding his failure to take part in an earlier London event.</p>
<p>He had also told reporters that while he did not like going to award ceremonies, or being on stage, he enjoyed watching others succeed.</p>
<p>Mercedes won both championships for the fourth year in a row but team boss Toto Wolff said 2017 had been particularly difficult.</p>
<p>“We keep it now,” he said after being handed the constructors’ trophy by Carey.</p>
<p>Red Bull’s 20-year-old Dutch driver Max Verstappen beat a field that included Hamilton and his own Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo to the ‘Personality of the Year” award for the third successive year.</p>
<p>The award is selected by permanently accredited media from all FIA championships.</p>
<p>“I always try to be honest and straightforward so I guess that gave me the personality again this year,” said the winner of two races in 2017.</p>
<p>“It was a hard season but I learnt a lot from it.”</p>
<p>Monaco’s Formula Two winner and 2018 Sauber F1 driver Charles Leclerc won the Rookie of the Year award while Finnish rally driver Esapekka Lappi won the ‘Action of the Year’ for a jump in the Rally of Portugal.</p>
<p>British teenager Billy Monger, who had his lower legs amputated after an horrific smash in a Formula Four race at Donington Park in April, was presented with an FIA president’s special award.</p>
<p>Monger, who has already returned to driving, walked out onto the stage on prosthetic legs to a resounding ovation.</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>
|
Motor racing: Hamilton crowned F1 champion at royal palace
| false |
https://newsline.com/motor-racing-hamilton-crowned-f1-champion-at-royal-palace/
|
2017-12-08
| 1right-center
|
Motor racing: Hamilton crowned F1 champion at royal palace
<p>By Alan Baldwin</p>
<p>VERSAILLES, France (Reuters) – Britain’s Lewis Hamilton was handed the Formula One world championship trophy for the fourth time on Friday at a gala prizegiving ceremony in the sumptuous palace of France’s former monarchy.</p>
<p>With Formula One chairman Chase Carey looking on, newly-re-elected International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Jean Todt handed the 32-year-old Mercedes driver the silverware he won in Mexico with two races to spare.</p>
<p>“This has been an amazing year,” Hamilton told the audience of champions and FIA members gathered in the palace’s 18th century opera.</p>
<p>“I hope that next year’s an even better year for all of you. I know for me that I’m going to try to do better.”</p>
<p>Hamilton won nine of 20 races in 2017 and set an all-time record of 72 career pole positions as well as scoring points in every grand prix.</p>
<p>Asked earlier for his highlight of the season, Hamilton singled out his home British Grand Prix at Silverstone because of the support he received after the ‘negativity’ surrounding his failure to take part in an earlier London event.</p>
<p>He had also told reporters that while he did not like going to award ceremonies, or being on stage, he enjoyed watching others succeed.</p>
<p>Mercedes won both championships for the fourth year in a row but team boss Toto Wolff said 2017 had been particularly difficult.</p>
<p>“We keep it now,” he said after being handed the constructors’ trophy by Carey.</p>
<p>Red Bull’s 20-year-old Dutch driver Max Verstappen beat a field that included Hamilton and his own Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo to the ‘Personality of the Year” award for the third successive year.</p>
<p>The award is selected by permanently accredited media from all FIA championships.</p>
<p>“I always try to be honest and straightforward so I guess that gave me the personality again this year,” said the winner of two races in 2017.</p>
<p>“It was a hard season but I learnt a lot from it.”</p>
<p>Monaco’s Formula Two winner and 2018 Sauber F1 driver Charles Leclerc won the Rookie of the Year award while Finnish rally driver Esapekka Lappi won the ‘Action of the Year’ for a jump in the Rally of Portugal.</p>
<p>British teenager Billy Monger, who had his lower legs amputated after an horrific smash in a Formula Four race at Donington Park in April, was presented with an FIA president’s special award.</p>
<p>Monger, who has already returned to driving, walked out onto the stage on prosthetic legs to a resounding ovation.</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>
| 7,410 |
<p>Published time: 21 Nov, 2017 02:12</p>
<p>Hundreds of people gathered around the site of the Georgia Dome in downtown Atlanta to catch the once-in-a-lifetime sight of a 71,000-seater stadium being razed to the ground.</p>
<p>For those who wanted to watch the unique event from the comfort of their own home, the Weather Channel’s live stream provided a far less spectacular sight – the side of a city bus.</p>
<p>The broadcaster’s science editor, James Crugnale, had his stream set for 40 minutes before the first loud boom signalled the beginning of the end for the 25-year-old stadium. It was then, right at the most inopportune moment, a MARTA bus crossed the line of the shot, completely blocking the once-in-a-lifetime view of the implosion.</p>
<p>Someone can be heard shouting from behind the camera:&#160;“Go bus, get out of the way!”&#160;But their entreaties, peppered by some choice language, are all for naught as the building comes down behind the bus. The demolition took 4,800lbs of explosives, including about 4,500lbs of dynamite, <a href="http://www.ajc.com/sports/football/georgia-dome-comes-crumbling-down/IyUNJn8xDYJYyZ4CHcmUnL/" type="external">according</a> to the&#160;Atlanta Journal-Constitution.</p>
<p>The Georgia Dome has hosted the Olympics, two Super Bowls and three semi finals of the NCAA basketball tournament. It was replaced this summer by the nearby Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is now home to the Atlanta Falcons NFL franchise and Atlanta United, the Major League Soccer club. The Falcons posted jaw-dropping footage of the implosion taken from inside the stadium to Twitter following the event Monday.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
Reporter rages as bus blocks footage of Georgia Dome stadium’s dramatic implosion (VIDEO)
| false |
https://newsline.com/reporter-rages-as-bus-blocks-footage-of-georgia-dome-stadiums-dramatic-implosion-video/
|
2017-11-20
| 1right-center
|
Reporter rages as bus blocks footage of Georgia Dome stadium’s dramatic implosion (VIDEO)
<p>Published time: 21 Nov, 2017 02:12</p>
<p>Hundreds of people gathered around the site of the Georgia Dome in downtown Atlanta to catch the once-in-a-lifetime sight of a 71,000-seater stadium being razed to the ground.</p>
<p>For those who wanted to watch the unique event from the comfort of their own home, the Weather Channel’s live stream provided a far less spectacular sight – the side of a city bus.</p>
<p>The broadcaster’s science editor, James Crugnale, had his stream set for 40 minutes before the first loud boom signalled the beginning of the end for the 25-year-old stadium. It was then, right at the most inopportune moment, a MARTA bus crossed the line of the shot, completely blocking the once-in-a-lifetime view of the implosion.</p>
<p>Someone can be heard shouting from behind the camera:&#160;“Go bus, get out of the way!”&#160;But their entreaties, peppered by some choice language, are all for naught as the building comes down behind the bus. The demolition took 4,800lbs of explosives, including about 4,500lbs of dynamite, <a href="http://www.ajc.com/sports/football/georgia-dome-comes-crumbling-down/IyUNJn8xDYJYyZ4CHcmUnL/" type="external">according</a> to the&#160;Atlanta Journal-Constitution.</p>
<p>The Georgia Dome has hosted the Olympics, two Super Bowls and three semi finals of the NCAA basketball tournament. It was replaced this summer by the nearby Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which is now home to the Atlanta Falcons NFL franchise and Atlanta United, the Major League Soccer club. The Falcons posted jaw-dropping footage of the implosion taken from inside the stadium to Twitter following the event Monday.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 7,411 |
<p>CAIRO (AP) — Ethiopia's prime minister arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for a two-day visit to discuss a massive dam that Egypt fears will cut into its share of the Nile, at a time of heightened tensions among the countries that rely on the river.</p>
<p>Hailemariam Desalegn is the highest-ranking Ethiopian official to travel to Egypt to take part in what has become a regular meeting of the "High Joint Commission" to address the issue. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Thursday.</p>
<p>Egypt's Foreign Ministry announced the visit in a statement that only made passing mention of the dam among other issues. The two countries' foreign ministers held talks ahead of the visit, and Egypt said it was committed to an earlier agreement to share the Nile with Ethiopia and Sudan during the filling of a reservoir behind the new dam.</p>
<p>"(It) will be, upon its full implementation, a successful model of cooperation in the Nile basin," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in comments carried live on state television.</p>
<p>Egypt has expressed mounting alarm over the soon-to-be-completed upstream dam. The Nile provides nearly all the freshwater for the country's 95 million people. Ethiopia, with roughly the same population, has downplayed those fears, insisting the dam is essential to its economic development.</p>
<p>Of special concern is the speed at which a planned reservoir is filled behind the dam. Egypt has voiced worries that the filling of the reservoir could drastically reduce the Nile's flow, with potentially severe effects on Egyptian agriculture and other sectors.</p>
<p>Ethiopia says the $5 billion dam is essential, noting that the vast majority of its population lacks electricity. The dam's hydroelectric plant will generate over 6,400 megawatts, a massive boost to the country's current production of 4,000 Megawatts.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, el-Sissi sought to defuse tensions with Ethiopia and Sudan, which has sided with Ethiopia and revived a longtime border dispute with Cairo. El-Sissi insisted Egypt was not meddling in either country's internal affairs or preparing to go to war.</p>
<p>That came after el-Sissi met his counterpart from Eritrea, a bitter rival of Ethiopia which went to war with it in the late 1990s. Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of training rebels to carry out sabotage attacks on the dam.</p>
<p>Egypt has traditionally received the lion's share of the Nile's waters under agreements reached in 1929 and 1959. Other Nile basin nations view those agreements as unfair, saying they ignore the needs of their own large and growing populations.</p>
<p>CAIRO (AP) — Ethiopia's prime minister arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for a two-day visit to discuss a massive dam that Egypt fears will cut into its share of the Nile, at a time of heightened tensions among the countries that rely on the river.</p>
<p>Hailemariam Desalegn is the highest-ranking Ethiopian official to travel to Egypt to take part in what has become a regular meeting of the "High Joint Commission" to address the issue. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Thursday.</p>
<p>Egypt's Foreign Ministry announced the visit in a statement that only made passing mention of the dam among other issues. The two countries' foreign ministers held talks ahead of the visit, and Egypt said it was committed to an earlier agreement to share the Nile with Ethiopia and Sudan during the filling of a reservoir behind the new dam.</p>
<p>"(It) will be, upon its full implementation, a successful model of cooperation in the Nile basin," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in comments carried live on state television.</p>
<p>Egypt has expressed mounting alarm over the soon-to-be-completed upstream dam. The Nile provides nearly all the freshwater for the country's 95 million people. Ethiopia, with roughly the same population, has downplayed those fears, insisting the dam is essential to its economic development.</p>
<p>Of special concern is the speed at which a planned reservoir is filled behind the dam. Egypt has voiced worries that the filling of the reservoir could drastically reduce the Nile's flow, with potentially severe effects on Egyptian agriculture and other sectors.</p>
<p>Ethiopia says the $5 billion dam is essential, noting that the vast majority of its population lacks electricity. The dam's hydroelectric plant will generate over 6,400 megawatts, a massive boost to the country's current production of 4,000 Megawatts.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, el-Sissi sought to defuse tensions with Ethiopia and Sudan, which has sided with Ethiopia and revived a longtime border dispute with Cairo. El-Sissi insisted Egypt was not meddling in either country's internal affairs or preparing to go to war.</p>
<p>That came after el-Sissi met his counterpart from Eritrea, a bitter rival of Ethiopia which went to war with it in the late 1990s. Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of training rebels to carry out sabotage attacks on the dam.</p>
<p>Egypt has traditionally received the lion's share of the Nile's waters under agreements reached in 1929 and 1959. Other Nile basin nations view those agreements as unfair, saying they ignore the needs of their own large and growing populations.</p>
|
Ethiopian PM arrives in Egypt for talks on sharing Nile
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/594f6e47c72e4db3bc03c431487d477e
|
2018-01-17
| 2least
|
Ethiopian PM arrives in Egypt for talks on sharing Nile
<p>CAIRO (AP) — Ethiopia's prime minister arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for a two-day visit to discuss a massive dam that Egypt fears will cut into its share of the Nile, at a time of heightened tensions among the countries that rely on the river.</p>
<p>Hailemariam Desalegn is the highest-ranking Ethiopian official to travel to Egypt to take part in what has become a regular meeting of the "High Joint Commission" to address the issue. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Thursday.</p>
<p>Egypt's Foreign Ministry announced the visit in a statement that only made passing mention of the dam among other issues. The two countries' foreign ministers held talks ahead of the visit, and Egypt said it was committed to an earlier agreement to share the Nile with Ethiopia and Sudan during the filling of a reservoir behind the new dam.</p>
<p>"(It) will be, upon its full implementation, a successful model of cooperation in the Nile basin," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in comments carried live on state television.</p>
<p>Egypt has expressed mounting alarm over the soon-to-be-completed upstream dam. The Nile provides nearly all the freshwater for the country's 95 million people. Ethiopia, with roughly the same population, has downplayed those fears, insisting the dam is essential to its economic development.</p>
<p>Of special concern is the speed at which a planned reservoir is filled behind the dam. Egypt has voiced worries that the filling of the reservoir could drastically reduce the Nile's flow, with potentially severe effects on Egyptian agriculture and other sectors.</p>
<p>Ethiopia says the $5 billion dam is essential, noting that the vast majority of its population lacks electricity. The dam's hydroelectric plant will generate over 6,400 megawatts, a massive boost to the country's current production of 4,000 Megawatts.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, el-Sissi sought to defuse tensions with Ethiopia and Sudan, which has sided with Ethiopia and revived a longtime border dispute with Cairo. El-Sissi insisted Egypt was not meddling in either country's internal affairs or preparing to go to war.</p>
<p>That came after el-Sissi met his counterpart from Eritrea, a bitter rival of Ethiopia which went to war with it in the late 1990s. Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of training rebels to carry out sabotage attacks on the dam.</p>
<p>Egypt has traditionally received the lion's share of the Nile's waters under agreements reached in 1929 and 1959. Other Nile basin nations view those agreements as unfair, saying they ignore the needs of their own large and growing populations.</p>
<p>CAIRO (AP) — Ethiopia's prime minister arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for a two-day visit to discuss a massive dam that Egypt fears will cut into its share of the Nile, at a time of heightened tensions among the countries that rely on the river.</p>
<p>Hailemariam Desalegn is the highest-ranking Ethiopian official to travel to Egypt to take part in what has become a regular meeting of the "High Joint Commission" to address the issue. He will meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Thursday.</p>
<p>Egypt's Foreign Ministry announced the visit in a statement that only made passing mention of the dam among other issues. The two countries' foreign ministers held talks ahead of the visit, and Egypt said it was committed to an earlier agreement to share the Nile with Ethiopia and Sudan during the filling of a reservoir behind the new dam.</p>
<p>"(It) will be, upon its full implementation, a successful model of cooperation in the Nile basin," Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in comments carried live on state television.</p>
<p>Egypt has expressed mounting alarm over the soon-to-be-completed upstream dam. The Nile provides nearly all the freshwater for the country's 95 million people. Ethiopia, with roughly the same population, has downplayed those fears, insisting the dam is essential to its economic development.</p>
<p>Of special concern is the speed at which a planned reservoir is filled behind the dam. Egypt has voiced worries that the filling of the reservoir could drastically reduce the Nile's flow, with potentially severe effects on Egyptian agriculture and other sectors.</p>
<p>Ethiopia says the $5 billion dam is essential, noting that the vast majority of its population lacks electricity. The dam's hydroelectric plant will generate over 6,400 megawatts, a massive boost to the country's current production of 4,000 Megawatts.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, el-Sissi sought to defuse tensions with Ethiopia and Sudan, which has sided with Ethiopia and revived a longtime border dispute with Cairo. El-Sissi insisted Egypt was not meddling in either country's internal affairs or preparing to go to war.</p>
<p>That came after el-Sissi met his counterpart from Eritrea, a bitter rival of Ethiopia which went to war with it in the late 1990s. Ethiopia has accused Eritrea of training rebels to carry out sabotage attacks on the dam.</p>
<p>Egypt has traditionally received the lion's share of the Nile's waters under agreements reached in 1929 and 1959. Other Nile basin nations view those agreements as unfair, saying they ignore the needs of their own large and growing populations.</p>
| 7,412 |
<p>Investing.com – Asian shares were mostly weaker on Tuesday with Tokyo bucking the trend and regional data sets in China weighing on sentiment.</p>
<p>225 rose 0.27%, while Australai’s fell 0.86%. National Australia Bank was down 1.21%. Australia reported the NAB business confidence review rose to plus-8 from plus-7 for October and the NAB business survey jumped to plus-21 from 14, a record high.</p>
<p>In Greater China, the dipped 0.37% and the fell 0.02%. China e-commerce company JD.com on Monday announced net earnings of 1 billion yuan ($150.6 million) in the quarter ending September. That was above the 213 million yuan loss estimated in a Reuters survey.</p>
<p>In China, fixed-asset investment gained 7.3%, a tad weaker than the 7.4% increase seen in October on year, along with industrial production, which gained 6.2%, missing the 6.3% rise seen and retail sales up 10%, compared with a 10.4% gain expected.</p>
<p>Overnight, U.S. stocks finished higher as investors digested dealmaking headlines but worried about the progress on tax reforms. The edged up 0.07% to close at 23,439.70 while shares of General Electric (NYSE:) tumbled 7.17%after it said it would cut dividend in half.</p>
<p>In a tweet, President Donald Trump suggested repealing an Affordable Care Act provision that requires most Americans to purchase insurance. Doing so would allow the top individual income tax rate to be cut to 35% with “all the rest going to middle income cuts,” Trump added.</p>
<p>Trump’s tweet added more complexity to plans to reform the U.S. tax system. There are currently two tax plans drawn up by House and Senate Republicans which have to be passed by the respective chambers before eventually being reconciled.</p>
<p>Ahead, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda are among those scheduled to attend a central banking conference in Frankfurt on Tuesday. Investors are likely to take note of the messaging coming out of that conference.</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>
|
Asian Shares Mostly Weaker On China Data, Nikkei 225 Posts Gains
| false |
https://newsline.com/asian-shares-mostly-weaker-on-china-data-nikkei-225-posts-gains/
|
2017-11-13
| 1right-center
|
Asian Shares Mostly Weaker On China Data, Nikkei 225 Posts Gains
<p>Investing.com – Asian shares were mostly weaker on Tuesday with Tokyo bucking the trend and regional data sets in China weighing on sentiment.</p>
<p>225 rose 0.27%, while Australai’s fell 0.86%. National Australia Bank was down 1.21%. Australia reported the NAB business confidence review rose to plus-8 from plus-7 for October and the NAB business survey jumped to plus-21 from 14, a record high.</p>
<p>In Greater China, the dipped 0.37% and the fell 0.02%. China e-commerce company JD.com on Monday announced net earnings of 1 billion yuan ($150.6 million) in the quarter ending September. That was above the 213 million yuan loss estimated in a Reuters survey.</p>
<p>In China, fixed-asset investment gained 7.3%, a tad weaker than the 7.4% increase seen in October on year, along with industrial production, which gained 6.2%, missing the 6.3% rise seen and retail sales up 10%, compared with a 10.4% gain expected.</p>
<p>Overnight, U.S. stocks finished higher as investors digested dealmaking headlines but worried about the progress on tax reforms. The edged up 0.07% to close at 23,439.70 while shares of General Electric (NYSE:) tumbled 7.17%after it said it would cut dividend in half.</p>
<p>In a tweet, President Donald Trump suggested repealing an Affordable Care Act provision that requires most Americans to purchase insurance. Doing so would allow the top individual income tax rate to be cut to 35% with “all the rest going to middle income cuts,” Trump added.</p>
<p>Trump’s tweet added more complexity to plans to reform the U.S. tax system. There are currently two tax plans drawn up by House and Senate Republicans which have to be passed by the respective chambers before eventually being reconciled.</p>
<p>Ahead, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda are among those scheduled to attend a central banking conference in Frankfurt on Tuesday. Investors are likely to take note of the messaging coming out of that conference.</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>
| 7,413 |
<p>By Alex Kirby, Climate News Network</p>
<p />
<p>&#160; &#160; A Congolese woman collects firewood from the forest. (Ollivier Girard / CIFOR via Flickr)</p>
<p>This Creative Commons-licensed piece first appeared at <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/rich-praise-for-poor-nations-emissions-targets/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>LONDON — An African country whose people are among the poorest on Earth has won plaudits from US scientists for its clear and detailed plans to reduce climate-warming emissions from its forests and farms.</p>
<p>The strategy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — rated next to bottom of the 187 countries on the <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/" type="external">UN’s Human Development Index</a> in 2013 — is described as “robust” by the US-based <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/about-us" type="external">Union of Concerned Scientists</a> (UCS).</p>
<p>They also rate it as better than those produced by three other more prosperous countries struggling to combat deforestation — Brazil, India and Indonesia.</p>
<p>The UCS analysed the intentions of several countries for <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/unfccc/sbsta40/AR5WGIII_Tubiello_140606.pdf" type="external">limiting global warming emissions in the agriculture, forestry and other land use</a> (AFOLU) sectors as outlined in their <a href="http://www.wri.org/indc-definition" type="external">Intended Nationally Determined Contribution</a>s (INDCs) — action plans submitted to the UN climate change convention (UNFCCC) explaining how they will reduce their emissions in the 2020s.</p>
<p>Deforestation hotspots</p>
<p>In a report called “INDCs, Take 3” — the final section of a three-part series UCS has released — the <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/stop-deforestation/halfway-there-what-land-sector-can-contribute-closing-emissions-gap#.VkSU88qXc7A" type="external">scientists say the INDCs from Brazil, India and Indonesia are disappointing</a>, despite their status as deforestation hotspots.</p>
<p>In contrast, they say, the DRC’s plan is robust and in line with a trend that sees <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/developing-countries-set-an-example-on-emissions-cuts/" type="external">smaller countries doing more to reduce their land use emissions</a> than more populated countries.</p>
<p>Doug Boucher, the report’s author and director of the Tropical Forest and Climate Initiative at UCS, says: “The land use sector, which accounts for about one-fourth of total global warming emissions, can’t be ignored if we want to solve the problem of climate change.</p>
<p>“The climate mitigation potential of agriculture and forests is great, and needs to be fully realised to prevent the worst consequences of climate change that will occur if global temperatures rise by more than 2°C.”</p>
<p>In its INDC, Brazil says it will reduce its overall carbon emissions by 37% by 2025, with or without international financing.</p>
<p>But, the UCS says, this does not include the country’s AFOLU emissions. It says its greatest concern is the <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/south-america-falters-over-climate-action/" type="external">“inadequate” Brazilian pledge</a> to eliminate only illegal deforestation in the Amazon, rather than limiting all forms of deforestation across the entire country.</p>
<p>Indonesia’s INDC is also problematic, the UCS says. About 63% of Indonesia’s global warming emissions <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/mangroves-hold-key-to-indonesias-emissions-cuts/" type="external">come from the AFOLU sectors,</a> mostly because of deforestation for large-scale agriculture.</p>
<p>The report says it is therefore worrying that Indonesia’s INDC — which proposes a 29% emissions reduction by 2030 compared with business-as-usual, or 41% if it receives international financing — fails to suggest a goal for ending deforestation or peatland clearing.</p>
<p>“I’m hopeful that the developed world will respond to the DRC’s plans by providing them with the resources necessary to fulfil them.”</p>
<p>“Indonesia currently has a moratorium on clearing primary forests and also banned peatland clearing in 2010,” Boucher says. “But the plan doesn’t say whether these commitments will continue, let alone what sort of new initiatives will be implemented to achieve their overall emissions reduction goal.”</p>
<p>Unlike the other countries examined, <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/forests-move-centre-stage-in-indias-climate-plan/" type="external">India is already planting more trees than it is felling</a>. Its INDC lists an overall goal of reducing global warming emissions by 33%-35% by 2030. But the analysis says it “lacks the clarity necessary to effectively gauge India’s ambition, especially with regard to the AFOLU sectors”.</p>
<p>Of the four countries examined, the UCS says, the proposals by the DRC — home to the largest area of the Congo Basin rainforest — were the most clearly defined.</p>
<p>The country offers a 17% carbon emissions reduction by 2030 compared with business-as-usual, and gives a breakdown of how much of this will come from each sector and to what extent each goal depends on international help.</p>
<p>Clearer detail</p>
<p>“The DRC’s plan is clearer and includes more quantitative detail than plans submitted by far richer nations,” Boucher says. “And their proposed reductions are in line with the amount of emissions they can and should cut, based on the extent to which their emissions have contributed to climate change.”</p>
<p>He told Climate News Network: “The governance challenges that the DRC faces in implementing the plans it has presented are enormous. But recent years have actually seen some steps forward among the Congo Basin countries, including reducing an already low rate of deforestation and improving forest monitoring and management.</p>
<p>“So I’m hopeful that the developed world will respond to the DRC’s plans by providing them with the resources necessary to fulfil them.”</p>
<p>The four countries examined in the analysis, together with China, the European Union, Mexico and the US, make up 57% of all land use sector emissions.</p>
<p>“We analysed climate pledges from countries that could make or break climate progress worldwide,” Boucher says. “It’s clear that to be climate leaders, these countries will need to make significant revisions on land use in their INDCs if we hope to effectively tackle emissions from this sector.”</p>
|
Rich Praise for Poor Nation's Emissions Targets
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/rich-praise-for-poor-nations-emissions-targets/
|
2015-11-19
| 4left
|
Rich Praise for Poor Nation's Emissions Targets
<p>By Alex Kirby, Climate News Network</p>
<p />
<p>&#160; &#160; A Congolese woman collects firewood from the forest. (Ollivier Girard / CIFOR via Flickr)</p>
<p>This Creative Commons-licensed piece first appeared at <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/rich-praise-for-poor-nations-emissions-targets/" type="external">Climate News Network</a>.</p>
<p />
<p>LONDON — An African country whose people are among the poorest on Earth has won plaudits from US scientists for its clear and detailed plans to reduce climate-warming emissions from its forests and farms.</p>
<p>The strategy of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) — rated next to bottom of the 187 countries on the <a href="http://hdr.undp.org/en/" type="external">UN’s Human Development Index</a> in 2013 — is described as “robust” by the US-based <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/about-us" type="external">Union of Concerned Scientists</a> (UCS).</p>
<p>They also rate it as better than those produced by three other more prosperous countries struggling to combat deforestation — Brazil, India and Indonesia.</p>
<p>The UCS analysed the intentions of several countries for <a href="http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/unfccc/sbsta40/AR5WGIII_Tubiello_140606.pdf" type="external">limiting global warming emissions in the agriculture, forestry and other land use</a> (AFOLU) sectors as outlined in their <a href="http://www.wri.org/indc-definition" type="external">Intended Nationally Determined Contribution</a>s (INDCs) — action plans submitted to the UN climate change convention (UNFCCC) explaining how they will reduce their emissions in the 2020s.</p>
<p>Deforestation hotspots</p>
<p>In a report called “INDCs, Take 3” — the final section of a three-part series UCS has released — the <a href="http://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/stop-deforestation/halfway-there-what-land-sector-can-contribute-closing-emissions-gap#.VkSU88qXc7A" type="external">scientists say the INDCs from Brazil, India and Indonesia are disappointing</a>, despite their status as deforestation hotspots.</p>
<p>In contrast, they say, the DRC’s plan is robust and in line with a trend that sees <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/developing-countries-set-an-example-on-emissions-cuts/" type="external">smaller countries doing more to reduce their land use emissions</a> than more populated countries.</p>
<p>Doug Boucher, the report’s author and director of the Tropical Forest and Climate Initiative at UCS, says: “The land use sector, which accounts for about one-fourth of total global warming emissions, can’t be ignored if we want to solve the problem of climate change.</p>
<p>“The climate mitigation potential of agriculture and forests is great, and needs to be fully realised to prevent the worst consequences of climate change that will occur if global temperatures rise by more than 2°C.”</p>
<p>In its INDC, Brazil says it will reduce its overall carbon emissions by 37% by 2025, with or without international financing.</p>
<p>But, the UCS says, this does not include the country’s AFOLU emissions. It says its greatest concern is the <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/south-america-falters-over-climate-action/" type="external">“inadequate” Brazilian pledge</a> to eliminate only illegal deforestation in the Amazon, rather than limiting all forms of deforestation across the entire country.</p>
<p>Indonesia’s INDC is also problematic, the UCS says. About 63% of Indonesia’s global warming emissions <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/mangroves-hold-key-to-indonesias-emissions-cuts/" type="external">come from the AFOLU sectors,</a> mostly because of deforestation for large-scale agriculture.</p>
<p>The report says it is therefore worrying that Indonesia’s INDC — which proposes a 29% emissions reduction by 2030 compared with business-as-usual, or 41% if it receives international financing — fails to suggest a goal for ending deforestation or peatland clearing.</p>
<p>“I’m hopeful that the developed world will respond to the DRC’s plans by providing them with the resources necessary to fulfil them.”</p>
<p>“Indonesia currently has a moratorium on clearing primary forests and also banned peatland clearing in 2010,” Boucher says. “But the plan doesn’t say whether these commitments will continue, let alone what sort of new initiatives will be implemented to achieve their overall emissions reduction goal.”</p>
<p>Unlike the other countries examined, <a href="http://climatenewsnetwork.net/forests-move-centre-stage-in-indias-climate-plan/" type="external">India is already planting more trees than it is felling</a>. Its INDC lists an overall goal of reducing global warming emissions by 33%-35% by 2030. But the analysis says it “lacks the clarity necessary to effectively gauge India’s ambition, especially with regard to the AFOLU sectors”.</p>
<p>Of the four countries examined, the UCS says, the proposals by the DRC — home to the largest area of the Congo Basin rainforest — were the most clearly defined.</p>
<p>The country offers a 17% carbon emissions reduction by 2030 compared with business-as-usual, and gives a breakdown of how much of this will come from each sector and to what extent each goal depends on international help.</p>
<p>Clearer detail</p>
<p>“The DRC’s plan is clearer and includes more quantitative detail than plans submitted by far richer nations,” Boucher says. “And their proposed reductions are in line with the amount of emissions they can and should cut, based on the extent to which their emissions have contributed to climate change.”</p>
<p>He told Climate News Network: “The governance challenges that the DRC faces in implementing the plans it has presented are enormous. But recent years have actually seen some steps forward among the Congo Basin countries, including reducing an already low rate of deforestation and improving forest monitoring and management.</p>
<p>“So I’m hopeful that the developed world will respond to the DRC’s plans by providing them with the resources necessary to fulfil them.”</p>
<p>The four countries examined in the analysis, together with China, the European Union, Mexico and the US, make up 57% of all land use sector emissions.</p>
<p>“We analysed climate pledges from countries that could make or break climate progress worldwide,” Boucher says. “It’s clear that to be climate leaders, these countries will need to make significant revisions on land use in their INDCs if we hope to effectively tackle emissions from this sector.”</p>
| 7,414 |
<p>White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer says he expects something on a “religious freedom” executive order.</p>
<p>Amid renewed concerns President Trump would sign a “religious order” undermining LGBT rights, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Monday he expects the administration would soon “have something.”</p>
<p>Spicer made the remarks in response to a question from the Daily Signal, an arm of the anti-LGBT Heritage Foundation, on whether the order is still coming and whether it would extend beyond the Johnson Amendment, a law Trump has pledged to repeal barring churches from making political endorsements.</p>
<p>“I think we’ve discussed executive orders in the past, and for the most part, we’re not going to get into discussing what may or may not come until we’re ready to announce it,” Spicer replied. “So, I’m sure as we move forward we’ll have something.”</p>
<p>It wasn’t immediately clear whether the “something” to which Spicer was referring was an actual executive order or a statement on a policy position for the way forward.</p>
<p>Although Trump initially passed up the opportunity to sign a proposed anti-LGBT “religious freedom” executive order at the time of the National Prayer Breakfast during the start of the administration, a recent report in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ken-blackwell-religious-freedom-order_us_58b2f87ee4b0a8a9b7830c3e?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009" type="external">The Huffington Post</a> raised concerns a different order will come soon.</p>
<p>The report quotes Ken Blackwell, a senior fellow at the anti-LGBT Family Research Council who oversaw domestic policy for the Trump transition team, from an interview he had with Sirius XM’s Michelangelo Signorile in which Blackwell says the order is being redrafted and on the way.</p>
<p>“In the final analysis, what we want is an executive order that will meet the scrutiny of the judicial process,” Blackwell is quoted as saying. “If there is no executive order, that will disappoint [social conservatives]. But a good executive order will not. So we’re still in the process.”</p>
<p>Blackwell reportedly said the former director of Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty, Ken Klukowski, had “actually structured” the initial draft order as a legal adviser to Trump’s transition team and is now one of the lawyers “in the process of redrafting it.” Klukowski is now a senior attorney at the Liberty First Institute and a contributor to&#160;Breitbart, a conservative website.</p>
<p>The “anchor concept” of the order, Blackwell is quoted as saying, is a directive allowing people in the course of business to refuse services to LGBT people out of religious objections.</p>
<p>“I think small business owners who hold a religious belief that traditional marriage is between one man and one woman should not have their religious liberty trampled upon,” he explained. “I would imagine that that will be, strongly and clearly, the anchor concept [of the order].”</p>
<p>No federal law prohibits discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of gender, sexual orientation or gender identity and an executive order like this would send a signal to individuals they should feel free to discriminate. A federal “religious freedom” executive order wouldn’t preempt state laws barring anti-LGBT discrimination.</p>
<p>Klukowski is also quoted in the Huffington Post article as saying he’s “not at liberty to speak about” the order specifically, but nonetheless expressed confidence Trump would act to protect religious freedom both through judicial appointments and possibly administrative actions.</p>
<p>“And I’m confident,” Klukowski reportedly said, “that the president is showing ― much to the shock of many establishment people who said, ‘There’s no way this’ll happen’ ― that he keeps his promises, even when they’re things that an establishment player would never do. And I’m confident that he’s going to keep his promise when it comes to protection of religious liberty as well.”</p>
<p>Last month, a draft executive order began circulating among federal advocacy groups that would allow persons and religious organizations — broadly defined to include for-profit companies — to discriminate on the basis of religious objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion and transgender identity.</p>
<p>At the time, the White House downplayed the draft executive order and said Trump wouldn’t sign it — at least for the time being. Media reports circulated that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kuskner convinced Trump not to sign the “religious freedom” order and the president wasn’t ever seriously considering doing so.</p>
<p>The White House issued a statement saying Trump would preserve the Obama-era order against workplace discrimination among federal contractors and is “respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights.” That pledge of support was undermined after the administration later rescinded guidance protecting transgender students from discrimination at schools.</p>
<p>Olivia Dalton, the Human Rights Campaign’s senior vice president for communications and marketing, said renewed plans for an anti-LGBT “religious freedom” order shouldn’t come as a surprise.</p>
<p>“Donald Trump and Mike Pence have repeatedly threatened the LGBTQ community, and by their own admission this ‘license to discriminate’ order has been circulating for weeks,” Dalton said. “No one should be surprised — their despicable attack on transgender kids last week showed just how low they’re willing to go.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">executive order</a> <a href="" type="internal">Human Rights Campaign</a> <a href="" type="internal">Ken Blackwell</a> <a href="" type="internal">Olivia Dalton</a> <a href="" type="internal">Sean Spicer</a> <a href="" type="internal">Stephanie Grisham</a> <a href="" type="internal">White House</a></p>
|
Spicer hints at coming action on anti-LGBT ‘religious freedom’ order
| false |
http://washingtonblade.com/2017/02/27/white-house-will-anti-lgbt-religious-freedom-order/
| 3left-center
|
Spicer hints at coming action on anti-LGBT ‘religious freedom’ order
<p>White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer says he expects something on a “religious freedom” executive order.</p>
<p>Amid renewed concerns President Trump would sign a “religious order” undermining LGBT rights, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Monday he expects the administration would soon “have something.”</p>
<p>Spicer made the remarks in response to a question from the Daily Signal, an arm of the anti-LGBT Heritage Foundation, on whether the order is still coming and whether it would extend beyond the Johnson Amendment, a law Trump has pledged to repeal barring churches from making political endorsements.</p>
<p>“I think we’ve discussed executive orders in the past, and for the most part, we’re not going to get into discussing what may or may not come until we’re ready to announce it,” Spicer replied. “So, I’m sure as we move forward we’ll have something.”</p>
<p>It wasn’t immediately clear whether the “something” to which Spicer was referring was an actual executive order or a statement on a policy position for the way forward.</p>
<p>Although Trump initially passed up the opportunity to sign a proposed anti-LGBT “religious freedom” executive order at the time of the National Prayer Breakfast during the start of the administration, a recent report in <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ken-blackwell-religious-freedom-order_us_58b2f87ee4b0a8a9b7830c3e?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009" type="external">The Huffington Post</a> raised concerns a different order will come soon.</p>
<p>The report quotes Ken Blackwell, a senior fellow at the anti-LGBT Family Research Council who oversaw domestic policy for the Trump transition team, from an interview he had with Sirius XM’s Michelangelo Signorile in which Blackwell says the order is being redrafted and on the way.</p>
<p>“In the final analysis, what we want is an executive order that will meet the scrutiny of the judicial process,” Blackwell is quoted as saying. “If there is no executive order, that will disappoint [social conservatives]. But a good executive order will not. So we’re still in the process.”</p>
<p>Blackwell reportedly said the former director of Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty, Ken Klukowski, had “actually structured” the initial draft order as a legal adviser to Trump’s transition team and is now one of the lawyers “in the process of redrafting it.” Klukowski is now a senior attorney at the Liberty First Institute and a contributor to&#160;Breitbart, a conservative website.</p>
<p>The “anchor concept” of the order, Blackwell is quoted as saying, is a directive allowing people in the course of business to refuse services to LGBT people out of religious objections.</p>
<p>“I think small business owners who hold a religious belief that traditional marriage is between one man and one woman should not have their religious liberty trampled upon,” he explained. “I would imagine that that will be, strongly and clearly, the anchor concept [of the order].”</p>
<p>No federal law prohibits discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of gender, sexual orientation or gender identity and an executive order like this would send a signal to individuals they should feel free to discriminate. A federal “religious freedom” executive order wouldn’t preempt state laws barring anti-LGBT discrimination.</p>
<p>Klukowski is also quoted in the Huffington Post article as saying he’s “not at liberty to speak about” the order specifically, but nonetheless expressed confidence Trump would act to protect religious freedom both through judicial appointments and possibly administrative actions.</p>
<p>“And I’m confident,” Klukowski reportedly said, “that the president is showing ― much to the shock of many establishment people who said, ‘There’s no way this’ll happen’ ― that he keeps his promises, even when they’re things that an establishment player would never do. And I’m confident that he’s going to keep his promise when it comes to protection of religious liberty as well.”</p>
<p>Last month, a draft executive order began circulating among federal advocacy groups that would allow persons and religious organizations — broadly defined to include for-profit companies — to discriminate on the basis of religious objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion and transgender identity.</p>
<p>At the time, the White House downplayed the draft executive order and said Trump wouldn’t sign it — at least for the time being. Media reports circulated that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kuskner convinced Trump not to sign the “religious freedom” order and the president wasn’t ever seriously considering doing so.</p>
<p>The White House issued a statement saying Trump would preserve the Obama-era order against workplace discrimination among federal contractors and is “respectful and supportive of LGBTQ rights.” That pledge of support was undermined after the administration later rescinded guidance protecting transgender students from discrimination at schools.</p>
<p>Olivia Dalton, the Human Rights Campaign’s senior vice president for communications and marketing, said renewed plans for an anti-LGBT “religious freedom” order shouldn’t come as a surprise.</p>
<p>“Donald Trump and Mike Pence have repeatedly threatened the LGBTQ community, and by their own admission this ‘license to discriminate’ order has been circulating for weeks,” Dalton said. “No one should be surprised — their despicable attack on transgender kids last week showed just how low they’re willing to go.”</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">executive order</a> <a href="" type="internal">Human Rights Campaign</a> <a href="" type="internal">Ken Blackwell</a> <a href="" type="internal">Olivia Dalton</a> <a href="" type="internal">Sean Spicer</a> <a href="" type="internal">Stephanie Grisham</a> <a href="" type="internal">White House</a></p>
| 7,415 |
|
<p>(Reuters) – Sears Holdings Corp (O:) continued its streak of declining sales in the third quarter, reporting a double-digit drop in comparable sales at its Sears and Kmart chains.</p>
<p>Sales at Sears stores open for more than a year fell 17 percent in the quarter ended Oct. 28, while comparable sales at Kmart fell 13 percent, hurt by closures of pharmacies within some Kmart stores and fewer electronic products available at the chains.</p>
<p>Once the largest U.S. retailer, Sears has struggled as shoppers shift from the mall to the web and has closed scores of its weaker Kmart and namesake department stores, striking brand licensing deals and promoting its shopper loyalty program in efforts to turn itself around.</p>
<p>The retailer, which has reported years of losses and declining sales, said on Thursday it would look to diversify its revenue streams through partnerships in its businesses, including Sears Home Services, Innovel, Kenmore and DieHard.</p>
<p>Sears, controlled by billionaire investor Eddie Lampert, said it generated over $270 million through sale of real estate and other assets in the third quarter, and an additional $167 million after the close of the quarter.</p>
<p>The company said it used the proceeds to pay down debt.</p>
<p>Net loss attributable to shareholders was $558 million, in line with the forecast of $525 million to $595 million Sears gave earlier this month, citing store closures.</p>
<p>The retailer posted a loss of $748 million in the same quarter a year earlier.</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>
|
Sears comp sales continue to fall, loss in line with forecast
| false |
https://newsline.com/sears-comp-sales-continue-to-fall-loss-in-line-with-forecast/
|
2017-11-30
| 1right-center
|
Sears comp sales continue to fall, loss in line with forecast
<p>(Reuters) – Sears Holdings Corp (O:) continued its streak of declining sales in the third quarter, reporting a double-digit drop in comparable sales at its Sears and Kmart chains.</p>
<p>Sales at Sears stores open for more than a year fell 17 percent in the quarter ended Oct. 28, while comparable sales at Kmart fell 13 percent, hurt by closures of pharmacies within some Kmart stores and fewer electronic products available at the chains.</p>
<p>Once the largest U.S. retailer, Sears has struggled as shoppers shift from the mall to the web and has closed scores of its weaker Kmart and namesake department stores, striking brand licensing deals and promoting its shopper loyalty program in efforts to turn itself around.</p>
<p>The retailer, which has reported years of losses and declining sales, said on Thursday it would look to diversify its revenue streams through partnerships in its businesses, including Sears Home Services, Innovel, Kenmore and DieHard.</p>
<p>Sears, controlled by billionaire investor Eddie Lampert, said it generated over $270 million through sale of real estate and other assets in the third quarter, and an additional $167 million after the close of the quarter.</p>
<p>The company said it used the proceeds to pay down debt.</p>
<p>Net loss attributable to shareholders was $558 million, in line with the forecast of $525 million to $595 million Sears gave earlier this month, citing store closures.</p>
<p>The retailer posted a loss of $748 million in the same quarter a year earlier.</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>
| 7,416 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>“The math is pretty simple,” Koskinen said in a speech to the New York State Bar Association. “There are fewer audits because we have fewer auditors.”</p>
<p>“Audits fell in virtually every individual category and across income levels,” Koskinen said. “This continues a long-term trend that carries serious implications for our tax system and the nation.”</p>
<p>Koskinen’s speech comes in the middle of tax season, just as millions of Americans are filing their annual returns.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Last year, the IRS audited 1.2 million individual tax returns. That’s less than 1 percent of the returns that were filed, the lowest rate since 2004.</p>
<p>Koskinen said the IRS is down more than 2,200 revenue agents since 2010. Last year, a little more than 11,600 revenue agents examined returns, and Koskinen is warning that the number of agents will decline again this year.</p>
<p>Congress has cut the agency’s budget by $1.2 billion since 2010. The IRS will receive $10.9 billion for the budget year that ends in September.</p>
<p>President Barack Obama has proposed a $12.9 billion budget for the IRS in the coming budget year — about an 18 percent increase. The proposal, however, was not well-received by Republicans who control Congress.</p>
<p>The agency’s budget cuts have come as the IRS is starting to play a bigger role in implementing Obama’s health care law. For the first time, taxpayers have to report on their tax returns whether they have health insurance.</p>
<p>Millions of taxpayers who are receiving tax credits to help pay insurance premiums have to report them as well.</p>
<p>Some Republicans in Congress have vowed to cut IRS funding as a way to stifle implementation of the health care law.</p>
<p>Koskinen has said it won’t work. He said the IRS is required to enforce the law, so other areas will have to be cut, including taxpayer services and enforcement.</p>
<p>The agency projects that about half the people who call the IRS for assistance this filing season won’t be able to get through to a person. The agency is also considering shutting down operations for two days later this year — after tax season — resulting in unpaid furloughs for employees and service cuts for taxpayers, Koskinen said.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/stephenatap" type="external">http://twitter.com/stephenatap</a></p>
|
IRS: Your chances of getting audited lowest in a decade
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/546082/irs-your-chances-of-getting-audited-lowest-in-a-decade.html
| 2least
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IRS: Your chances of getting audited lowest in a decade
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>“The math is pretty simple,” Koskinen said in a speech to the New York State Bar Association. “There are fewer audits because we have fewer auditors.”</p>
<p>“Audits fell in virtually every individual category and across income levels,” Koskinen said. “This continues a long-term trend that carries serious implications for our tax system and the nation.”</p>
<p>Koskinen’s speech comes in the middle of tax season, just as millions of Americans are filing their annual returns.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Last year, the IRS audited 1.2 million individual tax returns. That’s less than 1 percent of the returns that were filed, the lowest rate since 2004.</p>
<p>Koskinen said the IRS is down more than 2,200 revenue agents since 2010. Last year, a little more than 11,600 revenue agents examined returns, and Koskinen is warning that the number of agents will decline again this year.</p>
<p>Congress has cut the agency’s budget by $1.2 billion since 2010. The IRS will receive $10.9 billion for the budget year that ends in September.</p>
<p>President Barack Obama has proposed a $12.9 billion budget for the IRS in the coming budget year — about an 18 percent increase. The proposal, however, was not well-received by Republicans who control Congress.</p>
<p>The agency’s budget cuts have come as the IRS is starting to play a bigger role in implementing Obama’s health care law. For the first time, taxpayers have to report on their tax returns whether they have health insurance.</p>
<p>Millions of taxpayers who are receiving tax credits to help pay insurance premiums have to report them as well.</p>
<p>Some Republicans in Congress have vowed to cut IRS funding as a way to stifle implementation of the health care law.</p>
<p>Koskinen has said it won’t work. He said the IRS is required to enforce the law, so other areas will have to be cut, including taxpayer services and enforcement.</p>
<p>The agency projects that about half the people who call the IRS for assistance this filing season won’t be able to get through to a person. The agency is also considering shutting down operations for two days later this year — after tax season — resulting in unpaid furloughs for employees and service cuts for taxpayers, Koskinen said.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: <a href="http://twitter.com/stephenatap" type="external">http://twitter.com/stephenatap</a></p>
| 7,417 |
|
<p />
<p>WASHINGTON (DC)Boston GlobeBy Michael W. Kahn, Associated Press, 3/21/2003</p>
<p>ASHINGTON -- The archdiocese covering the nation's capital and its Maryland suburbs announced changes yesterday to its child-protection policy that are intended to prevent cases of abuse involving church officials and workers.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Updates to the 17-year-old policy require that any bishop or superior who sends a priest to work in the Archdiocese of Washington must put in writing that he has reviewed the priest's employment and criminal history record checks for the past 10 years.</p>
<p>Applicants to the priesthood must complete criminal history record checks from all states where they have lived in the past 10 years.</p>
<p>The revised policy, effective June 1, is ''a model for any organization committed to protecting children,'' Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick said.</p>
|
Diocese changes aim to halt abuse
| false |
https://poynter.org/news/diocese-changes-aim-halt-abuse
|
2003-03-21
| 2least
|
Diocese changes aim to halt abuse
<p />
<p>WASHINGTON (DC)Boston GlobeBy Michael W. Kahn, Associated Press, 3/21/2003</p>
<p>ASHINGTON -- The archdiocese covering the nation's capital and its Maryland suburbs announced changes yesterday to its child-protection policy that are intended to prevent cases of abuse involving church officials and workers.</p>
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p />
<p>Updates to the 17-year-old policy require that any bishop or superior who sends a priest to work in the Archdiocese of Washington must put in writing that he has reviewed the priest's employment and criminal history record checks for the past 10 years.</p>
<p>Applicants to the priesthood must complete criminal history record checks from all states where they have lived in the past 10 years.</p>
<p>The revised policy, effective June 1, is ''a model for any organization committed to protecting children,'' Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick said.</p>
| 7,418 |
<p>An international team of scientists from the University of Adelaide and the University of Colorado Boulder discovered a new way to treat drug addiction.</p>
<p>It's called (+)-naloxone.</p>
<p>A University of Adelaide <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2012/08/14/new-study-involving-cu-boulder-shows-heroin-morphine-addiction-can-be" type="external">press release</a> said yesterday that researchers had "proven that addiction to morphine and heroin can be blocked, while at the same time increasing pain relief."</p>
<p>"Our studies have shown conclusively that we can block addiction via the immune system of the brain, without targeting the brain's wiring," said author Dr. Mark Hutchinson, ARC Research Fellow in the University of Adelaide's School of Medical Sciences.</p>
<p>"Our studies have shown we only need to block the immune response in the brain to prevent cravings for opioid drugs.?</p>
<p>The study was published yesterday in the <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/" type="external">Journal of Neuroscience</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nctimes.com/blogsnew/business/scitech/pain-relief-sans-opiate-addiction-achieved-with-naloxone-study-says/article_de6149ae-6db0-50f2-9230-961b0df3f6e7.html" type="external">T</a> <a href="http://www.nctimes.com/blogsnew/business/scitech/pain-relief-sans-opiate-addiction-achieved-with-naloxone-study-says/article_de6149ae-6db0-50f2-9230-961b0df3f6e7.html" type="external">he North County Times reported</a> a similar study by Scripps Research Institute that was published on Wednesday in <a href="http://stm.sciencemag.org/" type="external">Science Translational Medicine</a>.</p>
<p>Rats that were given a combination of two drugs, buprenorphine and naltrexone, consumed less cocaine and showed reduced "signs of withdrawal," which includes diarrhea and spasms. This suggests the cocktail may be a "viable pharmacological approach for the treatment of cocaine addiction," <a href="http://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news55261.html" type="external">researchers said</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>Watch this video to hear&#160;Dr. Mark Hutchinson explain what he calls a paradigm shift in how we treat drug addiction:&#160;</p>
<p />
<p />
|
New drug addiction treatment: Study
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2012-08-15/new-drug-addiction-treatment-study
|
2012-08-15
| 3left-center
|
New drug addiction treatment: Study
<p>An international team of scientists from the University of Adelaide and the University of Colorado Boulder discovered a new way to treat drug addiction.</p>
<p>It's called (+)-naloxone.</p>
<p>A University of Adelaide <a href="http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2012/08/14/new-study-involving-cu-boulder-shows-heroin-morphine-addiction-can-be" type="external">press release</a> said yesterday that researchers had "proven that addiction to morphine and heroin can be blocked, while at the same time increasing pain relief."</p>
<p>"Our studies have shown conclusively that we can block addiction via the immune system of the brain, without targeting the brain's wiring," said author Dr. Mark Hutchinson, ARC Research Fellow in the University of Adelaide's School of Medical Sciences.</p>
<p>"Our studies have shown we only need to block the immune response in the brain to prevent cravings for opioid drugs.?</p>
<p>The study was published yesterday in the <a href="http://www.jneurosci.org/" type="external">Journal of Neuroscience</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.nctimes.com/blogsnew/business/scitech/pain-relief-sans-opiate-addiction-achieved-with-naloxone-study-says/article_de6149ae-6db0-50f2-9230-961b0df3f6e7.html" type="external">T</a> <a href="http://www.nctimes.com/blogsnew/business/scitech/pain-relief-sans-opiate-addiction-achieved-with-naloxone-study-says/article_de6149ae-6db0-50f2-9230-961b0df3f6e7.html" type="external">he North County Times reported</a> a similar study by Scripps Research Institute that was published on Wednesday in <a href="http://stm.sciencemag.org/" type="external">Science Translational Medicine</a>.</p>
<p>Rats that were given a combination of two drugs, buprenorphine and naltrexone, consumed less cocaine and showed reduced "signs of withdrawal," which includes diarrhea and spasms. This suggests the cocktail may be a "viable pharmacological approach for the treatment of cocaine addiction," <a href="http://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news55261.html" type="external">researchers said</a>.&#160;</p>
<p>Watch this video to hear&#160;Dr. Mark Hutchinson explain what he calls a paradigm shift in how we treat drug addiction:&#160;</p>
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<p>The underlying causes of “high matches” between survey respondents</p>
<p>Updated February 25, 2016</p>
<p>A version of this paper was published in the <a href="http://content.iospress.com/download/statistical-journal-of-the-iaos/sji1019?id=statistical-journal-of-the-iaos%2Fsji1019" type="external">Statistical Journal of the IAOS</a>.</p>
<p>By Katie Simmons, Andrew Mercer, Steve Schwarzer and Courtney Kennedy</p>
<p>Concern about data falsification is as old as the profession of public opinion polling. However, the extent of data falsification is difficult to quantify and not well documented. As a result, the impact of falsification on statistical estimates is essentially unknown. Nonetheless, there is an established approach to address the problem of data falsification which includes prevention, for example by training interviewers and providing close supervision, and detection, such as through careful evaluation of patterns in the technical data, also referred to as paradata, and the substantive data.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2580502" type="external">recent paper</a>, Kuriakose and Robbins (2015) propose a new approach to detecting falsification. The measure is an extension of the traditional method of looking for duplicates within datasets. What is new about their approach is the assertion that the presence of respondents that match another respondent on more than 85% of questions, what we refer to as a high match, indicates likely falsification. They apply this threshold to a range of publicly available international survey datasets and conclude that one-in-five international survey datasets likely contain falsified data.</p>
<p>The claim that there is widespread falsification in international surveys is clearly concerning. However, an extensive investigation conducted by Pew Research Center and summarized in this report finds the claim is not well supported. The results demonstrate that natural, benign survey features can explain high match rates. Specifically, the threshold that Kuriakose and Robbins propose is extremely sensitive to the number of questions, number of response options, number of respondents, and homogeneity within the population. Because of this sensitivity to multiple parameters, under real-world conditions it is possible for respondents to match on any percentage of questions even when the survey data is valid and uncorrupted. In other words, our analysis indicates the proposed threshold is prone to generating false positives – suggesting falsification when, in fact, there is none. Perhaps the most compelling evidence that casts doubt on the claim of widespread falsification is in the way the approach implicates some high-quality U.S. surveys. The threshold generates false positives in data with no suspected falsification but that has similar characteristics to the international surveys called into question.</p>
<p>This paper proceeds as follows. First, we briefly review the problem of data falsification in surveys and how it is typically addressed. Second, we summarize Kuriakose and Robbins’ argument for their proposed threshold for identifying falsified data and discuss our concerns about their evidence. Third, we outline the research steps we followed to evaluate the proposed threshold and then review in detail the results of our analysis. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the findings and other ways the field is working to improve quality control methods.</p>
<p>All survey data, independent of the mode of data collection, are susceptible to survey error. Groves et al. (2009) outline the various sources of error that can affect surveys under the total survey error framework. One especially concerning source of error is data falsification.</p>
<p>A 2003 report from the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) defines the problem of falsification in surveys as the intentional departure from guidelines or instructions (p. 1). Researchers must rely on the fieldhouse, the interviewers and even the respondents to follow the survey design guidelines and questionnaire instructions. This creates a classic principal-agent problem. Fieldhouses, interviewers and respondents [the agents] have better information about the fieldwork and the interview situation than the researchers [the principals] (Kosyakova et al., 2015, p. 418). For surveys based on personal-interviewing, the research on falsification has traditionally focused on different forms of interviewer-based falsification (such as making up whole interviews or “curbstoning,” skipping questions, modifying questions or answers), while for surveys that do not involve interviewers, the focus has been on the faulty behavior of respondents (such as straight-lining or speeding through the questionnaire).</p>
<p>In an early study on data falsification, Crespi (1945) argued that the departure from interview protocols is less a problem of morality, and more a problem of morale (p. 431). Crespi, who mainly focused on interviewers, outlined the various factors that might discourage interviewers from faithfully performing their duties, including questionnaire characteristics (long, complex or sensitive questionnaires), administrative aspects (inadequate remuneration or insufficient training of interviewers), and external factors (bad weather, unsafe neighborhoods or difficult-to-reach areas).</p>
<p>The extent of the problem of data falsification is not clearly established, although we know the problem exists (Singer, 2008; Loosveldt, 2008). Studies have mainly focused on interviewer-based modes, especially face-to-face surveys. Research shows that inexperienced interviewers are more likely to falsify data, and to do so on a broader scale than more-experienced interviewers (Schreiner et al., 1988; Hood &amp; Bushery, 1997). Nonetheless, only a few studies report estimates of the magnitude of falsification. These studies evaluated large-scale, cross-sectional surveys and suggest the proportion of falsified interviews rarely exceeds 5% (Schreiner et al., 1988; Schraepler &amp; Wagner, 2005; Li et al., 2009).</p>
<p>The impact of the presence of falsified data on survey results is unclear. The evidence provided in the literature does not definitively conclude whether falsified data alters marginal distributions or the results of multivariate statistical techniques (e.g. Reuband, 1990; Schnell, 1991; Diekmann, 2002; Schraepler &amp; Wagner, 2005). All of this research, however, is based on surveys that included only small proportions of falsified data.</p>
<p>Regardless of the extent of data falsification, the public opinion field is highly concerned with addressing the problem. The standard approach is twofold: prevention and detection (AAPOR, 2003; Lyberg &amp; Biemer, 2008; Lyberg &amp; Stukel, 2010). Prevention includes developing a relationship with vendors, carefully training interviewers on the goals, protocols and design of a particular survey, as well as the general principles and practices of interviewing, remunerating interviewers appropriately, limiting the number of interviews any given interviewer is responsible for, supervising a subset of the interviews for each interviewer, and, finally, re-contacting or re-interviewing, typically referred to as backchecking, a subset of the interviews of each interviewer to verify they were completed and conducted as documented. But prevention can be costly. And even though it can be highly effective, it is not a guarantee of perfectly valid data (Koch, 1995; Hood &amp; Bushery, 1997).</p>
<p>Detection methods serve two purposes. First, they help in evaluating the performance of the costly prevention methods. Second, they can be used to identify falsified interviews that slipped past preventive measures (Bredl et al., 2012; Diakité, 2013; Menold &amp; Kemper, 2013; Winker et al., 2013). Detection methods entail evaluation of key indicators, including paradata (interview length, timestamps, geocoding, timing of interviews), interviewer-related data (experience, daily workload, success rates), and interview-related data (characteristics of respondents, interview recordings, backchecking results), as well as analysis of the structure of responses (Benford’s law, refusals, extreme values, coherence of responses, consistency in time series, duplicates).</p>
<p>But detection methods merely flag data that is possibly suspicious. Identification of falsified data is not the result of a single measure, but an assessment of the different aspects within the study-specific environment in which interviewers conduct their work. Judge and Schechter (2009) conclude from their analysis of survey data that multiple factors might contribute to suspicious-looking patterns in data and that detection methods should not be used “in isolation when judging the quality of a dataset” (p. 24). All concerns require intensive follow-up with vendors to determine the underlying explanation of the patterns.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins propose a new detection method, suggesting a hard threshold for the number of high matches in a dataset to flag falsified data. The next section outlines their argument.</p>
<p>In their paper, Kuriakose and Robbins are concerned with a specific type of possible falsification whereby interviewers, supervisors or even the head office of a survey firm duplicate the responses of valid interviews to reach the required sample size. To avoid detection, the falsifier(s) would modify the responses to a few questions for each respondent so that the respondents are not exact duplicates of one another.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />With this model of falsification in mind, the authors develop a tool for the statistical program Stata that identifies the maximum percentage of questions on which each respondent matches any other respondent in the dataset. If respondent A matches respondent B on 75% of questions and matches respondent C on 25% of questions, the maximum percent match statistic for respondent A is 75%. The table illustrates this example.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins argue that two respondents that match on a high percentage of questions should be a rare occurrence in valid data. They make their case for this conclusion based on a review of public opinion literature, simulations with synthetic data and analysis of U.S. data from the widely respected and trusted American National Election Studies (ANES) and General Social Survey (GSS).</p>
<p>The authors cite Converse (1964) and Zaller (1992), two scholars who helped establish the conventional wisdom that individuals’ political beliefs are only weakly held and rarely structured coherently along ideological lines. Because of this, respondents tend to be inconsistent in their responses to survey questions about similar topics, not only over time but even within the same survey. Kuriakose and Robbins extend this logic to argue that two respondents who share the same attitudes are highly unlikely to give consistently similar responses to survey questions.</p>
<p>To further develop this theoretical expectation, Kuriakose and Robbins conducted a Monte Carlo simulation with synthetic data. Simulations with synthetic data can be useful for understanding complex statistical processes that are difficult to observe in real-world data. A potential drawback of using synthetic data, however, is that the predictions generated may have little bearing on reality if the researcher’s assumptions do not reasonably represent the structure of real-world data.</p>
<p>For their first simulation, Kuriakose and Robbins randomly generated 100,000 synthetic datasets, each containing 1,000 respondents and 100 independent variables. The variables were randomly assigned a value of either 1 or 0 for each respondent. The probability of any value falling on 1 or 0 is not specified in the paper, though it appears that for all of the simulated variables either outcome is equally likely, meaning that each variable has a mean value of 0.5. The authors then calculated the maximum percent match statistic for each respondent. In this simulation, they find that this statistic has a mean of 66% and never exceeds 85% over all 100,000 simulations.</p>
<p>As Kuriakose and Robbins discuss, their first simulation assumed the variables in the dataset were independent of one another, which is a very different situation from actual survey data. To address this limitation, they repeated this simulation using a randomly generated correlation matrix to test the situation where the variables are not independent and find that the maximum percent match statistic again never exceeds 85%, although the mean value is higher than when the variables are independent. Kuriakose and Robbins suggest that compared with a true survey, their simulations are a conservative test of the maximum percent match in a dataset because most surveys use questions consisting of many more than two values. That is, they expect that, on average, the simulation should have higher maximum percent matches than occur in practice with nonfalsified data.</p>
<p>To validate the results of their simulation, Kuriakose and Robbins calculate the maximum percent match statistic on datasets from two studies conducted in the United States – all available waves from the American National Election Studies (ANES, 1948 to 2012) and the General Social Survey (GSS, 1972 to 2014) that included at least 100 questions. Across all of these datasets, the authors found 35 respondents that matched another respondent on more than 85% of the questions, which accounted for less than 0.05% of all respondents.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins take these findings to be a confirmation of their simulated results, and conclude that a reasonable threshold to identify likely falsification is the percentage of respondents that match another respondent on more than 85% of all substantive variables. The authors argue that the presence of more than 5% of respondents in a dataset that are considered high matches according to the 85% threshold indicates likely data falsification.</p>
<p>Given the challenges all researchers face in collecting high quality survey data domestically and internationally, Kuriakose and Robbins’ effort to develop a new diagnostic tool is part of an important line of research. However, the logic behind the authors’ approach has two major flaws. The first is that the mathematical assumptions underpinning their argument are inappropriate. The second is that their simulations, which are one of the key foundations for their established threshold, are underspecified and bear little resemblance to real-world survey data.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins’ initial theoretical expectations about whether two respondents will give identical answers to a subset of questions (85%) are based on the likelihood of two respondents giving identical answers to all questions. The authors note that two respondents with a 95% chance of agreeing on each of 100 questions will match on all 100 questions less than 1% of the time (p. 4). However, what the authors do not address is that the probability of matching on a subset of questions, such as 85%, is exponentially higher than the probability of matching on all questions. For example, in a 100-question survey, there is only one set of questions that allows two respondents to match on all 100 questions. But there are 3.1×1017 different sets of questions that allow two respondents to match on at least 85 of the questions. This means that two respondents with a 95% chance of agreeing on each of the 100 questions will agree on at least 85 of those questions over 99% of the time.</p>
<p>This points to the larger weakness in the approach taken by Kuriakose and Robbins – namely that the authors do not systematically evaluate the survey characteristics that would cause the probability of high matches to vary, such as the sample size, the number of questions, the number of response options or homogeneity within the population. These parameters have a direct bearing both on the number of possible response combinations as well as the number of respondents that are a potential match.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins assert that their Monte Carlo simulations provide a conservative estimate of the distribution of the maximum percent match statistic. As we will show, however, they chose very specific conditions for their simulations – 100 questions, 1,000 respondents, 0.5 means for all variables – that led them to find few high matches. In particular, the assumption that all variables have a mean of 0.5 bears little resemblance to reality. In most public opinion surveys, some proportions are closer to either zero or one, reflecting the fact that there are often majority opinions or behaviors on topics studied in surveys. Assuming that the mean of each and every question in a survey is 0.5 underestimates the degree to which there is some natural similarity between respondents.</p>
<p>Given our concern about the authors’ claim of widespread falsification in international surveys but also our doubts about the arguments underlying their proposed threshold, we pursued a multistep research design to fully understand whether the presence of high matches in a survey dataset is a result of fraud or of various survey characteristics.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />We evaluated the sensitivity of the proposed threshold to additional parameters not tested in the original paper in an attempt to better understand how the statistic would react to variation in real-world survey conditions. The first parameter is the number of questions. With more questions, the probability that two respondents match on a large percentage of those questions should decline. The second is the number of response options in the questions. With more response options, respondents are less likely to give the same answer as someone else. The third is the number of respondents. With more respondents in the dataset, there are more opportunities for respondents to match. The fourth is the homogeneity within the sample. When the content of the survey or the population being surveyed lead to greater homogeneity of opinion, either in the full sample or among certain subgroups, the probability of a match between two respondents should increase. The table summarizes these expectations.</p>
<p>We evaluated the impact of these four parameters on the percentage of high matches in datasets with simulations using synthetic data and actual survey data, as well as with analysis of high-quality U.S. and international surveys. We find that Kuriakose and Robbins’ threshold is extremely sensitive to all four parameters discussed above. Because it is possible to get high maximum percent matches with nonfalsified data under some fairly common conditions, our analysis indicates that it is not appropriate to use a single threshold for the maximum percent match statistic to identify falsification.</p>
<p>Simulations are useful because they allow the researcher to conduct analysis in a very controlled environment. We can set the conditions for the parameters we think should matter and evaluate how a statistic changes when we vary just one of those parameters. This type of analysis allows us to develop theoretical expectations about how real-world data should behave. A serious limitation of using synthetic data for this type of analysis, however, is that if the assumptions are significantly different from real-world situations, the theoretical expectations derived from them may not be very useful.</p>
<p>We repeated Kuriakose and Robbins’ simulation which used independent binary variables where the mean of each variable was 0.5. We extended their analysis by varying the number of questions, the number of respondents, and the mean of the variables. For the number of questions, we tested values ranging from 20 to 120 in increments of 20. For the number of respondents, we tested values from 500 to 2,500 in increments of 500. We conducted this set of simulations twice. The first time we set the mean of each variable at 0.5, consistent with Kuriakose and Robbins’ approach. The second time, we set the mean of each variable at random from a uniform distribution between 0 and 1. This second condition more closely resembles the reality of survey data, where some variables have means close to 0.5 while others have means that approach the extremes of either 0 or 1. Variables with means closer to 0 or 1 represent the type of questions on surveys where respondents are more homogeneous in their opinions.</p>
<p>While the purely mathematical exercise of simulations with synthetic data can be useful for developing basic theoretical expectations, the concern that the synthetic data do not adequately represent actual survey data is a serious limitation. To address this, we also conducted simulations with actual survey data to understand the impact of various parameters in real-world conditions. We used the 2012 American National Election Study and the Arab Barometer Wave III Lebanon surveys as the basis for additional simulations. These are two high-quality surveys that based on Kuriakose and Robbins’ threshold are assumed to be free of duplication. The two surveys have large sample sizes, with between 1,000 and 2,000 cases, and lengthy questionnaires, with roughly 200 or more substantive questions. <a href="#fn-277789-1" type="external">1</a>&#160;The size of the surveys allows us to randomly select subsamples of questions and respondents from all questions and all respondents available. By doing so, we are able to vary key parameters in a semi-controlled environment using real-world survey data where the variables and respondents are now correlated. We excluded any questions for which over 10% of respondents have missing values.</p>
<p>Using this method, we also evaluated the impact of the number of response options in the questions using the ANES. We conducted similar simulations to those described above varying the number of questions and the sample size, but also randomly sampled variables based on their number of response options. We did this for overlapping segments of the response options range (e.g. variables with two to four response options, with three to five response options, etc.).</p>
<p>Finally, we explore in more depth the impact of population homogeneity on the percentage of high matches. The underlying homogeneity of a population will be affected by the content of the survey – respondents are more likely to agree on some issues than other issues – and the natural agreement within subgroups of the population – some groups of respondents are more likely to agree with each other than other respondents.</p>
<p>For the evaluation of the content of the survey, we compared the percentage of high matches in domestic survey data from Pew Research Center to the theoretical expectations derived from the simulations based on the ANES. The real-world survey data we used is like the ANES in that there is little concern about the presence of falsified data, since the surveys are random-digit dial telephone surveys with centralized and live interviewer monitoring and collection of detailed contact data. They are unlike the ANES in that they have shorter questionnaires on a few concentrated topics. For the analysis, we reviewed four political surveys conducted by Pew Research Center in 2014 and 2015, including the large 2014 Political Polarization and Typology survey, an October 2014 election survey and two typical monthly surveys from 2015 that covered major political issues in the news at the time. The content covered across all of these surveys varies considerably, but the monthly surveys tend to concentrate on a few major news-worthy issues.</p>
<p>To understand the impact of population homogeneity among subgroups on the presence of high matches, we used the four political surveys described above as well as the 2014 Religious Landscape Study conducted by Pew Research Center, which is a nationally representative telephone survey of 35,071 U.S. adults with 41 substantive questions asked of all respondents. Data collection for the Landscape Study was conducted by three different research firms. In general, the American population is very diverse. But it also includes distinct pockets of more homogeneous subgroups with respect to different issues covered by each survey. The political surveys ask about a range of issues that polarize Democrats and Republicans, enabling us to evaluate how the percentage of high matches differs among partisan groups. The Religious Landscape Study includes, among other things, questions on religious identity and beliefs and practices. The large size of the survey allows us to analyze religious groups that are relatively small, homogeneous segments of the population, such as Mormons, with a robust sample size.</p>
<p>We conducted simulations using synthetic data to generate initial theoretical expectations for what we should see in real-world survey data when it comes to the presence of high matches. Our first simulation extended the approach taken by Kuriakose and Robbins by keeping the variable means at 0.5, but testing variations on the number of questions and number of respondents included in each survey. For each simulated survey, we calculated the proportion of respondents classified as a high match, meaning the respondent matches another respondent on more than 85% of questions. Each combination of sample size and number of respondents was replicated 1,000 times.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />When the variable means are fixed at 0.5, there are no respondents classified as a high match in any of the simulations with 100 or more questions, and only a handful meet the 85% threshold with 40 or 60 questions, regardless of the sample size. Only at 20 questions do a substantial percentage of respondents qualify as high matches, with a median of 10% when the sample size is 500 and a median of 40% when the sample size is 2,500. The results for the datasets with 100 variables and 1,000 respondents are consistent with Kuriakose and Robbins’ simulation. The graph for all of these simulations is in Appendix A.</p>
<p>However, when the variable means are allowed to vary randomly, a very different picture emerges. Figure 1 compares the results of these simulations when the sample size is set at 1,000 (Appendix A has graphs for all simulations). When the means vary across questions, the proportion of respondents that qualify as high matches increases dramatically. With 20 questions, the median survey had 91% high matches, while at 60 questions, the median survey had 15%. Even at 120 questions, over one-third of the simulations have high matches, ranging from 2% to 14%.</p>
<p>In their simulations, Kuriakose and Robbins tested a single combination of survey parameters – 1,000 respondents and 100 binary questions with means implicitly fixed at 0.5. Our additional simulations demonstrate that their results are highly sensitive to their choice of parameters. Surveys with fewer questions, larger samples or items with high levels of respondent agreement can all be expected to produce respondents who are more similar to one another. Furthermore, these synthetic data simulations remain highly unrealistic. Questions only have two response categories and they are all independent. This is not an adequate basis for generating hypotheses about what should be expected in practice, as questions are often correlated with one another and frequently include more response options.</p>
<p>In order to replicate more realistic survey conditions while still retaining control over the features of the survey, we conducted additional simulations using data from the 2012 ANES pre-election survey and the Arab Barometer Wave III Lebanon survey by randomly selecting sets of questions and respondents in varying combinations. These are surveys that include many questions with more than two response options and where the correlations between questions and similarities between respondents reflect those of actual populations.</p>
<p>First, we used the ANES data to assess how the share of high matches in a survey is related to the number of response categories in survey questions. We did this by performing simulations that varied the number of response options per question in addition to the number of questions and the sample size. Rather than randomly select from all possible questions in a survey, these simulations randomly select from questions that have two to four, three to five, four to six or five to seven response categories. Figure 2 contains the results for the datasets with 1,000 respondents.</p>
<p>As with the synthetic simulations, the number of questions and respondents continue to have an impact on the percentage of high matches. We also find that as the number of response options decreases, the percentage of high matches increases considerably. As expected, this also varies with the number of questions and the sample size, but when there are only two to four response options, the median percentage of high matches ranges from 87% when there are 20 questions to 25% when there are 80 questions. This confirms what we would expect intuitively – that the proportion of high matches in a survey will be sensitive not only to the number of questions, but also to the types of questions included in a survey. Most surveys will include a mix of questions with different numbers of response options ranging from few to many. For any given survey, the details of that distribution are another important determinant of the number of high matches that would be present.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />The results for the two to four response options also represent a significant departure from the results obtained with the synthetic data simulations. With the synthetic data, when the number of respondents is 1,000, the variable means are fixed at 0.5, the number of questions is 80 and the number of response options is two, there are no high matches under these conditions. Under the same conditions in the ANES (with the exception of 0.5 means), the median percentage of high matches across 1,000 replications is 25%. This comparison re-emphasizes that, contrary to Kuriakose and Robbins’ assertion, their simulations are not a conservative estimate of the percentage of high matches in real-world survey data. Furthermore, this comparison suggests that a threshold based on simulations with synthetic data is not relevant for what we should see in real-world data.</p>
<p>We also conducted comparable simulations with the Arab Barometer Wave III Lebanon survey which was fielded in 2013. The purpose of this comparison is to evaluate the presence of high matches under various conditions in a nonfalsified dataset that surveyed a different population. Figure 3 contains a comparison of simulations drawn from the ANES and the Arab Barometer surveys with a sample size of 1,000 and varying the number of questions between 20 and 120 questions. <a href="#fn-277789-2" type="external">2</a>&#160;In this set of simulations, the number of response options in the questions is allowed to vary.</p>
<p>We see very different distributions of high matches in the ANES and Arab Barometer surveys. Whereas the percentage of high matches in the ANES is nearly zero for all but the 20-question condition, the Lebanon simulations reflect a higher proportion of high matches, even at 100 or 120 questions. This indicates that the probability of any two respondents matching on over 85% of questions depends not just on the number of respondents or the number of questions, but also on the particular survey content and the population being surveyed. In other words, a threshold based on the ANES and other surveys conducted in the United States does not necessarily generalize to other countries. Even within a single country, there is no a priori reason to believe the distribution of high matches observed on one survey should be similar to another survey with different content.</p>
<p>In this next section, we evaluate the impact of population homogeneity – due either to content or subgroup agreement – on the percentage of high matches using domestic surveys from Pew Research Center. The advantages of this phase of the research are twofold. One, we can evaluate the variation in the percentage of high matches under a variety of real-world conditions, and compare these results with the theoretical expectations derived from the simulations with the synthetic data and the ANES data. Two, since these surveys are high-quality telephone surveys with live interviewer monitoring and collection of detailed contact data we have little reason to suspect the presence of data falsification. Therefore the differences we see between the theoretical expectations and the real-world data are more likely explained by population homogeneity than by fraudulent data.</p>
<p>The four political surveys we analyzed have a relatively modest number of questions asked of the entire sample (about 30 to 50). The number of respondents ranges between 1,500 and 2,000 for the three monthly surveys, and is 10,000 for the Polarization study. The table reports the percentage of respondents that match another respondent on more than 85% of substantive variables for each of the four surveys analyzed, along with the parameters for each survey, including number of respondents, number of questions and percentage of questions with five or more response options.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Overall, across the four surveys, there are substantial percentages of high matches in the full sample, ranging from 12% in the September 2015 survey to 39% in the 2014 Polarization study. In large part, the number of high matches is likely driven by the low number of questions typically asked, the relatively low number of response options and the large sample sizes, especially in the Polarization study.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, in the July 2015 survey with 52 questions and 2,002 respondents, we find 13% of the sample is a high match. In the simulations with the synthetic data with 0.5 means, as well as the simulations with the ANES data, the median percentage of high matches across 1,000 replications with these conditions is 0. Given that there is little concern about the presence of data falsification in the July 2015 survey, this comparison reveals that the content and context of the questionnaire can have a significant impact on the percentage of high matches in a dataset. The findings also suggest that a single threshold for the maximum percent match statistic based on simulations with synthetic data and the ANES may not be appropriate.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />To understand the effect of population homogeneity on the percentage of high matches in a dataset due to subgroup agreement, we evaluated how the percentage of high matches varies by partisan group in the four political surveys. The table shows the percentage of respondents in each partisan group for each survey that is a high match. People who identify with a political party tend to be more polarized and firm in their political beliefs than those who say they are independent, and therefore we expect higher levels of homogeneity among partisans. Indeed, we find that Republicans and Democrats tend to have higher percentages of high matches than independents, though the exact percentage varies by survey. We also find variation in the percentage of high matches by partisan group across surveys that is consistent with the content on and the political context of the survey. For example, the 2014 election led to widespread gains for the Republican Party. In the October 2014 election-focused survey, Republicans had the highest percentage of high matches, indicating a high level of homogeneity within the group heading into the election.</p>
<p>We also investigated the impact of population homogeneity using the 2014 Religious Landscape Study, which is a very large survey of 35,071 respondents covering several issues, including religious identity and beliefs. Since the percent match tool developed by Kuriakose and Robbins is unable to process a dataset of this size, we evaluated 10 random samples from the dataset of roughly 1,000 respondents each to get a sense for the number of high matches overall. The highest percentage of respondents that match another respondent on more than 85% of the substantive variables in any of the 10 random samples is 6%. In addition, we analyzed random samples of approximately 1,000 respondents for each of the three fieldhouses that conducted the survey. Each fieldhouse exhibits relatively similar percentages of high matches, ranging between 4% and 7%. This bolsters the argument that this data is not falsified.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Once we look at specific religious subgroups, however, the percentage of high matches increases considerably. We analyzed four religious subgroups separately using the same set of 41 questions. In this set of 41 questions, 54% of the questions have five or more response options. The table lists the percentage of high matches and number of respondents for each of the four different religious groups. Mormons have the highest percentage, with 39% of respondents that are a high match. Atheists have 33% high matches and Southern Baptists have 31% high matches. On many religion surveys, these three religious groups tend to be more homogeneous in their beliefs and practices than other American religious groups. Jews, on the other hand, have very few high matches (1%). As with the partisan differences on the political survey, the religious differences on this survey suggest that homogeneity within specific populations can drive up the percentage of high matches in the dataset without indicating the presence of falsified data.</p>
<p>The findings from both the political surveys and the RLS indicate that even in high-quality datasets in the U.S. conducted under rigorous quality controls, there is considerable variation in the percentage of high matches. This variation is driven in part by the topics covered by the survey and the homogeneity of the population, or subgroups of the population, on those topics. The ANES surveys are conducted with a very diverse population using a varied and long questionnaire. The findings in this section, along with the results of the simulations discussed earlier, suggest that it is inappropriate to apply a threshold based on analysis of the ANES to other populations and other types of questionnaires.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins assert in their paper that two respondents that match on a high percentage of questions should be a rare occurrence in valid data, and that the presence of respondents that match on more than 85% of questions is an indication of falsification. They make their case for this conclusion based on a review of public opinion literature, simulations with synthetic data and analysis of data from the American National Elections Study and the General Social Survey.</p>
<p>However, the assumptions underpinning their argument – and the datasets they used to develop their threshold – raise some serious questions about whether high matches in a dataset are a definitive indicator of falsification or whether high matches may result from various permutations of the characteristics of the survey. The goal of this paper was to understand the conditions under which high matches may be present in valid survey data.</p>
<p>Using synthetic simulations as well as high-quality domestic and international datasets, we show that the percentage of high matches varies widely across datasets and is influenced by a variety of factors. The characteristics of a survey, such as the number of questions, the number of response options, the number of respondents, and the homogeneity of the population, or subgroups therein, all affect the percentage of high matches in a dataset. The results show that it is possible to obtain any value of the maximum percent match statistic in nonfalsified data, depending on the survey parameters. Thus, setting a threshold for the statistic and applying it uniformly across surveys is a flawed approach for detecting falsification. In fact, eliminating respondents from a dataset based on this measure may introduce selection bias into survey data and serve to reduce data quality, rather than improve it.</p>
<p>The sensitivity of Kuriakose and Robbins’ threshold to these characteristics highlights the need to understand the study-specific environment of a survey to evaluate the meaning of any statistical assessment of the data. Bredl et al. (2011) highlight this by concluding that “one has to keep in mind that striking indicator values are not necessarily caused by data fabrication but may also be the result of “conventional” interviewer effects or cluster-related design effects [spatial homogeneity]” (p.20). Any data quality assessment needs to take into account the specific design characteristics, as well as the specific conditions of a survey before drawing conclusions.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Kuriakose and Robbins are taking part in an important discussion about how to improve detection methods for data falsification. The use of new technologies for face-to-face surveys, such as devices for computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), present many new possibilities when it comes to ensuring data quality through prevention and detection methods. CAPI makes it much easier to collect data on important aspects of the survey process beyond substantive data (i.e. paradata or auxiliary data). These data can be converted from a byproduct of the survey into a primary analytical tool for assessing survey quality.</p>
<p>One especially promising innovation is the measurement of time throughout the survey in face-to-face studies. This includes the overall length of a survey, from start to finish, but also the time it takes to go through sections of the questionnaire, or to answer a specific question. The measurement of section timings can be used to evaluate whether the respondent or interviewer may have had unusual difficulties with a particular section, or whether the interviewer may not have taken the appropriate amount of time to ask certain questions. Another interesting avenue for detection of falsified data through CAPI is the use of audio recordings at random points in the interview. This allows the researcher to review whether the respondent and/or interviewer were speaking and whether the same respondent is answering the questions throughout the survey. Other aspects that could be efficiently embedded in a computer-assisted interviewing environment are within household selection procedures, as well as the collection of geographical tracking information. The community is still exploring how to use this kind of information in the most effective way.</p>
<p>Still, even these new approaches would need to be evaluated along with a variety of other indicators. Any ex-post statistical analysis of data has its limitations. Thus, researchers should try to involve vendors in the assessment of the quality of the data.</p>
<p>Engaging vendors in the assessment of suspicious data provides two benefits. First, it helps to reduce the information gap created by the principal-agent dilemma by allowing researchers to learn something about the specific conditions under which interviewers were operating. This will contribute to the overall interpretation of the data itself, but will also help with the evaluation of suspicious data patterns. Second, involving vendors closes the circle of prevention and detection and places the whole assessment in the wider context of quality assurance. The involvement of vendors allows the vendor and the researcher to evaluate and learn for future projects. The findings from detection measures should inform the design and structure of future questionnaires, lead to new approaches to incentivize interviewers, and assist with the development of new prevention and detection methods.</p>
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Evaluating a New Proposal for Detecting Data Falsification in Surveys
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http://pewresearch.org/2016/02/23/evaluating-a-new-proposal-for-detecting-data-falsification-in-surveys/
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2016-02-23
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Evaluating a New Proposal for Detecting Data Falsification in Surveys
<p>The underlying causes of “high matches” between survey respondents</p>
<p>Updated February 25, 2016</p>
<p>A version of this paper was published in the <a href="http://content.iospress.com/download/statistical-journal-of-the-iaos/sji1019?id=statistical-journal-of-the-iaos%2Fsji1019" type="external">Statistical Journal of the IAOS</a>.</p>
<p>By Katie Simmons, Andrew Mercer, Steve Schwarzer and Courtney Kennedy</p>
<p>Concern about data falsification is as old as the profession of public opinion polling. However, the extent of data falsification is difficult to quantify and not well documented. As a result, the impact of falsification on statistical estimates is essentially unknown. Nonetheless, there is an established approach to address the problem of data falsification which includes prevention, for example by training interviewers and providing close supervision, and detection, such as through careful evaluation of patterns in the technical data, also referred to as paradata, and the substantive data.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2580502" type="external">recent paper</a>, Kuriakose and Robbins (2015) propose a new approach to detecting falsification. The measure is an extension of the traditional method of looking for duplicates within datasets. What is new about their approach is the assertion that the presence of respondents that match another respondent on more than 85% of questions, what we refer to as a high match, indicates likely falsification. They apply this threshold to a range of publicly available international survey datasets and conclude that one-in-five international survey datasets likely contain falsified data.</p>
<p>The claim that there is widespread falsification in international surveys is clearly concerning. However, an extensive investigation conducted by Pew Research Center and summarized in this report finds the claim is not well supported. The results demonstrate that natural, benign survey features can explain high match rates. Specifically, the threshold that Kuriakose and Robbins propose is extremely sensitive to the number of questions, number of response options, number of respondents, and homogeneity within the population. Because of this sensitivity to multiple parameters, under real-world conditions it is possible for respondents to match on any percentage of questions even when the survey data is valid and uncorrupted. In other words, our analysis indicates the proposed threshold is prone to generating false positives – suggesting falsification when, in fact, there is none. Perhaps the most compelling evidence that casts doubt on the claim of widespread falsification is in the way the approach implicates some high-quality U.S. surveys. The threshold generates false positives in data with no suspected falsification but that has similar characteristics to the international surveys called into question.</p>
<p>This paper proceeds as follows. First, we briefly review the problem of data falsification in surveys and how it is typically addressed. Second, we summarize Kuriakose and Robbins’ argument for their proposed threshold for identifying falsified data and discuss our concerns about their evidence. Third, we outline the research steps we followed to evaluate the proposed threshold and then review in detail the results of our analysis. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the findings and other ways the field is working to improve quality control methods.</p>
<p>All survey data, independent of the mode of data collection, are susceptible to survey error. Groves et al. (2009) outline the various sources of error that can affect surveys under the total survey error framework. One especially concerning source of error is data falsification.</p>
<p>A 2003 report from the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) defines the problem of falsification in surveys as the intentional departure from guidelines or instructions (p. 1). Researchers must rely on the fieldhouse, the interviewers and even the respondents to follow the survey design guidelines and questionnaire instructions. This creates a classic principal-agent problem. Fieldhouses, interviewers and respondents [the agents] have better information about the fieldwork and the interview situation than the researchers [the principals] (Kosyakova et al., 2015, p. 418). For surveys based on personal-interviewing, the research on falsification has traditionally focused on different forms of interviewer-based falsification (such as making up whole interviews or “curbstoning,” skipping questions, modifying questions or answers), while for surveys that do not involve interviewers, the focus has been on the faulty behavior of respondents (such as straight-lining or speeding through the questionnaire).</p>
<p>In an early study on data falsification, Crespi (1945) argued that the departure from interview protocols is less a problem of morality, and more a problem of morale (p. 431). Crespi, who mainly focused on interviewers, outlined the various factors that might discourage interviewers from faithfully performing their duties, including questionnaire characteristics (long, complex or sensitive questionnaires), administrative aspects (inadequate remuneration or insufficient training of interviewers), and external factors (bad weather, unsafe neighborhoods or difficult-to-reach areas).</p>
<p>The extent of the problem of data falsification is not clearly established, although we know the problem exists (Singer, 2008; Loosveldt, 2008). Studies have mainly focused on interviewer-based modes, especially face-to-face surveys. Research shows that inexperienced interviewers are more likely to falsify data, and to do so on a broader scale than more-experienced interviewers (Schreiner et al., 1988; Hood &amp; Bushery, 1997). Nonetheless, only a few studies report estimates of the magnitude of falsification. These studies evaluated large-scale, cross-sectional surveys and suggest the proportion of falsified interviews rarely exceeds 5% (Schreiner et al., 1988; Schraepler &amp; Wagner, 2005; Li et al., 2009).</p>
<p>The impact of the presence of falsified data on survey results is unclear. The evidence provided in the literature does not definitively conclude whether falsified data alters marginal distributions or the results of multivariate statistical techniques (e.g. Reuband, 1990; Schnell, 1991; Diekmann, 2002; Schraepler &amp; Wagner, 2005). All of this research, however, is based on surveys that included only small proportions of falsified data.</p>
<p>Regardless of the extent of data falsification, the public opinion field is highly concerned with addressing the problem. The standard approach is twofold: prevention and detection (AAPOR, 2003; Lyberg &amp; Biemer, 2008; Lyberg &amp; Stukel, 2010). Prevention includes developing a relationship with vendors, carefully training interviewers on the goals, protocols and design of a particular survey, as well as the general principles and practices of interviewing, remunerating interviewers appropriately, limiting the number of interviews any given interviewer is responsible for, supervising a subset of the interviews for each interviewer, and, finally, re-contacting or re-interviewing, typically referred to as backchecking, a subset of the interviews of each interviewer to verify they were completed and conducted as documented. But prevention can be costly. And even though it can be highly effective, it is not a guarantee of perfectly valid data (Koch, 1995; Hood &amp; Bushery, 1997).</p>
<p>Detection methods serve two purposes. First, they help in evaluating the performance of the costly prevention methods. Second, they can be used to identify falsified interviews that slipped past preventive measures (Bredl et al., 2012; Diakité, 2013; Menold &amp; Kemper, 2013; Winker et al., 2013). Detection methods entail evaluation of key indicators, including paradata (interview length, timestamps, geocoding, timing of interviews), interviewer-related data (experience, daily workload, success rates), and interview-related data (characteristics of respondents, interview recordings, backchecking results), as well as analysis of the structure of responses (Benford’s law, refusals, extreme values, coherence of responses, consistency in time series, duplicates).</p>
<p>But detection methods merely flag data that is possibly suspicious. Identification of falsified data is not the result of a single measure, but an assessment of the different aspects within the study-specific environment in which interviewers conduct their work. Judge and Schechter (2009) conclude from their analysis of survey data that multiple factors might contribute to suspicious-looking patterns in data and that detection methods should not be used “in isolation when judging the quality of a dataset” (p. 24). All concerns require intensive follow-up with vendors to determine the underlying explanation of the patterns.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins propose a new detection method, suggesting a hard threshold for the number of high matches in a dataset to flag falsified data. The next section outlines their argument.</p>
<p>In their paper, Kuriakose and Robbins are concerned with a specific type of possible falsification whereby interviewers, supervisors or even the head office of a survey firm duplicate the responses of valid interviews to reach the required sample size. To avoid detection, the falsifier(s) would modify the responses to a few questions for each respondent so that the respondents are not exact duplicates of one another.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />With this model of falsification in mind, the authors develop a tool for the statistical program Stata that identifies the maximum percentage of questions on which each respondent matches any other respondent in the dataset. If respondent A matches respondent B on 75% of questions and matches respondent C on 25% of questions, the maximum percent match statistic for respondent A is 75%. The table illustrates this example.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins argue that two respondents that match on a high percentage of questions should be a rare occurrence in valid data. They make their case for this conclusion based on a review of public opinion literature, simulations with synthetic data and analysis of U.S. data from the widely respected and trusted American National Election Studies (ANES) and General Social Survey (GSS).</p>
<p>The authors cite Converse (1964) and Zaller (1992), two scholars who helped establish the conventional wisdom that individuals’ political beliefs are only weakly held and rarely structured coherently along ideological lines. Because of this, respondents tend to be inconsistent in their responses to survey questions about similar topics, not only over time but even within the same survey. Kuriakose and Robbins extend this logic to argue that two respondents who share the same attitudes are highly unlikely to give consistently similar responses to survey questions.</p>
<p>To further develop this theoretical expectation, Kuriakose and Robbins conducted a Monte Carlo simulation with synthetic data. Simulations with synthetic data can be useful for understanding complex statistical processes that are difficult to observe in real-world data. A potential drawback of using synthetic data, however, is that the predictions generated may have little bearing on reality if the researcher’s assumptions do not reasonably represent the structure of real-world data.</p>
<p>For their first simulation, Kuriakose and Robbins randomly generated 100,000 synthetic datasets, each containing 1,000 respondents and 100 independent variables. The variables were randomly assigned a value of either 1 or 0 for each respondent. The probability of any value falling on 1 or 0 is not specified in the paper, though it appears that for all of the simulated variables either outcome is equally likely, meaning that each variable has a mean value of 0.5. The authors then calculated the maximum percent match statistic for each respondent. In this simulation, they find that this statistic has a mean of 66% and never exceeds 85% over all 100,000 simulations.</p>
<p>As Kuriakose and Robbins discuss, their first simulation assumed the variables in the dataset were independent of one another, which is a very different situation from actual survey data. To address this limitation, they repeated this simulation using a randomly generated correlation matrix to test the situation where the variables are not independent and find that the maximum percent match statistic again never exceeds 85%, although the mean value is higher than when the variables are independent. Kuriakose and Robbins suggest that compared with a true survey, their simulations are a conservative test of the maximum percent match in a dataset because most surveys use questions consisting of many more than two values. That is, they expect that, on average, the simulation should have higher maximum percent matches than occur in practice with nonfalsified data.</p>
<p>To validate the results of their simulation, Kuriakose and Robbins calculate the maximum percent match statistic on datasets from two studies conducted in the United States – all available waves from the American National Election Studies (ANES, 1948 to 2012) and the General Social Survey (GSS, 1972 to 2014) that included at least 100 questions. Across all of these datasets, the authors found 35 respondents that matched another respondent on more than 85% of the questions, which accounted for less than 0.05% of all respondents.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins take these findings to be a confirmation of their simulated results, and conclude that a reasonable threshold to identify likely falsification is the percentage of respondents that match another respondent on more than 85% of all substantive variables. The authors argue that the presence of more than 5% of respondents in a dataset that are considered high matches according to the 85% threshold indicates likely data falsification.</p>
<p>Given the challenges all researchers face in collecting high quality survey data domestically and internationally, Kuriakose and Robbins’ effort to develop a new diagnostic tool is part of an important line of research. However, the logic behind the authors’ approach has two major flaws. The first is that the mathematical assumptions underpinning their argument are inappropriate. The second is that their simulations, which are one of the key foundations for their established threshold, are underspecified and bear little resemblance to real-world survey data.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins’ initial theoretical expectations about whether two respondents will give identical answers to a subset of questions (85%) are based on the likelihood of two respondents giving identical answers to all questions. The authors note that two respondents with a 95% chance of agreeing on each of 100 questions will match on all 100 questions less than 1% of the time (p. 4). However, what the authors do not address is that the probability of matching on a subset of questions, such as 85%, is exponentially higher than the probability of matching on all questions. For example, in a 100-question survey, there is only one set of questions that allows two respondents to match on all 100 questions. But there are 3.1×1017 different sets of questions that allow two respondents to match on at least 85 of the questions. This means that two respondents with a 95% chance of agreeing on each of the 100 questions will agree on at least 85 of those questions over 99% of the time.</p>
<p>This points to the larger weakness in the approach taken by Kuriakose and Robbins – namely that the authors do not systematically evaluate the survey characteristics that would cause the probability of high matches to vary, such as the sample size, the number of questions, the number of response options or homogeneity within the population. These parameters have a direct bearing both on the number of possible response combinations as well as the number of respondents that are a potential match.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins assert that their Monte Carlo simulations provide a conservative estimate of the distribution of the maximum percent match statistic. As we will show, however, they chose very specific conditions for their simulations – 100 questions, 1,000 respondents, 0.5 means for all variables – that led them to find few high matches. In particular, the assumption that all variables have a mean of 0.5 bears little resemblance to reality. In most public opinion surveys, some proportions are closer to either zero or one, reflecting the fact that there are often majority opinions or behaviors on topics studied in surveys. Assuming that the mean of each and every question in a survey is 0.5 underestimates the degree to which there is some natural similarity between respondents.</p>
<p>Given our concern about the authors’ claim of widespread falsification in international surveys but also our doubts about the arguments underlying their proposed threshold, we pursued a multistep research design to fully understand whether the presence of high matches in a survey dataset is a result of fraud or of various survey characteristics.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />We evaluated the sensitivity of the proposed threshold to additional parameters not tested in the original paper in an attempt to better understand how the statistic would react to variation in real-world survey conditions. The first parameter is the number of questions. With more questions, the probability that two respondents match on a large percentage of those questions should decline. The second is the number of response options in the questions. With more response options, respondents are less likely to give the same answer as someone else. The third is the number of respondents. With more respondents in the dataset, there are more opportunities for respondents to match. The fourth is the homogeneity within the sample. When the content of the survey or the population being surveyed lead to greater homogeneity of opinion, either in the full sample or among certain subgroups, the probability of a match between two respondents should increase. The table summarizes these expectations.</p>
<p>We evaluated the impact of these four parameters on the percentage of high matches in datasets with simulations using synthetic data and actual survey data, as well as with analysis of high-quality U.S. and international surveys. We find that Kuriakose and Robbins’ threshold is extremely sensitive to all four parameters discussed above. Because it is possible to get high maximum percent matches with nonfalsified data under some fairly common conditions, our analysis indicates that it is not appropriate to use a single threshold for the maximum percent match statistic to identify falsification.</p>
<p>Simulations are useful because they allow the researcher to conduct analysis in a very controlled environment. We can set the conditions for the parameters we think should matter and evaluate how a statistic changes when we vary just one of those parameters. This type of analysis allows us to develop theoretical expectations about how real-world data should behave. A serious limitation of using synthetic data for this type of analysis, however, is that if the assumptions are significantly different from real-world situations, the theoretical expectations derived from them may not be very useful.</p>
<p>We repeated Kuriakose and Robbins’ simulation which used independent binary variables where the mean of each variable was 0.5. We extended their analysis by varying the number of questions, the number of respondents, and the mean of the variables. For the number of questions, we tested values ranging from 20 to 120 in increments of 20. For the number of respondents, we tested values from 500 to 2,500 in increments of 500. We conducted this set of simulations twice. The first time we set the mean of each variable at 0.5, consistent with Kuriakose and Robbins’ approach. The second time, we set the mean of each variable at random from a uniform distribution between 0 and 1. This second condition more closely resembles the reality of survey data, where some variables have means close to 0.5 while others have means that approach the extremes of either 0 or 1. Variables with means closer to 0 or 1 represent the type of questions on surveys where respondents are more homogeneous in their opinions.</p>
<p>While the purely mathematical exercise of simulations with synthetic data can be useful for developing basic theoretical expectations, the concern that the synthetic data do not adequately represent actual survey data is a serious limitation. To address this, we also conducted simulations with actual survey data to understand the impact of various parameters in real-world conditions. We used the 2012 American National Election Study and the Arab Barometer Wave III Lebanon surveys as the basis for additional simulations. These are two high-quality surveys that based on Kuriakose and Robbins’ threshold are assumed to be free of duplication. The two surveys have large sample sizes, with between 1,000 and 2,000 cases, and lengthy questionnaires, with roughly 200 or more substantive questions. <a href="#fn-277789-1" type="external">1</a>&#160;The size of the surveys allows us to randomly select subsamples of questions and respondents from all questions and all respondents available. By doing so, we are able to vary key parameters in a semi-controlled environment using real-world survey data where the variables and respondents are now correlated. We excluded any questions for which over 10% of respondents have missing values.</p>
<p>Using this method, we also evaluated the impact of the number of response options in the questions using the ANES. We conducted similar simulations to those described above varying the number of questions and the sample size, but also randomly sampled variables based on their number of response options. We did this for overlapping segments of the response options range (e.g. variables with two to four response options, with three to five response options, etc.).</p>
<p>Finally, we explore in more depth the impact of population homogeneity on the percentage of high matches. The underlying homogeneity of a population will be affected by the content of the survey – respondents are more likely to agree on some issues than other issues – and the natural agreement within subgroups of the population – some groups of respondents are more likely to agree with each other than other respondents.</p>
<p>For the evaluation of the content of the survey, we compared the percentage of high matches in domestic survey data from Pew Research Center to the theoretical expectations derived from the simulations based on the ANES. The real-world survey data we used is like the ANES in that there is little concern about the presence of falsified data, since the surveys are random-digit dial telephone surveys with centralized and live interviewer monitoring and collection of detailed contact data. They are unlike the ANES in that they have shorter questionnaires on a few concentrated topics. For the analysis, we reviewed four political surveys conducted by Pew Research Center in 2014 and 2015, including the large 2014 Political Polarization and Typology survey, an October 2014 election survey and two typical monthly surveys from 2015 that covered major political issues in the news at the time. The content covered across all of these surveys varies considerably, but the monthly surveys tend to concentrate on a few major news-worthy issues.</p>
<p>To understand the impact of population homogeneity among subgroups on the presence of high matches, we used the four political surveys described above as well as the 2014 Religious Landscape Study conducted by Pew Research Center, which is a nationally representative telephone survey of 35,071 U.S. adults with 41 substantive questions asked of all respondents. Data collection for the Landscape Study was conducted by three different research firms. In general, the American population is very diverse. But it also includes distinct pockets of more homogeneous subgroups with respect to different issues covered by each survey. The political surveys ask about a range of issues that polarize Democrats and Republicans, enabling us to evaluate how the percentage of high matches differs among partisan groups. The Religious Landscape Study includes, among other things, questions on religious identity and beliefs and practices. The large size of the survey allows us to analyze religious groups that are relatively small, homogeneous segments of the population, such as Mormons, with a robust sample size.</p>
<p>We conducted simulations using synthetic data to generate initial theoretical expectations for what we should see in real-world survey data when it comes to the presence of high matches. Our first simulation extended the approach taken by Kuriakose and Robbins by keeping the variable means at 0.5, but testing variations on the number of questions and number of respondents included in each survey. For each simulated survey, we calculated the proportion of respondents classified as a high match, meaning the respondent matches another respondent on more than 85% of questions. Each combination of sample size and number of respondents was replicated 1,000 times.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />When the variable means are fixed at 0.5, there are no respondents classified as a high match in any of the simulations with 100 or more questions, and only a handful meet the 85% threshold with 40 or 60 questions, regardless of the sample size. Only at 20 questions do a substantial percentage of respondents qualify as high matches, with a median of 10% when the sample size is 500 and a median of 40% when the sample size is 2,500. The results for the datasets with 100 variables and 1,000 respondents are consistent with Kuriakose and Robbins’ simulation. The graph for all of these simulations is in Appendix A.</p>
<p>However, when the variable means are allowed to vary randomly, a very different picture emerges. Figure 1 compares the results of these simulations when the sample size is set at 1,000 (Appendix A has graphs for all simulations). When the means vary across questions, the proportion of respondents that qualify as high matches increases dramatically. With 20 questions, the median survey had 91% high matches, while at 60 questions, the median survey had 15%. Even at 120 questions, over one-third of the simulations have high matches, ranging from 2% to 14%.</p>
<p>In their simulations, Kuriakose and Robbins tested a single combination of survey parameters – 1,000 respondents and 100 binary questions with means implicitly fixed at 0.5. Our additional simulations demonstrate that their results are highly sensitive to their choice of parameters. Surveys with fewer questions, larger samples or items with high levels of respondent agreement can all be expected to produce respondents who are more similar to one another. Furthermore, these synthetic data simulations remain highly unrealistic. Questions only have two response categories and they are all independent. This is not an adequate basis for generating hypotheses about what should be expected in practice, as questions are often correlated with one another and frequently include more response options.</p>
<p>In order to replicate more realistic survey conditions while still retaining control over the features of the survey, we conducted additional simulations using data from the 2012 ANES pre-election survey and the Arab Barometer Wave III Lebanon survey by randomly selecting sets of questions and respondents in varying combinations. These are surveys that include many questions with more than two response options and where the correlations between questions and similarities between respondents reflect those of actual populations.</p>
<p>First, we used the ANES data to assess how the share of high matches in a survey is related to the number of response categories in survey questions. We did this by performing simulations that varied the number of response options per question in addition to the number of questions and the sample size. Rather than randomly select from all possible questions in a survey, these simulations randomly select from questions that have two to four, three to five, four to six or five to seven response categories. Figure 2 contains the results for the datasets with 1,000 respondents.</p>
<p>As with the synthetic simulations, the number of questions and respondents continue to have an impact on the percentage of high matches. We also find that as the number of response options decreases, the percentage of high matches increases considerably. As expected, this also varies with the number of questions and the sample size, but when there are only two to four response options, the median percentage of high matches ranges from 87% when there are 20 questions to 25% when there are 80 questions. This confirms what we would expect intuitively – that the proportion of high matches in a survey will be sensitive not only to the number of questions, but also to the types of questions included in a survey. Most surveys will include a mix of questions with different numbers of response options ranging from few to many. For any given survey, the details of that distribution are another important determinant of the number of high matches that would be present.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />The results for the two to four response options also represent a significant departure from the results obtained with the synthetic data simulations. With the synthetic data, when the number of respondents is 1,000, the variable means are fixed at 0.5, the number of questions is 80 and the number of response options is two, there are no high matches under these conditions. Under the same conditions in the ANES (with the exception of 0.5 means), the median percentage of high matches across 1,000 replications is 25%. This comparison re-emphasizes that, contrary to Kuriakose and Robbins’ assertion, their simulations are not a conservative estimate of the percentage of high matches in real-world survey data. Furthermore, this comparison suggests that a threshold based on simulations with synthetic data is not relevant for what we should see in real-world data.</p>
<p>We also conducted comparable simulations with the Arab Barometer Wave III Lebanon survey which was fielded in 2013. The purpose of this comparison is to evaluate the presence of high matches under various conditions in a nonfalsified dataset that surveyed a different population. Figure 3 contains a comparison of simulations drawn from the ANES and the Arab Barometer surveys with a sample size of 1,000 and varying the number of questions between 20 and 120 questions. <a href="#fn-277789-2" type="external">2</a>&#160;In this set of simulations, the number of response options in the questions is allowed to vary.</p>
<p>We see very different distributions of high matches in the ANES and Arab Barometer surveys. Whereas the percentage of high matches in the ANES is nearly zero for all but the 20-question condition, the Lebanon simulations reflect a higher proportion of high matches, even at 100 or 120 questions. This indicates that the probability of any two respondents matching on over 85% of questions depends not just on the number of respondents or the number of questions, but also on the particular survey content and the population being surveyed. In other words, a threshold based on the ANES and other surveys conducted in the United States does not necessarily generalize to other countries. Even within a single country, there is no a priori reason to believe the distribution of high matches observed on one survey should be similar to another survey with different content.</p>
<p>In this next section, we evaluate the impact of population homogeneity – due either to content or subgroup agreement – on the percentage of high matches using domestic surveys from Pew Research Center. The advantages of this phase of the research are twofold. One, we can evaluate the variation in the percentage of high matches under a variety of real-world conditions, and compare these results with the theoretical expectations derived from the simulations with the synthetic data and the ANES data. Two, since these surveys are high-quality telephone surveys with live interviewer monitoring and collection of detailed contact data we have little reason to suspect the presence of data falsification. Therefore the differences we see between the theoretical expectations and the real-world data are more likely explained by population homogeneity than by fraudulent data.</p>
<p>The four political surveys we analyzed have a relatively modest number of questions asked of the entire sample (about 30 to 50). The number of respondents ranges between 1,500 and 2,000 for the three monthly surveys, and is 10,000 for the Polarization study. The table reports the percentage of respondents that match another respondent on more than 85% of substantive variables for each of the four surveys analyzed, along with the parameters for each survey, including number of respondents, number of questions and percentage of questions with five or more response options.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Overall, across the four surveys, there are substantial percentages of high matches in the full sample, ranging from 12% in the September 2015 survey to 39% in the 2014 Polarization study. In large part, the number of high matches is likely driven by the low number of questions typically asked, the relatively low number of response options and the large sample sizes, especially in the Polarization study.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, in the July 2015 survey with 52 questions and 2,002 respondents, we find 13% of the sample is a high match. In the simulations with the synthetic data with 0.5 means, as well as the simulations with the ANES data, the median percentage of high matches across 1,000 replications with these conditions is 0. Given that there is little concern about the presence of data falsification in the July 2015 survey, this comparison reveals that the content and context of the questionnaire can have a significant impact on the percentage of high matches in a dataset. The findings also suggest that a single threshold for the maximum percent match statistic based on simulations with synthetic data and the ANES may not be appropriate.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />To understand the effect of population homogeneity on the percentage of high matches in a dataset due to subgroup agreement, we evaluated how the percentage of high matches varies by partisan group in the four political surveys. The table shows the percentage of respondents in each partisan group for each survey that is a high match. People who identify with a political party tend to be more polarized and firm in their political beliefs than those who say they are independent, and therefore we expect higher levels of homogeneity among partisans. Indeed, we find that Republicans and Democrats tend to have higher percentages of high matches than independents, though the exact percentage varies by survey. We also find variation in the percentage of high matches by partisan group across surveys that is consistent with the content on and the political context of the survey. For example, the 2014 election led to widespread gains for the Republican Party. In the October 2014 election-focused survey, Republicans had the highest percentage of high matches, indicating a high level of homogeneity within the group heading into the election.</p>
<p>We also investigated the impact of population homogeneity using the 2014 Religious Landscape Study, which is a very large survey of 35,071 respondents covering several issues, including religious identity and beliefs. Since the percent match tool developed by Kuriakose and Robbins is unable to process a dataset of this size, we evaluated 10 random samples from the dataset of roughly 1,000 respondents each to get a sense for the number of high matches overall. The highest percentage of respondents that match another respondent on more than 85% of the substantive variables in any of the 10 random samples is 6%. In addition, we analyzed random samples of approximately 1,000 respondents for each of the three fieldhouses that conducted the survey. Each fieldhouse exhibits relatively similar percentages of high matches, ranging between 4% and 7%. This bolsters the argument that this data is not falsified.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Once we look at specific religious subgroups, however, the percentage of high matches increases considerably. We analyzed four religious subgroups separately using the same set of 41 questions. In this set of 41 questions, 54% of the questions have five or more response options. The table lists the percentage of high matches and number of respondents for each of the four different religious groups. Mormons have the highest percentage, with 39% of respondents that are a high match. Atheists have 33% high matches and Southern Baptists have 31% high matches. On many religion surveys, these three religious groups tend to be more homogeneous in their beliefs and practices than other American religious groups. Jews, on the other hand, have very few high matches (1%). As with the partisan differences on the political survey, the religious differences on this survey suggest that homogeneity within specific populations can drive up the percentage of high matches in the dataset without indicating the presence of falsified data.</p>
<p>The findings from both the political surveys and the RLS indicate that even in high-quality datasets in the U.S. conducted under rigorous quality controls, there is considerable variation in the percentage of high matches. This variation is driven in part by the topics covered by the survey and the homogeneity of the population, or subgroups of the population, on those topics. The ANES surveys are conducted with a very diverse population using a varied and long questionnaire. The findings in this section, along with the results of the simulations discussed earlier, suggest that it is inappropriate to apply a threshold based on analysis of the ANES to other populations and other types of questionnaires.</p>
<p>Kuriakose and Robbins assert in their paper that two respondents that match on a high percentage of questions should be a rare occurrence in valid data, and that the presence of respondents that match on more than 85% of questions is an indication of falsification. They make their case for this conclusion based on a review of public opinion literature, simulations with synthetic data and analysis of data from the American National Elections Study and the General Social Survey.</p>
<p>However, the assumptions underpinning their argument – and the datasets they used to develop their threshold – raise some serious questions about whether high matches in a dataset are a definitive indicator of falsification or whether high matches may result from various permutations of the characteristics of the survey. The goal of this paper was to understand the conditions under which high matches may be present in valid survey data.</p>
<p>Using synthetic simulations as well as high-quality domestic and international datasets, we show that the percentage of high matches varies widely across datasets and is influenced by a variety of factors. The characteristics of a survey, such as the number of questions, the number of response options, the number of respondents, and the homogeneity of the population, or subgroups therein, all affect the percentage of high matches in a dataset. The results show that it is possible to obtain any value of the maximum percent match statistic in nonfalsified data, depending on the survey parameters. Thus, setting a threshold for the statistic and applying it uniformly across surveys is a flawed approach for detecting falsification. In fact, eliminating respondents from a dataset based on this measure may introduce selection bias into survey data and serve to reduce data quality, rather than improve it.</p>
<p>The sensitivity of Kuriakose and Robbins’ threshold to these characteristics highlights the need to understand the study-specific environment of a survey to evaluate the meaning of any statistical assessment of the data. Bredl et al. (2011) highlight this by concluding that “one has to keep in mind that striking indicator values are not necessarily caused by data fabrication but may also be the result of “conventional” interviewer effects or cluster-related design effects [spatial homogeneity]” (p.20). Any data quality assessment needs to take into account the specific design characteristics, as well as the specific conditions of a survey before drawing conclusions.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Kuriakose and Robbins are taking part in an important discussion about how to improve detection methods for data falsification. The use of new technologies for face-to-face surveys, such as devices for computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), present many new possibilities when it comes to ensuring data quality through prevention and detection methods. CAPI makes it much easier to collect data on important aspects of the survey process beyond substantive data (i.e. paradata or auxiliary data). These data can be converted from a byproduct of the survey into a primary analytical tool for assessing survey quality.</p>
<p>One especially promising innovation is the measurement of time throughout the survey in face-to-face studies. This includes the overall length of a survey, from start to finish, but also the time it takes to go through sections of the questionnaire, or to answer a specific question. The measurement of section timings can be used to evaluate whether the respondent or interviewer may have had unusual difficulties with a particular section, or whether the interviewer may not have taken the appropriate amount of time to ask certain questions. Another interesting avenue for detection of falsified data through CAPI is the use of audio recordings at random points in the interview. This allows the researcher to review whether the respondent and/or interviewer were speaking and whether the same respondent is answering the questions throughout the survey. Other aspects that could be efficiently embedded in a computer-assisted interviewing environment are within household selection procedures, as well as the collection of geographical tracking information. The community is still exploring how to use this kind of information in the most effective way.</p>
<p>Still, even these new approaches would need to be evaluated along with a variety of other indicators. Any ex-post statistical analysis of data has its limitations. Thus, researchers should try to involve vendors in the assessment of the quality of the data.</p>
<p>Engaging vendors in the assessment of suspicious data provides two benefits. First, it helps to reduce the information gap created by the principal-agent dilemma by allowing researchers to learn something about the specific conditions under which interviewers were operating. This will contribute to the overall interpretation of the data itself, but will also help with the evaluation of suspicious data patterns. Second, involving vendors closes the circle of prevention and detection and places the whole assessment in the wider context of quality assurance. The involvement of vendors allows the vendor and the researcher to evaluate and learn for future projects. The findings from detection measures should inform the design and structure of future questionnaires, lead to new approaches to incentivize interviewers, and assist with the development of new prevention and detection methods.</p>
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<p>Bill Hill drops water ballast as he nears the airfield at Moriarty. (Courtesy of CloudStreet)</p>
<p>Imagine gliding through the air above 12,000 feet.</p>
<p>While flying isn't for everyone, Mike Abernathy and Matthew Murray have captured hours of flights and are bringing the beauty to the masses. For nearly five years, the duo has been working on "CloudStreet: Soaring the American West."</p>
<p>The documentary captures the beauty of gliding, told through the stories of the men and women who soar in the cockpits.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"CloudStreet" gives viewers the extraordinary experience of soaring along the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming.</p>
<p>The documentary will premiere at 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 27, on New Mexico PBS's Channel 5. It will then repeat at 9 p.m. Saturday, May 30.</p>
<p>Abernathy says the crew shot all over the Rocky Mountains, though the entire story and its flights began in Moriarty.</p>
<p>"We started in Moriarty and then Taos," he says. "There's a lot of stuff in the Sange de Cristo Mountains. We did Questa Peak, Sierra Blanca, Culebra Peak and then Stateline Peak on the border of Colorado and New Mexico."</p>
<p>The duo says "CloudStreet" educates the audience not just about flying sailplanes cross-country, but also about the science of soaring, about the unique geography of the intermountain west and about the workings of our atmosphere.</p>
<p>Murray says the duo would usually fly one mission in the morning for about two hours, then switch cameras and fly back.</p>
<p>"Each flight would be two to four hours," he says. "There are some that would be shorter if we had technical difficulties."</p>
<p>Mike Abernathy, Matthew Murray, Kris Ciesinski and tow pilot Geoff Lynes have a preflight briefing. (Courtesy of Dave Bixler)</p>
<p>Abernathy says the entire documentary was shot from altitudes ranging from 12,000 to 17,500 feet.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"These are very high altitudes and it couldn't be done with a helicopter," he says. "Being able to capture all this footage was an opportunity that we both wanted to participate in. There's nothing like gliding."</p>
<p>Another obstacle the duo had to deal with was Mother Nature. While it can't be tracked exactly, Murray says it was important to pay attention to every weather pattern.</p>
<p>"This was one of the most important aspects to filming," he says. "Before any one of us went up in the air, we had to make sure there was clearance." Abernathy says there were a few times the weather interfered with the filming.</p>
<p>"We were flying one time and one of the cameras got a blob of snow during our flight in June," he says. "But it worked out in our favor because it gave us a great example of the elements that we were up against while filming."</p>
<p>Murray says when it came to editing the film, it wasn't that difficult. That was largely in part to the amount of scriptwriting the duo went through in planning the documentary.</p>
<p>"We spent a lot of time on how the story would unfold," he says. "The script and the final product are pretty close to each other."</p>
<p>Murray says he and Abernathy were able to pilot the gliders.</p>
<p>"For me, this was a project that was so unique," he says. "You get to see aviation from a different perspective and it's really wonderful that we have the technology to show an audience this view."</p>
<p>SEND ME YOUR TIPS: If you know of a movie filming in the state, or are curious about one, email <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>. Follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/agomezart" type="external">@agomezART</a>.</p>
<p />
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Documentary captures beautiful skies in Western United States
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https://abqjournal.com/589316/cloudstreet-captures-skies-in-western-us.html
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Documentary captures beautiful skies in Western United States
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<p>Bill Hill drops water ballast as he nears the airfield at Moriarty. (Courtesy of CloudStreet)</p>
<p>Imagine gliding through the air above 12,000 feet.</p>
<p>While flying isn't for everyone, Mike Abernathy and Matthew Murray have captured hours of flights and are bringing the beauty to the masses. For nearly five years, the duo has been working on "CloudStreet: Soaring the American West."</p>
<p>The documentary captures the beauty of gliding, told through the stories of the men and women who soar in the cockpits.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"CloudStreet" gives viewers the extraordinary experience of soaring along the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico, Colorado, Idaho and Wyoming.</p>
<p>The documentary will premiere at 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 27, on New Mexico PBS's Channel 5. It will then repeat at 9 p.m. Saturday, May 30.</p>
<p>Abernathy says the crew shot all over the Rocky Mountains, though the entire story and its flights began in Moriarty.</p>
<p>"We started in Moriarty and then Taos," he says. "There's a lot of stuff in the Sange de Cristo Mountains. We did Questa Peak, Sierra Blanca, Culebra Peak and then Stateline Peak on the border of Colorado and New Mexico."</p>
<p>The duo says "CloudStreet" educates the audience not just about flying sailplanes cross-country, but also about the science of soaring, about the unique geography of the intermountain west and about the workings of our atmosphere.</p>
<p>Murray says the duo would usually fly one mission in the morning for about two hours, then switch cameras and fly back.</p>
<p>"Each flight would be two to four hours," he says. "There are some that would be shorter if we had technical difficulties."</p>
<p>Mike Abernathy, Matthew Murray, Kris Ciesinski and tow pilot Geoff Lynes have a preflight briefing. (Courtesy of Dave Bixler)</p>
<p>Abernathy says the entire documentary was shot from altitudes ranging from 12,000 to 17,500 feet.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>"These are very high altitudes and it couldn't be done with a helicopter," he says. "Being able to capture all this footage was an opportunity that we both wanted to participate in. There's nothing like gliding."</p>
<p>Another obstacle the duo had to deal with was Mother Nature. While it can't be tracked exactly, Murray says it was important to pay attention to every weather pattern.</p>
<p>"This was one of the most important aspects to filming," he says. "Before any one of us went up in the air, we had to make sure there was clearance." Abernathy says there were a few times the weather interfered with the filming.</p>
<p>"We were flying one time and one of the cameras got a blob of snow during our flight in June," he says. "But it worked out in our favor because it gave us a great example of the elements that we were up against while filming."</p>
<p>Murray says when it came to editing the film, it wasn't that difficult. That was largely in part to the amount of scriptwriting the duo went through in planning the documentary.</p>
<p>"We spent a lot of time on how the story would unfold," he says. "The script and the final product are pretty close to each other."</p>
<p>Murray says he and Abernathy were able to pilot the gliders.</p>
<p>"For me, this was a project that was so unique," he says. "You get to see aviation from a different perspective and it's really wonderful that we have the technology to show an audience this view."</p>
<p>SEND ME YOUR TIPS: If you know of a movie filming in the state, or are curious about one, email <a href="" type="internal">[email protected]</a>. Follow me on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/agomezart" type="external">@agomezART</a>.</p>
<p />
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<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Slowing demand and the transition of longtime CEO Jay Flatley into his new role of executive chairman caused shares in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) to slump 33.3% in 2016, according to <a href="https://www.spcapitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Illumina has installed over 7,500 of its gene-sequencing machines for clients, making it one of healthcare's top performers. Between 2010 and 2015, Illumina's revenue and earnings per share grew by a compounded 20% and 26% annually, and its shares returned a lip-smacking 526%.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>However, the company lost some of its luster with investors last year as operational struggles overseas and shifting sales patterns in the U.S. crimped revenue. In the first quarter, European growth decelerated to just 2% year-over-year, and in the second, the region posted a decline of 4%. Europe bounced back in the third quarter, improving 16% from the year before, but year-over-year sales growth in the Americas came in at a disappointing 2%, largely because of changes in funding practices. Historically, U.S. institutions purchased instruments upon the award of three- to five-year funding commitments, but smaller awards with shorter timelines limited capital commitments last quarter.</p>
<p>Because of the slowdown, management reduced its profit guidance for the fiscal year, from $3.48 per share exiting the second quarter to between $3.27 and $3.32 exiting the third quarter.</p>
<p>The timing of last year's deceleration was particularly unfortunate because it occurred alongside Jay Flatley's decision to hand over the day-to-day reins to Francis deSouza, who had been serving as the company's president since 2013.</p>
<p>The negative impact of slowing sales on earnings was compounded by increased spending this past year on new but <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/13/illuminas-moonshot-startups-may-be-the-biggest-rea.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">costly growth initiatives Opens a New Window.</a> that leverage advances in genetic sequencing, namely Grail and Helix.</p>
<p>While the company's enduring some growing pains, it shouldn't be lost on investors that third-quarter sales were still 10% higher than they were a year ago. Investors should also remember that Flatley and deSouza have worked closely together for years, and therefore, the change at the top isn't as significant as it could otherwise have been.</p>
<p>Furthermore, Illumina's investments in Grail, a project to discover cancer at its earliest stages by using deep sequencing, and Helix, a superstore of personal genetic information and apps, may create profit headwinds now -- but both could be needle-moving revenue drivers in the future.</p>
<p>Overall, long-term investors might want to consider this a good time to buy Illumina's stock. After all, the role of genetic sequencing in medicine is likely to be much bigger in a decade than it is now.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Illumina When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=66c2bc76-fcf5-4b42-b4b2-80f152ca6f56&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Illumina wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=66c2bc76-fcf5-4b42-b4b2-80f152ca6f56&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/EBCapitalMarkets/info.aspx" type="external">Todd Campbell Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned.Todd owns E.B. Capital Markets, LLC. E.B. Capital's clients may have positions in the companies mentioned.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle <a href="https://twitter.com/ebcapital" type="external">@ebcapital Opens a New Window.</a>to see more articles like this.</p>
<p>The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Illumina. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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Why Illumina Corp. Lost One-Third of Its Value in 2016
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http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/08/why-illumina-corp-lost-one-third-its-value-in-2016.html
|
2017-01-08
| 0right
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Why Illumina Corp. Lost One-Third of Its Value in 2016
<p />
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Slowing demand and the transition of longtime CEO Jay Flatley into his new role of executive chairman caused shares in Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) to slump 33.3% in 2016, according to <a href="https://www.spcapitaliq.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Illumina has installed over 7,500 of its gene-sequencing machines for clients, making it one of healthcare's top performers. Between 2010 and 2015, Illumina's revenue and earnings per share grew by a compounded 20% and 26% annually, and its shares returned a lip-smacking 526%.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>However, the company lost some of its luster with investors last year as operational struggles overseas and shifting sales patterns in the U.S. crimped revenue. In the first quarter, European growth decelerated to just 2% year-over-year, and in the second, the region posted a decline of 4%. Europe bounced back in the third quarter, improving 16% from the year before, but year-over-year sales growth in the Americas came in at a disappointing 2%, largely because of changes in funding practices. Historically, U.S. institutions purchased instruments upon the award of three- to five-year funding commitments, but smaller awards with shorter timelines limited capital commitments last quarter.</p>
<p>Because of the slowdown, management reduced its profit guidance for the fiscal year, from $3.48 per share exiting the second quarter to between $3.27 and $3.32 exiting the third quarter.</p>
<p>The timing of last year's deceleration was particularly unfortunate because it occurred alongside Jay Flatley's decision to hand over the day-to-day reins to Francis deSouza, who had been serving as the company's president since 2013.</p>
<p>The negative impact of slowing sales on earnings was compounded by increased spending this past year on new but <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/04/13/illuminas-moonshot-startups-may-be-the-biggest-rea.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">costly growth initiatives Opens a New Window.</a> that leverage advances in genetic sequencing, namely Grail and Helix.</p>
<p>While the company's enduring some growing pains, it shouldn't be lost on investors that third-quarter sales were still 10% higher than they were a year ago. Investors should also remember that Flatley and deSouza have worked closely together for years, and therefore, the change at the top isn't as significant as it could otherwise have been.</p>
<p>Furthermore, Illumina's investments in Grail, a project to discover cancer at its earliest stages by using deep sequencing, and Helix, a superstore of personal genetic information and apps, may create profit headwinds now -- but both could be needle-moving revenue drivers in the future.</p>
<p>Overall, long-term investors might want to consider this a good time to buy Illumina's stock. After all, the role of genetic sequencing in medicine is likely to be much bigger in a decade than it is now.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Illumina When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=66c2bc76-fcf5-4b42-b4b2-80f152ca6f56&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Illumina wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=66c2bc76-fcf5-4b42-b4b2-80f152ca6f56&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of January 4, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/EBCapitalMarkets/info.aspx" type="external">Todd Campbell Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned.Todd owns E.B. Capital Markets, LLC. E.B. Capital's clients may have positions in the companies mentioned.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle <a href="https://twitter.com/ebcapital" type="external">@ebcapital Opens a New Window.</a>to see more articles like this.</p>
<p>The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Illumina. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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<p>When President Hamid Karzai drove to Kabul airport to fly to America earlier this week, the centre of the Afghan capital was closed down by well-armed security men, soldiers and policemen. On his arrival in Washington he will begin two days of meetings, starting today, with President Barack Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari about their joint efforts to combat the Taliban. Karzai is also to deliver a speech at the Brookings Institution think tank on “effective ways of fighting terrorism.”</p>
<p>The title of his lecture shows a certain cheek. Karzai’s seven years in power since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 have been notable for his failure to prevent their resurgence. Suppose the president’s motorcade this week had taken a different route and headed, not for the airport, but for the southern outskirts of Kabul, he would soon have experienced the limits of his government’s authority. It ends at a beleaguered police post within a few minutes’ drive of the capital. Drivers heading for the southern provincial capitals of Ghazni, Qalat and Kandahar nervously check their pockets to make sure that they are carrying no documents linking them to the government.</p>
<p>They do so because they know that they will not have travelled far down the road before they are stopped and their identity checked by black turbaned Taliban fighters. Moving swiftly on their motorcycles, squads of six to eight men set up temporary checkpoints along the road. Sometimes they even take a traveller’s mobile phone and redial numbers recently called. If the call is answered by a government ministry or, still worse, a foreigner, then the phone’s owner may be executed on the spot. The jibe that Mr Karzai is only “mayor of Kabul” has some truth to it. It is not only when travelling south that the Taliban is in control. I wanted to go to Bamyan, the province in central Afghanistan which is inhabited by the Hazara, a minority ethnic group who are central-Asian in appearance and Shia by religion, and who were savagely persecuted and massacred by the Sunni fundamentalist Taliban during their years in power.</p>
<p>I last went there in December 2001 to look at the shattered remains of the giant 6th-century Buddhist statues which the Taliban had dynamited because they portrayed the human form and were “idols”. I wanted to see what had changed. If anybody benefited from the end of Taliban rule it should have been the Hazara. It turned out, however, that the biggest change was that I could no longer travel there by road. Mohammed Sarwar Jawadi, a member of the Afghan parliament representing Bamyan, who spent two years in a Taliban prison before escaping, told me that Bamyan itself was safe enough. The problem was the route.</p>
<p>“There are two roads going there,” explained Mr Jawadi, “but do not take the southern one because it is controlled by the Taliban.” He said there was an alternative, more northerly road and this was safe enough so long as, he added with the hint of a smile, “you bring plenty of armed guards.” He explained that a few weeks ago “men dressed in police uniforms” had stopped two vehicles belonging to a local bank, shot dead six guards and stolen the money on board. The best experts on the dangers of the road in most countries are not the police or the army, but the truckers, whose lives and livelihoods depend on correctly assessing the risks.</p>
<p>“The situation got really bad a year-and-a-half ago,” Abdul Bayan, the owner of a transport company in Kabul called Nawe Aryana, told me. His trucks carry goods all over Afghanistan, but they face ever increasing danger, particularly if they are carrying supplies for NATO troops or other foreign forces. He added that these days his drivers need armed protection even if they are carrying onions. The threat comes from both Taliban and bandits who are sometimes difficult to tell apart. If a truck worth $70,000 is captured, it costs Mr Bayan $10-12,000 to get it back. “A convoy of 20 trucks going to Kandahar [carrying goods for foreign troops or the government] will need four or five SUVs, each with four armed men on board,” he said. “We reckon it costs us $1,000 a truck just to protect them, which doesn’t leave much profit.”</p>
<p>Even hiring one’s own security men is not necessarily a guarantee of safety. On the same morning that Mr Karzai was leaving Kabul for Washington, the Taliban attacked a squad of armed security men in Qalat, a poor dusty city that is the capital of Zabul province in the far south. Hired to protect road construction workers, they were slaughtered in a gun battle in which seven of them were killed and three captured. Asked why he did not look for help from the Afghan army or police to protect his truck convoys, Mr Bayan looked bemused. “Get help from the soldiers and policemen?” he replied scornfully. “Why, they can’t even protect themselves, so what can they do for me?”</p>
<p>The question goes to the heart of the crisis in Afghanistan. It is not so much that the Taliban is strong and popular, but that the government is weak, corrupt and dysfunctional. “Security has not deteriorated because of what the Taliban has done,” says Daoud Sultanzoy, a US-trained commercial pilot who is a highly respected MP from Ghazni province, south-west of Kabul, “but because people feel the government is unjust. It is seen as the enemy of the people, and because there is no constitutional alternative to it, the Taliban gain.” He is angered by a misconception common in the West that Afghans do not like any form of central government or authority. “It is not true that we do not like good government,” he says, “but for 267 years we have been misruled.”</p>
<p>He believes that unless there is an Afghan government deemed just and legitimate by the Afghan people, “military gains will mean nothing” and the Taliban will keep up their fight for decades. Support for the Taliban is not very high, but it has increased since 2006, when their rebellion effectively resumed with Pakistani aid. Over the last three years, backing for both the US and the Afghan government have plummeted.</p>
<p>Some 45 per cent of Afghans in the south and east of the country, where most of the fighting is now taking place, say that violence against the US or Nato/Isaf can be justified, according to an opinion poll carried out for ABC News, BBC and ARD at the start of this year. The poll shows that the Afghan desire for retribution is significantly boosted by shelling or bombing of civilian targets. Ominously for President Obama’s surge, the increase in the number of US troops in Afghanistan is opposed by most Afghans. They say they are convinced that their presence will simply lead to more fighting.</p>
<p>The problem for Obama is similar to that facing Afghans. His administration can see the failings of Karzai and his government, but they can’t see an alternative that would offer an improvement. The strong criticism of the Karzai government coming out of Washington several months ago has subsided for the moment. In recent weeks Obama’s administration has devoted its energies to getting Pakistan to reverse the local Taliban’s advances in the Swat valley and Buner district. Karzai is increasingly likely to win the presidential election on August. Just before departing for Washington, he registered as a candidate and persuaded his most dangerous possible challenger, the governor of south-western Nangarhar province, Gul Agha Sherzai, to withdraw his candidacy. Mr Karzai’s re-election looks increasingly likely.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>The problem for Afghanistan is that its political landscape was created by the events of late 2001. In the preceding months, the Taliban, backed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, had been extending its grip over the whole country. The Northern Alliance was being squeezed by Taliban offensives into the mountainous north-east of the country. Many of its adherents believed it faced ultimate defeat, particularly after its leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, was assassinated on&#160; September 9, 2001,&#160; by two members of al-Qa’ida pretending to be a television crew. The movement might have collapsed. But two days later came the September 11th atacks in New York and Washington.</p>
<p>Everything changed.</p>
<p>The US was determined to overthrow the Taliban in retribution for hosting al-Qa’ida, and the Northern Alliance, previously regarded with suspicion by the US because of its Iranian and Russian connections, was the only local ally available. Northern Alliance forces were victorious because they were backed by American B-52 bombers and small teams of US military advisers. The CIA paid large sums of money to local commanders to persuade them to go home. It is probable that the Pakistani military intelligence, the ISI, whose support had been crucial to the rise of the Taliban, was telling them not to fight to the end, but to wait until the US lost interest in Afghanistan. Many of the Afghan leaders who rule Afghanistan today won power during this completely unexpected turnaround in Afghan politics.</p>
<p>“The political, religious and economic mafia are all Northern Alliance people,” says Sultanzoy. “Nobody outside the Northern Alliance is in the government.” This is something of an exaggeration, but the warlords of the Northern Alliance treated their takeover of government as a plundering expedition. There was a shift of power away from the Pashtun, the community to which 42 per cent belong and towards the Tajiks (27 per cent), Hazara (9 per cent) and Uzbeks (9 per cent). In the newly-built Kabul district of Sherpoor, their palaces, heavily fortified and often rented out for large sums to foreign aid agencies, were built on land seized by them or handed over to them by the government.</p>
<p>In one part of Sherpoor there is a remarkable pink palace belonging to the Uzbek warlord General Rashid Dostum who has since had to take refuge in Istanbul. In registering for re-election this week, Mr Karzai chose as his vice-presidential candidate the Tajik leader Mohammad Qasim Fahim, whom Human Rights Watch has described as “one of the most notorious warlords in the country, with the blood of many Afghans on his hands from the civil war.”</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>A measure of the failure of Mr Karzai, his government and his Western supporters is that I was able to drive from Kabul to Kandahar eight years ago. But if I tried to make the same journey today, I would be killed or kidnapped soon after leaving Kabul. Even then, in 2001, it was a dangerous road – though the word flatters the rutted track and smashed asphalt on which we had to drive – since the exact state of disintegration of the Taliban and the mood of their fighters was uncertain. In a heavily-guarded palace in the ancient city of Ghazni, the newly appointed governor, Qari Baba, a portly man of about 60 who looked like Sidney Greenstreet, had benignly stated that all was secure in his province, but he was so new to his post that he had not even bothered to tear old Taliban propaganda posters off the walls of his office.</p>
<p>One showed Afghanistan, inspired by a verse from the Koran, bursting the chains the Americans had placed around it. Though the Taliban had gone, they had not gone very far, and there were plenty of menacing-looking men in black with assault rifles slung over their shoulders in the courtyard of the governor’s palace. For all Qari Baba’s show of confidence, he himself only moved in a convoy of 20 armoured vehicles. New men were taking over. I met Dr Mohammad Shajahan, the leader of the Harekat-e-Islami party which represented the Hazara minority in Ghazni. “The Taliban control about 50 per cent of the province,” he said. “I have just had a meeting with them and they have promised to surrender by 3pm today. If they surrender their weapons and cars and go home, then we guarantee their security.”</p>
<p>Shajahan, who was a dentist by profession, was astonished by the swift change in his fortunes. “Just three months ago, I was working in a gas station in Virginia in the US,” he said. “After September 11th, I came back here, where I used to be a commander, with a plan for raising 1,000 men.” The same scenes were being repeated all the way to Kandahar. The Taliban might be surrendering on terms, but they had not been defeated. Most of the country had become a frightening no-man’s land. Afghan houses were dun-colored mud brick fortresses with windowless 20ft-high walls that could contain innocent families or several hundred soldiers. There were no checkpoints. We asked one man, pointing up the road, how far we were from the Taliban frontline. “About 10km,” he said, which sounded comforting – until we noticed that he was pointing down the road behind us.</p>
<p>The speed of the implosion of the Taliban was such that I though they would be back in business in a few months. I was right in thinking they would return, but wrong about the timing, and it was three or four years before they began to reassert their grip. Hamid Karzai, who had just been appointed head of an interim government, was not regarded wi th much respect. Abdul Ahmed, a tough-looking warlord from the village of Maydanshar, just outside Kabul, was vocally contemptuous of him, saying that he had been appointed “because of pressure from the outside world. He has done no fighting against the Taliban.” It was an opinion held by many.</p>
<p>The war against the Taliban in 2001 produced winners and losers who did not change very much in subsequent years. What has changed is security, which Bayan the truck owner says is now worse than at any time since the Communists were in power. It is no longer possible to drive to Ghazni. Even Sultanzoy, who is a member of parliament for the province, says it is too dangerous for him to go there “though I am more afraid of the government shooting me than the Taliban.” In any case, most of the winners in the war live north of Kabul. After 9/11 like many other correspondents, I had wanted to get into Afghanistan and had flown from Moscow to Dushanbe in Tajikistan in the hope of crossing the Amu Darya river to reach opposition-held territory.</p>
<p>In the event, the Northern Alliance provided an ancient Soviet helicopter which flew us over the Hindu Kush to the war-battered town of Jabal Saraj at the southern end of the Panjshir valley just north of Kabul. It was a strategically vital area which put the Northern Alliance within striking distance of Kabul. The Taliban repeatedly tried to capture it and for years had fought for the well-watered Shomali plain, one of the most fertile parts of Afghanistan, through which ran the front line.</p>
<p>The people of Shomali are Tajiks and supporters of the Northern Alliance. They have done well out of the peace. Once again their fruit and vegetables can reach the markets in Kabul. New schools and housing have been built. Almost all the bridges that had been blown up in the fighting have been replaced. The main trade route through the Salang tunnel, which pierces the Hindu Kush and connects southern and northern Afghanistan is open once again. But it is the local warlords like General Bashir Salangi, who commanded Northern Alliance forces in the Salang Valley, or General Baba Jan, who was in command of the front north of Bagram airport who have done best for themselves in terms of government jobs and private business. The Afghan government may be weakened by jobs for the boys, particularly when the boys in question are ruthless warlords who inflicted a devastating civil war on Afghanistan in the 1990s.</p>
<p>But it is corruption rather than patronage which is discrediting the legitimacy of the government at a moment when it is facing a new challenge from the Taliban. In Transparency International’s list of the most corrupt countries in the world, Afghanistan ranks fourth, out&#160; of 180. In few countries is corruption so widespread or so open as it is in Kabul. There are the notorious “Poppy Palaces”, supposedly built by the profits of the heroin and opium trade. Government ministers with small salaries are somehow able to afford to spend over £1m each on constructing mansions. The former finance minister, Ashraf Ghani, says “the whole country is criminalized.” An anonymous official is quoted as aptly saying that&#160; Afghanistan “is not a tribal society, but a mafia society.” “You have to pay $10,000 in bribes to get a job as a district police chief,” says General Aminullah Amarkhail, former head of security at Kabul airport, “and up to $150,000 to get a job as chief of police anywhere on the border because there you can make a lot of money.”</p>
<p>He believes that what happens in Afghanistan should be compared to looting, rather than simple corruption. The outcome of his campaign against smuggling, mostly of drugs, at Kabul airport explains why corruption is so difficult to eradicate. An army general transferred to the Interior Ministry, he was put in charge of security at Kabul airport in 2005 where he had soon arrested more than 100 heroin smugglers, most of them en route to Dubai.</p>
<p>“When I took over Kabul airport was a garbage dump,” he recalls. “I had 320 policemen, though I had to fire some for co-operating with smugglers.”He noticed that some travellers had “an extraordinary number of visas in their passports which they could not explain.” Bribes of $1,000 per kilogram of heroin were offered to his staff if they would help the smugglers. He did not have any X-ray machines, but he was able to detect smugglers who had ingested drugs by their dry lips and the bottles of oil they always carried. He began to receive death threats.</p>
<p>One woman whom he stopped had eight bags of heroin with her: her overall contract was to carry 1,000 kilos. She threatened him when he arrested her. “I will have you sacked from your job because I am more powerful than you,” she told him. “And I will get my heroin back as well.” She was as good as her word. Two hours later, instructions came from the Interior Ministry to let her go and return her heroin.The smuggler’s other prediction also turned out to be true. General Aminullah was suddenly sacked and charged with a minor offence. A new official took over security at the airport and smugglers were no longer arrested. General Aminullah’s case became well known in Afghanistan and abroad, but this was not enough to get him reinstated, despite a court order to do so. Recently he was made adviser on security to the minister of education, a job he says he was given purely to get him out of the way. He is still demanding his old job back.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>The US troop reinforcements sent this year might make Afghanistan’s roads safer. The American military will also have a lot of money to spend, as in Iraq, to carry out aid projects immediately. The Afghan police would perform a lot better if they were paid more than $120 a month (Taliban fighters are believed to get $200). The US is sending 4,000 extra military trainers, as well as more combat brigades. But these reinforcements will lead to more violence and more air strikes. These will inflict civilian casualties which infuriate Afghans and lead in turn to a rise in support for the Taliban. Given the government’s lack of legitimacy, and its inability to provide basic services, the Taliban does not have to do much to destabilize the country.</p>
<p>Withdrawal of Pakistani support and a denial of safe refuge in Pakistan would be a crippling blow to the Taliban. But this is not likely to happen along the long mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. President Zardari may want to do it, but policy on the Taliban is decided by the Pakistani military. They are not likely to cast off a movement they have fostered for so long. The Taliban may not be a very effective military unit, but it has shown that it is prepared to fight for a long time, longer probably than the US will want to keep so many troops in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>In Iraq, the US occupation was always going to end badly. The occupation was never popular among Iraqis.In Afghanistan there were greater opportunities. The Taliban regime was always hated by the great majority, who were glad to see it fall. Here, the American presence was, at first, welcomed by most. There may not have been enough foreign aid, but there was enough to make a real difference to the lives of Afghans. It was Karzai’s dysfunctional state of warlords and criminals which opened the door for the Taliban’s return.</p>
<p>PATRICK COCKBURN is the author of ‘ <a href="" type="internal">The Occupation: War, resistance and daily life in Iraq</a>‘, a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award for best non-fiction book of 2006. His new book ‘ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1416551476/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Muqtada! Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia revival and the struggle for Iraq</a>‘ is published by Scribner</p>
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Afghans to Obama: Get Out, Take Karzai With You
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https://counterpunch.org/2009/05/06/afghans-to-obama-get-out-take-karzai-with-you/
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2009-05-06
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Afghans to Obama: Get Out, Take Karzai With You
<p>When President Hamid Karzai drove to Kabul airport to fly to America earlier this week, the centre of the Afghan capital was closed down by well-armed security men, soldiers and policemen. On his arrival in Washington he will begin two days of meetings, starting today, with President Barack Obama and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari about their joint efforts to combat the Taliban. Karzai is also to deliver a speech at the Brookings Institution think tank on “effective ways of fighting terrorism.”</p>
<p>The title of his lecture shows a certain cheek. Karzai’s seven years in power since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001 have been notable for his failure to prevent their resurgence. Suppose the president’s motorcade this week had taken a different route and headed, not for the airport, but for the southern outskirts of Kabul, he would soon have experienced the limits of his government’s authority. It ends at a beleaguered police post within a few minutes’ drive of the capital. Drivers heading for the southern provincial capitals of Ghazni, Qalat and Kandahar nervously check their pockets to make sure that they are carrying no documents linking them to the government.</p>
<p>They do so because they know that they will not have travelled far down the road before they are stopped and their identity checked by black turbaned Taliban fighters. Moving swiftly on their motorcycles, squads of six to eight men set up temporary checkpoints along the road. Sometimes they even take a traveller’s mobile phone and redial numbers recently called. If the call is answered by a government ministry or, still worse, a foreigner, then the phone’s owner may be executed on the spot. The jibe that Mr Karzai is only “mayor of Kabul” has some truth to it. It is not only when travelling south that the Taliban is in control. I wanted to go to Bamyan, the province in central Afghanistan which is inhabited by the Hazara, a minority ethnic group who are central-Asian in appearance and Shia by religion, and who were savagely persecuted and massacred by the Sunni fundamentalist Taliban during their years in power.</p>
<p>I last went there in December 2001 to look at the shattered remains of the giant 6th-century Buddhist statues which the Taliban had dynamited because they portrayed the human form and were “idols”. I wanted to see what had changed. If anybody benefited from the end of Taliban rule it should have been the Hazara. It turned out, however, that the biggest change was that I could no longer travel there by road. Mohammed Sarwar Jawadi, a member of the Afghan parliament representing Bamyan, who spent two years in a Taliban prison before escaping, told me that Bamyan itself was safe enough. The problem was the route.</p>
<p>“There are two roads going there,” explained Mr Jawadi, “but do not take the southern one because it is controlled by the Taliban.” He said there was an alternative, more northerly road and this was safe enough so long as, he added with the hint of a smile, “you bring plenty of armed guards.” He explained that a few weeks ago “men dressed in police uniforms” had stopped two vehicles belonging to a local bank, shot dead six guards and stolen the money on board. The best experts on the dangers of the road in most countries are not the police or the army, but the truckers, whose lives and livelihoods depend on correctly assessing the risks.</p>
<p>“The situation got really bad a year-and-a-half ago,” Abdul Bayan, the owner of a transport company in Kabul called Nawe Aryana, told me. His trucks carry goods all over Afghanistan, but they face ever increasing danger, particularly if they are carrying supplies for NATO troops or other foreign forces. He added that these days his drivers need armed protection even if they are carrying onions. The threat comes from both Taliban and bandits who are sometimes difficult to tell apart. If a truck worth $70,000 is captured, it costs Mr Bayan $10-12,000 to get it back. “A convoy of 20 trucks going to Kandahar [carrying goods for foreign troops or the government] will need four or five SUVs, each with four armed men on board,” he said. “We reckon it costs us $1,000 a truck just to protect them, which doesn’t leave much profit.”</p>
<p>Even hiring one’s own security men is not necessarily a guarantee of safety. On the same morning that Mr Karzai was leaving Kabul for Washington, the Taliban attacked a squad of armed security men in Qalat, a poor dusty city that is the capital of Zabul province in the far south. Hired to protect road construction workers, they were slaughtered in a gun battle in which seven of them were killed and three captured. Asked why he did not look for help from the Afghan army or police to protect his truck convoys, Mr Bayan looked bemused. “Get help from the soldiers and policemen?” he replied scornfully. “Why, they can’t even protect themselves, so what can they do for me?”</p>
<p>The question goes to the heart of the crisis in Afghanistan. It is not so much that the Taliban is strong and popular, but that the government is weak, corrupt and dysfunctional. “Security has not deteriorated because of what the Taliban has done,” says Daoud Sultanzoy, a US-trained commercial pilot who is a highly respected MP from Ghazni province, south-west of Kabul, “but because people feel the government is unjust. It is seen as the enemy of the people, and because there is no constitutional alternative to it, the Taliban gain.” He is angered by a misconception common in the West that Afghans do not like any form of central government or authority. “It is not true that we do not like good government,” he says, “but for 267 years we have been misruled.”</p>
<p>He believes that unless there is an Afghan government deemed just and legitimate by the Afghan people, “military gains will mean nothing” and the Taliban will keep up their fight for decades. Support for the Taliban is not very high, but it has increased since 2006, when their rebellion effectively resumed with Pakistani aid. Over the last three years, backing for both the US and the Afghan government have plummeted.</p>
<p>Some 45 per cent of Afghans in the south and east of the country, where most of the fighting is now taking place, say that violence against the US or Nato/Isaf can be justified, according to an opinion poll carried out for ABC News, BBC and ARD at the start of this year. The poll shows that the Afghan desire for retribution is significantly boosted by shelling or bombing of civilian targets. Ominously for President Obama’s surge, the increase in the number of US troops in Afghanistan is opposed by most Afghans. They say they are convinced that their presence will simply lead to more fighting.</p>
<p>The problem for Obama is similar to that facing Afghans. His administration can see the failings of Karzai and his government, but they can’t see an alternative that would offer an improvement. The strong criticism of the Karzai government coming out of Washington several months ago has subsided for the moment. In recent weeks Obama’s administration has devoted its energies to getting Pakistan to reverse the local Taliban’s advances in the Swat valley and Buner district. Karzai is increasingly likely to win the presidential election on August. Just before departing for Washington, he registered as a candidate and persuaded his most dangerous possible challenger, the governor of south-western Nangarhar province, Gul Agha Sherzai, to withdraw his candidacy. Mr Karzai’s re-election looks increasingly likely.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>The problem for Afghanistan is that its political landscape was created by the events of late 2001. In the preceding months, the Taliban, backed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, had been extending its grip over the whole country. The Northern Alliance was being squeezed by Taliban offensives into the mountainous north-east of the country. Many of its adherents believed it faced ultimate defeat, particularly after its leader, Ahmad Shah Massoud, was assassinated on&#160; September 9, 2001,&#160; by two members of al-Qa’ida pretending to be a television crew. The movement might have collapsed. But two days later came the September 11th atacks in New York and Washington.</p>
<p>Everything changed.</p>
<p>The US was determined to overthrow the Taliban in retribution for hosting al-Qa’ida, and the Northern Alliance, previously regarded with suspicion by the US because of its Iranian and Russian connections, was the only local ally available. Northern Alliance forces were victorious because they were backed by American B-52 bombers and small teams of US military advisers. The CIA paid large sums of money to local commanders to persuade them to go home. It is probable that the Pakistani military intelligence, the ISI, whose support had been crucial to the rise of the Taliban, was telling them not to fight to the end, but to wait until the US lost interest in Afghanistan. Many of the Afghan leaders who rule Afghanistan today won power during this completely unexpected turnaround in Afghan politics.</p>
<p>“The political, religious and economic mafia are all Northern Alliance people,” says Sultanzoy. “Nobody outside the Northern Alliance is in the government.” This is something of an exaggeration, but the warlords of the Northern Alliance treated their takeover of government as a plundering expedition. There was a shift of power away from the Pashtun, the community to which 42 per cent belong and towards the Tajiks (27 per cent), Hazara (9 per cent) and Uzbeks (9 per cent). In the newly-built Kabul district of Sherpoor, their palaces, heavily fortified and often rented out for large sums to foreign aid agencies, were built on land seized by them or handed over to them by the government.</p>
<p>In one part of Sherpoor there is a remarkable pink palace belonging to the Uzbek warlord General Rashid Dostum who has since had to take refuge in Istanbul. In registering for re-election this week, Mr Karzai chose as his vice-presidential candidate the Tajik leader Mohammad Qasim Fahim, whom Human Rights Watch has described as “one of the most notorious warlords in the country, with the blood of many Afghans on his hands from the civil war.”</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>A measure of the failure of Mr Karzai, his government and his Western supporters is that I was able to drive from Kabul to Kandahar eight years ago. But if I tried to make the same journey today, I would be killed or kidnapped soon after leaving Kabul. Even then, in 2001, it was a dangerous road – though the word flatters the rutted track and smashed asphalt on which we had to drive – since the exact state of disintegration of the Taliban and the mood of their fighters was uncertain. In a heavily-guarded palace in the ancient city of Ghazni, the newly appointed governor, Qari Baba, a portly man of about 60 who looked like Sidney Greenstreet, had benignly stated that all was secure in his province, but he was so new to his post that he had not even bothered to tear old Taliban propaganda posters off the walls of his office.</p>
<p>One showed Afghanistan, inspired by a verse from the Koran, bursting the chains the Americans had placed around it. Though the Taliban had gone, they had not gone very far, and there were plenty of menacing-looking men in black with assault rifles slung over their shoulders in the courtyard of the governor’s palace. For all Qari Baba’s show of confidence, he himself only moved in a convoy of 20 armoured vehicles. New men were taking over. I met Dr Mohammad Shajahan, the leader of the Harekat-e-Islami party which represented the Hazara minority in Ghazni. “The Taliban control about 50 per cent of the province,” he said. “I have just had a meeting with them and they have promised to surrender by 3pm today. If they surrender their weapons and cars and go home, then we guarantee their security.”</p>
<p>Shajahan, who was a dentist by profession, was astonished by the swift change in his fortunes. “Just three months ago, I was working in a gas station in Virginia in the US,” he said. “After September 11th, I came back here, where I used to be a commander, with a plan for raising 1,000 men.” The same scenes were being repeated all the way to Kandahar. The Taliban might be surrendering on terms, but they had not been defeated. Most of the country had become a frightening no-man’s land. Afghan houses were dun-colored mud brick fortresses with windowless 20ft-high walls that could contain innocent families or several hundred soldiers. There were no checkpoints. We asked one man, pointing up the road, how far we were from the Taliban frontline. “About 10km,” he said, which sounded comforting – until we noticed that he was pointing down the road behind us.</p>
<p>The speed of the implosion of the Taliban was such that I though they would be back in business in a few months. I was right in thinking they would return, but wrong about the timing, and it was three or four years before they began to reassert their grip. Hamid Karzai, who had just been appointed head of an interim government, was not regarded wi th much respect. Abdul Ahmed, a tough-looking warlord from the village of Maydanshar, just outside Kabul, was vocally contemptuous of him, saying that he had been appointed “because of pressure from the outside world. He has done no fighting against the Taliban.” It was an opinion held by many.</p>
<p>The war against the Taliban in 2001 produced winners and losers who did not change very much in subsequent years. What has changed is security, which Bayan the truck owner says is now worse than at any time since the Communists were in power. It is no longer possible to drive to Ghazni. Even Sultanzoy, who is a member of parliament for the province, says it is too dangerous for him to go there “though I am more afraid of the government shooting me than the Taliban.” In any case, most of the winners in the war live north of Kabul. After 9/11 like many other correspondents, I had wanted to get into Afghanistan and had flown from Moscow to Dushanbe in Tajikistan in the hope of crossing the Amu Darya river to reach opposition-held territory.</p>
<p>In the event, the Northern Alliance provided an ancient Soviet helicopter which flew us over the Hindu Kush to the war-battered town of Jabal Saraj at the southern end of the Panjshir valley just north of Kabul. It was a strategically vital area which put the Northern Alliance within striking distance of Kabul. The Taliban repeatedly tried to capture it and for years had fought for the well-watered Shomali plain, one of the most fertile parts of Afghanistan, through which ran the front line.</p>
<p>The people of Shomali are Tajiks and supporters of the Northern Alliance. They have done well out of the peace. Once again their fruit and vegetables can reach the markets in Kabul. New schools and housing have been built. Almost all the bridges that had been blown up in the fighting have been replaced. The main trade route through the Salang tunnel, which pierces the Hindu Kush and connects southern and northern Afghanistan is open once again. But it is the local warlords like General Bashir Salangi, who commanded Northern Alliance forces in the Salang Valley, or General Baba Jan, who was in command of the front north of Bagram airport who have done best for themselves in terms of government jobs and private business. The Afghan government may be weakened by jobs for the boys, particularly when the boys in question are ruthless warlords who inflicted a devastating civil war on Afghanistan in the 1990s.</p>
<p>But it is corruption rather than patronage which is discrediting the legitimacy of the government at a moment when it is facing a new challenge from the Taliban. In Transparency International’s list of the most corrupt countries in the world, Afghanistan ranks fourth, out&#160; of 180. In few countries is corruption so widespread or so open as it is in Kabul. There are the notorious “Poppy Palaces”, supposedly built by the profits of the heroin and opium trade. Government ministers with small salaries are somehow able to afford to spend over £1m each on constructing mansions. The former finance minister, Ashraf Ghani, says “the whole country is criminalized.” An anonymous official is quoted as aptly saying that&#160; Afghanistan “is not a tribal society, but a mafia society.” “You have to pay $10,000 in bribes to get a job as a district police chief,” says General Aminullah Amarkhail, former head of security at Kabul airport, “and up to $150,000 to get a job as chief of police anywhere on the border because there you can make a lot of money.”</p>
<p>He believes that what happens in Afghanistan should be compared to looting, rather than simple corruption. The outcome of his campaign against smuggling, mostly of drugs, at Kabul airport explains why corruption is so difficult to eradicate. An army general transferred to the Interior Ministry, he was put in charge of security at Kabul airport in 2005 where he had soon arrested more than 100 heroin smugglers, most of them en route to Dubai.</p>
<p>“When I took over Kabul airport was a garbage dump,” he recalls. “I had 320 policemen, though I had to fire some for co-operating with smugglers.”He noticed that some travellers had “an extraordinary number of visas in their passports which they could not explain.” Bribes of $1,000 per kilogram of heroin were offered to his staff if they would help the smugglers. He did not have any X-ray machines, but he was able to detect smugglers who had ingested drugs by their dry lips and the bottles of oil they always carried. He began to receive death threats.</p>
<p>One woman whom he stopped had eight bags of heroin with her: her overall contract was to carry 1,000 kilos. She threatened him when he arrested her. “I will have you sacked from your job because I am more powerful than you,” she told him. “And I will get my heroin back as well.” She was as good as her word. Two hours later, instructions came from the Interior Ministry to let her go and return her heroin.The smuggler’s other prediction also turned out to be true. General Aminullah was suddenly sacked and charged with a minor offence. A new official took over security at the airport and smugglers were no longer arrested. General Aminullah’s case became well known in Afghanistan and abroad, but this was not enough to get him reinstated, despite a court order to do so. Recently he was made adviser on security to the minister of education, a job he says he was given purely to get him out of the way. He is still demanding his old job back.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>The US troop reinforcements sent this year might make Afghanistan’s roads safer. The American military will also have a lot of money to spend, as in Iraq, to carry out aid projects immediately. The Afghan police would perform a lot better if they were paid more than $120 a month (Taliban fighters are believed to get $200). The US is sending 4,000 extra military trainers, as well as more combat brigades. But these reinforcements will lead to more violence and more air strikes. These will inflict civilian casualties which infuriate Afghans and lead in turn to a rise in support for the Taliban. Given the government’s lack of legitimacy, and its inability to provide basic services, the Taliban does not have to do much to destabilize the country.</p>
<p>Withdrawal of Pakistani support and a denial of safe refuge in Pakistan would be a crippling blow to the Taliban. But this is not likely to happen along the long mountainous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. President Zardari may want to do it, but policy on the Taliban is decided by the Pakistani military. They are not likely to cast off a movement they have fostered for so long. The Taliban may not be a very effective military unit, but it has shown that it is prepared to fight for a long time, longer probably than the US will want to keep so many troops in Afghanistan.</p>
<p>In Iraq, the US occupation was always going to end badly. The occupation was never popular among Iraqis.In Afghanistan there were greater opportunities. The Taliban regime was always hated by the great majority, who were glad to see it fall. Here, the American presence was, at first, welcomed by most. There may not have been enough foreign aid, but there was enough to make a real difference to the lives of Afghans. It was Karzai’s dysfunctional state of warlords and criminals which opened the door for the Taliban’s return.</p>
<p>PATRICK COCKBURN is the author of ‘ <a href="" type="internal">The Occupation: War, resistance and daily life in Iraq</a>‘, a finalist for the National Book Critics’ Circle Award for best non-fiction book of 2006. His new book ‘ <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1416551476/counterpunchmaga" type="external">Muqtada! Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia revival and the struggle for Iraq</a>‘ is published by Scribner</p>
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<p>Every June 17, Loralee Peña and her husband, Al, hold a small celebration. They drive the half hour from their home in Rantoul, Illinois, down to Champaign. They go out to dinner, then make their way over to the train station. Sitting quietly, they wait for the night train from Chicago to pull in, load and unload its passengers, and start up again on its journey to Memphis and New Orleans. Once it’s out of sight, they drive home.</p>
<p>Loralee was two months old when she arrived at that station late on the night of June 17, 1941, on an old Illinois Central train. She’d been born in the infirmary at the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane, up in Kankakee. Her mother, a patient there, refused to care for her. A state caseworker took the baby from the hospital, carried her down to Champaign, caught a taxi from the train station, and delivered her to the woman who would go on to raise her, a 50-year-old widow and former teacher. Loralee grew up knowing nothing about the circumstances of her birth, though she knew as soon as one could know such things that she was a foster child.</p>
<p>She is a large-boned, handsome woman now, with shining eyes, a soft, deep voice, and a reticence she wears like a second skin. When she smiles, it is never with her whole self; so many years later, her childhood still casts its shadow. “If I’d been told that I wasn’t eligible for adoption — and I wasn’t — it wouldn’t have been so hurtful,” she muses. Her birth mother, a severe manic-depressive, was in and out of institutions and could have claimed her at any time. So she was never adopted by her foster mother — and never reclaimed by her own flesh and blood. “In my mind,” she says, “I was always waiting for my real family to show up.”</p>
<p>It now seems a kind of justice that Loralee Peña has ended up living where she does. Hope Meadows, the subdivision to which she and Al retired, is a community focused on giving children who’ve been taken from their birth parents something she never had: life surrounded by family. Hope Meadows, in the heart of the Corn Belt, appears to be an ordinary subdivision of late-1950s split-level ranch houses with tidy lawns and cement driveways. It is filled with ordinary people: hardworking parents, older adults, kids squeal-ing around the streets on their bikes. Just driving through, you’d have no idea that you were in the midst of an ambitious exper-iment aimed at one of the most intractable and discouraging challenges American society faces: how to raise foster children.</p>
<p>At any one time, there are 580,000 kids across the country in foster care. Many will eventually return home, but many will not: They’ll shuttle from foster home to foster home, or be freed for adoption but never adopted, or spiral from a foster family to a group home to an institution, or simply “age out” of the system at 18 and go off to live — well, no one really keeps track of where. These children are already laboring under the weight of the abuse or neglect that led the state to take them from their families. Quite often, their time in the child welfare system leaves them with additional scars. Theirs is a world of courts and caseworkers, of “placements” and inflexible rules. The course of their lives is determined by the vagaries of bureaucracies, courts, insti-tutions, stressed foster families, and the disruptions caused by their own behavior. Children need stability, love, and acceptance; these are not qualities one finds readily in the child welfare system.</p>
<p>At Hope Meadows, one does. The community was founded in 1994 by Brenda Eheart, a sociology professor at the nearby University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It sits on part of the old Chanute Air Force Base, which was abandoned by the military in 1993. Much of the base housing has been turned into market-rate developments, and in their midst lies Hope Meadows. Though its 84 units are owned and operated by a not-for-profit corporation called Generations of Hope, there is nothing institutional about it, not even a hint that, in the eyes of the state of Illinois, it is a private “facility.” This is intentional because Hope Meadows strives to be, more than anything else, a community.</p>
<p>In particular, it’s a community focused on providing a stable family life for foster children and those adopted out of foster care, and on giving those families a web of supportive neighbors. It includes about a dozen couples and single mothers raising almost 50 children among them, a few of them biologically their own, many of them adopted out of foster care, and the rest either on their way to being adopted or in temporary foster care. The families get $19,000 a year, plus benefits, in exchange for one parent staying home to give their children the attention they need, though some of the single mothers also work part-time. Most families have between four and six kids. Hope Meadows also includes 60-odd seniors, who pay only $350 a month in rent (in nearby Champaign, a two-bedroom apartment can go for $1,000) in return for six hours a week of tutoring, babysitting, gardening, serving as a school crossing guard, or simply hanging out with the kids.</p>
<p>That’s what Eileen Baker is doing. “Tell me about the book,” she says to Tyrus, a bubbly, quick-tongued 10-year-old. (The children’s names in this article have been changed.) It’s reading time in the library at Hope Meadows, and the children there need to put in at least 15 minutes before they can pelt down the stairs to the computer room, where they’re allowed to play Bugdom and Madeline Thinking Games. Tyrus is reading Dazzle the Dinosaur with her. He’s insisting that he finished Dazzle and should be allowed to go. Five kids cluster around her, asking her to fill in the yellow certificate showing they’ve put in their time. Three girls sit in a nook nearby, taking turns reading aloud. A couple of boys sit on the floor, alternately reading to themselves and poking each other. Baker fills in Tyrus’ certificate — “This certifies that Tyrus has read from the book Dazzle the Dinosaur for 15 or more minutes!” — and he bounds out of the room. One by one, the other kids leave, too, until only six-year-old Gary remains. Baker picks up a book to read with him, determined to make reading time count, but he wiggles in his seat, anxious to bolt for the door.</p>
<p>This stint in the library is Eileen Baker’s initiation into Hope Meadows’ communal life. A 60-year-old nurse, she moved in recently, and if things hold true to form, the same kids who have upended her preconceptions about a cozy reading hour will soon be calling her Grandma, climbing in-to her lap for hugs, and dropping by her house. Family ties can form quickly here.</p>
<p>That’s the idea behind Hope Meadows. Brenda Eheart spent years studying what happened to troubled kids adopted out of the foster-care system. By the late 1980s, she’d concluded that the adoptive families were not getting the support they needed to overcome the children’s problems. “It was a disaster,” she says. “These kids and these families just fell apart.” At the time, the crack epidemic was beginning to hit Chicago, and 1,000 children a month were entering the foster-care system in Illinois alone. “I’m thinking, ‘A thousand of those. Each month!'” she remembers. “I decided I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try to do something. So what I finally did was say, ‘What if these were my kids? If these were mine and my husband and I died, what would I want for them? I’d want someone to do what I’m doing now: to raise our kids, to have them live in a caring, diverse neighborhood.'”</p>
<p>At first, Eheart figured she would create a neighborhood for 12 families willing to adopt kids out of foster care. Working with friends and university colleagues, and eventually with both conservative and liberal allies in the Illinois state legislature, she fought several years of bureaucratic battles to get $1 million in state funding and the Pentagon’s agreement to sign over a piece of the Chanute Air Force Base property. But when the Pentagon finally agreed to turn over a parcel to her, it would give her no fewer than 84 units of housing. “I didn’t want 84 families with foster kids,” she says. “I wanted a normal neighborhood.” Around that time she went to hear Maggie Kuhn, the founder of the Gray Panthers, who talked about her notion that seniors could rent out space in their houses to young people in exchange for whatever help they needed. On the plane home, Eheart realized she could invert the idea and rent houses to seniors who could help her families. In the nearly eight years that Hope Meadows has existed, seniors and parents together have created a community, supporting one another, and giving some of the most endangered children in America the sort of upbringing most people believe the child welfare system ought to ensure, but rarely does. “Having good memories to draw on as you grow older is just crucial to a child,” says Eheart. “That’s what the people here provide in droves.”</p>
<p>At the Hope playground one sunny morning, Joe Stang is playing ball with a small knot of Hope children. He is a tall man with silver hair and a toothy smile that veers toward the sardonic. Among Hope’s seniors he has a reputation as a curmudgeon, though with the kids he is a patient, sturdy presence. He has been paying special attention to a seven-year-old boy named Keith — Gary’s adoptive brother — who collapses in dramatic wails whenever he misses a ball or gets confused. “Keith,” Joe keeps reassuring him, “we’re just practicing here, so we learn for later.”</p>
<p>Eventually, Keith hits a pop-up, throws the bat down, stomps off, and again starts crying. “Keith, Keith, I want to show you something,” Joe says, following him. “I want to show you how to do it better so next time it’ll go better.” He shows Keith how to swing, drop the bat, and run to first. Keith can’t seem to shake his own dark mood and turns away, but then changes his mind and picks up the bat. He hits a mighty double, and, yelling happily, rounds the base to second, then heads for home. His triumph is short-lived. Next time up, he hits the ball again, runs to first, then hesitates. By the time he decides to run to second base another boy, Stuart, is waiting with the ball and tags him out. He wails, wanders off the field, and sits down. Joe Stang follows, sits next to him, and starts in again, talking softly.</p>
<p>A year ago, when Keith arrived at Hope Meadows with two of his birth sisters, this ball game would have been impossible. He grew up in a setting rife with alcoholism; his mother had seven children with several different men, one imprisoned for killing two of Keith’s half siblings. Keith himself could not laugh when he got here. Nor did he know how to interact with other people, or show his emotions in any but the most angry and dramatic ways. That he’s sitting still, letting Joe Stang talk calmly with him, is no small thing.</p>
<p>There are some horrific stories in Hope’s files — some children were kept in a basement; a brother and sister were raised in a cult and subsequently abused in foster care; others were beaten, sexually abused, all but abandoned by their parents. The statistics the office compiles are sobering: 63 percent of the children have behavioral and emotional problems; 33 percent have medical problems; 27 percent were exposed to cocaine in utero; 27 percent were sexually abused. “It still astounds me to see the damage that can be done to kids,” says Brenda Eheart. “There’s a child who, when he got here at five years old, couldn’t say a personal pronoun because he had no concept that he was a person.”</p>
<p>The kids who come to Hope Meadows are among the most wounded the child welfare system sees, and the ones it tends to serve the least well. They’re the boys and girls who bounce from foster family to foster family because they can’t control their anger or they wake up repeatedly with nightmares; the groups of siblings potential adoptive families don’t want; the children whose various disorders — asthma, hyperactivity, drug exposure — prove too much for even the best-meaning foster family to handle. The parents who have decided to make a home at Hope Meadows are a determined lot: Michelle Roberts adopted six girls as a single mother still in her 20s; she is in the process of adopting a seventh. Two of her girls were born to drug-addicted mothers — Roberts nursed one through severe cocaine withdrawal as an infant — while others were neglected or abused. Linda and Tory Hines, also still in their 20s, have six kids; two of them their birth children, one of them an informal adoptee from a troubled family Tory has known since he was growing up, and three of them siblings adopted out of foster care. Joanne Townsend, a former Peace Corps staffer who moved to Hope last summer with her two daughters, one of them adopted out of foster care, found herself dreading going back to full-time work.</p>
<p>“I didn’t want to come home and spend an hour at night and weekends with them,” she says, and realized that Hope Meadows gave her a chance to be a much steadier presence in their lives. Since arriving, she’s also taken in two young foster children.</p>
<p>What sets the Hope Meadows parents apart is that here they have a lot of company. To begin with, they have the seven full-time Hope staffers — social workers, thera- pists, and Carolyn Casteel and Mary Jo McCann, who are in charge of Hope’s day-to-day operations. Casteel and McCann are, in essence, community facilitators, helping organize events, making sure there’s juice and cookies at the twice-weekly “enrichment time,” or working with families to find a suitable senior companion for a child who’s having trouble. The parents also have one another, and they meet once a week to talk over the problems they face, and to help one another out.</p>
<p>Above all, the parents and children of Hope Meadows have their neighbors, the seniors, who are much more than a nice, homey touch; they are the community’s anchors. There is a lot that goes into the Hope model: the notion that adoption is the goal for foster kids who won’t be returning to their birth families; the conviction that families trying to raise former foster children need as much help and support as a neighborhood can give them; the belief that life at Hope should be as close to ordinary as possible. But all of this springs from a single principle: that steady, permanent relationships are key to helping children heal and families cope. In this, the seniors have turned out to be indispensable. Esther Buttitta, a 74-year-old former teacher who peers through her bifocals but addresses the world head-on, says, “The kids have strange things they’ll say; they’ll talk about experiences they’ve gone through, like touchy-feely things, and they sometimes accuse you of having been there.” But by remaining a warm and constant presence, she says, the seniors help the past to recede. “We provide security to those kids. Because we’re here. No matter what they do, we’re here.”</p>
<p>The Hope Meadows model is being watched closely by child welfare authorities in other states, but it has not yet spawned similar programs: The big unknown is whether it’s replicable enough to make a real difference (so far, Hope Meadows has helped about 80 children, which is a drop in the bucket in Illinois alone). There are also questions about which ingredients have made it successful, though there is general agreement that a closely defined physical neighborhood is important — and that the seniors are essential.</p>
<p>While the baseball game is going on with Joe and Keith, a group of senior women play with the younger children over at the Inter-Generational Center, sited in one of the Hope homes. The ground floor is three rooms — a kitchen, a crafts room, and a carpeted playroom — and in this last, Mary Jo McCabe squats on the floor helping three boys set up Shark Park, a popular game. Five women sit chatting a few feet away, in the crafts room, interrupting their conversation when little Dena and Ivan, the two foster kids Joanne Townsend plans to adopt, come in. They make the rounds to get hugs. Ivan climbs onto Marlene Lankford’s generous lap and nestles in. Dena, grinning, goes from Lankford to Gwen Pryor to Helen Hall. “C’mon,” Esther Buttitta says, taking the girl into her arms, “I need one of those to get me going this morning.” What the seniors do better than anything else is to make the neighborhood a genuinely welcoming place. This is crucial to Hope’s purpose, but it’s also a challenge. George King, one of the community’s old-timers, says, “When they come here, it isn’t real to them. They’ve had such a bad time, they look at you and think, ‘You’re not real!’ You can hug them and love them, and still you can see it in them: They don’t think you’re real.”</p>
<p>Over time, though, the community that the seniors help create does become real to the children. Eleene and Ray Cromlich, for instance, keep a refrigerator in their basement stocked with juices for the kids, who need to observe just two rules: Take only one at a time; and come for juice only once a day. Otherwise, the Cromlichs’ door is open pretty much all day. Bill Biederman, who with his wife, Fran, was the first senior to move into the neighborhood, is available whenever a bicycle needs fixing or some neighborhood child just wants to pull up a chair and talk. On warm days, Al Peña and Lee Johnson can usually be found sitting in the shade of a carport and keeping an eye on the children circling the neighborhood streets on their bicycles. All of this creates a sense of security for the children, and a conviction that no matter where they turn, they’ll encounter kindness.</p>
<p>It is the informal web of relationships the seniors have nurtured, however, that truly sustains Hope Meadows. Irene Bohn, a former nun, who is white, took a black boy she’d grown close to out to her brother’s farm at harvest time a few years ago. “On the way up, it brought tears to my eyes when the little bitty boy put his hand on my arm and asked, ‘Grandma, do they know I’m black?’ He was just kind of leery about it, how they were going to accept him, because his skin was different.… When we got up there the nephews were all fine with this. They saw him, and one of them picked him up and said, ‘Come on, we’ve got work to do.’ They put him in that pickup truck and his little head was bobbing back and forth across the field…and his eyes were like dollars.” Now, the two of them go out to the farm every fall.</p>
<p>Esther Buttitta has become a central part in the life of the family of Linda and Tory Hines. One of their sons has learning disabilities, and she’s been working with him. She has also made a special project of one of their daughters who, Linda Hines says, “is cute as a button and manipulative as all- get-out. But Esther has her down pat.” Buttitta, who raised seven children of her own, spent three years working at homeless shelters after she retired from teaching at a nearby school. When the Chanute Air Force Base was in full swing, nearly half its students were new each year. “All you could do was take the kids where they were and try to move them on,” she says. “It’s the same here.” She’s been tutoring Linda Hines’ daughter for three years. “She was in kindergarten and would have fits in class, throwing things and kicking. She couldn’t hold a pencil on a line to write her name — somewhere along the way, she’d missed the connections in her mind to be able to move her arms across the plane in front of her body. So I took her back, taught her to walk a line. Now, we work on life skills. I take her to the store to see if she can find things to buy for under $3.”</p>
<p>Of all the seniors, Loralee Peña probably brings the greatest understanding to her interactions with Hope kids. There are some kids who struggle more than others, and in them Loralee sees a kindred heart. Stuart — the one who arrived at Hope with no sense of himself as a separate person — has recently begun running away. Katy, his sister, sometimes flares suddenly into violence.</p>
<p>“I recognize the anger and rage in both of them,” Peña says. “Anger wells up unexpectedly in me. For a child, it’s probably like that, and it probably goes further than they expect, so it’s scary to see. I want to be there.” So when Stuart runs away, she goes out to help find him. And with Katy, she says, “if she’s rampaging, we just spend time together, go for a drive. We’ll talk about what she needs to do.”</p>
<p>Statistically, hope has had remarkable success. Over time, 80 children referred by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services have moved to Hope; 90 percent of them were able to leave the foster-care system, most by being adopted, some by returning to their birth families. Still, Hope is not immune to the fierce debate that has split the child welfare field. Some advocates believe the system ought to be focused on ensuring that children taken from their parents are adopted into stable families. Others argue that this approach tends to discriminate against the poor families from which foster children tend to come and that children should be taken from their parents only in the rarest of circumstances, with society’s resources supporting “family preservation.” Partisans of the latter approach do not much like Hope Meadows; it diverts attention, they argue, from the more important work of helping troubled families surmount their difficulties. There is a strong case to be made for family preservation; the child welfare literature is rife with horror stories about families who have been split apart unnecessarily. On the other hand, the reason Hope Meadows exists is that there are undeniably children who really are better off away from their birth parents.</p>
<p>Yet, for all its measurable successes, Hope Meadows is not immune to failures and setbacks. Sometimes things do not work out happily, and it is the hard times that throw Hope’s strengths into sharpest relief. When seniors fall ill or children pass through a turbulent stage or families bend under the burden of everyday cares, the community knows. People stop by, they cook meals, they do the shopping, they listen and console. “We all close ranks,” says Mary Jo McCabe, who moved to Hope Meadows in 1993. “We want to protect people.”</p>
<p>Eleene Cromlich remembers what happened after she fell down some concrete steps in a nearby park. The fall shattered her shoulder and arm; in the surgery that followed, she was given a new plastic shoulder and a titanium arm shank. Her daughters came to help, and for days after she got home, Eleene lay on the couch, too stiff and in too much pain to get up. Children would come by to check in, including Ben, the brother of Stuart and Katy.</p>
<p>“Every day,” she says, “Ben would come to visit, and he’d stand with the other kids and never say anything. Then one day he said, ‘Mrs. C, do you have to spend the rest of your life on that couch?’</p>
<p>“I said, ‘No, I’ll get up and be about.’</p>
<p>“‘Oh,’ he said. ‘When?’</p>
<p>“I told him, ‘Whenever I can.’ So I told my girls, ‘If anyone sees Ben coming, you get me up and sitting on a chair!’ Well, the next day, here he came, and they got me up. Ben saw me, and he just grinned from ear to ear. You know, I’m up and about now because of the kids.”</p>
<p>Hearing a story like this, it’s hard not to think of Hope Meadows as an experiment in building the kind of ad hoc extended family we associate with communes and utopian communities. That is not what Brenda Eheart and her staff set out to do. But in this neighborhood, three of the groups often disregarded by American society — children caught in the child welfare system, families that adopt kids with special emotional and medical needs, and retirees — have made a home for one another. “This is not utopia,” says Gwen Pryor. “Look, they’re just kids. We’re just people. It’s just a neighborhood. It’s not like every day is sunshine and roses. But we’re learning to live with each other.”</p>
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Fostering Hope
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2018-03-01
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Fostering Hope
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<p>Every June 17, Loralee Peña and her husband, Al, hold a small celebration. They drive the half hour from their home in Rantoul, Illinois, down to Champaign. They go out to dinner, then make their way over to the train station. Sitting quietly, they wait for the night train from Chicago to pull in, load and unload its passengers, and start up again on its journey to Memphis and New Orleans. Once it’s out of sight, they drive home.</p>
<p>Loralee was two months old when she arrived at that station late on the night of June 17, 1941, on an old Illinois Central train. She’d been born in the infirmary at the Illinois Eastern Hospital for the Insane, up in Kankakee. Her mother, a patient there, refused to care for her. A state caseworker took the baby from the hospital, carried her down to Champaign, caught a taxi from the train station, and delivered her to the woman who would go on to raise her, a 50-year-old widow and former teacher. Loralee grew up knowing nothing about the circumstances of her birth, though she knew as soon as one could know such things that she was a foster child.</p>
<p>She is a large-boned, handsome woman now, with shining eyes, a soft, deep voice, and a reticence she wears like a second skin. When she smiles, it is never with her whole self; so many years later, her childhood still casts its shadow. “If I’d been told that I wasn’t eligible for adoption — and I wasn’t — it wouldn’t have been so hurtful,” she muses. Her birth mother, a severe manic-depressive, was in and out of institutions and could have claimed her at any time. So she was never adopted by her foster mother — and never reclaimed by her own flesh and blood. “In my mind,” she says, “I was always waiting for my real family to show up.”</p>
<p>It now seems a kind of justice that Loralee Peña has ended up living where she does. Hope Meadows, the subdivision to which she and Al retired, is a community focused on giving children who’ve been taken from their birth parents something she never had: life surrounded by family. Hope Meadows, in the heart of the Corn Belt, appears to be an ordinary subdivision of late-1950s split-level ranch houses with tidy lawns and cement driveways. It is filled with ordinary people: hardworking parents, older adults, kids squeal-ing around the streets on their bikes. Just driving through, you’d have no idea that you were in the midst of an ambitious exper-iment aimed at one of the most intractable and discouraging challenges American society faces: how to raise foster children.</p>
<p>At any one time, there are 580,000 kids across the country in foster care. Many will eventually return home, but many will not: They’ll shuttle from foster home to foster home, or be freed for adoption but never adopted, or spiral from a foster family to a group home to an institution, or simply “age out” of the system at 18 and go off to live — well, no one really keeps track of where. These children are already laboring under the weight of the abuse or neglect that led the state to take them from their families. Quite often, their time in the child welfare system leaves them with additional scars. Theirs is a world of courts and caseworkers, of “placements” and inflexible rules. The course of their lives is determined by the vagaries of bureaucracies, courts, insti-tutions, stressed foster families, and the disruptions caused by their own behavior. Children need stability, love, and acceptance; these are not qualities one finds readily in the child welfare system.</p>
<p>At Hope Meadows, one does. The community was founded in 1994 by Brenda Eheart, a sociology professor at the nearby University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It sits on part of the old Chanute Air Force Base, which was abandoned by the military in 1993. Much of the base housing has been turned into market-rate developments, and in their midst lies Hope Meadows. Though its 84 units are owned and operated by a not-for-profit corporation called Generations of Hope, there is nothing institutional about it, not even a hint that, in the eyes of the state of Illinois, it is a private “facility.” This is intentional because Hope Meadows strives to be, more than anything else, a community.</p>
<p>In particular, it’s a community focused on providing a stable family life for foster children and those adopted out of foster care, and on giving those families a web of supportive neighbors. It includes about a dozen couples and single mothers raising almost 50 children among them, a few of them biologically their own, many of them adopted out of foster care, and the rest either on their way to being adopted or in temporary foster care. The families get $19,000 a year, plus benefits, in exchange for one parent staying home to give their children the attention they need, though some of the single mothers also work part-time. Most families have between four and six kids. Hope Meadows also includes 60-odd seniors, who pay only $350 a month in rent (in nearby Champaign, a two-bedroom apartment can go for $1,000) in return for six hours a week of tutoring, babysitting, gardening, serving as a school crossing guard, or simply hanging out with the kids.</p>
<p>That’s what Eileen Baker is doing. “Tell me about the book,” she says to Tyrus, a bubbly, quick-tongued 10-year-old. (The children’s names in this article have been changed.) It’s reading time in the library at Hope Meadows, and the children there need to put in at least 15 minutes before they can pelt down the stairs to the computer room, where they’re allowed to play Bugdom and Madeline Thinking Games. Tyrus is reading Dazzle the Dinosaur with her. He’s insisting that he finished Dazzle and should be allowed to go. Five kids cluster around her, asking her to fill in the yellow certificate showing they’ve put in their time. Three girls sit in a nook nearby, taking turns reading aloud. A couple of boys sit on the floor, alternately reading to themselves and poking each other. Baker fills in Tyrus’ certificate — “This certifies that Tyrus has read from the book Dazzle the Dinosaur for 15 or more minutes!” — and he bounds out of the room. One by one, the other kids leave, too, until only six-year-old Gary remains. Baker picks up a book to read with him, determined to make reading time count, but he wiggles in his seat, anxious to bolt for the door.</p>
<p>This stint in the library is Eileen Baker’s initiation into Hope Meadows’ communal life. A 60-year-old nurse, she moved in recently, and if things hold true to form, the same kids who have upended her preconceptions about a cozy reading hour will soon be calling her Grandma, climbing in-to her lap for hugs, and dropping by her house. Family ties can form quickly here.</p>
<p>That’s the idea behind Hope Meadows. Brenda Eheart spent years studying what happened to troubled kids adopted out of the foster-care system. By the late 1980s, she’d concluded that the adoptive families were not getting the support they needed to overcome the children’s problems. “It was a disaster,” she says. “These kids and these families just fell apart.” At the time, the crack epidemic was beginning to hit Chicago, and 1,000 children a month were entering the foster-care system in Illinois alone. “I’m thinking, ‘A thousand of those. Each month!'” she remembers. “I decided I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try to do something. So what I finally did was say, ‘What if these were my kids? If these were mine and my husband and I died, what would I want for them? I’d want someone to do what I’m doing now: to raise our kids, to have them live in a caring, diverse neighborhood.'”</p>
<p>At first, Eheart figured she would create a neighborhood for 12 families willing to adopt kids out of foster care. Working with friends and university colleagues, and eventually with both conservative and liberal allies in the Illinois state legislature, she fought several years of bureaucratic battles to get $1 million in state funding and the Pentagon’s agreement to sign over a piece of the Chanute Air Force Base property. But when the Pentagon finally agreed to turn over a parcel to her, it would give her no fewer than 84 units of housing. “I didn’t want 84 families with foster kids,” she says. “I wanted a normal neighborhood.” Around that time she went to hear Maggie Kuhn, the founder of the Gray Panthers, who talked about her notion that seniors could rent out space in their houses to young people in exchange for whatever help they needed. On the plane home, Eheart realized she could invert the idea and rent houses to seniors who could help her families. In the nearly eight years that Hope Meadows has existed, seniors and parents together have created a community, supporting one another, and giving some of the most endangered children in America the sort of upbringing most people believe the child welfare system ought to ensure, but rarely does. “Having good memories to draw on as you grow older is just crucial to a child,” says Eheart. “That’s what the people here provide in droves.”</p>
<p>At the Hope playground one sunny morning, Joe Stang is playing ball with a small knot of Hope children. He is a tall man with silver hair and a toothy smile that veers toward the sardonic. Among Hope’s seniors he has a reputation as a curmudgeon, though with the kids he is a patient, sturdy presence. He has been paying special attention to a seven-year-old boy named Keith — Gary’s adoptive brother — who collapses in dramatic wails whenever he misses a ball or gets confused. “Keith,” Joe keeps reassuring him, “we’re just practicing here, so we learn for later.”</p>
<p>Eventually, Keith hits a pop-up, throws the bat down, stomps off, and again starts crying. “Keith, Keith, I want to show you something,” Joe says, following him. “I want to show you how to do it better so next time it’ll go better.” He shows Keith how to swing, drop the bat, and run to first. Keith can’t seem to shake his own dark mood and turns away, but then changes his mind and picks up the bat. He hits a mighty double, and, yelling happily, rounds the base to second, then heads for home. His triumph is short-lived. Next time up, he hits the ball again, runs to first, then hesitates. By the time he decides to run to second base another boy, Stuart, is waiting with the ball and tags him out. He wails, wanders off the field, and sits down. Joe Stang follows, sits next to him, and starts in again, talking softly.</p>
<p>A year ago, when Keith arrived at Hope Meadows with two of his birth sisters, this ball game would have been impossible. He grew up in a setting rife with alcoholism; his mother had seven children with several different men, one imprisoned for killing two of Keith’s half siblings. Keith himself could not laugh when he got here. Nor did he know how to interact with other people, or show his emotions in any but the most angry and dramatic ways. That he’s sitting still, letting Joe Stang talk calmly with him, is no small thing.</p>
<p>There are some horrific stories in Hope’s files — some children were kept in a basement; a brother and sister were raised in a cult and subsequently abused in foster care; others were beaten, sexually abused, all but abandoned by their parents. The statistics the office compiles are sobering: 63 percent of the children have behavioral and emotional problems; 33 percent have medical problems; 27 percent were exposed to cocaine in utero; 27 percent were sexually abused. “It still astounds me to see the damage that can be done to kids,” says Brenda Eheart. “There’s a child who, when he got here at five years old, couldn’t say a personal pronoun because he had no concept that he was a person.”</p>
<p>The kids who come to Hope Meadows are among the most wounded the child welfare system sees, and the ones it tends to serve the least well. They’re the boys and girls who bounce from foster family to foster family because they can’t control their anger or they wake up repeatedly with nightmares; the groups of siblings potential adoptive families don’t want; the children whose various disorders — asthma, hyperactivity, drug exposure — prove too much for even the best-meaning foster family to handle. The parents who have decided to make a home at Hope Meadows are a determined lot: Michelle Roberts adopted six girls as a single mother still in her 20s; she is in the process of adopting a seventh. Two of her girls were born to drug-addicted mothers — Roberts nursed one through severe cocaine withdrawal as an infant — while others were neglected or abused. Linda and Tory Hines, also still in their 20s, have six kids; two of them their birth children, one of them an informal adoptee from a troubled family Tory has known since he was growing up, and three of them siblings adopted out of foster care. Joanne Townsend, a former Peace Corps staffer who moved to Hope last summer with her two daughters, one of them adopted out of foster care, found herself dreading going back to full-time work.</p>
<p>“I didn’t want to come home and spend an hour at night and weekends with them,” she says, and realized that Hope Meadows gave her a chance to be a much steadier presence in their lives. Since arriving, she’s also taken in two young foster children.</p>
<p>What sets the Hope Meadows parents apart is that here they have a lot of company. To begin with, they have the seven full-time Hope staffers — social workers, thera- pists, and Carolyn Casteel and Mary Jo McCann, who are in charge of Hope’s day-to-day operations. Casteel and McCann are, in essence, community facilitators, helping organize events, making sure there’s juice and cookies at the twice-weekly “enrichment time,” or working with families to find a suitable senior companion for a child who’s having trouble. The parents also have one another, and they meet once a week to talk over the problems they face, and to help one another out.</p>
<p>Above all, the parents and children of Hope Meadows have their neighbors, the seniors, who are much more than a nice, homey touch; they are the community’s anchors. There is a lot that goes into the Hope model: the notion that adoption is the goal for foster kids who won’t be returning to their birth families; the conviction that families trying to raise former foster children need as much help and support as a neighborhood can give them; the belief that life at Hope should be as close to ordinary as possible. But all of this springs from a single principle: that steady, permanent relationships are key to helping children heal and families cope. In this, the seniors have turned out to be indispensable. Esther Buttitta, a 74-year-old former teacher who peers through her bifocals but addresses the world head-on, says, “The kids have strange things they’ll say; they’ll talk about experiences they’ve gone through, like touchy-feely things, and they sometimes accuse you of having been there.” But by remaining a warm and constant presence, she says, the seniors help the past to recede. “We provide security to those kids. Because we’re here. No matter what they do, we’re here.”</p>
<p>The Hope Meadows model is being watched closely by child welfare authorities in other states, but it has not yet spawned similar programs: The big unknown is whether it’s replicable enough to make a real difference (so far, Hope Meadows has helped about 80 children, which is a drop in the bucket in Illinois alone). There are also questions about which ingredients have made it successful, though there is general agreement that a closely defined physical neighborhood is important — and that the seniors are essential.</p>
<p>While the baseball game is going on with Joe and Keith, a group of senior women play with the younger children over at the Inter-Generational Center, sited in one of the Hope homes. The ground floor is three rooms — a kitchen, a crafts room, and a carpeted playroom — and in this last, Mary Jo McCabe squats on the floor helping three boys set up Shark Park, a popular game. Five women sit chatting a few feet away, in the crafts room, interrupting their conversation when little Dena and Ivan, the two foster kids Joanne Townsend plans to adopt, come in. They make the rounds to get hugs. Ivan climbs onto Marlene Lankford’s generous lap and nestles in. Dena, grinning, goes from Lankford to Gwen Pryor to Helen Hall. “C’mon,” Esther Buttitta says, taking the girl into her arms, “I need one of those to get me going this morning.” What the seniors do better than anything else is to make the neighborhood a genuinely welcoming place. This is crucial to Hope’s purpose, but it’s also a challenge. George King, one of the community’s old-timers, says, “When they come here, it isn’t real to them. They’ve had such a bad time, they look at you and think, ‘You’re not real!’ You can hug them and love them, and still you can see it in them: They don’t think you’re real.”</p>
<p>Over time, though, the community that the seniors help create does become real to the children. Eleene and Ray Cromlich, for instance, keep a refrigerator in their basement stocked with juices for the kids, who need to observe just two rules: Take only one at a time; and come for juice only once a day. Otherwise, the Cromlichs’ door is open pretty much all day. Bill Biederman, who with his wife, Fran, was the first senior to move into the neighborhood, is available whenever a bicycle needs fixing or some neighborhood child just wants to pull up a chair and talk. On warm days, Al Peña and Lee Johnson can usually be found sitting in the shade of a carport and keeping an eye on the children circling the neighborhood streets on their bicycles. All of this creates a sense of security for the children, and a conviction that no matter where they turn, they’ll encounter kindness.</p>
<p>It is the informal web of relationships the seniors have nurtured, however, that truly sustains Hope Meadows. Irene Bohn, a former nun, who is white, took a black boy she’d grown close to out to her brother’s farm at harvest time a few years ago. “On the way up, it brought tears to my eyes when the little bitty boy put his hand on my arm and asked, ‘Grandma, do they know I’m black?’ He was just kind of leery about it, how they were going to accept him, because his skin was different.… When we got up there the nephews were all fine with this. They saw him, and one of them picked him up and said, ‘Come on, we’ve got work to do.’ They put him in that pickup truck and his little head was bobbing back and forth across the field…and his eyes were like dollars.” Now, the two of them go out to the farm every fall.</p>
<p>Esther Buttitta has become a central part in the life of the family of Linda and Tory Hines. One of their sons has learning disabilities, and she’s been working with him. She has also made a special project of one of their daughters who, Linda Hines says, “is cute as a button and manipulative as all- get-out. But Esther has her down pat.” Buttitta, who raised seven children of her own, spent three years working at homeless shelters after she retired from teaching at a nearby school. When the Chanute Air Force Base was in full swing, nearly half its students were new each year. “All you could do was take the kids where they were and try to move them on,” she says. “It’s the same here.” She’s been tutoring Linda Hines’ daughter for three years. “She was in kindergarten and would have fits in class, throwing things and kicking. She couldn’t hold a pencil on a line to write her name — somewhere along the way, she’d missed the connections in her mind to be able to move her arms across the plane in front of her body. So I took her back, taught her to walk a line. Now, we work on life skills. I take her to the store to see if she can find things to buy for under $3.”</p>
<p>Of all the seniors, Loralee Peña probably brings the greatest understanding to her interactions with Hope kids. There are some kids who struggle more than others, and in them Loralee sees a kindred heart. Stuart — the one who arrived at Hope with no sense of himself as a separate person — has recently begun running away. Katy, his sister, sometimes flares suddenly into violence.</p>
<p>“I recognize the anger and rage in both of them,” Peña says. “Anger wells up unexpectedly in me. For a child, it’s probably like that, and it probably goes further than they expect, so it’s scary to see. I want to be there.” So when Stuart runs away, she goes out to help find him. And with Katy, she says, “if she’s rampaging, we just spend time together, go for a drive. We’ll talk about what she needs to do.”</p>
<p>Statistically, hope has had remarkable success. Over time, 80 children referred by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services have moved to Hope; 90 percent of them were able to leave the foster-care system, most by being adopted, some by returning to their birth families. Still, Hope is not immune to the fierce debate that has split the child welfare field. Some advocates believe the system ought to be focused on ensuring that children taken from their parents are adopted into stable families. Others argue that this approach tends to discriminate against the poor families from which foster children tend to come and that children should be taken from their parents only in the rarest of circumstances, with society’s resources supporting “family preservation.” Partisans of the latter approach do not much like Hope Meadows; it diverts attention, they argue, from the more important work of helping troubled families surmount their difficulties. There is a strong case to be made for family preservation; the child welfare literature is rife with horror stories about families who have been split apart unnecessarily. On the other hand, the reason Hope Meadows exists is that there are undeniably children who really are better off away from their birth parents.</p>
<p>Yet, for all its measurable successes, Hope Meadows is not immune to failures and setbacks. Sometimes things do not work out happily, and it is the hard times that throw Hope’s strengths into sharpest relief. When seniors fall ill or children pass through a turbulent stage or families bend under the burden of everyday cares, the community knows. People stop by, they cook meals, they do the shopping, they listen and console. “We all close ranks,” says Mary Jo McCabe, who moved to Hope Meadows in 1993. “We want to protect people.”</p>
<p>Eleene Cromlich remembers what happened after she fell down some concrete steps in a nearby park. The fall shattered her shoulder and arm; in the surgery that followed, she was given a new plastic shoulder and a titanium arm shank. Her daughters came to help, and for days after she got home, Eleene lay on the couch, too stiff and in too much pain to get up. Children would come by to check in, including Ben, the brother of Stuart and Katy.</p>
<p>“Every day,” she says, “Ben would come to visit, and he’d stand with the other kids and never say anything. Then one day he said, ‘Mrs. C, do you have to spend the rest of your life on that couch?’</p>
<p>“I said, ‘No, I’ll get up and be about.’</p>
<p>“‘Oh,’ he said. ‘When?’</p>
<p>“I told him, ‘Whenever I can.’ So I told my girls, ‘If anyone sees Ben coming, you get me up and sitting on a chair!’ Well, the next day, here he came, and they got me up. Ben saw me, and he just grinned from ear to ear. You know, I’m up and about now because of the kids.”</p>
<p>Hearing a story like this, it’s hard not to think of Hope Meadows as an experiment in building the kind of ad hoc extended family we associate with communes and utopian communities. That is not what Brenda Eheart and her staff set out to do. But in this neighborhood, three of the groups often disregarded by American society — children caught in the child welfare system, families that adopt kids with special emotional and medical needs, and retirees — have made a home for one another. “This is not utopia,” says Gwen Pryor. “Look, they’re just kids. We’re just people. It’s just a neighborhood. It’s not like every day is sunshine and roses. But we’re learning to live with each other.”</p>
<p />
| 7,424 |
<p>Increasingly, progressives I talk with admit they are starting to get a little disgusted with the antics of Barack Obama, that great agent of change. It wasn’t too long ago when these same folks were overly optimistic that Obama would deliver on his varied promises, beckoning a new era of Washington politics. Nonetheless, they all plan on voting for the Democrat regardless of how dismayed they have become with him and his campaign.</p>
<p>Of course this isn’t the lofty hope their candidate has been talking about. After eight long years of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, it’s been a logical reaction, one that the Obama camp has done their best to exploit. But as Obama shows his constituents that he is far from progressive, the less likely he is to walk away with an electoral victory come November, and the more doubtful it is that he will make any real progress if elected.</p>
<p>It’s a pretty straight forward equation: centrist Democrats don’t have a great track record of winning national elections. Voters want straight-forward, common sense approaches to handling the problems our country faces today, not posturing and political maneuvering for the sake of manipulation. For what it’s worth, John McCain shoots it straight. He supports more war and doesn’t know much about economics. Voters know exactly what they are getting if they punch the card for the old Arizona senator.</p>
<p>That’s not the case with Obama who says he wants an end to the war but has voted for its continuation and will leave troops and private mercenaries in the country to deal with the so-called insurgents — even threatening to shift US forces to Afghanistan and Iran, where he’s promised to bully our enemies into submission.</p>
<p>Obama says he supports our civil liberties but voted to reaffirm the PATRIOT Act and FISA. He says he will expand the Pentagon budget, and on Israel he promises to do whatever it takes to protect the country from “terrorists,” paying little to no attention to the plight of Palestinians and their suffering in Gaza.</p>
<p>The good senator also wants to put Americans to work with a neo-Keynesian economic plan, producing millions of “green jobs” across the country. Our addiction to foreign crude surely needs to be dealt with, but Obama’s call for diversified energy sources includes some not so great alternatives, such as nuclear power, clean coal, and more domestic oil production.</p>
<p>Obama also claims to speak for the underprivileged but has refused to support a cap on credit card interest rates and has spoken little about the ruthless prison industry, the war on drugs or the death penalty — all of which unfairly affect the poor.</p>
<p>I would call all of these postures a huge betrayal. But they aren’t. Obama has never been a true progressive. He’s another centrist Democrat that has done his best to appease all sides of the political spectrum; giving the corporate wing the hard evidence they need to trust he’ll protect their interests, and the left-wing, rhetoric and political bravado to ensure they won’t flee from the stifling confines of the Democratic Party.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, many Obama supporters know well of his pitfalls, and no matter how disastrous they may seem, they’ll still vote for him. As respected columnist Norman Solomon recently claimed,</p>
<p>“To some, who evidently see voting as an act of moral witness rather than pragmatic choice (even in a general election), forces such as corporate power or militarism are binary — like a toggle switch — either totally on or totally off. This outlook says: either we reject entirely or we’re complicit&#160; … Such analysis tends to see Obama as just a little bit slower on the march to the same disasters that John McCain would lead us to. That analysis takes a long view — but fails to see the profound importance of the crossroads right in front of us, where either Obama or McCain will be propelled into the White House.”</p>
<p>Solomon, who served as an Obama delegate at the convention in Denver and sits on the board of Progressive Democrats of America, has an agenda: to usher Barack Obama into the White House because he sees John McCain as leading our country closer to the sacrificial ledge. “Save the Country (read Empire) Vote Democrat” has become a common refrain among a certain segment of the left, one that echoes through progressive and even radical circles every four years like clockwork. Go ahead and acknowledge their faults, they sing from on high, just don’t you dare ditch the Democrats come Election Day, for the rapture will ensue.</p>
<p>Like others of his stature, Solomon has in the past dished out scare tactics in an attempt to threaten progressives into voting against their own interests, an approach not too unlike the Republican’s who consistently undermine the concerns and needs of their base.</p>
<p>One typical threat that is often levied with fury is the prospect of future Supreme Court nominations. No question the most recent selections to the Court depict a rabid rightwing shift, just don’t forget that it was the Democrats who overwhelmingly confirmed both John Roberts and Samuel Alito despite the collective power to halt their confirmations. And remember, the two best judges serving today, John Paul Stevens and David Souter, were nominated by Gerald Ford and G.W.H. Bush, Republicans both.</p>
<p>Barack Obama will not address progressive issues because he knows quite well he’ll have this segment of the voting block shored up no matter how far right he may turn. If one follows the Solomon line of logic, we will all just have to wait until Obama’s inauguration to pester him to the left. If you do it now, they assert, it will only embolden John McCain.</p>
<p>Such a political philosophy (bigotry) is void of historic truths. One need look no further than Cintontime to grasp the amount of abuse the Democrats are allowed to commit because they are not Republicans. It’s the political version of the battered wife syndrome. Once Democrats are elected and things don’t change, progressives are still silent. And Clinton’s legacy is a long, ugly list of betrayal indeed: NAFTA, Welfare Reform, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty and Iraq Liberation Acts, the Salvage Rider, and the shattering of Glass-Steagal, which is greatly responsible for the current market meltdown.</p>
<p>So don’t fear standing up and voting for what you believe in, no matter how fringe or foolish you are made out to be by others who claim to know better than you. Our democracy is in peril. War rages on. Jobs are scarce and the environment is being destroyed at an exponential rate. Voting on the likelihood of perceived social gains in the short-term is not only erroneous; it is without a true understanding of what it is going to take to bring about real change in this country.</p>
<p>JOSHUA FRANK is co-editor of Dissident Voice and author of <a href="" type="internal">Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush</a> (Common Courage Press, 2005), and along with Jeffrey St. Clair, the editor of the brand new book <a href="http://www.redstaterebels.org" type="external">Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in the Heartland</a>, published by AK Press in July 2008.</p>
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Oppose Barack Obama?
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2008/09/23/oppose-barack-obama/
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2008-09-23
| 4left
|
Oppose Barack Obama?
<p>Increasingly, progressives I talk with admit they are starting to get a little disgusted with the antics of Barack Obama, that great agent of change. It wasn’t too long ago when these same folks were overly optimistic that Obama would deliver on his varied promises, beckoning a new era of Washington politics. Nonetheless, they all plan on voting for the Democrat regardless of how dismayed they have become with him and his campaign.</p>
<p>Of course this isn’t the lofty hope their candidate has been talking about. After eight long years of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, it’s been a logical reaction, one that the Obama camp has done their best to exploit. But as Obama shows his constituents that he is far from progressive, the less likely he is to walk away with an electoral victory come November, and the more doubtful it is that he will make any real progress if elected.</p>
<p>It’s a pretty straight forward equation: centrist Democrats don’t have a great track record of winning national elections. Voters want straight-forward, common sense approaches to handling the problems our country faces today, not posturing and political maneuvering for the sake of manipulation. For what it’s worth, John McCain shoots it straight. He supports more war and doesn’t know much about economics. Voters know exactly what they are getting if they punch the card for the old Arizona senator.</p>
<p>That’s not the case with Obama who says he wants an end to the war but has voted for its continuation and will leave troops and private mercenaries in the country to deal with the so-called insurgents — even threatening to shift US forces to Afghanistan and Iran, where he’s promised to bully our enemies into submission.</p>
<p>Obama says he supports our civil liberties but voted to reaffirm the PATRIOT Act and FISA. He says he will expand the Pentagon budget, and on Israel he promises to do whatever it takes to protect the country from “terrorists,” paying little to no attention to the plight of Palestinians and their suffering in Gaza.</p>
<p>The good senator also wants to put Americans to work with a neo-Keynesian economic plan, producing millions of “green jobs” across the country. Our addiction to foreign crude surely needs to be dealt with, but Obama’s call for diversified energy sources includes some not so great alternatives, such as nuclear power, clean coal, and more domestic oil production.</p>
<p>Obama also claims to speak for the underprivileged but has refused to support a cap on credit card interest rates and has spoken little about the ruthless prison industry, the war on drugs or the death penalty — all of which unfairly affect the poor.</p>
<p>I would call all of these postures a huge betrayal. But they aren’t. Obama has never been a true progressive. He’s another centrist Democrat that has done his best to appease all sides of the political spectrum; giving the corporate wing the hard evidence they need to trust he’ll protect their interests, and the left-wing, rhetoric and political bravado to ensure they won’t flee from the stifling confines of the Democratic Party.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, many Obama supporters know well of his pitfalls, and no matter how disastrous they may seem, they’ll still vote for him. As respected columnist Norman Solomon recently claimed,</p>
<p>“To some, who evidently see voting as an act of moral witness rather than pragmatic choice (even in a general election), forces such as corporate power or militarism are binary — like a toggle switch — either totally on or totally off. This outlook says: either we reject entirely or we’re complicit&#160; … Such analysis tends to see Obama as just a little bit slower on the march to the same disasters that John McCain would lead us to. That analysis takes a long view — but fails to see the profound importance of the crossroads right in front of us, where either Obama or McCain will be propelled into the White House.”</p>
<p>Solomon, who served as an Obama delegate at the convention in Denver and sits on the board of Progressive Democrats of America, has an agenda: to usher Barack Obama into the White House because he sees John McCain as leading our country closer to the sacrificial ledge. “Save the Country (read Empire) Vote Democrat” has become a common refrain among a certain segment of the left, one that echoes through progressive and even radical circles every four years like clockwork. Go ahead and acknowledge their faults, they sing from on high, just don’t you dare ditch the Democrats come Election Day, for the rapture will ensue.</p>
<p>Like others of his stature, Solomon has in the past dished out scare tactics in an attempt to threaten progressives into voting against their own interests, an approach not too unlike the Republican’s who consistently undermine the concerns and needs of their base.</p>
<p>One typical threat that is often levied with fury is the prospect of future Supreme Court nominations. No question the most recent selections to the Court depict a rabid rightwing shift, just don’t forget that it was the Democrats who overwhelmingly confirmed both John Roberts and Samuel Alito despite the collective power to halt their confirmations. And remember, the two best judges serving today, John Paul Stevens and David Souter, were nominated by Gerald Ford and G.W.H. Bush, Republicans both.</p>
<p>Barack Obama will not address progressive issues because he knows quite well he’ll have this segment of the voting block shored up no matter how far right he may turn. If one follows the Solomon line of logic, we will all just have to wait until Obama’s inauguration to pester him to the left. If you do it now, they assert, it will only embolden John McCain.</p>
<p>Such a political philosophy (bigotry) is void of historic truths. One need look no further than Cintontime to grasp the amount of abuse the Democrats are allowed to commit because they are not Republicans. It’s the political version of the battered wife syndrome. Once Democrats are elected and things don’t change, progressives are still silent. And Clinton’s legacy is a long, ugly list of betrayal indeed: NAFTA, Welfare Reform, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty and Iraq Liberation Acts, the Salvage Rider, and the shattering of Glass-Steagal, which is greatly responsible for the current market meltdown.</p>
<p>So don’t fear standing up and voting for what you believe in, no matter how fringe or foolish you are made out to be by others who claim to know better than you. Our democracy is in peril. War rages on. Jobs are scarce and the environment is being destroyed at an exponential rate. Voting on the likelihood of perceived social gains in the short-term is not only erroneous; it is without a true understanding of what it is going to take to bring about real change in this country.</p>
<p>JOSHUA FRANK is co-editor of Dissident Voice and author of <a href="" type="internal">Left Out! How Liberals Helped Reelect George W. Bush</a> (Common Courage Press, 2005), and along with Jeffrey St. Clair, the editor of the brand new book <a href="http://www.redstaterebels.org" type="external">Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in the Heartland</a>, published by AK Press in July 2008.</p>
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<p><a href="" type="internal">Your Ad Here</a> &#160;</p>
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<p>They’re still only a fraction of car sales. But all those Teslas and Leafs you see on the road are not an illusion.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.chargepoint.com/press-releases/2015/0302" type="external">ChargePoint.com</a>, of the top four cities&#160;in the country for electric cars, three&#160;are in California:</p>
<p>The San Francisco Bay Area (including San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose) led the nation, followed by Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego and Honolulu.</p>
<p>Equating for population differences, ChargePoint scored the cities based on the number of EVs on the road and the number of charging stations available on the ChargePoint network as of December 31, 2014. The regions are core based statistical areas as defined by the <a href="http://www.census.gov/population/metro/" type="external">Census</a>….</p>
<p>While Los Angeles had a higher overall total of registered electric cars at 57,000, ChargePoint said San Francisco’s total of 48,000 represented a greater percentage when compared to its population.</p>
<p>This is San Francisco’s second year in a row as the top electric-car city; Los Angeles moved up from sixth to second place.</p>
<p>The Bay Area also is the headquarters of Tesla Motors Inc. in Palo Alto.</p>
<p>However, <a href="http://www.chargepoint.com/press-releases/2015/0302" type="external">ChargePoint</a>&#160;noted many non-West Coast cities have made the Top 10 and could move higher. Sixth through tenth places on the list were: Austin, Tex.; Detroit, Mich.; Atlanta, Ga.; Denver, Colo.; and Portland, Ore.</p>
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<p />
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Electric cars most popular in CA
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https://calwatchdog.com/2015/03/15/electric-cars-most-popular-in-ca/
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2018-03-20
| 3left-center
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Electric cars most popular in CA
<p>They’re still only a fraction of car sales. But all those Teslas and Leafs you see on the road are not an illusion.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.chargepoint.com/press-releases/2015/0302" type="external">ChargePoint.com</a>, of the top four cities&#160;in the country for electric cars, three&#160;are in California:</p>
<p>The San Francisco Bay Area (including San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose) led the nation, followed by Los Angeles, Seattle, San Diego and Honolulu.</p>
<p>Equating for population differences, ChargePoint scored the cities based on the number of EVs on the road and the number of charging stations available on the ChargePoint network as of December 31, 2014. The regions are core based statistical areas as defined by the <a href="http://www.census.gov/population/metro/" type="external">Census</a>….</p>
<p>While Los Angeles had a higher overall total of registered electric cars at 57,000, ChargePoint said San Francisco’s total of 48,000 represented a greater percentage when compared to its population.</p>
<p>This is San Francisco’s second year in a row as the top electric-car city; Los Angeles moved up from sixth to second place.</p>
<p>The Bay Area also is the headquarters of Tesla Motors Inc. in Palo Alto.</p>
<p>However, <a href="http://www.chargepoint.com/press-releases/2015/0302" type="external">ChargePoint</a>&#160;noted many non-West Coast cities have made the Top 10 and could move higher. Sixth through tenth places on the list were: Austin, Tex.; Detroit, Mich.; Atlanta, Ga.; Denver, Colo.; and Portland, Ore.</p>
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<p>WASHINGTON — Consumer prices rebounded moderately in April as energy prices climbed back up after a sharp decline in March.</p>
<p>The Labor Department says consumer prices rose 0.2 percent after a 0.3 percent drop in March, which was the biggest fall in more than two years. Energy prices rose 1.1 percent after tumbling 3.2 percent the previous month.</p>
<p>Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, rose 0.1 percent. Over the past 12 months, inflation is up 2.2 percent. Core prices have risen 1.9 percent.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It’s the first time the core inflation index has fallen below 2 percent since October of 2015.</p>
<p>“Given other recent economic indicators show accelerating economic growth and unemployment down to the lowest levels of the expansion, we expect that core inflation will reverse course soon and start moving upward again,” said David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide Mutual Insurance.</p>
<p>However, Berson added that there was some risk that the weaker inflation of the past two months was signaling a slowing economy.</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve tries to manage the economy so that annual increases in inflation are around 2 percent. After mostly lagging below that target since the 2007-2009 recession, inflation has accelerated recently with the unemployment rate falling to 4.4 percent and energy prices rebounding.</p>
<p>The Fed cut its key interest rate to near zero in the wake of the recession and kept it there for seven years to boost the economy. It is now cautiously raising rates, with three-quarter point increases since December 2015. Analysts expect another hike in June.</p>
<p>Gas prices, which drove down the energy category last month, rose 1.2 percent after declining 6.2 percent in March and 3 percent in February.</p>
<p>Food prices rose 0.2 percent, driven by the fresh vegetable category, which rose 5.1 percent, its biggest increase since February 2011.</p>
<p>The cost of cellphone plans, which contributed to last month’s overall decline, fell again along with medical care, apparel, new and used vehicles and auto insurance.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that inflation at the wholesale level rose 0.5 percent, and there was some concern among economists that the sharp increase might carry over to the consumer level. But those increases were moderate and suggest that retailers have not yet passed on those costs to consumers.</p>
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Consumer prices rebounded 0.2 percent in April
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https://abqjournal.com/1002518/consumer-prices-rebounded-0-2-percent-in-april.html
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2017-05-12
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Consumer prices rebounded 0.2 percent in April
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<p>WASHINGTON — Consumer prices rebounded moderately in April as energy prices climbed back up after a sharp decline in March.</p>
<p>The Labor Department says consumer prices rose 0.2 percent after a 0.3 percent drop in March, which was the biggest fall in more than two years. Energy prices rose 1.1 percent after tumbling 3.2 percent the previous month.</p>
<p>Core inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy categories, rose 0.1 percent. Over the past 12 months, inflation is up 2.2 percent. Core prices have risen 1.9 percent.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>It’s the first time the core inflation index has fallen below 2 percent since October of 2015.</p>
<p>“Given other recent economic indicators show accelerating economic growth and unemployment down to the lowest levels of the expansion, we expect that core inflation will reverse course soon and start moving upward again,” said David Berson, chief economist at Nationwide Mutual Insurance.</p>
<p>However, Berson added that there was some risk that the weaker inflation of the past two months was signaling a slowing economy.</p>
<p>The Federal Reserve tries to manage the economy so that annual increases in inflation are around 2 percent. After mostly lagging below that target since the 2007-2009 recession, inflation has accelerated recently with the unemployment rate falling to 4.4 percent and energy prices rebounding.</p>
<p>The Fed cut its key interest rate to near zero in the wake of the recession and kept it there for seven years to boost the economy. It is now cautiously raising rates, with three-quarter point increases since December 2015. Analysts expect another hike in June.</p>
<p>Gas prices, which drove down the energy category last month, rose 1.2 percent after declining 6.2 percent in March and 3 percent in February.</p>
<p>Food prices rose 0.2 percent, driven by the fresh vegetable category, which rose 5.1 percent, its biggest increase since February 2011.</p>
<p>The cost of cellphone plans, which contributed to last month’s overall decline, fell again along with medical care, apparel, new and used vehicles and auto insurance.</p>
<p>On Thursday, the Labor Department reported that inflation at the wholesale level rose 0.5 percent, and there was some concern among economists that the sharp increase might carry over to the consumer level. But those increases were moderate and suggest that retailers have not yet passed on those costs to consumers.</p>
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<p />
<p>Vehicle engine and drivetrain provider BorgWarner Inc's (NYSE: BWA) fourth-quarter results saw the company deliver earnings at the high end of expectations, and management maintained its full-year 2017 guidance. The results marked a solid year of execution for the company even as it faced mixed end markets. Let's take a look at the earnings and the outlook BorgWarner gave investors for 2017.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Before starting with headline results, it's worth highlighting the general theme of better-than-expected underlying sales growth being offset by negative currency movements. It's a bit complicated.</p>
<p>Adverse currency movements played a big role in the quarter, with $40 million shaved off net sales when management had expected a contribution of $15 million to $40 million.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Image source: BorgWarner Inc.</p>
<p>Turning to the outlook for 2017:</p>
<p>The sales growth guidance for 2017 is an indication of BorgWarner's ability to outgrow its end markets, an important point since CEO James Verrier expects "low- to no-growth environment overall" in light-vehicle production, while the commercial vehicle market is expected to remain "pretty challenging."</p>
<p>Verrier's view is similar to that given by respected industry forecasters, with China light-vehicle production seen growing 1% to 2%, Europe at 1%, and North America "down about 1%." It's all a far cry from the strong growth rates of recent years, but most industries have cycles, and the light-vehicle market appears to have peaked.</p>
<p>On a more positive note, BorgWarner's technological expertise provides it with the ability to grow sales with products like turbochargers in a range of cars, be they combustion, hybrid, or electric-powered.</p>
<p>Moreover, its main competitor in turbochargers, Honeywell International, recently forecast strong growth in light-vehicle gas turbochargers (particularly in Europe and China), while even commercial vehicle turbochargers are expected to report a "slight improvement," according to Honeywell CFO Tom Szlosek on its earnings call.</p>
<p>Verrier usually provides a high-level overview of market conditions, and on the earnings call, he discussed three areas to watch in 2017:</p>
<p>U.S. auto production will ultimately be guided by sales, but in the near term, there could be some volatility around production schedules as automakers seek to balance inventory and sales levels.</p>
<p>One concern with BorgWarner has to do with the potential for a profit shortfall because of the shift from diesel vehicles to gasoline and hybrid vehicles in Europe, but Verrier claimed that "even with that little bit of a downshift last year, we still delivered our growth numbers and we're finding a way to offset that shift down in diesel," with BorgWarner being in a "very good position as diesel shifts down."</p>
<p>Finally, the China automobile market nearly always has an air of uncertainty around it, not least because the government has been stimulating sales with tax breaks on smaller vehicles, even as it increases taxes on super-luxury cars. It's hard to know where the overall market will end up in 2017.</p>
<p>Image source: BorgWarner Inc.</p>
<p>As ever, sentiment toward BorgWarner will move in tandem with expectations for the auto production market in 2017, but the company is executing well and serving notice that it can prosper irrespective of which class of cars is gaining market share.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than BorgWarnerWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=7b685ac6-36b1-420b-ac65-80f5f1338fcb&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now...and BorgWarner wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=7b685ac6-36b1-420b-ac65-80f5f1338fcb&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSaintGermain/info.aspx" type="external">Lee Samaha Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends BorgWarner. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
BorgWarner Outlines Expectations for 2017
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/02/10/borgwarner-outlines-expectations-for-2017.html
|
2017-02-10
| 0right
|
BorgWarner Outlines Expectations for 2017
<p />
<p>Vehicle engine and drivetrain provider BorgWarner Inc's (NYSE: BWA) fourth-quarter results saw the company deliver earnings at the high end of expectations, and management maintained its full-year 2017 guidance. The results marked a solid year of execution for the company even as it faced mixed end markets. Let's take a look at the earnings and the outlook BorgWarner gave investors for 2017.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Before starting with headline results, it's worth highlighting the general theme of better-than-expected underlying sales growth being offset by negative currency movements. It's a bit complicated.</p>
<p>Adverse currency movements played a big role in the quarter, with $40 million shaved off net sales when management had expected a contribution of $15 million to $40 million.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Image source: BorgWarner Inc.</p>
<p>Turning to the outlook for 2017:</p>
<p>The sales growth guidance for 2017 is an indication of BorgWarner's ability to outgrow its end markets, an important point since CEO James Verrier expects "low- to no-growth environment overall" in light-vehicle production, while the commercial vehicle market is expected to remain "pretty challenging."</p>
<p>Verrier's view is similar to that given by respected industry forecasters, with China light-vehicle production seen growing 1% to 2%, Europe at 1%, and North America "down about 1%." It's all a far cry from the strong growth rates of recent years, but most industries have cycles, and the light-vehicle market appears to have peaked.</p>
<p>On a more positive note, BorgWarner's technological expertise provides it with the ability to grow sales with products like turbochargers in a range of cars, be they combustion, hybrid, or electric-powered.</p>
<p>Moreover, its main competitor in turbochargers, Honeywell International, recently forecast strong growth in light-vehicle gas turbochargers (particularly in Europe and China), while even commercial vehicle turbochargers are expected to report a "slight improvement," according to Honeywell CFO Tom Szlosek on its earnings call.</p>
<p>Verrier usually provides a high-level overview of market conditions, and on the earnings call, he discussed three areas to watch in 2017:</p>
<p>U.S. auto production will ultimately be guided by sales, but in the near term, there could be some volatility around production schedules as automakers seek to balance inventory and sales levels.</p>
<p>One concern with BorgWarner has to do with the potential for a profit shortfall because of the shift from diesel vehicles to gasoline and hybrid vehicles in Europe, but Verrier claimed that "even with that little bit of a downshift last year, we still delivered our growth numbers and we're finding a way to offset that shift down in diesel," with BorgWarner being in a "very good position as diesel shifts down."</p>
<p>Finally, the China automobile market nearly always has an air of uncertainty around it, not least because the government has been stimulating sales with tax breaks on smaller vehicles, even as it increases taxes on super-luxury cars. It's hard to know where the overall market will end up in 2017.</p>
<p>Image source: BorgWarner Inc.</p>
<p>As ever, sentiment toward BorgWarner will move in tandem with expectations for the auto production market in 2017, but the company is executing well and serving notice that it can prosper irrespective of which class of cars is gaining market share.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than BorgWarnerWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=7b685ac6-36b1-420b-ac65-80f5f1338fcb&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now...and BorgWarner wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=7b685ac6-36b1-420b-ac65-80f5f1338fcb&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of February 6, 2017.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFSaintGermain/info.aspx" type="external">Lee Samaha Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends BorgWarner. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 7,428 |
<p>Syria has publicly consented to a Russian plan that would see the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile and avoid an attack by the United States.</p>
<p>“Syria welcomes the Russian proposal out of concern for the lives of the Syrian people, the security of our country and because it believes in the wisdom of the Russian leadership that seeks to avert American aggression against our people,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem is quoted by <a href="http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268743/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=YrmTLab3" type="external">The Associated Press</a> as saying Monday.</p>
<p>The country would first place its chemicals under “international” control. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon endorsed the idea, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier in the day that Syria could avoid an attack if it gave up “every single bit” of its chemical arsenal.</p>
<p>President Obama’s plan to attack Syria doesn’t seem to have a bright future in Congress, and a <a href="http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=XD0ZTssN" type="external">new poll</a> confirms that Americans continue to oppose such action. Furthermore, only one in five respondents bought the White House’s argument that failing to punish Syria would encourage other bad actors.</p>
<p />
<p>According to <a href="http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268743/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=YrmTLab3" type="external">the AP</a>, the handover deal may have originated in direct discussions between Presidents Obama and Vladimir Putin during the G-20 summit last week.</p>
<p>The surprise series of statements from top U.S., Russian and Syrian diplomats followed media reports alleging that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who discussed Syria with President Barack Obama during the Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg last week, had sought to negotiate a deal that would have Assad hand over control of chemical weapons.</p>
<p>Putin himself said Friday at a news conference marking the summit’s end that he and Obama discussed some new ideas regarding a peaceful settlement of the crisis and instructed Kerry and Lavrov to work out details.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Peter Z. Scheer</a></p>
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Syria Offers to Turn Over Chemical Weapons for Destruction
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https://truthdig.com/articles/syria-offers-to-turn-over-chemical-weapons-for-destruction/
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2013-09-10
| 4left
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Syria Offers to Turn Over Chemical Weapons for Destruction
<p>Syria has publicly consented to a Russian plan that would see the destruction of its chemical weapons stockpile and avoid an attack by the United States.</p>
<p>“Syria welcomes the Russian proposal out of concern for the lives of the Syrian people, the security of our country and because it believes in the wisdom of the Russian leadership that seeks to avert American aggression against our people,” Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem is quoted by <a href="http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268743/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=YrmTLab3" type="external">The Associated Press</a> as saying Monday.</p>
<p>The country would first place its chemicals under “international” control. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon endorsed the idea, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said earlier in the day that Syria could avoid an attack if it gave up “every single bit” of its chemical arsenal.</p>
<p>President Obama’s plan to attack Syria doesn’t seem to have a bright future in Congress, and a <a href="http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_289563/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=XD0ZTssN" type="external">new poll</a> confirms that Americans continue to oppose such action. Furthermore, only one in five respondents bought the White House’s argument that failing to punish Syria would encourage other bad actors.</p>
<p />
<p>According to <a href="http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_268743/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=YrmTLab3" type="external">the AP</a>, the handover deal may have originated in direct discussions between Presidents Obama and Vladimir Putin during the G-20 summit last week.</p>
<p>The surprise series of statements from top U.S., Russian and Syrian diplomats followed media reports alleging that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who discussed Syria with President Barack Obama during the Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg last week, had sought to negotiate a deal that would have Assad hand over control of chemical weapons.</p>
<p>Putin himself said Friday at a news conference marking the summit’s end that he and Obama discussed some new ideas regarding a peaceful settlement of the crisis and instructed Kerry and Lavrov to work out details.</p>
<p>— Posted by <a href="" type="internal">Peter Z. Scheer</a></p>
| 7,429 |
<p>I got a (printed) copy of <a href="http://www.doubletruckmagazine.com/" type="external">Doubletruck Magazine</a> in the mail yesterday, a slick book of ( <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;client=firefox&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;oi=defmore&amp;q=define:doubletruck" type="external">doubletruck</a>, of course) news photographs published by the <a href="http://www.zreportage.com" type="external">zReportage.com</a> division of ZUMA Press. In addition to the just-great images in the book are some truly horrific ones: the battered and burned body of a child killed in the Chechen school bombing being carried through a crowd on a stretcher; a mud-caked hand of a tsunami victim with an ID tag attached sticking up out of the muck; a roomful of dead tsunami victims; mummified tsunami victims in a holding area, their faces bloated and black, looking like something out of a horror film.These are images that you won't see on the nightly TV news or in the pages of most newspapers. But as publisher Scott McKiernam says, "If we can create images that make people think -- see the world in a new light, see people and their plight in a fresh way -- maybe we can wake them up and shame them into helping out. The more we understand our neighbors, the greater the chance that we can live in harmony. Ignorance is not bliss."The issue of horrific and startling images being published by mainstream media is a complicated one. I tend toward the view that people should see the reality of our world, and that media should not hide it from them, so McKiernam and I share that view. But I also recognize the problems with putting such images on non-interactive media like TV and newspapers.I don't think publishers of news websites need to be so skittish, however, and I hope they won't be. Web users can choose what to view -- with ample warning about what's behind the click -- so let's not sugar-coat reality online. (And I feel compelled to point out here that this is my opinion, and does not necessarily reflect that of my employer.)</p>
|
The Real World, Horrors and All, Deserves to Run Big
| false |
https://poynter.org/news/real-world-horrors-and-all-deserves-run-big
|
2005-05-24
| 2least
|
The Real World, Horrors and All, Deserves to Run Big
<p>I got a (printed) copy of <a href="http://www.doubletruckmagazine.com/" type="external">Doubletruck Magazine</a> in the mail yesterday, a slick book of ( <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;client=firefox&amp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&amp;oi=defmore&amp;q=define:doubletruck" type="external">doubletruck</a>, of course) news photographs published by the <a href="http://www.zreportage.com" type="external">zReportage.com</a> division of ZUMA Press. In addition to the just-great images in the book are some truly horrific ones: the battered and burned body of a child killed in the Chechen school bombing being carried through a crowd on a stretcher; a mud-caked hand of a tsunami victim with an ID tag attached sticking up out of the muck; a roomful of dead tsunami victims; mummified tsunami victims in a holding area, their faces bloated and black, looking like something out of a horror film.These are images that you won't see on the nightly TV news or in the pages of most newspapers. But as publisher Scott McKiernam says, "If we can create images that make people think -- see the world in a new light, see people and their plight in a fresh way -- maybe we can wake them up and shame them into helping out. The more we understand our neighbors, the greater the chance that we can live in harmony. Ignorance is not bliss."The issue of horrific and startling images being published by mainstream media is a complicated one. I tend toward the view that people should see the reality of our world, and that media should not hide it from them, so McKiernam and I share that view. But I also recognize the problems with putting such images on non-interactive media like TV and newspapers.I don't think publishers of news websites need to be so skittish, however, and I hope they won't be. Web users can choose what to view -- with ample warning about what's behind the click -- so let's not sugar-coat reality online. (And I feel compelled to point out here that this is my opinion, and does not necessarily reflect that of my employer.)</p>
| 7,430 |
<p />
<p>RUSH: Let me read to you just a bit from a column today by JPod, our old buddy <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/11/29/trump-makes-sense-once-you-realize-youre-watching-improv/" type="external">John Podhoretz writing in the New York Post</a>.&#160; I’m not gonna read the whole thing, just a few relevant excerpts here.&#160; “But we’re missing one profound thing about Trump, and we keep missing it,” he’s talking about himself and the buddies in the media, “and we will continue to miss it: Trump is not a politician.</p>
<p>“He doesn’t think of himself as a politician, and he doesn’t act like a politician, and we’re all desperately trying to fit him into our understanding of what he’s supposed to be.” (translated) He’s running for president.&#160; He got elected.&#160; That means he’s a politician.&#160; That means X, Y, and Z and A, B, and C.&#160; But he’s not any of those things! So we keep trying to make him what he’s not, because he has entered our arena, and he better be what people in our arena are.&#160; But he’s not.&#160;</p>
<p>“Trump himself told the New York Times last week that it was ‘about two years ago’ that ‘I started thinking about politics.’ Every major elected official in our time, with the possible exception of the late-starting Ronald Reagan, has thought of nothing except politics most of his or her life. Until he was 68 years old, Trump only thought about politics as a sidelight, a diversion, something to dabble in, something to noodle about. He was first and foremost a businessman who became a showbiz sensation.&#160; But what if there’s no [Trumpian] strategy? What if there’s no organizing principle?”</p>
<p>What he means by that, when a George W. Bush announces for the presidency and then runs, you are able to discern what his agenda is, what his program is, what his beliefs are, his fundraising structure. You are able to learn everything about Bush and who he is, and you can judge and report on him accordingly.&#160; With Trump they can’t figure it out.&#160; Because with Trump they can’t find an organizing principle.&#160; They can’t find the lifelong reason he’s wanted to do this.&#160; And then Podhoretz’s next line:&#160;</p>
<p>“What if Trump has no plan? That seems the likeliest interpretation of his tweeting and even the bizarre rigmarole surrounding his consideration of Mitt Romney to be secretary of state.”&#160; &#160;So they’re honestly sitting there, after having listened to Trump for a year and a half, after having watched Trump — or at least they’ve had the opportunity — assuming he’s got no plan.&#160; Well, he most certainly does have a plan, and he’s been very clear about it.&#160; He’s been very precise about it.&#160; What is it about it that these people don’t see?</p>
<p>Why are they not able to listen to what Donald Trump says he’s gonna do and believe he means it?&#160; Well, they don’t believe it and they don’t believe anybody in their world would ever speak this way, would ever have think kind of agenda or these kinds of objectives, and so nobody else would either. No reasonable person could possibility behave like Donald Trump does, not in our world. “What if Trump’s got no plan?”&#160; He’s got no plan?&#160; His plan is what’s behind him running for office.&#160; His plan is to make the country great again!</p>
<p>His plan is based on his and millions of other people’s belief that this country is in decline and dwindling away in ways it shouldn’t be — and the one thing we know. The people in Washington — both parties, wherever they are — think tanks, magazines, media, elective office, doesn’t matter. We know they have never thought at any time in the last eight years that this country’s in crisis.&#160; That has been the great dividing line.&#160; We’re out here thinking we’re on the verge of losing the country, and they’re laughing at us for thinking so.&#160;</p>
<p>Because in of their world, everything’s fine.&#160; Their kids got into private school. They all have their incomes. They live in the areas they want to live. They go to restaurants and cocktail parties. Everything’s fine! They cannot possibly understand people that think the country is in crisis, that we’re on the verge of losing it.&#160; So it’s obvious they can’t, then, comprehend Trump’s plan.&#160; Even if they did, they don’t agree with it or think it’s legitimate.&#160; But it’s worse than that.&#160; They don’t even think he has a plan!&#160;</p>
<p>The fact that he doesn’t have a plan seems like the likeliest interpretation of his behavior.&#160; “He improvised his way to the presidency, he’s improvising his way through the transition and it’s likely he’ll continue to improvise as president.” What is this?&#160; He improvises at his rallies, as I have so astutely tried to tell people.&#160; He goes an hour, hour and a half without a prompter. He’s improv on parade, and he loves it.&#160; It’s great performance art.&#160; But to say that he’s improvising?&#160; How do you say that when you look at his cabinet selections?&#160;</p>
<p>How do you say that when you look at his transition?&#160; Improvising?&#160; How do you say there’s no plan, that he’s just getting up every day and going through the motions, throwing it up against the wall to see what sticks?&#160; Back to Mr. Podhoretz.&#160; He says, “We would like to grasp the outlines of a Trump foreign policy doctrine and to establish the contours of his approach on domestic matters. But the truth is there’s precious little to grasp, and it’s likely whatever contours there may be are as unclear to him as they are to us.”&#160;</p>
<p>This is why I said earlier: They are never gonna understand him, they’re never gonna figure it out, because he’s not one of them. He doesn’t come from their world. They can’t plug him into whatever cookie-cutter molds they have there in the establishment for plugging people into, and so since they can’t plug him into one of their molds, he’s not real. He’s just going through the motions. He has no plan, he’s improvising — and, as such, he’s not bright.&#160;</p>
<p>Underlining all this is: This man cannot be smart. He just can’t be IQ, intellectually with it, if he’s not willing to include us in things like this.&#160; He says, Podhoretz wraps up, “I don’t find this analysis reassuring. But I think it’s true. And if it is, then the way everyone is going about trying to understand this entirely new phenomenon in electoral politics and presidential leadership is hopelessly misguided and needs to change.” &#160;He’s right about that.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: Brad, St. Petersburg, Florida.&#160; Welcome, sir.&#160; Great to have you.</p>
<p>CALLER:&#160; Thank you, Rush.&#160; I’m calling in to what you kind of started the show with, the media, the establishment, the Drive-Bys, the left not understanding Trump —</p>
<p>RUSH:&#160; Right.</p>
<p>CALLER:&#160; — as a private citizen, as opposed to a lifetime politician.&#160; I think the one thing… I agreed with most everything you said, but the one thing that we miss — and I’m a conservative.&#160; I do this as much as they’ve done it to us over the last eight years. When theories disagreements or lack of understanding, we just say that on the other side doesn’t get it. “They’re dumb. How can they not grasp the fact that this guy has this movement or whatnot?” When in actuality, I believe they grasp it fully, and the problem is, their fear is not that he keeps the media out and uses Twitter or things like that, but that he’ll actually succeed.&#160;</p>
<p>And when he does, it will be because of the way he does things, not what he’s doing.&#160; And when I say that, our government for years — Republicans and Democrats — have been have worked in gray areas.&#160; You know, if Republicans have the House and the Senate and the presidency, they do a little bit to be conservative and the Dems will do a little bit to move to the left when they have power.&#160; He doesn’t want to work in the grays.&#160; He wants to cut out the bureaucracy and about it black and white and just get things done. Case in point with Carrier.&#160; And I think that’s what scares them, because they know that could be successful.&#160; Whether you agree with the policy or not, it’s a more successful way to run a business, i.e., more successful way to run a government.&#160; And I think that’s where their fear is.</p>
<p>RUSH:&#160; Okay.&#160; So you think, at the end of the day, they fully understand Trump, they fully understand his appeal, they are threatened by it, and that’s why they’ve gotta cut him off at the pass?</p>
<p>CALLER:&#160; Correct.&#160; Correct.&#160; When you talk about, you know, adolescent arrogance or, you know, laughing him off or the way that they’ve treated him. Well, he got elected, and they said, “Well, what it couldn’t have happened,” and then, you know, without even being sworn in –without even being, you know, a certified election — he, quote, unquote, saves a thousand jobs in Indiana.&#160; They can’t… That makes their heads explode, not because of the way he does these things. That’s what they’ll say.&#160;</p>
<p>You know, they don’t like the fact that he’s brash or he’s a misogynist or this, that, and the other.&#160; It’s that what he does actually works.&#160; But one example I can say is when he was running he was the worst businessman in the world and everything that he touched went bankrupt.&#160; That was their plea.&#160; Well, now that he’s elected, they’re bringing up the fact that he has successful businesses in over 35 countries in hotels and this, that, and the other and he needs split time.&#160; They go with whatever message they can because they know he can be successful, and I believe that’s their true fear.</p>
<p>RUSH:&#160; Well, I… They have to know that, because he has been.&#160; When I say that they don’t understand Trump, I guess let me be more specific, then.&#160; I think they really resent the fact that people love him.&#160; I think they resent the fact that people support him. They resent that they cannot use their usual tactics to destroy him, and they don’t understand that.&#160; They literally don’t understand a guy surviving the Access Hollywood video.&#160; Not understanding it adds to the resentment, which is now bordering on hatred.&#160;</p>
<p>I do believe the left wholly owns hate in America, by the way.&#160; I think it’s a subsidiary of what they do, while accusing everybody else of it.&#160; I think they don’t understand why so many people support Trump, why so many people are not… My evidence for this is the political consultants, who failed. If they understand it, then they could have made some changes during the campaign to accommodate their understanding of why Trump is succeeding. But they didn’t.&#160; They continued to try to get rid of Trump the way they would get rid of anybody in the system.&#160;</p>
<p>They used the same tactics, the same theories, the same philosophies, the same tricks — and as they kept failing, they kept trying more of it.&#160; They never adjusted, ’cause I don’t think they knew how.&#160; In their world, money equals success.&#160; Jeb Bush was gonna win ’cause he had $115 million PAC.&#160; That was it!&#160; That’s all they needed.&#160; They were gonna be able to wipe everybody else out with that.&#160; They got six delegates with their $115 million, and I will guarantee you they’re still scratching their heads over this.&#160;</p>
<p>There’s resentment, and they may… When you say they understand, I think they’re fully threatened precisely ’cause they don’t know how to stop him.&#160; The media doesn’t know how.&#160; Every tactic the media has used to successfully destroy Republican candidates, Donald Trump has not only survived, he has thrived. He’s built on and he has expanded his base, after each one of these assaults.&#160; I guarantee you, they don’t understand it. (interruption) And if… (sigh) We’ll find out.&#160; You know, politics, Hollywood, everything’s a copycat industry.</p>
<p>Let’s see if the next time around the Democrats try to come up with their own version of what they think Trump is.&#160; That’ll be another way we find out whether or not they understand it or not.&#160; Could they go out and find somebody in America in the Democrat Party who is their version of Trump? (interruption) Okay, you could throw some name and address out.&#160; But will they do it?&#160; Would they do it?&#160; Would they go get an outsider? (interruption) You think so, huh?&#160; Well, the difference there is the Republicans didn’t go get Trump.&#160;</p>
<p>They fought him, too.&#160;</p>
<p>Trump came out of the primordial soup all by himself, with both parties opposing him.&#160; There is not one member of the Washington establishment, if you sat ’em down and said, “Okay, you’re an architect.&#160; Design the candidate that can beat everything we can throw at them,” they would have never in their lives chosen Donald Trump.&#160; So why do you automatically conclude they could go out and find their version of Trump to do battle with him?&#160; (interruption) Well, the choice they have is not the point.&#160;</p>
<p>Could they do it?&#160; They would have to fully understand Trump’s people to be able to do it.&#160; And I’m telling you, they don’t. &#160;They’re scared.&#160; They understand he succeeds now.&#160; They understand all that.&#160; They understand he can nuke ’em.&#160; They understand that he can overthrow everything they’ve done.&#160; But they don’t understand how he’s done it.&#160; They don’t have it in them to understand it, is my point.&#160; It’s not in their make up to understand it.&#160; I could give you other examples of other people they don’t understand that they’ve tried to destroy, but no need to look that far and hard.&#160;</p>
|
The Establishment Thinks Trump Has No Plan
| true |
http://rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2016/11/30/the_establishment_thinks_trump_has_no_plan
|
2016-11-30
| 0right
|
The Establishment Thinks Trump Has No Plan
<p />
<p>RUSH: Let me read to you just a bit from a column today by JPod, our old buddy <a href="http://nypost.com/2016/11/29/trump-makes-sense-once-you-realize-youre-watching-improv/" type="external">John Podhoretz writing in the New York Post</a>.&#160; I’m not gonna read the whole thing, just a few relevant excerpts here.&#160; “But we’re missing one profound thing about Trump, and we keep missing it,” he’s talking about himself and the buddies in the media, “and we will continue to miss it: Trump is not a politician.</p>
<p>“He doesn’t think of himself as a politician, and he doesn’t act like a politician, and we’re all desperately trying to fit him into our understanding of what he’s supposed to be.” (translated) He’s running for president.&#160; He got elected.&#160; That means he’s a politician.&#160; That means X, Y, and Z and A, B, and C.&#160; But he’s not any of those things! So we keep trying to make him what he’s not, because he has entered our arena, and he better be what people in our arena are.&#160; But he’s not.&#160;</p>
<p>“Trump himself told the New York Times last week that it was ‘about two years ago’ that ‘I started thinking about politics.’ Every major elected official in our time, with the possible exception of the late-starting Ronald Reagan, has thought of nothing except politics most of his or her life. Until he was 68 years old, Trump only thought about politics as a sidelight, a diversion, something to dabble in, something to noodle about. He was first and foremost a businessman who became a showbiz sensation.&#160; But what if there’s no [Trumpian] strategy? What if there’s no organizing principle?”</p>
<p>What he means by that, when a George W. Bush announces for the presidency and then runs, you are able to discern what his agenda is, what his program is, what his beliefs are, his fundraising structure. You are able to learn everything about Bush and who he is, and you can judge and report on him accordingly.&#160; With Trump they can’t figure it out.&#160; Because with Trump they can’t find an organizing principle.&#160; They can’t find the lifelong reason he’s wanted to do this.&#160; And then Podhoretz’s next line:&#160;</p>
<p>“What if Trump has no plan? That seems the likeliest interpretation of his tweeting and even the bizarre rigmarole surrounding his consideration of Mitt Romney to be secretary of state.”&#160; &#160;So they’re honestly sitting there, after having listened to Trump for a year and a half, after having watched Trump — or at least they’ve had the opportunity — assuming he’s got no plan.&#160; Well, he most certainly does have a plan, and he’s been very clear about it.&#160; He’s been very precise about it.&#160; What is it about it that these people don’t see?</p>
<p>Why are they not able to listen to what Donald Trump says he’s gonna do and believe he means it?&#160; Well, they don’t believe it and they don’t believe anybody in their world would ever speak this way, would ever have think kind of agenda or these kinds of objectives, and so nobody else would either. No reasonable person could possibility behave like Donald Trump does, not in our world. “What if Trump’s got no plan?”&#160; He’s got no plan?&#160; His plan is what’s behind him running for office.&#160; His plan is to make the country great again!</p>
<p>His plan is based on his and millions of other people’s belief that this country is in decline and dwindling away in ways it shouldn’t be — and the one thing we know. The people in Washington — both parties, wherever they are — think tanks, magazines, media, elective office, doesn’t matter. We know they have never thought at any time in the last eight years that this country’s in crisis.&#160; That has been the great dividing line.&#160; We’re out here thinking we’re on the verge of losing the country, and they’re laughing at us for thinking so.&#160;</p>
<p>Because in of their world, everything’s fine.&#160; Their kids got into private school. They all have their incomes. They live in the areas they want to live. They go to restaurants and cocktail parties. Everything’s fine! They cannot possibly understand people that think the country is in crisis, that we’re on the verge of losing it.&#160; So it’s obvious they can’t, then, comprehend Trump’s plan.&#160; Even if they did, they don’t agree with it or think it’s legitimate.&#160; But it’s worse than that.&#160; They don’t even think he has a plan!&#160;</p>
<p>The fact that he doesn’t have a plan seems like the likeliest interpretation of his behavior.&#160; “He improvised his way to the presidency, he’s improvising his way through the transition and it’s likely he’ll continue to improvise as president.” What is this?&#160; He improvises at his rallies, as I have so astutely tried to tell people.&#160; He goes an hour, hour and a half without a prompter. He’s improv on parade, and he loves it.&#160; It’s great performance art.&#160; But to say that he’s improvising?&#160; How do you say that when you look at his cabinet selections?&#160;</p>
<p>How do you say that when you look at his transition?&#160; Improvising?&#160; How do you say there’s no plan, that he’s just getting up every day and going through the motions, throwing it up against the wall to see what sticks?&#160; Back to Mr. Podhoretz.&#160; He says, “We would like to grasp the outlines of a Trump foreign policy doctrine and to establish the contours of his approach on domestic matters. But the truth is there’s precious little to grasp, and it’s likely whatever contours there may be are as unclear to him as they are to us.”&#160;</p>
<p>This is why I said earlier: They are never gonna understand him, they’re never gonna figure it out, because he’s not one of them. He doesn’t come from their world. They can’t plug him into whatever cookie-cutter molds they have there in the establishment for plugging people into, and so since they can’t plug him into one of their molds, he’s not real. He’s just going through the motions. He has no plan, he’s improvising — and, as such, he’s not bright.&#160;</p>
<p>Underlining all this is: This man cannot be smart. He just can’t be IQ, intellectually with it, if he’s not willing to include us in things like this.&#160; He says, Podhoretz wraps up, “I don’t find this analysis reassuring. But I think it’s true. And if it is, then the way everyone is going about trying to understand this entirely new phenomenon in electoral politics and presidential leadership is hopelessly misguided and needs to change.” &#160;He’s right about that.&#160;&#160;</p>
<p>BREAK TRANSCRIPT</p>
<p>RUSH: Brad, St. Petersburg, Florida.&#160; Welcome, sir.&#160; Great to have you.</p>
<p>CALLER:&#160; Thank you, Rush.&#160; I’m calling in to what you kind of started the show with, the media, the establishment, the Drive-Bys, the left not understanding Trump —</p>
<p>RUSH:&#160; Right.</p>
<p>CALLER:&#160; — as a private citizen, as opposed to a lifetime politician.&#160; I think the one thing… I agreed with most everything you said, but the one thing that we miss — and I’m a conservative.&#160; I do this as much as they’ve done it to us over the last eight years. When theories disagreements or lack of understanding, we just say that on the other side doesn’t get it. “They’re dumb. How can they not grasp the fact that this guy has this movement or whatnot?” When in actuality, I believe they grasp it fully, and the problem is, their fear is not that he keeps the media out and uses Twitter or things like that, but that he’ll actually succeed.&#160;</p>
<p>And when he does, it will be because of the way he does things, not what he’s doing.&#160; And when I say that, our government for years — Republicans and Democrats — have been have worked in gray areas.&#160; You know, if Republicans have the House and the Senate and the presidency, they do a little bit to be conservative and the Dems will do a little bit to move to the left when they have power.&#160; He doesn’t want to work in the grays.&#160; He wants to cut out the bureaucracy and about it black and white and just get things done. Case in point with Carrier.&#160; And I think that’s what scares them, because they know that could be successful.&#160; Whether you agree with the policy or not, it’s a more successful way to run a business, i.e., more successful way to run a government.&#160; And I think that’s where their fear is.</p>
<p>RUSH:&#160; Okay.&#160; So you think, at the end of the day, they fully understand Trump, they fully understand his appeal, they are threatened by it, and that’s why they’ve gotta cut him off at the pass?</p>
<p>CALLER:&#160; Correct.&#160; Correct.&#160; When you talk about, you know, adolescent arrogance or, you know, laughing him off or the way that they’ve treated him. Well, he got elected, and they said, “Well, what it couldn’t have happened,” and then, you know, without even being sworn in –without even being, you know, a certified election — he, quote, unquote, saves a thousand jobs in Indiana.&#160; They can’t… That makes their heads explode, not because of the way he does these things. That’s what they’ll say.&#160;</p>
<p>You know, they don’t like the fact that he’s brash or he’s a misogynist or this, that, and the other.&#160; It’s that what he does actually works.&#160; But one example I can say is when he was running he was the worst businessman in the world and everything that he touched went bankrupt.&#160; That was their plea.&#160; Well, now that he’s elected, they’re bringing up the fact that he has successful businesses in over 35 countries in hotels and this, that, and the other and he needs split time.&#160; They go with whatever message they can because they know he can be successful, and I believe that’s their true fear.</p>
<p>RUSH:&#160; Well, I… They have to know that, because he has been.&#160; When I say that they don’t understand Trump, I guess let me be more specific, then.&#160; I think they really resent the fact that people love him.&#160; I think they resent the fact that people support him. They resent that they cannot use their usual tactics to destroy him, and they don’t understand that.&#160; They literally don’t understand a guy surviving the Access Hollywood video.&#160; Not understanding it adds to the resentment, which is now bordering on hatred.&#160;</p>
<p>I do believe the left wholly owns hate in America, by the way.&#160; I think it’s a subsidiary of what they do, while accusing everybody else of it.&#160; I think they don’t understand why so many people support Trump, why so many people are not… My evidence for this is the political consultants, who failed. If they understand it, then they could have made some changes during the campaign to accommodate their understanding of why Trump is succeeding. But they didn’t.&#160; They continued to try to get rid of Trump the way they would get rid of anybody in the system.&#160;</p>
<p>They used the same tactics, the same theories, the same philosophies, the same tricks — and as they kept failing, they kept trying more of it.&#160; They never adjusted, ’cause I don’t think they knew how.&#160; In their world, money equals success.&#160; Jeb Bush was gonna win ’cause he had $115 million PAC.&#160; That was it!&#160; That’s all they needed.&#160; They were gonna be able to wipe everybody else out with that.&#160; They got six delegates with their $115 million, and I will guarantee you they’re still scratching their heads over this.&#160;</p>
<p>There’s resentment, and they may… When you say they understand, I think they’re fully threatened precisely ’cause they don’t know how to stop him.&#160; The media doesn’t know how.&#160; Every tactic the media has used to successfully destroy Republican candidates, Donald Trump has not only survived, he has thrived. He’s built on and he has expanded his base, after each one of these assaults.&#160; I guarantee you, they don’t understand it. (interruption) And if… (sigh) We’ll find out.&#160; You know, politics, Hollywood, everything’s a copycat industry.</p>
<p>Let’s see if the next time around the Democrats try to come up with their own version of what they think Trump is.&#160; That’ll be another way we find out whether or not they understand it or not.&#160; Could they go out and find somebody in America in the Democrat Party who is their version of Trump? (interruption) Okay, you could throw some name and address out.&#160; But will they do it?&#160; Would they do it?&#160; Would they go get an outsider? (interruption) You think so, huh?&#160; Well, the difference there is the Republicans didn’t go get Trump.&#160;</p>
<p>They fought him, too.&#160;</p>
<p>Trump came out of the primordial soup all by himself, with both parties opposing him.&#160; There is not one member of the Washington establishment, if you sat ’em down and said, “Okay, you’re an architect.&#160; Design the candidate that can beat everything we can throw at them,” they would have never in their lives chosen Donald Trump.&#160; So why do you automatically conclude they could go out and find their version of Trump to do battle with him?&#160; (interruption) Well, the choice they have is not the point.&#160;</p>
<p>Could they do it?&#160; They would have to fully understand Trump’s people to be able to do it.&#160; And I’m telling you, they don’t. &#160;They’re scared.&#160; They understand he succeeds now.&#160; They understand all that.&#160; They understand he can nuke ’em.&#160; They understand that he can overthrow everything they’ve done.&#160; But they don’t understand how he’s done it.&#160; They don’t have it in them to understand it, is my point.&#160; It’s not in their make up to understand it.&#160; I could give you other examples of other people they don’t understand that they’ve tried to destroy, but no need to look that far and hard.&#160;</p>
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<p>A candlelight vigil was held Wednesday at a central Arizona courthouse for the woman who was slain by Islamic State militants.</p>
<p>Family members and friends, as well as strangers, gathered to wear pink ribbons on their shirts and listen to speakers talk about Kayla Mueller, the 26-year-old aid worker whose death was confirmed by U.S. officials recently after she was captured in Syria back in August 2013, according to an <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/portal/breaking-news/ci_27557080/memorial-kayla-muellers-hometown-honors-her-life-work?_loopback=1" type="external">Associated Press report</a>.</p>
<p>People wrote messages in her scrapbook and left cards calling Mueller an angel and leaving other comments that thanked her for her work abroad in the name of humanity.</p>
<p>Her brother, Eric Mueller was on hand for the vigil, encouraging those gathered to emulate her example by helping the suffering. His father, Carl Mueller, hugged him after the speech.</p>
<p>Eric Mueller said that his sister was in the hands of God now, and “you do not have to suffer anymore.”</p>
<p>Supporters also used the vigil to collect canned goods and money for the less fortunate, which they said is what she would have wanted.</p>
<p>Kayla Mueller’s family sat in the front row and often wiped tears during the ceremony.</p>
<p>Kathleen Day, a campus minister at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff — where Kayla Mueller attended — said that she raised awareness for HIV and AIDS and also protested genocide in Darfur during her time at the university. She also recalled a time when Mueller taught anger-management skills to jailed women.</p>
<p>Day said that Mueller was in the midst of teaching about experiencing God while in prison when she was imprisoned herself in Syria for 18 months by Islamic militants. Day asked the crowd to pray for those held hostage by the Islamic State.</p>
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Crowd gathers to grieve slain ISIS captive Kayla Mueller at candlelight vigil in Arizona
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2015-02-19
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Crowd gathers to grieve slain ISIS captive Kayla Mueller at candlelight vigil in Arizona
<p>A candlelight vigil was held Wednesday at a central Arizona courthouse for the woman who was slain by Islamic State militants.</p>
<p>Family members and friends, as well as strangers, gathered to wear pink ribbons on their shirts and listen to speakers talk about Kayla Mueller, the 26-year-old aid worker whose death was confirmed by U.S. officials recently after she was captured in Syria back in August 2013, according to an <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/portal/breaking-news/ci_27557080/memorial-kayla-muellers-hometown-honors-her-life-work?_loopback=1" type="external">Associated Press report</a>.</p>
<p>People wrote messages in her scrapbook and left cards calling Mueller an angel and leaving other comments that thanked her for her work abroad in the name of humanity.</p>
<p>Her brother, Eric Mueller was on hand for the vigil, encouraging those gathered to emulate her example by helping the suffering. His father, Carl Mueller, hugged him after the speech.</p>
<p>Eric Mueller said that his sister was in the hands of God now, and “you do not have to suffer anymore.”</p>
<p>Supporters also used the vigil to collect canned goods and money for the less fortunate, which they said is what she would have wanted.</p>
<p>Kayla Mueller’s family sat in the front row and often wiped tears during the ceremony.</p>
<p>Kathleen Day, a campus minister at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff — where Kayla Mueller attended — said that she raised awareness for HIV and AIDS and also protested genocide in Darfur during her time at the university. She also recalled a time when Mueller taught anger-management skills to jailed women.</p>
<p>Day said that Mueller was in the midst of teaching about experiencing God while in prison when she was imprisoned herself in Syria for 18 months by Islamic militants. Day asked the crowd to pray for those held hostage by the Islamic State.</p>
<p />
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<p>By Michael T. Klare / <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176207/tomgram%3A_michael_klare%2C_whose_finger_on_the_nuclear_button/#more" type="external">TomDispatch</a></p>
<p>Once upon a time, when choosing a new president, a factor for many voters was the perennial question: “Whose finger do you want on the nuclear button?” Of all the responsibilities of America’s top executive, none may be more momentous than deciding whether, and under what circumstances, to activate the “nuclear codes” — the secret alphanumeric messages that would inform missile officers in silos and submarines that the fearful moment had finally arrived to launch their intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) toward a foreign adversary, igniting a thermonuclear war.</p>
<p>Until recently in the post-Cold War world, however, nuclear weapons seemed to drop from sight, and that question along with it. Not any longer. In 2016, the nuclear issue is back big time, thanks both to the rise of Donald Trump ( <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scarborough-trump-nukes_us_57a1e47ae4b0693164c347d0" type="external">including</a> various <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176194/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich,_the_national_security_void/" type="external">unsettling comments</a> he’s made about nuclear weapons) and actual changes in the global nuclear landscape.</p>
<p>With passions running high on both sides in this year’s election and rising fears about Donald Trump’s impulsive nature and Hillary Clinton’s hawkish one, it’s hardly surprising that the “nuclear button” question has surfaced repeatedly throughout the campaign. &#160;In one of the more pointed exchanges of the first presidential debate, Hillary Clinton declared that Donald Trump lacked the mental composure for the job.&#160; “A man who can be provoked by a tweet,” she <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/26/the-first-trump-clinton-presidential-debate-transcript-annotated/" type="external">commented</a>, “should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes.”&#160; Donald Trump has reciprocated by charging that Clinton is too prone to intervene abroad. “You’re going to end up in World War III over Syria,” he <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37766786" type="external">told</a> reporters in Florida last month.</p>
<p />
<p>For most election observers, however, the matter of personal character and temperament has dominated discussions of the nuclear issue, with partisans on each side insisting that the other candidate is temperamentally unfit to exercise control over the nuclear codes.&#160; There is, however, a more important reason to worry about whose finger will be on that button this time around: at this very moment, for a variety of reasons, the “nuclear threshold” — the point at which some party to a “conventional” (non-nuclear) conflict chooses to employ atomic weapons — seems to be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-is-risking-lowering-the-nuclear-threshold-2016-2" type="external">moving</a> dangerously lower.</p>
<p>Not so long ago, it was implausible that a major nuclear power — the United States, Russia, or China — would consider using atomic weapons in any imaginable conflict scenario.&#160; No longer.&#160; Worse yet, this is likely to be our reality for years to come, which means that the next president will face a world in which a nuclear decision-making point might arrive far sooner than anyone would have thought possible just a year or two ago — with potentially catastrophic consequences for us all.</p>
<p>No less worrisome, the major nuclear powers (and some smaller ones) are all in the process of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/science/atom-bomb-nuclear-weapons-hgv-arms-race-russia-china.html" type="external">acquiring</a> new nuclear arms, which could, in theory, push that threshold lower still.&#160; These include a variety of cruise missiles and other delivery systems capable of being used in “limited” nuclear wars — atomic conflicts that, in theory at least, could be confined to just a single country or one area of the world (say, Eastern Europe) and so might be even easier for decision-makers to initiate.&#160; The next president will have to decide whether the U.S. should actually produce weapons of this type and also what measures should be taken in response to similar decisions by Washington’s likely adversaries.</p>
<p>Lowering the Nuclear Threshold</p>
<p>During the dark days of the Cold War, nuclear strategists in the United States and the Soviet Union conjured up elaborate conflict scenarios in which military actions by the two superpowers and their allies might lead from, say, minor skirmishing along the Iron Curtain to full-scale tank combat to, in the end, the use of “battlefield” nuclear weapons, and then city-busting versions of the same to avert defeat.&#160; In some of these scenarios, strategists hypothesized about wielding “tactical” or battlefield weaponry — nukes powerful enough to wipe out a major tank formation, but not Paris or Moscow — and claimed that it would be possible to contain atomic warfare at such a devastating but still sub-apocalyptic level.&#160; (Henry Kissinger, for instance, made his reputation by preaching this lunatic doctrine in his first book, Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy.)&#160; Eventually, leaders on both sides concluded that the only feasible role for their atomic arsenals was to act as deterrents to the use of such weaponry by the other side.&#160; This was, of course, the concept of “ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction" type="external">mutually assured destruction</a>,” or — in one of the most classically apt acronyms of all times: MAD.&#160; It would, in the end, form the basis for all subsequent arms control agreements between the two superpowers.</p>
<p>Anxiety over the escalatory potential of tactical nuclear weapons peaked in the 1970s when the Soviet Union began deploying the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS-20_Saber" type="external">SS-20</a> intermediate-range ballistic missile (capable of striking cities in Europe, but not the U.S.) and Washington responded with plans to deploy nuclear-armed, ground-launched cruise missiles and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pershing_II" type="external">Pershing-II</a> ballistic missile in Europe.&#160; The announcement of such plans provoked massive antinuclear demonstrations across Europe and the United States.&#160; On December 8, 1987, at a time when worries had been growing about how a nuclear conflagration in Europe might trigger an all-out nuclear exchange between the superpowers, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/INFtreaty" type="external">Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces</a> (INF) Treaty.</p>
<p>That historic agreement — the first to eliminate an entire class of nuclear delivery systems — banned the deployment of ground-based cruise or ballistic missiles with a range of 500 and 5,500 kilometers and required the destruction of all those then in existence.&#160; After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation inherited the USSR’s treaty obligations and pledged to uphold the INF along with other U.S.-Soviet arms control agreements.&#160; In the view of most observers, the prospect of a nuclear war between the two countries practically vanished as both sides made deep cuts in their atomic stockpiles in accordance with already existing accords and then signed others, including the <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/USRussiaNuclearAgreementsMarch2010" type="external">New START</a>, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 2010.</p>
<p>Today, however, this picture has changed dramatically.&#160; The Obama administration has <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2016_0102/Features/INF-Treaty-Impasse-Time-for-Russian-Action" type="external">concluded</a> that Russia has violated the INF treaty by testing a ground-launched cruise missile of prohibited range, and there is reason to believe that, in the not-too-distant future, Moscow might abandon that treaty altogether.&#160; Even more troubling, Russia has adopted a military doctrine that favors the early use of nuclear weapons if it faces defeat in a conventional war, and NATO is considering comparable measures in response.&#160; The nuclear threshold, in other words, is dropping rapidly.</p>
<p>Much of this is due, it seems, to Russian <a href="http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/06/30/russia-and-security-of-europe-pub-63990" type="external">fears</a> about its military inferiority vis-à-vis the West.&#160; In the chaotic years following the collapse of the USSR, Russian military spending plummeted and the size and quality of its forces diminished accordingly.&#160; In an effort to restore Russia’s combat capabilities, President Vladimir Putin launched a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar expansion and modernization program.&#160; The fruits of this effort were apparent in the Crimea and Ukraine in 2014, when Russian forces, however disguised, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/world/europe/new-prowess-for-russians.html" type="external">demonstrated</a> better fighting skills and wielded better weaponry than in the Chechnya wars a decade earlier.&#160; Even Russian analysts acknowledge, however, that their military in its current state would be no match for American and NATO forces in a head-on encounter, given the West’s superior array of conventional weaponry.&#160; To fill the breach, Russian strategic doctrine now <a href="http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/06/30/russia-and-security-of-europe-pub-63990" type="external">calls for</a> the early use of nuclear weapons to offset an enemy’s superior conventional forces.</p>
<p>To put this in perspective, Russian leaders ardently believe that they are the victims of a U.S.-led drive by NATO to encircle their country and diminish its international influence.&#160; They point, in particular, to the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-summit-idUSKCN0ZN2NL" type="external">build-up</a> of NATO forces in the Baltic countries, involving the semi-permanent deployment of combat battalions in what was once the territory of the Soviet Union, and in apparent violation of <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nato-s-eastward-expansion-did-the-west-break-its-promise-to-moscow-a-663315.html" type="external">promises</a> made to Gorbachev in 1990 that NATO would not do so.&#160; As a result, Russia has been bolstering its defenses in areas bordering Ukraine and the Baltic states, and <a href="https://sputniknews.com/world/201606171041493788-nato-russia-readiness-test/" type="external">training</a> its troops for a possible clash with the NATO forces stationed there.</p>
<p>This is where the nuclear threshold enters the picture.&#160; Fearing that it might be defeated in a future clash, its military strategists have called for the early use of tactical nuclear weapons, some of which no doubt would violate the INF Treaty, in order to decimate NATO forces and compel them to quit fighting.&#160; Paradoxically, in Russia, this is labeled a “ <a href="http://thebulletin.org/why-russia-calls-limited-nuclear-strike-de-escalation" type="external">de-escalation</a>” strategy, as resorting to strategic nuclear attacks on the U.S. under such circumstances would inevitably result in Russia’s annihilation.&#160; On the other hand, a limited nuclear strike (so the reasoning goes) could potentially achieve success on the battlefield without igniting all-out atomic war.&#160; As Eugene Rumer of the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace explains, this strategy <a href="http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/06/30/russia-and-security-of-europe-pub-63990" type="external">assumes</a> that such supposedly “limited” nuclear strikes “will have a sobering effect on the enemy, which will then cease and desist.”</p>
<p>To what degree tactical nuclear weapons have been incorporated into Moscow’s official military doctrine remains unknown, given the degree of secrecy surrounding such matters.&#160; It is apparent, however, that the Russians have been developing the means with which to conduct such “limited” strikes.&#160; Of greatest concern to Western analysts in this regard is their deployment of the <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/ss-26.htm" type="external">Iskander-M</a> short-range ballistic missile, a modern version of the infamous Soviet-era <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scud#Scud_attacks" type="external">“Scud” missile</a> (used by Saddam Hussein’s forces during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988 and the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991).&#160; Said to have a range of 500 kilometers (just within the INF limit), the Iskander can carry either a conventional or a nuclear warhead.&#160; As a result, a targeted country or a targeted military could never be sure which type it might be facing (and might simply assume the worst).&#160; Adding to such worries, the Russians have <a href="http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/introducing-the-iskander-the-russian-missile-nato-fears-15653" type="external">deployed</a> the Iskander in Kaliningrad, a tiny chunk of Russian territory wedged between Poland and Lithuania that just happens to put it within range of many western European cities.</p>
<p>In response, NATO strategists have <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2016_06/Features/Just-Leave-It-NATOs-Nuclear-Weapons-Policy-at-the-Warsaw-Summit" type="external">discussed</a> lowering the nuclear threshold themselves, arguing — ominously enough — that the Russians will only be fully dissuaded from employing their limited-nuclear-war strategy if they know that NATO has a robust capacity to do the same.&#160; At the very least, what’s needed, some of them <a href="http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/nato-must-adapt-to-address-russias-nuclear-brinkmanship_3263.html" type="external">claim</a>, is a more frequent inclusion of nuclear-capable or dual-use aircraft in exercises on Russia’s frontiers to “signal” NATO’s willingness to resort to limited nuclear strikes, too.&#160; Again, such moves are not yet official NATO strategy, but it’s clear that senior officials are <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2016_09/News-Briefs/NATO-Highlights-Role-of-Nuclear-Weapons" type="external">weighing them</a> seriously.</p>
<p>Just how all of this might play out in a European crisis is, of course, unknown, but both sides in an increasingly edgy standoff are coming to accept that nuclear weapons might have a future military role, which is, of course, a recipe for almost unimaginable escalation and disaster of an apocalyptic sort.&#160; This danger is likely to become more pronounced in the years ahead because both Washington and Moscow seem remarkably intent on developing and deploying new nuclear weapons designed with just such needs in mind.</p>
<p>The New Nuclear Armaments</p>
<p>Both countries are already in the midst of ambitious and extremely costly efforts to “ <a href="http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/162279" type="external">modernize</a>” their nuclear arsenals.&#160; Of all the weapons now being developed, the two generating the most anxiety in terms of that nuclear threshold are a new Russian ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) and an advanced U.S. air-launched cruise missile (ALCM).&#160; Unlike ballistic missiles, which exit the Earth’s atmosphere before returning to strike their targets, such <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile" type="external">cruise missiles</a> remain within the atmosphere throughout their flight.</p>
<p>American officials claim that the Russian GLCM, reportedly now being deployed, is of a type outlawed by the INF Treaty.&#160; Without providing specifics, the State Department <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2016_0102/Features/INF-Treaty-Impasse-Time-for-Russian-Action" type="external">indicated</a> in a 2014 memo that it had “a range capability of 500 km [kilometers] to 5,500 km,” which would indeed put it in violation of that treaty by allowing Russian combat forces to launch nuclear warheads against cities throughout Europe and the Middle East in a “limited” nuclear war.</p>
<p>The GLCM is likely to prove one of the most vexing foreign policy issues the next president will face.&#160; So far, the White House has been reluctant to press Moscow too hard, fearing that the Russians might respond by exiting the INF Treaty altogether and so eliminate remaining constraints on its missile program.&#160; But many in Congress and among Washington’s foreign policy elite are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/world/europe/russia-missiles-inf-treaty.html" type="external">eager to see</a> the next occupant of the Oval Office take a tougher stance if the Russians don’t halt deployment of the missile, threatening Moscow with more severe economic sanctions or moving toward countermeasures like the deployment of enhanced anti-missile systems in Europe.&#160; The Russians would, in turn, undoubtedly perceive such moves as threats to their strategic deterrent forces and so an invitation for further weapons acquisitions, setting off a fresh round in the long-dormant Cold War nuclear arms race.</p>
<p>On the American side, the weapon of immediate concern is a <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2015_05/News/Air-Force-Wants-Thousand-New-Cruise-Missiles" type="external">new version</a> of the AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile, usually carried by B-52 bombers.&#160; Also known as the Long-Range Standoff Weapon (LRSO), it is, like the Iskander-M, expected to be deployed in both nuclear and conventional versions, leaving those on the potential receiving end unsure what might be heading their way.&#160; In other words, as with the Iskander-M, the intended target might assume the worst in a crisis, leading to the early use of nuclear weapons.&#160; Put another way, such missiles make for <a href="http://www.ploughshares.org/GhostsoftheColdWar" type="external">twitchy trigger fingers</a> and are likely to lead to a heightened risk of nuclear war, which, once started, might in turn take Washington and Moscow right up the escalatory ladder to a planetary holocaust.</p>
<p>No wonder former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-president-kill-the-new-cruise-missile/2015/10/15/e3e2807c-6ecd-11e5-9bfe-e59f5e244f92_story.html" type="external">called on</a> President Obama to cancel the ALCM program in a recent Washington Post op-ed piece. “Because they… come in both nuclear and conventional variants,” he wrote, “cruise missiles are a uniquely destabilizing type of weapon.” And this issue is going to fall directly into the lap of the next president.</p>
<p>The New Nuclear Era</p>
<p>Whoever is elected on November 8th, we are evidently all headed into a world in which Trumpian-style itchy trigger fingers could be the norm. It already looks like both Moscow and Washington will contribute significantly to this development — and they may not be alone. In response to Russian and American moves in the nuclear arena, China is reported to be developing a “ <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/science/atom-bomb-nuclear-weapons-hgv-arms-race-russia-china.html" type="external">hypersonic glide vehicle</a>,” a new type of nuclear warhead better able to evade anti-missile defenses — something that, at a moment of heightened crisis, might make a nuclear first strike seem more attractive to Washington. And don’t forget Pakistan, which is <a href="http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/06/30/pakistan-s-tactical-nuclear-weapons-and-their-impact-on-stability-pub-6391" type="external">developing</a> its own short-range “tactical” nuclear missiles, increasing the risk of the quick escalation of any future Indo-Pakistani confrontation to a nuclear exchange. (To put such “regional” dangers in perspective, a local nuclear war in South Asia could cause a global nuclear winter and, according to <a href="http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/RobockToonSciAmJan2010.pdf" type="external">one study</a>, possibly kill a billion people worldwide, thanks to crop failures and the like.)</p>
<p>And don’t forget North Korea, which is now <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/did-north-korea-just-test-missiles-capable-of-hitting-the-us-maybe/2016/10/26/984e8a21-e6a7-4689-81e0-21d7d25c302f_story.html" type="external">testing</a> a nuclear-armed ICBM, the Musudan, intended to strike the Western United States.&#160; That prompted a controversial <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-northkorea-thaad-idUSKCN11X2KO" type="external">decision</a> in Washington to deploy <a href="https://www.mda.mil/system/thaad.html" type="external">THAAD</a> (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile batteries in South Korea (something China bitterly opposes), as well as the consideration of other countermeasures, including undoubtedly scenarios involving first strikes against the North Koreans.</p>
<p>It’s clear that we’re on the threshold of a new nuclear era: a time when the actual use of atomic weapons is being accorded greater plausibility by military and political leaders globally, while war plans are being revised to allow the use of such weapons at an earlier stage in future armed clashes.</p>
<p>As a result, the next president will have to grapple with nuclear weapons issues — and possible nuclear crises — in a way unknown since the Cold War era.&#160; Above all else, this will require both a cool head and a sufficient command of nuclear matters to navigate competing pressures from allies, the military, politicians, pundits, and the foreign policy establishment without precipitating a nuclear conflagration.&#160; On the face of it, that should disqualify Donald Trump.&#160; When questioned on nuclear issues in the first debate, he <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176194/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich,_the_national_security_void/" type="external">exhibited</a> a striking ignorance of the most basic aspects of nuclear policy.&#160; But even Hillary Clinton, for all her experience as secretary of state, is likely to have a hard time grappling with the pressures and dangers that are likely to arise in the years ahead, especially given that her inclination is to toughen U.S. policy toward Russia.</p>
<p>In other words, whoever enters the Oval Office, it may be time for the rest of us to take up those antinuclear signs long left to molder in closets and memories, and put some political pressure on leaders globally to avoid strategies and weapons that would make human life on this planet so much more precarious than it already is.</p>
<p>Michael T. Klare, a <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176186/tomgram%3A_michael_klare%2C_the_rise_of_the_right_and_climate_catastrophe/#more" type="external">TomDispatch regular</a>, is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author, most recently, of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1250023971/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The Race for What’s Left</a>. A documentary movie version of his book Blood and Oil is available from the Media Education Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @mklare1.</p>
<p>Follow TomDispatch on <a href="https://twitter.com/TomDispatch" type="external">Twitter</a> and join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/tomdispatch" type="external">Facebook</a>. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Nick Turse’s&#160; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608466485/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Next Time They’ll Come to Count the Dead</a>, and Tom Engelhardt’s latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608463656/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2016 Michael T. Klare</p>
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Whose Finger on the Nuclear Button?
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2016-11-07
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Whose Finger on the Nuclear Button?
<p>By Michael T. Klare / <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176207/tomgram%3A_michael_klare%2C_whose_finger_on_the_nuclear_button/#more" type="external">TomDispatch</a></p>
<p>Once upon a time, when choosing a new president, a factor for many voters was the perennial question: “Whose finger do you want on the nuclear button?” Of all the responsibilities of America’s top executive, none may be more momentous than deciding whether, and under what circumstances, to activate the “nuclear codes” — the secret alphanumeric messages that would inform missile officers in silos and submarines that the fearful moment had finally arrived to launch their intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) toward a foreign adversary, igniting a thermonuclear war.</p>
<p>Until recently in the post-Cold War world, however, nuclear weapons seemed to drop from sight, and that question along with it. Not any longer. In 2016, the nuclear issue is back big time, thanks both to the rise of Donald Trump ( <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/scarborough-trump-nukes_us_57a1e47ae4b0693164c347d0" type="external">including</a> various <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176194/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich,_the_national_security_void/" type="external">unsettling comments</a> he’s made about nuclear weapons) and actual changes in the global nuclear landscape.</p>
<p>With passions running high on both sides in this year’s election and rising fears about Donald Trump’s impulsive nature and Hillary Clinton’s hawkish one, it’s hardly surprising that the “nuclear button” question has surfaced repeatedly throughout the campaign. &#160;In one of the more pointed exchanges of the first presidential debate, Hillary Clinton declared that Donald Trump lacked the mental composure for the job.&#160; “A man who can be provoked by a tweet,” she <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/09/26/the-first-trump-clinton-presidential-debate-transcript-annotated/" type="external">commented</a>, “should not have his fingers anywhere near the nuclear codes.”&#160; Donald Trump has reciprocated by charging that Clinton is too prone to intervene abroad. “You’re going to end up in World War III over Syria,” he <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37766786" type="external">told</a> reporters in Florida last month.</p>
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<p>For most election observers, however, the matter of personal character and temperament has dominated discussions of the nuclear issue, with partisans on each side insisting that the other candidate is temperamentally unfit to exercise control over the nuclear codes.&#160; There is, however, a more important reason to worry about whose finger will be on that button this time around: at this very moment, for a variety of reasons, the “nuclear threshold” — the point at which some party to a “conventional” (non-nuclear) conflict chooses to employ atomic weapons — seems to be <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-is-risking-lowering-the-nuclear-threshold-2016-2" type="external">moving</a> dangerously lower.</p>
<p>Not so long ago, it was implausible that a major nuclear power — the United States, Russia, or China — would consider using atomic weapons in any imaginable conflict scenario.&#160; No longer.&#160; Worse yet, this is likely to be our reality for years to come, which means that the next president will face a world in which a nuclear decision-making point might arrive far sooner than anyone would have thought possible just a year or two ago — with potentially catastrophic consequences for us all.</p>
<p>No less worrisome, the major nuclear powers (and some smaller ones) are all in the process of <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/science/atom-bomb-nuclear-weapons-hgv-arms-race-russia-china.html" type="external">acquiring</a> new nuclear arms, which could, in theory, push that threshold lower still.&#160; These include a variety of cruise missiles and other delivery systems capable of being used in “limited” nuclear wars — atomic conflicts that, in theory at least, could be confined to just a single country or one area of the world (say, Eastern Europe) and so might be even easier for decision-makers to initiate.&#160; The next president will have to decide whether the U.S. should actually produce weapons of this type and also what measures should be taken in response to similar decisions by Washington’s likely adversaries.</p>
<p>Lowering the Nuclear Threshold</p>
<p>During the dark days of the Cold War, nuclear strategists in the United States and the Soviet Union conjured up elaborate conflict scenarios in which military actions by the two superpowers and their allies might lead from, say, minor skirmishing along the Iron Curtain to full-scale tank combat to, in the end, the use of “battlefield” nuclear weapons, and then city-busting versions of the same to avert defeat.&#160; In some of these scenarios, strategists hypothesized about wielding “tactical” or battlefield weaponry — nukes powerful enough to wipe out a major tank formation, but not Paris or Moscow — and claimed that it would be possible to contain atomic warfare at such a devastating but still sub-apocalyptic level.&#160; (Henry Kissinger, for instance, made his reputation by preaching this lunatic doctrine in his first book, Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy.)&#160; Eventually, leaders on both sides concluded that the only feasible role for their atomic arsenals was to act as deterrents to the use of such weaponry by the other side.&#160; This was, of course, the concept of “ <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction" type="external">mutually assured destruction</a>,” or — in one of the most classically apt acronyms of all times: MAD.&#160; It would, in the end, form the basis for all subsequent arms control agreements between the two superpowers.</p>
<p>Anxiety over the escalatory potential of tactical nuclear weapons peaked in the 1970s when the Soviet Union began deploying the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS-20_Saber" type="external">SS-20</a> intermediate-range ballistic missile (capable of striking cities in Europe, but not the U.S.) and Washington responded with plans to deploy nuclear-armed, ground-launched cruise missiles and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pershing_II" type="external">Pershing-II</a> ballistic missile in Europe.&#160; The announcement of such plans provoked massive antinuclear demonstrations across Europe and the United States.&#160; On December 8, 1987, at a time when worries had been growing about how a nuclear conflagration in Europe might trigger an all-out nuclear exchange between the superpowers, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev signed the <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/INFtreaty" type="external">Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces</a> (INF) Treaty.</p>
<p>That historic agreement — the first to eliminate an entire class of nuclear delivery systems — banned the deployment of ground-based cruise or ballistic missiles with a range of 500 and 5,500 kilometers and required the destruction of all those then in existence.&#160; After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation inherited the USSR’s treaty obligations and pledged to uphold the INF along with other U.S.-Soviet arms control agreements.&#160; In the view of most observers, the prospect of a nuclear war between the two countries practically vanished as both sides made deep cuts in their atomic stockpiles in accordance with already existing accords and then signed others, including the <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/factsheets/USRussiaNuclearAgreementsMarch2010" type="external">New START</a>, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 2010.</p>
<p>Today, however, this picture has changed dramatically.&#160; The Obama administration has <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2016_0102/Features/INF-Treaty-Impasse-Time-for-Russian-Action" type="external">concluded</a> that Russia has violated the INF treaty by testing a ground-launched cruise missile of prohibited range, and there is reason to believe that, in the not-too-distant future, Moscow might abandon that treaty altogether.&#160; Even more troubling, Russia has adopted a military doctrine that favors the early use of nuclear weapons if it faces defeat in a conventional war, and NATO is considering comparable measures in response.&#160; The nuclear threshold, in other words, is dropping rapidly.</p>
<p>Much of this is due, it seems, to Russian <a href="http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/06/30/russia-and-security-of-europe-pub-63990" type="external">fears</a> about its military inferiority vis-à-vis the West.&#160; In the chaotic years following the collapse of the USSR, Russian military spending plummeted and the size and quality of its forces diminished accordingly.&#160; In an effort to restore Russia’s combat capabilities, President Vladimir Putin launched a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar expansion and modernization program.&#160; The fruits of this effort were apparent in the Crimea and Ukraine in 2014, when Russian forces, however disguised, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/22/world/europe/new-prowess-for-russians.html" type="external">demonstrated</a> better fighting skills and wielded better weaponry than in the Chechnya wars a decade earlier.&#160; Even Russian analysts acknowledge, however, that their military in its current state would be no match for American and NATO forces in a head-on encounter, given the West’s superior array of conventional weaponry.&#160; To fill the breach, Russian strategic doctrine now <a href="http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/06/30/russia-and-security-of-europe-pub-63990" type="external">calls for</a> the early use of nuclear weapons to offset an enemy’s superior conventional forces.</p>
<p>To put this in perspective, Russian leaders ardently believe that they are the victims of a U.S.-led drive by NATO to encircle their country and diminish its international influence.&#160; They point, in particular, to the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-nato-summit-idUSKCN0ZN2NL" type="external">build-up</a> of NATO forces in the Baltic countries, involving the semi-permanent deployment of combat battalions in what was once the territory of the Soviet Union, and in apparent violation of <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nato-s-eastward-expansion-did-the-west-break-its-promise-to-moscow-a-663315.html" type="external">promises</a> made to Gorbachev in 1990 that NATO would not do so.&#160; As a result, Russia has been bolstering its defenses in areas bordering Ukraine and the Baltic states, and <a href="https://sputniknews.com/world/201606171041493788-nato-russia-readiness-test/" type="external">training</a> its troops for a possible clash with the NATO forces stationed there.</p>
<p>This is where the nuclear threshold enters the picture.&#160; Fearing that it might be defeated in a future clash, its military strategists have called for the early use of tactical nuclear weapons, some of which no doubt would violate the INF Treaty, in order to decimate NATO forces and compel them to quit fighting.&#160; Paradoxically, in Russia, this is labeled a “ <a href="http://thebulletin.org/why-russia-calls-limited-nuclear-strike-de-escalation" type="external">de-escalation</a>” strategy, as resorting to strategic nuclear attacks on the U.S. under such circumstances would inevitably result in Russia’s annihilation.&#160; On the other hand, a limited nuclear strike (so the reasoning goes) could potentially achieve success on the battlefield without igniting all-out atomic war.&#160; As Eugene Rumer of the Carnegie Endowment of International Peace explains, this strategy <a href="http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/06/30/russia-and-security-of-europe-pub-63990" type="external">assumes</a> that such supposedly “limited” nuclear strikes “will have a sobering effect on the enemy, which will then cease and desist.”</p>
<p>To what degree tactical nuclear weapons have been incorporated into Moscow’s official military doctrine remains unknown, given the degree of secrecy surrounding such matters.&#160; It is apparent, however, that the Russians have been developing the means with which to conduct such “limited” strikes.&#160; Of greatest concern to Western analysts in this regard is their deployment of the <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/ss-26.htm" type="external">Iskander-M</a> short-range ballistic missile, a modern version of the infamous Soviet-era <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scud#Scud_attacks" type="external">“Scud” missile</a> (used by Saddam Hussein’s forces during the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988 and the Persian Gulf War of 1990-1991).&#160; Said to have a range of 500 kilometers (just within the INF limit), the Iskander can carry either a conventional or a nuclear warhead.&#160; As a result, a targeted country or a targeted military could never be sure which type it might be facing (and might simply assume the worst).&#160; Adding to such worries, the Russians have <a href="http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/introducing-the-iskander-the-russian-missile-nato-fears-15653" type="external">deployed</a> the Iskander in Kaliningrad, a tiny chunk of Russian territory wedged between Poland and Lithuania that just happens to put it within range of many western European cities.</p>
<p>In response, NATO strategists have <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2016_06/Features/Just-Leave-It-NATOs-Nuclear-Weapons-Policy-at-the-Warsaw-Summit" type="external">discussed</a> lowering the nuclear threshold themselves, arguing — ominously enough — that the Russians will only be fully dissuaded from employing their limited-nuclear-war strategy if they know that NATO has a robust capacity to do the same.&#160; At the very least, what’s needed, some of them <a href="http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/nato-must-adapt-to-address-russias-nuclear-brinkmanship_3263.html" type="external">claim</a>, is a more frequent inclusion of nuclear-capable or dual-use aircraft in exercises on Russia’s frontiers to “signal” NATO’s willingness to resort to limited nuclear strikes, too.&#160; Again, such moves are not yet official NATO strategy, but it’s clear that senior officials are <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2016_09/News-Briefs/NATO-Highlights-Role-of-Nuclear-Weapons" type="external">weighing them</a> seriously.</p>
<p>Just how all of this might play out in a European crisis is, of course, unknown, but both sides in an increasingly edgy standoff are coming to accept that nuclear weapons might have a future military role, which is, of course, a recipe for almost unimaginable escalation and disaster of an apocalyptic sort.&#160; This danger is likely to become more pronounced in the years ahead because both Washington and Moscow seem remarkably intent on developing and deploying new nuclear weapons designed with just such needs in mind.</p>
<p>The New Nuclear Armaments</p>
<p>Both countries are already in the midst of ambitious and extremely costly efforts to “ <a href="http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/162279" type="external">modernize</a>” their nuclear arsenals.&#160; Of all the weapons now being developed, the two generating the most anxiety in terms of that nuclear threshold are a new Russian ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) and an advanced U.S. air-launched cruise missile (ALCM).&#160; Unlike ballistic missiles, which exit the Earth’s atmosphere before returning to strike their targets, such <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile" type="external">cruise missiles</a> remain within the atmosphere throughout their flight.</p>
<p>American officials claim that the Russian GLCM, reportedly now being deployed, is of a type outlawed by the INF Treaty.&#160; Without providing specifics, the State Department <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2016_0102/Features/INF-Treaty-Impasse-Time-for-Russian-Action" type="external">indicated</a> in a 2014 memo that it had “a range capability of 500 km [kilometers] to 5,500 km,” which would indeed put it in violation of that treaty by allowing Russian combat forces to launch nuclear warheads against cities throughout Europe and the Middle East in a “limited” nuclear war.</p>
<p>The GLCM is likely to prove one of the most vexing foreign policy issues the next president will face.&#160; So far, the White House has been reluctant to press Moscow too hard, fearing that the Russians might respond by exiting the INF Treaty altogether and so eliminate remaining constraints on its missile program.&#160; But many in Congress and among Washington’s foreign policy elite are <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/20/world/europe/russia-missiles-inf-treaty.html" type="external">eager to see</a> the next occupant of the Oval Office take a tougher stance if the Russians don’t halt deployment of the missile, threatening Moscow with more severe economic sanctions or moving toward countermeasures like the deployment of enhanced anti-missile systems in Europe.&#160; The Russians would, in turn, undoubtedly perceive such moves as threats to their strategic deterrent forces and so an invitation for further weapons acquisitions, setting off a fresh round in the long-dormant Cold War nuclear arms race.</p>
<p>On the American side, the weapon of immediate concern is a <a href="https://www.armscontrol.org/ACT/2015_05/News/Air-Force-Wants-Thousand-New-Cruise-Missiles" type="external">new version</a> of the AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile, usually carried by B-52 bombers.&#160; Also known as the Long-Range Standoff Weapon (LRSO), it is, like the Iskander-M, expected to be deployed in both nuclear and conventional versions, leaving those on the potential receiving end unsure what might be heading their way.&#160; In other words, as with the Iskander-M, the intended target might assume the worst in a crisis, leading to the early use of nuclear weapons.&#160; Put another way, such missiles make for <a href="http://www.ploughshares.org/GhostsoftheColdWar" type="external">twitchy trigger fingers</a> and are likely to lead to a heightened risk of nuclear war, which, once started, might in turn take Washington and Moscow right up the escalatory ladder to a planetary holocaust.</p>
<p>No wonder former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mr-president-kill-the-new-cruise-missile/2015/10/15/e3e2807c-6ecd-11e5-9bfe-e59f5e244f92_story.html" type="external">called on</a> President Obama to cancel the ALCM program in a recent Washington Post op-ed piece. “Because they… come in both nuclear and conventional variants,” he wrote, “cruise missiles are a uniquely destabilizing type of weapon.” And this issue is going to fall directly into the lap of the next president.</p>
<p>The New Nuclear Era</p>
<p>Whoever is elected on November 8th, we are evidently all headed into a world in which Trumpian-style itchy trigger fingers could be the norm. It already looks like both Moscow and Washington will contribute significantly to this development — and they may not be alone. In response to Russian and American moves in the nuclear arena, China is reported to be developing a “ <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/17/science/atom-bomb-nuclear-weapons-hgv-arms-race-russia-china.html" type="external">hypersonic glide vehicle</a>,” a new type of nuclear warhead better able to evade anti-missile defenses — something that, at a moment of heightened crisis, might make a nuclear first strike seem more attractive to Washington. And don’t forget Pakistan, which is <a href="http://carnegieendowment.org/2016/06/30/pakistan-s-tactical-nuclear-weapons-and-their-impact-on-stability-pub-6391" type="external">developing</a> its own short-range “tactical” nuclear missiles, increasing the risk of the quick escalation of any future Indo-Pakistani confrontation to a nuclear exchange. (To put such “regional” dangers in perspective, a local nuclear war in South Asia could cause a global nuclear winter and, according to <a href="http://climate.envsci.rutgers.edu/pdf/RobockToonSciAmJan2010.pdf" type="external">one study</a>, possibly kill a billion people worldwide, thanks to crop failures and the like.)</p>
<p>And don’t forget North Korea, which is now <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/did-north-korea-just-test-missiles-capable-of-hitting-the-us-maybe/2016/10/26/984e8a21-e6a7-4689-81e0-21d7d25c302f_story.html" type="external">testing</a> a nuclear-armed ICBM, the Musudan, intended to strike the Western United States.&#160; That prompted a controversial <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-northkorea-thaad-idUSKCN11X2KO" type="external">decision</a> in Washington to deploy <a href="https://www.mda.mil/system/thaad.html" type="external">THAAD</a> (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) anti-missile batteries in South Korea (something China bitterly opposes), as well as the consideration of other countermeasures, including undoubtedly scenarios involving first strikes against the North Koreans.</p>
<p>It’s clear that we’re on the threshold of a new nuclear era: a time when the actual use of atomic weapons is being accorded greater plausibility by military and political leaders globally, while war plans are being revised to allow the use of such weapons at an earlier stage in future armed clashes.</p>
<p>As a result, the next president will have to grapple with nuclear weapons issues — and possible nuclear crises — in a way unknown since the Cold War era.&#160; Above all else, this will require both a cool head and a sufficient command of nuclear matters to navigate competing pressures from allies, the military, politicians, pundits, and the foreign policy establishment without precipitating a nuclear conflagration.&#160; On the face of it, that should disqualify Donald Trump.&#160; When questioned on nuclear issues in the first debate, he <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176194/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich,_the_national_security_void/" type="external">exhibited</a> a striking ignorance of the most basic aspects of nuclear policy.&#160; But even Hillary Clinton, for all her experience as secretary of state, is likely to have a hard time grappling with the pressures and dangers that are likely to arise in the years ahead, especially given that her inclination is to toughen U.S. policy toward Russia.</p>
<p>In other words, whoever enters the Oval Office, it may be time for the rest of us to take up those antinuclear signs long left to molder in closets and memories, and put some political pressure on leaders globally to avoid strategies and weapons that would make human life on this planet so much more precarious than it already is.</p>
<p>Michael T. Klare, a <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176186/tomgram%3A_michael_klare%2C_the_rise_of_the_right_and_climate_catastrophe/#more" type="external">TomDispatch regular</a>, is a professor of peace and world security studies at Hampshire College and the author, most recently, of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1250023971/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">The Race for What’s Left</a>. A documentary movie version of his book Blood and Oil is available from the Media Education Foundation. Follow him on Twitter at @mklare1.</p>
<p>Follow TomDispatch on <a href="https://twitter.com/TomDispatch" type="external">Twitter</a> and join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/tomdispatch" type="external">Facebook</a>. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Nick Turse’s&#160; <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608466485/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Next Time They’ll Come to Count the Dead</a>, and Tom Engelhardt’s latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/1608463656/ref=nosim/?tag=tomdispatch-20" type="external">Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 2016 Michael T. Klare</p>
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<p>Sept. 21 (UPI) — Trilobites, the first ubiquitous animal in the fossil record, evolved a stomach more than 500 million years ago. The simple organism’s digestive tract was revealed in a new survey of fossil specimens recovered from China.</p>
<p>The findings — detailed this week <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0184982" type="external">in the journal PLOS ONE</a> — suggest the first animal stomachs evolved 20 million years earlier than previously thought. Researchers identified stomachs among two early trilobite species.</p>
<p>Trilobite exoskeletons were rich in minerals, which is one of the reason why they preserved so well. But even among the most well-preserved fossils, it’s rare for soft tissue to survive 500 million years.</p>
<p>“It’s very rare to see the preservation of soft tissues like organs or appendages in trilobites, and because of this, our knowledge of the trilobite digestive system comes from a small number of specimens,” Melanie Hopkins, an assistant curator in the paleontology division at the American Museum of Natural History, said in a news release. “The new material in this study really expands our understanding.”</p>
<p>Trilobites first emerged in the Early Cambrian period and stuck around for some 300 million years, thriving throughout the lower Paleozoic era. The horseshoe crab-like creatures were wiped out by a mass extinction event at the end of the Permian. During their reign, the marine arthropods evolved 20,000 species.</p>
<p>Scientists previously identified an expanded stomach, called a “crop,” among later trilobite species. Until now, researchers though early trilobites had only a simple digestive tube — no crop.</p>
<p>But among the 270 specimens recovered from a quarry in China’s southern Yunnan Province, researchers found evidence of an expanded stomach — proof the earliest stomach emerged roughly 514 million years ago.</p>
<p>“This is a very rigorous study based on multiple specimens, and it shows that we should start thinking about this aspect of trilobite biology and evolution in a different way,” Hopkins said.</p>
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Trilobites had a stomach, new fossils show
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2017-09-21
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Trilobites had a stomach, new fossils show
<p>Sept. 21 (UPI) — Trilobites, the first ubiquitous animal in the fossil record, evolved a stomach more than 500 million years ago. The simple organism’s digestive tract was revealed in a new survey of fossil specimens recovered from China.</p>
<p>The findings — detailed this week <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0184982" type="external">in the journal PLOS ONE</a> — suggest the first animal stomachs evolved 20 million years earlier than previously thought. Researchers identified stomachs among two early trilobite species.</p>
<p>Trilobite exoskeletons were rich in minerals, which is one of the reason why they preserved so well. But even among the most well-preserved fossils, it’s rare for soft tissue to survive 500 million years.</p>
<p>“It’s very rare to see the preservation of soft tissues like organs or appendages in trilobites, and because of this, our knowledge of the trilobite digestive system comes from a small number of specimens,” Melanie Hopkins, an assistant curator in the paleontology division at the American Museum of Natural History, said in a news release. “The new material in this study really expands our understanding.”</p>
<p>Trilobites first emerged in the Early Cambrian period and stuck around for some 300 million years, thriving throughout the lower Paleozoic era. The horseshoe crab-like creatures were wiped out by a mass extinction event at the end of the Permian. During their reign, the marine arthropods evolved 20,000 species.</p>
<p>Scientists previously identified an expanded stomach, called a “crop,” among later trilobite species. Until now, researchers though early trilobites had only a simple digestive tube — no crop.</p>
<p>But among the 270 specimens recovered from a quarry in China’s southern Yunnan Province, researchers found evidence of an expanded stomach — proof the earliest stomach emerged roughly 514 million years ago.</p>
<p>“This is a very rigorous study based on multiple specimens, and it shows that we should start thinking about this aspect of trilobite biology and evolution in a different way,” Hopkins said.</p>
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<p>By Marv Knox</p>
<p>Imagine you’re God, and you care about what happens in Anytown, USA. It’s Tuesday evening, and you’re ready for someone in Anytown to request your guidance over the city council meeting.</p>
<p>The mayor calls on the ministerial alliance president to offer the invocation. Then, by mutual consent of everybody from pagans to Presbyterians and Buddhists to Baptists, he begins: “To whom it may concern, … .”</p>
<p>If you’re God, would you bother to listen?</p>
<p>Most Americans think so.</p>
<p>I’ve got my doubts.</p>
<p>Fairleigh Dickinson University’s <a href="http://publicmind.fdu.edu/" type="external">PublicMind survey</a> asked citizens what they think about U.S. Supreme Court cases. Anytown’s scenario parallels Greece v. Galloway. The lawsuit questions whether public government meetings can be opened with specific religious prayers — such as praying in Jesus’ name.</p>
<p>A Jew and an atheist sued the city of Greece, N.Y., which began its meetings with Christian prayers. They claim the practice violates the First Amendment, which bans government establishment of religion. Even when officials invited non-Christians to pray, they still violated the amendment, the plaintiffs contend.</p>
<p>Greece’s city leaders “were trying their best not to offend anyone by making prayers as generic as possible,” Peter Woolley, political science professor at Farleigh Dickenson, told Religion News Service. “In this survey, we asked if this is an acceptable way to approach the problem.”</p>
<p>The vast majority of Americans agree it is.</p>
<p>Seventy-three percent affirmed, “Prayer at public meetings is fine as long as the public officials are not favoring some beliefs over others,” Woolley reported. Twenty-three percent countered, “Public meetings shouldn’t have any prayers at all, because prayers by definition suggest one belief over another.”</p>
<p>The key to gathering broad-based support is requiring generic — “harmless, if not uplifting” — prayers at public events, Woolley told RNS. “Americans have become more used to the idea that one denomination is not necessarily privileged over another. Even unbelievers — atheists who would say prayer ‘is not for me’ — approved.”</p>
<p>Well, of course, atheists approved. They understand generic “To whom it may concern” prayers aren’t worth protesting. Atheists know they have nothing to fear from faux prayer.</p>
<p>You’d think Christians would fear watered-down mumbling masquerading as prayer. You’d be wrong. Overt religiosity correlates directly with support for generic public prayer, the survey showed:</p>
<p>• 86 percent of Americans who attend religious services at least once or twice a month favor generic public prayer; 11 percent do not.</p>
<p>• 73 percent of respondents who go to church only a few times a year favor; 26 percent do not.</p>
<p>• 58 percent of those who rarely or never worship support; 36 percent oppose.</p>
<p>Why is this attitude so troubling? Three reasons come to mind.</p>
<p>First, it blasphemes the God we claim to worship.</p>
<p>The prophet Amos spoke for God regarding shallow, showy, meaningless religious practice: “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me ….” (Amos 5:21).</p>
<p>Second, it undermines true prayer.</p>
<p>Generic prayer weakens our assertion prayer matters. If you agree prayer is so innocuous you can toss it up indiscriminately, you undermine the idea God cares about and/or gets involved in the world. You say prayer is a mere civic formality, devoid of meaning and power.</p>
<p>Third, it’s anti-evangelistic.</p>
<p>Christians often claim they want all people to follow Jesus. But then they either disrespect others’ beliefs and rub their noses in real prayers or pacify their own piosity with generic prayers. Neither approach guides people toward faith.</p>
<p>In fact, generic prayers prop up American civil religion. When religious practices are so placid they appease everyone, they’re practically meaningless. They inoculate unbelievers against true faith.</p>
<p>You know how a vaccine works: Medical staff inject dead or weak disease cells into a person. The cells aren’t strong enough to make the person sick; just strong enough so the person builds up antibodies for the disease. That sounds like civil religion; tepid generic prayer is Exhibit A.</p>
<p>Of course, prayer still has value in our society. Here are solutions to the “To whom it may concern” public-prayer imbroglio:</p>
<p>• Observe a moment of silence at the beginning of public meetings. People of faith may pray. Others can check their email. But real prayers are said.</p>
<p>• Pray privately in the meeting. Pray quietly, with your eyes open. If you value prayer in public meetings, pray without ceasing. But keep it between you and God.</p>
<p>• Pray before you leave home. Jesus advised praying in private. God is smart enough to connect the dots between at-home prayers and divine involvement in society.</p>
<p>• Pray for the community continuously. Nobody will regulate prayer in your church. Make praying for your community a major component of your worship.</p>
|
America’s God-awful perspective on God-absent prayer
| false |
https://baptistnews.com/article/america-s-god-awful-perspective-on-god-absent-prayer/
| 3left-center
|
America’s God-awful perspective on God-absent prayer
<p>By Marv Knox</p>
<p>Imagine you’re God, and you care about what happens in Anytown, USA. It’s Tuesday evening, and you’re ready for someone in Anytown to request your guidance over the city council meeting.</p>
<p>The mayor calls on the ministerial alliance president to offer the invocation. Then, by mutual consent of everybody from pagans to Presbyterians and Buddhists to Baptists, he begins: “To whom it may concern, … .”</p>
<p>If you’re God, would you bother to listen?</p>
<p>Most Americans think so.</p>
<p>I’ve got my doubts.</p>
<p>Fairleigh Dickinson University’s <a href="http://publicmind.fdu.edu/" type="external">PublicMind survey</a> asked citizens what they think about U.S. Supreme Court cases. Anytown’s scenario parallels Greece v. Galloway. The lawsuit questions whether public government meetings can be opened with specific religious prayers — such as praying in Jesus’ name.</p>
<p>A Jew and an atheist sued the city of Greece, N.Y., which began its meetings with Christian prayers. They claim the practice violates the First Amendment, which bans government establishment of religion. Even when officials invited non-Christians to pray, they still violated the amendment, the plaintiffs contend.</p>
<p>Greece’s city leaders “were trying their best not to offend anyone by making prayers as generic as possible,” Peter Woolley, political science professor at Farleigh Dickenson, told Religion News Service. “In this survey, we asked if this is an acceptable way to approach the problem.”</p>
<p>The vast majority of Americans agree it is.</p>
<p>Seventy-three percent affirmed, “Prayer at public meetings is fine as long as the public officials are not favoring some beliefs over others,” Woolley reported. Twenty-three percent countered, “Public meetings shouldn’t have any prayers at all, because prayers by definition suggest one belief over another.”</p>
<p>The key to gathering broad-based support is requiring generic — “harmless, if not uplifting” — prayers at public events, Woolley told RNS. “Americans have become more used to the idea that one denomination is not necessarily privileged over another. Even unbelievers — atheists who would say prayer ‘is not for me’ — approved.”</p>
<p>Well, of course, atheists approved. They understand generic “To whom it may concern” prayers aren’t worth protesting. Atheists know they have nothing to fear from faux prayer.</p>
<p>You’d think Christians would fear watered-down mumbling masquerading as prayer. You’d be wrong. Overt religiosity correlates directly with support for generic public prayer, the survey showed:</p>
<p>• 86 percent of Americans who attend religious services at least once or twice a month favor generic public prayer; 11 percent do not.</p>
<p>• 73 percent of respondents who go to church only a few times a year favor; 26 percent do not.</p>
<p>• 58 percent of those who rarely or never worship support; 36 percent oppose.</p>
<p>Why is this attitude so troubling? Three reasons come to mind.</p>
<p>First, it blasphemes the God we claim to worship.</p>
<p>The prophet Amos spoke for God regarding shallow, showy, meaningless religious practice: “I hate, I despise your religious festivals; your assemblies are a stench to me ….” (Amos 5:21).</p>
<p>Second, it undermines true prayer.</p>
<p>Generic prayer weakens our assertion prayer matters. If you agree prayer is so innocuous you can toss it up indiscriminately, you undermine the idea God cares about and/or gets involved in the world. You say prayer is a mere civic formality, devoid of meaning and power.</p>
<p>Third, it’s anti-evangelistic.</p>
<p>Christians often claim they want all people to follow Jesus. But then they either disrespect others’ beliefs and rub their noses in real prayers or pacify their own piosity with generic prayers. Neither approach guides people toward faith.</p>
<p>In fact, generic prayers prop up American civil religion. When religious practices are so placid they appease everyone, they’re practically meaningless. They inoculate unbelievers against true faith.</p>
<p>You know how a vaccine works: Medical staff inject dead or weak disease cells into a person. The cells aren’t strong enough to make the person sick; just strong enough so the person builds up antibodies for the disease. That sounds like civil religion; tepid generic prayer is Exhibit A.</p>
<p>Of course, prayer still has value in our society. Here are solutions to the “To whom it may concern” public-prayer imbroglio:</p>
<p>• Observe a moment of silence at the beginning of public meetings. People of faith may pray. Others can check their email. But real prayers are said.</p>
<p>• Pray privately in the meeting. Pray quietly, with your eyes open. If you value prayer in public meetings, pray without ceasing. But keep it between you and God.</p>
<p>• Pray before you leave home. Jesus advised praying in private. God is smart enough to connect the dots between at-home prayers and divine involvement in society.</p>
<p>• Pray for the community continuously. Nobody will regulate prayer in your church. Make praying for your community a major component of your worship.</p>
| 7,435 |
|
<p>It feels, and sounds, like something from a World War II thriller.</p>
<p>As Syria's slow motion revolution grinds on and the military lays siege to key protest areas, the self-declared rebels of Zabadani, a picturesque mountain town, 40 km north-west of Damascus, have begun handing out leaflets instructing residents what to do in the event of their army invading.</p>
<p>"Recommendations of the rebels to the people in the event of an invasion of the Zabadani region," starts the leaflet, written by members of the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), a grassroots opposition movement.</p>
<p>Residents must stock up on food, hide valuables and destroy any incriminating evidence of activities related to the uprising, says the leaflet, urging people to collect family members together while youth activists escape with enough supplies to survive for a few days in hiding.</p>
<p>"Any attempt to confront the army and prevent it from entering is useless," read the leaflet. "Avoid provoking elements of the army and their thugs [?] We must show solidarity and cohesion among us, and hide our fear. We do not accept humiliation. Our dignity and pride are the most precious thing we have. However, we recommend not to resist arrest and avoid direct confrontation and antagonism if possible."</p>
<p>Almost four months into the Syrian uprising, which has seen more than 1,600 people killed, around 12,000 people arrested, in many cases tortured, the Syrian army and security forces continue to lay siege to several key protest centres, disconnecting water supplies and cutting all communications in an attempt to crush the protests.</p>
<p>The leaflet warns that "the interruption of electricity or communications is a prelude to a campaign of arrests or military invasion, and should be considered an early warning."</p>
<p>"There are rumors saying that the army will enter the region in the next few days, so we are busy helping give advice to people," a member of the LCC in Zabadni told Global Post. The town has been surrounded by the army for more than two months. "Now I'm just thinking how I can protect my family," he said. "We are suffering." &#160;</p>
|
?Recommendations of the rebels in the event of an invasion.?
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2011-07-09/recommendations-rebels-event-invasion
|
2011-07-09
| 3left-center
|
?Recommendations of the rebels in the event of an invasion.?
<p>It feels, and sounds, like something from a World War II thriller.</p>
<p>As Syria's slow motion revolution grinds on and the military lays siege to key protest areas, the self-declared rebels of Zabadani, a picturesque mountain town, 40 km north-west of Damascus, have begun handing out leaflets instructing residents what to do in the event of their army invading.</p>
<p>"Recommendations of the rebels to the people in the event of an invasion of the Zabadani region," starts the leaflet, written by members of the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), a grassroots opposition movement.</p>
<p>Residents must stock up on food, hide valuables and destroy any incriminating evidence of activities related to the uprising, says the leaflet, urging people to collect family members together while youth activists escape with enough supplies to survive for a few days in hiding.</p>
<p>"Any attempt to confront the army and prevent it from entering is useless," read the leaflet. "Avoid provoking elements of the army and their thugs [?] We must show solidarity and cohesion among us, and hide our fear. We do not accept humiliation. Our dignity and pride are the most precious thing we have. However, we recommend not to resist arrest and avoid direct confrontation and antagonism if possible."</p>
<p>Almost four months into the Syrian uprising, which has seen more than 1,600 people killed, around 12,000 people arrested, in many cases tortured, the Syrian army and security forces continue to lay siege to several key protest centres, disconnecting water supplies and cutting all communications in an attempt to crush the protests.</p>
<p>The leaflet warns that "the interruption of electricity or communications is a prelude to a campaign of arrests or military invasion, and should be considered an early warning."</p>
<p>"There are rumors saying that the army will enter the region in the next few days, so we are busy helping give advice to people," a member of the LCC in Zabadni told Global Post. The town has been surrounded by the army for more than two months. "Now I'm just thinking how I can protect my family," he said. "We are suffering." &#160;</p>
| 7,436 |
<p>When Donald Trump spoke at the rally in Pennsylvania for some GOP candidate whose name he barely mentioned, Trump naturally launched into a medley of his campaign’s greatest hits. One of those most clamored for by his audience of fanatics was that old familiar refrain “Build the Wall.” And Trump didn’t disappoint his fans as he once again promised that the wall would be built “100 percent.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2071203169561134" type="external" /></p>
<p>The following day Fox News jumped on this critical breaking story with a report on Fox and Friends First. Host Heather Childers interviewed the Trump sycophant head of the so-called National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd. In Childers introduction of Judd she summarized what would be the theme of the whole segment:</p>
<p>“A brand new report says the wall could pay for itself by eliminating the need for welfare and other taxpayer funded benefits given to illegal immigrants.”</p>
<p>Wow, really? Actually, no. The report cited by Childers was published by the ultra-conservative assembly of xenophobes known as the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). It concluded that undocumented immigrants in the United States were consuming sixty-four billion dollars in federal benefits from welfare, public education and refundable tax credits. Outside of education, Childers and CIS were simply making most of that up. The immigrants in question are not eligible for welfare of any type, including ObamaCare. And how can they receive refundable tax credits if they aren’t filing tax returns? The truth is that <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-01/study-undocumented-immigrants-pay-billions-in-taxes" type="external">immigrants provide far more financial benefits</a> to the the country than anything they consume.</p>
<p>Through a flurry of leading questions, Judd repeated the findings from the same CIS study. And he went on to say that the wall “will cut down on what the taxpayer burden will be, which will then go straight into funding the wall.” That’s an impressively delusional statement. Let’s try to follow his logic. What Judd is saying that taxpayers would be relieved from having to pay welfare benefits for illegal immigrants (we’ll set aside for the moment that there are no such benefits). But that tax revenues would instead be shifted to paying for Trump’s wall. So contrary to Judd’s comment, there is no reduction in the burden of the taxpayers at all.</p>
<p>Furthermore, Judd is conceding that it’s the taxpayers who are paying for the wall. So the lede in this story where Childers claimed that the wall would pay for itself was a lie. It would be paid for by the aforementioned taxpayers. And in that case, it would not be paid for by Mexico, as promised by the President. Judd called this “a brilliant way to go about it. And that’s the business strategy that President Trump brings to the American people.”</p>
<p>It’s rather ludicrous to characterize this idiocy as “brilliant.” But it’s pretty accurate to say that it’s characteristic of Trump’s business strategy. As a failed businessman who has declared bankruptcy at least six times, Trump can hardly qualify as a business expert. He is a practitioner if <a href="http://amzn.to/2FCsVDM" type="external">“Disaster Capitalism”</a> (hat tip: Naomi Klein), who exploits his failures for his own gain at the expense of everyone he does business with. And as president, that means the American people are the chumps in his greedy game. And Fox News is his PR division that airs garbage like this interview in order to help Trump fleece the nation.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p>
<p>Watch the latest video at &lt;a href="//video.foxnews.com"&gt;video.foxnews.com&lt;/a&gt;</p>
|
Fox News Lies: Trump’s Border Wall Can Be Paid for By Cutting Welfare – Still Not By Mexico
| true |
http://newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p%3D9751
| 4left
|
Fox News Lies: Trump’s Border Wall Can Be Paid for By Cutting Welfare – Still Not By Mexico
<p>When Donald Trump spoke at the rally in Pennsylvania for some GOP candidate whose name he barely mentioned, Trump naturally launched into a medley of his campaign’s greatest hits. One of those most clamored for by his audience of fanatics was that old familiar refrain “Build the Wall.” And Trump didn’t disappoint his fans as he once again promised that the wall would be built “100 percent.”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/NewsCorpse/posts/2071203169561134" type="external" /></p>
<p>The following day Fox News jumped on this critical breaking story with a report on Fox and Friends First. Host Heather Childers interviewed the Trump sycophant head of the so-called National Border Patrol Council, Brandon Judd. In Childers introduction of Judd she summarized what would be the theme of the whole segment:</p>
<p>“A brand new report says the wall could pay for itself by eliminating the need for welfare and other taxpayer funded benefits given to illegal immigrants.”</p>
<p>Wow, really? Actually, no. The report cited by Childers was published by the ultra-conservative assembly of xenophobes known as the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). It concluded that undocumented immigrants in the United States were consuming sixty-four billion dollars in federal benefits from welfare, public education and refundable tax credits. Outside of education, Childers and CIS were simply making most of that up. The immigrants in question are not eligible for welfare of any type, including ObamaCare. And how can they receive refundable tax credits if they aren’t filing tax returns? The truth is that <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-01/study-undocumented-immigrants-pay-billions-in-taxes" type="external">immigrants provide far more financial benefits</a> to the the country than anything they consume.</p>
<p>Through a flurry of leading questions, Judd repeated the findings from the same CIS study. And he went on to say that the wall “will cut down on what the taxpayer burden will be, which will then go straight into funding the wall.” That’s an impressively delusional statement. Let’s try to follow his logic. What Judd is saying that taxpayers would be relieved from having to pay welfare benefits for illegal immigrants (we’ll set aside for the moment that there are no such benefits). But that tax revenues would instead be shifted to paying for Trump’s wall. So contrary to Judd’s comment, there is no reduction in the burden of the taxpayers at all.</p>
<p>Furthermore, Judd is conceding that it’s the taxpayers who are paying for the wall. So the lede in this story where Childers claimed that the wall would pay for itself was a lie. It would be paid for by the aforementioned taxpayers. And in that case, it would not be paid for by Mexico, as promised by the President. Judd called this “a brilliant way to go about it. And that’s the business strategy that President Trump brings to the American people.”</p>
<p>It’s rather ludicrous to characterize this idiocy as “brilliant.” But it’s pretty accurate to say that it’s characteristic of Trump’s business strategy. As a failed businessman who has declared bankruptcy at least six times, Trump can hardly qualify as a business expert. He is a practitioner if <a href="http://amzn.to/2FCsVDM" type="external">“Disaster Capitalism”</a> (hat tip: Naomi Klein), who exploits his failures for his own gain at the expense of everyone he does business with. And as president, that means the American people are the chumps in his greedy game. And Fox News is his PR division that airs garbage like this interview in order to help Trump fleece the nation.</p>
<p>How Fox News Deceives and Controls Their Flock: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QSSMOES/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=B00QSSMOES&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=newscorpsecom-20&amp;linkId=TLI6JC2OYE22MUTS" type="external">Fox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.</a> Available now at Amazon.</p>
<p>Watch the latest video at &lt;a href="//video.foxnews.com"&gt;video.foxnews.com&lt;/a&gt;</p>
| 7,437 |
|
<p />
<p>Jeralyn Merritt <a href="http://talkleft.com/new_archives/011438.html" type="external">asks a question</a>:</p>
<p />
<p>Will Karl Rove resign? Or continue to confidently maintain he’s done nothing wrong and bank on escaping Fitzgerald’s clutches? And if Rove goes down, who’s going to go down with him? My bet is it will be Cheney’s staff.</p>
<p>I haven’t followed the Plame scandal too closely—Salon‘s <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/07/12/rove/" type="external">primer</a> seems as good an intro as any—but don’t the answers here seem obvious? “No, yes, no, no.” Sorry to be so glib, but why on earth would Rove ever resign? Bush certainly didn’t “accept” Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation. At absolute best, Turd Blossom might get frog-marched off to prison, though that seems somewhat unlikely at this point, and at any rate, I’m sure Rove can still coordinate any and all upcoming White House smear campaigns from the comfort of his prison cell, via Blackberry. (And even in this case, there’s always the possibility of a presidential pardon. Brazen? Of course. So it was when Pa Bush pardoned Casper Weinberger and the other Iran-Contra criminals he had been hobnobbing with only a few years prior.) I’d love to be wrong, but still.</p>
<p>Anyway, the Rove frenzy is fun, though Billmon’s <a href="http://billmon.org/archives/001971.html" type="external">line of inquiry here</a> seems far more important, namely, Who was forging those original reports suggesting that Iraq had acquired yellowcake from Niger? One possible answer to this question, <a href="" type="internal">first floated</a> by Seymour Hersh a while back, is that the fake documents were an inside job, forged by someone within U.S. intelligence who wanted the Iraq hawks to latch onto documents so ridiculous that they could be discredited when the issue became public. Indeed, Dick Cheney and other Iraq hawks did latch onto the documents, Bush repeated the yellowcake information in a 2002 speech in Cincinnati, and the ensuing flap with Joseph Wilson was a fairly serious roadblock on the march to war.</p>
<p>Hersh’s theory doesn’t seem so far-fetched upon closer inspection, either. According to the <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/2004_rpt/iraq-wmd-intell_chapter2-g.htm" type="external">Senate’s investigation</a> into the matter, the State Department had originally discredited a documents about Iraq, Niger, and yellowcake, because it was accompanied by another document—complete with the same “official” seal—claiming that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Iran had allied together and were plotting against the world. That struck INR, State’s intelligence agency, as “completely implausible,” and the agency concluded that the documents were probably forged. But the Iraq hawks stuck by the documents all the same. Another later document specified that Iraq had agreed to purchase one-sixth of Niger’s annual uranium production. Also ridiculous, and yet the hawks bought it. Presumably all of these reports came from a “foreign intelligence agency,” which is thought to be SISMI, the Italian intel agency, but no one knows where SISMI got the documents.</p>
<p>So is that it? An inside job? Why else would anyone forge documents so ridiculous? There’s also the vague-but-disturbing possibility that the documents might have originated from certain Iranian businessmen with close ties to Tehran, who also happen to have a <a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0410.marshallrozen.html" type="external">working relationship</a> with SISMI. Indeed, Laura Rozen <a href="http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/000877.html" type="external">once observed</a> that SISMI is fairly soft on Iran, having reportedly failed to crack down on Iran’s efforts to acquire dual-use technology in the past. Hmmm… The theory that certain Iranian elements might have forged and then circulated the Niger documents through the Italians in order to draw the United States into war with Iraq is pretty wild, but who knows? We also know that Ahmed Chalabi, who fed the U.S.—and New York Times reporter Judith Miller—incorrect information about Saddam Hussein’s WMD programs, was later revealed to have close ties with Iran, and <a href="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4881157/" type="external">possibly even spied</a> on the CPA for Iranian intelligence. Meanwhile, one can’t help but notice that Iran’s in a strong position now—having signed a <a href="http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/1614" type="external">military alliance</a> with its longtime regional rival, and having bogged down the United States right next door. Hmmm…. Maybe this is all idle speculation, but it seems much more fascinating to me than the non-possibility that Bush might fire Karl Rove.</p>
<p>UPDATE: Josh Marshall <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_07_10.php#006063" type="external">points out</a> there might also be a John Bolton angle to the document story. “Confidence in the documents kept getting knocked down. But someone or some group kept giving them fresh life. And, improbably, those someones seemed to be at the State Department.” Could we spare, perhaps, another “Hmmm….”</p>
<p>UPDATE: Argh, score one for lack of reading comprehension. I read Billmon’s original post way too quickly and missed the real story. My speculation in the post above all has to do with the obvious Niger forgeries that everyone always talks about, the one INR dismissed as “completely implausible,” whose origins are still unknown. But Billmon was asking about another set of Niger forgeries, a much better and more convincing set, ones provided to the CIA in winter of 2001-02. Which are also still mysterious in origins, but seem to be done by much more capable people. Certainly not CIA agents trying to discredit the hawks. But Iranian agents or, perhaps, someone connected to John Bolton’s shop? You’d have to be crazy to believe that, right?</p>
<p />
|
The Other Plame Story
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2005/07/other-plame-story/
|
2005-07-12
| 4left
|
The Other Plame Story
<p />
<p>Jeralyn Merritt <a href="http://talkleft.com/new_archives/011438.html" type="external">asks a question</a>:</p>
<p />
<p>Will Karl Rove resign? Or continue to confidently maintain he’s done nothing wrong and bank on escaping Fitzgerald’s clutches? And if Rove goes down, who’s going to go down with him? My bet is it will be Cheney’s staff.</p>
<p>I haven’t followed the Plame scandal too closely—Salon‘s <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/07/12/rove/" type="external">primer</a> seems as good an intro as any—but don’t the answers here seem obvious? “No, yes, no, no.” Sorry to be so glib, but why on earth would Rove ever resign? Bush certainly didn’t “accept” Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation. At absolute best, Turd Blossom might get frog-marched off to prison, though that seems somewhat unlikely at this point, and at any rate, I’m sure Rove can still coordinate any and all upcoming White House smear campaigns from the comfort of his prison cell, via Blackberry. (And even in this case, there’s always the possibility of a presidential pardon. Brazen? Of course. So it was when Pa Bush pardoned Casper Weinberger and the other Iran-Contra criminals he had been hobnobbing with only a few years prior.) I’d love to be wrong, but still.</p>
<p>Anyway, the Rove frenzy is fun, though Billmon’s <a href="http://billmon.org/archives/001971.html" type="external">line of inquiry here</a> seems far more important, namely, Who was forging those original reports suggesting that Iraq had acquired yellowcake from Niger? One possible answer to this question, <a href="" type="internal">first floated</a> by Seymour Hersh a while back, is that the fake documents were an inside job, forged by someone within U.S. intelligence who wanted the Iraq hawks to latch onto documents so ridiculous that they could be discredited when the issue became public. Indeed, Dick Cheney and other Iraq hawks did latch onto the documents, Bush repeated the yellowcake information in a 2002 speech in Cincinnati, and the ensuing flap with Joseph Wilson was a fairly serious roadblock on the march to war.</p>
<p>Hersh’s theory doesn’t seem so far-fetched upon closer inspection, either. According to the <a href="http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/congress/2004_rpt/iraq-wmd-intell_chapter2-g.htm" type="external">Senate’s investigation</a> into the matter, the State Department had originally discredited a documents about Iraq, Niger, and yellowcake, because it was accompanied by another document—complete with the same “official” seal—claiming that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Iran had allied together and were plotting against the world. That struck INR, State’s intelligence agency, as “completely implausible,” and the agency concluded that the documents were probably forged. But the Iraq hawks stuck by the documents all the same. Another later document specified that Iraq had agreed to purchase one-sixth of Niger’s annual uranium production. Also ridiculous, and yet the hawks bought it. Presumably all of these reports came from a “foreign intelligence agency,” which is thought to be SISMI, the Italian intel agency, but no one knows where SISMI got the documents.</p>
<p>So is that it? An inside job? Why else would anyone forge documents so ridiculous? There’s also the vague-but-disturbing possibility that the documents might have originated from certain Iranian businessmen with close ties to Tehran, who also happen to have a <a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0410.marshallrozen.html" type="external">working relationship</a> with SISMI. Indeed, Laura Rozen <a href="http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/000877.html" type="external">once observed</a> that SISMI is fairly soft on Iran, having reportedly failed to crack down on Iran’s efforts to acquire dual-use technology in the past. Hmmm… The theory that certain Iranian elements might have forged and then circulated the Niger documents through the Italians in order to draw the United States into war with Iraq is pretty wild, but who knows? We also know that Ahmed Chalabi, who fed the U.S.—and New York Times reporter Judith Miller—incorrect information about Saddam Hussein’s WMD programs, was later revealed to have close ties with Iran, and <a href="http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4881157/" type="external">possibly even spied</a> on the CPA for Iranian intelligence. Meanwhile, one can’t help but notice that Iran’s in a strong position now—having signed a <a href="http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/1614" type="external">military alliance</a> with its longtime regional rival, and having bogged down the United States right next door. Hmmm…. Maybe this is all idle speculation, but it seems much more fascinating to me than the non-possibility that Bush might fire Karl Rove.</p>
<p>UPDATE: Josh Marshall <a href="http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_07_10.php#006063" type="external">points out</a> there might also be a John Bolton angle to the document story. “Confidence in the documents kept getting knocked down. But someone or some group kept giving them fresh life. And, improbably, those someones seemed to be at the State Department.” Could we spare, perhaps, another “Hmmm….”</p>
<p>UPDATE: Argh, score one for lack of reading comprehension. I read Billmon’s original post way too quickly and missed the real story. My speculation in the post above all has to do with the obvious Niger forgeries that everyone always talks about, the one INR dismissed as “completely implausible,” whose origins are still unknown. But Billmon was asking about another set of Niger forgeries, a much better and more convincing set, ones provided to the CIA in winter of 2001-02. Which are also still mysterious in origins, but seem to be done by much more capable people. Certainly not CIA agents trying to discredit the hawks. But Iranian agents or, perhaps, someone connected to John Bolton’s shop? You’d have to be crazy to believe that, right?</p>
<p />
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<p>Every day, Wall Street analysts upgrade some stocks, downgrade others, and "initiate coverage" on a few more. But do these analysts even know what they're talking about? Today, we're taking one high-profile Wall Street pick and putting it under the microscope...</p>
<p>A funny thing happened to Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE) stock investors last month&#160;-- and by "funny," I mean "horrible."</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>On Aug. 8, the maker of Bubble Wrap box filler and Cryovac food packaging released Q2 earnings numbers that (barely) missed Wall Street's target for profits, but beat targets for sales (also barely). Adding clarity to where the company is heading, Sealed Air then proceeded to raise its guidance for the rest of 2017. Problem was, it didn't raise guidance enough; the midpoint of company's new range for expected adjusted earnings -- $1.75 to $1.80 per share -- fell a bit short of Wall Street's expectations of $1.79 per share, and Sealed Air's sales target likewise fell short of expectations.</p>
<p>Result: Sealed Air stock plunged, and was recently sighted more than 7% below pre-earnings highs.</p>
<p>But that's just the bad news. Now here's the good news.</p>
<p>Sealed Air sprung a leak last month, there's no doubt about that. But according to one Wall Street banker, it's also delivering investors an opportunity to buy the stock at a good price. This morning, <a href="https://www.streetinsider.com/Analyst+Comments/UPDATE%3A+BofAMerrill+Lynch+Upgrades+Sealed+Air+%28SEE%29+to+Buy/13316020.html" type="external">StreetInsider.com Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;(requires subscription) spotted Bank of America's Merrill Lynch brokerage unit releasing an upgrade for Sealed Air stock.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Announcing a new buy rating and a $48 price target, Merrill muses that Sealed Air shares are now "down [by a] double digit percent relative to the&#160;S&amp;P&#160;500 since mid-August," writes StreetInsider. (The stock has also lost 10% of its value over the past year, versus a 15% gain on the S&amp;P 500 -- a 25% divergence in fortunes.) That all sounds bad, but in Merrill's view, it gives investors "a better entry point" into the stock than they've had in some time.</p>
<p>That Sealed Air stock is cheaper now than then is obvious, but before clicking "buy," it behooves investors to ask, "Why?" Last quarter, Sealed Air reported&#160;a modest 3% growth rate in its overall sales, but with resin prices rising, the company admitted that its cost of sales grew nearly twice as fast -- 5.4%. This higher costs of goods sold depressed margins and reduced Sealed Air's operating profits for the quarter.</p>
<p>As Merrill Lynch explains in a note covered by <a href="http://thefly.com/news.php?symbol=SEE" type="external">TheFly.com Opens a New Window.</a>, however, things may soon turn around for Sealed Air. Profit margins and profits should bounce back nicely as resin prices moderate. Plus, the company just finished&#160;selling its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/01/3-top-dividend-stocks-in-packaging.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Diversey Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;institutional cleaning and hygiene products&#160;division to Bain Capital in a deal that yielded $3.2 billion -- money that can be applied to paying down Sealed Air's debt and buying back shares.</p>
<p>In fact, Sealed Air plans to do exactly that with its $3.2 billion. In announcing the deal to sell Diversey to Bain back in March, Sealed Air committed&#160;to using "the proceeds" of the sale "to repay debt ... repurchase shares to minimize earnings dilution, and fund core growth initiatives, including potential complementary acquisitions to its Food Care and Product Care divisions." Roughly half the company's&#160;take from the now-completed sale will be used to "increase of the share repurchase program by an additional $1.5 billion of Sealed Air common stock," with the balance going to paying down debt and complementary acquisitions.</p>
<p>And now Merrill Lynch is endorsing Sealed Air's approach, and advising investors to follow suit. Is that the right call?</p>
<p>Let's crunch the numbers.</p>
<p>With an $8.1 billion market capitalization and $4.2 billion in net debt, Sealed Air as a whole carries an <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-enterprise-value-and-why-is-it-important.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">enterprise value Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;of $12.3 billion. Against that number, the company reported earnings of $379 million over the past year, and free cash flow of $606 million (according to data from <a href="http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>).</p>
<p>That values all of Sealed Air stock at roughly 32.5 times earnings and 20.3 times free cash flow. At first glance these numbers look pretty expensive, given that most analysts who follow the stock expect Sealed Air to grow earnings at less than 14% annually over the next five years. But what about at second glance?</p>
<p>Now that Sealed Air has sold Diversey to Bain, the numbers are going to shift a bit. Enterprise value will come down as debt gets paid down. Earnings growth (per share, at least) will spike as shares get bought back, concentrating profits among fewer shares outstanding. On the other hand, though, with Diversey no longer in the mix, overall profits will probably shrink. Indeed, in its Q2 earnings report, Sealed Air warned that free cash flow at the company will probably fall by more than a third this year, from 2016's $631 million to "approximately $400 million" in 2017.</p>
<p>So what's the upshot? If Sealed Air's enterprise value post-divestiture were to decline by the entire value of the Diversey transaction (hint: it won't), the new enterprise value would be $9.1 billion. But that would still leave the company valued at about 22.8 times free cash flow based on the latest 2017 projections -- more expensive than the stock was before it sold its second-biggest business division. Given this, I have to take issue with Merrill Lynch's decision to upgrade the stock today.</p>
<p>Post-divestiture, I think Sealed Air looks like a worse investment than before -- not a better one.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Sealed AirWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=44398d2d-7ad9-429a-9e8e-e58d6751e3a0&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Sealed Air wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=44398d2d-7ad9-429a-9e8e-e58d6751e3a0&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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This Just In: Sealed Air Stock Upgraded
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http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/09/21/this-just-in-sealed-air-stock-upgraded.html
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2017-09-21
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This Just In: Sealed Air Stock Upgraded
<p>Every day, Wall Street analysts upgrade some stocks, downgrade others, and "initiate coverage" on a few more. But do these analysts even know what they're talking about? Today, we're taking one high-profile Wall Street pick and putting it under the microscope...</p>
<p>A funny thing happened to Sealed Air (NYSE: SEE) stock investors last month&#160;-- and by "funny," I mean "horrible."</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>On Aug. 8, the maker of Bubble Wrap box filler and Cryovac food packaging released Q2 earnings numbers that (barely) missed Wall Street's target for profits, but beat targets for sales (also barely). Adding clarity to where the company is heading, Sealed Air then proceeded to raise its guidance for the rest of 2017. Problem was, it didn't raise guidance enough; the midpoint of company's new range for expected adjusted earnings -- $1.75 to $1.80 per share -- fell a bit short of Wall Street's expectations of $1.79 per share, and Sealed Air's sales target likewise fell short of expectations.</p>
<p>Result: Sealed Air stock plunged, and was recently sighted more than 7% below pre-earnings highs.</p>
<p>But that's just the bad news. Now here's the good news.</p>
<p>Sealed Air sprung a leak last month, there's no doubt about that. But according to one Wall Street banker, it's also delivering investors an opportunity to buy the stock at a good price. This morning, <a href="https://www.streetinsider.com/Analyst+Comments/UPDATE%3A+BofAMerrill+Lynch+Upgrades+Sealed+Air+%28SEE%29+to+Buy/13316020.html" type="external">StreetInsider.com Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;(requires subscription) spotted Bank of America's Merrill Lynch brokerage unit releasing an upgrade for Sealed Air stock.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Announcing a new buy rating and a $48 price target, Merrill muses that Sealed Air shares are now "down [by a] double digit percent relative to the&#160;S&amp;P&#160;500 since mid-August," writes StreetInsider. (The stock has also lost 10% of its value over the past year, versus a 15% gain on the S&amp;P 500 -- a 25% divergence in fortunes.) That all sounds bad, but in Merrill's view, it gives investors "a better entry point" into the stock than they've had in some time.</p>
<p>That Sealed Air stock is cheaper now than then is obvious, but before clicking "buy," it behooves investors to ask, "Why?" Last quarter, Sealed Air reported&#160;a modest 3% growth rate in its overall sales, but with resin prices rising, the company admitted that its cost of sales grew nearly twice as fast -- 5.4%. This higher costs of goods sold depressed margins and reduced Sealed Air's operating profits for the quarter.</p>
<p>As Merrill Lynch explains in a note covered by <a href="http://thefly.com/news.php?symbol=SEE" type="external">TheFly.com Opens a New Window.</a>, however, things may soon turn around for Sealed Air. Profit margins and profits should bounce back nicely as resin prices moderate. Plus, the company just finished&#160;selling its <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/08/01/3-top-dividend-stocks-in-packaging.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Diversey Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;institutional cleaning and hygiene products&#160;division to Bain Capital in a deal that yielded $3.2 billion -- money that can be applied to paying down Sealed Air's debt and buying back shares.</p>
<p>In fact, Sealed Air plans to do exactly that with its $3.2 billion. In announcing the deal to sell Diversey to Bain back in March, Sealed Air committed&#160;to using "the proceeds" of the sale "to repay debt ... repurchase shares to minimize earnings dilution, and fund core growth initiatives, including potential complementary acquisitions to its Food Care and Product Care divisions." Roughly half the company's&#160;take from the now-completed sale will be used to "increase of the share repurchase program by an additional $1.5 billion of Sealed Air common stock," with the balance going to paying down debt and complementary acquisitions.</p>
<p>And now Merrill Lynch is endorsing Sealed Air's approach, and advising investors to follow suit. Is that the right call?</p>
<p>Let's crunch the numbers.</p>
<p>With an $8.1 billion market capitalization and $4.2 billion in net debt, Sealed Air as a whole carries an <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/what-is-enterprise-value-and-why-is-it-important.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">enterprise value Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;of $12.3 billion. Against that number, the company reported earnings of $379 million over the past year, and free cash flow of $606 million (according to data from <a href="http://marketintelligence.spglobal.com/" type="external">S&amp;P Global Market Intelligence Opens a New Window.</a>).</p>
<p>That values all of Sealed Air stock at roughly 32.5 times earnings and 20.3 times free cash flow. At first glance these numbers look pretty expensive, given that most analysts who follow the stock expect Sealed Air to grow earnings at less than 14% annually over the next five years. But what about at second glance?</p>
<p>Now that Sealed Air has sold Diversey to Bain, the numbers are going to shift a bit. Enterprise value will come down as debt gets paid down. Earnings growth (per share, at least) will spike as shares get bought back, concentrating profits among fewer shares outstanding. On the other hand, though, with Diversey no longer in the mix, overall profits will probably shrink. Indeed, in its Q2 earnings report, Sealed Air warned that free cash flow at the company will probably fall by more than a third this year, from 2016's $631 million to "approximately $400 million" in 2017.</p>
<p>So what's the upshot? If Sealed Air's enterprise value post-divestiture were to decline by the entire value of the Diversey transaction (hint: it won't), the new enterprise value would be $9.1 billion. But that would still leave the company valued at about 22.8 times free cash flow based on the latest 2017 projections -- more expensive than the stock was before it sold its second-biggest business division. Given this, I have to take issue with Merrill Lynch's decision to upgrade the stock today.</p>
<p>Post-divestiture, I think Sealed Air looks like a worse investment than before -- not a better one.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Sealed AirWhen investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the <a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=44398d2d-7ad9-429a-9e8e-e58d6751e3a0&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">10 best stocks Opens a New Window.</a> for investors to buy right now... and Sealed Air wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-static%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=44398d2d-7ad9-429a-9e8e-e58d6751e3a0&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDitty/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Rich Smith Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;uuid=fe82e43e-9ee2-11e7-855a-0050569d32b9&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 7,439 |
<p>Gold prices fell Friday, after a stronger-than-expected U.S. employment report revived expectations of another Federal Reserve rate increase this year.</p>
<p>Gold for December delivery was recently down 0.6% at $1,267.60 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 209,000 in July from the prior month, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3% from 4.4% the prior month as more people joined the workforce. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 180,000 new jobs and a 4.3% unemployment rate last month.</p>
<p>July's strong number likely forced some investors to take profits on recent gains in the metal, said Peter Hug, director of metal sales at Kitco Metals.</p>
<p>Gold prices are up around 7% this year, lifted in part by expectations that the Fed will take a gradual path toward tightening monetary policy. Higher rates tend to weigh on gold, which struggles to compete with yield-bearing investments when borrowing costs rise.</p>
<p>Mr. Hug, however, believes the central bank is unlikely to move until it sees evidence of inflation returning to the economy.</p>
<p>In base metals, September copper rose 0.4% to $2.8880 a pound.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Write to Ira Iosebashvili at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 04, 2017 09:18 ET (13:18 GMT)</p>
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Metals: Gold Falls After U.S. Employment Report
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2017-08-04
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Metals: Gold Falls After U.S. Employment Report
<p>Gold prices fell Friday, after a stronger-than-expected U.S. employment report revived expectations of another Federal Reserve rate increase this year.</p>
<p>Gold for December delivery was recently down 0.6% at $1,267.60 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 209,000 in July from the prior month, the Labor Department said Friday. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.3% from 4.4% the prior month as more people joined the workforce. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal had expected 180,000 new jobs and a 4.3% unemployment rate last month.</p>
<p>July's strong number likely forced some investors to take profits on recent gains in the metal, said Peter Hug, director of metal sales at Kitco Metals.</p>
<p>Gold prices are up around 7% this year, lifted in part by expectations that the Fed will take a gradual path toward tightening monetary policy. Higher rates tend to weigh on gold, which struggles to compete with yield-bearing investments when borrowing costs rise.</p>
<p>Mr. Hug, however, believes the central bank is unlikely to move until it sees evidence of inflation returning to the economy.</p>
<p>In base metals, September copper rose 0.4% to $2.8880 a pound.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Write to Ira Iosebashvili at [email protected]</p>
<p>(END) Dow Jones Newswires</p>
<p>August 04, 2017 09:18 ET (13:18 GMT)</p>
| 7,440 |
<p>A federal agency tasked with expanding the American dream of home ownership and affordable housing free from discrimination to people of modest means has been quietly moving a chunk of that role to Wall Street since 2002.&#160; In a stealth partial privatization, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) farmed out its mandate of working with single family homeowners in trouble on their mortgages to the industry most responsible for separating people from their savings and creating an unprecedented wealth gap that renders millions unable to pay those mortgages. This industry also ranks as one of the most storied industries in terms of race discrimination.&#160;&#160; Rounding out its dubious housing credentials, Wall Street is now on life support courtesy of the public purse known as TARP as a result of issuing trillions of dollars in miss-rated housing bonds and housing-related derivatives, many of which were nothing more than algorithmic concepts wrapped in a high priced legal opinion.&#160; It’s difficult to imagine a more problematic resume for the new housing czars.</p>
<p>To what degree this surreptitious program has contributed to putting children and families out on the street during one of the worst economic slumps since the ’30s&#160; should be on a Congressional short list for investigation.&#160; HUD’s demand for confidentiality from all bidders and announcement of winning bids to parties known only as “the winning bidder”&#160; deserves its own investigation in terms of obfuscating the public’s right to know and the ability of the press to properly fulfill its function in a free society.</p>
<p>Despite three days of emails and phone calls to HUD officials, they have refused to provide the names of the winning bidders or the firms that teamed as co-bidders with the winning party.&#160; Obtaining this information independently has been akin to extracting a painful splinter wearing a blindfold and oven mitts.</p>
<p>That a taxpayer-supported Federal agency conducts a competitive bid program of over $2 billion and then refuses to announce the names of the winning bidders is beyond contempt for the American people.&#160; If the Obama administration does not quickly purge this Bush mindset from these Federal agencies, he is inviting a massive backlash in the midterm elections.</p>
<p>The HUD program was benignly called Accelerated Claims Disposition (ACD) and was said to be a pilot program.&#160; A pilot program might suggest to those uninformed in the ways of the new Wall Street occupation of America a modest spending outlay; a go slow approach.&#160; In this case, from 2002 to 2005, HUD transferred in excess of $2.4 billion of defaulted mortgages insured by its sibling, the FHA, into the hands of Citigroup, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns while providing the firms with wide latitude to foreclose, restructure or sell off in bundles to investors. HUD retained a minority interest of 30 to 40 percent in each joint venture. Citigroup was awarded the 2002 and 2004 joint ventures; Lehman Brothers the 2003; Bear Stearns the 2005.&#160; I obtained this information by reconciling the aliases used by these firms in foreclosures of HUD properties to the addresses of the corporate parents.&#160; I further confirmed the information by checking the official records at multiple Secretaries of State offices where the firms must register their subsidiaries to do business within the state.</p>
<p>What the program effectively did was allow the biggest retail banks in the country to get accelerated payment on their defaulted, FHA-insured, single family mortgage loans while allowing another set of the biggest investment banks to make huge profits in fees for bundling and selling off the loans as securitizations. Once the loans were securitized (sold off to investors) they were no longer the problem of HUD or the Wall Street bankers. The loans conveniently disappeared from the radar screen and the balance sheet. The family’s fate had been sold off by HUD to Wall Street in exchange for a small piece of the action.&#160; Wall Street then sold off the family’s fate to thousands of investors around the world for a large piece of the action.</p>
<p>HUD has attempted to spin this program as a win-win for everyone with the suggestion that families would have more options under this program.&#160; In a HUD February 17, 2006 report titled “Evaluation of 601 Accelerated Claims Disposition Demonstration,” a few kernels of truth emerged.&#160; It was noted on page 4 that the private partners “determine how best to maximize the return on the loan…Loans liquidated through note sales generally earn a higher return than property sales, so the JV [joint venture] has an incentive to maximize the share of note sales relative to property sales.”&#160; Rather than evaluating the success of the program on how many families were able to get a loan modification and remain in their homes, the report notes that “The benchmark for progress is the share of loans that have reached resolution.”</p>
<p>From its 2002 joint venture, Citigroup dumped en masse 2,599 loans in one securitization alone in August 2004.&#160; It sold another 1,177 at other unknown times.&#160; From its 2004 joint venture, it dumped 1,814 in one fell swoop.&#160; The 2006 HUD report notes that following securitization “there is no information available on the [home] retention after the sale.”</p>
<p>According to HUD’s web site, another major award of $400 million to $800 million in defaulted mortgages was slated for October 23 of last year in the midst of a foreclosure and eviction crisis.&#160;&#160; Lemar Wooley, in HUD’s Office of Public Affairs, advises that the deal never happened as a result of&#160; “no acceptable bids being received.”&#160; Given that we have been promised change we can believe in, I would have much preferred to hear: “We’ve sacked this program as an abhorrent example of privatizing profits and socializing losses while turning our backs on the neediest of our society.”</p>
<p>While this was clearly not a win-win for families in financial distress, two other red flags come to mind.&#160; The 2006 HUD report notes that to be eligible for this program, loans had to be four full payments past due (five full payments past due for the 2005 Bear Stearns deal).&#160; But to securitize the loans, the Wall Street firms had to bring the loans into performing status, that is, up to date in their payments.&#160; The question arises as to whether the investors in the securitizations were advised that these were heretofore defaulted HUD loans.&#160; One might be forgiven for pondering that as a material fact required in a prospectus since there is much data available showing that loans once in default tend to redefault. Some of these investors might unknowingly be you and your family members.&#160; The loans could be sitting right now in public employee pension funds, mutual funds held in 401(k)s, etc.</p>
<p>The second concern is that many of the homes in the deals were foreclosed on in 2006, 2007 and 2008.&#160; By HUD not keeping these loans and insisting on its legal mandate for lenders to attempt loan modifications, special forbearance or partial claims to bring the loans current, what impact did this program have on the foreclosure glut and overall property value declines. It is worth noting what happened to the firms that HUD deemed qualified for this program: &#160;Lehman Brothers collapsed on September 15, 2008.&#160; Bear Stearns required a weekend rescue by JPMorgan Chase and the Fed on March 16/17, 2008.&#160; Citigroup, which got the lions share of the HUD deals, exists today only because of a $45 billion direct infusion from unwilling taxpayers (overruled by their Congress) and hundreds of billions of dollars more in various other government backstop operations – some still undisclosed despite Freedom of Information Act requests and litigation. Future articles in this series will look at how these deals started under the Clinton administration with awards to Goldman Sachs, GE Capital, Blackrock and others, with the dubious protection of Merrill Lynch as the overseer for HUD.&#160; This program also went virtually unnoticed until charges of rigged computers and bid rigging erupted in headlines.&#160; We will also look at the human suffering resulting from this macabre rewriting of the social contract in America.&#160; The series begins today with the most unlikely candidate of all for helping people in need: Citigroup.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>In the early evening of June 26, 2009 I was cleaning up emails I had saved for more careful reading at a later date when I bolted in my chair.&#160; A message from a reader whom I have permission to call Melissa X advised that she had documentation that Citigroup was engaging in dubious real estate transactions out west under an alias.&#160; I immediately answered with a request for specifics and received the following response:</p>
<p>“…a friend asked me to pull the real property records on a house a few doors down from him that he had heard sold at a very low price in a foreclosure sale.&#160; After pulling the property records I just couldn’t believe the price this particular house sold for in the ‘foreclosure sale’ and started looking into the foreclosure purchaser, Liquidation Properties, Inc. (LPI). &#160; I have been a litigation paralegal for 14 years, thus I have a good amount of investigation experience and also in&#160;real estate law as we have a considerable practice in real estate litigation.&#160; Needless to say, my instinct told me something wasn’t right about this&#160;and I Googled the Directors of LPI, who happened to be high level executives at Citigroup Global Markets.&#160; At first I thought that LPI wasn’t a subsidiary of Citigroup because when I was reviewing court records they have filings that say they are a privately owned company with no connection to a publicly traded company.&#160; So, initially, I thought these high level Citigroup execs had formed this company that was purchasing these Citi foreclosures super cheap…one of the Directors of LPI is Jeffrey Perlowitz, who according to his online bio ran the trading desk at [Citigroup’s] Smith Barney during the housing ‘boom’ and is credited for ‘purchase, sales and trading of single family residential mortgages and asset backed securities…’&#160; Then I&#160;ran LPI through Edgar [an SEC search engine] to see if&#160;I could find anything in SEC filings about this entity&#160;and that is how I ended up discovering LPI&#160;is actually a Citi subsidiary.&#160;&#160;I know from reading your articles that you are well aware of how shady Citi is with their subsidiaries.&#160; I particularly liked an article you wrote about the oil markets and how we can’t expect the sleuths at Congress to figure out why the prices went out&#160;of control, and then you linked it to a little talked about Citi subsidiary.”</p>
<p>It took but a few minutes to confirm that Liquidation Properties, Inc. was indeed a subsidiary of Citigroup.&#160; Exhibit 21.01 of Citigroup’s December 31, 2008 SEC filing lists Liquidation Properties Holding Company Inc. and Liquidation Properties Inc. as subsidiaries chartered in Delaware. (But how many people are going to notice that when Citigroup has over 2,000 subsidiaries.) A quick click at the Secretary of State web site for Massachusetts, one of the many states in which Liquidation Partners, Inc. conducts business, revealed the following officers as of March 14, 2007: Randall Costa, President; Scott Freidenrich, Treasurer; Robyn Gomez, Secretary; Jeffrey Perlowitz, Director; Mark Tsesarsky, Director. But just as Melissa X had noticed, there was nothing on this filing to connect this firm with Citigroup or any publicly traded company.&#160; In fact, the form indicated that there were only 200 shares of common stock outstanding.&#160; Citigroup, on the other hand, has an unprecedented and unfathomable 22.9 billion (yes, billion) common shares outstanding, now withering in value alongside the faded dreams of financial security for its shareholders and customers. I reviewed two other documents Melissa X had sent along: two foreclosure filings by Liquidation Properties, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio stating that it was not a “party, a parent, a subsidiary or other affiliate of a publicly owned corporation.”</p>
<p>One other item stood out in this filing: the address of this firm was listed as 388 Greenwich Street in the trendy neighborhood of Tribeca, New York City.&#160; That is where the raucous trading of exotic derivatives, commodities and mortgage securities has traditionally been handled.&#160; The legacy of the swashbuckling culture of the notorious Salomon Brothers, a predecessor firm whose traders rigged the two-year note auction of&#160; U.S. Treasurys in 1991, remains alive in these trading rooms.&#160; Indeed, Jeffrey Perlowitz was a Salomon protégé.&#160; The seminal book on the Salomon culture, Michael Lewis’ “Liar’s Poker,” assigns mortgage traders a philosophy of “ready, fire, aim.” In other words, this is the address of the investment bank of Citigroup with whom these individuals are involved, not the calm bean counters at the retail bank, Citibank.&#160; The investment bank specializes in mergers and acquisitions, lending and trading, with a sophisticated customer base of corporations, governments and institutions.&#160; An investment bank is an unfit place for conducting or even overseeing the hand holding and financial counseling of frightened families who need urgent and sincere help to avoid loosing the roof over their heads.</p>
<p>Call it divine intervention or call it happenstance, but Melissa X had chosen to electronically communicate with a stranger on the other side of the country who just happened to have an indelibly forged mental picture of&#160; 388 Greenwich Street in Tribeca.</p>
<p>At 1 pm on May 20, 1997 an eclectic group of protesters filled the sidewalk in front of 388 Greenwich Street.&#160; I was one of them.&#160; My group, which included Gloria Steinem, came to name the firm (then known as Smith Barney) a Merchant of Shame for its privatized justice system which barred employees, as a condition of employment, from suing the firm in a public court setting.&#160; Tribeca residents spontaneously joined us as they walked by to raise hell about the company’s bizarre selection of signage.</p>
<p>Cemented into the middle of the sidewalk in front of the firm was a 16 foot, 5300 pound, red steel umbrella representing the company’s logo at the time and, I imagined, the physical equivalent of Sandy Weill’s ego, then CEO of the firm. A Business Week article once quoted a former employee saying Weill would steal pennies off a dead man’s eyes.&#160; Mr. Weill’s pennies, plucked from the dying firm’s eyes, eventually added up to $1 billion and he retired not long before the tens of billions of losses squirreled away in Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs) in the Cayman Islands came home to roost.</p>
<p>In what I now recognize as the electronic manifestation of the whoring of Wall Street, a four-story red neon lighted umbrella was mounted near the top of this 39-floor building.&#160; Both the sidewalk and building umbrellas were later removed but I did note in a recent visit to Manhattan that giant and bizarre electronic signs flash messages to pedestrians from the formerly sedate wealth management offices of major Wall Street firms in midtown.</p>
<p>Having verified Melissa X’s information that Liquidation Properties, Inc. was indeed a subsidiary of Citigroup with officers employed by the firm, endowed with the uncanny knack of capturing an inordinate amount of winning bids at foreclosure auctions in depressed neighborhoods, I sat about unraveling the multitude of Byzantine transactions in which it was involved.</p>
<p>The trail led to four more entities: Reo Management 2002, Reo Management 2004, SFJV-2002, and SFJV-2004.&#160; (Reo is an acronym for real estate owned by a bank, typically after an unsuccessful foreclosure auction.) SFJV, I would later learn, was the name of the HUD joint ventures, an acronym for Single Family Joint Venture. SFJV-2002 and SFJV-2004 were, indeed, subsidiaries of Citigroup and being used to facilitate the transfer of foreclosed homes around the country.</p>
<p>The Reo Management firms were listed as subsidiaries of Residential Capital Corp. (ResCap) on its July 15, 2005 filing with the SEC but filings with the Secretary of State in Massachusetts showed the same Citigroup officials at 388 and 390 Greenwich Street in Tribeca as officers and directors:&#160; Costa, Freidenrich, Perlowitz, Tsesarsky.&#160; Filings with other Secretaries of State showed these same four individuals along with numerous other officials at Citigroup.&#160; Reo Management 2002 showed 200 shares of stock issued to unnamed parties while Reo Management 2004 said stock details were not available online.</p>
<p>Why on earth would Citigroup managers be officers of a competitor?&#160; I called people in the know on Wall Street.&#160; No one had ever heard about it or could offer an explanation.&#160;&#160; I called Jeffrey Perlowitz’ secretary and sent her an email requesting an explanation from Mr. Perlowitz.&#160; Mr. Perlowitz took the same position as HUD: silence.</p>
<p>ResCap’s operations include GMAC Mortgage and GMAC-RFC.&#160; Until 2006, GMAC was a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, a company that had been around since 1919 to provide car financing to GM dealers and customers.&#160; In 2006, a majority stake was sold to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity/hedge fund whose investors are a tightly held secret.&#160; The firm is now known as GMAC Financial Services.&#160; In 2008 the Federal Reserve waived its magic wand and GMAC became a bank holding company (now called Ally Bank) and TARP gave $5 billion of taxpayer funds to the entity.&#160; Another $7.5 billion was provided in 2009.&#160; As of June 30th of this year, you and I involuntarily own 35.4 per cent of the firm with Cerberus and its secret investors owning 22 percent.</p>
<p>Since all of us hold the largest block of stock, I felt I might get some answers.&#160; I emailed GMAC and asked what all of this was about.&#160; A spokeswoman responded that “the loans which we acquired from the [HUD] auction happened to be those in which we co-bid with Citi.&#160; The Reo Management 2002 and 2004 entities were set up as subs of those joint ventures to hold the resulting Reo properties until they were resolved.”&#160; I countered with: “Why were officials of Citigroup serving as principals and directors of subsidiaries of ResCap?”&#160;&#160; The spokesperson replied that both Reo Management 2002 and Reo Management 2004 had been dissolved and she had no further information.</p>
<p>After scrutinizing every scrap of paper available through HUD on these deals for endless weeks, I was, as a taxpayer, more than a little nonplussed that I had seen nary a word about co-bidders.&#160; Citigroup operating under an alias in consumer real estate transactions was scary enough, but allowed to team up with another giant player also operating under an alias, all under the imprimatur of a Federal agency, that was beyond rational comprehension.</p>
<p>It’s not like the Federal government didn’t know Citigroup was a serial rogue.&#160; Our tax dollars have been used since this Frankenbank was created to investigate serious crimes, while letting the company off with a fine so it could live on to create even bigger problems the next time around.&#160; In 2001, Citigroup settled with the Federal Trade Commission for $215 million for predatory lending at one of its divisions.&#160; In 2003, Citigroup paid $400 million to U.S. regulators for fraudulent research reports and improper handling of new stock offerings.&#160; In 2004, Citigroup paid $2.65 billion to WorldCom stock and bond holders over its role in the demise of the firm.&#160; Also in 2004 its private bank was kicked out of Japan for money laundering.&#160; In 2005 Citigroup was fined $26 million by Europe’s Financial Services Authority for conducting a trade it internally named “Dr. Evil” that roiled the European bond market.&#160; In that same year, it settled with the SEC for $101 million for helping Enron inflate cash flows and under report debt.&#160; Also in 2005, it settled a private litigation over its role in the bankruptcy of Enron for $2 billion.</p>
<p>HUD’s own Regional Inspector General wrote in a 45-page report issued on November 13, 2008 that CitiMortgage, a unit of Citigroup, placed the FHA insurance fund at an increased risk of loss on one-third of the loans HUD audited at CitiMortgage as result of improper underwriting practices. Melissa X took her concerns not just to me but to the U.S. Attorney’s office.&#160; In one passage of an email to this U.S. Attorney she wrote: “It is such a disappointment to me that our Government has failed us so, and only continues to do so…One must wonder how much the American people will take of this before a total revolution occurs…”</p>
<p>While I was researching this story, a friend forwarded a video clip of Laura Flanders of Grit-TV interviewing the filmmakers of&#160; “American Casino,” Andrew and Leslie Cockburn.&#160; (Yes, they’re all – Laura included – part of that intrepid Cockburn clan whose spirit resides here at CounterPunch in the form of Alexander Cockburn.)&#160; Carefully observe the face of Flanders, the Cockburns and the victims in the film clips.&#160; They all muster&#160; a brave front but I sense an ever present emotion to hang one’s head and weep for the nation. At one point Flanders asks:&#160; “So you think it was all really a scam to transfer money from the vulnerable and the poor to the wealthy?&#160; There was no positive interest in home ownership distribution involved?”&#160; The answers from the Cockburns go to the heart of this crisis.&#160; Both this clip and the movie “American Casino,” playing now in theatres across the U.S.,&#160; provide a critical foundation for understanding that while our government and mighty military chased down men in caves in Afghanistan, the ivy league educated enemy within sacked our nation.&#160; The film premiered in the U.S. in April, ironically, in Tribeca, just moments away from the real, live American Casino, Citigroup.&#160; Watch the interview and clips from the film here: <a href="http://www.americancasinothemovie.com/" type="external">http://www.americancasinothemovie.com/</a></p>
<p>PAM MARTENS worked on Wall Street for 21 years; she has no security position, long or short, in any company mentioned in this article other than that which the U.S. Treasury has thrust upon her and fellow Americans involuntarily through TARP. She writes on public interest issues from New Hampshire. She can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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Wall Street Titans Use Aliases to Foreclose on Families While Partnering With a Federal Agency
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https://counterpunch.org/2009/10/05/wall-street-titans-use-aliases-to-foreclose-on-families-while-partnering-with-a-federal-agency/
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2009-10-05
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Wall Street Titans Use Aliases to Foreclose on Families While Partnering With a Federal Agency
<p>A federal agency tasked with expanding the American dream of home ownership and affordable housing free from discrimination to people of modest means has been quietly moving a chunk of that role to Wall Street since 2002.&#160; In a stealth partial privatization, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) farmed out its mandate of working with single family homeowners in trouble on their mortgages to the industry most responsible for separating people from their savings and creating an unprecedented wealth gap that renders millions unable to pay those mortgages. This industry also ranks as one of the most storied industries in terms of race discrimination.&#160;&#160; Rounding out its dubious housing credentials, Wall Street is now on life support courtesy of the public purse known as TARP as a result of issuing trillions of dollars in miss-rated housing bonds and housing-related derivatives, many of which were nothing more than algorithmic concepts wrapped in a high priced legal opinion.&#160; It’s difficult to imagine a more problematic resume for the new housing czars.</p>
<p>To what degree this surreptitious program has contributed to putting children and families out on the street during one of the worst economic slumps since the ’30s&#160; should be on a Congressional short list for investigation.&#160; HUD’s demand for confidentiality from all bidders and announcement of winning bids to parties known only as “the winning bidder”&#160; deserves its own investigation in terms of obfuscating the public’s right to know and the ability of the press to properly fulfill its function in a free society.</p>
<p>Despite three days of emails and phone calls to HUD officials, they have refused to provide the names of the winning bidders or the firms that teamed as co-bidders with the winning party.&#160; Obtaining this information independently has been akin to extracting a painful splinter wearing a blindfold and oven mitts.</p>
<p>That a taxpayer-supported Federal agency conducts a competitive bid program of over $2 billion and then refuses to announce the names of the winning bidders is beyond contempt for the American people.&#160; If the Obama administration does not quickly purge this Bush mindset from these Federal agencies, he is inviting a massive backlash in the midterm elections.</p>
<p>The HUD program was benignly called Accelerated Claims Disposition (ACD) and was said to be a pilot program.&#160; A pilot program might suggest to those uninformed in the ways of the new Wall Street occupation of America a modest spending outlay; a go slow approach.&#160; In this case, from 2002 to 2005, HUD transferred in excess of $2.4 billion of defaulted mortgages insured by its sibling, the FHA, into the hands of Citigroup, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns while providing the firms with wide latitude to foreclose, restructure or sell off in bundles to investors. HUD retained a minority interest of 30 to 40 percent in each joint venture. Citigroup was awarded the 2002 and 2004 joint ventures; Lehman Brothers the 2003; Bear Stearns the 2005.&#160; I obtained this information by reconciling the aliases used by these firms in foreclosures of HUD properties to the addresses of the corporate parents.&#160; I further confirmed the information by checking the official records at multiple Secretaries of State offices where the firms must register their subsidiaries to do business within the state.</p>
<p>What the program effectively did was allow the biggest retail banks in the country to get accelerated payment on their defaulted, FHA-insured, single family mortgage loans while allowing another set of the biggest investment banks to make huge profits in fees for bundling and selling off the loans as securitizations. Once the loans were securitized (sold off to investors) they were no longer the problem of HUD or the Wall Street bankers. The loans conveniently disappeared from the radar screen and the balance sheet. The family’s fate had been sold off by HUD to Wall Street in exchange for a small piece of the action.&#160; Wall Street then sold off the family’s fate to thousands of investors around the world for a large piece of the action.</p>
<p>HUD has attempted to spin this program as a win-win for everyone with the suggestion that families would have more options under this program.&#160; In a HUD February 17, 2006 report titled “Evaluation of 601 Accelerated Claims Disposition Demonstration,” a few kernels of truth emerged.&#160; It was noted on page 4 that the private partners “determine how best to maximize the return on the loan…Loans liquidated through note sales generally earn a higher return than property sales, so the JV [joint venture] has an incentive to maximize the share of note sales relative to property sales.”&#160; Rather than evaluating the success of the program on how many families were able to get a loan modification and remain in their homes, the report notes that “The benchmark for progress is the share of loans that have reached resolution.”</p>
<p>From its 2002 joint venture, Citigroup dumped en masse 2,599 loans in one securitization alone in August 2004.&#160; It sold another 1,177 at other unknown times.&#160; From its 2004 joint venture, it dumped 1,814 in one fell swoop.&#160; The 2006 HUD report notes that following securitization “there is no information available on the [home] retention after the sale.”</p>
<p>According to HUD’s web site, another major award of $400 million to $800 million in defaulted mortgages was slated for October 23 of last year in the midst of a foreclosure and eviction crisis.&#160;&#160; Lemar Wooley, in HUD’s Office of Public Affairs, advises that the deal never happened as a result of&#160; “no acceptable bids being received.”&#160; Given that we have been promised change we can believe in, I would have much preferred to hear: “We’ve sacked this program as an abhorrent example of privatizing profits and socializing losses while turning our backs on the neediest of our society.”</p>
<p>While this was clearly not a win-win for families in financial distress, two other red flags come to mind.&#160; The 2006 HUD report notes that to be eligible for this program, loans had to be four full payments past due (five full payments past due for the 2005 Bear Stearns deal).&#160; But to securitize the loans, the Wall Street firms had to bring the loans into performing status, that is, up to date in their payments.&#160; The question arises as to whether the investors in the securitizations were advised that these were heretofore defaulted HUD loans.&#160; One might be forgiven for pondering that as a material fact required in a prospectus since there is much data available showing that loans once in default tend to redefault. Some of these investors might unknowingly be you and your family members.&#160; The loans could be sitting right now in public employee pension funds, mutual funds held in 401(k)s, etc.</p>
<p>The second concern is that many of the homes in the deals were foreclosed on in 2006, 2007 and 2008.&#160; By HUD not keeping these loans and insisting on its legal mandate for lenders to attempt loan modifications, special forbearance or partial claims to bring the loans current, what impact did this program have on the foreclosure glut and overall property value declines. It is worth noting what happened to the firms that HUD deemed qualified for this program: &#160;Lehman Brothers collapsed on September 15, 2008.&#160; Bear Stearns required a weekend rescue by JPMorgan Chase and the Fed on March 16/17, 2008.&#160; Citigroup, which got the lions share of the HUD deals, exists today only because of a $45 billion direct infusion from unwilling taxpayers (overruled by their Congress) and hundreds of billions of dollars more in various other government backstop operations – some still undisclosed despite Freedom of Information Act requests and litigation. Future articles in this series will look at how these deals started under the Clinton administration with awards to Goldman Sachs, GE Capital, Blackrock and others, with the dubious protection of Merrill Lynch as the overseer for HUD.&#160; This program also went virtually unnoticed until charges of rigged computers and bid rigging erupted in headlines.&#160; We will also look at the human suffering resulting from this macabre rewriting of the social contract in America.&#160; The series begins today with the most unlikely candidate of all for helping people in need: Citigroup.</p>
<p>* * *</p>
<p>In the early evening of June 26, 2009 I was cleaning up emails I had saved for more careful reading at a later date when I bolted in my chair.&#160; A message from a reader whom I have permission to call Melissa X advised that she had documentation that Citigroup was engaging in dubious real estate transactions out west under an alias.&#160; I immediately answered with a request for specifics and received the following response:</p>
<p>“…a friend asked me to pull the real property records on a house a few doors down from him that he had heard sold at a very low price in a foreclosure sale.&#160; After pulling the property records I just couldn’t believe the price this particular house sold for in the ‘foreclosure sale’ and started looking into the foreclosure purchaser, Liquidation Properties, Inc. (LPI). &#160; I have been a litigation paralegal for 14 years, thus I have a good amount of investigation experience and also in&#160;real estate law as we have a considerable practice in real estate litigation.&#160; Needless to say, my instinct told me something wasn’t right about this&#160;and I Googled the Directors of LPI, who happened to be high level executives at Citigroup Global Markets.&#160; At first I thought that LPI wasn’t a subsidiary of Citigroup because when I was reviewing court records they have filings that say they are a privately owned company with no connection to a publicly traded company.&#160; So, initially, I thought these high level Citigroup execs had formed this company that was purchasing these Citi foreclosures super cheap…one of the Directors of LPI is Jeffrey Perlowitz, who according to his online bio ran the trading desk at [Citigroup’s] Smith Barney during the housing ‘boom’ and is credited for ‘purchase, sales and trading of single family residential mortgages and asset backed securities…’&#160; Then I&#160;ran LPI through Edgar [an SEC search engine] to see if&#160;I could find anything in SEC filings about this entity&#160;and that is how I ended up discovering LPI&#160;is actually a Citi subsidiary.&#160;&#160;I know from reading your articles that you are well aware of how shady Citi is with their subsidiaries.&#160; I particularly liked an article you wrote about the oil markets and how we can’t expect the sleuths at Congress to figure out why the prices went out&#160;of control, and then you linked it to a little talked about Citi subsidiary.”</p>
<p>It took but a few minutes to confirm that Liquidation Properties, Inc. was indeed a subsidiary of Citigroup.&#160; Exhibit 21.01 of Citigroup’s December 31, 2008 SEC filing lists Liquidation Properties Holding Company Inc. and Liquidation Properties Inc. as subsidiaries chartered in Delaware. (But how many people are going to notice that when Citigroup has over 2,000 subsidiaries.) A quick click at the Secretary of State web site for Massachusetts, one of the many states in which Liquidation Partners, Inc. conducts business, revealed the following officers as of March 14, 2007: Randall Costa, President; Scott Freidenrich, Treasurer; Robyn Gomez, Secretary; Jeffrey Perlowitz, Director; Mark Tsesarsky, Director. But just as Melissa X had noticed, there was nothing on this filing to connect this firm with Citigroup or any publicly traded company.&#160; In fact, the form indicated that there were only 200 shares of common stock outstanding.&#160; Citigroup, on the other hand, has an unprecedented and unfathomable 22.9 billion (yes, billion) common shares outstanding, now withering in value alongside the faded dreams of financial security for its shareholders and customers. I reviewed two other documents Melissa X had sent along: two foreclosure filings by Liquidation Properties, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio stating that it was not a “party, a parent, a subsidiary or other affiliate of a publicly owned corporation.”</p>
<p>One other item stood out in this filing: the address of this firm was listed as 388 Greenwich Street in the trendy neighborhood of Tribeca, New York City.&#160; That is where the raucous trading of exotic derivatives, commodities and mortgage securities has traditionally been handled.&#160; The legacy of the swashbuckling culture of the notorious Salomon Brothers, a predecessor firm whose traders rigged the two-year note auction of&#160; U.S. Treasurys in 1991, remains alive in these trading rooms.&#160; Indeed, Jeffrey Perlowitz was a Salomon protégé.&#160; The seminal book on the Salomon culture, Michael Lewis’ “Liar’s Poker,” assigns mortgage traders a philosophy of “ready, fire, aim.” In other words, this is the address of the investment bank of Citigroup with whom these individuals are involved, not the calm bean counters at the retail bank, Citibank.&#160; The investment bank specializes in mergers and acquisitions, lending and trading, with a sophisticated customer base of corporations, governments and institutions.&#160; An investment bank is an unfit place for conducting or even overseeing the hand holding and financial counseling of frightened families who need urgent and sincere help to avoid loosing the roof over their heads.</p>
<p>Call it divine intervention or call it happenstance, but Melissa X had chosen to electronically communicate with a stranger on the other side of the country who just happened to have an indelibly forged mental picture of&#160; 388 Greenwich Street in Tribeca.</p>
<p>At 1 pm on May 20, 1997 an eclectic group of protesters filled the sidewalk in front of 388 Greenwich Street.&#160; I was one of them.&#160; My group, which included Gloria Steinem, came to name the firm (then known as Smith Barney) a Merchant of Shame for its privatized justice system which barred employees, as a condition of employment, from suing the firm in a public court setting.&#160; Tribeca residents spontaneously joined us as they walked by to raise hell about the company’s bizarre selection of signage.</p>
<p>Cemented into the middle of the sidewalk in front of the firm was a 16 foot, 5300 pound, red steel umbrella representing the company’s logo at the time and, I imagined, the physical equivalent of Sandy Weill’s ego, then CEO of the firm. A Business Week article once quoted a former employee saying Weill would steal pennies off a dead man’s eyes.&#160; Mr. Weill’s pennies, plucked from the dying firm’s eyes, eventually added up to $1 billion and he retired not long before the tens of billions of losses squirreled away in Structured Investment Vehicles (SIVs) in the Cayman Islands came home to roost.</p>
<p>In what I now recognize as the electronic manifestation of the whoring of Wall Street, a four-story red neon lighted umbrella was mounted near the top of this 39-floor building.&#160; Both the sidewalk and building umbrellas were later removed but I did note in a recent visit to Manhattan that giant and bizarre electronic signs flash messages to pedestrians from the formerly sedate wealth management offices of major Wall Street firms in midtown.</p>
<p>Having verified Melissa X’s information that Liquidation Properties, Inc. was indeed a subsidiary of Citigroup with officers employed by the firm, endowed with the uncanny knack of capturing an inordinate amount of winning bids at foreclosure auctions in depressed neighborhoods, I sat about unraveling the multitude of Byzantine transactions in which it was involved.</p>
<p>The trail led to four more entities: Reo Management 2002, Reo Management 2004, SFJV-2002, and SFJV-2004.&#160; (Reo is an acronym for real estate owned by a bank, typically after an unsuccessful foreclosure auction.) SFJV, I would later learn, was the name of the HUD joint ventures, an acronym for Single Family Joint Venture. SFJV-2002 and SFJV-2004 were, indeed, subsidiaries of Citigroup and being used to facilitate the transfer of foreclosed homes around the country.</p>
<p>The Reo Management firms were listed as subsidiaries of Residential Capital Corp. (ResCap) on its July 15, 2005 filing with the SEC but filings with the Secretary of State in Massachusetts showed the same Citigroup officials at 388 and 390 Greenwich Street in Tribeca as officers and directors:&#160; Costa, Freidenrich, Perlowitz, Tsesarsky.&#160; Filings with other Secretaries of State showed these same four individuals along with numerous other officials at Citigroup.&#160; Reo Management 2002 showed 200 shares of stock issued to unnamed parties while Reo Management 2004 said stock details were not available online.</p>
<p>Why on earth would Citigroup managers be officers of a competitor?&#160; I called people in the know on Wall Street.&#160; No one had ever heard about it or could offer an explanation.&#160;&#160; I called Jeffrey Perlowitz’ secretary and sent her an email requesting an explanation from Mr. Perlowitz.&#160; Mr. Perlowitz took the same position as HUD: silence.</p>
<p>ResCap’s operations include GMAC Mortgage and GMAC-RFC.&#160; Until 2006, GMAC was a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motors, a company that had been around since 1919 to provide car financing to GM dealers and customers.&#160; In 2006, a majority stake was sold to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity/hedge fund whose investors are a tightly held secret.&#160; The firm is now known as GMAC Financial Services.&#160; In 2008 the Federal Reserve waived its magic wand and GMAC became a bank holding company (now called Ally Bank) and TARP gave $5 billion of taxpayer funds to the entity.&#160; Another $7.5 billion was provided in 2009.&#160; As of June 30th of this year, you and I involuntarily own 35.4 per cent of the firm with Cerberus and its secret investors owning 22 percent.</p>
<p>Since all of us hold the largest block of stock, I felt I might get some answers.&#160; I emailed GMAC and asked what all of this was about.&#160; A spokeswoman responded that “the loans which we acquired from the [HUD] auction happened to be those in which we co-bid with Citi.&#160; The Reo Management 2002 and 2004 entities were set up as subs of those joint ventures to hold the resulting Reo properties until they were resolved.”&#160; I countered with: “Why were officials of Citigroup serving as principals and directors of subsidiaries of ResCap?”&#160;&#160; The spokesperson replied that both Reo Management 2002 and Reo Management 2004 had been dissolved and she had no further information.</p>
<p>After scrutinizing every scrap of paper available through HUD on these deals for endless weeks, I was, as a taxpayer, more than a little nonplussed that I had seen nary a word about co-bidders.&#160; Citigroup operating under an alias in consumer real estate transactions was scary enough, but allowed to team up with another giant player also operating under an alias, all under the imprimatur of a Federal agency, that was beyond rational comprehension.</p>
<p>It’s not like the Federal government didn’t know Citigroup was a serial rogue.&#160; Our tax dollars have been used since this Frankenbank was created to investigate serious crimes, while letting the company off with a fine so it could live on to create even bigger problems the next time around.&#160; In 2001, Citigroup settled with the Federal Trade Commission for $215 million for predatory lending at one of its divisions.&#160; In 2003, Citigroup paid $400 million to U.S. regulators for fraudulent research reports and improper handling of new stock offerings.&#160; In 2004, Citigroup paid $2.65 billion to WorldCom stock and bond holders over its role in the demise of the firm.&#160; Also in 2004 its private bank was kicked out of Japan for money laundering.&#160; In 2005 Citigroup was fined $26 million by Europe’s Financial Services Authority for conducting a trade it internally named “Dr. Evil” that roiled the European bond market.&#160; In that same year, it settled with the SEC for $101 million for helping Enron inflate cash flows and under report debt.&#160; Also in 2005, it settled a private litigation over its role in the bankruptcy of Enron for $2 billion.</p>
<p>HUD’s own Regional Inspector General wrote in a 45-page report issued on November 13, 2008 that CitiMortgage, a unit of Citigroup, placed the FHA insurance fund at an increased risk of loss on one-third of the loans HUD audited at CitiMortgage as result of improper underwriting practices. Melissa X took her concerns not just to me but to the U.S. Attorney’s office.&#160; In one passage of an email to this U.S. Attorney she wrote: “It is such a disappointment to me that our Government has failed us so, and only continues to do so…One must wonder how much the American people will take of this before a total revolution occurs…”</p>
<p>While I was researching this story, a friend forwarded a video clip of Laura Flanders of Grit-TV interviewing the filmmakers of&#160; “American Casino,” Andrew and Leslie Cockburn.&#160; (Yes, they’re all – Laura included – part of that intrepid Cockburn clan whose spirit resides here at CounterPunch in the form of Alexander Cockburn.)&#160; Carefully observe the face of Flanders, the Cockburns and the victims in the film clips.&#160; They all muster&#160; a brave front but I sense an ever present emotion to hang one’s head and weep for the nation. At one point Flanders asks:&#160; “So you think it was all really a scam to transfer money from the vulnerable and the poor to the wealthy?&#160; There was no positive interest in home ownership distribution involved?”&#160; The answers from the Cockburns go to the heart of this crisis.&#160; Both this clip and the movie “American Casino,” playing now in theatres across the U.S.,&#160; provide a critical foundation for understanding that while our government and mighty military chased down men in caves in Afghanistan, the ivy league educated enemy within sacked our nation.&#160; The film premiered in the U.S. in April, ironically, in Tribeca, just moments away from the real, live American Casino, Citigroup.&#160; Watch the interview and clips from the film here: <a href="http://www.americancasinothemovie.com/" type="external">http://www.americancasinothemovie.com/</a></p>
<p>PAM MARTENS worked on Wall Street for 21 years; she has no security position, long or short, in any company mentioned in this article other than that which the U.S. Treasury has thrust upon her and fellow Americans involuntarily through TARP. She writes on public interest issues from New Hampshire. She can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
| 7,441 |
<p>You know, it’s amazing what a little education can do. Many times, we dismiss Republicans as stupid, and because&#160; <a href="http://www.livescience.com/18132-intelligence-social-conservatism-racism.html" type="external">conservatism is linked to low I.Q.</a> (thanks, science!), it’s sometimes easy to forget that some of our fellow Americans on the Right can be saved. Fortunately, one Republican saw the light after <a href="" type="internal">donations poured in from liberals</a>, not his fellow conservatives, <a href="" type="internal">so that his rapidly-disappearing eyesight could be saved.</a></p>
<p>Luis Lang has always taken&#160;pride in his “bootstraps,” in his ability to pay his own medical bills when things were going well. However, after a series of mini-strokes and the discovery of his looming blindness (as well as a price tag of $9,000 for those medical needs), Lang quickly burned through his savings and found himself in a terrible place financially.</p>
<p>He considered turning to Obamacare, but had missed the open enrollment period for 2015 because of his choice to rely only on himself. While self-sufficiency is an honorable thing, Lang quickly discovered that one’s health is not something with which to gamble. He put out a <a href="http://www.gofundme.com/s78e9w" type="external">call for assistance on GoFundMe</a>, where his plea for help in raising $30,000 for necessary operations has brought in nearly the full amount Lang needs.</p>
<p>Help came from a surprising place: the&#160;“other side.” Liberals left messages of support and messages intending to educate their conservative brother about the Affordable Care Act as they <a href="" type="internal">opened their hearts and wallets</a> in an attempt to rescue Lang from his situation — And. Lang. Learned. Something.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/health-care/health-care-challenge-blog/article20696283.html" type="external">Charlotte Observer</a> reported that Lang turned to the Affordable Care Act after discovering that, sometimes, bootstraps are not enough:</p>
<p>“Lang, a Republican, says he knew the act required him to get coverage, but he chose not to do so. But he thought help would be available in an emergency. He and his wife blame President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats for passing a complex and flawed bill.</p>
<p>“‘[My husband] should be at the front of the line, because he doesn’t work and because he has medical issues,’ Mary Lang said last week. ‘We call it the Not Fair Health Care Act.’</p>
<p>“Anyone who’s remotely familiar with insurance knows there’s no system that lets people skip payments while they’re healthy and cash in when they get sick. Public systems tax everyone. Private ones rely on the premiums of the well to cover the costs of those who are ailing.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“I would like to rip up my voters registration on tv,” he said. “I have reach out to msnbc and abc in new york and waiting for them to call me back.”</p>
<p>Lang told <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/05/19/3660701/luis-lang-obamacare/" type="external">ThinkProgress</a>&#160;that he might be “the most hated Republican in the country right now.” He says that the flood of media attention has helped him learn more about health care policy, and he simply doesn’t identify with the Republican Party anymore.</p>
<p>“Now that I’m looking at what each party represents, my wife and I are both saying — hey, we’re not Republicans!” Lang said, adding that he wants to rip up his voter registration on national television to show everyone he is serious about switching sides. Lang insists that he has never had any problems with the Affordable Care Act, just that he has some problems with the way it has been implemented.</p>
<p>TP’s <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/?person=tculp-ressler" type="external">Tara Culp-Ressler</a>&#160;writes that:</p>
<p>“Although the Charlotte Observer article positioned Lang against the ACA, he insists he has never been completely opposed to the law. He does, however, have some issues with the way it’s been implemented.</p>
<p>“Like many Americans, Lang struggled to navigate the website last year and was frustrated by long wait times and technological glitches. He told ThinkProgress he thinks the law is too confusing as it’s currently written — and pointed out that it’s too difficult for him to predict his annual income as a self-employed contractor, which is what prevented him from signing up for a plan during previous enrollment periods. He was too nervous about underestimating his income during the enrollment process and being required to pay back his insurance subsidy during tax season.</p>
<p>“But Lang’s main complaint is the fact that the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion should be optional, which has given Republican lawmakers the opportunity to refuse to implement the policy on the state level. That’s led to a coverage gap preventing millions of Americans from accessing affordable insurance whatsoever. Because Lang’s income has recently dried up, now that his deteriorating vision prevents him from working, he now falls into that gap.”</p>
<p>“I put the blame on everyone — Republican and Democrat. But I do mainly blame Republicans for their pigheadedness,” Lang said. “They’re blocking policies that could help everyone. I’m in the situation I’m in because they chose not to expand Medicaid for political reasons. And I know I’m not the only one.”</p>
<p>Lang told TP that he has read nearly every comment on his GoFundMe, and he says that those who were critical of him for waiting until he got sick to consider insurance are correct in that this is not how insurance is supposed to function. He says that he and his wife have been discussing coverage now that they are getting older.</p>
<p>“I know we didn’t do it the right way,” Lang said. He hopes to find a way to deal with his fluctuating income so he can sign up during the next open enrollment, but believes (probably correctly) that the United States should adopt a universal health care system that makes coverage available to everyone regardless of income level. After all, he says, commenters on his fundraising page are correct that health care is a human right.</p>
<p>“In fact, I have some eyesight jokes for you,” he told ThinkProgress.</p>
<p>“This whole thing has helped me see more clearly. Like they say, hindsight is 20/20.”</p>
|
Lifelong Republican Renounces GOP After Liberals Raise Money To Save His Eyesight
| true |
http://addictinginfo.org/2015/05/20/lifelong-republican-renounces-gop-after-liberals-raise-money-to-save-his-eyesight/
|
2015-05-20
| 4left
|
Lifelong Republican Renounces GOP After Liberals Raise Money To Save His Eyesight
<p>You know, it’s amazing what a little education can do. Many times, we dismiss Republicans as stupid, and because&#160; <a href="http://www.livescience.com/18132-intelligence-social-conservatism-racism.html" type="external">conservatism is linked to low I.Q.</a> (thanks, science!), it’s sometimes easy to forget that some of our fellow Americans on the Right can be saved. Fortunately, one Republican saw the light after <a href="" type="internal">donations poured in from liberals</a>, not his fellow conservatives, <a href="" type="internal">so that his rapidly-disappearing eyesight could be saved.</a></p>
<p>Luis Lang has always taken&#160;pride in his “bootstraps,” in his ability to pay his own medical bills when things were going well. However, after a series of mini-strokes and the discovery of his looming blindness (as well as a price tag of $9,000 for those medical needs), Lang quickly burned through his savings and found himself in a terrible place financially.</p>
<p>He considered turning to Obamacare, but had missed the open enrollment period for 2015 because of his choice to rely only on himself. While self-sufficiency is an honorable thing, Lang quickly discovered that one’s health is not something with which to gamble. He put out a <a href="http://www.gofundme.com/s78e9w" type="external">call for assistance on GoFundMe</a>, where his plea for help in raising $30,000 for necessary operations has brought in nearly the full amount Lang needs.</p>
<p>Help came from a surprising place: the&#160;“other side.” Liberals left messages of support and messages intending to educate their conservative brother about the Affordable Care Act as they <a href="" type="internal">opened their hearts and wallets</a> in an attempt to rescue Lang from his situation — And. Lang. Learned. Something.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, the <a href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/health-care/health-care-challenge-blog/article20696283.html" type="external">Charlotte Observer</a> reported that Lang turned to the Affordable Care Act after discovering that, sometimes, bootstraps are not enough:</p>
<p>“Lang, a Republican, says he knew the act required him to get coverage, but he chose not to do so. But he thought help would be available in an emergency. He and his wife blame President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats for passing a complex and flawed bill.</p>
<p>“‘[My husband] should be at the front of the line, because he doesn’t work and because he has medical issues,’ Mary Lang said last week. ‘We call it the Not Fair Health Care Act.’</p>
<p>“Anyone who’s remotely familiar with insurance knows there’s no system that lets people skip payments while they’re healthy and cash in when they get sick. Public systems tax everyone. Private ones rely on the premiums of the well to cover the costs of those who are ailing.”</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>“I would like to rip up my voters registration on tv,” he said. “I have reach out to msnbc and abc in new york and waiting for them to call me back.”</p>
<p>Lang told <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/05/19/3660701/luis-lang-obamacare/" type="external">ThinkProgress</a>&#160;that he might be “the most hated Republican in the country right now.” He says that the flood of media attention has helped him learn more about health care policy, and he simply doesn’t identify with the Republican Party anymore.</p>
<p>“Now that I’m looking at what each party represents, my wife and I are both saying — hey, we’re not Republicans!” Lang said, adding that he wants to rip up his voter registration on national television to show everyone he is serious about switching sides. Lang insists that he has never had any problems with the Affordable Care Act, just that he has some problems with the way it has been implemented.</p>
<p>TP’s <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/?person=tculp-ressler" type="external">Tara Culp-Ressler</a>&#160;writes that:</p>
<p>“Although the Charlotte Observer article positioned Lang against the ACA, he insists he has never been completely opposed to the law. He does, however, have some issues with the way it’s been implemented.</p>
<p>“Like many Americans, Lang struggled to navigate the website last year and was frustrated by long wait times and technological glitches. He told ThinkProgress he thinks the law is too confusing as it’s currently written — and pointed out that it’s too difficult for him to predict his annual income as a self-employed contractor, which is what prevented him from signing up for a plan during previous enrollment periods. He was too nervous about underestimating his income during the enrollment process and being required to pay back his insurance subsidy during tax season.</p>
<p>“But Lang’s main complaint is the fact that the Supreme Court ruled that Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion should be optional, which has given Republican lawmakers the opportunity to refuse to implement the policy on the state level. That’s led to a coverage gap preventing millions of Americans from accessing affordable insurance whatsoever. Because Lang’s income has recently dried up, now that his deteriorating vision prevents him from working, he now falls into that gap.”</p>
<p>“I put the blame on everyone — Republican and Democrat. But I do mainly blame Republicans for their pigheadedness,” Lang said. “They’re blocking policies that could help everyone. I’m in the situation I’m in because they chose not to expand Medicaid for political reasons. And I know I’m not the only one.”</p>
<p>Lang told TP that he has read nearly every comment on his GoFundMe, and he says that those who were critical of him for waiting until he got sick to consider insurance are correct in that this is not how insurance is supposed to function. He says that he and his wife have been discussing coverage now that they are getting older.</p>
<p>“I know we didn’t do it the right way,” Lang said. He hopes to find a way to deal with his fluctuating income so he can sign up during the next open enrollment, but believes (probably correctly) that the United States should adopt a universal health care system that makes coverage available to everyone regardless of income level. After all, he says, commenters on his fundraising page are correct that health care is a human right.</p>
<p>“In fact, I have some eyesight jokes for you,” he told ThinkProgress.</p>
<p>“This whole thing has helped me see more clearly. Like they say, hindsight is 20/20.”</p>
| 7,442 |
<p />
<p>Marine Corps veteran Matias Ferreira is the first active-duty, double-amputee police officer in America. Ferreira was serving in the Marines on a detail in Afghanistan. He stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) and lost both of his legs. They’ve been replaced with shiny new titanium legs and he’s learned how to use them very well.</p>
<p>Ferreira attended the Suffolk County Police Department Academy and graduated. He has set a new level of standard, grit and toughness upon us. He was up for the challenge and he succeeded! If that’s not inspiring, then what is?</p>
<p>Here’s a man who suffered an unimaginable injury fighting for his country and now he’s back <a href="http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/03/26/wounded-marine-veteran-defies-all-odds-becomes-first-double-amputee-cop/" type="external">fighting again</a>. This is a man you can’t keep down.</p>
<p>You can’t keep a good man down!</p>
<p />
<p>The Suffolk County Police Department believes Ferreira is not only the first active-duty, double-amputee cop in the agency, but also in the entire country.</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>“It’s pretty incredible,”&#160; <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/double-amputee-military-veteran-graduates-police-academy/story?id=46349776" type="external">Ferreira told ABC News</a>. “I’m truly honored to be part of the department. When I first got on, I didn’t know how good I would do — maybe having some self-doubts in the beginning — but I had a very supportive staff, very supportive recruit class. Everybody kept pushing me through.”</p>
<p>He said he doesn’t think the prosthetic limbs will inhibit him from carrying out the duties of a police officer.</p>
<p>“If I break my leg,”&#160; <a href="http://www.fox5ny.com/news/243801693-story" type="external">he told Fox5NY</a>, “I go to the trunk of my car and I put on a new one and I’m back on duty.”</p>
<p>Not only does Ferreira have that true American toughness, but he also has quite a sense of humor. For him to be able to joke about his condition and persevere through injuries that would make most men miserable, he’s the shining light of hope and inspiration that many American’s need. Ferreira has mental and physical toughness that make him a great candidate for the job of a police officer and an inspiration to many of us.</p>
<p>This guy is legit! Whenever you’re feeling down about yourself, just look to Ferreira for motivation. This man went through the police academy on a set of titanium legs. If he can push through that, then you can push through anything!</p>
<p>Be strong America!</p>
<p>Controversial and thought provoking. Find me at <a href="http://www.trendingviews.co" type="external">Trending Views</a> and follow me on Twitter and Facebook.</p>
|
Wounded Marine veteran defies odds, becomes America’s first cop with no legs
| true |
http://rightwingnews.com/police/wounded-marine-veteran-defies-odds-becomes-americas-first-cop-no-legs/
|
2018-03-20
| 0right
|
Wounded Marine veteran defies odds, becomes America’s first cop with no legs
<p />
<p>Marine Corps veteran Matias Ferreira is the first active-duty, double-amputee police officer in America. Ferreira was serving in the Marines on a detail in Afghanistan. He stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) and lost both of his legs. They’ve been replaced with shiny new titanium legs and he’s learned how to use them very well.</p>
<p>Ferreira attended the Suffolk County Police Department Academy and graduated. He has set a new level of standard, grit and toughness upon us. He was up for the challenge and he succeeded! If that’s not inspiring, then what is?</p>
<p>Here’s a man who suffered an unimaginable injury fighting for his country and now he’s back <a href="http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/03/26/wounded-marine-veteran-defies-all-odds-becomes-first-double-amputee-cop/" type="external">fighting again</a>. This is a man you can’t keep down.</p>
<p>You can’t keep a good man down!</p>
<p />
<p>The Suffolk County Police Department believes Ferreira is not only the first active-duty, double-amputee cop in the agency, but also in the entire country.</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>“It’s pretty incredible,”&#160; <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/US/double-amputee-military-veteran-graduates-police-academy/story?id=46349776" type="external">Ferreira told ABC News</a>. “I’m truly honored to be part of the department. When I first got on, I didn’t know how good I would do — maybe having some self-doubts in the beginning — but I had a very supportive staff, very supportive recruit class. Everybody kept pushing me through.”</p>
<p>He said he doesn’t think the prosthetic limbs will inhibit him from carrying out the duties of a police officer.</p>
<p>“If I break my leg,”&#160; <a href="http://www.fox5ny.com/news/243801693-story" type="external">he told Fox5NY</a>, “I go to the trunk of my car and I put on a new one and I’m back on duty.”</p>
<p>Not only does Ferreira have that true American toughness, but he also has quite a sense of humor. For him to be able to joke about his condition and persevere through injuries that would make most men miserable, he’s the shining light of hope and inspiration that many American’s need. Ferreira has mental and physical toughness that make him a great candidate for the job of a police officer and an inspiration to many of us.</p>
<p>This guy is legit! Whenever you’re feeling down about yourself, just look to Ferreira for motivation. This man went through the police academy on a set of titanium legs. If he can push through that, then you can push through anything!</p>
<p>Be strong America!</p>
<p>Controversial and thought provoking. Find me at <a href="http://www.trendingviews.co" type="external">Trending Views</a> and follow me on Twitter and Facebook.</p>
| 7,443 |
<p>By Ellen Brown, Web of Debt</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/" type="external">epSos.de</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" type="external">(CC BY 2.0)</a></p>
<p>This piece first appeared at <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2015/02/10/why-public-banks-outperform-private-banks-unfair-competition-or-a-better-mousetrap/" type="external">Web of Debt</a>.</p>
<p>In November 2014, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/shale-boom-helps-north-dakota-bank-earn-returns-goldman-would-envy-1416180862" type="external">the Wall Street Journal reported</a> that the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the nation’s only state-owned bank, “is more profitable than Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has a better credit rating than J.P. Morgan Chase &amp; Co. and hasn’t seen profit growth drop since 2003.” The article credited the shale oil boom; but as discussed earlier <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2014/11/19/wsj-reports-bank-of-north-dakota-outperforms-wall-street/" type="external">here</a>, North Dakota was already reporting record profits in the spring of 2009, when every other state was in the red and the oil boom had not yet hit. The later increase in state deposits cannot explain the bank’s stellar record either.</p>
<p />
<p>Then what does explain it? The BND turns a tidy profit year after year because it has substantially lower costs and risks then private commercial banks. It has no exorbitantly-paid executives; pays no bonuses, fees, or commissions; has no private shareholders; and has low borrowing costs. It does not need to advertise for depositors (it has a captive deposit base in the state itself) or for borrowers (it is a wholesome wholesale bank that partners with local banks that have located borrowers). The BND also has no losses from derivative trades gone wrong. It engages in old-fashioned conservative banking and does not speculate in derivatives.</p>
<p>Lest there be any doubt about the greater profitability of the public banking model, however, this conclusion was confirmed in January 2015 in a report by <a href="http://www.sparkassenstiftung.de/en/home.html" type="external">the Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation (SBFIC)</a> (the Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation), a non-profit organization founded by the the Sparkassen Finance Group (Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe) in Germany. The SBFIC was formed in 1992 to make the experience of the German Sparkassen – municipally-owned savings banks – accessible in other countries.</p>
<p>The Sparkassen were instituted in the late 18th century as nonprofit organizations to aid the poor. The intent was to help people with low incomes save small sums of money, and to support business start-ups. <a href="http://econospeak.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-is-public-capital.html" type="external">Today, about half the total assets of the German banking system are in the public sector.</a> (Another substantial chunk is in cooperative savings banks.) Local public banks are key tools of German industrial policy, specializing in loans to the Mittelstand, the small-to-medium size businesses that are at the core of that country’s export engine. The savings banks operate a network of over 15,600 branches and offices and employ over 250,000 people, and they have a strong record of investing wisely in local businesses.</p>
<p>In January 2015, the SPFIC published a report drawn from Bundesbank data, showing that the Sparkassen not only have a return on capital that is several times greater than for the German private banking sector, but that they pay substantially more to local and federal governments in taxes. That makes them triply profitable: as revenue-generating assets for their government owners, as lucrative sources of taxes, and as a stable funding mechanism for small and medium-sized businesses (a funding mechanism sorely lacking in the US today). Three charts from the SBFIC report are reproduced in English below. (Sparkassen results are in orange. Private commercial banks are in light blue.)</p>
<p><a href="https://webofdebt.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/net-profit-sparkassen.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="https://webofdebt.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/sparkassen-return-on-capital.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="https://webofdebt.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/sparkassen-taxes-pd.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Swiss Publicly-Owned Banks and the Swiss National Bank: Marching to a Different Drummer</p>
<p>The Swiss have a network of cantonal (provincially-owned) banks that are so similar to the Sparkassen banks that they were invited to join the SBFIC. The Swiss public banks, too, have been shown to be <a href="http://civitas.org.uk/pdf/SavingsBanks2010.pdf" type="external">more profitable than their private counterparts</a>. The Swiss public banking system helps explain the strength of the Swiss economy, the soundness of its banks, and their attractiveness as a safe haven for foreign investors.</p>
<p>The unique structure of the Swiss banking system also helps explain the surprise move by the SNB on January 15, 2015, when it lifted the cap on the Swiss franc as against the euro, anticipating the European Central Bank’s move to embark on a massive program of quantitative easing the following week. Switzerland is not a member of the EU or the Eurozone, and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) is <a href="http://blogs.ft.com/gavyndavies/2015/01/18/the-swiss-currency-bombshell-cause-and-effect/" type="external">not like other central banks</a>. It is 55% owned by the country’s 26 cantons or provinces. The remaining investors are private. Each canton has its own publicly-owned cantonal bank, which provides credit to local small and medium-sized businesses.</p>
<p>In 2011, the SNB pegged the Swiss franc to the euro at 1 to 1.20; but the value of the euro steadily dropped after that, and the SNB could maintain the peg only by printing Swiss francs, diluting their value to keep up with the euro. The fear was that once the ECB started its new money printing program, the Swiss franc would have to be diluted into hyperinflation to keep up.</p>
<p>The SNB’s unanticipated action imposed heavy losses on speculators who were long the euro (betting it would rise), and the move evoked criticism from the European central banking community for not tipping them off beforehand. But the loyalty of the Swiss National Bank is to its cantons, cantonal banks, and individual investors, not to the big private international banks that drive central bank policies in other countries. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-swiss-national-bank-move-may-have-been-done-to-protect-its-dividend-2015-1" type="external">The cantons had been complaining</a> that they were no longer receiving the hefty 6% dividend they had been able to count on for the previous century. The SNB promised to restore the dividend in 2015, and lifting the cap was evidently felt necessary to do it.</p>
<p>Publicly-owned Banks and the Trans-Pacific Partnership</p>
<p>The SBFIC is working particularly hard these days to <a href="https://webofdebt.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/sparkassen-model-in-ireland-oct-11.pdf" type="external">make information and technical help available to other countries</a> interested in pursuing their beneficial public model, because that model has <a href="http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/public_options.php" type="external">come under attack</a>. Private international competitors are pushing for regulations that would limit the advantages of publicly-owned banks, through Basel III, the European Banking Union, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).</p>
<p>In the US, the current threat is from the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) and its European counterpart the TTIP. President Obama, the Chamber of Commerce, and other corporate groups are <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/28866-the-movement-of-movements-against-fast-tracking-the-tpp-has-the-power-to-win" type="external">pushing hard for fast track authority</a> to pass these secret trade agreements while effectively bypassing oversight from Congress.</p>
<p>The agreements are being sold as promoting trade and increasing jobs, but the effect of international trade agreements on jobs was evident with NAFTA, which hurt US employment more through the competition of cheap imports than helped it with increased exports. Moreover, only five of the TPP’s twenty-nine chapters are about trade. The remaining chapters are basically about getting government off the backs of the big international corporations and protecting their profits from competition. Corporations would be authorized to sue governments that passed laws protecting their people from corporate damage, on the ground that the laws impair corporate profits. The trade agreements put corporations before governments and the people they represent.</p>
<p>Particularly targeted are government-owned industries, which can undercut big corporate prices; and <a href="http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/04/big-banks-attempt-secret-coup-against-low-interest-loans.html" type="external">that includes publicly-owned banks</a>. Public banks are true non-profits that recycle earnings back into the community rather than siphoning them into offshore tax havens. Not only are the costs of public banks quite low, but they are <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2013/07/05/depositors-beware-bail-in-is-now-official-eu-policy/" type="external">safer for depositors</a>; they <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2014/06/01/infrastructure-sticker-shock-financing-costs-more-than-construction/" type="external">allow public infrastructure costs to be cut in half</a> (since the government-owned bank can keep the interest that composes 50% of infrastructure costs); and they provide a non-criminal alternative to an international banking cartel <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2014/01/29/enough-is-enough-banksters-are-not-l-a-s-only-option/" type="external">caught in a laundry list of frauds</a>.</p>
<p>Despite these notable benefits, under the TPP and TTIP, <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/15142-corporate-backed-trans-pacific-partnership-shrouded-in-secrecy" type="external">publicly-owned banks might wind up getting sued for unfair competition</a> because they have advantages not available to private banks, including the backing of their local governments. They have the backing of the government because they are the government. The government would be getting sued for operating efficiently in the best interests of its constituents.</p>
<p>To truly eliminate unfair competition, the giant monopolistic multinational corporations should be broken up, since they have an obvious unfair trade advantage over small farmers and small businesses. But that outcome is liable to be long in coming. In the meantime, fast track for the secretive trade agreements needs to be vigorously opposed. To find out how you can help, go to <a href="http://www.StopFastTrack.com" type="external">www.StopFastTrack.com</a> or <a href="http://flushthetpp.org/" type="external">www.FlushtheTPP.org</a>.</p>
<p>____________________</p>
<p>Ellen Brown is an attorney, founder of the <a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.org/" type="external">Public Banking Institute</a>, and author of twelve books including the best-selling <a href="http://webofdebt.com/" type="external">Web of Debt</a>. Her latest book, <a href="http://publicbanksolution.com/" type="external">The Public Bank Solution</a>, explores successful public banking models historically and globally. Her 200+ blog articles are at <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/" type="external">EllenBrown.com</a>.</p>
|
Why Public Banks Outperform Private Banks
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/why-public-banks-outperform-private-banks/
|
2015-02-12
| 4left
|
Why Public Banks Outperform Private Banks
<p>By Ellen Brown, Web of Debt</p>
<p><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/" type="external">epSos.de</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" type="external">(CC BY 2.0)</a></p>
<p>This piece first appeared at <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2015/02/10/why-public-banks-outperform-private-banks-unfair-competition-or-a-better-mousetrap/" type="external">Web of Debt</a>.</p>
<p>In November 2014, <a href="http://online.wsj.com/articles/shale-boom-helps-north-dakota-bank-earn-returns-goldman-would-envy-1416180862" type="external">the Wall Street Journal reported</a> that the Bank of North Dakota (BND), the nation’s only state-owned bank, “is more profitable than Goldman Sachs Group Inc., has a better credit rating than J.P. Morgan Chase &amp; Co. and hasn’t seen profit growth drop since 2003.” The article credited the shale oil boom; but as discussed earlier <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2014/11/19/wsj-reports-bank-of-north-dakota-outperforms-wall-street/" type="external">here</a>, North Dakota was already reporting record profits in the spring of 2009, when every other state was in the red and the oil boom had not yet hit. The later increase in state deposits cannot explain the bank’s stellar record either.</p>
<p />
<p>Then what does explain it? The BND turns a tidy profit year after year because it has substantially lower costs and risks then private commercial banks. It has no exorbitantly-paid executives; pays no bonuses, fees, or commissions; has no private shareholders; and has low borrowing costs. It does not need to advertise for depositors (it has a captive deposit base in the state itself) or for borrowers (it is a wholesome wholesale bank that partners with local banks that have located borrowers). The BND also has no losses from derivative trades gone wrong. It engages in old-fashioned conservative banking and does not speculate in derivatives.</p>
<p>Lest there be any doubt about the greater profitability of the public banking model, however, this conclusion was confirmed in January 2015 in a report by <a href="http://www.sparkassenstiftung.de/en/home.html" type="external">the Savings Banks Foundation for International Cooperation (SBFIC)</a> (the Sparkassenstiftung für internationale Kooperation), a non-profit organization founded by the the Sparkassen Finance Group (Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe) in Germany. The SBFIC was formed in 1992 to make the experience of the German Sparkassen – municipally-owned savings banks – accessible in other countries.</p>
<p>The Sparkassen were instituted in the late 18th century as nonprofit organizations to aid the poor. The intent was to help people with low incomes save small sums of money, and to support business start-ups. <a href="http://econospeak.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-is-public-capital.html" type="external">Today, about half the total assets of the German banking system are in the public sector.</a> (Another substantial chunk is in cooperative savings banks.) Local public banks are key tools of German industrial policy, specializing in loans to the Mittelstand, the small-to-medium size businesses that are at the core of that country’s export engine. The savings banks operate a network of over 15,600 branches and offices and employ over 250,000 people, and they have a strong record of investing wisely in local businesses.</p>
<p>In January 2015, the SPFIC published a report drawn from Bundesbank data, showing that the Sparkassen not only have a return on capital that is several times greater than for the German private banking sector, but that they pay substantially more to local and federal governments in taxes. That makes them triply profitable: as revenue-generating assets for their government owners, as lucrative sources of taxes, and as a stable funding mechanism for small and medium-sized businesses (a funding mechanism sorely lacking in the US today). Three charts from the SBFIC report are reproduced in English below. (Sparkassen results are in orange. Private commercial banks are in light blue.)</p>
<p><a href="https://webofdebt.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/net-profit-sparkassen.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="https://webofdebt.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/sparkassen-return-on-capital.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p><a href="https://webofdebt.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/sparkassen-taxes-pd.jpg" type="external" /></p>
<p>Swiss Publicly-Owned Banks and the Swiss National Bank: Marching to a Different Drummer</p>
<p>The Swiss have a network of cantonal (provincially-owned) banks that are so similar to the Sparkassen banks that they were invited to join the SBFIC. The Swiss public banks, too, have been shown to be <a href="http://civitas.org.uk/pdf/SavingsBanks2010.pdf" type="external">more profitable than their private counterparts</a>. The Swiss public banking system helps explain the strength of the Swiss economy, the soundness of its banks, and their attractiveness as a safe haven for foreign investors.</p>
<p>The unique structure of the Swiss banking system also helps explain the surprise move by the SNB on January 15, 2015, when it lifted the cap on the Swiss franc as against the euro, anticipating the European Central Bank’s move to embark on a massive program of quantitative easing the following week. Switzerland is not a member of the EU or the Eurozone, and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) is <a href="http://blogs.ft.com/gavyndavies/2015/01/18/the-swiss-currency-bombshell-cause-and-effect/" type="external">not like other central banks</a>. It is 55% owned by the country’s 26 cantons or provinces. The remaining investors are private. Each canton has its own publicly-owned cantonal bank, which provides credit to local small and medium-sized businesses.</p>
<p>In 2011, the SNB pegged the Swiss franc to the euro at 1 to 1.20; but the value of the euro steadily dropped after that, and the SNB could maintain the peg only by printing Swiss francs, diluting their value to keep up with the euro. The fear was that once the ECB started its new money printing program, the Swiss franc would have to be diluted into hyperinflation to keep up.</p>
<p>The SNB’s unanticipated action imposed heavy losses on speculators who were long the euro (betting it would rise), and the move evoked criticism from the European central banking community for not tipping them off beforehand. But the loyalty of the Swiss National Bank is to its cantons, cantonal banks, and individual investors, not to the big private international banks that drive central bank policies in other countries. <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-swiss-national-bank-move-may-have-been-done-to-protect-its-dividend-2015-1" type="external">The cantons had been complaining</a> that they were no longer receiving the hefty 6% dividend they had been able to count on for the previous century. The SNB promised to restore the dividend in 2015, and lifting the cap was evidently felt necessary to do it.</p>
<p>Publicly-owned Banks and the Trans-Pacific Partnership</p>
<p>The SBFIC is working particularly hard these days to <a href="https://webofdebt.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/sparkassen-model-in-ireland-oct-11.pdf" type="external">make information and technical help available to other countries</a> interested in pursuing their beneficial public model, because that model has <a href="http://www.webofdebt.com/articles/public_options.php" type="external">come under attack</a>. Private international competitors are pushing for regulations that would limit the advantages of publicly-owned banks, through Basel III, the European Banking Union, and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).</p>
<p>In the US, the current threat is from the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) and its European counterpart the TTIP. President Obama, the Chamber of Commerce, and other corporate groups are <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/28866-the-movement-of-movements-against-fast-tracking-the-tpp-has-the-power-to-win" type="external">pushing hard for fast track authority</a> to pass these secret trade agreements while effectively bypassing oversight from Congress.</p>
<p>The agreements are being sold as promoting trade and increasing jobs, but the effect of international trade agreements on jobs was evident with NAFTA, which hurt US employment more through the competition of cheap imports than helped it with increased exports. Moreover, only five of the TPP’s twenty-nine chapters are about trade. The remaining chapters are basically about getting government off the backs of the big international corporations and protecting their profits from competition. Corporations would be authorized to sue governments that passed laws protecting their people from corporate damage, on the ground that the laws impair corporate profits. The trade agreements put corporations before governments and the people they represent.</p>
<p>Particularly targeted are government-owned industries, which can undercut big corporate prices; and <a href="http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2013/04/big-banks-attempt-secret-coup-against-low-interest-loans.html" type="external">that includes publicly-owned banks</a>. Public banks are true non-profits that recycle earnings back into the community rather than siphoning them into offshore tax havens. Not only are the costs of public banks quite low, but they are <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2013/07/05/depositors-beware-bail-in-is-now-official-eu-policy/" type="external">safer for depositors</a>; they <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2014/06/01/infrastructure-sticker-shock-financing-costs-more-than-construction/" type="external">allow public infrastructure costs to be cut in half</a> (since the government-owned bank can keep the interest that composes 50% of infrastructure costs); and they provide a non-criminal alternative to an international banking cartel <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/2014/01/29/enough-is-enough-banksters-are-not-l-a-s-only-option/" type="external">caught in a laundry list of frauds</a>.</p>
<p>Despite these notable benefits, under the TPP and TTIP, <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/15142-corporate-backed-trans-pacific-partnership-shrouded-in-secrecy" type="external">publicly-owned banks might wind up getting sued for unfair competition</a> because they have advantages not available to private banks, including the backing of their local governments. They have the backing of the government because they are the government. The government would be getting sued for operating efficiently in the best interests of its constituents.</p>
<p>To truly eliminate unfair competition, the giant monopolistic multinational corporations should be broken up, since they have an obvious unfair trade advantage over small farmers and small businesses. But that outcome is liable to be long in coming. In the meantime, fast track for the secretive trade agreements needs to be vigorously opposed. To find out how you can help, go to <a href="http://www.StopFastTrack.com" type="external">www.StopFastTrack.com</a> or <a href="http://flushthetpp.org/" type="external">www.FlushtheTPP.org</a>.</p>
<p>____________________</p>
<p>Ellen Brown is an attorney, founder of the <a href="http://publicbankinginstitute.org/" type="external">Public Banking Institute</a>, and author of twelve books including the best-selling <a href="http://webofdebt.com/" type="external">Web of Debt</a>. Her latest book, <a href="http://publicbanksolution.com/" type="external">The Public Bank Solution</a>, explores successful public banking models historically and globally. Her 200+ blog articles are at <a href="http://ellenbrown.com/" type="external">EllenBrown.com</a>.</p>
| 7,444 |
<p>Nov. 13 (UPI) — A Florida fisherman casting for catfish captured video when the bite at the end of his line turned out to be a feisty baby alligator.</p>
<p>The fisherman’s wife filmed him Thursday when he got a bite on his line at a pond in the Westchase area.</p>
<p>The video shows the man reeling in his line to reveal a baby alligator had taken the bait instead of the expected catfish.</p>
<p>“To our surprise we had an alligator on the line!” the man wrote. “We pulled him out and removed the hook with the aid of a security guard and a growing number of neighbors that were coming to watch.”</p>
|
Florida fisherman seeking catfish reels in baby alligator
| false |
https://newsline.com/florida-fisherman-seeking-catfish-reels-in-baby-alligator/
|
2017-11-13
| 1right-center
|
Florida fisherman seeking catfish reels in baby alligator
<p>Nov. 13 (UPI) — A Florida fisherman casting for catfish captured video when the bite at the end of his line turned out to be a feisty baby alligator.</p>
<p>The fisherman’s wife filmed him Thursday when he got a bite on his line at a pond in the Westchase area.</p>
<p>The video shows the man reeling in his line to reveal a baby alligator had taken the bait instead of the expected catfish.</p>
<p>“To our surprise we had an alligator on the line!” the man wrote. “We pulled him out and removed the hook with the aid of a security guard and a growing number of neighbors that were coming to watch.”</p>
| 7,445 |
<p>(Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)</p>
<p>RuPaul had some advice for women wanting to bring their bachelorette parties to the gay bar.</p>
<p>As one of the guests on the “The Dinner Party Download” podcast, RuPaul was asked how he felt about bachelorette parties at gay bars, <a href="http://www.newnownext.com/rupaul-bachelorette-parites-gay-clubs/03/2017/" type="external">NewNowNext</a>reports.</p>
<p>“Check yourself before you wreck yourself,” RuPaul begins. “You know, this is an important thing: People who live in the mainstream and the status quo think that everyone else is there to serve them.”</p>
<p>RuPaul went on that straight people have tried to get him to use his drag makeup skills for them but the “Drag Race” host hasn’t felt charitable.</p>
<p>“So I’m a brown-skinned gay man,” RuPaul continued. “You know, I do drag. Early on, I learned that I could do it well and make money. So people automatically ask me about beauty tips. And I get kids who write me and say, ‘I wish you could do my makeup for my prom?’ Or, ‘I wish you could do my makeup for my wedding?’ I’m like, ‘Bitch, I’m not a makeup artist. I’m an entertainer&#160;OK?”</p>
<p>“People don’t know how to place me in their consciousness,” RuPaul says. “They think, ‘Oh, you must be here to make me look good. That’s what gay guys are, right? You’re an accessory for my straight life.’ Just because your limited view is that everyone’s there to serve you and that you’re the only person in the world. It doesn’t work that way.”</p>
<p>Catch Ru on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” on Fridays at 8 p.m. on VH1.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">NewNowNext</a> <a href="" type="internal">RuPaul</a> <a href="" type="internal">RuPaul's Drag Race</a> <a href="" type="internal">The Dinner Party Download</a></p>
|
RuPaul thinks bachelorette parties should stay out of gay bars
| false |
http://washingtonblade.com/2017/03/28/rupaul-thinks-bachelorette-parties-stay-gay-bars/
| 3left-center
|
RuPaul thinks bachelorette parties should stay out of gay bars
<p>(Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)</p>
<p>RuPaul had some advice for women wanting to bring their bachelorette parties to the gay bar.</p>
<p>As one of the guests on the “The Dinner Party Download” podcast, RuPaul was asked how he felt about bachelorette parties at gay bars, <a href="http://www.newnownext.com/rupaul-bachelorette-parites-gay-clubs/03/2017/" type="external">NewNowNext</a>reports.</p>
<p>“Check yourself before you wreck yourself,” RuPaul begins. “You know, this is an important thing: People who live in the mainstream and the status quo think that everyone else is there to serve them.”</p>
<p>RuPaul went on that straight people have tried to get him to use his drag makeup skills for them but the “Drag Race” host hasn’t felt charitable.</p>
<p>“So I’m a brown-skinned gay man,” RuPaul continued. “You know, I do drag. Early on, I learned that I could do it well and make money. So people automatically ask me about beauty tips. And I get kids who write me and say, ‘I wish you could do my makeup for my prom?’ Or, ‘I wish you could do my makeup for my wedding?’ I’m like, ‘Bitch, I’m not a makeup artist. I’m an entertainer&#160;OK?”</p>
<p>“People don’t know how to place me in their consciousness,” RuPaul says. “They think, ‘Oh, you must be here to make me look good. That’s what gay guys are, right? You’re an accessory for my straight life.’ Just because your limited view is that everyone’s there to serve you and that you’re the only person in the world. It doesn’t work that way.”</p>
<p>Catch Ru on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” on Fridays at 8 p.m. on VH1.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">NewNowNext</a> <a href="" type="internal">RuPaul</a> <a href="" type="internal">RuPaul's Drag Race</a> <a href="" type="internal">The Dinner Party Download</a></p>
| 7,446 |
|
<p>Much more than the fate of Julian Assange of <a href="https://wikileaks.org/What-is-Wikileaks.html" type="external">WikiLeaks</a> rests on last Sunday’s general elections in Ecuador. As Al Jazeera framed the election, “ <a href="" type="internal">socialism is on the line</a>.”</p>
<p>Having ducked into Ecuador’s London embassy in 2012 to seek political asylum, Assange has been unable to leave for fear of being <a href="" type="internal">extradited to the US</a>. The right-wing candidates in Ecuador’s presidential race promise to send Assange packing.</p>
<p>Pink Tide Ebbs</p>
<p>On a broader geopolitical scale, the so-called Pink Tide in Latin America has been receding after a decade of success by left-leaning governments in raising living standards for the poor and creating <a href="" type="internal">regional alliances</a> independent of the US (e.g., ALBA, UNASUR, CELAC).</p>
<p>A commodities boom had buoyed the Pink Tide, allowing Latin American left-leaning governments to increase social spending. Then oil and other <a href="" type="internal">commodity prices crashed</a>, eroding the ability of these governments to serve their constituents.</p>
<p>President Fernando Lugo of <a href="https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/paraguay-us-makes-gains-coup-against-lugo" type="external">Paraguay</a> went down in 2012, a victim of a parliamentary soft coup. President Dilma Rouseff of <a href="" type="internal">Brazil</a> suffered a similar soft coup last August. Meanwhile a right-wing government replaced a left-leaning one in an election in <a href="" type="internal">Argentina</a>, and a hard right government took over in <a href="http://iwallerstein.com/the-left-loses-the-election-in-peru/" type="external">Peru</a>.</p>
<p>In December 2015, the right-wing MUD coalition won a supermajority in the Venezuela’s unicameral legislature. Since, the left Bolivarian Revolution government of President Maduro has soldiered on in <a href="" type="internal">Venezuela</a>, while the new <a href="" type="internal">Trump administration</a> in the US vowed to continue Obama’s regime change policy.</p>
<p>A year ago, leftist President Evo Morales of Bolivia lost a referendum to have his term limit extended.</p>
<p>A <a href="" type="internal">peace plebiscite</a> to end the over 50-year civil war in Colombia lost by less than a percentage point last October. Subsequently, the US-back government and the left-wing FARC insurgents have proceeded with a peace plan, though the government’s participation has been questionable and right-wing paramilitaries have <a href="" type="internal">ignored the peace</a>.</p>
<p>In January, the US-backed candidate prevailed in a blatantly fraudulent presidential election in troubled <a href="http://haitisolidarity.net/in-the-news/" type="external">Haiti</a>.</p>
<p>Ecuador Bucks the Tide</p>
<p>Ecuador was among the hardest hit in the hemisphere by the crash in oil prices, coupled with the world recession of 2009 affecting remittances from abroad. The left government in Ecuador also faced fierce domestic opposition from economic elites, joined with reactionary factions in the Indigenous movement and some ultra-left elements.</p>
<p>Yet Ecuador emerged as a <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/ecuadors-left-wing-success-story/" type="external">left-wing success story</a>, according to Mark Weisbrot writing in The Nation. This was accomplished in the face of an active regime change policy on the part of the US and at least one <a href="" type="internal">unsuccessful coup</a> attempt on President Rafael Correa.</p>
<p>Correa’s Alianza PAIS <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/ecuadors-left-wing-success-story/" type="external">government achieved</a> a 38% reduction in poverty and a 47% reduction in extreme poverty over the past decade. Social spending as a percentage of GDP more than doubled.</p>
<p>All hangs in balance with the elections in Ecuador.</p>
<p>The leading right-wing presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso <a href="" type="internal">boasted</a>, “There’s no doubt that Ecuador is the next country where the bells of liberty will ring again in Latin America.” In other words, Lasso would reverse the social gains with neoliberal shock therapy if elected.</p>
<p>Lasso also promises to eject Assange from the embassy. The multi-millionaire banker is running on a platform of drastically reducing taxes for the wealthy, including a capital gains tax on extraordinary profits.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Cynthia Viteri</a>, the second leading right-wing candidate, likewise promises to slash taxes and evict Assange. She cites the costs of housing Assange in the embassy, which otherwise could go to children’s school lunches. Viteri formerly served as public relations manager for the richest man in Ecuador.</p>
<p>Correa’s former vice president, Lenin Moreno, is the presidential candidate of the left-wing Alianza PAIS. Moreno shares his <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21717119-under-rafael-correa-living-standards-rose-he-governed-heavy-hand-and-leaves-lot" type="external">first name of Lenin</a> with 18,000 other Ecuadoreans. Campaigning from a wheelchair, Moreno could become the first paraplegic head of state in Latin America.</p>
<p>Election Results – Slack Tide</p>
<p>Moreno must garner at least 50% to become president on the first round of voting. Failing a clear majority, Moreno needs at least 40% plus being ahead of the nearest contended by at least 10%. Otherwise the top two presidential candidates have to face off in a second round of voting on April 2.</p>
<p>Polls closed on Sunday night, and by Monday morning nearly 90% of the votes had been tallied. Eight candidates ran, and the leftist Moreno gained a plurality with over a 10% lead compared to his nearest rival, the rightist Lasso. But at 39.12%, the left’s candidate was still a hair’s breadth <a href="" type="internal">short of the 40%</a> needed to avoid a runoff election.</p>
<p>Election <a href="" type="internal">results will be trickling</a> in from remote regions in Ecuador for a few days. Lenin Moreno may yet squeak by with a first round win. If the process goes to a second round, the fractious right will try to unify around Lasso, while Moreno will rally his base among poor and working communities.</p>
<p>US whistleblower Chelsea Manning is scheduled to be released on May 17th on a commuted 35-year sentence, after spending seven <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/obama-chelsea-manning-has-served-tough-prison-sentence" type="external">hard years in prison</a>. Assange’s WikiLeaks came into prominence when it released the video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw442y2fTeU" type="external">Collateral Murder</a> along with over 700,000 documents, obtained from Manning.</p>
<p>If the Pink Tide in Latin America continues to flow rather than ebb, a week after Manning’s release, Lenin Moreno will be inaugurated as Ecuador’s next president. And Julian Assange will remain safely in the embassy.</p>
<p>Roger Harris is the immediate past president of the <a href="http://taskforceamericas.org/" type="external">Task Force on the Americas</a>, a 32-year-old human rights organization supporting the social justice movements in Latin America and the Caribbean from US imperialist intervention.</p>
|
Lenin Wins: Pink Tide Surges in Ecuador…For Now
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2017/02/21/lenin-wins-pink-tide-surges-in-ecuadorfor-now/
|
2017-02-21
| 4left
|
Lenin Wins: Pink Tide Surges in Ecuador…For Now
<p>Much more than the fate of Julian Assange of <a href="https://wikileaks.org/What-is-Wikileaks.html" type="external">WikiLeaks</a> rests on last Sunday’s general elections in Ecuador. As Al Jazeera framed the election, “ <a href="" type="internal">socialism is on the line</a>.”</p>
<p>Having ducked into Ecuador’s London embassy in 2012 to seek political asylum, Assange has been unable to leave for fear of being <a href="" type="internal">extradited to the US</a>. The right-wing candidates in Ecuador’s presidential race promise to send Assange packing.</p>
<p>Pink Tide Ebbs</p>
<p>On a broader geopolitical scale, the so-called Pink Tide in Latin America has been receding after a decade of success by left-leaning governments in raising living standards for the poor and creating <a href="" type="internal">regional alliances</a> independent of the US (e.g., ALBA, UNASUR, CELAC).</p>
<p>A commodities boom had buoyed the Pink Tide, allowing Latin American left-leaning governments to increase social spending. Then oil and other <a href="" type="internal">commodity prices crashed</a>, eroding the ability of these governments to serve their constituents.</p>
<p>President Fernando Lugo of <a href="https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/paraguay-us-makes-gains-coup-against-lugo" type="external">Paraguay</a> went down in 2012, a victim of a parliamentary soft coup. President Dilma Rouseff of <a href="" type="internal">Brazil</a> suffered a similar soft coup last August. Meanwhile a right-wing government replaced a left-leaning one in an election in <a href="" type="internal">Argentina</a>, and a hard right government took over in <a href="http://iwallerstein.com/the-left-loses-the-election-in-peru/" type="external">Peru</a>.</p>
<p>In December 2015, the right-wing MUD coalition won a supermajority in the Venezuela’s unicameral legislature. Since, the left Bolivarian Revolution government of President Maduro has soldiered on in <a href="" type="internal">Venezuela</a>, while the new <a href="" type="internal">Trump administration</a> in the US vowed to continue Obama’s regime change policy.</p>
<p>A year ago, leftist President Evo Morales of Bolivia lost a referendum to have his term limit extended.</p>
<p>A <a href="" type="internal">peace plebiscite</a> to end the over 50-year civil war in Colombia lost by less than a percentage point last October. Subsequently, the US-back government and the left-wing FARC insurgents have proceeded with a peace plan, though the government’s participation has been questionable and right-wing paramilitaries have <a href="" type="internal">ignored the peace</a>.</p>
<p>In January, the US-backed candidate prevailed in a blatantly fraudulent presidential election in troubled <a href="http://haitisolidarity.net/in-the-news/" type="external">Haiti</a>.</p>
<p>Ecuador Bucks the Tide</p>
<p>Ecuador was among the hardest hit in the hemisphere by the crash in oil prices, coupled with the world recession of 2009 affecting remittances from abroad. The left government in Ecuador also faced fierce domestic opposition from economic elites, joined with reactionary factions in the Indigenous movement and some ultra-left elements.</p>
<p>Yet Ecuador emerged as a <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/ecuadors-left-wing-success-story/" type="external">left-wing success story</a>, according to Mark Weisbrot writing in The Nation. This was accomplished in the face of an active regime change policy on the part of the US and at least one <a href="" type="internal">unsuccessful coup</a> attempt on President Rafael Correa.</p>
<p>Correa’s Alianza PAIS <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/ecuadors-left-wing-success-story/" type="external">government achieved</a> a 38% reduction in poverty and a 47% reduction in extreme poverty over the past decade. Social spending as a percentage of GDP more than doubled.</p>
<p>All hangs in balance with the elections in Ecuador.</p>
<p>The leading right-wing presidential candidate Guillermo Lasso <a href="" type="internal">boasted</a>, “There’s no doubt that Ecuador is the next country where the bells of liberty will ring again in Latin America.” In other words, Lasso would reverse the social gains with neoliberal shock therapy if elected.</p>
<p>Lasso also promises to eject Assange from the embassy. The multi-millionaire banker is running on a platform of drastically reducing taxes for the wealthy, including a capital gains tax on extraordinary profits.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Cynthia Viteri</a>, the second leading right-wing candidate, likewise promises to slash taxes and evict Assange. She cites the costs of housing Assange in the embassy, which otherwise could go to children’s school lunches. Viteri formerly served as public relations manager for the richest man in Ecuador.</p>
<p>Correa’s former vice president, Lenin Moreno, is the presidential candidate of the left-wing Alianza PAIS. Moreno shares his <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21717119-under-rafael-correa-living-standards-rose-he-governed-heavy-hand-and-leaves-lot" type="external">first name of Lenin</a> with 18,000 other Ecuadoreans. Campaigning from a wheelchair, Moreno could become the first paraplegic head of state in Latin America.</p>
<p>Election Results – Slack Tide</p>
<p>Moreno must garner at least 50% to become president on the first round of voting. Failing a clear majority, Moreno needs at least 40% plus being ahead of the nearest contended by at least 10%. Otherwise the top two presidential candidates have to face off in a second round of voting on April 2.</p>
<p>Polls closed on Sunday night, and by Monday morning nearly 90% of the votes had been tallied. Eight candidates ran, and the leftist Moreno gained a plurality with over a 10% lead compared to his nearest rival, the rightist Lasso. But at 39.12%, the left’s candidate was still a hair’s breadth <a href="" type="internal">short of the 40%</a> needed to avoid a runoff election.</p>
<p>Election <a href="" type="internal">results will be trickling</a> in from remote regions in Ecuador for a few days. Lenin Moreno may yet squeak by with a first round win. If the process goes to a second round, the fractious right will try to unify around Lasso, while Moreno will rally his base among poor and working communities.</p>
<p>US whistleblower Chelsea Manning is scheduled to be released on May 17th on a commuted 35-year sentence, after spending seven <a href="http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/obama-chelsea-manning-has-served-tough-prison-sentence" type="external">hard years in prison</a>. Assange’s WikiLeaks came into prominence when it released the video <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yw442y2fTeU" type="external">Collateral Murder</a> along with over 700,000 documents, obtained from Manning.</p>
<p>If the Pink Tide in Latin America continues to flow rather than ebb, a week after Manning’s release, Lenin Moreno will be inaugurated as Ecuador’s next president. And Julian Assange will remain safely in the embassy.</p>
<p>Roger Harris is the immediate past president of the <a href="http://taskforceamericas.org/" type="external">Task Force on the Americas</a>, a 32-year-old human rights organization supporting the social justice movements in Latin America and the Caribbean from US imperialist intervention.</p>
| 7,447 |
<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_bloc%20" type="external">Black Bloc</a> anarchists, who have been active on the streets in Oakland and other cities, are the cancer of the Occupy movement. The presence of Black Bloc anarchists — so named because they dress in black, obscure their faces, move as a unified mass, seek physical confrontations with police and destroy property — is a gift from heaven to the security and surveillance state. The Occupy encampments in various cities were shut down precisely because they were nonviolent. They were shut down because the state realized the potential of their broad appeal even to those within the systems of power. They were shut down because they articulated a truth about our economic and political system that cut across political and cultural lines. And they were shut down because they were places mothers and fathers with strollers felt safe.</p>
<p>Black Bloc adherents detest those of us on the organized left and seek, quite consciously, to take away our tools of empowerment. They confuse acts of petty vandalism and a repellent cynicism with revolution. The real enemies, they argue, are not the corporate capitalists, but their collaborators among the unions, workers’ movements, radical intellectuals, environmental activists and populist movements such as the <a href="http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/zapatistas.htm%20" type="external">Zapatistas</a>. Any group that seeks to rebuild social structures, especially through nonviolent acts of civil disobedience, rather than physically destroy, becomes, in the eyes of Black Bloc anarchists, the enemy. Black Bloc anarchists spend most of their fury not on the architects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or globalism, but on those, such as the Zapatistas, who respond to the problem. It is a grotesque inversion of value systems.</p>
<p>Because Black Bloc anarchists do not believe in organization, indeed oppose all organized movements, they ensure their own powerlessness. They can only be obstructionist. And they are primarily obstructionist to those who resist. <a href="http://www.johnzerzan.net/%20" type="external">John Zerzan</a>, one of the principal ideologues of the Black Bloc movement in the United States, defended “Industrial Society and Its Future,” the rambling manifesto by Theodore Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, although he did not endorse Kaczynski’s bombings. Zerzan is a fierce critic of a long list of supposed sellouts starting with Noam Chomsky. Black Bloc anarchists are an example of what Theodore Roszak in “The Making of a Counter Culture” called the “progressive adolescentization” of the American left.</p>
<p>In Zerzan’s now defunct magazine Green Anarchy (which survives as a <a href="http://greenanarchy.webs.com/" type="external">website</a>) he published <a href="http://www.reocities.com/kk_abacus/vb/wd7ezln.html%20" type="external">an article</a> by someone named “Venomous Butterfly” that excoriated the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN). The essay declared that “not only are those [the Zapatistas’] aims not anarchist; they are not even revolutionary.” It also denounced the indigenous movement for “nationalist language,” for asserting the right of people to “alter or modify their form of government” and for having the goals of “work, land, housing, health care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and peace.” The movement, the article stated, was not worthy of support because it called for “nothing concrete that could not be provided by capitalism.”</p>
<p />
<p>“Of course,” the article went on, “the social struggles of exploited and oppressed people cannot be expected to conform to some abstract anarchist ideal. These struggles arise in particular situations, sparked by specific events. The question of revolutionary solidarity in these struggles is, therefore, the question of how to intervene in a way that is fitting with one’s aims, in a way that moves one’s revolutionary anarchist project forward.”</p>
<p>Solidarity becomes the hijacking or destruction of competing movements, which is exactly what the Black Bloc contingents are attempting to do with the Occupy movement.</p>
<p>“The Black Bloc can say they are attacking cops, but what they are really doing is destroying the Occupy movement,” the writer and environmental activist <a href="http://www.derrickjensen.org/%20" type="external">Derrick Jensen</a> told me when I reached him by phone in California. “If their real target actually was the cops and not the Occupy movement, the Black Bloc would make their actions completely separate from Occupy, instead of effectively using these others as a human shield. Their attacks on cops are simply a means to an end, which is to destroy a movement that doesn’t fit their ideological standard.”</p>
<p>“I don’t have a problem with escalating tactics to some sort of militant resistance if it is appropriate morally, strategically and tactically,” Jensen continued. “This is true if one is going to pick up a sign, a rock or a gun. But you need to have thought it through. The Black Bloc spends more time attempting to destroy movements than they do attacking those in power. They hate the left more than they hate capitalists.”</p>
<p>“Their thinking is not only nonstrategic, but actively opposed to strategy,” said Jensen, author of several books, including “The Culture of Make Believe.” “They are unwilling to think critically about whether one is acting appropriately in the moment. I have no problem with someone violating boundaries [when] that violation is the smart, appropriate thing to do. I have a huge problem with people violating boundaries for the sake of violating boundaries. It is a lot easier to pick up a rock and throw it through the nearest window than it is to organize, or at least figure out which window you should throw a rock through if you are going to throw a rock. A lot of it is laziness.”</p>
<p>Groups of Black Bloc protesters, for example, smashed the windows of a locally owned coffee shop in November in Oakland and looted it. It was not, as Jensen points out, a strategic, moral or tactical act. It was done for its own sake. Random acts of violence, looting and vandalism are justified, in the jargon of the movement, as components of “feral” or “spontaneous insurrection.” These acts, the movement argues, can never be organized. Organization, in the thinking of the movement, implies hierarchy, which must always be opposed. There can be no restraints on “feral” or “spontaneous” acts of insurrection. Whoever gets hurt gets hurt. Whatever gets destroyed gets destroyed.</p>
<p>There is a word for this — “criminal.”The Black Bloc movement is infected with a deeply disturbing hypermasculinity. This hypermasculinity, I expect, is its primary appeal. It taps into the lust that lurks within us to destroy, not only things but human beings. It offers the godlike power that comes with mob violence. Marching as a uniformed mass, all dressed in black to become part of an anonymous bloc, faces covered, temporarily overcomes alienation, feelings of inadequacy, powerlessness and loneliness. It imparts to those in the mob a sense of comradeship. It permits an inchoate rage to be unleashed on any target. Pity, compassion and tenderness are banished for the intoxication of power. It is the same sickness that fuels the swarms of police who pepper-spray and beat peaceful demonstrators. It is the sickness of soldiers in war. It turns human beings into beasts.</p>
<p>“We run on,” Erich Maria Remarque wrote in “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “overwhelmed by this wave that bears us along, that fills us with ferocity, turns us into thugs, into murderers, into God only knows what devils: this wave that multiplies our strength with fear and madness and greed of life, seeking and fighting for nothing but our deliverance.”</p>
<p>The corporate state understands and welcomes the language of force. It can use the Black Bloc’s confrontational tactics and destruction of property to justify draconian forms of control and frighten the wider population away from supporting the Occupy movement. Once the Occupy movement is painted as a flag-burning, rock-throwing, angry mob we are finished. If we become isolated we can be crushed. The arrests last weekend in Oakland of more than 400 protesters, some of whom had thrown rocks, carried homemade shields and rolled barricades, are an indication of the scale of escalating repression and a failure to remain a unified, nonviolent opposition. Police pumped tear gas, flash-bang grenades and “less lethal” rounds into the crowds. Once protesters were in jail they were denied crucial medications, kept in overcrowded cells and pushed around. A march in New York called in solidarity with the Oakland protesters saw a few demonstrators imitate the Black Bloc tactics in Oakland, including throwing bottles at police and dumping garbage on the street. They chanted “Fuck the police” and “Racist, sexist, anti-gay / NYPD go away.”</p>
<p>This is a struggle to win the hearts and minds of the wider public and those within the structures of power (including the police) who are possessed of a conscience. It is not a war. Nonviolent movements, on some level, embrace police brutality. The continuing attempt by the state to crush peaceful protesters who call for simple acts of justice delegitimizes the power elite. It prompts a passive population to respond. It brings some within the structures of power to our side and creates internal divisions that will lead to paralysis within the network of authority. Martin Luther King kept holding marches in Birmingham because he knew Public Safety Commissioner <a href="http://historylabs.hcpss.wikispaces.net/file/view/NY+Times+Obituary+Connor.pdf%20" type="external">“Bull” Connor</a> was a thug who would overreact.</p>
<p>The Black Bloc’s thought-terminating cliché of “diversity of tactics” in the end opens the way for hundreds or thousands of peaceful marchers to be discredited by a handful of hooligans. The state could not be happier. It is a safe bet that among Black Bloc groups in cities such as Oakland are agents provocateurs spurring them on to more mayhem. But with or without police infiltration the Black Bloc is serving the interests of the 1 percent. These anarchists represent no one but themselves. Those in Oakland, although most are white and many are not from the city, arrogantly dismiss Oakland’s African-American leaders, who, along with other local community organizers, should be determining the forms of resistance.</p>
<p>The explosive rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement came when a few women, trapped behind orange mesh netting, were pepper-sprayed by NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna. The violence and cruelty of the state were exposed. And the Occupy movement, through its steadfast refusal to respond to police provocation, resonated across the country. Losing this moral authority, this ability to show through nonviolent protest the corruption and decadence of the corporate state, would be crippling to the movement. It would reduce us to the moral degradation of our oppressors. And that is what our oppressors want.</p>
<p>The Black Bloc movement bears the rigidity and dogmatism of all absolutism sects. Its adherents alone possess the truth. They alone understand. They alone arrogate the right, because they are enlightened and we are not, to dismiss and ignore competing points of view as infantile and irrelevant. They hear only their own voices. They heed only their own thoughts. They believe only their own clichés. And this makes them not only deeply intolerant but stupid.</p>
<p>“Once you are hostile to organization and strategic thinking the only thing that remains is lifestyle purity,” Jensen said. “&#160;‘Lifestylism’ has supplanted organization in terms of a lot of mainstream environmental thinking. Instead of opposing the corporate state, [lifestylism maintains] we should use less toilet paper and should compost. This attitude is ineffective. Once you give up on organizing or are hostile to it, all you are left with is this hyperpurity that becomes rigid dogma. You attack people who, for example, use a telephone. This is true with vegans and questions of diet. It is true with anti-car activists toward those who drive cars. It is the same with the anarchists. When I called the police after I received death threats I became to Black Bloc anarchists ‘a pig lover.’&#160;”</p>
<p>“If you live on Ogoni land and you see that <a href="http://www.cleanthenigerdelta.org/index.php/whowaskensarowiwa" type="external">Ken Saro-Wiwa</a> is murdered for acts of nonviolent resistance,” Jensen said, “if you see that the land is still being trashed, then you might think about escalating. I don’t have a problem with that. But we have to go through the process of trying to work with the system and getting screwed. It is only then that we get to move beyond it. We can’t short-circuit the process. There is a maturation process we have to go through, as individuals and as a movement. We can’t say, ‘Hey, I’m going to throw a flowerpot at a cop because it is fun.’&#160;”</p>
|
The Cancer in Occupy
| true |
https://truthdig.com/articles/the-cancer-in-occupy/
|
2012-02-06
| 4left
|
The Cancer in Occupy
<p>The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_bloc%20" type="external">Black Bloc</a> anarchists, who have been active on the streets in Oakland and other cities, are the cancer of the Occupy movement. The presence of Black Bloc anarchists — so named because they dress in black, obscure their faces, move as a unified mass, seek physical confrontations with police and destroy property — is a gift from heaven to the security and surveillance state. The Occupy encampments in various cities were shut down precisely because they were nonviolent. They were shut down because the state realized the potential of their broad appeal even to those within the systems of power. They were shut down because they articulated a truth about our economic and political system that cut across political and cultural lines. And they were shut down because they were places mothers and fathers with strollers felt safe.</p>
<p>Black Bloc adherents detest those of us on the organized left and seek, quite consciously, to take away our tools of empowerment. They confuse acts of petty vandalism and a repellent cynicism with revolution. The real enemies, they argue, are not the corporate capitalists, but their collaborators among the unions, workers’ movements, radical intellectuals, environmental activists and populist movements such as the <a href="http://www.heureka.clara.net/gaia/zapatistas.htm%20" type="external">Zapatistas</a>. Any group that seeks to rebuild social structures, especially through nonviolent acts of civil disobedience, rather than physically destroy, becomes, in the eyes of Black Bloc anarchists, the enemy. Black Bloc anarchists spend most of their fury not on the architects of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) or globalism, but on those, such as the Zapatistas, who respond to the problem. It is a grotesque inversion of value systems.</p>
<p>Because Black Bloc anarchists do not believe in organization, indeed oppose all organized movements, they ensure their own powerlessness. They can only be obstructionist. And they are primarily obstructionist to those who resist. <a href="http://www.johnzerzan.net/%20" type="external">John Zerzan</a>, one of the principal ideologues of the Black Bloc movement in the United States, defended “Industrial Society and Its Future,” the rambling manifesto by Theodore Kaczynski, known as the Unabomber, although he did not endorse Kaczynski’s bombings. Zerzan is a fierce critic of a long list of supposed sellouts starting with Noam Chomsky. Black Bloc anarchists are an example of what Theodore Roszak in “The Making of a Counter Culture” called the “progressive adolescentization” of the American left.</p>
<p>In Zerzan’s now defunct magazine Green Anarchy (which survives as a <a href="http://greenanarchy.webs.com/" type="external">website</a>) he published <a href="http://www.reocities.com/kk_abacus/vb/wd7ezln.html%20" type="external">an article</a> by someone named “Venomous Butterfly” that excoriated the Zapatista Army for National Liberation (EZLN). The essay declared that “not only are those [the Zapatistas’] aims not anarchist; they are not even revolutionary.” It also denounced the indigenous movement for “nationalist language,” for asserting the right of people to “alter or modify their form of government” and for having the goals of “work, land, housing, health care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and peace.” The movement, the article stated, was not worthy of support because it called for “nothing concrete that could not be provided by capitalism.”</p>
<p />
<p>“Of course,” the article went on, “the social struggles of exploited and oppressed people cannot be expected to conform to some abstract anarchist ideal. These struggles arise in particular situations, sparked by specific events. The question of revolutionary solidarity in these struggles is, therefore, the question of how to intervene in a way that is fitting with one’s aims, in a way that moves one’s revolutionary anarchist project forward.”</p>
<p>Solidarity becomes the hijacking or destruction of competing movements, which is exactly what the Black Bloc contingents are attempting to do with the Occupy movement.</p>
<p>“The Black Bloc can say they are attacking cops, but what they are really doing is destroying the Occupy movement,” the writer and environmental activist <a href="http://www.derrickjensen.org/%20" type="external">Derrick Jensen</a> told me when I reached him by phone in California. “If their real target actually was the cops and not the Occupy movement, the Black Bloc would make their actions completely separate from Occupy, instead of effectively using these others as a human shield. Their attacks on cops are simply a means to an end, which is to destroy a movement that doesn’t fit their ideological standard.”</p>
<p>“I don’t have a problem with escalating tactics to some sort of militant resistance if it is appropriate morally, strategically and tactically,” Jensen continued. “This is true if one is going to pick up a sign, a rock or a gun. But you need to have thought it through. The Black Bloc spends more time attempting to destroy movements than they do attacking those in power. They hate the left more than they hate capitalists.”</p>
<p>“Their thinking is not only nonstrategic, but actively opposed to strategy,” said Jensen, author of several books, including “The Culture of Make Believe.” “They are unwilling to think critically about whether one is acting appropriately in the moment. I have no problem with someone violating boundaries [when] that violation is the smart, appropriate thing to do. I have a huge problem with people violating boundaries for the sake of violating boundaries. It is a lot easier to pick up a rock and throw it through the nearest window than it is to organize, or at least figure out which window you should throw a rock through if you are going to throw a rock. A lot of it is laziness.”</p>
<p>Groups of Black Bloc protesters, for example, smashed the windows of a locally owned coffee shop in November in Oakland and looted it. It was not, as Jensen points out, a strategic, moral or tactical act. It was done for its own sake. Random acts of violence, looting and vandalism are justified, in the jargon of the movement, as components of “feral” or “spontaneous insurrection.” These acts, the movement argues, can never be organized. Organization, in the thinking of the movement, implies hierarchy, which must always be opposed. There can be no restraints on “feral” or “spontaneous” acts of insurrection. Whoever gets hurt gets hurt. Whatever gets destroyed gets destroyed.</p>
<p>There is a word for this — “criminal.”The Black Bloc movement is infected with a deeply disturbing hypermasculinity. This hypermasculinity, I expect, is its primary appeal. It taps into the lust that lurks within us to destroy, not only things but human beings. It offers the godlike power that comes with mob violence. Marching as a uniformed mass, all dressed in black to become part of an anonymous bloc, faces covered, temporarily overcomes alienation, feelings of inadequacy, powerlessness and loneliness. It imparts to those in the mob a sense of comradeship. It permits an inchoate rage to be unleashed on any target. Pity, compassion and tenderness are banished for the intoxication of power. It is the same sickness that fuels the swarms of police who pepper-spray and beat peaceful demonstrators. It is the sickness of soldiers in war. It turns human beings into beasts.</p>
<p>“We run on,” Erich Maria Remarque wrote in “All Quiet on the Western Front,” “overwhelmed by this wave that bears us along, that fills us with ferocity, turns us into thugs, into murderers, into God only knows what devils: this wave that multiplies our strength with fear and madness and greed of life, seeking and fighting for nothing but our deliverance.”</p>
<p>The corporate state understands and welcomes the language of force. It can use the Black Bloc’s confrontational tactics and destruction of property to justify draconian forms of control and frighten the wider population away from supporting the Occupy movement. Once the Occupy movement is painted as a flag-burning, rock-throwing, angry mob we are finished. If we become isolated we can be crushed. The arrests last weekend in Oakland of more than 400 protesters, some of whom had thrown rocks, carried homemade shields and rolled barricades, are an indication of the scale of escalating repression and a failure to remain a unified, nonviolent opposition. Police pumped tear gas, flash-bang grenades and “less lethal” rounds into the crowds. Once protesters were in jail they were denied crucial medications, kept in overcrowded cells and pushed around. A march in New York called in solidarity with the Oakland protesters saw a few demonstrators imitate the Black Bloc tactics in Oakland, including throwing bottles at police and dumping garbage on the street. They chanted “Fuck the police” and “Racist, sexist, anti-gay / NYPD go away.”</p>
<p>This is a struggle to win the hearts and minds of the wider public and those within the structures of power (including the police) who are possessed of a conscience. It is not a war. Nonviolent movements, on some level, embrace police brutality. The continuing attempt by the state to crush peaceful protesters who call for simple acts of justice delegitimizes the power elite. It prompts a passive population to respond. It brings some within the structures of power to our side and creates internal divisions that will lead to paralysis within the network of authority. Martin Luther King kept holding marches in Birmingham because he knew Public Safety Commissioner <a href="http://historylabs.hcpss.wikispaces.net/file/view/NY+Times+Obituary+Connor.pdf%20" type="external">“Bull” Connor</a> was a thug who would overreact.</p>
<p>The Black Bloc’s thought-terminating cliché of “diversity of tactics” in the end opens the way for hundreds or thousands of peaceful marchers to be discredited by a handful of hooligans. The state could not be happier. It is a safe bet that among Black Bloc groups in cities such as Oakland are agents provocateurs spurring them on to more mayhem. But with or without police infiltration the Black Bloc is serving the interests of the 1 percent. These anarchists represent no one but themselves. Those in Oakland, although most are white and many are not from the city, arrogantly dismiss Oakland’s African-American leaders, who, along with other local community organizers, should be determining the forms of resistance.</p>
<p>The explosive rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement came when a few women, trapped behind orange mesh netting, were pepper-sprayed by NYPD Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna. The violence and cruelty of the state were exposed. And the Occupy movement, through its steadfast refusal to respond to police provocation, resonated across the country. Losing this moral authority, this ability to show through nonviolent protest the corruption and decadence of the corporate state, would be crippling to the movement. It would reduce us to the moral degradation of our oppressors. And that is what our oppressors want.</p>
<p>The Black Bloc movement bears the rigidity and dogmatism of all absolutism sects. Its adherents alone possess the truth. They alone understand. They alone arrogate the right, because they are enlightened and we are not, to dismiss and ignore competing points of view as infantile and irrelevant. They hear only their own voices. They heed only their own thoughts. They believe only their own clichés. And this makes them not only deeply intolerant but stupid.</p>
<p>“Once you are hostile to organization and strategic thinking the only thing that remains is lifestyle purity,” Jensen said. “&#160;‘Lifestylism’ has supplanted organization in terms of a lot of mainstream environmental thinking. Instead of opposing the corporate state, [lifestylism maintains] we should use less toilet paper and should compost. This attitude is ineffective. Once you give up on organizing or are hostile to it, all you are left with is this hyperpurity that becomes rigid dogma. You attack people who, for example, use a telephone. This is true with vegans and questions of diet. It is true with anti-car activists toward those who drive cars. It is the same with the anarchists. When I called the police after I received death threats I became to Black Bloc anarchists ‘a pig lover.’&#160;”</p>
<p>“If you live on Ogoni land and you see that <a href="http://www.cleanthenigerdelta.org/index.php/whowaskensarowiwa" type="external">Ken Saro-Wiwa</a> is murdered for acts of nonviolent resistance,” Jensen said, “if you see that the land is still being trashed, then you might think about escalating. I don’t have a problem with that. But we have to go through the process of trying to work with the system and getting screwed. It is only then that we get to move beyond it. We can’t short-circuit the process. There is a maturation process we have to go through, as individuals and as a movement. We can’t say, ‘Hey, I’m going to throw a flowerpot at a cop because it is fun.’&#160;”</p>
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<p>FALLS CHURCH (ABP) — Baptists in the United States and elsewhere in the world are responding with aid and prayers for their counterparts in the embattled former Soviet republic of Georgia.</p>
<p>The conflict between it and Russia has cost hundreds of lives and displaced thousands of people on both sides.</p>
<p>“We pray that the conflict is peacefully resolved and opposing sides reconciled,” said Malkhaz Songulashvili, the archbishop of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia, in a statement posted on the organization's website. “We mourn about the death of soldiers, children, men, women, elderly from both sides who lose their lives even as I write this statement. We deplore injustice, aggression and the conflict resolution at the cost of civilian lives.”</p>
<p />
<p>Photo courtesy CBF of Georgia</p>
<p>CBF of Georgia coordinator Frank Broome (left) introduces Malkhaz Songulashvili, the archbishop of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia, at the CBF of Georgia fall convocation in 2006. The dialogue was part of a Georgia-Georgia partnership, which now includes relief assistance after recent violence in the country.</p>
<p>Songulashivli called on Georgia's Western allies to come to the aid of the tiny republic, wedged between Russia's southern border, the Black Sea, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. “We call on the international community, religious leaders and all the people of goodwill for their support of the long-suffering people of Georgia,” he said.</p>
<p>Georgian and Russian leaders each contend that the other side provoked the conflict.</p>
<p>Russian troops responded with an overwhelming show of force to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's attempt to assert control over South Ossetia. The province is regarded by international law as officially part of Georgia, but many of its residents consider themselves Russians and hold Russian citizenship.</p>
<p>President Bush called on Russian leaders Aug. 13 to obey the terms of the cease-fire and withdraw from undisputed Georgian territory. He also said that U.S. military planes and warships would begin bringing humanitarian aid into Georgia.</p>
<p>Baptist World Aid, the humanitarian arm of the Baptist World Alliance, has provided an initial $10,000 grant to Georgian Baptists for relief work. “We condemn this wanton taking of human life, and mourn the death and suffering of all the peoples of this region,” said BWAid Director Paul Montacute, in a press statement. “Baptists of the world pledge their support for all in need with their prayers, expressions of concern and their giving.”</p>
<p>European Baptist Federation General Secretary Tony Peck said, “We are very concerned about the whole situation and urge a peaceful resolution of the conflict.” He called on all European Baptists to pray for peace in the Caucasus region.</p>
<p>International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches USA has also designated a $7,500 emergency grant for Georgian Baptists to use to relieve the suffering, according to the American Baptist News Service. Reid Trulson, executive director of International Ministries, and Charles Jones, the agency's area director for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, have both been in contact with Georgian Baptist leaders. Trulson said, “We are deeply concerned about the destruction taking place in Georgia and are praying fervently for the people of Georgia as well as for those who are causing this chaos.”</p>
<p>Merab Gprindashvili, another Georgian Baptist leader, noted in an e-mail to Trulson that he had become a refugee himself even as he was trying to help others. Gprindashvili reported: “There are a lot of destroyed houses and many dead and wounded people in the villages. We do not know yet what has happened with our brothers and sisters. There are 35 baptized members living in the hottest spots in the conflict zone, and about 100 members in the neighborhood of Gori. Before the war broke out, we had started raising money [for a massive new “cathedral” church in Tblisi]. Of course, we have changed our mind and this collection will be used for the refugees. There are many things to be done.”</p>
<p>Gprindashvili said refugees from several areas are coming to the Beteli Center, a new Georgian Baptist benevolent institution in Tblisi. “We will be more than happy if you can contribute something for the benefit of the refugees,” he said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has given $5,000 for relief in Georgia, and the CBF of the American state of Georgia, which has a partnership with the country, has sent $2,000 in relief funds.</p>
<p>The Fellowship contributed to relief efforts through Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance, which has also given funds to aid Georgian Baptists.</p>
<p>“All of us feel …devastated,” wrote Songulashvili. “A humanitarian disaster is inevitable. Something has to be done.”</p>
<p>Songulashvili said the most urgent needs are for shelter, food and water, though the need for medical assistance and counseling are also significant. With a cold winter looming, blankets, clothes and fuel for heat will also be needed.</p>
<p>In the United States, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia has had a partnership with the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia since 2006. The partnership has included prayer, dialogue and exchange to promote cultural understanding, and the CBF of Georgia's support of several ministries including a care center for the elderly, an orphanage, a theological school and an organization that supports and ordains women to ministry.</p>
<p>“We need to pray that the war will cease and that the troops will return to Russia. We need to pray that the oil and natural gas lines will be restored in time for the winter. We need to pray for the wounded and the families of those who have died. We need to pray that sufficient aid from governmental and non-governmental sources will arrive in time,” said Frank Broome, coordinator of CBF of Georgia.</p>
<p>First Baptist Church in Columbia, Mo., also has connections to the country. For 12 years, the church has been connected with Georgia's Peace Cathedral, the country's first Baptist church. In response to the conflict, First Baptist hosted an Aug. 19 ecumenical and interfaith prayer service that attracted individuals from throughout Columbia, which has a sister city relationship with a city in Georgia.</p>
<p>While prayers for peace and safety continue to be important, the need for physical assistance can't be overlooked, according to John Baker, pastor of First Baptist in Columbia.</p>
<p>“There are 120,000 internally displaced persons [in Georgia],” said Baker, who has traveled to Georgia eight times. “The people need everything. The homes that they had, have been burned and destroyed. It's going to be a longstanding relief effort. This is going to take years for this country and these people to return to a sense of normality.”</p>
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Americans act as Georgian Baptists call for aid
<p>FALLS CHURCH (ABP) — Baptists in the United States and elsewhere in the world are responding with aid and prayers for their counterparts in the embattled former Soviet republic of Georgia.</p>
<p>The conflict between it and Russia has cost hundreds of lives and displaced thousands of people on both sides.</p>
<p>“We pray that the conflict is peacefully resolved and opposing sides reconciled,” said Malkhaz Songulashvili, the archbishop of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia, in a statement posted on the organization's website. “We mourn about the death of soldiers, children, men, women, elderly from both sides who lose their lives even as I write this statement. We deplore injustice, aggression and the conflict resolution at the cost of civilian lives.”</p>
<p />
<p>Photo courtesy CBF of Georgia</p>
<p>CBF of Georgia coordinator Frank Broome (left) introduces Malkhaz Songulashvili, the archbishop of the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia, at the CBF of Georgia fall convocation in 2006. The dialogue was part of a Georgia-Georgia partnership, which now includes relief assistance after recent violence in the country.</p>
<p>Songulashivli called on Georgia's Western allies to come to the aid of the tiny republic, wedged between Russia's southern border, the Black Sea, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. “We call on the international community, religious leaders and all the people of goodwill for their support of the long-suffering people of Georgia,” he said.</p>
<p>Georgian and Russian leaders each contend that the other side provoked the conflict.</p>
<p>Russian troops responded with an overwhelming show of force to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's attempt to assert control over South Ossetia. The province is regarded by international law as officially part of Georgia, but many of its residents consider themselves Russians and hold Russian citizenship.</p>
<p>President Bush called on Russian leaders Aug. 13 to obey the terms of the cease-fire and withdraw from undisputed Georgian territory. He also said that U.S. military planes and warships would begin bringing humanitarian aid into Georgia.</p>
<p>Baptist World Aid, the humanitarian arm of the Baptist World Alliance, has provided an initial $10,000 grant to Georgian Baptists for relief work. “We condemn this wanton taking of human life, and mourn the death and suffering of all the peoples of this region,” said BWAid Director Paul Montacute, in a press statement. “Baptists of the world pledge their support for all in need with their prayers, expressions of concern and their giving.”</p>
<p>European Baptist Federation General Secretary Tony Peck said, “We are very concerned about the whole situation and urge a peaceful resolution of the conflict.” He called on all European Baptists to pray for peace in the Caucasus region.</p>
<p>International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches USA has also designated a $7,500 emergency grant for Georgian Baptists to use to relieve the suffering, according to the American Baptist News Service. Reid Trulson, executive director of International Ministries, and Charles Jones, the agency's area director for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, have both been in contact with Georgian Baptist leaders. Trulson said, “We are deeply concerned about the destruction taking place in Georgia and are praying fervently for the people of Georgia as well as for those who are causing this chaos.”</p>
<p>Merab Gprindashvili, another Georgian Baptist leader, noted in an e-mail to Trulson that he had become a refugee himself even as he was trying to help others. Gprindashvili reported: “There are a lot of destroyed houses and many dead and wounded people in the villages. We do not know yet what has happened with our brothers and sisters. There are 35 baptized members living in the hottest spots in the conflict zone, and about 100 members in the neighborhood of Gori. Before the war broke out, we had started raising money [for a massive new “cathedral” church in Tblisi]. Of course, we have changed our mind and this collection will be used for the refugees. There are many things to be done.”</p>
<p>Gprindashvili said refugees from several areas are coming to the Beteli Center, a new Georgian Baptist benevolent institution in Tblisi. “We will be more than happy if you can contribute something for the benefit of the refugees,” he said.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship has given $5,000 for relief in Georgia, and the CBF of the American state of Georgia, which has a partnership with the country, has sent $2,000 in relief funds.</p>
<p>The Fellowship contributed to relief efforts through Baptist World Aid, the relief and development arm of the Baptist World Alliance, which has also given funds to aid Georgian Baptists.</p>
<p>“All of us feel …devastated,” wrote Songulashvili. “A humanitarian disaster is inevitable. Something has to be done.”</p>
<p>Songulashvili said the most urgent needs are for shelter, food and water, though the need for medical assistance and counseling are also significant. With a cold winter looming, blankets, clothes and fuel for heat will also be needed.</p>
<p>In the United States, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia has had a partnership with the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia since 2006. The partnership has included prayer, dialogue and exchange to promote cultural understanding, and the CBF of Georgia's support of several ministries including a care center for the elderly, an orphanage, a theological school and an organization that supports and ordains women to ministry.</p>
<p>“We need to pray that the war will cease and that the troops will return to Russia. We need to pray that the oil and natural gas lines will be restored in time for the winter. We need to pray for the wounded and the families of those who have died. We need to pray that sufficient aid from governmental and non-governmental sources will arrive in time,” said Frank Broome, coordinator of CBF of Georgia.</p>
<p>First Baptist Church in Columbia, Mo., also has connections to the country. For 12 years, the church has been connected with Georgia's Peace Cathedral, the country's first Baptist church. In response to the conflict, First Baptist hosted an Aug. 19 ecumenical and interfaith prayer service that attracted individuals from throughout Columbia, which has a sister city relationship with a city in Georgia.</p>
<p>While prayers for peace and safety continue to be important, the need for physical assistance can't be overlooked, according to John Baker, pastor of First Baptist in Columbia.</p>
<p>“There are 120,000 internally displaced persons [in Georgia],” said Baker, who has traveled to Georgia eight times. “The people need everything. The homes that they had, have been burned and destroyed. It's going to be a longstanding relief effort. This is going to take years for this country and these people to return to a sense of normality.”</p>
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<p>Given the disastrous decisions made by U.S. officials in the seven long years since September 11, 2001, it would be easy tonight simply to catalog those many mistakes and condemn the bipartisan depravity of the Republican and Democratic politicians who — starting almost immediately after the towers fell — manipulated people’s anger and fear to build support for illegal and immoral wars of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
<p>It would be especially easy for those of us in the anti-war/anti-empire movement to feel self-righteous and say, “We told you so.” By the end of the day on 9/11, many of us saw where the nation was heading and tried, in vain, to argue for a saner strategy. For example:</p>
<p>It need not be said, but I will say it: The acts of terrorism that killed civilians in New York and Washington were reprehensible and indefensible; to try to defend them would be to abandon one’s humanity. … But this act was no more despicable than the massive acts of terrorism — the deliberate killing of civilians for political purposes — that the U.S. government has committed during my lifetime.</p>
<p>Let us not forget that a military response will kill people, and if the pattern of past U.S. actions holds, it will kill innocents. Innocent people, just like the ones in the towers in New York and the ones on the airplanes that were hijacked. To borrow from President Bush, “mother and fathers, friends and neighbors” will surely die in a massive response.</p>
<p>[I]f we are to be decent people, we all must demand of our government — the government that a great man of peace, Martin Luther King Jr., once described as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” — that the insanity stop here.</p>
<p>With help from friends in my political circle, I wrote those words late in the day on September 11, 2001. The full essay was posted on the web the next day and appeared in the Houston Chronicle on September 14, prompting a flood of angry responses from people who thought that the piece was outrageous and that I was a traitor. Yet analyses like this, which were so controversial at the time, seem rather unremarkable today. In a recent report, the establishment think tank Rand Corp. concluded that the United States made a fundamental error in portraying the response to 9/11 as a “war on terrorism” and that “the U.S. strategy was not successful in undermining al Qa’ida’s capabilities.” [Seth G. Jones, Martin C. Libick, “ <a href="" type="internal">How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa’ida,</a>” 2008.]</p>
<p>Looking back at the statements and writings of the anti-war activists who spoke up right away, I think it’s fair to say that in general we were honest in our assessments of history and accurate in our projections of what was to come. We shouldn’t feel too cocky about that, however; predicting that an imperial power will act like an imperial power is no great accomplishment.</p>
<p>So, now I want to do more than review the crimes that the Bush administration committed with the cooperation of Democrats, and to go beyond self-congratulation. That would be the easy path, but the easy path is rarely the most useful. Instead, let’s focus on ourselves and our fellow citizens. Let’s try to be honest about who we are and who we have been, in the hopes we can learn lessons that will be valuable in the future.</p>
<p>I’ll start with the rule of thirds, assuming it can be helpful to divide any human population roughly into thirds on any particular question. Based on the past seven years, how would we describe 21st century Americans in political terms? I would suggest that 9/11 showed us that we the people of the United States are arrogant, ignorant, and cowardly. About a third of us are arrogant and proud of the United States’ aggressive posture in the world. Another third of us are ignorant and hide behind the excuse that we don’t, or can’t, know what’s really happening. And the final third — the group in which I would place myself — are cowardly, avoiding the moral consequences of what we aren’t willing to do.</p>
<p>That may sound harsh, but these are irrefutable claims — and I have the pop songs to prove it. Of course songs lyrics do not an argument make, but I will illustrate my points the work of popular musicians, whose story-telling reflects the society from which it comes.</p>
<p>Arrogance</p>
<p>Let’s start with Toby Keith’s “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSWuA-RttGU" type="external">Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)</a>,” which he wrote a few days after 9/11 and which appeared on his 2002 CD, “Unleashed.”</p>
<p>Keith articulates a desire to strike back that is easy to understand. This reflex to respond violently to a violent attack is part of being human; we all have the capacity for such action. But that does not mean, of course, that military responses are always morally justified. We may feel a desire to strike, but such a desire should be examined in the light of history and contemporary politics. Let’s consider one of Keith’s verses:</p>
<p>Oh justice will be served And the battle will rage This big dog will fight When you rattle his cage And you’ll be sorry that you messed with the U S of A ‘Cause we’ll put a boot in your ass It’s the American way.</p>
<p>Was justice served when the United States rejected diplomacy and launched an illegal invasion of Afghanistan? Has the United States ever advanced the cause of justice in the Middle East and Central Asia, especially during the post-World War II period of its unparalleled dominance? Do U.S. policymakers go to war only when our cage is rattled? Or, in fact, has the United States consistently used war to extend and deepen economic dominance, especially in that post-WWII period?</p>
<p>Sadly, the only thing Keith gets right is the recognition that violence is the American way. From the moment Europeans landed in the Americas, they acquired land and resources through the kind of barbaric violence that is all too familiar in human history and a consistent feature of the American story. However, basic moral principles suggest that’s not something to celebrate.</p>
<p>Keith claims that the song has been misunderstood, that it was more patriotic than pro-war, and his claim is easy to believe — in the United States patriotism is often fused with an assumption of dominance and the inherent righteousness of U.S. violence, which is precisely the problem. But before we write off Toby Keith as part of some reactionary fringe, let’s remember that “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” was a popular song that advanced his career. Also consider the fact that he’s supporting Barack Obama in the current presidential race. Last month Keith, who has said “me and Michael Moore would agree on a lot of things,” offered this analysis:</p>
<p>There’s a big part of America that really believes that there is a war on terrorism, and that we need to finish up. So I thought it was beautiful the other day when Obama went to Afghanistan and got educated about Afghanistan and Iraq. He came back and said some really nice things.</p>
<p>There is nothing inconsistent in Keith’s song and these comments. The arrogance that is at the heart of his song has been expressed by Democrats and Republicans alike since 9/11. The assertion that the United States fights for justice in its wars abroad is routinely asserted across the conventional political spectrum and echoed in corporate commercial media. The fact that all of contemporary history refutes that assertion is irrelevant, because we live in a country in which ignorance can be celebrated.</p>
<p>Ignorance</p>
<p>This brings us to Alan Jackson’s “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvj6zdWLUuk" type="external">Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning</a>,” from his 2002 CD, “”Drive.”</p>
<p>Rather than critique the sentimental self-indulgence of Jackson’s song — since everything is always about America, it’s hardly surprising that in the dominant culture what’s most important is how Americans feel — let’s focus on this verse:</p>
<p>I’m just a singer of simple songs I’m not a real political man I watch CNN, but I’m not sure I can tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran But I know Jesus and I talk to God And I remember this from when I was young Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us And the greatest is love.</p>
<p>What does it say about the culture when a popular entertainer, who has ready access to as much information as he needs to understand the world, cannot distinguish between Iraq and Iran? He can’t tell the difference between the two most important regional powers in the most strategically crucial area of the world, home to the lion’s share of the planet’s petroleum, a place on which the majority of his country’s military power is focused? Through six decades in Iraq and Iran, the United States has been directly responsible for widespread death and incredible misery as a result of covert operations, direct attacks, and support for brutal dictators in each country. Yet even though he goes to the trouble of watching CNN, Jackson still is uncertain about which is which.</p>
<p>This is “willed ignorance,” the product of a conscious choice not to know what could be easily known and what one has a moral obligation to know. Again, Jackson is not idiosyncratic; I would suggest this stance is the norm in the United States. Rather than being embarrassed by his ignorance and taking steps to correct it, he offers it up as an indication of higher virtue, evidenced by his understanding of the centrality of love. I agree that faith, hope, and love should be central in our lives. But having faith, hope, and love doesn’t require ignorance. Knowledge is a good thing, too, something we can seek out ourselves and help each other acquire.</p>
<p>However, we also must recognize that knowledge won’t change the world unless we also have courage.</p>
<p>Cowardice</p>
<p>I have never been a fan of Toby Keith or Alan Jackson, and I don’t listen to much country music. I’m more of a Neil Young kind of guy. So, let me illustrate the cowardice of the American public by looking at Young’s music.</p>
<p>That may strike some as odd, given that Young’s 2006 “Living with War” CD was a direct challenge to the Bush administration and the U.S. occupation of Iraq. But the key to my criticism is the year — 2006. An anti-war record three years into the war should not be cause for uncritical accolades for a musician who claims to be a dissenter. We should be asking Neil Young, “Where were you in 2001?” The answer: He was writing and recording “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Mfq7z_vHc" type="external">Let’s Roll</a>,” which was released on his 2002 CD, “Are You Passionate?”</p>
<p>That song is a tribute to the United Flight 93 passengers who intervened in the 9/11 hijacking of that plane and forced it down in Pennsylvania. One of those passengers, Todd Beamer, is said to have uttered the famous words, “let’s roll” as they took that action. Even if we want to interpret the song apolitically, as a simple tribute to human courage, it adds to the cultural mythology about U.S. heroism, which contributes to U.S. arrogance and does nothing to correct the ignorance crucial to engineering people’s consent for war. Beyond such a tribute, the song suggests a need for war:</p>
<p>No one has the answer But one thing is true You’ve got to turn on evil When it’s coming after you You’ve gotta face it down And when it tries to hide You’ve gotta go in after it And never be denied Time is runnin’ out Let’s roll.</p>
<p>While Young was writing that song, the anti-war movement was trying to counter the country’s hyper-patriotism, warning where it would lead — to more U.S. aggression in the service of empire, in both Afghanistan and Iraq, to death and destruction, to the policies that Young eventually would oppose in “Living with War.” When the movement could have used an eloquent musical voice, Young was on the other side.</p>
<p>My goal is not to single out Neil Young, but to ask us all to reflect on how easy it was for so many to fall in line with that hyper-patriotism after 9/11, and how easy it might again be in the future. The task of responsible citizens in the empire is not to critique illegal and immoral wars when they go sour, but to resist those wars of aggression from the start. With that in mind, Young’s 2006 lyrics from “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_HbEJfko-w" type="external">Living with War</a>” ring just a bit hollow:</p>
<p>I join the multitudes I raise my hand in peace I never bow to the laws of the thought police I take a holy vow To never kill again To never kill again</p>
<p>Courage requires taking risks. Most of the liberals who now are vocal in their opposition to the war did not take risks right after 9/11; most ducked and covered, claiming that America was too emotionally vulnerable for politics at that moment, as the politicians kept right on pushing their politics of empire, driving an arrogant and ignorant public to war.</p>
<p>My cowardice</p>
<p>Again, while it’s always easy to catalog the flaws of others, it’s far more useful for all of us to attempt honest self-reflection, including those of us who opposed both wars from the start.</p>
<p>While I have worked hard over the years to learn about the Middle East and Central Asia, I recognize that it has been relatively easy given the resources and privileges available to me as a professor, and I also am aware of how much I still don’t know about those regions and about other parts of the world. I struggle for humility and try to learn more, though there’s ample room for criticism of me on those counts. But the virtue in which I feel most deficient these days is courage.</p>
<p>I have no problem defending the decision I made to speak out immediately after 9/11 and to contribute to anti-war organizing; at the time I thought those were the right things to do, and none of the criticism of those decisions — from conservatives or liberals — has ever offered a coherent moral or intellectual case against those actions. I am haunted not by what I did but by what I didn’t’ do, by my own cowardice. Why did those of us who opposed U.S. policy not take more risks and push harder? It’s fine to be right in one’s analysis; it’s better to be right and effective. And, in retrospect, the only thing that might have been effective in impeding the mad rush to war was for those dissenting from that madness to take real risks, to put our bodies in the path of the war machine. Mario Savio, one of the leaders of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, articulated this so passionately on the University of California campus in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcx9BJRadfw" type="external">December 1964</a>:</p>
<p>There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.</p>
<p>Activists in the anti-war movement are sometimes accused of being cowards, of being afraid to fight. That is a slur designed to derail the anti-war movement’s honest critique of (1) the violence of the powerful, (2) the propaganda the powerful use to persuade ordinary people to support the violence, and (3) the economic motives of the elites whose wealth and privilege depends on that violence. But those of us in the anti-war movement should ask ourselves: Have we built a political culture that provides the support we need to act with courage? Do we have the real courage necessary to undermine the U.S. empire? While people suffer and die around the world as a direct result of U.S. military and economic policies, what are we doing to stop the machine? Are we willing to put our bodies upon the gears, the wheels, the levers? If forced to choose between our relative affluence and real sacrifices that conscience might demand, how do we choose?</p>
<p>This is not a question on which I have standing to pontificate. The answer is simple: I have not done enough. We haven’t done enough, because the machine is still grinding away, still grinding down people at home and around the world. Perhaps if anti-war activists had upped the ante and we had put our bodies in the way of the machine, the world would look very different tonight. Or perhaps all that would have happened was that we’d be in jail or dead because the machine would have rolled right along and rolled over us. There’s no way to know.</p>
<p>But I do know this: In the months after 9/11, when the political stakes seemed so high, I never really seriously considered putting my body on the gears and I never heard others in my political circles seriously discuss such options. We had not built movements and a political culture in which that question was on the table for most of us. When I think about that today — not that I didn’t do something more drastic, but that I never really considered it — I feel ashamed. That recognition doesn’t lead me to want to rush out and risk my life to prove something, but rather reminds me that I should rethink the strategies with which I’ve grown comfortable.</p>
<p>Facing difficult realities</p>
<p>This rethinking requires facing some difficult realities, that lead me to these recommendations:</p>
<p>–Drop the arrogance and face a painful truth: The troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are not fighting for our freedom or for justice. Whatever the individuals who serve in the military believe or do — and I realize that many believe they are defending us, and I know that many regularly act in compassionate and humane ways in the field — the U.S. military is not a defensive force or a humanitarian institution. It is an offensive force that destroys vulnerable people in other societies to entrench the power of a small U.S. elite and deliver the short-term material benefits that come to middle- and working-class people in the empire.</p>
<p>–Reject the ignorance and face a disturbing truth: The institutions that claim to help us understand the world (schools, universities, and the corporate commercial media) are key components of a propaganda system that encourages ignorance on these vital matters. Whatever the individuals in these institutions believe or do — and I realize that many believe they are part of a noble tradition, and I know many do challenge the conventional wisdom — these institutions are not fundamentally educational in nature. They are ideological factories that the elite use to undermine critical thinking about how power operates.</p>
<p>–Find the courage to resist and face some obvious truths: The crises we face in this country and the world — economic, political, cultural, ecological — will not be fixed by electing a new president, nor will the culture be turned around by traditional progressive political strategies. I will vote, and I will continue organizing. But I do not believe that the oppressive systems that structure our world can be dismantled through those methods. We need to think creatively, and we need to come to terms with the likelihood that until those in power believe that those of us who want to challenge power are willing to take serious risks, the machine will continue grinding.</p>
<p>These problems we face are not the result of an idiosyncratic moment in history or of one particularly thuggish group of politicians in power at that moment. We are dealing with the predictable consequences of a world shaped by patriarchy, white supremacy, nationalism, and capitalism — systems of coercion and control that are at odds with goals of justice and sustainability. That’s not easy to face, but it can help us break out of the insular self-indulgence that is so tempting when one lives in the most affluent society in the history of the world.</p>
<p>So, the crucial question isn’t, “Where were you when the world stopped turning?” The world didn’t stop turning. The violence of 9/11 should be understood as another ugly episode in a relentlessly violent period of human history. Let’s never forget that around the world people suffer 9/11-level violence on a regular basis. If that violence continues — the visible violence of war, the quiet violence of economic inequality, and the deeper violence of humans against the living world — it’s not clear there will be a world left, at least not a world we would want to leave to our children.</p>
<p>So, let’s ask another question: “Where are you as the world keeps turning?” As the violence continues, as the machine grinds on, where are we? What are we learning? What are we saying? What are we doing? What risks are we taking?</p>
<p>This is a time to realize that the dominant political institutions offer nothing beyond a tweaking of the same failed systems; in the middle of this presidential campaign, none of the major players are acknowledging the fundamental problems, let alone proposing meaningful changes in policy to acknowledge the problems. It’s also time to realize that old approaches to progressive political organizing don’t seem to be working; large scripted street demonstrations may have some benefits, for example, but they aren’t significantly advancing the goals we claim to want to achieve.</p>
<p>Where do we go from here? I have no well-developed plan to present tonight. My gut feeling tells me that while we prepare to vote in this election and continue traditional organizing in the short term, we have to think about a long-term strategy focusing much more on local, small-scale endeavors that will foster solidarity during the empire’s decline and could provide a soft landing when the empire is over. It doesn’t mean giving up our obligations to the larger world; the 500 years of imperialism that helped create this affluent society impose a clear moral obligation on us to work for global justice. But we also have to recognize that the world in which we live is going to change dramatically in the coming decades, and we need to build new institutions and networks that can help us cope with those changes.</p>
<p>Some may find it depressing to focus on how often we have failed and the consequences of those failures. But that analysis also reminds us that we are moving into a potentially creative period. Letting go of the things with which we have become familiar is difficult, but it also opens up possibilities for something new, and that can be exciting. To have the courage to act on what we can know, with humility, is the only way to imagine bringing the imperial phase of U.S. history to a humane close and creating the conditions that could make justice and sustainability possible.</p>
<p>Let’s return to the meaning of this day, September 11, which for so many evokes deep sadness and painful memories. Facing these harsh political realities and asking these questions does not dishonor those who died that day or trivialize the pain of their loved ones. It simply asks us to expand our moral circle, to recognize a common humanity and a common fate. To do that, we have to put aside our arrogance, correct our ignorance, and find our courage. That is hard, but that is the only way to imagine stopping the machine.</p>
<p>ROBERT JENSEN is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center <a href="http://thirdcoastactivist.org/" type="external">http://thirdcoastactivist.org</a>. His latest book is Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (South End Press, 2007). Jensen is also the author of The Heart of Whiteness: Race, Racism, and White Privilege and Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity (both from City Lights Books); and Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream (Peter Lang). He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a> and his articles can be found online at <a href="http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/index.html" type="external">http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/index.html</a>.</p>
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Pop Music and 9/11
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2008/09/08/pop-music-and-9-11/
|
2008-09-08
| 4left
|
Pop Music and 9/11
<p>Given the disastrous decisions made by U.S. officials in the seven long years since September 11, 2001, it would be easy tonight simply to catalog those many mistakes and condemn the bipartisan depravity of the Republican and Democratic politicians who — starting almost immediately after the towers fell — manipulated people’s anger and fear to build support for illegal and immoral wars of aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq.</p>
<p>It would be especially easy for those of us in the anti-war/anti-empire movement to feel self-righteous and say, “We told you so.” By the end of the day on 9/11, many of us saw where the nation was heading and tried, in vain, to argue for a saner strategy. For example:</p>
<p>It need not be said, but I will say it: The acts of terrorism that killed civilians in New York and Washington were reprehensible and indefensible; to try to defend them would be to abandon one’s humanity. … But this act was no more despicable than the massive acts of terrorism — the deliberate killing of civilians for political purposes — that the U.S. government has committed during my lifetime.</p>
<p>Let us not forget that a military response will kill people, and if the pattern of past U.S. actions holds, it will kill innocents. Innocent people, just like the ones in the towers in New York and the ones on the airplanes that were hijacked. To borrow from President Bush, “mother and fathers, friends and neighbors” will surely die in a massive response.</p>
<p>[I]f we are to be decent people, we all must demand of our government — the government that a great man of peace, Martin Luther King Jr., once described as “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world” — that the insanity stop here.</p>
<p>With help from friends in my political circle, I wrote those words late in the day on September 11, 2001. The full essay was posted on the web the next day and appeared in the Houston Chronicle on September 14, prompting a flood of angry responses from people who thought that the piece was outrageous and that I was a traitor. Yet analyses like this, which were so controversial at the time, seem rather unremarkable today. In a recent report, the establishment think tank Rand Corp. concluded that the United States made a fundamental error in portraying the response to 9/11 as a “war on terrorism” and that “the U.S. strategy was not successful in undermining al Qa’ida’s capabilities.” [Seth G. Jones, Martin C. Libick, “ <a href="" type="internal">How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering al Qa’ida,</a>” 2008.]</p>
<p>Looking back at the statements and writings of the anti-war activists who spoke up right away, I think it’s fair to say that in general we were honest in our assessments of history and accurate in our projections of what was to come. We shouldn’t feel too cocky about that, however; predicting that an imperial power will act like an imperial power is no great accomplishment.</p>
<p>So, now I want to do more than review the crimes that the Bush administration committed with the cooperation of Democrats, and to go beyond self-congratulation. That would be the easy path, but the easy path is rarely the most useful. Instead, let’s focus on ourselves and our fellow citizens. Let’s try to be honest about who we are and who we have been, in the hopes we can learn lessons that will be valuable in the future.</p>
<p>I’ll start with the rule of thirds, assuming it can be helpful to divide any human population roughly into thirds on any particular question. Based on the past seven years, how would we describe 21st century Americans in political terms? I would suggest that 9/11 showed us that we the people of the United States are arrogant, ignorant, and cowardly. About a third of us are arrogant and proud of the United States’ aggressive posture in the world. Another third of us are ignorant and hide behind the excuse that we don’t, or can’t, know what’s really happening. And the final third — the group in which I would place myself — are cowardly, avoiding the moral consequences of what we aren’t willing to do.</p>
<p>That may sound harsh, but these are irrefutable claims — and I have the pop songs to prove it. Of course songs lyrics do not an argument make, but I will illustrate my points the work of popular musicians, whose story-telling reflects the society from which it comes.</p>
<p>Arrogance</p>
<p>Let’s start with Toby Keith’s “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSWuA-RttGU" type="external">Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)</a>,” which he wrote a few days after 9/11 and which appeared on his 2002 CD, “Unleashed.”</p>
<p>Keith articulates a desire to strike back that is easy to understand. This reflex to respond violently to a violent attack is part of being human; we all have the capacity for such action. But that does not mean, of course, that military responses are always morally justified. We may feel a desire to strike, but such a desire should be examined in the light of history and contemporary politics. Let’s consider one of Keith’s verses:</p>
<p>Oh justice will be served And the battle will rage This big dog will fight When you rattle his cage And you’ll be sorry that you messed with the U S of A ‘Cause we’ll put a boot in your ass It’s the American way.</p>
<p>Was justice served when the United States rejected diplomacy and launched an illegal invasion of Afghanistan? Has the United States ever advanced the cause of justice in the Middle East and Central Asia, especially during the post-World War II period of its unparalleled dominance? Do U.S. policymakers go to war only when our cage is rattled? Or, in fact, has the United States consistently used war to extend and deepen economic dominance, especially in that post-WWII period?</p>
<p>Sadly, the only thing Keith gets right is the recognition that violence is the American way. From the moment Europeans landed in the Americas, they acquired land and resources through the kind of barbaric violence that is all too familiar in human history and a consistent feature of the American story. However, basic moral principles suggest that’s not something to celebrate.</p>
<p>Keith claims that the song has been misunderstood, that it was more patriotic than pro-war, and his claim is easy to believe — in the United States patriotism is often fused with an assumption of dominance and the inherent righteousness of U.S. violence, which is precisely the problem. But before we write off Toby Keith as part of some reactionary fringe, let’s remember that “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” was a popular song that advanced his career. Also consider the fact that he’s supporting Barack Obama in the current presidential race. Last month Keith, who has said “me and Michael Moore would agree on a lot of things,” offered this analysis:</p>
<p>There’s a big part of America that really believes that there is a war on terrorism, and that we need to finish up. So I thought it was beautiful the other day when Obama went to Afghanistan and got educated about Afghanistan and Iraq. He came back and said some really nice things.</p>
<p>There is nothing inconsistent in Keith’s song and these comments. The arrogance that is at the heart of his song has been expressed by Democrats and Republicans alike since 9/11. The assertion that the United States fights for justice in its wars abroad is routinely asserted across the conventional political spectrum and echoed in corporate commercial media. The fact that all of contemporary history refutes that assertion is irrelevant, because we live in a country in which ignorance can be celebrated.</p>
<p>Ignorance</p>
<p>This brings us to Alan Jackson’s “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvj6zdWLUuk" type="external">Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning</a>,” from his 2002 CD, “”Drive.”</p>
<p>Rather than critique the sentimental self-indulgence of Jackson’s song — since everything is always about America, it’s hardly surprising that in the dominant culture what’s most important is how Americans feel — let’s focus on this verse:</p>
<p>I’m just a singer of simple songs I’m not a real political man I watch CNN, but I’m not sure I can tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran But I know Jesus and I talk to God And I remember this from when I was young Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us And the greatest is love.</p>
<p>What does it say about the culture when a popular entertainer, who has ready access to as much information as he needs to understand the world, cannot distinguish between Iraq and Iran? He can’t tell the difference between the two most important regional powers in the most strategically crucial area of the world, home to the lion’s share of the planet’s petroleum, a place on which the majority of his country’s military power is focused? Through six decades in Iraq and Iran, the United States has been directly responsible for widespread death and incredible misery as a result of covert operations, direct attacks, and support for brutal dictators in each country. Yet even though he goes to the trouble of watching CNN, Jackson still is uncertain about which is which.</p>
<p>This is “willed ignorance,” the product of a conscious choice not to know what could be easily known and what one has a moral obligation to know. Again, Jackson is not idiosyncratic; I would suggest this stance is the norm in the United States. Rather than being embarrassed by his ignorance and taking steps to correct it, he offers it up as an indication of higher virtue, evidenced by his understanding of the centrality of love. I agree that faith, hope, and love should be central in our lives. But having faith, hope, and love doesn’t require ignorance. Knowledge is a good thing, too, something we can seek out ourselves and help each other acquire.</p>
<p>However, we also must recognize that knowledge won’t change the world unless we also have courage.</p>
<p>Cowardice</p>
<p>I have never been a fan of Toby Keith or Alan Jackson, and I don’t listen to much country music. I’m more of a Neil Young kind of guy. So, let me illustrate the cowardice of the American public by looking at Young’s music.</p>
<p>That may strike some as odd, given that Young’s 2006 “Living with War” CD was a direct challenge to the Bush administration and the U.S. occupation of Iraq. But the key to my criticism is the year — 2006. An anti-war record three years into the war should not be cause for uncritical accolades for a musician who claims to be a dissenter. We should be asking Neil Young, “Where were you in 2001?” The answer: He was writing and recording “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6Mfq7z_vHc" type="external">Let’s Roll</a>,” which was released on his 2002 CD, “Are You Passionate?”</p>
<p>That song is a tribute to the United Flight 93 passengers who intervened in the 9/11 hijacking of that plane and forced it down in Pennsylvania. One of those passengers, Todd Beamer, is said to have uttered the famous words, “let’s roll” as they took that action. Even if we want to interpret the song apolitically, as a simple tribute to human courage, it adds to the cultural mythology about U.S. heroism, which contributes to U.S. arrogance and does nothing to correct the ignorance crucial to engineering people’s consent for war. Beyond such a tribute, the song suggests a need for war:</p>
<p>No one has the answer But one thing is true You’ve got to turn on evil When it’s coming after you You’ve gotta face it down And when it tries to hide You’ve gotta go in after it And never be denied Time is runnin’ out Let’s roll.</p>
<p>While Young was writing that song, the anti-war movement was trying to counter the country’s hyper-patriotism, warning where it would lead — to more U.S. aggression in the service of empire, in both Afghanistan and Iraq, to death and destruction, to the policies that Young eventually would oppose in “Living with War.” When the movement could have used an eloquent musical voice, Young was on the other side.</p>
<p>My goal is not to single out Neil Young, but to ask us all to reflect on how easy it was for so many to fall in line with that hyper-patriotism after 9/11, and how easy it might again be in the future. The task of responsible citizens in the empire is not to critique illegal and immoral wars when they go sour, but to resist those wars of aggression from the start. With that in mind, Young’s 2006 lyrics from “ <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_HbEJfko-w" type="external">Living with War</a>” ring just a bit hollow:</p>
<p>I join the multitudes I raise my hand in peace I never bow to the laws of the thought police I take a holy vow To never kill again To never kill again</p>
<p>Courage requires taking risks. Most of the liberals who now are vocal in their opposition to the war did not take risks right after 9/11; most ducked and covered, claiming that America was too emotionally vulnerable for politics at that moment, as the politicians kept right on pushing their politics of empire, driving an arrogant and ignorant public to war.</p>
<p>My cowardice</p>
<p>Again, while it’s always easy to catalog the flaws of others, it’s far more useful for all of us to attempt honest self-reflection, including those of us who opposed both wars from the start.</p>
<p>While I have worked hard over the years to learn about the Middle East and Central Asia, I recognize that it has been relatively easy given the resources and privileges available to me as a professor, and I also am aware of how much I still don’t know about those regions and about other parts of the world. I struggle for humility and try to learn more, though there’s ample room for criticism of me on those counts. But the virtue in which I feel most deficient these days is courage.</p>
<p>I have no problem defending the decision I made to speak out immediately after 9/11 and to contribute to anti-war organizing; at the time I thought those were the right things to do, and none of the criticism of those decisions — from conservatives or liberals — has ever offered a coherent moral or intellectual case against those actions. I am haunted not by what I did but by what I didn’t’ do, by my own cowardice. Why did those of us who opposed U.S. policy not take more risks and push harder? It’s fine to be right in one’s analysis; it’s better to be right and effective. And, in retrospect, the only thing that might have been effective in impeding the mad rush to war was for those dissenting from that madness to take real risks, to put our bodies in the path of the war machine. Mario Savio, one of the leaders of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, articulated this so passionately on the University of California campus in <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcx9BJRadfw" type="external">December 1964</a>:</p>
<p>There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part; you can’t even passively take part, and you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop. And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all.</p>
<p>Activists in the anti-war movement are sometimes accused of being cowards, of being afraid to fight. That is a slur designed to derail the anti-war movement’s honest critique of (1) the violence of the powerful, (2) the propaganda the powerful use to persuade ordinary people to support the violence, and (3) the economic motives of the elites whose wealth and privilege depends on that violence. But those of us in the anti-war movement should ask ourselves: Have we built a political culture that provides the support we need to act with courage? Do we have the real courage necessary to undermine the U.S. empire? While people suffer and die around the world as a direct result of U.S. military and economic policies, what are we doing to stop the machine? Are we willing to put our bodies upon the gears, the wheels, the levers? If forced to choose between our relative affluence and real sacrifices that conscience might demand, how do we choose?</p>
<p>This is not a question on which I have standing to pontificate. The answer is simple: I have not done enough. We haven’t done enough, because the machine is still grinding away, still grinding down people at home and around the world. Perhaps if anti-war activists had upped the ante and we had put our bodies in the way of the machine, the world would look very different tonight. Or perhaps all that would have happened was that we’d be in jail or dead because the machine would have rolled right along and rolled over us. There’s no way to know.</p>
<p>But I do know this: In the months after 9/11, when the political stakes seemed so high, I never really seriously considered putting my body on the gears and I never heard others in my political circles seriously discuss such options. We had not built movements and a political culture in which that question was on the table for most of us. When I think about that today — not that I didn’t do something more drastic, but that I never really considered it — I feel ashamed. That recognition doesn’t lead me to want to rush out and risk my life to prove something, but rather reminds me that I should rethink the strategies with which I’ve grown comfortable.</p>
<p>Facing difficult realities</p>
<p>This rethinking requires facing some difficult realities, that lead me to these recommendations:</p>
<p>–Drop the arrogance and face a painful truth: The troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are not fighting for our freedom or for justice. Whatever the individuals who serve in the military believe or do — and I realize that many believe they are defending us, and I know that many regularly act in compassionate and humane ways in the field — the U.S. military is not a defensive force or a humanitarian institution. It is an offensive force that destroys vulnerable people in other societies to entrench the power of a small U.S. elite and deliver the short-term material benefits that come to middle- and working-class people in the empire.</p>
<p>–Reject the ignorance and face a disturbing truth: The institutions that claim to help us understand the world (schools, universities, and the corporate commercial media) are key components of a propaganda system that encourages ignorance on these vital matters. Whatever the individuals in these institutions believe or do — and I realize that many believe they are part of a noble tradition, and I know many do challenge the conventional wisdom — these institutions are not fundamentally educational in nature. They are ideological factories that the elite use to undermine critical thinking about how power operates.</p>
<p>–Find the courage to resist and face some obvious truths: The crises we face in this country and the world — economic, political, cultural, ecological — will not be fixed by electing a new president, nor will the culture be turned around by traditional progressive political strategies. I will vote, and I will continue organizing. But I do not believe that the oppressive systems that structure our world can be dismantled through those methods. We need to think creatively, and we need to come to terms with the likelihood that until those in power believe that those of us who want to challenge power are willing to take serious risks, the machine will continue grinding.</p>
<p>These problems we face are not the result of an idiosyncratic moment in history or of one particularly thuggish group of politicians in power at that moment. We are dealing with the predictable consequences of a world shaped by patriarchy, white supremacy, nationalism, and capitalism — systems of coercion and control that are at odds with goals of justice and sustainability. That’s not easy to face, but it can help us break out of the insular self-indulgence that is so tempting when one lives in the most affluent society in the history of the world.</p>
<p>So, the crucial question isn’t, “Where were you when the world stopped turning?” The world didn’t stop turning. The violence of 9/11 should be understood as another ugly episode in a relentlessly violent period of human history. Let’s never forget that around the world people suffer 9/11-level violence on a regular basis. If that violence continues — the visible violence of war, the quiet violence of economic inequality, and the deeper violence of humans against the living world — it’s not clear there will be a world left, at least not a world we would want to leave to our children.</p>
<p>So, let’s ask another question: “Where are you as the world keeps turning?” As the violence continues, as the machine grinds on, where are we? What are we learning? What are we saying? What are we doing? What risks are we taking?</p>
<p>This is a time to realize that the dominant political institutions offer nothing beyond a tweaking of the same failed systems; in the middle of this presidential campaign, none of the major players are acknowledging the fundamental problems, let alone proposing meaningful changes in policy to acknowledge the problems. It’s also time to realize that old approaches to progressive political organizing don’t seem to be working; large scripted street demonstrations may have some benefits, for example, but they aren’t significantly advancing the goals we claim to want to achieve.</p>
<p>Where do we go from here? I have no well-developed plan to present tonight. My gut feeling tells me that while we prepare to vote in this election and continue traditional organizing in the short term, we have to think about a long-term strategy focusing much more on local, small-scale endeavors that will foster solidarity during the empire’s decline and could provide a soft landing when the empire is over. It doesn’t mean giving up our obligations to the larger world; the 500 years of imperialism that helped create this affluent society impose a clear moral obligation on us to work for global justice. But we also have to recognize that the world in which we live is going to change dramatically in the coming decades, and we need to build new institutions and networks that can help us cope with those changes.</p>
<p>Some may find it depressing to focus on how often we have failed and the consequences of those failures. But that analysis also reminds us that we are moving into a potentially creative period. Letting go of the things with which we have become familiar is difficult, but it also opens up possibilities for something new, and that can be exciting. To have the courage to act on what we can know, with humility, is the only way to imagine bringing the imperial phase of U.S. history to a humane close and creating the conditions that could make justice and sustainability possible.</p>
<p>Let’s return to the meaning of this day, September 11, which for so many evokes deep sadness and painful memories. Facing these harsh political realities and asking these questions does not dishonor those who died that day or trivialize the pain of their loved ones. It simply asks us to expand our moral circle, to recognize a common humanity and a common fate. To do that, we have to put aside our arrogance, correct our ignorance, and find our courage. That is hard, but that is the only way to imagine stopping the machine.</p>
<p>ROBERT JENSEN is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin and board member of the Third Coast Activist Resource Center <a href="http://thirdcoastactivist.org/" type="external">http://thirdcoastactivist.org</a>. His latest book is Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity (South End Press, 2007). Jensen is also the author of The Heart of Whiteness: Race, Racism, and White Privilege and Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our Humanity (both from City Lights Books); and Writing Dissent: Taking Radical Ideas from the Margins to the Mainstream (Peter Lang). He can be reached at <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a> and his articles can be found online at <a href="http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/index.html" type="external">http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~rjensen/index.html</a>.</p>
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| 7,450 |
<p>While it's not the only meaning behind the name, one of the reasons <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/22/black-friday-and-holiday-deals-everything-you-need.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Black Friday Opens a New Window.</a> gained that nickname comes from the idea that the rush of shoppers moved retailers from a loss (the red) to a profit (the black).</p>
<p>Of course, the idea of retailers operating at a loss for nearly 11 months then turning profitable on the day after Thanksgiving was never an absolute. Yes, it was more or less true for toy stores, some electronics retailers, and maybe even certain department stores, but the reality is, "Black Friday" was always a generalization.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"Even though the amount of shopping on that particular day is extremely high, it's a bit of folklore that some high percentage of retailers finally experienced profitability on that very day," said&#160;Florida International University marketing professor&#160;Anthony Miyazaki in an email to <a href="https://www.fool.com/?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">The Motley Fool Opens a New Window.</a>. "The vast majority of retailers are pulling a profit long before the holiday shopping season starts."</p>
<p>Looking at three retailers in very different states of health shows some clear patterns. In this table, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) represents successful retailers while Macy's (NYSE: M) serves as an example of a struggling, but still profitable company, and J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) plays the part of struggling, money-losing retailer.</p>
<p>What's clear in all three cases is that the fourth quarter remains the most important quarter of the year. <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/20/this-is-how-wal-mart-sees-the-future.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Wal-Mart's Opens a New Window.</a> Q4 last year did not account for a significantly larger portion of its sales than each of the previous three quarters, but when you look at the 12-month period, it provided nearly a third of its profits.</p>
<p>For Macy's, Q4 stands as the company's biggest quarter, providing just over a third of its annual sales volume. And, in this case, the end-of-the-year quarter provided more than double the profit of the preceding three quarters.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The numbers aren't that different for J.C. Penney, at least on the revenue side, even though the company is losing money. The company lost $0.58 per share in Q1 this year, $0.20 in Q2, and $0.41 in Q3, compared to $0.43 in Q4 of last year.</p>
<p>"The truth is that getting into the black in terms of profits has always varied from retailer to retailer, with some getting into the black at different times of the year," wrote Pace University marketing professor&#160; <a href="http://www.larrychiagouris.com" type="external">Larry Chiagouris Opens a New Window.</a> in an email to <a href="https://www.fool.com/?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">The Motley Fool Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Chiagouris explained that the internet has forced retailers to become more efficient. It has also eliminated some less efficient players. "The shakeout of inefficient mom and pop stores has lifted the entire retail sector so much so that by Black Friday, most retailers are already in the black for the year," he wrote. "Those that are not in the black are likely to be the retailers that end the year in the red."</p>
<p>So, while Black Friday has faded in importance, it remains one of the biggest shopping days of the year. The National Retail Federation said 115 million people are planning to shop on Black Friday this year.&#160; For retailers, the day may not mark a move from the red to the black, but it's still a key milestone in the busiest shopping season of the year.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than&#160;Wal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and Tom&#160;Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they&#160;have run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom&#160;just revealed what they believe are the&#160; <a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;for investors to buy right now… and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- they&#160;think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 6, 2017The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDankline/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Daniel B. Kline Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
|
Is Black Friday Still the Day Retailers Move From Loss to Profit?
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/11/24/is-black-friday-still-day-retailers-move-from-loss-to-profit.html
|
2017-11-24
| 0right
|
Is Black Friday Still the Day Retailers Move From Loss to Profit?
<p>While it's not the only meaning behind the name, one of the reasons <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/22/black-friday-and-holiday-deals-everything-you-need.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Black Friday Opens a New Window.</a> gained that nickname comes from the idea that the rush of shoppers moved retailers from a loss (the red) to a profit (the black).</p>
<p>Of course, the idea of retailers operating at a loss for nearly 11 months then turning profitable on the day after Thanksgiving was never an absolute. Yes, it was more or less true for toy stores, some electronics retailers, and maybe even certain department stores, but the reality is, "Black Friday" was always a generalization.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>"Even though the amount of shopping on that particular day is extremely high, it's a bit of folklore that some high percentage of retailers finally experienced profitability on that very day," said&#160;Florida International University marketing professor&#160;Anthony Miyazaki in an email to <a href="https://www.fool.com/?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">The Motley Fool Opens a New Window.</a>. "The vast majority of retailers are pulling a profit long before the holiday shopping season starts."</p>
<p>Looking at three retailers in very different states of health shows some clear patterns. In this table, Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) represents successful retailers while Macy's (NYSE: M) serves as an example of a struggling, but still profitable company, and J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP) plays the part of struggling, money-losing retailer.</p>
<p>What's clear in all three cases is that the fourth quarter remains the most important quarter of the year. <a href="https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/11/20/this-is-how-wal-mart-sees-the-future.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Wal-Mart's Opens a New Window.</a> Q4 last year did not account for a significantly larger portion of its sales than each of the previous three quarters, but when you look at the 12-month period, it provided nearly a third of its profits.</p>
<p>For Macy's, Q4 stands as the company's biggest quarter, providing just over a third of its annual sales volume. And, in this case, the end-of-the-year quarter provided more than double the profit of the preceding three quarters.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The numbers aren't that different for J.C. Penney, at least on the revenue side, even though the company is losing money. The company lost $0.58 per share in Q1 this year, $0.20 in Q2, and $0.41 in Q3, compared to $0.43 in Q4 of last year.</p>
<p>"The truth is that getting into the black in terms of profits has always varied from retailer to retailer, with some getting into the black at different times of the year," wrote Pace University marketing professor&#160; <a href="http://www.larrychiagouris.com" type="external">Larry Chiagouris Opens a New Window.</a> in an email to <a href="https://www.fool.com/?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">The Motley Fool Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
<p>Chiagouris explained that the internet has forced retailers to become more efficient. It has also eliminated some less efficient players. "The shakeout of inefficient mom and pop stores has lifted the entire retail sector so much so that by Black Friday, most retailers are already in the black for the year," he wrote. "Those that are not in the black are likely to be the retailers that end the year in the red."</p>
<p>So, while Black Friday has faded in importance, it remains one of the biggest shopping days of the year. The National Retail Federation said 115 million people are planning to shop on Black Friday this year.&#160; For retailers, the day may not mark a move from the red to the black, but it's still a key milestone in the busiest shopping season of the year.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than&#160;Wal-MartWhen investing geniuses David and Tom&#160;Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they&#160;have run for over a decade, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
<p>David and Tom&#160;just revealed what they believe are the&#160; <a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">ten best stocks Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;for investors to buy right now… and Wal-Mart wasn't one of them! That's right -- they&#160;think these 10 stocks are even better buys.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fool.com/mms/mark/e-sa-bbn-eg?aid=8867&amp;source=isaeditxt0000476&amp;ftm_cam=sa-bbn-evergreen&amp;ftm_pit=6627&amp;ftm_veh=article_pitch&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a>&#160;to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 6, 2017The author(s) may have a position in any stocks mentioned.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFDankline/info.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Daniel B. Kline Opens a New Window.</a> has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;referring_guid=b2a99dfa-cf93-11e7-aa79-0050569d4be0&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
| 7,451 |
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<p />
<p>Pet grief exists. It’s not the same as the grief a person experiences nor is it as deep. It’s not present in every case. But it exists in ways recognizable to us.</p>
<p>The most evident manifestations of grief are a loss of appetite, social withdrawal or the frequent revisiting of places that were meaningful, according to Barbara J. King, a professor of anthropology at Virginia’s College of William &amp; Mary who specializes in animal behavior.</p>
<p>King, the author of “How Animals Grieve” (University of Chicago Press), says that in some cases an animal’s response to a death can be explained by the pet being in tune with the surviving people in the house.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We know with dogs, they’re so tuned in to our gestures and facial expressions,” she says. “There’s fascinating research that they’re more attuned than chimpanzees are, and chimpanzees are supposed to be the end-all and be-all of cognition. The problem comes in when some animal grief gets dismissed (on that basis).”</p>
<p>The depth of an animal’s response and the length it lasts seem to go beyond responding to people in the home.</p>
<p>The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals did a still-quoted behavioral study in 1996 to gauge the degree of pet responses to the death of another pet. The survey asked about changes in eating habits, sleeping, vocalization, solicitation of affection and more.</p>
<p>In both cats and dogs, the survey found, the category showing most change was solicitation of affection. In dogs, 34 percent demanded more attention, 12 percent sought less, 24 percent became clingy/needy, 4 percent avoided contact with their human. Only 26 percent were unchanged.</p>
<p>In cats, 38 percent sought more attention, 8 percent sought less, 20 percent became clingy/needy, 10 percent avoided contact, 23 percent remained unchanged. (Figures were rounded off.)</p>
<p>Eating habits showed considerable change, with 36 percent of dogs and 46 percent of cats eating less than usual following the death of a housemate. The observed decreased appetite lasted from less than a week to six months.</p>
<p>In their conclusion, the researchers wrote, “We can assure pet owners that signs of grieving are not uncommon in dogs and cats.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want to say dogs grieve, cats grieve, horses grieve,” King says. “I say some dogs grieve. Sometimes people contact me and say (they) had two dogs and one died and the other didn’t grieve – why not? It’s animal individuality; the survivor’s relationship to the dead, the survivor’s personality. Sometimes animals recover quickly or do not grieve at all, but I think they grieve for us.”</p>
<p>Grief isn’t limited to cats and dogs, King found. “It was very surprising to me how much rabbits grieve. Ducks too. There was a duck rescued from a foie gras factory who had a duck friend die, and it didn’t survive the friend’s death. There can be a slow decline and death.”</p>
<p>If you suspect a pet is grieving, provide extra attention and love for your pet. King also suggests letting the survivor see the body if possible.</p>
<p>“Lots of animal people on farms and in homes do this now,” she says. “Sometimes the survivor seems to get a sense of closure. You have two close pets, friends, one goes to the vet and doesn’t come back. If it’s possible, let them smell the dead animal, see it. It might help. Or get a clipping of fur from the animal at the vet and let the survivor smell it.”</p>
<p>Bringing a new animal, a young animal, into the home has been shown to rejuvenate an older pet. But in the case of grieving, it might be best to let things run their course.</p>
<p>“Animals do love,” King says, “and we know one of the risks of love is grief.”</p>
|
Grief hits pets, just as it does humans
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/251880/grief-hits-pets-just-as-it-does-humans.html
|
2013-08-23
| 2least
|
Grief hits pets, just as it does humans
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Pet grief exists. It’s not the same as the grief a person experiences nor is it as deep. It’s not present in every case. But it exists in ways recognizable to us.</p>
<p>The most evident manifestations of grief are a loss of appetite, social withdrawal or the frequent revisiting of places that were meaningful, according to Barbara J. King, a professor of anthropology at Virginia’s College of William &amp; Mary who specializes in animal behavior.</p>
<p>King, the author of “How Animals Grieve” (University of Chicago Press), says that in some cases an animal’s response to a death can be explained by the pet being in tune with the surviving people in the house.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“We know with dogs, they’re so tuned in to our gestures and facial expressions,” she says. “There’s fascinating research that they’re more attuned than chimpanzees are, and chimpanzees are supposed to be the end-all and be-all of cognition. The problem comes in when some animal grief gets dismissed (on that basis).”</p>
<p>The depth of an animal’s response and the length it lasts seem to go beyond responding to people in the home.</p>
<p>The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals did a still-quoted behavioral study in 1996 to gauge the degree of pet responses to the death of another pet. The survey asked about changes in eating habits, sleeping, vocalization, solicitation of affection and more.</p>
<p>In both cats and dogs, the survey found, the category showing most change was solicitation of affection. In dogs, 34 percent demanded more attention, 12 percent sought less, 24 percent became clingy/needy, 4 percent avoided contact with their human. Only 26 percent were unchanged.</p>
<p>In cats, 38 percent sought more attention, 8 percent sought less, 20 percent became clingy/needy, 10 percent avoided contact, 23 percent remained unchanged. (Figures were rounded off.)</p>
<p>Eating habits showed considerable change, with 36 percent of dogs and 46 percent of cats eating less than usual following the death of a housemate. The observed decreased appetite lasted from less than a week to six months.</p>
<p>In their conclusion, the researchers wrote, “We can assure pet owners that signs of grieving are not uncommon in dogs and cats.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want to say dogs grieve, cats grieve, horses grieve,” King says. “I say some dogs grieve. Sometimes people contact me and say (they) had two dogs and one died and the other didn’t grieve – why not? It’s animal individuality; the survivor’s relationship to the dead, the survivor’s personality. Sometimes animals recover quickly or do not grieve at all, but I think they grieve for us.”</p>
<p>Grief isn’t limited to cats and dogs, King found. “It was very surprising to me how much rabbits grieve. Ducks too. There was a duck rescued from a foie gras factory who had a duck friend die, and it didn’t survive the friend’s death. There can be a slow decline and death.”</p>
<p>If you suspect a pet is grieving, provide extra attention and love for your pet. King also suggests letting the survivor see the body if possible.</p>
<p>“Lots of animal people on farms and in homes do this now,” she says. “Sometimes the survivor seems to get a sense of closure. You have two close pets, friends, one goes to the vet and doesn’t come back. If it’s possible, let them smell the dead animal, see it. It might help. Or get a clipping of fur from the animal at the vet and let the survivor smell it.”</p>
<p>Bringing a new animal, a young animal, into the home has been shown to rejuvenate an older pet. But in the case of grieving, it might be best to let things run their course.</p>
<p>“Animals do love,” King says, “and we know one of the risks of love is grief.”</p>
| 7,452 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Vasectomies, which are not covered under President Barack Obama’s health care law, are increasingly being included in state measures that would require insurers to provide cost-free coverage of birth control.</p>
<p>Backers of laws and proposals in such states as Illinois, Vermont, Maryland and most recently New York say that if women can get tubal ligations with no out-of-pocket costs, men should be able to get their surgical sterilization covered cost-free as well. Such state measures are seen as a key backup if the federal mandate is repealed.</p>
<p>“What we have are couples facing a decision about which birth control method to use and they see that methods used by women have no out-of-pocket cost while there would be a cost, in some cases a fairly substantial cost, for men’s,” said Adam Sonfield, a policy analyst for the Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive health issues.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals says excluding vasectomies from the contraceptive coverage mandate doesn’t make sense financially and reflects the view that family planning is a “woman’s issue.”</p>
<p>“Birth control cannot be the sole responsibility of the woman in a relationship,” said Amy Spitalnick, spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who introduced New York’s proposed law.</p>
<p>Such changes could be significant because, according to Guttmacher studies, nearly a quarter of women using birth control would prefer male-only methods of condoms and vasectomies. Neither method had been included among the cost-free options in “Obamacare.”</p>
<p>The mandate covers the 18 Food and Drug Administration-approved methods of birth control used by women, including pills, patches, shots, implants, IUDs, cervical rings and caps, sponges, spermicide, female condoms, emergency pills and surgical sterilization.</p>
<p>Most state Medicaid programs provide free access to all birth control methods, including those for men.</p>
<p>But the only way to add vasectomies to the no-copay contraceptive coverage mandated for private insurance plans by “Obamacare” is to expand the law, which is unlikely to happen given current repeal efforts.</p>
<p>“That’s why some states have been looking at this,” Sonfield said.</p>
<p>Over the past two years, California, Illinois, Vermont and Maryland have passed laws requiring private insurance companies to cover contraception without out-of-pocket costs, and all but California include vasectomies.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>New York’s Legislature is considering a cost-free contraception coverage law that includes vasectomies after a similar measure stalled in a Senate committee last year. Vermont’s mandate covers vasectomies but not condoms.</p>
<p>The health insurance industry opposes the mandate.</p>
<p>“Our objection isn’t to including vasectomy, but mandating that it be free of charge,” said Leslie Moran, senior vice president of the New York Health Plan Association. “At a time when we are looking to ensure affordability, we shouldn’t be looking to add new requirements and new costs that would be borne by all premium payers.”</p>
<p>A vasectomy, which blocks sperm from getting to the seminal fluid, is an outpatient procedure that takes 20 minutes or less and is done with a local anesthetic. A no-scalpel option uses a tiny puncture to reach both sperm tubes and tie them off. It costs up to $1,000, according to Planned Parenthood.</p>
<p>Some private insurers already cover vasectomies with no out-of-pocket costs.</p>
<p>“My insurance plan fully covered it, so cost was not an issue,” said Vermont state Rep. Christopher Pearson, a Progressive Party member who had a vasectomy after he and his wife had a second child. “That motivated me to make sure it’s covered for others.”</p>
|
Insurance equality? States push for cost-free vasectomies
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/930466/insurance-equality-states-push-for-cost-free-vasectomies.html
| 2least
|
Insurance equality? States push for cost-free vasectomies
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Vasectomies, which are not covered under President Barack Obama’s health care law, are increasingly being included in state measures that would require insurers to provide cost-free coverage of birth control.</p>
<p>Backers of laws and proposals in such states as Illinois, Vermont, Maryland and most recently New York say that if women can get tubal ligations with no out-of-pocket costs, men should be able to get their surgical sterilization covered cost-free as well. Such state measures are seen as a key backup if the federal mandate is repealed.</p>
<p>“What we have are couples facing a decision about which birth control method to use and they see that methods used by women have no out-of-pocket cost while there would be a cost, in some cases a fairly substantial cost, for men’s,” said Adam Sonfield, a policy analyst for the Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive health issues.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The Association of Reproductive Health Professionals says excluding vasectomies from the contraceptive coverage mandate doesn’t make sense financially and reflects the view that family planning is a “woman’s issue.”</p>
<p>“Birth control cannot be the sole responsibility of the woman in a relationship,” said Amy Spitalnick, spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who introduced New York’s proposed law.</p>
<p>Such changes could be significant because, according to Guttmacher studies, nearly a quarter of women using birth control would prefer male-only methods of condoms and vasectomies. Neither method had been included among the cost-free options in “Obamacare.”</p>
<p>The mandate covers the 18 Food and Drug Administration-approved methods of birth control used by women, including pills, patches, shots, implants, IUDs, cervical rings and caps, sponges, spermicide, female condoms, emergency pills and surgical sterilization.</p>
<p>Most state Medicaid programs provide free access to all birth control methods, including those for men.</p>
<p>But the only way to add vasectomies to the no-copay contraceptive coverage mandated for private insurance plans by “Obamacare” is to expand the law, which is unlikely to happen given current repeal efforts.</p>
<p>“That’s why some states have been looking at this,” Sonfield said.</p>
<p>Over the past two years, California, Illinois, Vermont and Maryland have passed laws requiring private insurance companies to cover contraception without out-of-pocket costs, and all but California include vasectomies.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>New York’s Legislature is considering a cost-free contraception coverage law that includes vasectomies after a similar measure stalled in a Senate committee last year. Vermont’s mandate covers vasectomies but not condoms.</p>
<p>The health insurance industry opposes the mandate.</p>
<p>“Our objection isn’t to including vasectomy, but mandating that it be free of charge,” said Leslie Moran, senior vice president of the New York Health Plan Association. “At a time when we are looking to ensure affordability, we shouldn’t be looking to add new requirements and new costs that would be borne by all premium payers.”</p>
<p>A vasectomy, which blocks sperm from getting to the seminal fluid, is an outpatient procedure that takes 20 minutes or less and is done with a local anesthetic. A no-scalpel option uses a tiny puncture to reach both sperm tubes and tie them off. It costs up to $1,000, according to Planned Parenthood.</p>
<p>Some private insurers already cover vasectomies with no out-of-pocket costs.</p>
<p>“My insurance plan fully covered it, so cost was not an issue,” said Vermont state Rep. Christopher Pearson, a Progressive Party member who had a vasectomy after he and his wife had a second child. “That motivated me to make sure it’s covered for others.”</p>
| 7,453 |
|
<p>MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont's capital on Saturday played host to a rally that put a focus on young people to try to re-energize the movement that drew millions to Women's March events last year.</p>
<p>The Montpelier rally, called the March For Our Future, highlighted younger speakers, leaders and performers. Organizers said the march was a "youth-centered event" focusing on "taking back" Jan. 20, the anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration.</p>
<p>Women's March Vermont partnered with March For Our Future on the event, organizers said. The organizers said the featured speakers ranged in age from 8 to 22. There were scheduled performances from groups including Muslim Girls Making Change.</p>
<p>Vermont Democratic U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy voiced support for the event on social media. He tweeted that the event showed Vermont "has a bright generation of new leaders eager to stand up for themselves."</p>
<p>The March For Our Future took place outside Montpelier City Hall and the Vermont Statehouse.</p>
<p>People participating in marches around the nation denounced Trump's views on immigration, abortion, LGBT rights and women's rights and carried signs like "Real news, fake president." Trump, a Republican, tweeted that Saturday was a "perfect day" for women to march to celebrate the "economic success and wealth creation" that's happened during his first year in office.</p>
<p>MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont's capital on Saturday played host to a rally that put a focus on young people to try to re-energize the movement that drew millions to Women's March events last year.</p>
<p>The Montpelier rally, called the March For Our Future, highlighted younger speakers, leaders and performers. Organizers said the march was a "youth-centered event" focusing on "taking back" Jan. 20, the anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration.</p>
<p>Women's March Vermont partnered with March For Our Future on the event, organizers said. The organizers said the featured speakers ranged in age from 8 to 22. There were scheduled performances from groups including Muslim Girls Making Change.</p>
<p>Vermont Democratic U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy voiced support for the event on social media. He tweeted that the event showed Vermont "has a bright generation of new leaders eager to stand up for themselves."</p>
<p>The March For Our Future took place outside Montpelier City Hall and the Vermont Statehouse.</p>
<p>People participating in marches around the nation denounced Trump's views on immigration, abortion, LGBT rights and women's rights and carried signs like "Real news, fake president." Trump, a Republican, tweeted that Saturday was a "perfect day" for women to march to celebrate the "economic success and wealth creation" that's happened during his first year in office.</p>
|
Vermont march puts focus on young leaders, empowering women
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/6e25d96135c5451caea47067e0f0a962
|
2018-01-20
| 2least
|
Vermont march puts focus on young leaders, empowering women
<p>MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont's capital on Saturday played host to a rally that put a focus on young people to try to re-energize the movement that drew millions to Women's March events last year.</p>
<p>The Montpelier rally, called the March For Our Future, highlighted younger speakers, leaders and performers. Organizers said the march was a "youth-centered event" focusing on "taking back" Jan. 20, the anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration.</p>
<p>Women's March Vermont partnered with March For Our Future on the event, organizers said. The organizers said the featured speakers ranged in age from 8 to 22. There were scheduled performances from groups including Muslim Girls Making Change.</p>
<p>Vermont Democratic U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy voiced support for the event on social media. He tweeted that the event showed Vermont "has a bright generation of new leaders eager to stand up for themselves."</p>
<p>The March For Our Future took place outside Montpelier City Hall and the Vermont Statehouse.</p>
<p>People participating in marches around the nation denounced Trump's views on immigration, abortion, LGBT rights and women's rights and carried signs like "Real news, fake president." Trump, a Republican, tweeted that Saturday was a "perfect day" for women to march to celebrate the "economic success and wealth creation" that's happened during his first year in office.</p>
<p>MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont's capital on Saturday played host to a rally that put a focus on young people to try to re-energize the movement that drew millions to Women's March events last year.</p>
<p>The Montpelier rally, called the March For Our Future, highlighted younger speakers, leaders and performers. Organizers said the march was a "youth-centered event" focusing on "taking back" Jan. 20, the anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration.</p>
<p>Women's March Vermont partnered with March For Our Future on the event, organizers said. The organizers said the featured speakers ranged in age from 8 to 22. There were scheduled performances from groups including Muslim Girls Making Change.</p>
<p>Vermont Democratic U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy voiced support for the event on social media. He tweeted that the event showed Vermont "has a bright generation of new leaders eager to stand up for themselves."</p>
<p>The March For Our Future took place outside Montpelier City Hall and the Vermont Statehouse.</p>
<p>People participating in marches around the nation denounced Trump's views on immigration, abortion, LGBT rights and women's rights and carried signs like "Real news, fake president." Trump, a Republican, tweeted that Saturday was a "perfect day" for women to march to celebrate the "economic success and wealth creation" that's happened during his first year in office.</p>
| 7,454 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Check that. I’m one of the least PC guys in the world.</p>
<p>However, I am an adult (argue if you will, but chronologically you will be proven you wrong), and I know it’s not in my best interest to smack-talk with a 21-year-old college senior — especially while representing my employer.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>If that 21-year-old old, however — a 6-foot-8, 210-pound basketball player —&#160; starts shouting about how he is going to “whoop my ass,” I’m thinking I’d react the way New Mexico assistant men’s basketball coach Terrence Rencher did.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But probably just until rational thought kicked in.</p>
<p>Rational thought, however, didn’t seem to kick in with Rencher on Saturday, when he had an angry verbal exchange with Colorado State’s senior Emmanuel Omogbo outside of the arena after the Lobos’ 84-71 win against the Rams in Fort Collins, Colo.</p>
<p>The Journal’s Geoff Grammer captured the confrontation on video, and that video made news on ESPN SportsCenter and elsewhere.</p>
<p>It gave UNM its second national black eye in as many Saturdays, the Lobos having blown a 25-point lead — including a 14-point cushion with the ball and 1:11 left — in a home loss to Nevada the week before in a mind-boggling manner.</p>
<p>But who was more at fault in the Omogbo-Rencher tiff on Saturday?</p>
<p>Who knows? The Mountain West investigated, and it can’t figure out the truth. So it, basically, has left it up to the two schools to decide punishments. “Those involved with this most recent incident will be under close scrutiny going forward — as will all Mountain West constituents,” the league statement read.</p>
<p>We’ve all seen the video, which shows a visibly upset Omogbo being restrained by CSU coach Larry Eustachy from going after Rencher before Eustachy turned and yelled at Rencher, “Will you grow up, (expletive) head?” We can hear some of what Rencher says —&#160; including “learn how to lose, boy” — to Omogbo, and we see Rencher keeping his hands in his pockets while calmly saying it.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But we can’t see his facial expressions, and we don’t know what all caused the ill will between Omogbo and Rencher or how deep the ill will goes.</p>
<p>After all, Rencher was one of three UNM staffers standing outside when Omogbo ran into them as he left the arena, but he was the only one with whom Omogbo had words. Why?</p>
<p>With about two minutes left in the game, Rencher and UNM assistant coach Chris Harriman were ejected for leaving the bench and going on the floor, which automatically leads to an ejection. The coaches apparently were attempting to prevent a fracas between the teams after UNM’s Joe Furstinger set a legal but hard pick against the Rams’ J.D. Paige, leaving Paige on the ground and needing medical attention. Furstinger then flexed his muscles and bumped directly into CSU guard Anthony Bonner before play was stopped and with Paige still on the floor.</p>
<p>The officials went to the monitors to sift through what happened, Colorado State’s Prentiss Nixon and New Mexico’s Obij Aget received technical fouls, and the two Lobo coaches were bounced. ESPN showed video of the coaches walking past the CSU bench as they left, and Rencher appears to turn towards the Rams players to say something.</p>
<p>What was said?</p>
<p>Nobody has said.</p>
<p>On Saturday, Eustachy to ESPN accused Rencher of trying to instigate a fight with Omogbo and laughing during the video-recorded exchange when told about the player tragically losing both of his parents in a house fire one year ago this week.</p>
<p>The Journal video did not show such an exchange, and the UNM athletic department said some of the harshest accusations against Rencher were “blatantly false.” The school released the following from athletic director Paul Krebs on Monday:</p>
<p>“While we are disappointed in the role that coach Rencher played in the situation after the game, the reports of him initiating the confrontation and making light of the tragic situation of Emmanuel Omogbo are simply not true, and this is backed up by video evidence and eye-witness accounts. I have discussed the situation with Coach Rencher, and how he can handle something like this better in the future.</p>
<p>“Coach Rencher will receive a letter of reprimand for his role in the incident.”</p>
<p>CSU has decided that it will not punish its players or coaches involved, the Journal learned Tuesday.</p>
<p>The schools have not commented on ESPN’s report that Rencher and Omogbo also exchanged hostile words in a game last year.</p>
<p>Look, I don’t know Rencher from Adam. I never even heard his name until Saturday.</p>
<p>But I do know part of the history of the UNM coaching staff under former head coach Steve Alford and assistant-turned-head coach Craig Neal.</p>
<p>And it’s not uncommon to hear the staff talking smack with opposing players.</p>
<p>Alford, who coached at UNM from 2007-13 — with Neal as his top assistant each of those seasons — had such legendary verbal opponent player jousts as:</p>
<p>•&#160;Good! You’ve been a (bleep) all night,” to TCU’s Zvokno Buljan, after the Horned Frog fouled out in a 2009 game.</p>
<p>•&#160;“Get the (bleep) out of here. I’ll light your (bleep) up,” to Larry Eustachy’s Southern Miss players, who were escorted up the Pit ramp after losing a close game to UNM in December 2008, while Alford’s Lobos were held down on the court by security to prevent a possible brawl.</p>
<p>•&#160;On Jan. 6, 2009, as then top Lobos assistant, Neal launched a few obscenities at trash-talking UTEP forward Tavaris Watts.</p>
<p>In 2009, Alford responded to coaches’ verbal clashes with opposing players.</p>
<p>“We’re gonna stand up for our guys,” Alford said, speaking for himself and his staff. “… I don’t know if that’s right or wrong, but it’s the competitive nature that coach Neal and I have as former players.”</p>
<p>On Monday, UNM’s news release included an apology from Rencher:</p>
<p>“I would like to apologize to my family, UNM, CSU and everyone affected by the incident and I acknowledge my fault in the situation. I should have walked away. The situation could have been diffused and I am very regretful of that momentary lapse in judgement. I don’t know Emmanuel personally but he seems to be a good person and good teammate.</p>
<p>“I do want to reiterate that I did not instigate the confrontation and that I never once made light of his personal tragedy or made racially derogatory remarks to him. To be painted in that light is truly disappointing to me. Those types of accusations are very hard to recover from and are totally and unequivocally false. I am hopeful that we can all learn from this and move forward.”</p>
<p>The UNM statement added that there will be no other comments from school regarding this matter.</p>
<p>Other matters, when it comes to Lobo coaches yakking with the opposition, remain to be seen.</p>
<p>The guess is this won’t be the last time a matter like this materializes.</p>
|
Smith column: Lobo staff has talked smack before
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/929898/smith-column-lobo-staff-has-talked-smack-before.html
| 2least
|
Smith column: Lobo staff has talked smack before
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>Check that. I’m one of the least PC guys in the world.</p>
<p>However, I am an adult (argue if you will, but chronologically you will be proven you wrong), and I know it’s not in my best interest to smack-talk with a 21-year-old college senior — especially while representing my employer.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>If that 21-year-old old, however — a 6-foot-8, 210-pound basketball player —&#160; starts shouting about how he is going to “whoop my ass,” I’m thinking I’d react the way New Mexico assistant men’s basketball coach Terrence Rencher did.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But probably just until rational thought kicked in.</p>
<p>Rational thought, however, didn’t seem to kick in with Rencher on Saturday, when he had an angry verbal exchange with Colorado State’s senior Emmanuel Omogbo outside of the arena after the Lobos’ 84-71 win against the Rams in Fort Collins, Colo.</p>
<p>The Journal’s Geoff Grammer captured the confrontation on video, and that video made news on ESPN SportsCenter and elsewhere.</p>
<p>It gave UNM its second national black eye in as many Saturdays, the Lobos having blown a 25-point lead — including a 14-point cushion with the ball and 1:11 left — in a home loss to Nevada the week before in a mind-boggling manner.</p>
<p>But who was more at fault in the Omogbo-Rencher tiff on Saturday?</p>
<p>Who knows? The Mountain West investigated, and it can’t figure out the truth. So it, basically, has left it up to the two schools to decide punishments. “Those involved with this most recent incident will be under close scrutiny going forward — as will all Mountain West constituents,” the league statement read.</p>
<p>We’ve all seen the video, which shows a visibly upset Omogbo being restrained by CSU coach Larry Eustachy from going after Rencher before Eustachy turned and yelled at Rencher, “Will you grow up, (expletive) head?” We can hear some of what Rencher says —&#160; including “learn how to lose, boy” — to Omogbo, and we see Rencher keeping his hands in his pockets while calmly saying it.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>But we can’t see his facial expressions, and we don’t know what all caused the ill will between Omogbo and Rencher or how deep the ill will goes.</p>
<p>After all, Rencher was one of three UNM staffers standing outside when Omogbo ran into them as he left the arena, but he was the only one with whom Omogbo had words. Why?</p>
<p>With about two minutes left in the game, Rencher and UNM assistant coach Chris Harriman were ejected for leaving the bench and going on the floor, which automatically leads to an ejection. The coaches apparently were attempting to prevent a fracas between the teams after UNM’s Joe Furstinger set a legal but hard pick against the Rams’ J.D. Paige, leaving Paige on the ground and needing medical attention. Furstinger then flexed his muscles and bumped directly into CSU guard Anthony Bonner before play was stopped and with Paige still on the floor.</p>
<p>The officials went to the monitors to sift through what happened, Colorado State’s Prentiss Nixon and New Mexico’s Obij Aget received technical fouls, and the two Lobo coaches were bounced. ESPN showed video of the coaches walking past the CSU bench as they left, and Rencher appears to turn towards the Rams players to say something.</p>
<p>What was said?</p>
<p>Nobody has said.</p>
<p>On Saturday, Eustachy to ESPN accused Rencher of trying to instigate a fight with Omogbo and laughing during the video-recorded exchange when told about the player tragically losing both of his parents in a house fire one year ago this week.</p>
<p>The Journal video did not show such an exchange, and the UNM athletic department said some of the harshest accusations against Rencher were “blatantly false.” The school released the following from athletic director Paul Krebs on Monday:</p>
<p>“While we are disappointed in the role that coach Rencher played in the situation after the game, the reports of him initiating the confrontation and making light of the tragic situation of Emmanuel Omogbo are simply not true, and this is backed up by video evidence and eye-witness accounts. I have discussed the situation with Coach Rencher, and how he can handle something like this better in the future.</p>
<p>“Coach Rencher will receive a letter of reprimand for his role in the incident.”</p>
<p>CSU has decided that it will not punish its players or coaches involved, the Journal learned Tuesday.</p>
<p>The schools have not commented on ESPN’s report that Rencher and Omogbo also exchanged hostile words in a game last year.</p>
<p>Look, I don’t know Rencher from Adam. I never even heard his name until Saturday.</p>
<p>But I do know part of the history of the UNM coaching staff under former head coach Steve Alford and assistant-turned-head coach Craig Neal.</p>
<p>And it’s not uncommon to hear the staff talking smack with opposing players.</p>
<p>Alford, who coached at UNM from 2007-13 — with Neal as his top assistant each of those seasons — had such legendary verbal opponent player jousts as:</p>
<p>•&#160;Good! You’ve been a (bleep) all night,” to TCU’s Zvokno Buljan, after the Horned Frog fouled out in a 2009 game.</p>
<p>•&#160;“Get the (bleep) out of here. I’ll light your (bleep) up,” to Larry Eustachy’s Southern Miss players, who were escorted up the Pit ramp after losing a close game to UNM in December 2008, while Alford’s Lobos were held down on the court by security to prevent a possible brawl.</p>
<p>•&#160;On Jan. 6, 2009, as then top Lobos assistant, Neal launched a few obscenities at trash-talking UTEP forward Tavaris Watts.</p>
<p>In 2009, Alford responded to coaches’ verbal clashes with opposing players.</p>
<p>“We’re gonna stand up for our guys,” Alford said, speaking for himself and his staff. “… I don’t know if that’s right or wrong, but it’s the competitive nature that coach Neal and I have as former players.”</p>
<p>On Monday, UNM’s news release included an apology from Rencher:</p>
<p>“I would like to apologize to my family, UNM, CSU and everyone affected by the incident and I acknowledge my fault in the situation. I should have walked away. The situation could have been diffused and I am very regretful of that momentary lapse in judgement. I don’t know Emmanuel personally but he seems to be a good person and good teammate.</p>
<p>“I do want to reiterate that I did not instigate the confrontation and that I never once made light of his personal tragedy or made racially derogatory remarks to him. To be painted in that light is truly disappointing to me. Those types of accusations are very hard to recover from and are totally and unequivocally false. I am hopeful that we can all learn from this and move forward.”</p>
<p>The UNM statement added that there will be no other comments from school regarding this matter.</p>
<p>Other matters, when it comes to Lobo coaches yakking with the opposition, remain to be seen.</p>
<p>The guess is this won’t be the last time a matter like this materializes.</p>
| 7,455 |
|
<p>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The president and publisher of The Topeka Capital-Journal has accepted a job with WEHCO Media in Jefferson City, Missouri.</p>
<p>Zach Ahrens will be general manager of Central Missouri Newspapers Inc., which publishes the Jefferson City News Tribune, Fulton Sun, California Democrat and HER Magazine. He will also oversee the company's commercial printing division and Flypaper, a digital marketing firm.</p>
<p>Those media outlets are owned by WEHCO Media, a privately owned communications company that operates daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and cable television companies in six states.</p>
<p>Ahrens announced his decision to <a href="http://cjonline.com/news/business/2018-01-03/capital-journal-publisher-zach-ahrens-leave-topeka" type="external">Capital-Journal</a> employees on Tuesday and introduced himself to Jefferson City employees Wednesday.</p>
<p>Grady Singletary, regional vice president for GateHouse Media, said a search for the newspaper's next publisher would begin soon.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, <a href="http://www.cjonline.com" type="external">http://www.cjonline.com</a></p>
<p>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The president and publisher of The Topeka Capital-Journal has accepted a job with WEHCO Media in Jefferson City, Missouri.</p>
<p>Zach Ahrens will be general manager of Central Missouri Newspapers Inc., which publishes the Jefferson City News Tribune, Fulton Sun, California Democrat and HER Magazine. He will also oversee the company's commercial printing division and Flypaper, a digital marketing firm.</p>
<p>Those media outlets are owned by WEHCO Media, a privately owned communications company that operates daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and cable television companies in six states.</p>
<p>Ahrens announced his decision to <a href="http://cjonline.com/news/business/2018-01-03/capital-journal-publisher-zach-ahrens-leave-topeka" type="external">Capital-Journal</a> employees on Tuesday and introduced himself to Jefferson City employees Wednesday.</p>
<p>Grady Singletary, regional vice president for GateHouse Media, said a search for the newspaper's next publisher would begin soon.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, <a href="http://www.cjonline.com" type="external">http://www.cjonline.com</a></p>
|
Capital-Journal publisher Ahrens joining Missouri company
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/44d9705e968647e8979f9d337d4c5459
|
2018-01-03
| 2least
|
Capital-Journal publisher Ahrens joining Missouri company
<p>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The president and publisher of The Topeka Capital-Journal has accepted a job with WEHCO Media in Jefferson City, Missouri.</p>
<p>Zach Ahrens will be general manager of Central Missouri Newspapers Inc., which publishes the Jefferson City News Tribune, Fulton Sun, California Democrat and HER Magazine. He will also oversee the company's commercial printing division and Flypaper, a digital marketing firm.</p>
<p>Those media outlets are owned by WEHCO Media, a privately owned communications company that operates daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and cable television companies in six states.</p>
<p>Ahrens announced his decision to <a href="http://cjonline.com/news/business/2018-01-03/capital-journal-publisher-zach-ahrens-leave-topeka" type="external">Capital-Journal</a> employees on Tuesday and introduced himself to Jefferson City employees Wednesday.</p>
<p>Grady Singletary, regional vice president for GateHouse Media, said a search for the newspaper's next publisher would begin soon.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, <a href="http://www.cjonline.com" type="external">http://www.cjonline.com</a></p>
<p>TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The president and publisher of The Topeka Capital-Journal has accepted a job with WEHCO Media in Jefferson City, Missouri.</p>
<p>Zach Ahrens will be general manager of Central Missouri Newspapers Inc., which publishes the Jefferson City News Tribune, Fulton Sun, California Democrat and HER Magazine. He will also oversee the company's commercial printing division and Flypaper, a digital marketing firm.</p>
<p>Those media outlets are owned by WEHCO Media, a privately owned communications company that operates daily and weekly newspapers, magazines and cable television companies in six states.</p>
<p>Ahrens announced his decision to <a href="http://cjonline.com/news/business/2018-01-03/capital-journal-publisher-zach-ahrens-leave-topeka" type="external">Capital-Journal</a> employees on Tuesday and introduced himself to Jefferson City employees Wednesday.</p>
<p>Grady Singletary, regional vice president for GateHouse Media, said a search for the newspaper's next publisher would begin soon.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>Information from: The Topeka (Kan.) Capital-Journal, <a href="http://www.cjonline.com" type="external">http://www.cjonline.com</a></p>
| 7,456 |
<p>A new study of voter fraud over the last twelve years finds that, though cases of such fraud can indeed be found throughout the United States, they are “infinitesimal” in number, and that cases of in-person voter fraud or impersonation on Election Day are virtually non-existent.</p>
<p>The study was produced as part of the <a href="http://votingrights.news21.com/article/about/" type="external">News 21 Voting Rights Project</a>, a nationally coordinated investigation conducted by two dozen journalism students from across the country, and centered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism as Mass Communication at Arizona State University in Phoenix.</p>
<p>Over the spring and summer the team built an extensive database of all documented cases of election fraud in the United States since the year 2000, and claims it is in fact that most comprehensive database of its kind.</p>
<p>The investigation found that though in-person voter fraud is virtually non-existent, absentee ballot fraud and voter registration fraud are much more common, though still not exactly widespread. The team found just 10 reported cases of in-person voter fraud, 491 cases of absentee ballot fraud and 400 cases of registration fraud across the country over the last twelve years.</p>
<p>In recent years, voter fraud has become the pet cause of <a href="" type="internal">Republican</a> party activists and legislators across the country. On the basis of the claim that the illegal practice is widespread throughout the country at all levels of government, they assert the need for strict new voter identification laws that would require eligible voters to present government-issued photo identification in order to be able to exercise the franchise. <a href="" type="internal">Democrats</a> claim that the voter photo ID push is nothing more than an attempt to suppress voter turnout among citizens who lean toward the Democratic party, such as minority voters and students.</p>
<p>If counteracting voter fraud is indeed the primary motivation for the implementation of new voter identification laws, the proposed solution does little to address the alleged problem. As the News 21 study points out, requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls would do nothing to counteract absentee ballot fraud and voter registration fraud, which obviously do not require the fraudster to appear at any polling place.</p>
<p>The results of the News 21 study corroborate the findings of similar investigations carried out by the <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/policy_brief_on_the_truth_about_voter_fraud/" type="external">Brennan Center for Justice</a>, which concluded that fraud by individual voters “is both irrational and extremely rare.”</p>
<p>Still, Republicans claim that voter fraud is a systemic problem. Defending its new voter photo identification laws in court, the state of Texas recently argued that the new laws are necessary to “combat a culture of election fraud.” Given the character of recent <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9133" type="external">high profile voter fraud cases</a>, one is justified in wondering whether Republicans are simply projecting. Earlier this year, Indiana’s Secretary of State Charlie White was removed from office after he was convicted on six felonies, including three counts of voter fraud. In July, a Republican candidate for county supervisor in Arizona withdrew from the race amid allegations of <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/community/pinal/articles/2012/07/25/20120725pinal-supervisor-hopeful-enright-quits.html" type="external">absentee voter fraud</a>. <a href="http://www.wkow.com/story/19355367/lawmakers-wife-votes-in-wis-while-idaho-resident" type="external">Just last week</a>, it was reported that the wife of a well known Wisconsin Republican lawmaker had been voting in Wisconsin elections though she was in fact a resident of Idaho.</p>
<p>If politicians and legislators were actually interested in preventing voter fraud and protecting the integrity of the elections process, they would be much more concerned about the shoddy security of the nation’s electronic voting machines and the vote tabulation process, and less interested in making it more difficult for everyday citizens to cast their ballots.</p>
|
Study: In-person Voter Fraud is Virtually Non-Existent
| false |
https://ivn.us/2012/08/29/study-in-person-voter-fraud-is-virtually-non-existent/
|
2012-08-29
| 2least
|
Study: In-person Voter Fraud is Virtually Non-Existent
<p>A new study of voter fraud over the last twelve years finds that, though cases of such fraud can indeed be found throughout the United States, they are “infinitesimal” in number, and that cases of in-person voter fraud or impersonation on Election Day are virtually non-existent.</p>
<p>The study was produced as part of the <a href="http://votingrights.news21.com/article/about/" type="external">News 21 Voting Rights Project</a>, a nationally coordinated investigation conducted by two dozen journalism students from across the country, and centered at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism as Mass Communication at Arizona State University in Phoenix.</p>
<p>Over the spring and summer the team built an extensive database of all documented cases of election fraud in the United States since the year 2000, and claims it is in fact that most comprehensive database of its kind.</p>
<p>The investigation found that though in-person voter fraud is virtually non-existent, absentee ballot fraud and voter registration fraud are much more common, though still not exactly widespread. The team found just 10 reported cases of in-person voter fraud, 491 cases of absentee ballot fraud and 400 cases of registration fraud across the country over the last twelve years.</p>
<p>In recent years, voter fraud has become the pet cause of <a href="" type="internal">Republican</a> party activists and legislators across the country. On the basis of the claim that the illegal practice is widespread throughout the country at all levels of government, they assert the need for strict new voter identification laws that would require eligible voters to present government-issued photo identification in order to be able to exercise the franchise. <a href="" type="internal">Democrats</a> claim that the voter photo ID push is nothing more than an attempt to suppress voter turnout among citizens who lean toward the Democratic party, such as minority voters and students.</p>
<p>If counteracting voter fraud is indeed the primary motivation for the implementation of new voter identification laws, the proposed solution does little to address the alleged problem. As the News 21 study points out, requiring voters to present photo identification at the polls would do nothing to counteract absentee ballot fraud and voter registration fraud, which obviously do not require the fraudster to appear at any polling place.</p>
<p>The results of the News 21 study corroborate the findings of similar investigations carried out by the <a href="https://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/policy_brief_on_the_truth_about_voter_fraud/" type="external">Brennan Center for Justice</a>, which concluded that fraud by individual voters “is both irrational and extremely rare.”</p>
<p>Still, Republicans claim that voter fraud is a systemic problem. Defending its new voter photo identification laws in court, the state of Texas recently argued that the new laws are necessary to “combat a culture of election fraud.” Given the character of recent <a href="http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9133" type="external">high profile voter fraud cases</a>, one is justified in wondering whether Republicans are simply projecting. Earlier this year, Indiana’s Secretary of State Charlie White was removed from office after he was convicted on six felonies, including three counts of voter fraud. In July, a Republican candidate for county supervisor in Arizona withdrew from the race amid allegations of <a href="http://www.azcentral.com/community/pinal/articles/2012/07/25/20120725pinal-supervisor-hopeful-enright-quits.html" type="external">absentee voter fraud</a>. <a href="http://www.wkow.com/story/19355367/lawmakers-wife-votes-in-wis-while-idaho-resident" type="external">Just last week</a>, it was reported that the wife of a well known Wisconsin Republican lawmaker had been voting in Wisconsin elections though she was in fact a resident of Idaho.</p>
<p>If politicians and legislators were actually interested in preventing voter fraud and protecting the integrity of the elections process, they would be much more concerned about the shoddy security of the nation’s electronic voting machines and the vote tabulation process, and less interested in making it more difficult for everyday citizens to cast their ballots.</p>
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<p>Raised voices could be heard through the thick door to the Oval Office as John Kelly — then secretary of Homeland Security — offered some tough talk to President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Kelly, a whip-cracking retired general who was sworn in as White House chief of staff on Monday, had demanded to speak to the president alone after Trump complained loudly that the U.S. was admitting travelers from countries he viewed as high risk.</p>
<p>Kelly first tried to explain to Trump that the admissions were standard — some people had legitimate reasons to visit the country — but the president insisted that it was making him look bad, according to an administration official familiar with the exchange about a month ago.</p>
<p>Kelly then demanded that other advisers leave the room so he could speak to the president frankly. Trump refused at first, but agreed when Kelly insisted.</p>
<p>It was an early indication that Kelly, a decorated retired Marine general who served three tours in Iraq, is not afraid to stand up to his commander-in-chief.</p>
<p>Tapped to bring order to a chaotic West Wing, Kelly began to make his mark immediately on Monday, ousting newly appointed communications director Anthony Scaramucci and revising a dysfunctional command structure that has bred warring factions. From now on, said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, all senior staffers — including the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and chief strategist Steve Bannon — will report to Kelly instead of the president.</p>
<p>Kelly “will bring new structure, discipline and strength” to the White House, Sanders said.</p>
<p>“It definitely has the fingerprints of a new sheriff in town,” said Blain Rethmeier, who guided Kelly through the Senate confirmation process for the Homeland Security post. Rethmeier said that what stood out about Kelly during the time they worked together was the way Kelly commanded respect from everyone he encountered — and the way he respected others.</p>
<p>Kelly drew praise from lawmakers of both parties Tuesday.</p>
<p>Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., expressed confidence that Kelly can help restore order, saying on NBC’s “Today” show that “the Marines have landed at the White House. They have a beachhead.”</p>
<p>And Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois told CNN that Kelly “is in a position where he can stabilize this White House, that’s good for this country. The president has to be part of that.”</p>
<p>Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser during the Trump presidential campaign, predicted on CNN that Kelly’s next move will be to put people in place that will help the president. He suggested Kelly should convince ousted press secretary Sean Spicer to stay on, at least through the tax overhaul effort.</p>
<p>Kelly fostered a reputation as an outspoken commander who didn’t shy away from unpopular opinions during his military career. Rethmeier said that Kelly also respects authority deeply — “and that’s something that Trump sort of smells out, if you respect him or not.”</p>
<p>“If he disagrees with you, he’ll disagree respectfully,” Rethmeier said.</p>
<p>It was a point Kelly made clear during his confirmation hearing in January.</p>
<p>“I have never had a problem speaking truth to power, and I firmly believe that those in power deserve full candor and my honest assessment and recommendations. I also value people that work for me speaking truth to power,” he said.</p>
<p>In April, Kelly bluntly challenged members of Congress critical of the Trump administration’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement to either change the laws or “shut up.”</p>
<p>But after being confirmed as part of Trump’s Cabinet, Kelly also tried to moderate some of the president’s hard-line positions, even as he publicly defended them.</p>
<p>Hours after Trump said deportations of people in the U.S. illegally were being carried out as a “military operation,” Kelly said the U.S. would not enlist the military to enforce immigration laws.</p>
<p>Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, another retired general, were also said to have been deeply frustrated with the rollout of Trump’s refugee and immigration ban, and made clear to associates that they were not involved in drafting it or aware of its details around the time that Trump signed the original order. Both moved swiftly to address gaps in the measure, with Mattis asking that Iraqis who helped U.S. troops be exempt and Kelly clarifying that green-card holders would not be affected.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Kelly launched a particularly robust defense of the order to lawmakers and reporters, which was welcomed by the White House.</p>
<p>Mattis and Kelly also agreed in the earliest weeks of Trump’s presidency that one of them should remain in the United States at all times to keep tabs on the orders rapidly emerging from the White House, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The official insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the administration’s internal dynamics.</p>
<p>Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn, said Monday that he discussed Kelly’s appointment with Trump and hopes Kelly “will do everything possible to bring the appropriate discipline and focus that needs to be at the White House there.”</p>
<p>“I hope that Gen. Kelly will absolutely, forcefully clean the place up,” Corker said. “And anybody who’s been a violator, who’s been a part of public backbiting, part of undermining, who’s been part of feathering their own nest at other people’s expense, I hope they’ll all be gone.”</p>
<p>David B. Cohen, a University of Akron political science professor writing a book on chiefs of staff, applauded Kelly for doing “things that should have been done on Day One of Reince Priebus’s tenure.” He said Scaramucci’s removal sent a clear message “that going off-script and being undisciplined” would no longer be tolerated at the White House.</p>
<p>But Cohen wondered how long Trump would go before undermining Kelly.</p>
<p>“President Trump is his own worst enemy,” he said. “He instinctively likes to be his own chief of staff and he’s a pretty awful one. Will he be able to resist messing with the system once John Kelly cleans everything up? Will he listen to his chief of staff when Kelly has to tell Trump, ‘No?'” he asked.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure President Trump is wired to be able to listen to that type of criticism,” he said.</p>
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Kelly Wins Praise Across the Aisle, but Bigger Task Is Ahead
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2017-08-01
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Kelly Wins Praise Across the Aisle, but Bigger Task Is Ahead
<p>Raised voices could be heard through the thick door to the Oval Office as John Kelly — then secretary of Homeland Security — offered some tough talk to President Donald Trump.</p>
<p>Kelly, a whip-cracking retired general who was sworn in as White House chief of staff on Monday, had demanded to speak to the president alone after Trump complained loudly that the U.S. was admitting travelers from countries he viewed as high risk.</p>
<p>Kelly first tried to explain to Trump that the admissions were standard — some people had legitimate reasons to visit the country — but the president insisted that it was making him look bad, according to an administration official familiar with the exchange about a month ago.</p>
<p>Kelly then demanded that other advisers leave the room so he could speak to the president frankly. Trump refused at first, but agreed when Kelly insisted.</p>
<p>It was an early indication that Kelly, a decorated retired Marine general who served three tours in Iraq, is not afraid to stand up to his commander-in-chief.</p>
<p>Tapped to bring order to a chaotic West Wing, Kelly began to make his mark immediately on Monday, ousting newly appointed communications director Anthony Scaramucci and revising a dysfunctional command structure that has bred warring factions. From now on, said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, all senior staffers — including the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and chief strategist Steve Bannon — will report to Kelly instead of the president.</p>
<p>Kelly “will bring new structure, discipline and strength” to the White House, Sanders said.</p>
<p>“It definitely has the fingerprints of a new sheriff in town,” said Blain Rethmeier, who guided Kelly through the Senate confirmation process for the Homeland Security post. Rethmeier said that what stood out about Kelly during the time they worked together was the way Kelly commanded respect from everyone he encountered — and the way he respected others.</p>
<p>Kelly drew praise from lawmakers of both parties Tuesday.</p>
<p>Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., expressed confidence that Kelly can help restore order, saying on NBC’s “Today” show that “the Marines have landed at the White House. They have a beachhead.”</p>
<p>And Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois told CNN that Kelly “is in a position where he can stabilize this White House, that’s good for this country. The president has to be part of that.”</p>
<p>Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser during the Trump presidential campaign, predicted on CNN that Kelly’s next move will be to put people in place that will help the president. He suggested Kelly should convince ousted press secretary Sean Spicer to stay on, at least through the tax overhaul effort.</p>
<p>Kelly fostered a reputation as an outspoken commander who didn’t shy away from unpopular opinions during his military career. Rethmeier said that Kelly also respects authority deeply — “and that’s something that Trump sort of smells out, if you respect him or not.”</p>
<p>“If he disagrees with you, he’ll disagree respectfully,” Rethmeier said.</p>
<p>It was a point Kelly made clear during his confirmation hearing in January.</p>
<p>“I have never had a problem speaking truth to power, and I firmly believe that those in power deserve full candor and my honest assessment and recommendations. I also value people that work for me speaking truth to power,” he said.</p>
<p>In April, Kelly bluntly challenged members of Congress critical of the Trump administration’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement to either change the laws or “shut up.”</p>
<p>But after being confirmed as part of Trump’s Cabinet, Kelly also tried to moderate some of the president’s hard-line positions, even as he publicly defended them.</p>
<p>Hours after Trump said deportations of people in the U.S. illegally were being carried out as a “military operation,” Kelly said the U.S. would not enlist the military to enforce immigration laws.</p>
<p>Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, another retired general, were also said to have been deeply frustrated with the rollout of Trump’s refugee and immigration ban, and made clear to associates that they were not involved in drafting it or aware of its details around the time that Trump signed the original order. Both moved swiftly to address gaps in the measure, with Mattis asking that Iraqis who helped U.S. troops be exempt and Kelly clarifying that green-card holders would not be affected.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, Kelly launched a particularly robust defense of the order to lawmakers and reporters, which was welcomed by the White House.</p>
<p>Mattis and Kelly also agreed in the earliest weeks of Trump’s presidency that one of them should remain in the United States at all times to keep tabs on the orders rapidly emerging from the White House, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The official insisted on anonymity in order to discuss the administration’s internal dynamics.</p>
<p>Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn, said Monday that he discussed Kelly’s appointment with Trump and hopes Kelly “will do everything possible to bring the appropriate discipline and focus that needs to be at the White House there.”</p>
<p>“I hope that Gen. Kelly will absolutely, forcefully clean the place up,” Corker said. “And anybody who’s been a violator, who’s been a part of public backbiting, part of undermining, who’s been part of feathering their own nest at other people’s expense, I hope they’ll all be gone.”</p>
<p>David B. Cohen, a University of Akron political science professor writing a book on chiefs of staff, applauded Kelly for doing “things that should have been done on Day One of Reince Priebus’s tenure.” He said Scaramucci’s removal sent a clear message “that going off-script and being undisciplined” would no longer be tolerated at the White House.</p>
<p>But Cohen wondered how long Trump would go before undermining Kelly.</p>
<p>“President Trump is his own worst enemy,” he said. “He instinctively likes to be his own chief of staff and he’s a pretty awful one. Will he be able to resist messing with the system once John Kelly cleans everything up? Will he listen to his chief of staff when Kelly has to tell Trump, ‘No?'” he asked.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure President Trump is wired to be able to listen to that type of criticism,” he said.</p>
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<p>Roxi Padrid, right, with her mother Lu Jouras, diagnosed with the rare disease Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). (Courtesy of Roxi Padrid)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Roxi Padrid wants to spread a message of hope to others who, like her, have loved ones stricken with a rare debilitating illness that is often misdiagnosed.</p>
<p>Padrid runs a support group for caregivers, family members and patients suffering from Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) and similar neurodegenerative diseases.</p>
<p>She said the support group provides a place where they can share their experiences and pick up helpful information.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I think the main thing is because it’s such a devastating disease for the family as well as the patient, is to know that they are not alone. To know that there is help out there and there is hope,” Padrid said.</p>
<p>PSP is often mistaken for Parkinson’s disease but it is rarer. The disease affects 17,500 nationwide, often striking in the prime of life between a patient’s 40s through the early 60s. Only 25 percent receive an accurate diagnosis, according to the latest information from the nonprofit national support organization CurePSP.</p>
<p>Padrid’s mother Lu Jouras started exhibiting symptoms in 2006 when she was in her early 80s but it took five years and many trials before she was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.</p>
<p>Currently there are medications that help with some of the symptoms but there is no cure. Life expectancy is typically five to seven years after the onset of symptoms, according to CurePSP.</p>
<p>“So there we were, faced with a disease that nobody had heard of, there’s no treatment and no cure,” Padrid said.</p>
<p>The disease affects speech, vision and gait. Movement disorder specialist Dr. Amanda Deligtisch, assistant professor of neurology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine said PSP typically involves the same demographic group as Parkinson’s and the initial symptoms are very similar. The difference becomes clearer over time. Certain eye movements and characteristic falls are clues that the patient has PSP rather than Parkinson’s, she said.</p>
<p>The disease also causes behavioral changes.</p>
<p>“It takes little pieces of the person over time,” Padrid said, “It’s tough on the patient, tough on their loved ones, their friends.”</p>
<p>Devastated by the experience of watching her mother’s decline as the disease progressed, Padrid sought a support group but found none locally. Through her research, she discovered New York City-based CurePSP. Padrid then started a local version of the group which meets at 6:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month at the Flying Star Cafe at 10700 Corrales Rd.</p>
<p>Among those who attend the group are Placitas residents Lisa and Dave Roeber. A former pilot and avid runner now in his 60s, Dave Roeber began experiencing falls a few years ago. Physical and neurological tests eventually led to a diagnosis of PSP. As it progressed he has been able to do less on his own and now uses a walker, but he retains a positive attitude.</p>
<p>“I believe you shouldn’t let the disease run your life. You need to adapt your life to what you can do with the disease,” Dave Roeber said.</p>
<p />
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Support group fights rare neurological illness
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https://abqjournal.com/1007253/support-group-fights-rare-neurological-illness.html
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Support group fights rare neurological illness
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<p>Roxi Padrid, right, with her mother Lu Jouras, diagnosed with the rare disease Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). (Courtesy of Roxi Padrid)</p>
<p>ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Roxi Padrid wants to spread a message of hope to others who, like her, have loved ones stricken with a rare debilitating illness that is often misdiagnosed.</p>
<p>Padrid runs a support group for caregivers, family members and patients suffering from Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP) and similar neurodegenerative diseases.</p>
<p>She said the support group provides a place where they can share their experiences and pick up helpful information.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>“I think the main thing is because it’s such a devastating disease for the family as well as the patient, is to know that they are not alone. To know that there is help out there and there is hope,” Padrid said.</p>
<p>PSP is often mistaken for Parkinson’s disease but it is rarer. The disease affects 17,500 nationwide, often striking in the prime of life between a patient’s 40s through the early 60s. Only 25 percent receive an accurate diagnosis, according to the latest information from the nonprofit national support organization CurePSP.</p>
<p>Padrid’s mother Lu Jouras started exhibiting symptoms in 2006 when she was in her early 80s but it took five years and many trials before she was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.</p>
<p>Currently there are medications that help with some of the symptoms but there is no cure. Life expectancy is typically five to seven years after the onset of symptoms, according to CurePSP.</p>
<p>“So there we were, faced with a disease that nobody had heard of, there’s no treatment and no cure,” Padrid said.</p>
<p>The disease affects speech, vision and gait. Movement disorder specialist Dr. Amanda Deligtisch, assistant professor of neurology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine said PSP typically involves the same demographic group as Parkinson’s and the initial symptoms are very similar. The difference becomes clearer over time. Certain eye movements and characteristic falls are clues that the patient has PSP rather than Parkinson’s, she said.</p>
<p>The disease also causes behavioral changes.</p>
<p>“It takes little pieces of the person over time,” Padrid said, “It’s tough on the patient, tough on their loved ones, their friends.”</p>
<p>Devastated by the experience of watching her mother’s decline as the disease progressed, Padrid sought a support group but found none locally. Through her research, she discovered New York City-based CurePSP. Padrid then started a local version of the group which meets at 6:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month at the Flying Star Cafe at 10700 Corrales Rd.</p>
<p>Among those who attend the group are Placitas residents Lisa and Dave Roeber. A former pilot and avid runner now in his 60s, Dave Roeber began experiencing falls a few years ago. Physical and neurological tests eventually led to a diagnosis of PSP. As it progressed he has been able to do less on his own and now uses a walker, but he retains a positive attitude.</p>
<p>“I believe you shouldn’t let the disease run your life. You need to adapt your life to what you can do with the disease,” Dave Roeber said.</p>
<p />
<p />
| 7,459 |
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<p>TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Hundreds of people have turned out to salute a speedy border collie that became an internet sensation for keeping a northern Michigan airport free of wildlife.</p>
<p>People lined up to get inside City Opera House in Traverse City for a memorial service for Piper. The 9-year-old dog was euthanized Jan. 3 after battling prostate cancer.</p>
<p>Piper's owner, Brian Edwards, choked up at times as he talked about the dog while photos were displayed on a large screen. Piper was a wildlife-control canine at Cherry Capital Airport — the nemesis of geese, ducks and even snowy owls.</p>
<p>Edwards says there's "no book on how to be an airport canine." He says it took "hard work."</p>
<p>Images of Piper on the job, wearing his airport vest, ear muffs and goggles, made their way onto online social forum Reddit. He quickly became a top hit.</p>
<p>TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Hundreds of people have turned out to salute a speedy border collie that became an internet sensation for keeping a northern Michigan airport free of wildlife.</p>
<p>People lined up to get inside City Opera House in Traverse City for a memorial service for Piper. The 9-year-old dog was euthanized Jan. 3 after battling prostate cancer.</p>
<p>Piper's owner, Brian Edwards, choked up at times as he talked about the dog while photos were displayed on a large screen. Piper was a wildlife-control canine at Cherry Capital Airport — the nemesis of geese, ducks and even snowy owls.</p>
<p>Edwards says there's "no book on how to be an airport canine." He says it took "hard work."</p>
<p>Images of Piper on the job, wearing his airport vest, ear muffs and goggles, made their way onto online social forum Reddit. He quickly became a top hit.</p>
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Memorial service held for beloved Michigan airport dog
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https://apnews.com/amp/b9cf14788ba843109d34d5c5bd620ece
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2018-01-20
| 2least
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Memorial service held for beloved Michigan airport dog
<p>TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Hundreds of people have turned out to salute a speedy border collie that became an internet sensation for keeping a northern Michigan airport free of wildlife.</p>
<p>People lined up to get inside City Opera House in Traverse City for a memorial service for Piper. The 9-year-old dog was euthanized Jan. 3 after battling prostate cancer.</p>
<p>Piper's owner, Brian Edwards, choked up at times as he talked about the dog while photos were displayed on a large screen. Piper was a wildlife-control canine at Cherry Capital Airport — the nemesis of geese, ducks and even snowy owls.</p>
<p>Edwards says there's "no book on how to be an airport canine." He says it took "hard work."</p>
<p>Images of Piper on the job, wearing his airport vest, ear muffs and goggles, made their way onto online social forum Reddit. He quickly became a top hit.</p>
<p>TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Hundreds of people have turned out to salute a speedy border collie that became an internet sensation for keeping a northern Michigan airport free of wildlife.</p>
<p>People lined up to get inside City Opera House in Traverse City for a memorial service for Piper. The 9-year-old dog was euthanized Jan. 3 after battling prostate cancer.</p>
<p>Piper's owner, Brian Edwards, choked up at times as he talked about the dog while photos were displayed on a large screen. Piper was a wildlife-control canine at Cherry Capital Airport — the nemesis of geese, ducks and even snowy owls.</p>
<p>Edwards says there's "no book on how to be an airport canine." He says it took "hard work."</p>
<p>Images of Piper on the job, wearing his airport vest, ear muffs and goggles, made their way onto online social forum Reddit. He quickly became a top hit.</p>
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<p>The future of the Social Security program has been much debated, especially as a new Congress reviews a budget that would decide the immediate future of disability payments. We can expect full saturation of headlines, a fair amount of politicking and, ultimately, a sneak peek into what this program will look like in the coming decades.</p>
<p>It could be drastically different.</p>
<p>Social Security was created in the wake of one financial crisis; nearly a century later, as the country limps to recovery from another, policymakers are making decisions about the program’s future that have real-dollar effects on just about everyone who plans on living to 65.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>That makes it a scary time for the millions of Americans approaching retirement — and the millions who are just starting to fund the Social Security system. It’s also well past time to get informed on what you can expect to get out of Social Security in the next 80 years, and how you can prepare if it’s not enough.</p>
<p>We’ve put together a list — the good, the bad, the awful — so you can start building a realistic retirement plan.</p>
<p>AT ITS CURRENT PACE, SOCIAL SECURITY WILL RUN OUT BY 2033</p>
<p>Since it was established in 1935, Social Security has been a “pay as you go” system — essentially, a higher-stakes version of the take-a-penny-leave-a-penny tray. So the checks that retirees and other Social Security beneficiaries get are primarily funded by taxes taken from the paychecks of about 96 percent of workers (and matched by their employers), according to The Washington Post.</p>
<p>For the most part, up until 2010, Social Security took in more from taxes than it paid out in benefits, investing the surplus in Treasury securities to earn some interest. That practice put about $2.8 trillion dollars in Social Security trust funds.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, those funds are no longer just an emergency buffer. For the last five years, there’s been a cash flow deficit — it’s currently about $75 billion a year, a number that’s expected to rise precipitously by the end of this decade.</p>
<p>At this rate, the 2014 Social Security Trustees report estimates that the trust funds will become insolvent, i.e. run out, by 2033.</p>
<p>THE SYSTEM IS STILL PAYING FOR THE FIRST BENEFICIARIES</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Because the system wasn’t pre-funded, the first recipients of Social Security put in a lot less and got a lot more out; that gap is still being subsidized by today’s workers.</p>
<p>SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES COULD BE RAISED</p>
<p>To cover the gap between taxes and benefits — and to prevent a possible benefit cut — the SSA might have to increase the tax that’s taken out of workers’ paychecks.</p>
<p>The current tax rate is 6.2 percent — it hasn’t budged since 1990, in fact. The New York Times argues that an increase of just 1 percent over 20 years could decrease the funding gap by half.</p>
<p>IT’S NOT POLITICALLY CONVENIENT TO FIX SOCIAL SECURITY RIGHT NOW</p>
<p>Granted, any time a president and the sitting Congress come from different sides of the aisle, it’s difficult to make any sort of political maneuvers.</p>
<p>But as 2015 begins, the new Congress is just settling in — and, just this month, beginning to tussle with the president over a budget that includes a change to the disability trust fund. These (and future) fights will only become more heated as 2016, an election year, approaches.</p>
<p>MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW HOW SOCIAL SECURITY EVEN WORKS</p>
<p>In 2010, the Financial Literacy Center asked Americans to grade themselves on how well they know the rules and requirements of claiming Social Security benefits. Only one-tenth of respondents gave themselves an “A,” while more than double that — 23 percent — thought they deserved a failing grade.</p>
<p>The survey also asked seven questions to judge how knowledgeable the respondents actually were, and the results were depressing: Only 4 percent earned an “A,” while more than half received a “D” or “F.”</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>ABOUT THE WRITER</p>
<p>Lucy Mueller writes for GOBankingRates.com (), a leading portal for personal finance news and features, offering visitors the latest information on everything from interest rates to strategies on saving money, managing a budget and getting out of debt.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>© 2015 GOBankingRates.com, a ConsumerTrack web property.</p>
<p>Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC</p>
<p>———-</p>
<p>Topics: t000027855,t000170238,t000170285,t000002953,t000047682,t000138309,t000047680,t000170228,t000002899,t000002912,t000156697</p>
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Five unsettling truths about Social Security
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Five unsettling truths about Social Security
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<p>The future of the Social Security program has been much debated, especially as a new Congress reviews a budget that would decide the immediate future of disability payments. We can expect full saturation of headlines, a fair amount of politicking and, ultimately, a sneak peek into what this program will look like in the coming decades.</p>
<p>It could be drastically different.</p>
<p>Social Security was created in the wake of one financial crisis; nearly a century later, as the country limps to recovery from another, policymakers are making decisions about the program’s future that have real-dollar effects on just about everyone who plans on living to 65.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>That makes it a scary time for the millions of Americans approaching retirement — and the millions who are just starting to fund the Social Security system. It’s also well past time to get informed on what you can expect to get out of Social Security in the next 80 years, and how you can prepare if it’s not enough.</p>
<p>We’ve put together a list — the good, the bad, the awful — so you can start building a realistic retirement plan.</p>
<p>AT ITS CURRENT PACE, SOCIAL SECURITY WILL RUN OUT BY 2033</p>
<p>Since it was established in 1935, Social Security has been a “pay as you go” system — essentially, a higher-stakes version of the take-a-penny-leave-a-penny tray. So the checks that retirees and other Social Security beneficiaries get are primarily funded by taxes taken from the paychecks of about 96 percent of workers (and matched by their employers), according to The Washington Post.</p>
<p>For the most part, up until 2010, Social Security took in more from taxes than it paid out in benefits, investing the surplus in Treasury securities to earn some interest. That practice put about $2.8 trillion dollars in Social Security trust funds.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, those funds are no longer just an emergency buffer. For the last five years, there’s been a cash flow deficit — it’s currently about $75 billion a year, a number that’s expected to rise precipitously by the end of this decade.</p>
<p>At this rate, the 2014 Social Security Trustees report estimates that the trust funds will become insolvent, i.e. run out, by 2033.</p>
<p>THE SYSTEM IS STILL PAYING FOR THE FIRST BENEFICIARIES</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Because the system wasn’t pre-funded, the first recipients of Social Security put in a lot less and got a lot more out; that gap is still being subsidized by today’s workers.</p>
<p>SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES COULD BE RAISED</p>
<p>To cover the gap between taxes and benefits — and to prevent a possible benefit cut — the SSA might have to increase the tax that’s taken out of workers’ paychecks.</p>
<p>The current tax rate is 6.2 percent — it hasn’t budged since 1990, in fact. The New York Times argues that an increase of just 1 percent over 20 years could decrease the funding gap by half.</p>
<p>IT’S NOT POLITICALLY CONVENIENT TO FIX SOCIAL SECURITY RIGHT NOW</p>
<p>Granted, any time a president and the sitting Congress come from different sides of the aisle, it’s difficult to make any sort of political maneuvers.</p>
<p>But as 2015 begins, the new Congress is just settling in — and, just this month, beginning to tussle with the president over a budget that includes a change to the disability trust fund. These (and future) fights will only become more heated as 2016, an election year, approaches.</p>
<p>MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW HOW SOCIAL SECURITY EVEN WORKS</p>
<p>In 2010, the Financial Literacy Center asked Americans to grade themselves on how well they know the rules and requirements of claiming Social Security benefits. Only one-tenth of respondents gave themselves an “A,” while more than double that — 23 percent — thought they deserved a failing grade.</p>
<p>The survey also asked seven questions to judge how knowledgeable the respondents actually were, and the results were depressing: Only 4 percent earned an “A,” while more than half received a “D” or “F.”</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>ABOUT THE WRITER</p>
<p>Lucy Mueller writes for GOBankingRates.com (), a leading portal for personal finance news and features, offering visitors the latest information on everything from interest rates to strategies on saving money, managing a budget and getting out of debt.</p>
<p>——</p>
<p>© 2015 GOBankingRates.com, a ConsumerTrack web property.</p>
<p>Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC</p>
<p>———-</p>
<p>Topics: t000027855,t000170238,t000170285,t000002953,t000047682,t000138309,t000047680,t000170228,t000002899,t000002912,t000156697</p>
| 7,461 |
|
<p>Excerpts of recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Ohio newspapers:</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 21</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>What could Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have done better, smarter, faster, and by thinking more outside the box, to do the obvious — be Amazon's top choice for an Ohio location for its much-ballyhooed HQ2?</p>
<p>The Columbus bid — pitching its educated workforce, a property tax abatement wherever Amazon invests, a rebate of up to $400 million in payroll taxes over 16 years to encourage maximum job creation and the city's agreement to set aside another 25 percent of Amazon payroll taxes to create a transit and mobility fund — made Amazon's short list of 20.</p>
<p>Cleveland's still-secret bid did not make the cut.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Was that because the public and private officials behind Cleveland's bid knew it might be inferior, run-of-the-mill and far too hurriedly cobbled together? Or was that because private interests were allowed to call the shots for what should have been a public-private endeavor in the public interest? Or because outrageous promises were made in the bid that they didn't want to share?</p>
<p>Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson need to step up to dispel these questions and clear the air by making public their bid now, without delay. That's the only way to make sure Cleveland doesn't stumble again.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2DXRQSf" type="external">http://bit.ly/2DXRQSf</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 21</p>
<p>Friday's abrupt closing of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow and the heartache it is causing families across Ohio are the direct result of weak state charter-school laws and a company that collected millions in taxpayer dollars for students it wasn't educating.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>ECOT officials point out, correctly, that until a law change in 2015, Ohio charter schools weren't required to actually document that students "attended," i.e. logged in and completed assignments on a regular basis.</p>
<p>Lawmakers and the Ohio Department of Education share some of the blame for that. Ohio's charter-school laws were, from the start, exceedingly friendly to big campaign donors who would go on to use them to make a buck. Numerous attempts over the years to reform the laws and strengthen oversight have been stymied by the charter-school lobby and legislators friendly to it.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>We wish the best for former ECOT families coping with the loss of their school, and we hope that more-ethical online schools will arise to serve them and others who want online education. It can and should be a good option for Ohio families; it shouldn't be a vehicle to enrich savvy players and friendly politicians.</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2Dm175K" type="external">http://bit.ly/2Dm175K</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Star-Beacon, Jan. 21</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>There are so many factors that go into suicide, particularly teenage suicide, that there is no one-size-fits all solution. For some children it can be bullying in school or online, while others might not have the tools to cope with troubles in their home lives. Still other teenagers might find pressure in school to be overwhelming. And that's not to discount those young adults dealing with chemical imbalances who might not even understand why they feel the way they do.</p>
<p>One of the most helpful and far-reaching things loved ones can do is to communicate and work to remove the stigma that often accompanies talking about and addressing such issues.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Of course, in order to begin those conversations, parents must be aware and engaged with their children enough to know when something is troubling them. Again, communication and conversation on a regular basis is the best approach to developing such a rapport. And these efforts are not and should not just be limited to parents but extend to other adults, such as coaches and teachers, who play an important role in our children's lives.</p>
<p>Adults cannot be afraid to ask the tough questions because they are scared they won't know what to do with the answers.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2DDh3UF" type="external">http://bit.ly/2DDh3UF</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Marietta Times, Jan. 19</p>
<p>Few people have any argument with the government seizing property owned by a drug trafficker. Often, houses, cars, boats, etc., not to mention the pusher's cash, were obtained by breaking the law.</p>
<p>But what about someone merely accused of a crime? We Americans are innocent until proven guilty, right?</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Welcome to the world of civil asset forfeiture. Under both state and federal laws, the authorities can seize property they believe was used in criminal activities. Not infrequently, they use the proceeds to buy law enforcement equipment.</p>
<p>Prosecutors can file motions to take property even if no one has been convicted of a crime. Once that happens, it is up to the owners to argue against the motion in court. In other words, the person whose possessions have been taken must go to court, usually by hiring an attorney, to prove he or she has not used the property in a crime.</p>
<p>... Some safeguards should be provided for members of criminals' families who may have been unaware their loved ones were breaking the law, however.</p>
<p>And under no circumstances should police and prosecutors be permitted to take possessions unless proof has been provided in court that crimes have occurred — and that the owners of the property in question are guilty.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2Dy743K" type="external">http://bit.ly/2Dy743K</a></p>
<p>Excerpts of recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Ohio newspapers:</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 21</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>What could Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have done better, smarter, faster, and by thinking more outside the box, to do the obvious — be Amazon's top choice for an Ohio location for its much-ballyhooed HQ2?</p>
<p>The Columbus bid — pitching its educated workforce, a property tax abatement wherever Amazon invests, a rebate of up to $400 million in payroll taxes over 16 years to encourage maximum job creation and the city's agreement to set aside another 25 percent of Amazon payroll taxes to create a transit and mobility fund — made Amazon's short list of 20.</p>
<p>Cleveland's still-secret bid did not make the cut.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Was that because the public and private officials behind Cleveland's bid knew it might be inferior, run-of-the-mill and far too hurriedly cobbled together? Or was that because private interests were allowed to call the shots for what should have been a public-private endeavor in the public interest? Or because outrageous promises were made in the bid that they didn't want to share?</p>
<p>Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson need to step up to dispel these questions and clear the air by making public their bid now, without delay. That's the only way to make sure Cleveland doesn't stumble again.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2DXRQSf" type="external">http://bit.ly/2DXRQSf</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 21</p>
<p>Friday's abrupt closing of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow and the heartache it is causing families across Ohio are the direct result of weak state charter-school laws and a company that collected millions in taxpayer dollars for students it wasn't educating.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>ECOT officials point out, correctly, that until a law change in 2015, Ohio charter schools weren't required to actually document that students "attended," i.e. logged in and completed assignments on a regular basis.</p>
<p>Lawmakers and the Ohio Department of Education share some of the blame for that. Ohio's charter-school laws were, from the start, exceedingly friendly to big campaign donors who would go on to use them to make a buck. Numerous attempts over the years to reform the laws and strengthen oversight have been stymied by the charter-school lobby and legislators friendly to it.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>We wish the best for former ECOT families coping with the loss of their school, and we hope that more-ethical online schools will arise to serve them and others who want online education. It can and should be a good option for Ohio families; it shouldn't be a vehicle to enrich savvy players and friendly politicians.</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2Dm175K" type="external">http://bit.ly/2Dm175K</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Star-Beacon, Jan. 21</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>There are so many factors that go into suicide, particularly teenage suicide, that there is no one-size-fits all solution. For some children it can be bullying in school or online, while others might not have the tools to cope with troubles in their home lives. Still other teenagers might find pressure in school to be overwhelming. And that's not to discount those young adults dealing with chemical imbalances who might not even understand why they feel the way they do.</p>
<p>One of the most helpful and far-reaching things loved ones can do is to communicate and work to remove the stigma that often accompanies talking about and addressing such issues.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Of course, in order to begin those conversations, parents must be aware and engaged with their children enough to know when something is troubling them. Again, communication and conversation on a regular basis is the best approach to developing such a rapport. And these efforts are not and should not just be limited to parents but extend to other adults, such as coaches and teachers, who play an important role in our children's lives.</p>
<p>Adults cannot be afraid to ask the tough questions because they are scared they won't know what to do with the answers.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2DDh3UF" type="external">http://bit.ly/2DDh3UF</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Marietta Times, Jan. 19</p>
<p>Few people have any argument with the government seizing property owned by a drug trafficker. Often, houses, cars, boats, etc., not to mention the pusher's cash, were obtained by breaking the law.</p>
<p>But what about someone merely accused of a crime? We Americans are innocent until proven guilty, right?</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Welcome to the world of civil asset forfeiture. Under both state and federal laws, the authorities can seize property they believe was used in criminal activities. Not infrequently, they use the proceeds to buy law enforcement equipment.</p>
<p>Prosecutors can file motions to take property even if no one has been convicted of a crime. Once that happens, it is up to the owners to argue against the motion in court. In other words, the person whose possessions have been taken must go to court, usually by hiring an attorney, to prove he or she has not used the property in a crime.</p>
<p>... Some safeguards should be provided for members of criminals' families who may have been unaware their loved ones were breaking the law, however.</p>
<p>And under no circumstances should police and prosecutors be permitted to take possessions unless proof has been provided in court that crimes have occurred — and that the owners of the property in question are guilty.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2Dy743K" type="external">http://bit.ly/2Dy743K</a></p>
|
Editorials from around Ohio
| false |
https://apnews.com/amp/63aa123ec7fb49fb9a774f8b2bf653fd
|
2018-01-22
| 2least
|
Editorials from around Ohio
<p>Excerpts of recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Ohio newspapers:</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 21</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>What could Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have done better, smarter, faster, and by thinking more outside the box, to do the obvious — be Amazon's top choice for an Ohio location for its much-ballyhooed HQ2?</p>
<p>The Columbus bid — pitching its educated workforce, a property tax abatement wherever Amazon invests, a rebate of up to $400 million in payroll taxes over 16 years to encourage maximum job creation and the city's agreement to set aside another 25 percent of Amazon payroll taxes to create a transit and mobility fund — made Amazon's short list of 20.</p>
<p>Cleveland's still-secret bid did not make the cut.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Was that because the public and private officials behind Cleveland's bid knew it might be inferior, run-of-the-mill and far too hurriedly cobbled together? Or was that because private interests were allowed to call the shots for what should have been a public-private endeavor in the public interest? Or because outrageous promises were made in the bid that they didn't want to share?</p>
<p>Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson need to step up to dispel these questions and clear the air by making public their bid now, without delay. That's the only way to make sure Cleveland doesn't stumble again.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2DXRQSf" type="external">http://bit.ly/2DXRQSf</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 21</p>
<p>Friday's abrupt closing of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow and the heartache it is causing families across Ohio are the direct result of weak state charter-school laws and a company that collected millions in taxpayer dollars for students it wasn't educating.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>ECOT officials point out, correctly, that until a law change in 2015, Ohio charter schools weren't required to actually document that students "attended," i.e. logged in and completed assignments on a regular basis.</p>
<p>Lawmakers and the Ohio Department of Education share some of the blame for that. Ohio's charter-school laws were, from the start, exceedingly friendly to big campaign donors who would go on to use them to make a buck. Numerous attempts over the years to reform the laws and strengthen oversight have been stymied by the charter-school lobby and legislators friendly to it.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>We wish the best for former ECOT families coping with the loss of their school, and we hope that more-ethical online schools will arise to serve them and others who want online education. It can and should be a good option for Ohio families; it shouldn't be a vehicle to enrich savvy players and friendly politicians.</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2Dm175K" type="external">http://bit.ly/2Dm175K</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Star-Beacon, Jan. 21</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>There are so many factors that go into suicide, particularly teenage suicide, that there is no one-size-fits all solution. For some children it can be bullying in school or online, while others might not have the tools to cope with troubles in their home lives. Still other teenagers might find pressure in school to be overwhelming. And that's not to discount those young adults dealing with chemical imbalances who might not even understand why they feel the way they do.</p>
<p>One of the most helpful and far-reaching things loved ones can do is to communicate and work to remove the stigma that often accompanies talking about and addressing such issues.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Of course, in order to begin those conversations, parents must be aware and engaged with their children enough to know when something is troubling them. Again, communication and conversation on a regular basis is the best approach to developing such a rapport. And these efforts are not and should not just be limited to parents but extend to other adults, such as coaches and teachers, who play an important role in our children's lives.</p>
<p>Adults cannot be afraid to ask the tough questions because they are scared they won't know what to do with the answers.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2DDh3UF" type="external">http://bit.ly/2DDh3UF</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Marietta Times, Jan. 19</p>
<p>Few people have any argument with the government seizing property owned by a drug trafficker. Often, houses, cars, boats, etc., not to mention the pusher's cash, were obtained by breaking the law.</p>
<p>But what about someone merely accused of a crime? We Americans are innocent until proven guilty, right?</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Welcome to the world of civil asset forfeiture. Under both state and federal laws, the authorities can seize property they believe was used in criminal activities. Not infrequently, they use the proceeds to buy law enforcement equipment.</p>
<p>Prosecutors can file motions to take property even if no one has been convicted of a crime. Once that happens, it is up to the owners to argue against the motion in court. In other words, the person whose possessions have been taken must go to court, usually by hiring an attorney, to prove he or she has not used the property in a crime.</p>
<p>... Some safeguards should be provided for members of criminals' families who may have been unaware their loved ones were breaking the law, however.</p>
<p>And under no circumstances should police and prosecutors be permitted to take possessions unless proof has been provided in court that crimes have occurred — and that the owners of the property in question are guilty.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2Dy743K" type="external">http://bit.ly/2Dy743K</a></p>
<p>Excerpts of recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Ohio newspapers:</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Jan. 21</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>What could Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have done better, smarter, faster, and by thinking more outside the box, to do the obvious — be Amazon's top choice for an Ohio location for its much-ballyhooed HQ2?</p>
<p>The Columbus bid — pitching its educated workforce, a property tax abatement wherever Amazon invests, a rebate of up to $400 million in payroll taxes over 16 years to encourage maximum job creation and the city's agreement to set aside another 25 percent of Amazon payroll taxes to create a transit and mobility fund — made Amazon's short list of 20.</p>
<p>Cleveland's still-secret bid did not make the cut.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Was that because the public and private officials behind Cleveland's bid knew it might be inferior, run-of-the-mill and far too hurriedly cobbled together? Or was that because private interests were allowed to call the shots for what should have been a public-private endeavor in the public interest? Or because outrageous promises were made in the bid that they didn't want to share?</p>
<p>Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson need to step up to dispel these questions and clear the air by making public their bid now, without delay. That's the only way to make sure Cleveland doesn't stumble again.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2DXRQSf" type="external">http://bit.ly/2DXRQSf</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Columbus Dispatch, Jan. 21</p>
<p>Friday's abrupt closing of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow and the heartache it is causing families across Ohio are the direct result of weak state charter-school laws and a company that collected millions in taxpayer dollars for students it wasn't educating.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>ECOT officials point out, correctly, that until a law change in 2015, Ohio charter schools weren't required to actually document that students "attended," i.e. logged in and completed assignments on a regular basis.</p>
<p>Lawmakers and the Ohio Department of Education share some of the blame for that. Ohio's charter-school laws were, from the start, exceedingly friendly to big campaign donors who would go on to use them to make a buck. Numerous attempts over the years to reform the laws and strengthen oversight have been stymied by the charter-school lobby and legislators friendly to it.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>We wish the best for former ECOT families coping with the loss of their school, and we hope that more-ethical online schools will arise to serve them and others who want online education. It can and should be a good option for Ohio families; it shouldn't be a vehicle to enrich savvy players and friendly politicians.</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2Dm175K" type="external">http://bit.ly/2Dm175K</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Star-Beacon, Jan. 21</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>There are so many factors that go into suicide, particularly teenage suicide, that there is no one-size-fits all solution. For some children it can be bullying in school or online, while others might not have the tools to cope with troubles in their home lives. Still other teenagers might find pressure in school to be overwhelming. And that's not to discount those young adults dealing with chemical imbalances who might not even understand why they feel the way they do.</p>
<p>One of the most helpful and far-reaching things loved ones can do is to communicate and work to remove the stigma that often accompanies talking about and addressing such issues.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Of course, in order to begin those conversations, parents must be aware and engaged with their children enough to know when something is troubling them. Again, communication and conversation on a regular basis is the best approach to developing such a rapport. And these efforts are not and should not just be limited to parents but extend to other adults, such as coaches and teachers, who play an important role in our children's lives.</p>
<p>Adults cannot be afraid to ask the tough questions because they are scared they won't know what to do with the answers.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2DDh3UF" type="external">http://bit.ly/2DDh3UF</a></p>
<p>___</p>
<p>The Marietta Times, Jan. 19</p>
<p>Few people have any argument with the government seizing property owned by a drug trafficker. Often, houses, cars, boats, etc., not to mention the pusher's cash, were obtained by breaking the law.</p>
<p>But what about someone merely accused of a crime? We Americans are innocent until proven guilty, right?</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Welcome to the world of civil asset forfeiture. Under both state and federal laws, the authorities can seize property they believe was used in criminal activities. Not infrequently, they use the proceeds to buy law enforcement equipment.</p>
<p>Prosecutors can file motions to take property even if no one has been convicted of a crime. Once that happens, it is up to the owners to argue against the motion in court. In other words, the person whose possessions have been taken must go to court, usually by hiring an attorney, to prove he or she has not used the property in a crime.</p>
<p>... Some safeguards should be provided for members of criminals' families who may have been unaware their loved ones were breaking the law, however.</p>
<p>And under no circumstances should police and prosecutors be permitted to take possessions unless proof has been provided in court that crimes have occurred — and that the owners of the property in question are guilty.</p>
<p>...</p>
<p>Online: <a href="http://bit.ly/2Dy743K" type="external">http://bit.ly/2Dy743K</a></p>
| 7,462 |
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Speaker John Boehner doesn’t like President Obama’s idea to make community college free, which would help lessen the amount of debt students find themselves with after graduating college. Community colleges are actually a great way to get the first two years of college out of the way without going into crippling debt while trying to get through English 101 or other core classes all college students have to take before really diving into their degree studies. Like many other Americans, I also went to community college.</p>
<p>Starting at the age of 15, I took a few night classes here and there in addition to high school studies before finally going on a full-time basis. Thanks to Pell Grants and low tuition costs, I was able to graduate from Blue Ridge Community College without a penny in debt, unlike a number of my friends who decided to go straight to the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and other schools in nearby states.</p>
<p>That was over a decade ago and since then, student loan debt has only <a href="http://projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-data.php" type="external">increased</a>. I was fortunate enough to escape college with only about $15,000 in student loan debt, but other people I know have much more than that.</p>
<p>The average amount of <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/08/07/having-high-levels-of-student-loan-debt-can-hurt-your-health-too" type="external">student loan debt</a> again crept up for the Class of 2013, and is approaching $30,000, according to a new report from the Institute for College Access and Success.</p>
<p>In its ninth annual report on student loan debt, TICAS found nearly 7 in 10 graduating seniors in 2013 – 69 percent – left school with an average of $28,400 in student loan debt, an increase of 2 percent from 2012. But the amount of student debt and the likelihood of graduating with debt varied greatly between both states and colleges. Some states had average debt amounts as low as $18,656, while others topped $30,000. Between different colleges, average debt amounts ranged from $2,500 to $71,000. ( <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/13/average-student-loan-debt-hits-30-000" type="external">Source</a>)</p>
<p>President Obama’s proposal of making community college <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-tuition-free-community-college-obama-20150114-story.html#page=1" type="external">free for students</a> who want to work for it would go a long way towards cutting the amount of debt graduates find themselves with. In turn, having less debt coming out of college would make it easier for these people to get loans for cars and homes, a big help to the economy. Many people my age are still trying to pay off student loans and buying a new vehicle or purchasing a home is completely out of the question unless you’re making a fat paycheck as a lawyer or perhaps, a member of Congress.</p>
<p>Speaker Boehner decided to get down on our “level” and explain to voters 18-35 why free community college was a bad idea, by utilizing Taylor Swift GIFs. Apparently someone in his staff thought this was a smart plan of action, by demonstrating how painfully out of touch Speaker Boehner and the rest of Congress is with the American people. Digital Communications Director <a href="https://twitter.com/calebjsmith" type="external">Caleb Smith</a> and Deputy Communications Director <a href="https://twitter.com/riccimike" type="external">Mike Ricci</a> put together this Buzzfeed-styled link titled “ <a href="http://www.speaker.gov/general/12-taylor-swift-reactions-president-obamas-free-college-idea?Source=GovD" type="external">12 Taylor Swifts GIFs for you</a>” which Speaker Boehner’s Facebook page and Twitter account posted and it’s every bit as eye twitch inducing as the title suggests.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Newsflash guys: Buzzfeed is sooooo 2013. What’s even more laughable is that Speaker Boehner and Republicans are actually quibbling over something that will help reduce student debt and help the economy because “60 billion dollars is a lot of money…you can’t just shake it off.” This isn’t $60 billion annually, this is $60 billion over ten freaking years ($6 billion annually for the mathematically challenged). That’s a tiny drop in the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2014/assets/budget.pdf" type="external">federal budget</a>. You know what’s a lot of money that’s being wasted? How about the F-35 <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/31/new-u-s-stealth-jet-can-t-fire-its-gun-until-2019.html" type="external">stealth jet development budget</a> which is now at $400 billion and won’t have an operational 25mm cannon until 2019, which means that for the first three years of use, pilots are basically unarmed at close range? Hmmmm?</p>
<p>Or how about the trillions of dollars they had absolutely no problem spending on destabilizing the Middle East? How about bailing out Wall Street banks that then turned around and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/id/100818866" type="external">screwed homeowners over</a>&#160;as their way of saying “thanks” to the American taxpayer? God forbid we spend a mere fraction of that money making sure that our college graduates get a better chance at the American Dream, apparently.</p>
<p>Mr. Speaker: an apology is in order and it isn’t from the president – it should be from you and your office. Here’s to shaking you off in 2016.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">MoveOn.org Petition Created To Remove Speaker John Boehner From Congress</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">John Boehner Will Go Down As One of the Worst House Speakers in History</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Most Absurd Member Of Congress Thinks He'd Be A Great Replacement For Boehner As House Speaker (Video)</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p>
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Speaker Boehner Mocks Free Community College Using Taylor Swift, And It’s Laughable
| true |
http://forwardprogressives.com/speaker-boehner-mocks-free-community-college-using-taylor-swift-laughable/
|
2015-01-16
| 4left
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Speaker Boehner Mocks Free Community College Using Taylor Swift, And It’s Laughable
<p><a href="" type="internal" />Speaker John Boehner doesn’t like President Obama’s idea to make community college free, which would help lessen the amount of debt students find themselves with after graduating college. Community colleges are actually a great way to get the first two years of college out of the way without going into crippling debt while trying to get through English 101 or other core classes all college students have to take before really diving into their degree studies. Like many other Americans, I also went to community college.</p>
<p>Starting at the age of 15, I took a few night classes here and there in addition to high school studies before finally going on a full-time basis. Thanks to Pell Grants and low tuition costs, I was able to graduate from Blue Ridge Community College without a penny in debt, unlike a number of my friends who decided to go straight to the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and other schools in nearby states.</p>
<p>That was over a decade ago and since then, student loan debt has only <a href="http://projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-data.php" type="external">increased</a>. I was fortunate enough to escape college with only about $15,000 in student loan debt, but other people I know have much more than that.</p>
<p>The average amount of <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/08/07/having-high-levels-of-student-loan-debt-can-hurt-your-health-too" type="external">student loan debt</a> again crept up for the Class of 2013, and is approaching $30,000, according to a new report from the Institute for College Access and Success.</p>
<p>In its ninth annual report on student loan debt, TICAS found nearly 7 in 10 graduating seniors in 2013 – 69 percent – left school with an average of $28,400 in student loan debt, an increase of 2 percent from 2012. But the amount of student debt and the likelihood of graduating with debt varied greatly between both states and colleges. Some states had average debt amounts as low as $18,656, while others topped $30,000. Between different colleges, average debt amounts ranged from $2,500 to $71,000. ( <a href="http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/13/average-student-loan-debt-hits-30-000" type="external">Source</a>)</p>
<p>President Obama’s proposal of making community college <a href="http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-tuition-free-community-college-obama-20150114-story.html#page=1" type="external">free for students</a> who want to work for it would go a long way towards cutting the amount of debt graduates find themselves with. In turn, having less debt coming out of college would make it easier for these people to get loans for cars and homes, a big help to the economy. Many people my age are still trying to pay off student loans and buying a new vehicle or purchasing a home is completely out of the question unless you’re making a fat paycheck as a lawyer or perhaps, a member of Congress.</p>
<p>Speaker Boehner decided to get down on our “level” and explain to voters 18-35 why free community college was a bad idea, by utilizing Taylor Swift GIFs. Apparently someone in his staff thought this was a smart plan of action, by demonstrating how painfully out of touch Speaker Boehner and the rest of Congress is with the American people. Digital Communications Director <a href="https://twitter.com/calebjsmith" type="external">Caleb Smith</a> and Deputy Communications Director <a href="https://twitter.com/riccimike" type="external">Mike Ricci</a> put together this Buzzfeed-styled link titled “ <a href="http://www.speaker.gov/general/12-taylor-swift-reactions-president-obamas-free-college-idea?Source=GovD" type="external">12 Taylor Swifts GIFs for you</a>” which Speaker Boehner’s Facebook page and Twitter account posted and it’s every bit as eye twitch inducing as the title suggests.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Newsflash guys: Buzzfeed is sooooo 2013. What’s even more laughable is that Speaker Boehner and Republicans are actually quibbling over something that will help reduce student debt and help the economy because “60 billion dollars is a lot of money…you can’t just shake it off.” This isn’t $60 billion annually, this is $60 billion over ten freaking years ($6 billion annually for the mathematically challenged). That’s a tiny drop in the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2014/assets/budget.pdf" type="external">federal budget</a>. You know what’s a lot of money that’s being wasted? How about the F-35 <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/31/new-u-s-stealth-jet-can-t-fire-its-gun-until-2019.html" type="external">stealth jet development budget</a> which is now at $400 billion and won’t have an operational 25mm cannon until 2019, which means that for the first three years of use, pilots are basically unarmed at close range? Hmmmm?</p>
<p>Or how about the trillions of dollars they had absolutely no problem spending on destabilizing the Middle East? How about bailing out Wall Street banks that then turned around and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/id/100818866" type="external">screwed homeowners over</a>&#160;as their way of saying “thanks” to the American taxpayer? God forbid we spend a mere fraction of that money making sure that our college graduates get a better chance at the American Dream, apparently.</p>
<p>Mr. Speaker: an apology is in order and it isn’t from the president – it should be from you and your office. Here’s to shaking you off in 2016.</p>
<p />
<p><a href="" type="internal">MoveOn.org Petition Created To Remove Speaker John Boehner From Congress</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">John Boehner Will Go Down As One of the Worst House Speakers in History</a></p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Most Absurd Member Of Congress Thinks He'd Be A Great Replacement For Boehner As House Speaker (Video)</a></p>
<p>0 Facebook comments</p>
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<p>LONDON — Two British police forces have combined efforts to create what they say is the nation’s first police unit dedicated to using drones.</p>
<p>The forces of Devon and Cornwall together with that of Dorset in southwest England say the drones are a cost-saving alternative for monitoring crime scenes or searching for people who go missing during walks along the rugged 600 miles (965 kilometers) of coastline in the area.</p>
<p>The forces have been experimenting with the unmanned aerial vehicles since 2015.</p>
<p>One drone costs some 2,000 pounds ($2,595), in contrast to using a helicopter costs 800 pounds an hour.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
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2 UK police forces team up to launch drone unit
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1033056/2-uk-police-forces-team-up-to-launch-drone-unit.html
| 2least
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2 UK police forces team up to launch drone unit
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>LONDON — Two British police forces have combined efforts to create what they say is the nation’s first police unit dedicated to using drones.</p>
<p>The forces of Devon and Cornwall together with that of Dorset in southwest England say the drones are a cost-saving alternative for monitoring crime scenes or searching for people who go missing during walks along the rugged 600 miles (965 kilometers) of coastline in the area.</p>
<p>The forces have been experimenting with the unmanned aerial vehicles since 2015.</p>
<p>One drone costs some 2,000 pounds ($2,595), in contrast to using a helicopter costs 800 pounds an hour.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
| 7,464 |
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<p>While we understand <a href="" type="internal">traffic is an important indication of what’s resonating</a>, it’s not the whole picture. Sometimes our favorite posts don’t necessarily go viral but manage to inspire, provoke, or comfort us in a way that the traditionally popular posts do not. The following posts are our favorite in-house posts from 2012. Stay tuned tomorrow for our favorite feminist pieces of 2012 published elsewhere around the Interwebs. It’s about to be an end-of-year lovefest y’all.</p>
<p>Samhita</p>
<p>It’s hard to pick any few posts, since every single writer at Feministing brings something special and unique (just like a snowflake d’awww) to the site, whether it’s humor, analysis, facts or just some much needed anger. &#160;It’s an honor to work with these ladies day in and day out and this year our team has expanded! I’m most excited about our new contributors and am looking forward to seeing more of their content since&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Alexandra</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Sesali</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Amy</a> have gotten off to a pretty great start so far!</p>
<p>Vanessa</p>
<p>Lori’s <a href="" type="internal">post</a> on the German dad who wore a skirt in support of his gender non-conforming son. These are the personal stories that often have the ability to make the most meaningful impact on people’s lives compared to our more newsy news, and Lori highlighted it brilliantly by pointing out that this is so much more than an “aw” moment. This father is a reminder of how we all can and should be more supportive of the gender non-conforming people in our lives.</p>
<p>Chloe</p>
<p>The return of Ann Friedman with her <a href="" type="internal">amazing Weekly Feminist Gif posts</a>. Ann was a wonderful Editor, and we miss her, but it’s been great watching her other work at The American Prospect, GOOD, Tomorrow, Editor Real Talk, LadyJournos, New York Magazine, and the Columbia Review of Journalism. Her writing about politics and pop culture is required reading, but so too is <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/06/realtalk-for-the-j-school-graduate-on-the-first-five-years-of-your-career/" type="external">what she’s written about mentoring and networking among young journalists</a>, especially women. That she was part of the Feministing family makes me proud to be part of it, too.</p>
<p>Jos</p>
<p>I’m a total Maya Dusenbery fangirl. She’s had <a href="" type="internal">a lot</a> of <a href="" type="internal">amazing posts</a> this year, which is why <a href="" type="internal">I’m cheating</a> and <a href="" type="internal">linking to a bunch</a> in <a href="" type="internal">this sentence</a>. It’s hard to pick a top post, but her recent piece on the <a href="" type="internal">overwhelming link between violence and masculinity in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting</a> blew me away. I still haven’t been able to write about the tragedy; Maya nailed the ways our culture of violence and culture of patriarchy are the same thing, and the reasons we can’t talk about violence without talking about masculinity.</p>
<p>Maya</p>
<p>Todd Akin’s infamous “legitimate rape” comment was arguable one of the most important moments of the election season–not only sinking Akin’s campaign but also spurring a media firestorm as a seemingly endless stream of other GOPers revealed their true colors to a blogosphere ready to pounce. In her “ <a href="" type="internal">Thank you note for Todd Akin,</a>” written just after Akin’s comment, Chloe wrote a well-timed, scathing takedown–one that proved to be the definitive answer to all the GOP’s absurd rape comments for months to come. Fuck you, indeed.</p>
<p>I loved <a href="" type="internal">Samhita’s post on Lena Dunham’s casual racism and whether or not it matters</a>. She managed to take a complex, touchy subject and boil it down intosomething clear and definitive. I love that she was able to employ humor (in a post about a comedian) while also holding the right people accountable for diversity and anti-racism. Honorable Mention for my fave post of the year goes to Katie’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">“Three reasons I wish I could quit you, Susan G. Komen</a>!” for making me laugh the hardest.</p>
<p>Katie</p>
<p>Maya’s <a href="" type="internal">Weekly Feminist Reader</a> is the place to be/ think to read. She covers all the important stories, has a great eye, and is a tireless investigator.</p>
<p>Syreeta</p>
<p>Twin posts from <a href="" type="internal">Maya</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Eesha</a> in response to the mass shootings and male violence this year. &#160;Particularly, this gem from Maya: ‘But I’d argue that, to some extent, all violence is “about” masculinity in our culture. Male violence is so pervasive–and violence so closely connected to our definition of “manhood”–that I don’t think it’s possible to separate them.’</p>
<p>Sesali’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">post</a>&#160;on our obsession with and endless opining on celebrity pregnancies. It named what’s so disturbing about our fixations with motherhood as a definition of womanhood with an example that most everyone could relate to. I mean, who isn’t curious what kind of child Queen B and the Hov would raise?</p>
<p>Sesali</p>
<p>Do quick hits count? If so,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Maya’s post about the Nice Guys of Ok Cupid</a>&#160;was one of my favorites for a couple of reasons. For one, I’m always down for a good laugh and I haven’t stopped looking at the tumblr since. But more importantly, the rhetoric of these nice guys and the heinous commentators is (ironically) complex and engages popular ideas about partnership &amp; dating, intimate partner violence, gender, sexuality, etc. I like when we cover topics that people who aren’t necessarily followers of feminism can identify and begin to dissect. This is all, of course, part of our broader plan for world domination I’m sure.</p>
<p>Alexandra</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Jos’ open letter to Elizabeth Warren</a>, following the then-candidate’s comment that paying for a trans woman in prison’s reassignment surgery was not “a good use of taxpayer dollars,” powerfully coupled righteous anger and compassion. The piece called Warren out on her ignorance but still expressed faith in the senator’s capacity to change and use her “compassionate, caring voice… to cut through the bigotry.” I’ve had the letter on my mind through my recent writing: how do we use criticism to encourage, rather than alienate, potential allies?</p>
<p>Ed note:&#160;This is the second in a <a href="" type="internal">series of posts</a> summarizing the year in online feminism. View the most highly trafficked posts of the year <a href="" type="internal">here</a> and check back tomorrow and every day through the New Year for more end-of-the-year content.&#160;</p>
|
Staff picks: Our favorite in-house posts from 2012
| true |
http://feministing.com/2012/12/27/staff-picks-our-favorite-in-house-posts-from-2012/
| 4left
|
Staff picks: Our favorite in-house posts from 2012
<p>While we understand <a href="" type="internal">traffic is an important indication of what’s resonating</a>, it’s not the whole picture. Sometimes our favorite posts don’t necessarily go viral but manage to inspire, provoke, or comfort us in a way that the traditionally popular posts do not. The following posts are our favorite in-house posts from 2012. Stay tuned tomorrow for our favorite feminist pieces of 2012 published elsewhere around the Interwebs. It’s about to be an end-of-year lovefest y’all.</p>
<p>Samhita</p>
<p>It’s hard to pick any few posts, since every single writer at Feministing brings something special and unique (just like a snowflake d’awww) to the site, whether it’s humor, analysis, facts or just some much needed anger. &#160;It’s an honor to work with these ladies day in and day out and this year our team has expanded! I’m most excited about our new contributors and am looking forward to seeing more of their content since&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Alexandra</a>, <a href="" type="internal">Sesali</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Amy</a> have gotten off to a pretty great start so far!</p>
<p>Vanessa</p>
<p>Lori’s <a href="" type="internal">post</a> on the German dad who wore a skirt in support of his gender non-conforming son. These are the personal stories that often have the ability to make the most meaningful impact on people’s lives compared to our more newsy news, and Lori highlighted it brilliantly by pointing out that this is so much more than an “aw” moment. This father is a reminder of how we all can and should be more supportive of the gender non-conforming people in our lives.</p>
<p>Chloe</p>
<p>The return of Ann Friedman with her <a href="" type="internal">amazing Weekly Feminist Gif posts</a>. Ann was a wonderful Editor, and we miss her, but it’s been great watching her other work at The American Prospect, GOOD, Tomorrow, Editor Real Talk, LadyJournos, New York Magazine, and the Columbia Review of Journalism. Her writing about politics and pop culture is required reading, but so too is <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/06/realtalk-for-the-j-school-graduate-on-the-first-five-years-of-your-career/" type="external">what she’s written about mentoring and networking among young journalists</a>, especially women. That she was part of the Feministing family makes me proud to be part of it, too.</p>
<p>Jos</p>
<p>I’m a total Maya Dusenbery fangirl. She’s had <a href="" type="internal">a lot</a> of <a href="" type="internal">amazing posts</a> this year, which is why <a href="" type="internal">I’m cheating</a> and <a href="" type="internal">linking to a bunch</a> in <a href="" type="internal">this sentence</a>. It’s hard to pick a top post, but her recent piece on the <a href="" type="internal">overwhelming link between violence and masculinity in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting</a> blew me away. I still haven’t been able to write about the tragedy; Maya nailed the ways our culture of violence and culture of patriarchy are the same thing, and the reasons we can’t talk about violence without talking about masculinity.</p>
<p>Maya</p>
<p>Todd Akin’s infamous “legitimate rape” comment was arguable one of the most important moments of the election season–not only sinking Akin’s campaign but also spurring a media firestorm as a seemingly endless stream of other GOPers revealed their true colors to a blogosphere ready to pounce. In her “ <a href="" type="internal">Thank you note for Todd Akin,</a>” written just after Akin’s comment, Chloe wrote a well-timed, scathing takedown–one that proved to be the definitive answer to all the GOP’s absurd rape comments for months to come. Fuck you, indeed.</p>
<p>I loved <a href="" type="internal">Samhita’s post on Lena Dunham’s casual racism and whether or not it matters</a>. She managed to take a complex, touchy subject and boil it down intosomething clear and definitive. I love that she was able to employ humor (in a post about a comedian) while also holding the right people accountable for diversity and anti-racism. Honorable Mention for my fave post of the year goes to Katie’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">“Three reasons I wish I could quit you, Susan G. Komen</a>!” for making me laugh the hardest.</p>
<p>Katie</p>
<p>Maya’s <a href="" type="internal">Weekly Feminist Reader</a> is the place to be/ think to read. She covers all the important stories, has a great eye, and is a tireless investigator.</p>
<p>Syreeta</p>
<p>Twin posts from <a href="" type="internal">Maya</a> and <a href="" type="internal">Eesha</a> in response to the mass shootings and male violence this year. &#160;Particularly, this gem from Maya: ‘But I’d argue that, to some extent, all violence is “about” masculinity in our culture. Male violence is so pervasive–and violence so closely connected to our definition of “manhood”–that I don’t think it’s possible to separate them.’</p>
<p>Sesali’s&#160; <a href="" type="internal">post</a>&#160;on our obsession with and endless opining on celebrity pregnancies. It named what’s so disturbing about our fixations with motherhood as a definition of womanhood with an example that most everyone could relate to. I mean, who isn’t curious what kind of child Queen B and the Hov would raise?</p>
<p>Sesali</p>
<p>Do quick hits count? If so,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Maya’s post about the Nice Guys of Ok Cupid</a>&#160;was one of my favorites for a couple of reasons. For one, I’m always down for a good laugh and I haven’t stopped looking at the tumblr since. But more importantly, the rhetoric of these nice guys and the heinous commentators is (ironically) complex and engages popular ideas about partnership &amp; dating, intimate partner violence, gender, sexuality, etc. I like when we cover topics that people who aren’t necessarily followers of feminism can identify and begin to dissect. This is all, of course, part of our broader plan for world domination I’m sure.</p>
<p>Alexandra</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal">Jos’ open letter to Elizabeth Warren</a>, following the then-candidate’s comment that paying for a trans woman in prison’s reassignment surgery was not “a good use of taxpayer dollars,” powerfully coupled righteous anger and compassion. The piece called Warren out on her ignorance but still expressed faith in the senator’s capacity to change and use her “compassionate, caring voice… to cut through the bigotry.” I’ve had the letter on my mind through my recent writing: how do we use criticism to encourage, rather than alienate, potential allies?</p>
<p>Ed note:&#160;This is the second in a <a href="" type="internal">series of posts</a> summarizing the year in online feminism. View the most highly trafficked posts of the year <a href="" type="internal">here</a> and check back tomorrow and every day through the New Year for more end-of-the-year content.&#160;</p>
| 7,465 |
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<p />
<p>One of the most hypocritical aspects in America is the notion that liberals are some bastions for freedom, acceptance and tolerance.</p>
<p>That’s horse manure.</p>
<p>Liberals propagate this false notion that everyone should have a voice and everyone should be accepted for their views. &#160;But in truth, liberals believe that everyone should have a voice and everyone should be accepted for their views so long as they speak in agreement and share the same views as liberals.</p>
<p>The most recent example making headlines is that of Phil Robertson who dared speak his mind with regards to homosexuality.</p>
<p>Tamara Jackson did a great story on the fallout that can be read here:&#160; <a href="http://theblacksphere.net/2013/12/ae-phil-robertson-hiatus-frank-comments-homosexuality/" type="external">A&amp;E: Phil Robertson on hiatus after frank comments on homosexuality!</a></p>
<p>Phil Robertson gave an interview in which he stated that he doesn’t believe that homosexuality is right and that he does not embrace it. &#160;Yet he also said that he doesn’t disrespect people who are different than him but maintains his right not to be forced to accept their choices.</p>
<p>Of course, for militant left leaning hate mongers who love to play the victim card like GLAAD, Phil Robertson’s viewpoints cannot be allowed to stand.</p>
<p>Wilson Cruz of GLAAD released this statement:</p>
<p>Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil’s lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe. He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans — and Americans — who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples.</p>
<p>Phil’s decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&amp;E and his sponsors who now need to reexamine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families.</p>
<p>Talk about lies. &#160;First of all, as I recall, the majority of States in the Union DO NOT allow same sex marriage. &#160;The numbers breakdown with 33 States that have laws AGAINST gay marriage with only 16 that allow them with New Mexico not have a position one way or the other.</p>
<p>And the only reason it is 16 states is because of the disenfranchisement of California voters who voted to ban gay marriage but were sold out by the State’s Attorney General and Governor who wouldn’t fight the legal suit brought on by the MINORITY. &#160;Basically California got hijacked by the few in order to vacate a lawful and legal vote.</p>
<p>And what was so vile and extreme about Robertson’s views? &#160;The fact that he doesn’t agree with GLAAD and won’t condone homosexuality? &#160;It goes against his religious views. &#160;Why are GLAAD and the mouth foamers who are calling for Robertson’s head, so readily willing to shred the First Amendment to silence opposition when they so insistently wrap themselves up in it when they demand their voices are heard?</p>
<p>The answer is just plain old hypocrisy. &#160;You see, the far left is all about letting people have their say, so long as they say the “correct things” and have the “correct views”. &#160;If you aren’t pulling the company line then in their eyes you need to be silenced.</p>
<p>Now, no doubt the militant left will say something like “Gay people are born that way and should be accepted”. &#160;I’ll forgo the argument about gays being born that way. &#160;But in doing so the liberal left must accept that alcoholics, schizophrenics and pedophiles are “born that way” too. &#160;Should I accept those people as they are just because they are born that way?</p>
<p>Of course not. &#160;Being born a certain way should not be a justification to force people to accept their behavior.</p>
<p>Let’s touch on the “vile and extreme stereotypes” that GLAAD’s rep Mr. Cruz touched on.</p>
<p>Some of the most vile and hateful people I know are reprobate liberal mouthfoamers who come out of the woodwork in order to say the most despicable things about other people.</p>
<p>Gun haters wishing for the children of the NRA to get cancer or be murdered.</p>
<p>Like Liberal Journalism Professor David Guth</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Just becuase they believe in the 2nd Amendment, God should damn them and their children should die? &#160;Not very accepting of another’s lifestyle.</p>
<p>Or Olympic Shooter Corey Cogdell who is also a hunter. &#160;The PETA brigade was out in full force to “discuss” her lifestyle choice to be a hunter:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Not to mention the twitter onslaught of which I highlight the following:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>But even Obama says he believes in a person right to hunt.</p>
<p>And let’s not forget 6 year old Isaac Anthony who so enraged the liberal left after appearing in an anti-Obama video that calls were made for HIS death too.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>So a six year old child who disagrees with Obama deserves to be raped by Jerry Sandusky, get aids, die in a car crash or be murdered? &#160;The “tolerant” liberal left ladies and gentlemen.</p>
<p>You can watch the video and read the whole story at Patriot Update: &#160; <a href="http://patriotupdate.com/2012/08/left-spews-hateful-comments-at-6-year-old-conservative/" type="external">Liberal wish death on 6 year old conservative after video goes viral</a></p>
<p>Compared to this Phil Robertson spoke like an angel with dolcet tones. &#160;He didn’t call for the extermination of gays or any form of violence. &#160;He doesn’t agree with homosexuality yet in true form, the liberal left is coming out in force to try and demonize him and marginalize him as some out of touch hick.</p>
<p>In truth he is a college educated, conservative, salt of the Earth Christian who stands by his convictions.</p>
<p>Outside of not being a black college educated, conservative salt of the Earth Christian who stands by his convictions, he encapsulates everything the left hates. &#160;Someone principled who will not kow tow to their bullying.</p>
<p>Oh, and the part about being black? &#160;Liberals especially hate when a black person stands up to them because it undercuts their message of race and hate mongering so they give those individuals a double dose of their “tolerance”. &#160;Case in point, the Editor of Vogue and his comments on Allen West:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Hey, do anti gunners and those who would deny me my God given rights upset me? &#160;Of course, &#160;I know a bunch of anti-gun people. &#160;But I don’t walk up and spit in their face and hope their children contract terminal diseases and die.</p>
<p>Liberals don’t seem obligated for any sense of decorum or restraint. &#160;The internet has provided a platform to cowards who wish to threaten and abuse others yet cloak themselves in anonymity and distance.</p>
<p>As Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said years ago, this is nothing more than a high tech lynching. &#160;Yet instead of being done by the US Senate, it is now perpetrated by the militant liberal left against anyone who would disagree with them.</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Related articles</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.</p>
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In America, freedom of speech is encouraged…so long as you agree with the liberal left
| true |
http://bulletsfirst.net/2013/12/19/america-freedom-speech-encouraged-long-agree-liberal-left/
| 0right
|
In America, freedom of speech is encouraged…so long as you agree with the liberal left
<p />
<p>One of the most hypocritical aspects in America is the notion that liberals are some bastions for freedom, acceptance and tolerance.</p>
<p>That’s horse manure.</p>
<p>Liberals propagate this false notion that everyone should have a voice and everyone should be accepted for their views. &#160;But in truth, liberals believe that everyone should have a voice and everyone should be accepted for their views so long as they speak in agreement and share the same views as liberals.</p>
<p>The most recent example making headlines is that of Phil Robertson who dared speak his mind with regards to homosexuality.</p>
<p>Tamara Jackson did a great story on the fallout that can be read here:&#160; <a href="http://theblacksphere.net/2013/12/ae-phil-robertson-hiatus-frank-comments-homosexuality/" type="external">A&amp;E: Phil Robertson on hiatus after frank comments on homosexuality!</a></p>
<p>Phil Robertson gave an interview in which he stated that he doesn’t believe that homosexuality is right and that he does not embrace it. &#160;Yet he also said that he doesn’t disrespect people who are different than him but maintains his right not to be forced to accept their choices.</p>
<p>Of course, for militant left leaning hate mongers who love to play the victim card like GLAAD, Phil Robertson’s viewpoints cannot be allowed to stand.</p>
<p>Wilson Cruz of GLAAD released this statement:</p>
<p>Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil’s lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe. He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans — and Americans — who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples.</p>
<p>Phil’s decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&amp;E and his sponsors who now need to reexamine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families.</p>
<p>Talk about lies. &#160;First of all, as I recall, the majority of States in the Union DO NOT allow same sex marriage. &#160;The numbers breakdown with 33 States that have laws AGAINST gay marriage with only 16 that allow them with New Mexico not have a position one way or the other.</p>
<p>And the only reason it is 16 states is because of the disenfranchisement of California voters who voted to ban gay marriage but were sold out by the State’s Attorney General and Governor who wouldn’t fight the legal suit brought on by the MINORITY. &#160;Basically California got hijacked by the few in order to vacate a lawful and legal vote.</p>
<p>And what was so vile and extreme about Robertson’s views? &#160;The fact that he doesn’t agree with GLAAD and won’t condone homosexuality? &#160;It goes against his religious views. &#160;Why are GLAAD and the mouth foamers who are calling for Robertson’s head, so readily willing to shred the First Amendment to silence opposition when they so insistently wrap themselves up in it when they demand their voices are heard?</p>
<p>The answer is just plain old hypocrisy. &#160;You see, the far left is all about letting people have their say, so long as they say the “correct things” and have the “correct views”. &#160;If you aren’t pulling the company line then in their eyes you need to be silenced.</p>
<p>Now, no doubt the militant left will say something like “Gay people are born that way and should be accepted”. &#160;I’ll forgo the argument about gays being born that way. &#160;But in doing so the liberal left must accept that alcoholics, schizophrenics and pedophiles are “born that way” too. &#160;Should I accept those people as they are just because they are born that way?</p>
<p>Of course not. &#160;Being born a certain way should not be a justification to force people to accept their behavior.</p>
<p>Let’s touch on the “vile and extreme stereotypes” that GLAAD’s rep Mr. Cruz touched on.</p>
<p>Some of the most vile and hateful people I know are reprobate liberal mouthfoamers who come out of the woodwork in order to say the most despicable things about other people.</p>
<p>Gun haters wishing for the children of the NRA to get cancer or be murdered.</p>
<p>Like Liberal Journalism Professor David Guth</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Just becuase they believe in the 2nd Amendment, God should damn them and their children should die? &#160;Not very accepting of another’s lifestyle.</p>
<p>Or Olympic Shooter Corey Cogdell who is also a hunter. &#160;The PETA brigade was out in full force to “discuss” her lifestyle choice to be a hunter:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Not to mention the twitter onslaught of which I highlight the following:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>But even Obama says he believes in a person right to hunt.</p>
<p>And let’s not forget 6 year old Isaac Anthony who so enraged the liberal left after appearing in an anti-Obama video that calls were made for HIS death too.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" /> <a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>So a six year old child who disagrees with Obama deserves to be raped by Jerry Sandusky, get aids, die in a car crash or be murdered? &#160;The “tolerant” liberal left ladies and gentlemen.</p>
<p>You can watch the video and read the whole story at Patriot Update: &#160; <a href="http://patriotupdate.com/2012/08/left-spews-hateful-comments-at-6-year-old-conservative/" type="external">Liberal wish death on 6 year old conservative after video goes viral</a></p>
<p>Compared to this Phil Robertson spoke like an angel with dolcet tones. &#160;He didn’t call for the extermination of gays or any form of violence. &#160;He doesn’t agree with homosexuality yet in true form, the liberal left is coming out in force to try and demonize him and marginalize him as some out of touch hick.</p>
<p>In truth he is a college educated, conservative, salt of the Earth Christian who stands by his convictions.</p>
<p>Outside of not being a black college educated, conservative salt of the Earth Christian who stands by his convictions, he encapsulates everything the left hates. &#160;Someone principled who will not kow tow to their bullying.</p>
<p>Oh, and the part about being black? &#160;Liberals especially hate when a black person stands up to them because it undercuts their message of race and hate mongering so they give those individuals a double dose of their “tolerance”. &#160;Case in point, the Editor of Vogue and his comments on Allen West:</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>Hey, do anti gunners and those who would deny me my God given rights upset me? &#160;Of course, &#160;I know a bunch of anti-gun people. &#160;But I don’t walk up and spit in their face and hope their children contract terminal diseases and die.</p>
<p>Liberals don’t seem obligated for any sense of decorum or restraint. &#160;The internet has provided a platform to cowards who wish to threaten and abuse others yet cloak themselves in anonymity and distance.</p>
<p>As Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said years ago, this is nothing more than a high tech lynching. &#160;Yet instead of being done by the US Senate, it is now perpetrated by the militant liberal left against anyone who would disagree with them.</p>
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Related articles</p>
<p />
<p />
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, vulgarity, profanity, all caps, or discourteous behavior. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain a courteous and useful public environment where we can engage in reasonable discourse.</p>
| 7,466 |
|
<p>Russia claims it has detained a CIA agent in Moscow who was was trying to recruit an officer of the Russian secret service.</p>
<p>Russia's counterintelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, or <a href="http://www.government.ru/eng/power/113/" type="external">FSB</a>, announced through its public relations center that the person detained was Ryan Christopher Fogle, the third secretary of the political section of the American embassy in Moscow.</p>
<p>Fogle was <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/05/14/russia-cia-agent-detained/2157529/" type="external">quickly declared a persona non grata</a> in Russia and expelled from the country.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22522494" type="external">According to the BBC</a>, the FSB said:</p>
<p>"FSB counter-intelligence agents detained a CIA staff member who had been working under the cover of third political secretary of the US embassy in Moscow."</p>
<p>Fogle was said to be operating under the guise of a career diplomat. He was carrying special technical equipment, disguises, printed instructions for the Russian citizen being recruited and a large sum of money when detained, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/05/14/russia-cia-agent-detained/2157529/" type="external">the Associated Press cited the FSB as saying</a>.</p>
<p>He was also said to be <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/05/14/russia-cia-agent-detained/2157529/" type="external">carrying a letter</a> for recruits that spelled out how to open a Gmail e-mail account and how much money they could earn by feeding information to the US.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://rt.com/news/fsb-detain-cia-agent-253/" type="external">translation by RT</a>, the letter apparently reads:</p>
<p>"This is a down-payment from someone who is very impressed with your professionalism and who would greatly appreciate your cooperation in the future. Your security means a lot to us. This is why we chose this way of contacting you. we will continue to make sure our correspondent remains safe and secret."</p>
<p>Russian online media showed photos, credited to the FSB, of Fogle sitting handcuffed at a desk in what was said to be the FSB office. Also making the rounds was an image of what appears to be <a href="http://rt.com/news/fsb-detain-cia-agent-253/" type="external">Fogle's embassy ID card, and his Russian diplomatic card</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://rt.com/news/fsb-detain-cia-agent-253/" type="external">Russia Today also published</a>&#160;a photo purporting to be of Fogle, wearing a blonde wig, face down on the ground with another man restraining him.</p>
<p>The White House referred questions on the incident to the State Department. <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57584330/russia-spy-agency-claims-cia-agent-arrested-for-trying-to-recruit-russian-agent-in-moscow/" type="external">CBS News reported</a> that there was no immediate response from the State Department and the CIA declined to comment.</p>
<p>The BBC's Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford tweeted:</p>
<p>US State Dept spokesman "We can confirm that an officer at our US Embassy in Moscow was briefly detained and was released."</p>
<p>— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCDanielS/status/334360077010100224" type="external">May 14, 2013</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/14/5-signs-theres-something-fishy-about-the-alleged-cia-spy-arrested-in-moscow/" type="external">The Washington Post noted</a> that there are inconsistencies in the case that bring up doubts about the story, including the "ham-fisted" letter allegedly carried by Fogle and the timing of the news breaking.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://moscow.usembassy.gov/" type="external">website of the American embassy in Russia</a> says its political section is engaged in "bringing to the attention of the Russian government the US position on the issues of foreign policy and security."</p>
<p>Its other task is to "inform Washington about the main provisions of the foreign and defense policy of Russia."</p>
<p>Moscow and Washington had said they wanted to step up security cooperation after the Boston Marathon bombing in April. Last week, they <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/14/us-russia-usa-detention-idUSBRE94D0DT20130514" type="external">announced plans</a> to try to organize an international conference to promote an end to Syria's civil war.</p>
|
Russia claims to have detained CIA agent in Moscow
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2013-05-14/russia-claims-have-detained-cia-agent-moscow
|
2013-05-14
| 3left-center
|
Russia claims to have detained CIA agent in Moscow
<p>Russia claims it has detained a CIA agent in Moscow who was was trying to recruit an officer of the Russian secret service.</p>
<p>Russia's counterintelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, or <a href="http://www.government.ru/eng/power/113/" type="external">FSB</a>, announced through its public relations center that the person detained was Ryan Christopher Fogle, the third secretary of the political section of the American embassy in Moscow.</p>
<p>Fogle was <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/05/14/russia-cia-agent-detained/2157529/" type="external">quickly declared a persona non grata</a> in Russia and expelled from the country.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22522494" type="external">According to the BBC</a>, the FSB said:</p>
<p>"FSB counter-intelligence agents detained a CIA staff member who had been working under the cover of third political secretary of the US embassy in Moscow."</p>
<p>Fogle was said to be operating under the guise of a career diplomat. He was carrying special technical equipment, disguises, printed instructions for the Russian citizen being recruited and a large sum of money when detained, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/05/14/russia-cia-agent-detained/2157529/" type="external">the Associated Press cited the FSB as saying</a>.</p>
<p>He was also said to be <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/05/14/russia-cia-agent-detained/2157529/" type="external">carrying a letter</a> for recruits that spelled out how to open a Gmail e-mail account and how much money they could earn by feeding information to the US.</p>
<p>According to a <a href="http://rt.com/news/fsb-detain-cia-agent-253/" type="external">translation by RT</a>, the letter apparently reads:</p>
<p>"This is a down-payment from someone who is very impressed with your professionalism and who would greatly appreciate your cooperation in the future. Your security means a lot to us. This is why we chose this way of contacting you. we will continue to make sure our correspondent remains safe and secret."</p>
<p>Russian online media showed photos, credited to the FSB, of Fogle sitting handcuffed at a desk in what was said to be the FSB office. Also making the rounds was an image of what appears to be <a href="http://rt.com/news/fsb-detain-cia-agent-253/" type="external">Fogle's embassy ID card, and his Russian diplomatic card</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://rt.com/news/fsb-detain-cia-agent-253/" type="external">Russia Today also published</a>&#160;a photo purporting to be of Fogle, wearing a blonde wig, face down on the ground with another man restraining him.</p>
<p>The White House referred questions on the incident to the State Department. <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57584330/russia-spy-agency-claims-cia-agent-arrested-for-trying-to-recruit-russian-agent-in-moscow/" type="external">CBS News reported</a> that there was no immediate response from the State Department and the CIA declined to comment.</p>
<p>The BBC's Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford tweeted:</p>
<p>US State Dept spokesman "We can confirm that an officer at our US Embassy in Moscow was briefly detained and was released."</p>
<p>— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCDanielS/status/334360077010100224" type="external">May 14, 2013</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/14/5-signs-theres-something-fishy-about-the-alleged-cia-spy-arrested-in-moscow/" type="external">The Washington Post noted</a> that there are inconsistencies in the case that bring up doubts about the story, including the "ham-fisted" letter allegedly carried by Fogle and the timing of the news breaking.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://moscow.usembassy.gov/" type="external">website of the American embassy in Russia</a> says its political section is engaged in "bringing to the attention of the Russian government the US position on the issues of foreign policy and security."</p>
<p>Its other task is to "inform Washington about the main provisions of the foreign and defense policy of Russia."</p>
<p>Moscow and Washington had said they wanted to step up security cooperation after the Boston Marathon bombing in April. Last week, they <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/14/us-russia-usa-detention-idUSBRE94D0DT20130514" type="external">announced plans</a> to try to organize an international conference to promote an end to Syria's civil war.</p>
| 7,467 |
<p>Actor <a href="http://variety.com/t/anthony-edwards/" type="external">Anthony Edwards</a> has opened up about being molested by <a href="http://variety.com/t/gary-goddard/" type="external">Gary Goddard</a>, a writer and producer (“Masters of the Universe”), and the founder and CEO of&#160;entertainment design firm The&#160;Goddard Group.</p>
<p>In a detailed post on <a href="https://medium.com/@anthonyedwards/yes-mom-there-is-something-wrong-f2bcf56434b9" type="external">Medium</a>, he described meeting Goddard when he was 12 and at a vulnerable time in his life, given his father’s mental health issues.</p>
<p>“My vulnerability was exploited,” the “ER” alum wrote. “I was molested by Goddard, my best friend was raped by him  —  and this went on for years. The group of us, the gang, stayed quiet.”</p>
<p>He said that as an adult, he ran into Goddard at an airport, “and was able to express my outrage at what he had done,” Edwards wrote. “He swore to his remorse and said that he had gotten help.”</p>
<p>But he became “enraged” again several years ago when news reports surfaced with fresh accusations of alleged sexual abuse. Goddard <a href="http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sexual-abuse-suit-against-gary-goddard-withdrawn-1201254146/" type="external">was caught up in the 2014 sexual abuse lawsuit</a> filed by Michael Egan III against Bryan Singer and several other Hollywood execs. The suit was ultimately dismissed.</p>
<p>Egan had sued Goddard, Garth Ancier, TV exec David Neuman, and “X-Men” director Singer, claiming intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, battery, and invasion of privacy by unreasonable intrusion.</p>
<p>Representatives for Edwards declined to comment. Goddard’s lawyer, Alan Grodin, said Goddard has been in China and “we have not discussed this article.”</p>
<p>Read Edwards’ full post below:</p>
<p>When I was 14 years old, my mother opened the door for me to answer honestly about the rumors she had heard about <a href="http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/bryan-singer-seeks-dismissal-of-teen-sex-abuse-suit-1201257884/" type="external">Gary Goddard</a> — who was my mentor, teacher and friend — being a pedophile. I denied it through tears of complete panic. To face that truth was not an option as my sense of self was completely enmeshed in my gang of five friends who were all led by this sick father figure. I met Goddard when I was 12, and he quickly became a dominant force in my life. He taught me about the value of acting, respect for friendship, and the importance of studying. Pedophiles prey on the weak. My father, who suffered from undiagnosed PTSD from WWII, was not emotionally available. Everyone has the need to bond, and I was no exception. My vulnerability was exploited. I was molested by Goddard, my best friend was raped by him — and this went on for years. The group of us, the gang, stayed quiet.</p>
<p>Why? One of the most tragic effects of sexual abuse in children is that the victims often feel deeply responsible — as if it is somehow their fault. With their sick form of control, abusers exploit a child’s natural desire to bond. The victims are required to play by the abuser’s rules, or else they are “out” — banished from the only world they know. Abusers are successful when they keep control of that little world — a world that is based on fear. The use of fear to control and manipulate can be both obvious and subtle. Abusers will often use the word “love” to define their horrific actions, which constitutes a total betrayal of trust. The resulting damage to the emotional development of a child is deep and unforgivable. Only after I was able to separate my experience, process it, and put it in its place could I accept this truth: My abuse may always be with me, but it does not own me. For far too many years, I held onto the idea that love was conditional — and so I would look for someone or something other than my higher self to define those conditions and requirements for me.</p>
<p>I have been so fortunate to have had access to therapy and fellow survivors. Shame can thrive easily when we are isolated, but it loses its power when people come together to share their common experiences. 22 years ago, I happened to run into Gary Goddard at an airport. I was able to express my outrage at what he had done. He swore to his remorse and said that he had gotten help. I felt a temporary sense of relief. I say temporary because when Goddard appeared in the press four years ago for alleged sexual abuse, my rage resurfaced. At 51 years old, I was directed by a group of loving friends to a therapist who specializes in this kind of abuse. By processing my anger in a safe place with a professional, I was finally able to have the conversation that I wish I could have had with my mom when I was 14.</p>
<p>I’ve learned a lot in these last four years. Most importantly, I’ve learned that I’m not alone. One in six men have an abusive sexual experience before they turn 18. Secrecy, shame and fear are the tools of abuse, and it is only by breaking the stigma of childhood sexual abuse that we can heal, change attitudes, and create safer environments for our children.</p>
<p>Right now, there are children and adults who want to talk. Right now, there are people who have witnessed this kind of abuse but don’t know how to help. Right now, there are millions of victims who believe that the abuse they experienced was somehow their fault.</p>
<p>There are millions of children in our country who are one conversation away from being heard. Just as there are millions of adult men who are one step away from healing.</p>
<p>I did not go from being a victim to a survivor alone. No one does. I had to ask for help, and I am so grateful that I did.</p>
<p>Two organizations that I have found to be excellent resources are:&#160; <a href="http://1in6.org/" type="external">1in6.org</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://joyfulheartfoundation.org/" type="external">Joyfulheartfoundation.org</a></p>
|
Anthony Edwards Claims Producer Gary Goddard Molested Him ‘For Years’
| false |
https://newsline.com/anthony-edwards-claims-producer-gary-goddard-molested-him-for-years/
|
2017-11-10
| 1right-center
|
Anthony Edwards Claims Producer Gary Goddard Molested Him ‘For Years’
<p>Actor <a href="http://variety.com/t/anthony-edwards/" type="external">Anthony Edwards</a> has opened up about being molested by <a href="http://variety.com/t/gary-goddard/" type="external">Gary Goddard</a>, a writer and producer (“Masters of the Universe”), and the founder and CEO of&#160;entertainment design firm The&#160;Goddard Group.</p>
<p>In a detailed post on <a href="https://medium.com/@anthonyedwards/yes-mom-there-is-something-wrong-f2bcf56434b9" type="external">Medium</a>, he described meeting Goddard when he was 12 and at a vulnerable time in his life, given his father’s mental health issues.</p>
<p>“My vulnerability was exploited,” the “ER” alum wrote. “I was molested by Goddard, my best friend was raped by him  —  and this went on for years. The group of us, the gang, stayed quiet.”</p>
<p>He said that as an adult, he ran into Goddard at an airport, “and was able to express my outrage at what he had done,” Edwards wrote. “He swore to his remorse and said that he had gotten help.”</p>
<p>But he became “enraged” again several years ago when news reports surfaced with fresh accusations of alleged sexual abuse. Goddard <a href="http://variety.com/2014/film/news/sexual-abuse-suit-against-gary-goddard-withdrawn-1201254146/" type="external">was caught up in the 2014 sexual abuse lawsuit</a> filed by Michael Egan III against Bryan Singer and several other Hollywood execs. The suit was ultimately dismissed.</p>
<p>Egan had sued Goddard, Garth Ancier, TV exec David Neuman, and “X-Men” director Singer, claiming intentional infliction of emotional distress, assault, battery, and invasion of privacy by unreasonable intrusion.</p>
<p>Representatives for Edwards declined to comment. Goddard’s lawyer, Alan Grodin, said Goddard has been in China and “we have not discussed this article.”</p>
<p>Read Edwards’ full post below:</p>
<p>When I was 14 years old, my mother opened the door for me to answer honestly about the rumors she had heard about <a href="http://variety.com/2014/biz/news/bryan-singer-seeks-dismissal-of-teen-sex-abuse-suit-1201257884/" type="external">Gary Goddard</a> — who was my mentor, teacher and friend — being a pedophile. I denied it through tears of complete panic. To face that truth was not an option as my sense of self was completely enmeshed in my gang of five friends who were all led by this sick father figure. I met Goddard when I was 12, and he quickly became a dominant force in my life. He taught me about the value of acting, respect for friendship, and the importance of studying. Pedophiles prey on the weak. My father, who suffered from undiagnosed PTSD from WWII, was not emotionally available. Everyone has the need to bond, and I was no exception. My vulnerability was exploited. I was molested by Goddard, my best friend was raped by him — and this went on for years. The group of us, the gang, stayed quiet.</p>
<p>Why? One of the most tragic effects of sexual abuse in children is that the victims often feel deeply responsible — as if it is somehow their fault. With their sick form of control, abusers exploit a child’s natural desire to bond. The victims are required to play by the abuser’s rules, or else they are “out” — banished from the only world they know. Abusers are successful when they keep control of that little world — a world that is based on fear. The use of fear to control and manipulate can be both obvious and subtle. Abusers will often use the word “love” to define their horrific actions, which constitutes a total betrayal of trust. The resulting damage to the emotional development of a child is deep and unforgivable. Only after I was able to separate my experience, process it, and put it in its place could I accept this truth: My abuse may always be with me, but it does not own me. For far too many years, I held onto the idea that love was conditional — and so I would look for someone or something other than my higher self to define those conditions and requirements for me.</p>
<p>I have been so fortunate to have had access to therapy and fellow survivors. Shame can thrive easily when we are isolated, but it loses its power when people come together to share their common experiences. 22 years ago, I happened to run into Gary Goddard at an airport. I was able to express my outrage at what he had done. He swore to his remorse and said that he had gotten help. I felt a temporary sense of relief. I say temporary because when Goddard appeared in the press four years ago for alleged sexual abuse, my rage resurfaced. At 51 years old, I was directed by a group of loving friends to a therapist who specializes in this kind of abuse. By processing my anger in a safe place with a professional, I was finally able to have the conversation that I wish I could have had with my mom when I was 14.</p>
<p>I’ve learned a lot in these last four years. Most importantly, I’ve learned that I’m not alone. One in six men have an abusive sexual experience before they turn 18. Secrecy, shame and fear are the tools of abuse, and it is only by breaking the stigma of childhood sexual abuse that we can heal, change attitudes, and create safer environments for our children.</p>
<p>Right now, there are children and adults who want to talk. Right now, there are people who have witnessed this kind of abuse but don’t know how to help. Right now, there are millions of victims who believe that the abuse they experienced was somehow their fault.</p>
<p>There are millions of children in our country who are one conversation away from being heard. Just as there are millions of adult men who are one step away from healing.</p>
<p>I did not go from being a victim to a survivor alone. No one does. I had to ask for help, and I am so grateful that I did.</p>
<p>Two organizations that I have found to be excellent resources are:&#160; <a href="http://1in6.org/" type="external">1in6.org</a>&#160;and&#160; <a href="http://joyfulheartfoundation.org/" type="external">Joyfulheartfoundation.org</a></p>
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<p>Slap Hillary Clinton?</p>
<p>A Republican super PAC wants you to in an online game <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/dems-want-gop-to-condemn-slap-hillary-game/" type="external">being condemned</a> by the GOP and Democrats alike.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/physicist-erwin-schrodinger-schrodingers-cat-google-doodle" type="external">Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger honored with Google Doodle</a></p>
<p>Called <a href="http://thehillaryproject.com/games/" type="external">"Slap Hillary,"</a> the game by super PAC <a href="http://thehillaryproject.com/" type="external">The Hillary Project</a> encourages users to smack an image of the former secretary of state across the face.</p>
<p>Visitors can push buttons to play audio of Clinton speaking, then slap her mid-stream.</p>
<p>The Republican National Committee said the game was "in poor taste" on Monday, after a Democratic group released a petition calling on the RNC to condemn it.</p>
<p>"Clearly any game encouraging people to slap anyone is in poor taste. It was when the Democrats used Sarah Palin as the target and it is now with Hillary Clinton," RNC spokeswoman Kirstan Kukowski told <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/dems-want-gop-to-condemn-slap-hillary-game/" type="external">ABC News</a>.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/hollyworld/bad-week-desmond-tutu-house-burgled-kicked-off-twitter" type="external">Desmond Tutu's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week</a></p>
<p>The game mimics a <a href="http://www.slappalin.com/" type="external">"Slap Palin"</a>&#160;game from 2008 aimed at then vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.</p>
<p>In addition to "Slap Hillary," the super PAC site <a href="http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/08/06/super-pac-encourages-users-to-slap-hillary/" type="external">also features</a>&#160;a more benign "Dancing Hillary"game, and "Street Fight: Obama vs. Hillary," which allows users to pretend to fight as one of the Democrats.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/anti-hillary-2016-pac-takes-shape/article/2533018" type="external">Washington Examiner</a>, the treasurer of The Hillary Project is a one-time supporter of conservative Rick Santorum.</p>
<p />
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Republican super PAC's 'Slap Hillary' game condemned (VIDEO)
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https://pri.org/stories/2013-08-12/republican-super-pacs-slap-hillary-game-condemned-video
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2013-08-12
| 3left-center
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Republican super PAC's 'Slap Hillary' game condemned (VIDEO)
<p>Slap Hillary Clinton?</p>
<p>A Republican super PAC wants you to in an online game <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/dems-want-gop-to-condemn-slap-hillary-game/" type="external">being condemned</a> by the GOP and Democrats alike.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/weird-wide-web/physicist-erwin-schrodinger-schrodingers-cat-google-doodle" type="external">Austrian physicist Erwin Schrodinger honored with Google Doodle</a></p>
<p>Called <a href="http://thehillaryproject.com/games/" type="external">"Slap Hillary,"</a> the game by super PAC <a href="http://thehillaryproject.com/" type="external">The Hillary Project</a> encourages users to smack an image of the former secretary of state across the face.</p>
<p>Visitors can push buttons to play audio of Clinton speaking, then slap her mid-stream.</p>
<p>The Republican National Committee said the game was "in poor taste" on Monday, after a Democratic group released a petition calling on the RNC to condemn it.</p>
<p>"Clearly any game encouraging people to slap anyone is in poor taste. It was when the Democrats used Sarah Palin as the target and it is now with Hillary Clinton," RNC spokeswoman Kirstan Kukowski told <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/dems-want-gop-to-condemn-slap-hillary-game/" type="external">ABC News</a>.</p>
<p>More from GlobalPost: <a href="http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/hollyworld/bad-week-desmond-tutu-house-burgled-kicked-off-twitter" type="external">Desmond Tutu's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week</a></p>
<p>The game mimics a <a href="http://www.slappalin.com/" type="external">"Slap Palin"</a>&#160;game from 2008 aimed at then vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.</p>
<p>In addition to "Slap Hillary," the super PAC site <a href="http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/08/06/super-pac-encourages-users-to-slap-hillary/" type="external">also features</a>&#160;a more benign "Dancing Hillary"game, and "Street Fight: Obama vs. Hillary," which allows users to pretend to fight as one of the Democrats.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/anti-hillary-2016-pac-takes-shape/article/2533018" type="external">Washington Examiner</a>, the treasurer of The Hillary Project is a one-time supporter of conservative Rick Santorum.</p>
<p />
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<p />
<p>Mexican teachers are mobilizing once again —demonstrating by the tens of thousands—this time against anti-union reforms and the militarization of the state of Oaxaca by its governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo from the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Nine years after the 2006 teachers’ rebellion, Oaxaca is bracing for another potentially violent conflict.</p>
<p>For the last year, tens of thousands of Mexican teachers have demonstrated, carried out lengthy strikes, seized highway tool booths and government buildings, and clashed with the police and army. These teachers, mainly from the southern and western states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Michoacán oppose the 2013 education reform, which grants the government power to evaluate the country’s 1.4 million teachers and remove them if they don’t pass a standardized test. President Enrique Peña Nieto argues that the reform will improve education for the country’s youth, but teachers insist that it is designed to break the union, weaken public education, and destroy what’s left of the country’s social compact.&#160;</p>
<p>The teachers, many of whom are indigenous and bilingual, argue that they have developed an educational model appropriate for the communities, parents, and students they serve. The national test, they argue, will not benefit them or their students. Nor will it benefit their own families: In 1992 Oaxaca’s teachers won the right to pass their teaching positions on to family members. Many teachers believe that they should be able to turn their jobs over to their children, but if graduates of other colleges can compete, their children may not get their jobs.</p>
<p>Led by the National Teachers’ Coordinating Committee (CNTE), a dissident left-wing caucus of the National Teachers Union (SNTE), teachers have prevented the examinations from taking place in their stronghold states, closing test sites, burning testing materials, and cutting the hair of any teachers who attempt to take the test. When the national elections for Congress, state governors, and mayors took place this past June, teachers called for a boycott, arguing that all the parties were corrupt and anti-union. And in Oaxaca the union went further, closing polling places and burning ballots in the street, coming into conflict with the police and army and sometimes with grassroots community groups that wanted to vote.</p>
<p>Since June Oaxaca has been occupied by thousands of soldiers and police, and only a few days ago it came to light that in late July the governor had officially called upon the federal government to send the Army, Air Force, and Navy to maintain order. Governor Cué has argued that the strength of la CNTE, which has shown that it can put over 80,000 teachers into the streets, makes it impossible for him to govern without the backing of the military.</p>
<p>Oaxaca has been at the heart of the militant teachers movement, and the federal and state governments are determined to break the union’s significant power there. Since 1992 when, under teacher pressure, the state created the State Institute of Public Education of Oaxaca (IEEPO), the Oaxaca state government has been obliged to hire all graduates of the teachers colleges, which are dominated by the same left groups that lead la CNTE.</p>
<p>Local 22 of the Mexican Teachers Union—controlled by the CNTE—has played a large role in IEEPO where its members hold some 300 of the Institute’s 4,000 jobs. The government alleges that many teachers collect salaries without ever showing up to teach in a classroom.</p>
<p>Governor Cué and la CNTE have been heading toward confrontation since last month when the governor announced that he was replacing IEEPO with a new structure. He also secretly called upon the federal government to send in the military. The CNTE sought an injunction against the closing of the Institute, but a judge threw the union’s request out of court, ruling that the governor’s closing of the agency was legal and that the injunction was against the public interest. The CNTE has called for a national strike to coincide with the beginning of the Mexican school year on August 24, but Cué has announced that any teacher who misses three consecutive days will be fired, in accordance with the 2013 Education Reform Law. In a recent development, courts in Oaxaca City have issued arrest warrants on August 19 for 15 teachers who were accused of having destroyed election materials in the June 7 federal elections.</p>
<p>While education reform has been the central issue, teachers in Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, and Michoacán also joined the massive demonstrations following the forcible disappearance of 43 protestors last September 26 in Iguala, Guerrero, most of them students at the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College. Though over 120,000 Mexicans have been killed, 25,000 forcibly disappeared and hundreds of thousands displaced since former President Felipe Calderón began his war on the drug cartels in 2006, it was the forced disappearance of 43 young students that put a human face on the killings that have plagued Mexico. While the core of the teachers’ opposition is based in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Michoacán, in this latest spate of protests against state repression, teachers in Morelos and Puebla in central Mexico and by others in Chihuahua and Durango in the north also took to the streets.</p>
<p>Marching under the slogan “alive they were taken, alive we want them back,” parents of the disappeared college students have mounted what has become an international campaign to find their children. Accounts of the violent events, however, suggest that the police colluded with a criminal gang in the killing of the students and the subsequent&#160;burning of their bodies.</p>
<p>Though La CNTE’s teachers have shown a remarkable ability over the last 30 years to mobilize tens and even hundreds of thousands of teachers, today they have few allies in the working class. And while the teachers’ strikes and militant protests might appear to be the vanguard of a rising, radical worker movement, they may in fact, be the desperate rearguard action of a labor movement in decline.</p>
<p>Ten years ago things were different. Then the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME), an independent union unlike most in Mexico, would have joined teacher protests. But in October 2009 former President Felipe Calderón seized the electrical facilities, liquidated the company, fired 44,000 workers, and eliminated the union. Some 16,000 SME members continue to fight for their jobs, but the union no longer has any economic or political power.</p>
<p>Ten years ago the Miners and Metal Workers (SNTMMRM) might have also offered support, but a 2006 disaster at the Pasta de Conchos mine in the state of Coahuila that killed 65 miners changed that. Union president Napoleon Gómez Urrutia called the tragedy “industrial homicide,” blaming the companies and the government for lax enforcement of safety standards. In retaliation, President Felipe Calderón’s administration falsely accused Gómez Urrutia of embezzling $50 million from his union. With the help of the United Steel Workers of Canada and the United States, Gómez Urrutia fled to Vancouver, B.C. to avoid being imprisoned.</p>
<p>With the miners on the defensive, Grupo Mexico, one of the country’s largest mining corporations, waged a war against the union and eventually eliminated it from the Cananea mine. While the courts have thrown out all charges against Gómez Urrutia, he has continued to lead the union from Canada, fearing to return to Mexico.</p>
<p>Occasionally some group of workers does decide to fight, but this almost always leads to swift retribution. In March, for example, farmworkers in San Quintín, Baja California struck for higher wages against both their employers and the state-controlled union that represents them. The coalition of indigenous fieldworker organizations shut down the Trans-Peninsular Highway that carries produce from the fields to stores in the United States and paralyzed the agricultural assembly line. President Peña Nieto’s government promised investigations but sent the army and police, which successfully broke the strike. Afterwards the companies continued to pay the same low wages.</p>
<p>Most of Mexico’s “official unions” do the government’s bidding: they prevent strikes, work with the company to eliminate rank-and-file militants, and they keep wages low to attract domestic and foreign investment. Many, run by gangsters and lawyers, are “ghost unions” unknown to their members, while 80% to 90% of all collective bargaining agreements are thought to be “protection contracts” that offer only the legal minimum while allowing employers to say they have a union and a contract in order to keep out independent unions. The most important independent union is the National Union of Workers (UNT) made up largely of the telephone workers and university workers unions and some small federations like the Authentic Labor Front (FAT). But their impact is limited.</p>
<p>So the teachers fight on virtually alone, a militant minority whose interests seem selfish to some and whose tactics seem violent to others. Yet many CNTE teachers are convinced that they fight not only for themselves, but also for their union, their communities, and for the Mexican people at large.</p>
<p>This article was first published in <a href="https://nacla.org/news/2015/08/20/oaxaca-braces-conflict" type="external">NACLA</a>.</p>
<p>*Dan La Botz is an editor of&#160;Mexican Labor News &amp; Analysis&#160;and of&#160;New Politics.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="/filter/tips" type="external">More information about formatting options</a></p>
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Oaxaca Braces for Conflict
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http://newpol.org/content/oaxaca-braces-conflict
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Oaxaca Braces for Conflict
<p />
<p>Mexican teachers are mobilizing once again —demonstrating by the tens of thousands—this time against anti-union reforms and the militarization of the state of Oaxaca by its governor Gabino Cué Monteagudo from the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). Nine years after the 2006 teachers’ rebellion, Oaxaca is bracing for another potentially violent conflict.</p>
<p>For the last year, tens of thousands of Mexican teachers have demonstrated, carried out lengthy strikes, seized highway tool booths and government buildings, and clashed with the police and army. These teachers, mainly from the southern and western states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Michoacán oppose the 2013 education reform, which grants the government power to evaluate the country’s 1.4 million teachers and remove them if they don’t pass a standardized test. President Enrique Peña Nieto argues that the reform will improve education for the country’s youth, but teachers insist that it is designed to break the union, weaken public education, and destroy what’s left of the country’s social compact.&#160;</p>
<p>The teachers, many of whom are indigenous and bilingual, argue that they have developed an educational model appropriate for the communities, parents, and students they serve. The national test, they argue, will not benefit them or their students. Nor will it benefit their own families: In 1992 Oaxaca’s teachers won the right to pass their teaching positions on to family members. Many teachers believe that they should be able to turn their jobs over to their children, but if graduates of other colleges can compete, their children may not get their jobs.</p>
<p>Led by the National Teachers’ Coordinating Committee (CNTE), a dissident left-wing caucus of the National Teachers Union (SNTE), teachers have prevented the examinations from taking place in their stronghold states, closing test sites, burning testing materials, and cutting the hair of any teachers who attempt to take the test. When the national elections for Congress, state governors, and mayors took place this past June, teachers called for a boycott, arguing that all the parties were corrupt and anti-union. And in Oaxaca the union went further, closing polling places and burning ballots in the street, coming into conflict with the police and army and sometimes with grassroots community groups that wanted to vote.</p>
<p>Since June Oaxaca has been occupied by thousands of soldiers and police, and only a few days ago it came to light that in late July the governor had officially called upon the federal government to send the Army, Air Force, and Navy to maintain order. Governor Cué has argued that the strength of la CNTE, which has shown that it can put over 80,000 teachers into the streets, makes it impossible for him to govern without the backing of the military.</p>
<p>Oaxaca has been at the heart of the militant teachers movement, and the federal and state governments are determined to break the union’s significant power there. Since 1992 when, under teacher pressure, the state created the State Institute of Public Education of Oaxaca (IEEPO), the Oaxaca state government has been obliged to hire all graduates of the teachers colleges, which are dominated by the same left groups that lead la CNTE.</p>
<p>Local 22 of the Mexican Teachers Union—controlled by the CNTE—has played a large role in IEEPO where its members hold some 300 of the Institute’s 4,000 jobs. The government alleges that many teachers collect salaries without ever showing up to teach in a classroom.</p>
<p>Governor Cué and la CNTE have been heading toward confrontation since last month when the governor announced that he was replacing IEEPO with a new structure. He also secretly called upon the federal government to send in the military. The CNTE sought an injunction against the closing of the Institute, but a judge threw the union’s request out of court, ruling that the governor’s closing of the agency was legal and that the injunction was against the public interest. The CNTE has called for a national strike to coincide with the beginning of the Mexican school year on August 24, but Cué has announced that any teacher who misses three consecutive days will be fired, in accordance with the 2013 Education Reform Law. In a recent development, courts in Oaxaca City have issued arrest warrants on August 19 for 15 teachers who were accused of having destroyed election materials in the June 7 federal elections.</p>
<p>While education reform has been the central issue, teachers in Oaxaca, Chiapas, Guerrero, and Michoacán also joined the massive demonstrations following the forcible disappearance of 43 protestors last September 26 in Iguala, Guerrero, most of them students at the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers College. Though over 120,000 Mexicans have been killed, 25,000 forcibly disappeared and hundreds of thousands displaced since former President Felipe Calderón began his war on the drug cartels in 2006, it was the forced disappearance of 43 young students that put a human face on the killings that have plagued Mexico. While the core of the teachers’ opposition is based in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Michoacán, in this latest spate of protests against state repression, teachers in Morelos and Puebla in central Mexico and by others in Chihuahua and Durango in the north also took to the streets.</p>
<p>Marching under the slogan “alive they were taken, alive we want them back,” parents of the disappeared college students have mounted what has become an international campaign to find their children. Accounts of the violent events, however, suggest that the police colluded with a criminal gang in the killing of the students and the subsequent&#160;burning of their bodies.</p>
<p>Though La CNTE’s teachers have shown a remarkable ability over the last 30 years to mobilize tens and even hundreds of thousands of teachers, today they have few allies in the working class. And while the teachers’ strikes and militant protests might appear to be the vanguard of a rising, radical worker movement, they may in fact, be the desperate rearguard action of a labor movement in decline.</p>
<p>Ten years ago things were different. Then the Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME), an independent union unlike most in Mexico, would have joined teacher protests. But in October 2009 former President Felipe Calderón seized the electrical facilities, liquidated the company, fired 44,000 workers, and eliminated the union. Some 16,000 SME members continue to fight for their jobs, but the union no longer has any economic or political power.</p>
<p>Ten years ago the Miners and Metal Workers (SNTMMRM) might have also offered support, but a 2006 disaster at the Pasta de Conchos mine in the state of Coahuila that killed 65 miners changed that. Union president Napoleon Gómez Urrutia called the tragedy “industrial homicide,” blaming the companies and the government for lax enforcement of safety standards. In retaliation, President Felipe Calderón’s administration falsely accused Gómez Urrutia of embezzling $50 million from his union. With the help of the United Steel Workers of Canada and the United States, Gómez Urrutia fled to Vancouver, B.C. to avoid being imprisoned.</p>
<p>With the miners on the defensive, Grupo Mexico, one of the country’s largest mining corporations, waged a war against the union and eventually eliminated it from the Cananea mine. While the courts have thrown out all charges against Gómez Urrutia, he has continued to lead the union from Canada, fearing to return to Mexico.</p>
<p>Occasionally some group of workers does decide to fight, but this almost always leads to swift retribution. In March, for example, farmworkers in San Quintín, Baja California struck for higher wages against both their employers and the state-controlled union that represents them. The coalition of indigenous fieldworker organizations shut down the Trans-Peninsular Highway that carries produce from the fields to stores in the United States and paralyzed the agricultural assembly line. President Peña Nieto’s government promised investigations but sent the army and police, which successfully broke the strike. Afterwards the companies continued to pay the same low wages.</p>
<p>Most of Mexico’s “official unions” do the government’s bidding: they prevent strikes, work with the company to eliminate rank-and-file militants, and they keep wages low to attract domestic and foreign investment. Many, run by gangsters and lawyers, are “ghost unions” unknown to their members, while 80% to 90% of all collective bargaining agreements are thought to be “protection contracts” that offer only the legal minimum while allowing employers to say they have a union and a contract in order to keep out independent unions. The most important independent union is the National Union of Workers (UNT) made up largely of the telephone workers and university workers unions and some small federations like the Authentic Labor Front (FAT). But their impact is limited.</p>
<p>So the teachers fight on virtually alone, a militant minority whose interests seem selfish to some and whose tactics seem violent to others. Yet many CNTE teachers are convinced that they fight not only for themselves, but also for their union, their communities, and for the Mexican people at large.</p>
<p>This article was first published in <a href="https://nacla.org/news/2015/08/20/oaxaca-braces-conflict" type="external">NACLA</a>.</p>
<p>*Dan La Botz is an editor of&#160;Mexican Labor News &amp; Analysis&#160;and of&#160;New Politics.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p><a href="/filter/tips" type="external">More information about formatting options</a></p>
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<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>What: Shares of Medgenics , a clinical-stage biotech focused primarily on gene therapy, are down by more than 13% as of 11:30 a.m. EDT on the news that the company is raising capital through a common stock offering.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So what: Medgenics is expected to raise about $20 million by selling 3,640,000 shares of its common stock to the public for a price of $5.50 per share. Underwriters of the deal also retain the option to purchase an additional 546,000 shares, which could push the total proceeds from the deal up to $23 million. If that happens, this offering could dilute current shareholders by nearly 13%.</p>
<p>The $5.50 share price represents a sharp discount to yesterday's closing price of $6.24, which is probably the main reason why shares are getting slammed today. The deal is expected to close later this week.</p>
<p>Now what: Last quarter Medgenics produced a net loss of more than $11 million, and its cash balance fell to only $43.8 million. If this elevated level of spending persists, this company could find itself out of capital in less than a year, so investors shouldn't be all that surprised to see a capital raise. That's especially true when you consider that Medgenics recently kicked off enrollment in its phase 2/3 clinical trial testing the ability of its compound NFC-1 to treat mGluR-mutation-positive attention deficit hyperactivitydisorder (ADHD), which will likely cause spending levels to continue to climb throughout the remainder of the year.</p>
<p>Medgenics could also be responsible for making a multimillion-dollar payment to its Japanese partner Kyowa Hakko Kirin in 2017, if the company exercises its option to license Kyowa's anti-LIGHT monoclonal antibody. A phase 2 study is currently underway testing the anti-LIGHT antibody's ability to treat severe pediatric-onset inflammatory bowel disease. If all goes well, Medgenics believes this could be a $300-million-plus opportunity, so exercising the option down the road could make a great deal of financial sense.</p>
<p>Medgenics' technology and opportunity look quite promising, but there are still a huge number of hurdles to overcome before this company starts to generate meaningful revenue from its pipeline. I'd advise potential investors to approach this company's stock with a great deal of caution.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/21/why-medgenics-incs-shares-are-down-big-today.aspx" type="external">Why Medgenics Inc.'s Shares Are Down Big Today</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Brian Feroldi</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle <a href="https://twitter.com/LongTermMindset" type="external">@Longtermmindset</a>or connect with him on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-feroldi-mba-46370a5" type="external">LinkedIn</a> to see more articles like this.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>
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Why Medgenics Inc.'s Shares Are Down Big Today
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http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/06/21/why-medgenics-inc-shares-are-down-big-today.html
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2016-06-21
| 0right
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Why Medgenics Inc.'s Shares Are Down Big Today
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>What: Shares of Medgenics , a clinical-stage biotech focused primarily on gene therapy, are down by more than 13% as of 11:30 a.m. EDT on the news that the company is raising capital through a common stock offering.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>So what: Medgenics is expected to raise about $20 million by selling 3,640,000 shares of its common stock to the public for a price of $5.50 per share. Underwriters of the deal also retain the option to purchase an additional 546,000 shares, which could push the total proceeds from the deal up to $23 million. If that happens, this offering could dilute current shareholders by nearly 13%.</p>
<p>The $5.50 share price represents a sharp discount to yesterday's closing price of $6.24, which is probably the main reason why shares are getting slammed today. The deal is expected to close later this week.</p>
<p>Now what: Last quarter Medgenics produced a net loss of more than $11 million, and its cash balance fell to only $43.8 million. If this elevated level of spending persists, this company could find itself out of capital in less than a year, so investors shouldn't be all that surprised to see a capital raise. That's especially true when you consider that Medgenics recently kicked off enrollment in its phase 2/3 clinical trial testing the ability of its compound NFC-1 to treat mGluR-mutation-positive attention deficit hyperactivitydisorder (ADHD), which will likely cause spending levels to continue to climb throughout the remainder of the year.</p>
<p>Medgenics could also be responsible for making a multimillion-dollar payment to its Japanese partner Kyowa Hakko Kirin in 2017, if the company exercises its option to license Kyowa's anti-LIGHT monoclonal antibody. A phase 2 study is currently underway testing the anti-LIGHT antibody's ability to treat severe pediatric-onset inflammatory bowel disease. If all goes well, Medgenics believes this could be a $300-million-plus opportunity, so exercising the option down the road could make a great deal of financial sense.</p>
<p>Medgenics' technology and opportunity look quite promising, but there are still a huge number of hurdles to overcome before this company starts to generate meaningful revenue from its pipeline. I'd advise potential investors to approach this company's stock with a great deal of caution.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>The article <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/06/21/why-medgenics-incs-shares-are-down-big-today.aspx" type="external">Why Medgenics Inc.'s Shares Are Down Big Today</a> originally appeared on Fool.com.</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFTypeoh/info.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">Brian Feroldi</a> has no position in any stocks mentioned.Like this article? Follow him onTwitter where he goes by the handle <a href="https://twitter.com/LongTermMindset" type="external">@Longtermmindset</a>or connect with him on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-feroldi-mba-46370a5" type="external">LinkedIn</a> to see more articles like this.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">free for 30 days</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://wiki.fool.com/Motley?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?source=eptfxblnk0000004" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>
<p>Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/help/index.htm?display=about02" type="external">disclosure policy</a>.</p>
| 7,471 |
<p />
<p>Ending years of hard-fought negotiations, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) unveiled an agreement over the weekend to sell its iPhone to China Mobile's 760 million subscribers.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The landmark deal could help boost Apple’s growth prospects, which have slowed in recent quarters amid tough competition in the U.S. and other core markets.</p>
<p>“China is an extremely important market for Apple and our partnership with China Mobile presents us the opportunity to bring iPhone to the customers of the world's largest network,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.</p>
<p>The official announcement confirms recent reports that Apple was <a href="" type="internal">nearing an agreement with the world’s largest wireless carrier.</a></p>
<p>Apple said its iPhone 5s and 5c will be available to China Mobile’s customers across mainland China beginning on January 17. Subscribers can pre-register beginning on December 25.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>“We know there are many China Mobile customers and potential new customers who are anxiously awaiting the incredible combination of iPhone on China Mobile’s leading network,” said Xi Guohua, chairman of China Mobile.</p>
<p>The agreement comes as China Mobile rolls out its 4G network, which the company says will be the biggest in the world. Apple had signaled it would wait to introduce the iPhone until the launch of the new network.</p>
<p>Cantor Fitzgerald said it believes Apple will sell 20 million to 24 million iPhones to China Mobile in 2014. The extra sales should boost Apple’s earnings per share by about $4.00, the firm said.</p>
<p>“This has been the most difficult carrier agreement for Apple to negotiate in its history; however, we believe the opportunity for the iPhone to expand its reach within China Mobile's wireless subscriber base will prove to be well worth the wait,” Cantor Fitzgerald Brian White wrote in a note to clients.</p>
<p>Shares of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple rose 3.40% to $567.70 in premarket trading Monday morning. The rally positions Apple to extend its tepid 2013 rally of just 3%.</p>
|
Apple Seals iPhone Deal with China Mobile
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2013/12/23/apple-in-deal-to-sell-iphones-on-china-mobile.html
|
2016-03-05
| 0right
|
Apple Seals iPhone Deal with China Mobile
<p />
<p>Ending years of hard-fought negotiations, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) unveiled an agreement over the weekend to sell its iPhone to China Mobile's 760 million subscribers.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The landmark deal could help boost Apple’s growth prospects, which have slowed in recent quarters amid tough competition in the U.S. and other core markets.</p>
<p>“China is an extremely important market for Apple and our partnership with China Mobile presents us the opportunity to bring iPhone to the customers of the world's largest network,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.</p>
<p>The official announcement confirms recent reports that Apple was <a href="" type="internal">nearing an agreement with the world’s largest wireless carrier.</a></p>
<p>Apple said its iPhone 5s and 5c will be available to China Mobile’s customers across mainland China beginning on January 17. Subscribers can pre-register beginning on December 25.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>“We know there are many China Mobile customers and potential new customers who are anxiously awaiting the incredible combination of iPhone on China Mobile’s leading network,” said Xi Guohua, chairman of China Mobile.</p>
<p>The agreement comes as China Mobile rolls out its 4G network, which the company says will be the biggest in the world. Apple had signaled it would wait to introduce the iPhone until the launch of the new network.</p>
<p>Cantor Fitzgerald said it believes Apple will sell 20 million to 24 million iPhones to China Mobile in 2014. The extra sales should boost Apple’s earnings per share by about $4.00, the firm said.</p>
<p>“This has been the most difficult carrier agreement for Apple to negotiate in its history; however, we believe the opportunity for the iPhone to expand its reach within China Mobile's wireless subscriber base will prove to be well worth the wait,” Cantor Fitzgerald Brian White wrote in a note to clients.</p>
<p>Shares of Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple rose 3.40% to $567.70 in premarket trading Monday morning. The rally positions Apple to extend its tepid 2013 rally of just 3%.</p>
| 7,472 |
<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon's drawing of the Florida Lottery's "Pick 5 Midday" game were:</p>
<p>0-9-6-0-3</p>
<p>(zero, nine, six, zero, three)</p>
<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon's drawing of the Florida Lottery's "Pick 5 Midday" game were:</p>
<p>0-9-6-0-3</p>
<p>(zero, nine, six, zero, three)</p>
|
Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 5 Midday' game
| false |
https://apnews.com/f623e3b06c6e4071a58d4aabd887a55b
|
2018-01-03
| 2least
|
Winning numbers drawn in 'Pick 5 Midday' game
<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon's drawing of the Florida Lottery's "Pick 5 Midday" game were:</p>
<p>0-9-6-0-3</p>
<p>(zero, nine, six, zero, three)</p>
<p>TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ The winning numbers in Wednesday afternoon's drawing of the Florida Lottery's "Pick 5 Midday" game were:</p>
<p>0-9-6-0-3</p>
<p>(zero, nine, six, zero, three)</p>
| 7,473 |
<p>One ordinary December day, I took a tour of my hospital with Deborah Yokoe, an infectious disease specialist, and Susan Marino, a microbiologist. They work in our hospital’s infection-control unit. Their full-time job, and that of three others in the unit, is to stop the spread of infection in the hospital. This is not flashy work, and they are not flashy people. Yokoe is forty-five years old, gentle voiced, and dimpled. She wears sneakers at work. Marino is in her fifties and reserved by nature. But they have coped with influenza epidemics, Legionnaires’ disease, fatal bacterial meningitis, and, just a few months before, a case that, according to the patient’s brain-biopsy results, might have been Creutzfeld-Jakob disease — a nightmare, not only because it is incurable and fatal but also because the infectious agent that causes it, known as a prion, cannot be killed by usual heat-sterilization procedures. By the time the results came back, the neurosurgeon’s brain-biopsy instruments might have transferred the disease to other patients, but infection-control team members tracked the instruments down in time and had them chemically sterilized. Yokoe and Marino have seen measles, the plague, and rabbit fever (which is caused by a bacterium that is extraordinarily contagious in hospital laboratories and feared as a bioterrorist weapon). They once instigated a nationwide recall of frozen strawberries, having traced a hepatitis A outbreak to a batch served at an ice cream social. Recently at large in the hospital, they told me, have been a rotavirus, a Norwalk virus, several strains of Pseudomonas bacteria, a superresistant Klebsiella, and the ubiquitous scourges of modern hospitals — resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis, which are a frequent cause of pneumonias, wound infections, and bloodstream infections.</p>
<p>Each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, two million Americans acquire an infection while they are in the hospital. Ninety thousand die of that infection. The hardest part of the infection-control team’s job, Yokoe says, is not coping with the variety of contagions they encounter or the panic that sometimes occurs among patients and staff. Instead, their greatest difficulty is getting clinicians like me to do the one thing that consistently halts the spread of infections: wash our hands.</p>
<p>There isn’t much they haven’t tried. Walking about the surgical floors where I admit my patients, Yokoe and Marino showed me the admonishing signs they have posted, the sinks they have repositioned, the new ones they have installed. They have made some sinks automated. They have bought special five-thousand-dollar “precaution carts” that store everything for washing up, gloving, and gowning in one ergonomic, portable, and aesthetically pleasing package. They have given away free movie tickets to the hospital units with the best compliance. They have issued hygiene report cards. Yet still, we have not mended our ways. Our hospital’s statistics show what studies everywhere else have shown — that we doctors and nurses wash our hands one-third to one-half as often as we are supposed to. Having shaken hands with a sniffling patient, pulled a sticky dressing off someone’s wound, pressed a stethoscope against a sweating chest, most of us do little more than wipe our hands on our white coats and move on — to see the next patient, to scribble a note in the chart, to grab some lunch.</p>
<p>This is, embarrassingly, nothing new: In 1847, at the age of twenty-eight, the Viennese obstetrician Ignac Semmelweis famously deduced that, by not washing their hands consistently or well enough, doctors were themselves to blame for childbed fever. Childbed fever, also known as puerperal fever, was the leading cause of maternal death in childbirth in the era before antibiotics (and before the recognition that germs are the agents of infectious disease). It is a bacterial infection — most commonly caused by Streptococcus, the same bacteria that causes strep throat — that ascends through the vagina to the uterus after childbirth. Out of three thousand mothers who delivered babies at the hospital where Semmelweis worked, six hundred or more died of the disease each year — a horrifying 20 percent maternal death rate. Of mothers delivering at home, only 1 percent died. Semmelweis concluded that doctors themselves were carrying the disease between patients, and he mandated that every doctor and nurse on his ward scrub with a nail brush and chlorine between patients. The puerperal death rate immediately fell to 1 percent — incontrovertible proof, it would seem, that he was right. Yet elsewhere, doctors’ practices did not change. Some colleagues were even offended by his claims; it was impossible to them that doctors could be killing their patients. Far from being hailed, Semmelweis was ultimately dismissed from his job.</p>
<p>Semmelweis’s story has come down to us as Exhibit A in the case for the obstinacy and blindness of physicians. But the story was more complicated. The trouble was partly that nineteenth-century physicians faced multiple, seemingly equally powerful explanations for puerperal fever. There was, for example, a strong belief that miasmas of the air in hospitals were the cause. And Semmelweis strangely refused to either publish an explanation of the logic behind his theory or prove it with a convincing experiment in animals. Instead, he took the calls for proof as a personal insult and attacked his detractors viciously.</p>
<p>“You, Herr Professor, have been a partner in this massacre,” he wrote to one University of Vienna obstetrician who questioned his theory. To a colleague in Wurzburg he wrote, “Should you, Herr Hofrath, without having disproved my doctrine, continue to teach your pupils [against it], I declare before God and the world that you are a murderer and the ‘History of Childbed Fever’ would not be unjust to you if it memorialized you as a medical Nero.” His own staff turned against him. In Pest, where he relocated after losing his post in Vienna, he would stand next to the sink and berate anyone who forgot to scrub his or her hands. People began to purposely evade, sometimes even sabotage, his hand-washing regimen. Semmelweis was a genius, but he was also a lunatic, and that made him a failed genius. It was another twenty years before Joseph Lister offered his clearer, more persuasive, and more respectful plea for antisepsis in surgery in the British medical journal Lancet.</p>
<p>One hundred and forty years of doctors’ plagues later, however, you have to wonder whether what’s needed to stop them is precisely a lunatic. Consider what Yokoe and Marino are up against. No part of human skin is spared from bacteria. Bacterial counts on the hands range from five thousand to five million colony-forming units per square centimeter. The hair, underarms, and groin harbor greater concentrations. On the hands, deep skin crevices trap 10 to 20 percent of the flora, making removal difficult, even with scrubbing, and sterilization impossible. The worst place is under the fingernails. Hence the recent CDC guidelines requiring hospital personnel to keep their nails trimmed to less than a quarter of an inch and to remove artificial nails.</p>
<p>Plain soaps do, at best, a middling job of disinfecting. Their detergents remove loose dirt and grime, but fifteen seconds of washing reduces bacterial counts by only about an order of magnitude. Semmelweis recognized that ordinary soap was not enough and used a chlorine solution to achieve disinfection. Today’s antibacterial soaps contain chemicals such as chlorhexidine to disrupt microbial membranes and proteins. Even with the right soap, however, proper hand washing requires a strict procedure. First, you must remove your watch, rings, and other jewelry (which are notorious for trapping bacteria). Next, you wet your hands in warm tap water. Dispense the soap and lather all surfaces, including the lower one-third of the arms, for the full duration recommended by the manufacturer (usually fifteen to thirty seconds). Rinse off for thirty full seconds. Dry completely with a clean, disposable towel. Then use the towel to turn the tap of. Repeat after any new contact with a patient.</p>
<p>Almost no one adheres to this procedure. It seems impossible. On morning rounds, our residents check in on twenty patients in an hour. The nurses in our intensive care units typically have a similar number of contacts with patients requiring hand washing in between. Even if you get the whole cleansing process down to a minute per patient, that’s still a third of staff time spent just washing hands. Such frequent hand washing can also irritate the skin, which can produce a dermatitis, which itself increases bacterial counts.</p>
<p>Less irritating than soap, alcohol rinses and gels have been in use in Europe for almost two decades but for some reason only recently caught on in the United States. They take far less time to use — only about fifteen seconds or so to rub a gel over the hands and fingers and let it air-dry. Dispensers can be put at the bedside more easily than a sink. And at alcohol concentrations of 50 to 95 percent, they are more effective at killing organisms, too. (Interestingly, pure alcohol is not as effective — at least some water is required to denature microbial proteins.)</p>
<p>Still, it took Yokoe over a year to get our staff to accept the 60 percent alcohol gel we have recently adopted. Its introduction was first blocked because of the staff’s fears that it would produce noxious building air. (It didn’t.) Next came worries that, despite evidence to the contrary, it would be more irritating to the skin. So a product with aloe was brought in. People complained about the smell. So the aloe was taken out. Then some of the nursing staff refused to use the gel after rumors spread that it would reduce fertility. The rumors died only after the infection-control unit circulated evidence that the alcohol is not systemically absorbed and a hospital fertility specialist endorsed the use of the gel.</p>
<p>With the gel finally in wide use, the compliance rates for proper hand hygiene improved substantially: from around 40 percent to 70 percent. But — and this is the troubling finding — hospital infection rates did not drop one iota. Our 70 percent compliance just wasn’t good enough. If 30 percent of the time people didn’t wash their hands, that still left plenty of opportunity to keep transmitting infections. Indeed, the rates of resistant Staphylococcus and Enterococcus infections continued to rise. Yokoe receives the daily tabulations. I checked with her one day not long ago, and sixty-three of our seven hundred hospital patients were colonized or infected with MRSA (the shorthand for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and another twenty-two had acquired VRE (vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus) — unfortunately, typical rates of infection for American hospitals.</p>
<p>Rising infection rates from superresistant bacteria have become the norm around the world. The first outbreak of VRE did not occur until 1988, when a renal dialysis unit in England became infested. By 1990, the bacteria had been carried abroad, and four in one thousand American ICU patients had become infected. By 1997, a stunning 23 percent of ICU patients were infected. When the virus for SARS — severe acute respiratory syndrome — appeared in China in 2003 and spread within weeks to almost ten thousand people in two dozen countries across the world (10 percent of whom were killed), the primary vector for transmission was the hands of health care workers. What will happen if (or rather, when) an even more dangerous organism appears — avian flu, say, or a new, more virulent bacteria? “It will be a disaster,” Yokoe says.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2007 ATUL GAWANDE from the book <a href="" type="internal">Better : a Surgeon’s Notes on Performance</a>. Published by Metropolitan Books; April 2007;$24.00US/$30.00CAN; 978-0-8050-8211-1</p>
<p>ATUL GAWANDE, a 2006 MacArthur Fellow, is a general surgeon at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. His first book, <a href="" type="internal">Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science</a>, was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the 2002 National Book Award. Gawande lives with his wife and three children in Newton, Massachusetts. Visit <a href="http://www.gawande.com/" type="external">www.gawande.com</a> for information.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
|
On Washing Hands
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2007/03/24/on-washing-hands/
|
2007-03-24
| 4left
|
On Washing Hands
<p>One ordinary December day, I took a tour of my hospital with Deborah Yokoe, an infectious disease specialist, and Susan Marino, a microbiologist. They work in our hospital’s infection-control unit. Their full-time job, and that of three others in the unit, is to stop the spread of infection in the hospital. This is not flashy work, and they are not flashy people. Yokoe is forty-five years old, gentle voiced, and dimpled. She wears sneakers at work. Marino is in her fifties and reserved by nature. But they have coped with influenza epidemics, Legionnaires’ disease, fatal bacterial meningitis, and, just a few months before, a case that, according to the patient’s brain-biopsy results, might have been Creutzfeld-Jakob disease — a nightmare, not only because it is incurable and fatal but also because the infectious agent that causes it, known as a prion, cannot be killed by usual heat-sterilization procedures. By the time the results came back, the neurosurgeon’s brain-biopsy instruments might have transferred the disease to other patients, but infection-control team members tracked the instruments down in time and had them chemically sterilized. Yokoe and Marino have seen measles, the plague, and rabbit fever (which is caused by a bacterium that is extraordinarily contagious in hospital laboratories and feared as a bioterrorist weapon). They once instigated a nationwide recall of frozen strawberries, having traced a hepatitis A outbreak to a batch served at an ice cream social. Recently at large in the hospital, they told me, have been a rotavirus, a Norwalk virus, several strains of Pseudomonas bacteria, a superresistant Klebsiella, and the ubiquitous scourges of modern hospitals — resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis, which are a frequent cause of pneumonias, wound infections, and bloodstream infections.</p>
<p>Each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, two million Americans acquire an infection while they are in the hospital. Ninety thousand die of that infection. The hardest part of the infection-control team’s job, Yokoe says, is not coping with the variety of contagions they encounter or the panic that sometimes occurs among patients and staff. Instead, their greatest difficulty is getting clinicians like me to do the one thing that consistently halts the spread of infections: wash our hands.</p>
<p>There isn’t much they haven’t tried. Walking about the surgical floors where I admit my patients, Yokoe and Marino showed me the admonishing signs they have posted, the sinks they have repositioned, the new ones they have installed. They have made some sinks automated. They have bought special five-thousand-dollar “precaution carts” that store everything for washing up, gloving, and gowning in one ergonomic, portable, and aesthetically pleasing package. They have given away free movie tickets to the hospital units with the best compliance. They have issued hygiene report cards. Yet still, we have not mended our ways. Our hospital’s statistics show what studies everywhere else have shown — that we doctors and nurses wash our hands one-third to one-half as often as we are supposed to. Having shaken hands with a sniffling patient, pulled a sticky dressing off someone’s wound, pressed a stethoscope against a sweating chest, most of us do little more than wipe our hands on our white coats and move on — to see the next patient, to scribble a note in the chart, to grab some lunch.</p>
<p>This is, embarrassingly, nothing new: In 1847, at the age of twenty-eight, the Viennese obstetrician Ignac Semmelweis famously deduced that, by not washing their hands consistently or well enough, doctors were themselves to blame for childbed fever. Childbed fever, also known as puerperal fever, was the leading cause of maternal death in childbirth in the era before antibiotics (and before the recognition that germs are the agents of infectious disease). It is a bacterial infection — most commonly caused by Streptococcus, the same bacteria that causes strep throat — that ascends through the vagina to the uterus after childbirth. Out of three thousand mothers who delivered babies at the hospital where Semmelweis worked, six hundred or more died of the disease each year — a horrifying 20 percent maternal death rate. Of mothers delivering at home, only 1 percent died. Semmelweis concluded that doctors themselves were carrying the disease between patients, and he mandated that every doctor and nurse on his ward scrub with a nail brush and chlorine between patients. The puerperal death rate immediately fell to 1 percent — incontrovertible proof, it would seem, that he was right. Yet elsewhere, doctors’ practices did not change. Some colleagues were even offended by his claims; it was impossible to them that doctors could be killing their patients. Far from being hailed, Semmelweis was ultimately dismissed from his job.</p>
<p>Semmelweis’s story has come down to us as Exhibit A in the case for the obstinacy and blindness of physicians. But the story was more complicated. The trouble was partly that nineteenth-century physicians faced multiple, seemingly equally powerful explanations for puerperal fever. There was, for example, a strong belief that miasmas of the air in hospitals were the cause. And Semmelweis strangely refused to either publish an explanation of the logic behind his theory or prove it with a convincing experiment in animals. Instead, he took the calls for proof as a personal insult and attacked his detractors viciously.</p>
<p>“You, Herr Professor, have been a partner in this massacre,” he wrote to one University of Vienna obstetrician who questioned his theory. To a colleague in Wurzburg he wrote, “Should you, Herr Hofrath, without having disproved my doctrine, continue to teach your pupils [against it], I declare before God and the world that you are a murderer and the ‘History of Childbed Fever’ would not be unjust to you if it memorialized you as a medical Nero.” His own staff turned against him. In Pest, where he relocated after losing his post in Vienna, he would stand next to the sink and berate anyone who forgot to scrub his or her hands. People began to purposely evade, sometimes even sabotage, his hand-washing regimen. Semmelweis was a genius, but he was also a lunatic, and that made him a failed genius. It was another twenty years before Joseph Lister offered his clearer, more persuasive, and more respectful plea for antisepsis in surgery in the British medical journal Lancet.</p>
<p>One hundred and forty years of doctors’ plagues later, however, you have to wonder whether what’s needed to stop them is precisely a lunatic. Consider what Yokoe and Marino are up against. No part of human skin is spared from bacteria. Bacterial counts on the hands range from five thousand to five million colony-forming units per square centimeter. The hair, underarms, and groin harbor greater concentrations. On the hands, deep skin crevices trap 10 to 20 percent of the flora, making removal difficult, even with scrubbing, and sterilization impossible. The worst place is under the fingernails. Hence the recent CDC guidelines requiring hospital personnel to keep their nails trimmed to less than a quarter of an inch and to remove artificial nails.</p>
<p>Plain soaps do, at best, a middling job of disinfecting. Their detergents remove loose dirt and grime, but fifteen seconds of washing reduces bacterial counts by only about an order of magnitude. Semmelweis recognized that ordinary soap was not enough and used a chlorine solution to achieve disinfection. Today’s antibacterial soaps contain chemicals such as chlorhexidine to disrupt microbial membranes and proteins. Even with the right soap, however, proper hand washing requires a strict procedure. First, you must remove your watch, rings, and other jewelry (which are notorious for trapping bacteria). Next, you wet your hands in warm tap water. Dispense the soap and lather all surfaces, including the lower one-third of the arms, for the full duration recommended by the manufacturer (usually fifteen to thirty seconds). Rinse off for thirty full seconds. Dry completely with a clean, disposable towel. Then use the towel to turn the tap of. Repeat after any new contact with a patient.</p>
<p>Almost no one adheres to this procedure. It seems impossible. On morning rounds, our residents check in on twenty patients in an hour. The nurses in our intensive care units typically have a similar number of contacts with patients requiring hand washing in between. Even if you get the whole cleansing process down to a minute per patient, that’s still a third of staff time spent just washing hands. Such frequent hand washing can also irritate the skin, which can produce a dermatitis, which itself increases bacterial counts.</p>
<p>Less irritating than soap, alcohol rinses and gels have been in use in Europe for almost two decades but for some reason only recently caught on in the United States. They take far less time to use — only about fifteen seconds or so to rub a gel over the hands and fingers and let it air-dry. Dispensers can be put at the bedside more easily than a sink. And at alcohol concentrations of 50 to 95 percent, they are more effective at killing organisms, too. (Interestingly, pure alcohol is not as effective — at least some water is required to denature microbial proteins.)</p>
<p>Still, it took Yokoe over a year to get our staff to accept the 60 percent alcohol gel we have recently adopted. Its introduction was first blocked because of the staff’s fears that it would produce noxious building air. (It didn’t.) Next came worries that, despite evidence to the contrary, it would be more irritating to the skin. So a product with aloe was brought in. People complained about the smell. So the aloe was taken out. Then some of the nursing staff refused to use the gel after rumors spread that it would reduce fertility. The rumors died only after the infection-control unit circulated evidence that the alcohol is not systemically absorbed and a hospital fertility specialist endorsed the use of the gel.</p>
<p>With the gel finally in wide use, the compliance rates for proper hand hygiene improved substantially: from around 40 percent to 70 percent. But — and this is the troubling finding — hospital infection rates did not drop one iota. Our 70 percent compliance just wasn’t good enough. If 30 percent of the time people didn’t wash their hands, that still left plenty of opportunity to keep transmitting infections. Indeed, the rates of resistant Staphylococcus and Enterococcus infections continued to rise. Yokoe receives the daily tabulations. I checked with her one day not long ago, and sixty-three of our seven hundred hospital patients were colonized or infected with MRSA (the shorthand for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and another twenty-two had acquired VRE (vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus) — unfortunately, typical rates of infection for American hospitals.</p>
<p>Rising infection rates from superresistant bacteria have become the norm around the world. The first outbreak of VRE did not occur until 1988, when a renal dialysis unit in England became infested. By 1990, the bacteria had been carried abroad, and four in one thousand American ICU patients had become infected. By 1997, a stunning 23 percent of ICU patients were infected. When the virus for SARS — severe acute respiratory syndrome — appeared in China in 2003 and spread within weeks to almost ten thousand people in two dozen countries across the world (10 percent of whom were killed), the primary vector for transmission was the hands of health care workers. What will happen if (or rather, when) an even more dangerous organism appears — avian flu, say, or a new, more virulent bacteria? “It will be a disaster,” Yokoe says.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2007 ATUL GAWANDE from the book <a href="" type="internal">Better : a Surgeon’s Notes on Performance</a>. Published by Metropolitan Books; April 2007;$24.00US/$30.00CAN; 978-0-8050-8211-1</p>
<p>ATUL GAWANDE, a 2006 MacArthur Fellow, is a general surgeon at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, a staff writer for The New Yorker, and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. His first book, <a href="" type="internal">Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science</a>, was a New York Times bestseller and a finalist for the 2002 National Book Award. Gawande lives with his wife and three children in Newton, Massachusetts. Visit <a href="http://www.gawande.com/" type="external">www.gawande.com</a> for information.</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
| 7,474 |
<p>In August 2015, the Australian documentary <a href="http://thegaybyproject.com/" type="external">"Gayby Baby,"</a> which follows the stories of four children raised in same-sex families, made the front page of <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/burwood-girls-high-school-anger-over-gay-parenting-documentary-gayby-baby/news-story/3833febe90f5df2f19ea16ab3a8c5245" type="external">Sydney's Daily Telegraph</a> with the headline "Gay Class Uproar." Above it, the tagline read, "Parents outraged as Sydney school swaps lessons for PC movie session."</p>
<p>"When you get six phone calls from your publicist at 5 in the morning, something must be wrong," says director Maya Newell. Along with her former film school classmate, producer Charlotte Mars, she spent four years getting to know the families in the film.</p>
<p>"Gayby Baby," which will be available on streaming services May 1, is about Gus, an energetic 10-year-old whose mothers are concerned about his growing obsession with the hyper-macho world of wrestling; Ebony, 12, a talented singer who dreams of getting into a prestigious performing arts high school; 11-year-old Graham, a shy kid who was neglected by his birth parents and only now, with the help of his adoptive dads, is learning how to read; and Matt, a precocious 11-year-old who is questioning his mother's devout faith in God.</p>
<p>Director Newell, raised by lesbian parents herself — her biological father, a friend of her mom, donated sperm —&#160;remembers the impact the 2010 film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0842926/" type="external">"The Kids Are All Right"</a> had on her. It was the first time she had ever seen a family resembling hers represented in the mainstream media. When she set out to make her own documentary feature, she wanted to shine the spotlight on the kids, whose voices are often left out of the often heated political debates surrounding gay marriage and adoption.</p>
<p>After "Gayby Baby" had its premiere at Canada's Hot Docs Film Festival, it only made sense to Newell and producer Mars that the kids in the film be able to share their stories with other kids their age. So they decided to host special previews of the film at schools before it was released in theaters. They worked with about 40 schools across Australia, including Newell's alma mater Burwood Girls High, and planned to screen it on Aug. 28, 2015, as part of the nationwide <a href="http://www.wearitpurple.org/" type="external">Wear It Purple Day</a> campaign, which&#160;promotes sexual acceptance among youth and raises awareness of anti-LGBT bullying.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>The Daily Telegraph in Australia, Aug. 26, 2015</p>
<p>Also:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">What it's like to grow up a lesbian in Saudi Arabia</a></p>
<p>First-time feature filmmakers Newell and Mars quickly began receiving congratulations that their film was getting national attention.&#160;But they were horrified.</p>
<p>"There were kids that had never been bullied before, who were bullied that day at school because of that headline and what these politicians were saying," says Newell.</p>
<p>"You have the leadership deciding that our film does not belong in schools, which is effectively saying that our families don't belong there either," says Mars.</p>
<p>Most frustrating to the filmmakers was that it was coming from critics who they say hadn't seen the film and assumed it had&#160;a political agenda.</p>
<p />
<p>First-time feature filmmakers Maya Newell and Charlotte Mars quickly began receiving congratulations that their film was getting national attention, when a controversy erupted about screening the documentary in schools.&#160;In reality, they were horrified.</p>
<p>Courtesy of SUPERGRAVITY Pictures</p>
<p>"The question we often get as kids [of LGBT parents] is: 'What's it like being raised by two mums? How's it different?" says Newell. "And it's like, 'Different than what?' Like everything, some things are different and some things are the same."</p>
<p>Gus' parents don't like that their son play-wrestles his much younger sister to tears. They turn it into a conversation about how roughhousing is okay, but a type of masculinity that often mistreats women and queer people is not. Ebony's desire to get accepted to the performing arts school is partially motivated by her hope of being in an environment where her family will be accepted, but personal goals are put on a backburner as her baby brother's seizures land him in the hospital. Graham, who desperately wants to read so he can fit in with his new classmates, is being advised by his dads to lie about his fathers' relationship for fear of intolerance. Matt admits to his priest that one of the main reasons he's questioning God is because the Church tells him that his lesbian mothers are sinners.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/burwood-girls-high-school-anger-over-gay-parenting-documentary-gayby-baby/news-story/3833febe90f5df2f19ea16ab3a8c5245" type="external">the Daily Telegraph article</a>, parents were upset that their children were asked to wear purple, that they were asked to not only watch but support a documentary on gay parenting in place of regular classes.</p>
<p>“Schools are supposed to be neutral and cannot propagate a political view,” Presbyterian Minister Mark Powell said. Islamic spiritual leader Imam Mohammad Trad said he thinks the issue of gay parents should be a private conversation between parents and their children.</p>
<p>Despite the backlash, the "Gayby Baby" filmmakers have had many supporters along the way. Their initial crowdfunding campaign to make the film raised over $100,000, which, at the time, was the most any single film project had crowdfunded in Australia. After the controversy, high-profile supporters and politicians stood up for them, including Australian politician Penny Wong, who penned an op-ed for The Guardian.</p>
<p>"Talking about others’ sexuality or attacking 12 year olds are priorities for some, but it’s hard to comprehend how either could be more important than preventing bullying and keeping our children safe," <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/27/news-limited-should-watch-gayby-baby-they-might-learn-something-about-respect" type="external">wrote Wong</a>, who has two children with her lesbian partner. "I’d encourage them to turn down the outrage and watch the film. They might learn something from these kids about respect, love and tolerance."</p>
<p>Also:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">An Aboriginal comedy show in Australia finds a mainstream audience</a></p>
<p>Newell and Mars launched The Gayby Project, an outreach program in association with the film, which targets discriminatory legislation and aims to be an online resource that supports diverse families. In the last year, they've been privately showing their film to political power players hoping to help make change.</p>
<p>"The legislation is important, but it's just the first step," says Newell. "The next step is the cultural shift of how people perceive LGBT people and their families, and in many ways, that's much more difficult. But that's where storytelling really helps."</p>
<p>"When my mother came out, my grandmother was devastated because she thought it meant that her daughter would never have a family and that she would lead a lonely barren life," says Newell, who counts herself as part of a growing international community of "gayby boomers." "So one of the greatest responses we've had has been people who've come up to us and say that after watching the movie, they really wanted to start a family."</p>
<p>The&#160;May 1&#160;streaming video release of "Gayby Baby"&#160;coincides with&#160;International Family Equality Day.&#160;Newell and Mars are partnering with LGBT and family equality organizations worldwide to both host theatrical screenings and participate in a digital viewing parties. For more on the film and The Gayby Baby Project, <a href="http://thegaybyproject.com/" type="external">visit their website</a>.</p>
|
Australian school official banned this film about kids of gay parents, but you can stream it now
| false |
https://pri.org/stories/2016-05-01/australian-school-official-banned-film-about-kids-gay-parents-you-can-stream-it
|
2016-05-01
| 3left-center
|
Australian school official banned this film about kids of gay parents, but you can stream it now
<p>In August 2015, the Australian documentary <a href="http://thegaybyproject.com/" type="external">"Gayby Baby,"</a> which follows the stories of four children raised in same-sex families, made the front page of <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/burwood-girls-high-school-anger-over-gay-parenting-documentary-gayby-baby/news-story/3833febe90f5df2f19ea16ab3a8c5245" type="external">Sydney's Daily Telegraph</a> with the headline "Gay Class Uproar." Above it, the tagline read, "Parents outraged as Sydney school swaps lessons for PC movie session."</p>
<p>"When you get six phone calls from your publicist at 5 in the morning, something must be wrong," says director Maya Newell. Along with her former film school classmate, producer Charlotte Mars, she spent four years getting to know the families in the film.</p>
<p>"Gayby Baby," which will be available on streaming services May 1, is about Gus, an energetic 10-year-old whose mothers are concerned about his growing obsession with the hyper-macho world of wrestling; Ebony, 12, a talented singer who dreams of getting into a prestigious performing arts high school; 11-year-old Graham, a shy kid who was neglected by his birth parents and only now, with the help of his adoptive dads, is learning how to read; and Matt, a precocious 11-year-old who is questioning his mother's devout faith in God.</p>
<p>Director Newell, raised by lesbian parents herself — her biological father, a friend of her mom, donated sperm —&#160;remembers the impact the 2010 film <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0842926/" type="external">"The Kids Are All Right"</a> had on her. It was the first time she had ever seen a family resembling hers represented in the mainstream media. When she set out to make her own documentary feature, she wanted to shine the spotlight on the kids, whose voices are often left out of the often heated political debates surrounding gay marriage and adoption.</p>
<p>After "Gayby Baby" had its premiere at Canada's Hot Docs Film Festival, it only made sense to Newell and producer Mars that the kids in the film be able to share their stories with other kids their age. So they decided to host special previews of the film at schools before it was released in theaters. They worked with about 40 schools across Australia, including Newell's alma mater Burwood Girls High, and planned to screen it on Aug. 28, 2015, as part of the nationwide <a href="http://www.wearitpurple.org/" type="external">Wear It Purple Day</a> campaign, which&#160;promotes sexual acceptance among youth and raises awareness of anti-LGBT bullying.&#160;</p>
<p />
<p>The Daily Telegraph in Australia, Aug. 26, 2015</p>
<p>Also:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">What it's like to grow up a lesbian in Saudi Arabia</a></p>
<p>First-time feature filmmakers Newell and Mars quickly began receiving congratulations that their film was getting national attention.&#160;But they were horrified.</p>
<p>"There were kids that had never been bullied before, who were bullied that day at school because of that headline and what these politicians were saying," says Newell.</p>
<p>"You have the leadership deciding that our film does not belong in schools, which is effectively saying that our families don't belong there either," says Mars.</p>
<p>Most frustrating to the filmmakers was that it was coming from critics who they say hadn't seen the film and assumed it had&#160;a political agenda.</p>
<p />
<p>First-time feature filmmakers Maya Newell and Charlotte Mars quickly began receiving congratulations that their film was getting national attention, when a controversy erupted about screening the documentary in schools.&#160;In reality, they were horrified.</p>
<p>Courtesy of SUPERGRAVITY Pictures</p>
<p>"The question we often get as kids [of LGBT parents] is: 'What's it like being raised by two mums? How's it different?" says Newell. "And it's like, 'Different than what?' Like everything, some things are different and some things are the same."</p>
<p>Gus' parents don't like that their son play-wrestles his much younger sister to tears. They turn it into a conversation about how roughhousing is okay, but a type of masculinity that often mistreats women and queer people is not. Ebony's desire to get accepted to the performing arts school is partially motivated by her hope of being in an environment where her family will be accepted, but personal goals are put on a backburner as her baby brother's seizures land him in the hospital. Graham, who desperately wants to read so he can fit in with his new classmates, is being advised by his dads to lie about his fathers' relationship for fear of intolerance. Matt admits to his priest that one of the main reasons he's questioning God is because the Church tells him that his lesbian mothers are sinners.</p>
<p>According to <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/burwood-girls-high-school-anger-over-gay-parenting-documentary-gayby-baby/news-story/3833febe90f5df2f19ea16ab3a8c5245" type="external">the Daily Telegraph article</a>, parents were upset that their children were asked to wear purple, that they were asked to not only watch but support a documentary on gay parenting in place of regular classes.</p>
<p>“Schools are supposed to be neutral and cannot propagate a political view,” Presbyterian Minister Mark Powell said. Islamic spiritual leader Imam Mohammad Trad said he thinks the issue of gay parents should be a private conversation between parents and their children.</p>
<p>Despite the backlash, the "Gayby Baby" filmmakers have had many supporters along the way. Their initial crowdfunding campaign to make the film raised over $100,000, which, at the time, was the most any single film project had crowdfunded in Australia. After the controversy, high-profile supporters and politicians stood up for them, including Australian politician Penny Wong, who penned an op-ed for The Guardian.</p>
<p>"Talking about others’ sexuality or attacking 12 year olds are priorities for some, but it’s hard to comprehend how either could be more important than preventing bullying and keeping our children safe," <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/27/news-limited-should-watch-gayby-baby-they-might-learn-something-about-respect" type="external">wrote Wong</a>, who has two children with her lesbian partner. "I’d encourage them to turn down the outrage and watch the film. They might learn something from these kids about respect, love and tolerance."</p>
<p>Also:&#160; <a href="" type="internal">An Aboriginal comedy show in Australia finds a mainstream audience</a></p>
<p>Newell and Mars launched The Gayby Project, an outreach program in association with the film, which targets discriminatory legislation and aims to be an online resource that supports diverse families. In the last year, they've been privately showing their film to political power players hoping to help make change.</p>
<p>"The legislation is important, but it's just the first step," says Newell. "The next step is the cultural shift of how people perceive LGBT people and their families, and in many ways, that's much more difficult. But that's where storytelling really helps."</p>
<p>"When my mother came out, my grandmother was devastated because she thought it meant that her daughter would never have a family and that she would lead a lonely barren life," says Newell, who counts herself as part of a growing international community of "gayby boomers." "So one of the greatest responses we've had has been people who've come up to us and say that after watching the movie, they really wanted to start a family."</p>
<p>The&#160;May 1&#160;streaming video release of "Gayby Baby"&#160;coincides with&#160;International Family Equality Day.&#160;Newell and Mars are partnering with LGBT and family equality organizations worldwide to both host theatrical screenings and participate in a digital viewing parties. For more on the film and The Gayby Baby Project, <a href="http://thegaybyproject.com/" type="external">visit their website</a>.</p>
| 7,475 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired several rockets into the sea Saturday in the continuation of its rapid nuclear and missile expansion, prompting South Korea to press ahead with military drills involving U.S. troops that have angered Pyongyang.</p>
<p>The U.S. Pacific Command revised its initial assessment that the first and third short-range missiles failed during flight to say they flew about 250 kilometers (155 miles). It said that the second missile appears to have blown up immediately and that none posed threat to the U.S. territory of Guam, which the North had previously warned it would fire missiles toward.</p>
<p>South Korea’s presidential office and military said North Korea fired “several” projectiles in what was presumed as a test of its 300-millimeter rocket artillery system.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean military official who is now an analyst at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said that South Korean assessment doesn’t necessarily contradict the U.S. evaluation that the launches involved ballistic missiles. North Korea’s large-sized artillery rockets blur the boundaries between artillery systems and ballistic missiles because they create their own thrust and are guided during delivery, Kim said.</p>
<p>The presidential office in Seoul said the U.S. and South Korean militaries will proceed with their ongoing war games “even more thoroughly” in response to the launch. They are the first known missile firings since July, when the North successfully flight tested a pair of intercontinental ballistic missiles that analysts say could reach deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.</p>
<p>The White House said that President Donald Trump — who has warned that he would unleash “fire and fury” if the North continued its threats — was briefed on the latest North Korean activity and “we are monitoring the situation.”</p>
<p>The rival Koreas recently saw their always testy relationship get worse after Trump traded warlike threats. Saturday’s launch comes during an annual joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea that the North condemns as an invasion rehearsal, and weeks after Pyongyang threatened to lob missiles toward Guam.</p>
<p>North Korea had walked back from the threat to lob missiles toward Guam, but there had been concerns that hostility will flare up again during the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian drills between the allies that run through Aug. 31.</p>
<p>However, some experts say North Korea is now mainly focused on the bigger picture of testing its bargaining power against the United States with its new long-range missiles and likely has no interest in letting things get too tense during the drills. They say the North may limit its reactions to low-level provocations like artillery and short-range missile launches.</p>
<p>While the projectile that supposedly blew up immediately after launch was clearly a failure, Kim, the analyst, said the North with the other missiles could have been experimenting with developmental technologies or deliberately detonated the warheads at certain heights and locations. If the South Korean assessments are correct, the North might have conducted tests to expand the range of its 300-millimeter multiple rocket launchers, which are believed to have a radius of up to 200 kilometers (124 miles), Kim said.</p>
<p>North Korea’s state media earlier Saturday said that leader Kim Jong Un inspected a special operation forces training of the country’s army that simulated attacks on South Korean islands along the countries’ western sea border in what appeared to be in response to the ongoing U.S.-South Korea war games.</p>
<p>Kim reportedly told his troops that they “should think of mercilessly wiping out the enemy with arms only and occupying Seoul at one go and the southern half of Korea.”</p>
<p>The Korean Central News Agency said that the “target striking contest” involved war planes, multiple-rocket launchers and self-propelled guns that attacked targets meant to represent South Korea’s Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands before special operation combatants “landed by surprise” on rubber boats.</p>
<p>The border islands have occasionally seen military skirmishes between the rivals, including a North Korean artillery barrage on Yeonpyeong in 2010 that left two South Korean marines and two civilians dead.</p>
<p>In response to North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapons program, South Korea has been moving to strengthen its own capabilities, planning talks with the United States on raising the warhead limits on its missiles and taking steps to place additional launchers to a U.S. anti-missile defense system in the country’s southeast.</p>
<p>South Korea has also been testing new missiles of its own, including the 800-kilometer (497 mile)-range Hyunmoo-2. Although the missile has not been operationally deployed yet, it is considered a key component to the so-called “kill chain” pre-emptive strike capability the South is pursuing to cope with the North’s growing nuclear and missile threat.</p>
|
North Korea fires short-range missiles in latest test
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1053658/seoul-north-korea-fires-several-projectiles-to-sea.html
|
2017-08-25
| 2least
|
North Korea fires short-range missiles in latest test
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea fired several rockets into the sea Saturday in the continuation of its rapid nuclear and missile expansion, prompting South Korea to press ahead with military drills involving U.S. troops that have angered Pyongyang.</p>
<p>The U.S. Pacific Command revised its initial assessment that the first and third short-range missiles failed during flight to say they flew about 250 kilometers (155 miles). It said that the second missile appears to have blown up immediately and that none posed threat to the U.S. territory of Guam, which the North had previously warned it would fire missiles toward.</p>
<p>South Korea’s presidential office and military said North Korea fired “several” projectiles in what was presumed as a test of its 300-millimeter rocket artillery system.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Kim Dong-yub, a former South Korean military official who is now an analyst at Seoul’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies, said that South Korean assessment doesn’t necessarily contradict the U.S. evaluation that the launches involved ballistic missiles. North Korea’s large-sized artillery rockets blur the boundaries between artillery systems and ballistic missiles because they create their own thrust and are guided during delivery, Kim said.</p>
<p>The presidential office in Seoul said the U.S. and South Korean militaries will proceed with their ongoing war games “even more thoroughly” in response to the launch. They are the first known missile firings since July, when the North successfully flight tested a pair of intercontinental ballistic missiles that analysts say could reach deep into the U.S. mainland when perfected.</p>
<p>The White House said that President Donald Trump — who has warned that he would unleash “fire and fury” if the North continued its threats — was briefed on the latest North Korean activity and “we are monitoring the situation.”</p>
<p>The rival Koreas recently saw their always testy relationship get worse after Trump traded warlike threats. Saturday’s launch comes during an annual joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea that the North condemns as an invasion rehearsal, and weeks after Pyongyang threatened to lob missiles toward Guam.</p>
<p>North Korea had walked back from the threat to lob missiles toward Guam, but there had been concerns that hostility will flare up again during the Ulchi-Freedom Guardian drills between the allies that run through Aug. 31.</p>
<p>However, some experts say North Korea is now mainly focused on the bigger picture of testing its bargaining power against the United States with its new long-range missiles and likely has no interest in letting things get too tense during the drills. They say the North may limit its reactions to low-level provocations like artillery and short-range missile launches.</p>
<p>While the projectile that supposedly blew up immediately after launch was clearly a failure, Kim, the analyst, said the North with the other missiles could have been experimenting with developmental technologies or deliberately detonated the warheads at certain heights and locations. If the South Korean assessments are correct, the North might have conducted tests to expand the range of its 300-millimeter multiple rocket launchers, which are believed to have a radius of up to 200 kilometers (124 miles), Kim said.</p>
<p>North Korea’s state media earlier Saturday said that leader Kim Jong Un inspected a special operation forces training of the country’s army that simulated attacks on South Korean islands along the countries’ western sea border in what appeared to be in response to the ongoing U.S.-South Korea war games.</p>
<p>Kim reportedly told his troops that they “should think of mercilessly wiping out the enemy with arms only and occupying Seoul at one go and the southern half of Korea.”</p>
<p>The Korean Central News Agency said that the “target striking contest” involved war planes, multiple-rocket launchers and self-propelled guns that attacked targets meant to represent South Korea’s Baengnyeong and Yeonpyeong islands before special operation combatants “landed by surprise” on rubber boats.</p>
<p>The border islands have occasionally seen military skirmishes between the rivals, including a North Korean artillery barrage on Yeonpyeong in 2010 that left two South Korean marines and two civilians dead.</p>
<p>In response to North Korea’s expanding nuclear weapons program, South Korea has been moving to strengthen its own capabilities, planning talks with the United States on raising the warhead limits on its missiles and taking steps to place additional launchers to a U.S. anti-missile defense system in the country’s southeast.</p>
<p>South Korea has also been testing new missiles of its own, including the 800-kilometer (497 mile)-range Hyunmoo-2. Although the missile has not been operationally deployed yet, it is considered a key component to the so-called “kill chain” pre-emptive strike capability the South is pursuing to cope with the North’s growing nuclear and missile threat.</p>
| 7,476 |
<p>San Francisco Chronicle That's Jon Carroll's position. "This is all free speech, and this is all journalism," he says. "The stand-alone journalists are here, and they are digging out facts and leading crusades. They are also printing gossip and distorting facts -- but hey, so are we. It is about time that all the media folks began working together for the common good, defending reporters and bloggers in trouble and, by the way, outing our own when they mess up."</p>
|
Different legal standards for MSM and bloggers? Ludicrous!
| false |
https://poynter.org/news/different-legal-standards-msm-and-bloggers-ludicrous
|
2005-03-10
| 2least
|
Different legal standards for MSM and bloggers? Ludicrous!
<p>San Francisco Chronicle That's Jon Carroll's position. "This is all free speech, and this is all journalism," he says. "The stand-alone journalists are here, and they are digging out facts and leading crusades. They are also printing gossip and distorting facts -- but hey, so are we. It is about time that all the media folks began working together for the common good, defending reporters and bloggers in trouble and, by the way, outing our own when they mess up."</p>
| 7,477 |
<p>For students, teachers and administrators, the month of September is the beginning of the year, the time to set a new course. For Chicago’s public schools, this September ushers in a particularly ambitious new beginning. CEO Arne Duncan has unveiled an education plan that, for the first time, seeks to transform teaching to ensure that all students get “superior instructional programs” in “supportive school environments.” With the title “Every Child, Every School,” the Duncan plan echoes the spirit of “No Child Left Behind,” the federal government’s sweeping, though somewhat clumsy, effort to force schools to teach all children.</p>
<p>Drawn up by a University of Chicago researcher with scads of input from educators and academics, Duncan’s plan earnestly talks about helping everyone in the system do a better job. (In contrast, former CEO Paul Vallas’s vision often involved creating new programs for those people to implement.) The 60-page plan is bold in its restructuring of the lines of responsibility, installing a raft of new leaders in belt-tightening times.</p>
<p>Sadly, though, the report is thick with academic jargon and thin on plain English. Put into simpler terms, the plan might have been distributed to parents. Still, those who read it will learn, for instance, that teachers and principals have more opportunities to improve their professional skills. They will also learn that Duncan has decided to reorganize the district’s six regions into 24 instructional areas, each to be led by a highly-regarded former principal or educator. These new administrators will keep a more watchful eye on academic performance, and they will offer principals more support to improve classroom instruction. And beginning next spring, parents will have access to detailed analyses of their children’s performance and reports of overall student performance by teacher.</p>
<p>However they are expressed, such steps parallel the underlying mission of No Child, which envisions a new day and age for public schools. Teachers are expected to teach all children—and those children are expected to learn. Schools are expected to do better, and repercussions await those that don’t. At the same time, parents are expected to become more involved with their children’s academic life.</p>
<p>Grounded in sound educational values, Duncan’s plan is a good start. But he could save himself and the district unnecessary grief by communicating his admirable intentions better. As one staunch school improvement advocate put it, Duncan could use a wise uncle.</p>
<p>Someone who would pull him aside and help him understand the necessity of communicating effectively to parents, taxpayers and the business community. Most of them are already rooting for his success. Their support shouldn’t be undermined.</p>
<p>ABOUT US Our editorial advisory board welcomes five new members: Jody Becker, a reporter for WBEZ-FM Chicago’s public radio station; Shazia Miller, a researcher who also handles public outreach for the Consortium on Chicago School Research; Diana Nelson, director of public affairs for the Union League Club of Chicago; Luis Salces, president of LMS Communications; and Silvia Villa of the Chicago Teachers Center at Northeastern Illinois University.</p>
<p>We also extend heartfelt thanks two departing board members: Carolyn Nordstrom, who served a year as board chair, and Ari Munoz Contreras, a member for three years. Your insights and ideas helped us excel.</p>
<p>NEW RESOURCE Ever wonder how the most recent CPS reading test scores or attendance rates compare to those of five or ten years ago? A new feature on Catalyst’s web site will answer such questions. Citywide Data is a compilation of year-by-year school report card data, including student ISAT and ACT test scores, graduation rates, teacher salaries and demographics and much more. In some cases data are available back to 1986-87. We trust our visitors will find it useful.</p>
|
‘No Child,’ ‘Every Child’ on same track
| false |
http://chicagoreporter.com/no-child-every-child-same-track/
|
2005-07-28
| 3left-center
|
‘No Child,’ ‘Every Child’ on same track
<p>For students, teachers and administrators, the month of September is the beginning of the year, the time to set a new course. For Chicago’s public schools, this September ushers in a particularly ambitious new beginning. CEO Arne Duncan has unveiled an education plan that, for the first time, seeks to transform teaching to ensure that all students get “superior instructional programs” in “supportive school environments.” With the title “Every Child, Every School,” the Duncan plan echoes the spirit of “No Child Left Behind,” the federal government’s sweeping, though somewhat clumsy, effort to force schools to teach all children.</p>
<p>Drawn up by a University of Chicago researcher with scads of input from educators and academics, Duncan’s plan earnestly talks about helping everyone in the system do a better job. (In contrast, former CEO Paul Vallas’s vision often involved creating new programs for those people to implement.) The 60-page plan is bold in its restructuring of the lines of responsibility, installing a raft of new leaders in belt-tightening times.</p>
<p>Sadly, though, the report is thick with academic jargon and thin on plain English. Put into simpler terms, the plan might have been distributed to parents. Still, those who read it will learn, for instance, that teachers and principals have more opportunities to improve their professional skills. They will also learn that Duncan has decided to reorganize the district’s six regions into 24 instructional areas, each to be led by a highly-regarded former principal or educator. These new administrators will keep a more watchful eye on academic performance, and they will offer principals more support to improve classroom instruction. And beginning next spring, parents will have access to detailed analyses of their children’s performance and reports of overall student performance by teacher.</p>
<p>However they are expressed, such steps parallel the underlying mission of No Child, which envisions a new day and age for public schools. Teachers are expected to teach all children—and those children are expected to learn. Schools are expected to do better, and repercussions await those that don’t. At the same time, parents are expected to become more involved with their children’s academic life.</p>
<p>Grounded in sound educational values, Duncan’s plan is a good start. But he could save himself and the district unnecessary grief by communicating his admirable intentions better. As one staunch school improvement advocate put it, Duncan could use a wise uncle.</p>
<p>Someone who would pull him aside and help him understand the necessity of communicating effectively to parents, taxpayers and the business community. Most of them are already rooting for his success. Their support shouldn’t be undermined.</p>
<p>ABOUT US Our editorial advisory board welcomes five new members: Jody Becker, a reporter for WBEZ-FM Chicago’s public radio station; Shazia Miller, a researcher who also handles public outreach for the Consortium on Chicago School Research; Diana Nelson, director of public affairs for the Union League Club of Chicago; Luis Salces, president of LMS Communications; and Silvia Villa of the Chicago Teachers Center at Northeastern Illinois University.</p>
<p>We also extend heartfelt thanks two departing board members: Carolyn Nordstrom, who served a year as board chair, and Ari Munoz Contreras, a member for three years. Your insights and ideas helped us excel.</p>
<p>NEW RESOURCE Ever wonder how the most recent CPS reading test scores or attendance rates compare to those of five or ten years ago? A new feature on Catalyst’s web site will answer such questions. Citywide Data is a compilation of year-by-year school report card data, including student ISAT and ACT test scores, graduation rates, teacher salaries and demographics and much more. In some cases data are available back to 1986-87. We trust our visitors will find it useful.</p>
| 7,478 |
<p>WASHINGTON — <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Harrison-Barnes/" type="external">Harrison Barnes</a> scored 31 points as the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Dallas-Mavericks/" type="external">Dallas Mavericks</a>, owners of the NBA’s worst record, upset the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Washington-Wizards/" type="external">Washington Wizards</a> 113-99 on Tuesday night.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Dennis_Smith/" type="external">Dennis Smith</a> had 22 points and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Wesley_Matthews/" type="external">Wesley Matthews</a> 14 for the Mavericks, who had lost six games in a row and were winless in five previous road games.</p>
<p>Dallas (2-10) led 64-53 at halftime and by as many as 16 points in the second half. After Washington closed to within 90-88 with 9:09 remaining, the Mavericks pushed back with a 15-5 run.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/John_Wall/" type="external">John Wall</a> had 23 points and 14 assists for the Wizards (5-5) in his return to the lineup. Wall sat out Washington’s 107-96 win at Toronto on Sunday after injuring his left shoulder Friday in a home loss to the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Cleveland-Cavaliers/" type="external">Cleveland Cavaliers</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Bradley-Beal/" type="external">Bradley Beal</a> also scored 23 points for the Wizards.</p>
<p>Washington only shot 42.7 percent from the field against one of the league’s worst defenses and showed little resolve in its third consecutive home loss. The Wizards opened the season 3-0 but have lost five of seven.</p>
<p>Dallas hit 47.3 percent of its field-goal attempts.</p>
<p>Washington trailed 90-74 after Matthews sank a 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Wizards scored the next 14 points, capped by a four-point sequence as <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Dirk_Nowitzki/" type="external">Dirk Nowitzki</a> received a technical foul after <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Otto-Porter/" type="external">Otto Porter</a> converted a three-point play. Dallas scored the next five points and eventually led 104-91 with 4:19 left.</p>
<p>Dallas ranked 28th in scoring with 97.9 points per game, which made its first-half production surprising — except to Washington observers. The Wizards surrendered 122 and 130 points in home losses last week to the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Phoenix-Suns/" type="external">Phoenix Suns</a> and the Cavaliers.</p>
<p>The Mavericks entered Tuesday allowing opponents to sink 48 percent of their field-goal attempts while ranking 29th in hitting shots from the floor (42.0 percent).</p>
<p>Leading 36-34 after the first quarter, the Mavericks opened the second with a 9-0 run and eventually led 64-49. Barnes scored nine of 16 first-half points in the second quarter.</p>
<p>Playing with athletic tape on the injured shoulder, Wall had 19 points and nine assists in the first half.</p>
<p>Beal averaged 38 points in his previous three games.</p>
<p>NOTES: Dallas F Dorian Finney-Smith (left knee soreness) had five points in 16 minutes after sitting out the previous four games. … Wizards G John Wall made all eight of his free-throw attempts in the first quarter and finished 13 of 18. Wall missed 11 of 16 in his two previous games, including a 5-of-12 performance on Friday, when he injured his left shoulder. … Dallas is off until Saturday, when the Cleveland Cavaliers visit. … The Wizards close out their season series with the Lakers on Thursday. Los Angeles won the first meeting 102-99 in overtime on Oct. 25 after Washington blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.</p>
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Harrison Barnes, Dallas Mavericks rally past Washington Wizards
| false |
https://newsline.com/harrison-barnes-dallas-mavericks-rally-past-washington-wizards/
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2017-11-07
| 1right-center
|
Harrison Barnes, Dallas Mavericks rally past Washington Wizards
<p>WASHINGTON — <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Harrison-Barnes/" type="external">Harrison Barnes</a> scored 31 points as the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Dallas-Mavericks/" type="external">Dallas Mavericks</a>, owners of the NBA’s worst record, upset the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Washington-Wizards/" type="external">Washington Wizards</a> 113-99 on Tuesday night.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Dennis_Smith/" type="external">Dennis Smith</a> had 22 points and <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Wesley_Matthews/" type="external">Wesley Matthews</a> 14 for the Mavericks, who had lost six games in a row and were winless in five previous road games.</p>
<p>Dallas (2-10) led 64-53 at halftime and by as many as 16 points in the second half. After Washington closed to within 90-88 with 9:09 remaining, the Mavericks pushed back with a 15-5 run.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/John_Wall/" type="external">John Wall</a> had 23 points and 14 assists for the Wizards (5-5) in his return to the lineup. Wall sat out Washington’s 107-96 win at Toronto on Sunday after injuring his left shoulder Friday in a home loss to the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Cleveland-Cavaliers/" type="external">Cleveland Cavaliers</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Bradley-Beal/" type="external">Bradley Beal</a> also scored 23 points for the Wizards.</p>
<p>Washington only shot 42.7 percent from the field against one of the league’s worst defenses and showed little resolve in its third consecutive home loss. The Wizards opened the season 3-0 but have lost five of seven.</p>
<p>Dallas hit 47.3 percent of its field-goal attempts.</p>
<p>Washington trailed 90-74 after Matthews sank a 3-pointer with 55 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The Wizards scored the next 14 points, capped by a four-point sequence as <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Dirk_Nowitzki/" type="external">Dirk Nowitzki</a> received a technical foul after <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Otto-Porter/" type="external">Otto Porter</a> converted a three-point play. Dallas scored the next five points and eventually led 104-91 with 4:19 left.</p>
<p>Dallas ranked 28th in scoring with 97.9 points per game, which made its first-half production surprising — except to Washington observers. The Wizards surrendered 122 and 130 points in home losses last week to the <a href="https://www.upi.com/topic/Phoenix-Suns/" type="external">Phoenix Suns</a> and the Cavaliers.</p>
<p>The Mavericks entered Tuesday allowing opponents to sink 48 percent of their field-goal attempts while ranking 29th in hitting shots from the floor (42.0 percent).</p>
<p>Leading 36-34 after the first quarter, the Mavericks opened the second with a 9-0 run and eventually led 64-49. Barnes scored nine of 16 first-half points in the second quarter.</p>
<p>Playing with athletic tape on the injured shoulder, Wall had 19 points and nine assists in the first half.</p>
<p>Beal averaged 38 points in his previous three games.</p>
<p>NOTES: Dallas F Dorian Finney-Smith (left knee soreness) had five points in 16 minutes after sitting out the previous four games. … Wizards G John Wall made all eight of his free-throw attempts in the first quarter and finished 13 of 18. Wall missed 11 of 16 in his two previous games, including a 5-of-12 performance on Friday, when he injured his left shoulder. … Dallas is off until Saturday, when the Cleveland Cavaliers visit. … The Wizards close out their season series with the Lakers on Thursday. Los Angeles won the first meeting 102-99 in overtime on Oct. 25 after Washington blew a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.</p>
| 7,479 |
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<p>Because in addition to every letter sent being photographed, there are those hundreds of millions of phone records gathered by the National Security Agency since the Sept. 11 attacks. And the 34,000 surveillance requests made by the federal government, with just 11 rejected by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review in 33 years.</p>
<p>It puts those photos of Dear John letters and Christmas cards in a new light.</p>
<p>So it is appropriate the Senate is working to balance national security with accountability and efficacy, requiring in the defense spending bill that NSA give Congress the time frame, number and cost regarding the collection of phone records, as well as a list of potential terrorist attacks the data collections neutralize.</p>
<p>Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., is expanding that accountability with dual proposals to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, creating a Special Advocate with the power to argue on behalf of the right to privacy and other rights of the American people as well as reforming the judicial appointment process to ensure geographic and ideological diversity when it comes to questions of national security, privacy and liberty.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a co-sponsor, says “a group of judges operating in complete secret and issuing binding rulings based solely on the government’s arguments have made possible the sweeping surveillance authorities that the public only found out about two months ago. This court must be reformed to include an adversarial process where arguments for greater privacy protections can be offered alongside the government’s arguments for greater surveillance powers.”</p>
<p>Despite then-President George W. Bush’s claims of “Mission Accomplished” and President Barack Obama’s decree that the war on terror must at some point end, the weekend State Department closure of 21 embassies in the Muslim world in light of al-Qaeda threats shows counter-terrorism surveillance remains the new reality.</p>
<p>But under that reality, the Senate and Udall, a former prosecutor, are right to demand that Americans get “the assurance that their civil liberties are not being swept aside behind closed doors.”</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p>
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Editorial: Udall right, surveillance requires accountability
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/243355/udall-right-surveillance-requires-accountability.html
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2013-08-07
| 2least
|
Editorial: Udall right, surveillance requires accountability
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<p />
<p>Because in addition to every letter sent being photographed, there are those hundreds of millions of phone records gathered by the National Security Agency since the Sept. 11 attacks. And the 34,000 surveillance requests made by the federal government, with just 11 rejected by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review in 33 years.</p>
<p>It puts those photos of Dear John letters and Christmas cards in a new light.</p>
<p>So it is appropriate the Senate is working to balance national security with accountability and efficacy, requiring in the defense spending bill that NSA give Congress the time frame, number and cost regarding the collection of phone records, as well as a list of potential terrorist attacks the data collections neutralize.</p>
<p>Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., is expanding that accountability with dual proposals to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, creating a Special Advocate with the power to argue on behalf of the right to privacy and other rights of the American people as well as reforming the judicial appointment process to ensure geographic and ideological diversity when it comes to questions of national security, privacy and liberty.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., a co-sponsor, says “a group of judges operating in complete secret and issuing binding rulings based solely on the government’s arguments have made possible the sweeping surveillance authorities that the public only found out about two months ago. This court must be reformed to include an adversarial process where arguments for greater privacy protections can be offered alongside the government’s arguments for greater surveillance powers.”</p>
<p>Despite then-President George W. Bush’s claims of “Mission Accomplished” and President Barack Obama’s decree that the war on terror must at some point end, the weekend State Department closure of 21 embassies in the Muslim world in light of al-Qaeda threats shows counter-terrorism surveillance remains the new reality.</p>
<p>But under that reality, the Senate and Udall, a former prosecutor, are right to demand that Americans get “the assurance that their civil liberties are not being swept aside behind closed doors.”</p>
<p>This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.</p>
| 7,480 |
<p>Anyone taking a crash course in market theory these days is seeing downside risks aplenty.&#160; Market theory uses the term “correction” to describe the general system of a down.&#160; But if these downside risks become reality, are progressive organizers ready?&#160; So far, market theory merely describes downsides for investors.&#160; The point is to put it to work for a more progressive correction.</p>
<p>Prior to the August recess of 2009, state actors might have done something to alleviate the crush rather than postpone it.&#160; Instead, our policy machinery has been spinning away in bubble land.&#160; As Mike Whitney sez, “It’s been two years since the crisis began and nothing . . . NOTHING has been done to fix the banking system.”&#160; A public ethic that is prepared to anticipate and seize opportunities for correction might do some good work in displacing the gaps that policy leadership won’t close.</p>
<p>Of course, we should pray to be wrong when we forecast a hurricane headed our way.&#160; But we should also get busy making preparations – both individually and socially.&#160; What would a progressive response to depression look like?&#160; Food, shelter, utilities, health care, education, and opportunities for productive labor – these are a few items to get us started.&#160; We certainly won’t be allowed to forget the challenge of peace.</p>
<p>A progressive approach might begin by imagining the correction of workable relationships not yet displaced, whether they are public, nonprofit, cooperative, or profit-seeking.&#160; This notion of relationship correction is developed as a first response against popular images of crisis that divide reality into so many warring units of self-preservation.&#160; Individualistic – and usually well-armed – imaginations have striking cultural power.&#160; They are certainly the kinds of ideas that count for ‘original intent’ in the USA.</p>
<p>Grassroots progressive planning can help to grow another kind of imagination, but it won’t be the dream of all things collectivized.&#160; Transforming all relationships from private to public is not the same thing as making the world productive, ethical, or just.&#160; Versus agendas for complete nationalization on the one hand or complete privatization on the other, therefore, a progressive agenda might prepare some realistic guidelines for crisis planning that are corrective, liberating, and respectful of the workable past.</p>
<p>Grocery stores and department stores can deliver goods to market.&#160; Soup kitchens and homeless shelters can meet basic needs.&#160; Schools – with their lunchrooms, classrooms, and gyms – help people to grow in many ways.&#160; Progressive planning can try to keep these institutions functioning together even as they are – all of them – corrected.</p>
<p>By rehearsing progressive responses in advance of crisis it may be possible to prevent excesses of panic and conflict that we are just beginning to see.&#160; As some forms of assets continue to implode and take productive capacities down with them – putting people into frightened and frightening moods – we might focus on assets that can be preserved, reconstructed, reorganized, and even extended nevertheless.&#160; Already some voices are talking of depression as re-education.&#160; We might think of a great depression as a great teacher and then throw ourselves into the learning and unlearning that great education requires.</p>
<p>Against the already growing conflicts between one-sided responses, I think progressive plans for depression might anticipate the blame game.&#160; One side is prepared to blame socialism.&#160; Another side will blame capitalist greed.&#160; Progressive reformers can perhaps strike a mediating position that looks for corrections both in the buildup and misuse of state power and in the pursuit of market growth.&#160; While some voices would have us learn the neglected value of personal responsibility, others will encourage nurturing communal interdependence.&#160; A progressive agenda might remind both sides how neither can speak the whole truth.</p>
<p>On questions of capital, I have been drawn to San Francisco economist Henry George because of the way he thinks about public and private coordination.&#160; He has a strong sense of public responsibility and a keen respect for entrepreneurial talent.&#160; A progressive approach to corrections in capital development would be neither public nor private en bloc.&#160; Our right to commons does not have to overturn our right to private properties – or vice versa.</p>
<p>Right wingers focus on workers’ dependence upon capital growth and earnings, while left wingers point out there can be no capital without labor first.&#160; A progressive agenda schooled in market theory might be able to transform these colliding interests into a more humane and more flexible economy.&#160; Capital is like seedcorn as right wingers claim, because capital contributes to next year’s harvest.&#160; But capital is also something very different from seedcorn, as left-wingers can demonstrate, because the collective organization typically demanded by capitalists prevents actual harvesters of seedcorn from calling it their own next year.</p>
<p>Perhaps the great opportunity of the correction challenge is to work out a more progressive approach to the relationship between capital and labor such that the seedcorn we all help to harvest throughout the work-day is treated as a resource worthy of intense public concern.&#160; This doesn’t necessarily mean that capital is taken out of private hands, but it does mean that private holders of returns on investment have real obligations to the social labor that makes all earnings possible.</p>
<p>It can’t hurt to deliberate progressive plans and principles for a coming correction.&#160; Even if the crisis never comes, the exercise will help us to discover how real peace can be fought for.</p>
<p>GREG MOSES is editor of the Texas Civil Rights Review and author of <a href="" type="internal">Revolution of Conscience: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Philosophy of Nonviolence</a>. He is a contributor to <a href="" type="internal">Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in the Heartland</a>, published by AK Press. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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Time to Plan for the Worst
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2009/08/11/time-to-plan-for-the-worst/
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2009-08-11
| 4left
|
Time to Plan for the Worst
<p>Anyone taking a crash course in market theory these days is seeing downside risks aplenty.&#160; Market theory uses the term “correction” to describe the general system of a down.&#160; But if these downside risks become reality, are progressive organizers ready?&#160; So far, market theory merely describes downsides for investors.&#160; The point is to put it to work for a more progressive correction.</p>
<p>Prior to the August recess of 2009, state actors might have done something to alleviate the crush rather than postpone it.&#160; Instead, our policy machinery has been spinning away in bubble land.&#160; As Mike Whitney sez, “It’s been two years since the crisis began and nothing . . . NOTHING has been done to fix the banking system.”&#160; A public ethic that is prepared to anticipate and seize opportunities for correction might do some good work in displacing the gaps that policy leadership won’t close.</p>
<p>Of course, we should pray to be wrong when we forecast a hurricane headed our way.&#160; But we should also get busy making preparations – both individually and socially.&#160; What would a progressive response to depression look like?&#160; Food, shelter, utilities, health care, education, and opportunities for productive labor – these are a few items to get us started.&#160; We certainly won’t be allowed to forget the challenge of peace.</p>
<p>A progressive approach might begin by imagining the correction of workable relationships not yet displaced, whether they are public, nonprofit, cooperative, or profit-seeking.&#160; This notion of relationship correction is developed as a first response against popular images of crisis that divide reality into so many warring units of self-preservation.&#160; Individualistic – and usually well-armed – imaginations have striking cultural power.&#160; They are certainly the kinds of ideas that count for ‘original intent’ in the USA.</p>
<p>Grassroots progressive planning can help to grow another kind of imagination, but it won’t be the dream of all things collectivized.&#160; Transforming all relationships from private to public is not the same thing as making the world productive, ethical, or just.&#160; Versus agendas for complete nationalization on the one hand or complete privatization on the other, therefore, a progressive agenda might prepare some realistic guidelines for crisis planning that are corrective, liberating, and respectful of the workable past.</p>
<p>Grocery stores and department stores can deliver goods to market.&#160; Soup kitchens and homeless shelters can meet basic needs.&#160; Schools – with their lunchrooms, classrooms, and gyms – help people to grow in many ways.&#160; Progressive planning can try to keep these institutions functioning together even as they are – all of them – corrected.</p>
<p>By rehearsing progressive responses in advance of crisis it may be possible to prevent excesses of panic and conflict that we are just beginning to see.&#160; As some forms of assets continue to implode and take productive capacities down with them – putting people into frightened and frightening moods – we might focus on assets that can be preserved, reconstructed, reorganized, and even extended nevertheless.&#160; Already some voices are talking of depression as re-education.&#160; We might think of a great depression as a great teacher and then throw ourselves into the learning and unlearning that great education requires.</p>
<p>Against the already growing conflicts between one-sided responses, I think progressive plans for depression might anticipate the blame game.&#160; One side is prepared to blame socialism.&#160; Another side will blame capitalist greed.&#160; Progressive reformers can perhaps strike a mediating position that looks for corrections both in the buildup and misuse of state power and in the pursuit of market growth.&#160; While some voices would have us learn the neglected value of personal responsibility, others will encourage nurturing communal interdependence.&#160; A progressive agenda might remind both sides how neither can speak the whole truth.</p>
<p>On questions of capital, I have been drawn to San Francisco economist Henry George because of the way he thinks about public and private coordination.&#160; He has a strong sense of public responsibility and a keen respect for entrepreneurial talent.&#160; A progressive approach to corrections in capital development would be neither public nor private en bloc.&#160; Our right to commons does not have to overturn our right to private properties – or vice versa.</p>
<p>Right wingers focus on workers’ dependence upon capital growth and earnings, while left wingers point out there can be no capital without labor first.&#160; A progressive agenda schooled in market theory might be able to transform these colliding interests into a more humane and more flexible economy.&#160; Capital is like seedcorn as right wingers claim, because capital contributes to next year’s harvest.&#160; But capital is also something very different from seedcorn, as left-wingers can demonstrate, because the collective organization typically demanded by capitalists prevents actual harvesters of seedcorn from calling it their own next year.</p>
<p>Perhaps the great opportunity of the correction challenge is to work out a more progressive approach to the relationship between capital and labor such that the seedcorn we all help to harvest throughout the work-day is treated as a resource worthy of intense public concern.&#160; This doesn’t necessarily mean that capital is taken out of private hands, but it does mean that private holders of returns on investment have real obligations to the social labor that makes all earnings possible.</p>
<p>It can’t hurt to deliberate progressive plans and principles for a coming correction.&#160; Even if the crisis never comes, the exercise will help us to discover how real peace can be fought for.</p>
<p>GREG MOSES is editor of the Texas Civil Rights Review and author of <a href="" type="internal">Revolution of Conscience: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Philosophy of Nonviolence</a>. He is a contributor to <a href="" type="internal">Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in the Heartland</a>, published by AK Press. He can be reached at: <a href="mailto:[email protected]" type="external">[email protected]</a></p>
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| 7,481 |
<p>The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday that Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Citigroup Global Markets will pay more than $2.96 million each to settle charges that they made false and misleading statements to investors about a foreign exchange trading program product. Registered representatives at both firms sold a foreign exchange trading program known as "CitiFX Alpha" to Morgan Stanley customers from August 2010 to July 2011, according to the SEC. Citigroup held a 49% ownership interest in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney at the time. The SEC complaint says the sales personnel used the program's past performance and risk metrics in investor presentations. They also failed to adequately disclose that investors could be required to borrow more than advertised to participate and that markups would be charged on each trade. Investors suffered significant losses as a result of the undisclosed leverage and hidden markups, says the SEC. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup did not admit or deny the findings but each agreed to pay a penalty of $2.25 million, to give back profits of $624 thousand and pay interest of $89 thousand.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
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SEC Charges Morgan Stanley, Citigroup With Misleading Forex Investors
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2017/01/24/sec-charges-morgan-stanley-citigroup-with-misleading-forex-investors.html
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2017-01-24
| 0right
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SEC Charges Morgan Stanley, Citigroup With Misleading Forex Investors
<p>The Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday that Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Citigroup Global Markets will pay more than $2.96 million each to settle charges that they made false and misleading statements to investors about a foreign exchange trading program product. Registered representatives at both firms sold a foreign exchange trading program known as "CitiFX Alpha" to Morgan Stanley customers from August 2010 to July 2011, according to the SEC. Citigroup held a 49% ownership interest in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney at the time. The SEC complaint says the sales personnel used the program's past performance and risk metrics in investor presentations. They also failed to adequately disclose that investors could be required to borrow more than advertised to participate and that markups would be charged on each trade. Investors suffered significant losses as a result of the undisclosed leverage and hidden markups, says the SEC. Morgan Stanley and Citigroup did not admit or deny the findings but each agreed to pay a penalty of $2.25 million, to give back profits of $624 thousand and pay interest of $89 thousand.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2017 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
| 7,482 |
<p>Neither President Trump nor any of his economic advisers appear to have heard of, let alone be worried about, the Triffin Dilemma. But Mr. Trump’s economic and trade policies will fail unless he finds a solution to the dilemma—the inherent incompatibility, in a reserve-currency country, of domestic policy with the international monetary order.</p>
<p>A gold or other precious-metal standard prevents the financing of budget deficits through the monetary system. When America had a gold or silver standard, the federal budget ran an annual surplus averaging 0.4% of gross domestic product; when it hasn’t, the average deficit has been 2.7%. Similarly, from 1979-2015, U.S. state governments—which cannot print money—averaged budget deficits of 0.3% of GDP, while in the same economy the federal deficit averaged 3.3%. There has been no long-term inflation under the gold or silver standard in American history; substantial inflation (or deflation) has occurred only with paper money.</p>
<p>The move away from precious metals began more than a century ago. John Maynard Keynes argued in 1913 that whether a monetary authority holds gold or foreign-exchange reserves “is a matter of comparative indifference.” Colonial India’s “Gold-Exchange Standard,” he wrote, “far from being anomalous, is in the forefront of monetary progress” toward what he called “the ideal currency of the future.” British experts succeeded in promoting foreign-exchange reserves at the 1922 Genoa Conference, to forestall redemption of British World War I debts in gold. That ended the international gold standard born in Genoa in the 1440s, after the Hundred Years War.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>(Click to enlarge image)</p>
<p>The French economist Jacques Rueff explained in 1932 why the gold-sterling-dollar standard had collapsed: With the creation of—for example—dollar reserves, purchasing power “has simply been duplicated, and thus the American market is in a position to buy in Europe, and in the United States, at the same time.” Hence the purchase of dollar reserves causes inflation (and the sale of dollar reserves, deflation) for countries with currencies tied to the reserve currency. Moreover, the credit duplication makes prices rise faster in the reserve-currency country, causing its goods to be uncompetitive and turning it from an international creditor to a debtor.</p>
<p>The post-World War II Bretton Woods gold-dollar-exchange standard broke down in 1968-71, for essentially the same reasons that had caused the interwar gold-sterling-dollar standard to collapse. Since 1971, international payments have been made chiefly in paper dollars.</p>
<p>Thus the Triffin Dilemma, named for Belgian-American economist Robert Triffin. National income (or output) is the sum of private consumption, private investment, government consumption, government investment, and net exports. Many economists wrongly assume that total world net exports must equal zero, but in fact countries participating in the international gold standard had combined net exports equal to the total increase in world gold reserves (which in turn approximated world gold exports). As a result, world monetary policy was countercyclical: When the prices of other goods fell, the profitability of gold mining rose.</p>
<p>Triffin showed that a monetary system based on a reserve currency is unsustainable, since foreign official dollar reserves (for example) are acquired and must be repaid in goods. In other words, the increase in official dollar reserves equals the net exports of the rest of the world, which means it must also equal U.S. international payments deficits—an unsustainable situation.</p>
<p>As the nearby chart shows, the cost of German manufactured goods has roughly tripled since 1955, but the cost of American manufactured goods has more than sextupled. That is why U.S. trade and budget deficits will be impervious to any Trump administration “deals” that focus on trade rather than monetary reform.</p>
<p>There are three main alternative solutions to the Triffin Dilemma:</p>
<p>First, muddle along under the current “dollar standard,” a position supported by resigned foreigners and some nostalgic Americans—among them Bryan Riley and William Wilson at the Heritage Foundation and James Pethokoukis at the American Enterprise Institute.</p>
<p>Second, turn the International Monetary Fund into a world central bank issuing paper (e.g., special drawing rights) reserves—as proposed in 1943 by Keynes, since the 1960s by Robert A. Mundell, and in 2009 by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China. Drawbacks: This kind of standard is highly political and the allocation of special drawing rights essentially arbitrary, since the IMF produces no goods.</p>
<p>Third, adopt a modernized international gold standard, as proposed in the 1960s by Rueff and in 1984 by his protégé Lewis E. Lehrman, writing on this page, and then-Rep. Jack Kemp.</p>
<p>The stakes are high. The Great Depression began with the collapse of the interwar monetary system in 1929-32, aggravated by the trade war that America’s Smoot-Hawley tariff triggered. Ironically, if Mr. Trump ignores the Triffin Dilemma, he will perforce promote the cosmopolitan crony capitalism by which the Clinton Foundation stuffed itself with so much cash from America’s client-states.</p>
<p>Mr. Trump’s own nostrum of trade protectionism is an understandable but easily exploded fallacy. The current account (the broadest measure of the trade balance) must equal the excess of national saving over investment. Therefore, while tariffs can curb imports, they cannot increase the trade balance, because they don’t affect the saving-investment balance; instead, they cause the currency to rise and exports to fall.</p>
<p>From 1971 through 2015, U.S. current account deficits totaled 93% of GDP because of the Triffin Dilemma: The increase in dollar reserves must equal the rest of the world’s surplus (and America’s deficits) in net exports. Perhaps it would take a deal-maker in Alexander Hamilton’s league to end the exorbitant burden of the dollar’s reserve-currency role and replace it with the only monetary standard that has worked in American or world history: gold.</p>
<p>Mr. Mueller directs the economics and ethics program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.</p>
|
Trump’s Real Trade Problem Is Money
| false |
https://eppc.org/publications/trumps-real-trade-problem-is-money/
| 1right-center
|
Trump’s Real Trade Problem Is Money
<p>Neither President Trump nor any of his economic advisers appear to have heard of, let alone be worried about, the Triffin Dilemma. But Mr. Trump’s economic and trade policies will fail unless he finds a solution to the dilemma—the inherent incompatibility, in a reserve-currency country, of domestic policy with the international monetary order.</p>
<p>A gold or other precious-metal standard prevents the financing of budget deficits through the monetary system. When America had a gold or silver standard, the federal budget ran an annual surplus averaging 0.4% of gross domestic product; when it hasn’t, the average deficit has been 2.7%. Similarly, from 1979-2015, U.S. state governments—which cannot print money—averaged budget deficits of 0.3% of GDP, while in the same economy the federal deficit averaged 3.3%. There has been no long-term inflation under the gold or silver standard in American history; substantial inflation (or deflation) has occurred only with paper money.</p>
<p>The move away from precious metals began more than a century ago. John Maynard Keynes argued in 1913 that whether a monetary authority holds gold or foreign-exchange reserves “is a matter of comparative indifference.” Colonial India’s “Gold-Exchange Standard,” he wrote, “far from being anomalous, is in the forefront of monetary progress” toward what he called “the ideal currency of the future.” British experts succeeded in promoting foreign-exchange reserves at the 1922 Genoa Conference, to forestall redemption of British World War I debts in gold. That ended the international gold standard born in Genoa in the 1440s, after the Hundred Years War.</p>
<p><a href="" type="internal" /></p>
<p>(Click to enlarge image)</p>
<p>The French economist Jacques Rueff explained in 1932 why the gold-sterling-dollar standard had collapsed: With the creation of—for example—dollar reserves, purchasing power “has simply been duplicated, and thus the American market is in a position to buy in Europe, and in the United States, at the same time.” Hence the purchase of dollar reserves causes inflation (and the sale of dollar reserves, deflation) for countries with currencies tied to the reserve currency. Moreover, the credit duplication makes prices rise faster in the reserve-currency country, causing its goods to be uncompetitive and turning it from an international creditor to a debtor.</p>
<p>The post-World War II Bretton Woods gold-dollar-exchange standard broke down in 1968-71, for essentially the same reasons that had caused the interwar gold-sterling-dollar standard to collapse. Since 1971, international payments have been made chiefly in paper dollars.</p>
<p>Thus the Triffin Dilemma, named for Belgian-American economist Robert Triffin. National income (or output) is the sum of private consumption, private investment, government consumption, government investment, and net exports. Many economists wrongly assume that total world net exports must equal zero, but in fact countries participating in the international gold standard had combined net exports equal to the total increase in world gold reserves (which in turn approximated world gold exports). As a result, world monetary policy was countercyclical: When the prices of other goods fell, the profitability of gold mining rose.</p>
<p>Triffin showed that a monetary system based on a reserve currency is unsustainable, since foreign official dollar reserves (for example) are acquired and must be repaid in goods. In other words, the increase in official dollar reserves equals the net exports of the rest of the world, which means it must also equal U.S. international payments deficits—an unsustainable situation.</p>
<p>As the nearby chart shows, the cost of German manufactured goods has roughly tripled since 1955, but the cost of American manufactured goods has more than sextupled. That is why U.S. trade and budget deficits will be impervious to any Trump administration “deals” that focus on trade rather than monetary reform.</p>
<p>There are three main alternative solutions to the Triffin Dilemma:</p>
<p>First, muddle along under the current “dollar standard,” a position supported by resigned foreigners and some nostalgic Americans—among them Bryan Riley and William Wilson at the Heritage Foundation and James Pethokoukis at the American Enterprise Institute.</p>
<p>Second, turn the International Monetary Fund into a world central bank issuing paper (e.g., special drawing rights) reserves—as proposed in 1943 by Keynes, since the 1960s by Robert A. Mundell, and in 2009 by Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People’s Bank of China. Drawbacks: This kind of standard is highly political and the allocation of special drawing rights essentially arbitrary, since the IMF produces no goods.</p>
<p>Third, adopt a modernized international gold standard, as proposed in the 1960s by Rueff and in 1984 by his protégé Lewis E. Lehrman, writing on this page, and then-Rep. Jack Kemp.</p>
<p>The stakes are high. The Great Depression began with the collapse of the interwar monetary system in 1929-32, aggravated by the trade war that America’s Smoot-Hawley tariff triggered. Ironically, if Mr. Trump ignores the Triffin Dilemma, he will perforce promote the cosmopolitan crony capitalism by which the Clinton Foundation stuffed itself with so much cash from America’s client-states.</p>
<p>Mr. Trump’s own nostrum of trade protectionism is an understandable but easily exploded fallacy. The current account (the broadest measure of the trade balance) must equal the excess of national saving over investment. Therefore, while tariffs can curb imports, they cannot increase the trade balance, because they don’t affect the saving-investment balance; instead, they cause the currency to rise and exports to fall.</p>
<p>From 1971 through 2015, U.S. current account deficits totaled 93% of GDP because of the Triffin Dilemma: The increase in dollar reserves must equal the rest of the world’s surplus (and America’s deficits) in net exports. Perhaps it would take a deal-maker in Alexander Hamilton’s league to end the exorbitant burden of the dollar’s reserve-currency role and replace it with the only monetary standard that has worked in American or world history: gold.</p>
<p>Mr. Mueller directs the economics and ethics program at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.</p>
| 7,483 |
|
<p>“War is the health of the state.”</p>
<p>— Randolph Bourne</p>
<p>Actually, two ghost stories.&#160; They’re the twin semi-invisible specters hanging over our “peace and justice”&#160;movement that’s hardly moving at all.</p>
<p>One spook is that many if not most of us are part of a socially deaf, educated elite miles and miles above the&#160;cries of rage and pain of America’s Trump-voting deplorables.</p>
<p>The second ghost is much harder to grapple with, which is that for nearly 100 years our welfare benefits&#160;have been paid for by our either selling or aggressively using war goods.</p>
<p>We give to ourselves with one hand and kill foreigners with the other.</p>
<p>It’s built into the system.</p>
<p>A poignant example: Uncle Bernie Sanders, who we all (well, almost all) love, is an anti-war socialist, right?&#160;&#160;He voted against Bush’s Iraq invasion even though he helped lay the philosophic groundwork in Congress&#160;with speeches urging Saddam Hussein’s overthrow (See <a href="https://store.counterpunch.org/product/bernie-the-sandernistas/" type="external">Bernie and the Sandernistas</a>), but let that pass, we don’t want a politician without contradictions, do we?</p>
<p>Bernie is aggressively pushing to keep in his Burlington, Vermont constituency the 1.3 billion dollar Lockheed Martin&#160;F-35 “stealth” fighter, a fearsome if catastrophically failed war plane.&#160; Lobbying for the F-35 means 1400 badly&#160;needed jobs in a small state.&#160; Don’t say hypocrisy, say South Carolina which is trying to muscle Bernie out of the F35 picture.</p>
<p>“War is the health of…Vermont?”</p>
<p>It’s a rarely challenged truism that money spent on the Vietnam war scuttled Lyndon Johnson’s ambitious “Great Society”&#160;program against poverty and racial injustice.</p>
<p>Let’s look at it the other way round: that the money spent on &#160;pouring “social funds” into Brown&amp;Root, Halliburton,&#160;Dow Chemical (napalm), Monsanto &#160;(agent Orange), Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Bechtel&#160;functioned to keep American workers in their jobs at liveable wages.</p>
<p>The connection between how we live and who we kill is a ghost that has haunted us for a long time.&#160; Eventually we pay &#160;the cost in 9/11 and ISIS terror and, at several removes, the mass migrations from Africa and Asia.</p>
<p>Just because connections are hard to “prove” doesn’t mean they don’t exist and will come out of the dark closet whenever they please.</p>
|
A Christmas Ghost Story
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2016/12/29/a-christmas-ghost-story/
|
2016-12-29
| 4left
|
A Christmas Ghost Story
<p>“War is the health of the state.”</p>
<p>— Randolph Bourne</p>
<p>Actually, two ghost stories.&#160; They’re the twin semi-invisible specters hanging over our “peace and justice”&#160;movement that’s hardly moving at all.</p>
<p>One spook is that many if not most of us are part of a socially deaf, educated elite miles and miles above the&#160;cries of rage and pain of America’s Trump-voting deplorables.</p>
<p>The second ghost is much harder to grapple with, which is that for nearly 100 years our welfare benefits&#160;have been paid for by our either selling or aggressively using war goods.</p>
<p>We give to ourselves with one hand and kill foreigners with the other.</p>
<p>It’s built into the system.</p>
<p>A poignant example: Uncle Bernie Sanders, who we all (well, almost all) love, is an anti-war socialist, right?&#160;&#160;He voted against Bush’s Iraq invasion even though he helped lay the philosophic groundwork in Congress&#160;with speeches urging Saddam Hussein’s overthrow (See <a href="https://store.counterpunch.org/product/bernie-the-sandernistas/" type="external">Bernie and the Sandernistas</a>), but let that pass, we don’t want a politician without contradictions, do we?</p>
<p>Bernie is aggressively pushing to keep in his Burlington, Vermont constituency the 1.3 billion dollar Lockheed Martin&#160;F-35 “stealth” fighter, a fearsome if catastrophically failed war plane.&#160; Lobbying for the F-35 means 1400 badly&#160;needed jobs in a small state.&#160; Don’t say hypocrisy, say South Carolina which is trying to muscle Bernie out of the F35 picture.</p>
<p>“War is the health of…Vermont?”</p>
<p>It’s a rarely challenged truism that money spent on the Vietnam war scuttled Lyndon Johnson’s ambitious “Great Society”&#160;program against poverty and racial injustice.</p>
<p>Let’s look at it the other way round: that the money spent on &#160;pouring “social funds” into Brown&amp;Root, Halliburton,&#160;Dow Chemical (napalm), Monsanto &#160;(agent Orange), Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Bechtel&#160;functioned to keep American workers in their jobs at liveable wages.</p>
<p>The connection between how we live and who we kill is a ghost that has haunted us for a long time.&#160; Eventually we pay &#160;the cost in 9/11 and ISIS terror and, at several removes, the mass migrations from Africa and Asia.</p>
<p>Just because connections are hard to “prove” doesn’t mean they don’t exist and will come out of the dark closet whenever they please.</p>
| 7,484 |
<p>Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. has appointed Paul Herendeen as its new chief financial officer, the Canadian company said in a statement Monday. Herendeen, who will take over from Robert Rosiello immediately, was previously CFO at animal health company Zoetis Inc. Rosiello will remain with Valeant as head of corporate development and strategy.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
|
Valeant Names Paul Herendeen As New CFO
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/22/valeant-names-paul-herendeen-as-new-cfo.html
|
2016-08-22
| 0right
|
Valeant Names Paul Herendeen As New CFO
<p>Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. has appointed Paul Herendeen as its new chief financial officer, the Canadian company said in a statement Monday. Herendeen, who will take over from Robert Rosiello immediately, was previously CFO at animal health company Zoetis Inc. Rosiello will remain with Valeant as head of corporate development and strategy.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
| 7,485 |
<p />
<p>As the time seems ripe,&#160;we revisit here&#160;Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert’s (R) much ridiculed&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Uranium One chart&#160;</a>presented at The House Judiciary Committee Committee Oversight hearing on November 14, 2017.</p>
<p>Just prior to this hearing at a November 7th press conference, Gohmert had argued for Independent Counsel Robert Mueller’s dismissal on the grounds that he was, “engaged in the cover-up of the initial Russian investigation that revealed Russia was trying to corner the market on uranium.”</p>
<p>Demands for Mueller’s dismissal have come from a variety of sources.&#160;In a November 9th&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Fox News interview</a>, Congressman Jim Jordan echoed his Texas colleague, saying, “Robert Mueller, I think, in light of what we’ve also recently learned, relative to the Uranium One Deal, surely seems a bit compromised to me.”</p>
<p>As for the chart, even Stephen Colbert took a satiric swing. Colbert, by the way, is the same guy who ridiculed President Trump for tweeting he’d been wiretapped by his predecessor at Trump Tower. Guffaw, guffaw. (“This is a serious allegation. This may be the most serious allegation any President has ever made against a previous President”; see 2:23&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LVfi3NInsg" type="external">here</a>).</p>
<p>Colbert’s right for once. The wiretap allegation is off-the-charts serious. It’s even more off-the-charts because Obama&#160;did&#160;wiretap Trump. We await the vetted contrition monologue from Little Stevie’s Operation Mockingbird handlers. Stay tuned.</p>
<p>The devil lies not in the details or in a gleeful picking apart of the chart’s spaghetti loops and half-nelsons, though its detractors had great fun doing just that. Like the Nazca lines, the true import of the chart strikes the observer at the highest altitudes, in its powerful conveyance of the sprawling immensity of an interlocking corruption that seemed to travel in a business-as-usual manner with the day-to-day workings of the Obama Administration.</p>
<p>While the rightful focus of concern and alarm should be (and&#160;will be&#160;increasingly in the coming weeks and months) focused on the Obama/Clinton end of Russian collusion and more, misgivings are not easily dispelled (for this writer) that the real, long-term problem for the Republic is systemic, not episodic or of narrow political motive.</p>
<p>Now that the Deep State has been compelled, out of a heightened sense of self-preservation, to surface for the knife fight of its life, partisanship resembles more of the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Quigley</a>-esque sham that it always was. Let’s keep it simple. Practically everyone with a stake in power regardless of party affiliation (what&#160; <a href="https://theconservativetreehouse.com/" type="external">The Conservative Treehouse</a>&#160;has taken to calling&#160;the Uniparty) sans perhaps the military and Admiral Rogers’ NSA is arrayed against Trump.</p>
<p>Trump is an interloper who parachuted in. Whereas the rest of them spent years on their backs atop lobbyist-installed mattresses getting to where they got. Make no mistake. Ryan and McConnell hate Trump with a venom (born of self-loathing) that exceeds the Democratic leadership’s less covert disdain.</p>
<p>However, transcending even this epic struggle is the reality that influence-peddling has become the oxygen that makes things go. Institutional trespasses have been committed whose precedential gravity (in a cultural sense) are not easily undone. No one wants to see the whole Obama-Clinton in leg-irons more than this writer. Without doubt, they were delivering us into a globalist hellhole. However globalism is a millennia-long project. While Trumpism might succeed as a powerful cleansing agent, the salutary effects will be short-lived. This obligates us no less to pursue them.</p>
<p>Fortunately for us, the particular flavor of hubris we faced was self-congratulatory overconfidence. They thought they’d already reached home-base where treason and sedition no longer applied. In fact they were only on third base and Trump tagged them out. How else to explain their gratuitous carelessness, the endless reams of emails and messages? And may we say, thank G-d for those endless reams.</p>
<p>Nor should the aggressive prosecution of crimes be hindered in the least by the concern similar crimes are bound to be committed in the future by a system that is, sadly, wed to malfeasance of one sort or another. That would be ridiculous.</p>
<p>Still, in some troubling sense, the System&#160;has become&#160;the Conspiracy. The Disease&#160;has become&#160;the Patient. Justice is asymmetrically surrounded and opposed by an ethos of evil. Without doubt, the only effective cure will be one that nearly the kills the patient. Is the nation ready for this? We need a Truth and Reconciliation process so wrenching, so soul-searching and so universally accusatory that it risks the very real prospect of civil war. Nothing less will do.</p>
<p>After arguing away the chart’s details, it’s time to summon one back. That’s Robert Mueller, surprise, surprise. The Congressmen are right to belabor his profound unsuitability. For, more than anyone else (the others have by and large relinquished formal power) he still exerts profound influence over the course of the nation’s business and future. (Mueller’s name can be found on the upper-right-hand-side of the chart.)</p>
<p>First, there’s the obvious. How can an active participant in a potentially criminal enterprise be trusted to beat the truth out of himself no matter where that truth might lead, while simultaneously conducting the business of Independent Counsel over the same potentially criminal enterprise? Is Mueller capable of asking Mueller, perhaps with the assistance of his shaving mirror,&#160;What did I/you know and when did I/you know it?&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Finally, if the Sessions recusal does little more than inject yet another layer of potential compromise, how has the process benefited from the recusal? An IC appointment should shed conflicts, not pile more on.</p>
<p>But wait. Perhaps we fret in vain.</p>
<p>While many may question Mueller’s ability to render a&#160;comprehensive Russian collusion investigation in all its trans-party, myriad permutations, is he technically compromised, in this instance, from fulfilling what amounts to a rather narrow mandate as Special Counsel?</p>
<p>That answer appears to be&#160;no,&#160;provided one agrees with the&#160;narrow&#160;part. But narrow it seems to be.</p>
<p>Citing Paul Manafort’s motion earlier this week to dismiss all charges against him on the grounds that anything&#160;not&#160;related to the 2016 campaign falls outside the scope of AG Session’s recusal and thus outside the scope of Mueller’s mandate, Robert Barnes&#160; <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/opinion/constitution-jeff-sessions-dismiss-robert-mueller-non-campaign-cases/" type="external">offers this</a>:</p>
<p>“Sessions only recused himself from “any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States.” This recusal letter limits the scope of Sessions’ recusal to the 2016 campaigns; it does not authorize Sessions’ recusal for anything beyond that. Constitutionally, Sessions has a “ <a href="" type="internal">duty</a>&#160;to direct and supervise litigation” conducted by the Department of Justice. Ethically, professionally, and legally, Sessions cannot ignore his supervisory obligations for cases that are not related to the “campaigns for President.”</p>
<p>Using the same logic, shouldn’t Mueller –compromise notwithstanding– be precluded&#160;anyway&#160;from investigating Uranium One since the latter does not fall within AG Sessions’ recusal parameters? (Hold the wild horses. Little horsepower is needed to pull Mueller away from anything that smacks of the Democratic collusion narrative. Even&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Bigfoot’s&#160;</a>been caught up in Mueller’s impervious net.) For the moment, while it remains to be seen whether the Manafort motion bears fruit, the ramifications could prove to be wide-ranging, if not fatal, to the Mueller probe.</p>
<p>But if not Mueller, then who for all the other ‘non-Trump’ stuff? Sessions’ authority, when not otherwise bound by recusal, is implicitly delegated to his DOJ line-staff.</p>
<p>So how about US Attorney for the Arkansas Eastern District, Corey Hiland, a September 2017 Trump appointee? Though there’s little corroborating evidence anywhere else, a&#160; <a href="http://yournewswire.com/arkansas-grand-jury-clinton/" type="external">Yournewswire</a>article suggests that is precisely what has happened. A Little Rock Grand Jury ‘reportedly’ has been impaneled. Let us see.</p>
<p>And, while it may not be emanating out of Arkansas,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">the January 2018 indictment of the Maryland transportation company executive</a>&#160;for bribing the sole supplier and exporter of Russian uranium suggests some recent movement on the Uranium One front.</p>
<p>Were Hiland to resuscitate the Clinton Foundation, lost email and pay-for-play investigations, there’s no shortage of sealed subpoenas within DOJ left over from the last guy who took a crack, US Attorney Dana Boente, before the plug was pulled.</p>
<p>As tireless&#160; <a href="" type="internal">cataloger-of-Clinton-Foundation-abuse</a>&#160;Charles Ortel reminds us ( <a href="" type="internal">here</a>&#160;at 0:56) that a&#160;Grand Jury was convened in the Eastern District of Virginia in July 2015 under Boente’s supervision. Surely this aborted investigation could be resumed, with its significant inheritance of evidentiary material, this time under Hiland’s aegis, if it hasn’t already?</p>
<p>While there are&#160; <a href="https://www.judicialwatch.org/bulletins/the-arkansas-connection/" type="external">tantalizing indications</a>&#160;on the Internet about a re-opened Clinton Foundation investigation in Little Rock (See WSJ&#160; <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-probes-clinton-foundation-1515176878" type="external">here</a>), the impaneling of a Grand Jury has not been confirmed. Keep in mind that this, in itself, would not be unusual given the stealth and secrecy of such proceedings especially in high-visibility cases.</p>
<p>As for the clamoring among Republican Congresspeople for a ‘second Special Counsel’, even they would be unaware that an impaneled Grand Jury was already in existence given the secrecy afforded such executive branch actions. The indispensable&#160; <a href="https://theconservativetreehouse.com/" type="external">Conservative Treehouse</a>&#160;has been alone in pointing out this Congressional blind-spot (which seems to befuddle even Republican Congresspeople; see Rep. Darrell Issa just&#160;this past&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcWVsFpWpVI" type="external">Sunday</a>), as it has been alone on so many breakthroughs throughout this saga.</p>
<p>Nonetheless curious scenarios spring to mind. For example, what if Mueller has already been subpoenaed before an Arkansas Grand Jury to answer questions about his role in Uranium One? The Gohmert chart argues that, if such a Jury exists, then by all rights he should be.</p>
<p>Prepare to expect the unexpected as the collusion boomerang enters its return arc. The Pasture of the Brazen Blue Donkey lies dead in its sights.</p>
|
Has Mueller Already Been Subpoenaed in a Re-Impaneled Uranium One Investigation?
| true |
https://counterpunch.org/2018/04/04/has-mueller-already-been-subpoenaed-in-a-re-impaneled-uranium-one-investigation/
|
2018-04-04
| 4left
|
Has Mueller Already Been Subpoenaed in a Re-Impaneled Uranium One Investigation?
<p />
<p>As the time seems ripe,&#160;we revisit here&#160;Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert’s (R) much ridiculed&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Uranium One chart&#160;</a>presented at The House Judiciary Committee Committee Oversight hearing on November 14, 2017.</p>
<p>Just prior to this hearing at a November 7th press conference, Gohmert had argued for Independent Counsel Robert Mueller’s dismissal on the grounds that he was, “engaged in the cover-up of the initial Russian investigation that revealed Russia was trying to corner the market on uranium.”</p>
<p>Demands for Mueller’s dismissal have come from a variety of sources.&#160;In a November 9th&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Fox News interview</a>, Congressman Jim Jordan echoed his Texas colleague, saying, “Robert Mueller, I think, in light of what we’ve also recently learned, relative to the Uranium One Deal, surely seems a bit compromised to me.”</p>
<p>As for the chart, even Stephen Colbert took a satiric swing. Colbert, by the way, is the same guy who ridiculed President Trump for tweeting he’d been wiretapped by his predecessor at Trump Tower. Guffaw, guffaw. (“This is a serious allegation. This may be the most serious allegation any President has ever made against a previous President”; see 2:23&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LVfi3NInsg" type="external">here</a>).</p>
<p>Colbert’s right for once. The wiretap allegation is off-the-charts serious. It’s even more off-the-charts because Obama&#160;did&#160;wiretap Trump. We await the vetted contrition monologue from Little Stevie’s Operation Mockingbird handlers. Stay tuned.</p>
<p>The devil lies not in the details or in a gleeful picking apart of the chart’s spaghetti loops and half-nelsons, though its detractors had great fun doing just that. Like the Nazca lines, the true import of the chart strikes the observer at the highest altitudes, in its powerful conveyance of the sprawling immensity of an interlocking corruption that seemed to travel in a business-as-usual manner with the day-to-day workings of the Obama Administration.</p>
<p>While the rightful focus of concern and alarm should be (and&#160;will be&#160;increasingly in the coming weeks and months) focused on the Obama/Clinton end of Russian collusion and more, misgivings are not easily dispelled (for this writer) that the real, long-term problem for the Republic is systemic, not episodic or of narrow political motive.</p>
<p>Now that the Deep State has been compelled, out of a heightened sense of self-preservation, to surface for the knife fight of its life, partisanship resembles more of the&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Quigley</a>-esque sham that it always was. Let’s keep it simple. Practically everyone with a stake in power regardless of party affiliation (what&#160; <a href="https://theconservativetreehouse.com/" type="external">The Conservative Treehouse</a>&#160;has taken to calling&#160;the Uniparty) sans perhaps the military and Admiral Rogers’ NSA is arrayed against Trump.</p>
<p>Trump is an interloper who parachuted in. Whereas the rest of them spent years on their backs atop lobbyist-installed mattresses getting to where they got. Make no mistake. Ryan and McConnell hate Trump with a venom (born of self-loathing) that exceeds the Democratic leadership’s less covert disdain.</p>
<p>However, transcending even this epic struggle is the reality that influence-peddling has become the oxygen that makes things go. Institutional trespasses have been committed whose precedential gravity (in a cultural sense) are not easily undone. No one wants to see the whole Obama-Clinton in leg-irons more than this writer. Without doubt, they were delivering us into a globalist hellhole. However globalism is a millennia-long project. While Trumpism might succeed as a powerful cleansing agent, the salutary effects will be short-lived. This obligates us no less to pursue them.</p>
<p>Fortunately for us, the particular flavor of hubris we faced was self-congratulatory overconfidence. They thought they’d already reached home-base where treason and sedition no longer applied. In fact they were only on third base and Trump tagged them out. How else to explain their gratuitous carelessness, the endless reams of emails and messages? And may we say, thank G-d for those endless reams.</p>
<p>Nor should the aggressive prosecution of crimes be hindered in the least by the concern similar crimes are bound to be committed in the future by a system that is, sadly, wed to malfeasance of one sort or another. That would be ridiculous.</p>
<p>Still, in some troubling sense, the System&#160;has become&#160;the Conspiracy. The Disease&#160;has become&#160;the Patient. Justice is asymmetrically surrounded and opposed by an ethos of evil. Without doubt, the only effective cure will be one that nearly the kills the patient. Is the nation ready for this? We need a Truth and Reconciliation process so wrenching, so soul-searching and so universally accusatory that it risks the very real prospect of civil war. Nothing less will do.</p>
<p>After arguing away the chart’s details, it’s time to summon one back. That’s Robert Mueller, surprise, surprise. The Congressmen are right to belabor his profound unsuitability. For, more than anyone else (the others have by and large relinquished formal power) he still exerts profound influence over the course of the nation’s business and future. (Mueller’s name can be found on the upper-right-hand-side of the chart.)</p>
<p>First, there’s the obvious. How can an active participant in a potentially criminal enterprise be trusted to beat the truth out of himself no matter where that truth might lead, while simultaneously conducting the business of Independent Counsel over the same potentially criminal enterprise? Is Mueller capable of asking Mueller, perhaps with the assistance of his shaving mirror,&#160;What did I/you know and when did I/you know it?&#160;</p>
<p>&#160;</p>
<p>Finally, if the Sessions recusal does little more than inject yet another layer of potential compromise, how has the process benefited from the recusal? An IC appointment should shed conflicts, not pile more on.</p>
<p>But wait. Perhaps we fret in vain.</p>
<p>While many may question Mueller’s ability to render a&#160;comprehensive Russian collusion investigation in all its trans-party, myriad permutations, is he technically compromised, in this instance, from fulfilling what amounts to a rather narrow mandate as Special Counsel?</p>
<p>That answer appears to be&#160;no,&#160;provided one agrees with the&#160;narrow&#160;part. But narrow it seems to be.</p>
<p>Citing Paul Manafort’s motion earlier this week to dismiss all charges against him on the grounds that anything&#160;not&#160;related to the 2016 campaign falls outside the scope of AG Session’s recusal and thus outside the scope of Mueller’s mandate, Robert Barnes&#160; <a href="https://lawandcrime.com/opinion/constitution-jeff-sessions-dismiss-robert-mueller-non-campaign-cases/" type="external">offers this</a>:</p>
<p>“Sessions only recused himself from “any existing or future investigations of any matters related in any way to the campaigns for President of the United States.” This recusal letter limits the scope of Sessions’ recusal to the 2016 campaigns; it does not authorize Sessions’ recusal for anything beyond that. Constitutionally, Sessions has a “ <a href="" type="internal">duty</a>&#160;to direct and supervise litigation” conducted by the Department of Justice. Ethically, professionally, and legally, Sessions cannot ignore his supervisory obligations for cases that are not related to the “campaigns for President.”</p>
<p>Using the same logic, shouldn’t Mueller –compromise notwithstanding– be precluded&#160;anyway&#160;from investigating Uranium One since the latter does not fall within AG Sessions’ recusal parameters? (Hold the wild horses. Little horsepower is needed to pull Mueller away from anything that smacks of the Democratic collusion narrative. Even&#160; <a href="" type="internal">Bigfoot’s&#160;</a>been caught up in Mueller’s impervious net.) For the moment, while it remains to be seen whether the Manafort motion bears fruit, the ramifications could prove to be wide-ranging, if not fatal, to the Mueller probe.</p>
<p>But if not Mueller, then who for all the other ‘non-Trump’ stuff? Sessions’ authority, when not otherwise bound by recusal, is implicitly delegated to his DOJ line-staff.</p>
<p>So how about US Attorney for the Arkansas Eastern District, Corey Hiland, a September 2017 Trump appointee? Though there’s little corroborating evidence anywhere else, a&#160; <a href="http://yournewswire.com/arkansas-grand-jury-clinton/" type="external">Yournewswire</a>article suggests that is precisely what has happened. A Little Rock Grand Jury ‘reportedly’ has been impaneled. Let us see.</p>
<p>And, while it may not be emanating out of Arkansas,&#160; <a href="" type="internal">the January 2018 indictment of the Maryland transportation company executive</a>&#160;for bribing the sole supplier and exporter of Russian uranium suggests some recent movement on the Uranium One front.</p>
<p>Were Hiland to resuscitate the Clinton Foundation, lost email and pay-for-play investigations, there’s no shortage of sealed subpoenas within DOJ left over from the last guy who took a crack, US Attorney Dana Boente, before the plug was pulled.</p>
<p>As tireless&#160; <a href="" type="internal">cataloger-of-Clinton-Foundation-abuse</a>&#160;Charles Ortel reminds us ( <a href="" type="internal">here</a>&#160;at 0:56) that a&#160;Grand Jury was convened in the Eastern District of Virginia in July 2015 under Boente’s supervision. Surely this aborted investigation could be resumed, with its significant inheritance of evidentiary material, this time under Hiland’s aegis, if it hasn’t already?</p>
<p>While there are&#160; <a href="https://www.judicialwatch.org/bulletins/the-arkansas-connection/" type="external">tantalizing indications</a>&#160;on the Internet about a re-opened Clinton Foundation investigation in Little Rock (See WSJ&#160; <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/justice-department-probes-clinton-foundation-1515176878" type="external">here</a>), the impaneling of a Grand Jury has not been confirmed. Keep in mind that this, in itself, would not be unusual given the stealth and secrecy of such proceedings especially in high-visibility cases.</p>
<p>As for the clamoring among Republican Congresspeople for a ‘second Special Counsel’, even they would be unaware that an impaneled Grand Jury was already in existence given the secrecy afforded such executive branch actions. The indispensable&#160; <a href="https://theconservativetreehouse.com/" type="external">Conservative Treehouse</a>&#160;has been alone in pointing out this Congressional blind-spot (which seems to befuddle even Republican Congresspeople; see Rep. Darrell Issa just&#160;this past&#160; <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcWVsFpWpVI" type="external">Sunday</a>), as it has been alone on so many breakthroughs throughout this saga.</p>
<p>Nonetheless curious scenarios spring to mind. For example, what if Mueller has already been subpoenaed before an Arkansas Grand Jury to answer questions about his role in Uranium One? The Gohmert chart argues that, if such a Jury exists, then by all rights he should be.</p>
<p>Prepare to expect the unexpected as the collusion boomerang enters its return arc. The Pasture of the Brazen Blue Donkey lies dead in its sights.</p>
| 7,486 |
<p>Published time: 23 Aug, 2017 01:00</p>
<p>A frustrated businessman in the Russian city of Kirov has paid his 46,700 ruble (around $790) insurance premiums debt to the bailiffs in a total of 4,670,000 kopeks, which are the country’s smallest coins.</p>
<p>The Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP) said that the debtor had to make several runs through the security desk at the entrance to deliver the money.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/business/kopeck-production-central-bank/" type="external" /></p>
<p>To repay “the debt, he brought in [six or seven] heavy bank sacks and a carton from Chupa Chups candy full of one kopek coins,” the FSSP said in a statement.</p>
<p>One ruble consists of 100 kopeks, meaning that the unnamed businessman used 4,670,000 coins to play his debt of 46,700 rubles.</p>
<p>According to the bailiffs, the man performed the stunt to show off his frustration with the state over the arrears.</p>
<p>“In conversation, the debtor confirmed that he deliberately broke the money into small coins to complicate things for the state in the face of the Federal Bailiff Service,” the statement read.</p>
<p>However, FSSP stressed that the emotions of the businessman “made no impression” on the bailiff, who was handling the case, as the payment was accepted.</p>
<p>Several employees had to count the coins and the debtor was forced to remain in the office until they finished, it added.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/business/russian-ruble-christ-symbol-194/" type="external">READ MORE: Orthodox clergy claim new Ruble sign like Christ’s</a></p>
<p>The Federal Bailiff Service said that it accepts coins and banknotes of any denomination as debt payments, adding that the most comfortable solution is to pay through the agency’s website.</p>
<p>In January 2016, a transport company in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region paid its 100,000-ruble debt in various coins, which ended up weighing around 300 kilograms.</p>
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Disgruntled businessman pays debt with 4.7 million coins
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https://newsline.com/disgruntled-businessman-pays-debt-with-4-7-million-coins/
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2017-08-22
| 1right-center
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Disgruntled businessman pays debt with 4.7 million coins
<p>Published time: 23 Aug, 2017 01:00</p>
<p>A frustrated businessman in the Russian city of Kirov has paid his 46,700 ruble (around $790) insurance premiums debt to the bailiffs in a total of 4,670,000 kopeks, which are the country’s smallest coins.</p>
<p>The Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP) said that the debtor had to make several runs through the security desk at the entrance to deliver the money.</p>
<p>Read more</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/business/kopeck-production-central-bank/" type="external" /></p>
<p>To repay “the debt, he brought in [six or seven] heavy bank sacks and a carton from Chupa Chups candy full of one kopek coins,” the FSSP said in a statement.</p>
<p>One ruble consists of 100 kopeks, meaning that the unnamed businessman used 4,670,000 coins to play his debt of 46,700 rubles.</p>
<p>According to the bailiffs, the man performed the stunt to show off his frustration with the state over the arrears.</p>
<p>“In conversation, the debtor confirmed that he deliberately broke the money into small coins to complicate things for the state in the face of the Federal Bailiff Service,” the statement read.</p>
<p>However, FSSP stressed that the emotions of the businessman “made no impression” on the bailiff, who was handling the case, as the payment was accepted.</p>
<p>Several employees had to count the coins and the debtor was forced to remain in the office until they finished, it added.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.rt.com/business/russian-ruble-christ-symbol-194/" type="external">READ MORE: Orthodox clergy claim new Ruble sign like Christ’s</a></p>
<p>The Federal Bailiff Service said that it accepts coins and banknotes of any denomination as debt payments, adding that the most comfortable solution is to pay through the agency’s website.</p>
<p>In January 2016, a transport company in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region paid its 100,000-ruble debt in various coins, which ended up weighing around 300 kilograms.</p>
| 7,487 |
<p>U.S. stocks fluctuated between gains and losses at the open on Thursday after a spate of lackluster U.S. economic data constrained gains. Stock futures trimmed their advance after the data, as a larger-than-expected drop in sales at U.S. retailers stoked worries about the strength of the consumer. The data revealed a larger-than-expected decline in sales, stoking worries about the strength of the U.S. consumer. The S&amp;P 500 index shed 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,124. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was essentially flat at 18,030. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 8 points, or 0.2%, to 5,182.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
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U.S. Stocks Mixed At The Open As Lackluster Data Curb Gains
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http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/09/15/us-stocks-mixed-at-open-as-lackluster-data-curb-gains.html
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2016-09-15
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U.S. Stocks Mixed At The Open As Lackluster Data Curb Gains
<p>U.S. stocks fluctuated between gains and losses at the open on Thursday after a spate of lackluster U.S. economic data constrained gains. Stock futures trimmed their advance after the data, as a larger-than-expected drop in sales at U.S. retailers stoked worries about the strength of the consumer. The data revealed a larger-than-expected decline in sales, stoking worries about the strength of the U.S. consumer. The S&amp;P 500 index shed 2 points, or 0.1%, to 2,124. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was essentially flat at 18,030. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 8 points, or 0.2%, to 5,182.</p>
<p>Copyright © 2016 MarketWatch, Inc.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
| 7,488 |
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Former Lobo basketball star Tony Snell, who just completed his fourth season of professional basketball, is in line to make a lot of money this offseason.</p>
<p>Snell, 25, was <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-free-agency-2017-ranking-60-best-available-players-potential-team-fits-analysis/" type="external">ranked this week</a> as the No. 19 (of 60) NBA free agent this offseason by Matt Moore of CBS Sports after starting 80 games for the Milwaukee Bucks.</p>
<p>Of Snell, the 20th overall pick of the Chicago Bulls in the 2013 NBA Draft who was traded to the Bucks last offseason, Moore writes:</p>
<p>“Snell came into his own in Milwaukee. He’s a crack shooter, 88th percentile on spot-up shots per Synergy Sports, and has good defensive ability in certain systems. He has good length and no major injury issues to speak of. For a league that needs shooters with size, Snell is an excellent option.”</p>
<p>Snell earned $2.4 million this past season and is in line to land his next contract for what multiple media outlets have projected to be in the $10-$13 million per season range.</p>
<p>The former Lobo left UNM after the 2012-13 season, his third with the school, following a late season surge that landed him Mountain West Tournament MVP honors in March 2013, guiding the Lobos to a top 10 national ranking and a No. 3 seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
|
CBS lists former Lobo Snell as one of NBA’s top free agents
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/1024997/cbs-lists-former-lobo-snell-as-one-of-nbas-top-free-agents.html
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CBS lists former Lobo Snell as one of NBA’s top free agents
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p>Former Lobo basketball star Tony Snell, who just completed his fourth season of professional basketball, is in line to make a lot of money this offseason.</p>
<p>Snell, 25, was <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-free-agency-2017-ranking-60-best-available-players-potential-team-fits-analysis/" type="external">ranked this week</a> as the No. 19 (of 60) NBA free agent this offseason by Matt Moore of CBS Sports after starting 80 games for the Milwaukee Bucks.</p>
<p>Of Snell, the 20th overall pick of the Chicago Bulls in the 2013 NBA Draft who was traded to the Bucks last offseason, Moore writes:</p>
<p>“Snell came into his own in Milwaukee. He’s a crack shooter, 88th percentile on spot-up shots per Synergy Sports, and has good defensive ability in certain systems. He has good length and no major injury issues to speak of. For a league that needs shooters with size, Snell is an excellent option.”</p>
<p>Snell earned $2.4 million this past season and is in line to land his next contract for what multiple media outlets have projected to be in the $10-$13 million per season range.</p>
<p>The former Lobo left UNM after the 2012-13 season, his third with the school, following a late season surge that landed him Mountain West Tournament MVP honors in March 2013, guiding the Lobos to a top 10 national ranking and a No. 3 seed in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
| 7,489 |
|
<p>By Tom Miles</p>
<p>GENEVA (Reuters) – The people of West Papua are facing a “slow motion genocide” and demand independence from Indonesia, separatist leaders told Reuters after a march in Geneva, adding they would press their case with a petition to the United Nations in New York.</p>
<p>Benny Wenda, international spokesman for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), said the human rights situation had worsened under Indonesian President Joko Widodo, with estimates of up to 8,000 people arrested last year.</p>
<p>“They look at West Papua differently, as subhuman, and as a colony. We are not equal. That’s why if we live with Indonesia, in 30 years time my people will disappear,” he told Reuters.</p>
<p>Indonesian presidential spokesman Johan Budi declined to comment on the separatists’ comments.</p>
<p>West Papua and Papua provinces – often collectively referred to as West Papua – make up the western half of an island north of Australia, with independent Papua New Guinea to the east.</p>
<p>The provinces have been gripped by a long-running and often violent separatist conflict since they were incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum in 1969. Dutch colonial rule ended in 1963.</p>
<p>Widodo has made easing the tension in the two provinces on the island a key goal, through stepping up investment, freeing political prisoners, and addressing human rights concerns.</p>
<p>However, Oridek Ap, coordinator for Free West Papua Campaign in the Netherlands, said his father was killed in 1984 for singing freedom songs, and it was still dangerous to speak out.</p>
<p>“Sometimes they find a body and we have confirmation of death. But as long as somebody is disappeared we don’t have confirmation,” he said.</p>
<p>“When we talk about slow motion genocide, how can you prove it. On the other side of the border we are talking about 7-8 million Papuans. Why not on our side? This killing is still going on.”</p>
<p>The separatists say there are 2.5 million West Papuans, roughly the same as 50 years ago.</p>
<p>“What happened in 1969 was a fraud,” Wenda said. “This is why West Papuans believe that our right to self-determination under international law still exists.”</p>
<p>“Geneva is the house of human rights and freedom. That’s why we start here, and then we go to New York,” he said.</p>
<p>Wenda, who has political asylum in Britain, added: “We need to solve this problem in the United Nations.”</p>
<p>Last month Indonesia struck a deal with U.S. mining firm Freeport McMoRan Inc to take a 51 percent stake in Grasberg, the world’s second-biggest mine, which is in Papua.</p>
<p />
<p>Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.</p>
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Papuan separatists to petition U.N. against Indonesian rule
| false |
https://newsline.com/papuan-separatists-to-petition-u-n-against-indonesian-rule/
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2017-09-06
| 1right-center
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Papuan separatists to petition U.N. against Indonesian rule
<p>By Tom Miles</p>
<p>GENEVA (Reuters) – The people of West Papua are facing a “slow motion genocide” and demand independence from Indonesia, separatist leaders told Reuters after a march in Geneva, adding they would press their case with a petition to the United Nations in New York.</p>
<p>Benny Wenda, international spokesman for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), said the human rights situation had worsened under Indonesian President Joko Widodo, with estimates of up to 8,000 people arrested last year.</p>
<p>“They look at West Papua differently, as subhuman, and as a colony. We are not equal. That’s why if we live with Indonesia, in 30 years time my people will disappear,” he told Reuters.</p>
<p>Indonesian presidential spokesman Johan Budi declined to comment on the separatists’ comments.</p>
<p>West Papua and Papua provinces – often collectively referred to as West Papua – make up the western half of an island north of Australia, with independent Papua New Guinea to the east.</p>
<p>The provinces have been gripped by a long-running and often violent separatist conflict since they were incorporated into Indonesia after a widely criticized U.N.-backed referendum in 1969. Dutch colonial rule ended in 1963.</p>
<p>Widodo has made easing the tension in the two provinces on the island a key goal, through stepping up investment, freeing political prisoners, and addressing human rights concerns.</p>
<p>However, Oridek Ap, coordinator for Free West Papua Campaign in the Netherlands, said his father was killed in 1984 for singing freedom songs, and it was still dangerous to speak out.</p>
<p>“Sometimes they find a body and we have confirmation of death. But as long as somebody is disappeared we don’t have confirmation,” he said.</p>
<p>“When we talk about slow motion genocide, how can you prove it. On the other side of the border we are talking about 7-8 million Papuans. Why not on our side? This killing is still going on.”</p>
<p>The separatists say there are 2.5 million West Papuans, roughly the same as 50 years ago.</p>
<p>“What happened in 1969 was a fraud,” Wenda said. “This is why West Papuans believe that our right to self-determination under international law still exists.”</p>
<p>“Geneva is the house of human rights and freedom. That’s why we start here, and then we go to New York,” he said.</p>
<p>Wenda, who has political asylum in Britain, added: “We need to solve this problem in the United Nations.”</p>
<p>Last month Indonesia struck a deal with U.S. mining firm Freeport McMoRan Inc to take a 51 percent stake in Grasberg, the world’s second-biggest mine, which is in Papua.</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>
| 7,490 |
<p>Glenn Beck will certainly not go quietly into his last days on Fox News. For those that awaited a chastised and subdued Beck to grimly <a href="//mediamatters.org/mmtv/201104060030" type="external">confirm</a> that his show is indeed <a href="//mediamatters.org/blog/201104060015" type="external">ending</a> "later this year," and perhaps avail himself of an opportunity to pivot from the bizarre and apocalyptic theories he's been spewing for years and settle into more mainstream conservative fare -- well, that sure didn't happen. Beck warned tonight of a "coming insurrection," something he also called "the summer of insurrection, or the "summer of rage."</p>
<p>As the countdown to his last broadcast commenced -- it has been <a href="//mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fnews%2Ftv%2Fla-et-glenn-beck-20110407%2C0%2C5973014.story" type="external">pegged</a> at "sometime this summer," though no exact date has been given -- Beck is still thumbing his noses at Fox management who <a href="//mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2011%2F03%2F07%2Fbusiness%2Fmedia%2F07carr.html%3F_r%3D1%26hp%3D%26pagewanted%3Dall" type="external">deemed</a> it "important" that "no matter how dire he thinks things are or what horrible direction things may be going from his perspective that the show maintain a sense of hope." Well, as far as Beck is concerned, events leading to "the perfect storm" are "happening" and "[y]ou have to stop convincing yourself or your friends, too, that oh, it can't happen."</p>
<p>Explained Beck:</p>
<p>BECK: For several years, I talked about the perfect storm. And I have been saying for all those years to look for certain things to happen. I have in my research, in my reading of crazy, evil books like this one, The Coming Insurrection, I could pinpoint the signs and look because I take these people at their words -- I can see the road signs. They're happening. And they are stories that if taken by themselves aren't the most incredibly earth-shattering news and things that may even have happened before. But when you put them into context of everything going on around it, then it can be the Archduke Ferdinand moment.</p>
<p>It's why when I said about Tunisia -- what, January 31th -- when I saw Tunisia fall I said I think this is the Archduke Ferdinand moment. A moment that goes largely unnoticed but ends up triggering something huge. Archduke Ferdinand, the guy who was shot that ended up being World War I. There are a lot of things going on that have happened before: Energy prices going up; food inflation; spontaneous riots; troubles with the unions; violence; political unrest. All of these things have happened before. And all of these things have been happening for a while. But now they're starting to snowball, cascade.</p>
<p>Beck went on to list "signals" that herald "something very, very ugly," which included the shooting of the son of a poet in Mexico, a meeting that George Soros is attending, the situation in Ivory Coast, Hamas, "something very important happen[ing] in France that you need to know about" (he later alluded to protests against bans on religious attire in that country), the crisis in Japan, and the earthquake in New Zealand.</p>
<p>Beck then stated:</p>
<p>BECK: If you look at all of these stories just as one isolated incident, you will of course say it's nuts. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? But if you learn to look at the world like this, what you will see coming is going to sweep the world here, then here, and here. And it's gonna get faster and faster.</p>
<p>I told you about this book I think it was two summers ago -- The Coming Insurrection. ... 2009 -- almost two years ago. Over the next couple of days, you will understand that this book, which I told you to read because it was coming, what is described in here, maybe by September you will say this is a history book. It is happening. We may have to rename this summer, the summer of insurrection or the summer of rage.</p>
<p>If you brush off that possibility, that's cool. It's -- turn the channel. I don't really care.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>BECK: You have to stop convincing yourself or your friends do, that oh, it can't happen. Tonight, I want you to look at the facts on the ground. Tonight, I will begin, tonight and tomorrow, to tie things together and things that are happening that I believe are signs of things to come.</p>
<p>This of course is vintage Beck. In July 2010, Beck similarly <a href="//mediamatters.org/mmtv/201006100052" type="external">warned</a> that the "summer of rage is about to begin," outlining a theory that "the politicians [had] joined with the revolutionaries so they could gain power," and that now was the "time to break apart" that conspiracy. He has also repeatedly alluded to a "perfect storm," saying <a href="//mediamatters.org/blog/201102220045" type="external">over</a> and <a href="//mediamatters.org/blog/201011300034" type="external">over</a> that it is "finally here." And if it's not the "perfect storm" that's coming, it's an " <a href="//mediamatters.org/research/201103070029" type="external">Archduke Ferdinand Moment</a>" -- or something <a href="//mediamatters.org/research/201103070029" type="external">even more dire</a> like a "Reichstag Moment," or "The Weimar Republic." But whatever Beck claims it is, it doesn't evoke even one tiny bit of hope.</p>
<p>At the end of the broadcast, Beck again warned of the "deep and treacherous waters" ahead. Bringing up Paul Revere, Beck <a href="//mediamatters.org/mmtv/201104060035" type="external">stated</a>:</p>
<p>BECK: Paul Revere did not get up on the horse and say, "I'm going to do this for the rest of my life." He didn't do it. He got off the horse at some point and fought in the revolution. And then he went back to silversmithing. If you have watched this program, and you really -- I ask you at times hear me: You know what I believe is coming.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>BECK: I'm developing other content for Fox, through specials and other things, on television and beyond. I will continue to tell the story. And I'm going to be showing you other ways for us to connect. But I have other things to do. And not because it's good or bad for business, but I think you out of all the people will truly get this. Our only business is the business of freedom and country at this time.</p>
|
Glenn Beck Starts Last Days On Fox With Countdown To "Summer Of Rage"
| true |
http://alternet.org/newsandviews/article/553266/glenn_beck_starts_last_days_on_fox_with_countdown_to_%22summer_of_rage%22/
| 4left
|
Glenn Beck Starts Last Days On Fox With Countdown To "Summer Of Rage"
<p>Glenn Beck will certainly not go quietly into his last days on Fox News. For those that awaited a chastised and subdued Beck to grimly <a href="//mediamatters.org/mmtv/201104060030" type="external">confirm</a> that his show is indeed <a href="//mediamatters.org/blog/201104060015" type="external">ending</a> "later this year," and perhaps avail himself of an opportunity to pivot from the bizarre and apocalyptic theories he's been spewing for years and settle into more mainstream conservative fare -- well, that sure didn't happen. Beck warned tonight of a "coming insurrection," something he also called "the summer of insurrection, or the "summer of rage."</p>
<p>As the countdown to his last broadcast commenced -- it has been <a href="//mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fnews%2Ftv%2Fla-et-glenn-beck-20110407%2C0%2C5973014.story" type="external">pegged</a> at "sometime this summer," though no exact date has been given -- Beck is still thumbing his noses at Fox management who <a href="//mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2011%2F03%2F07%2Fbusiness%2Fmedia%2F07carr.html%3F_r%3D1%26hp%3D%26pagewanted%3Dall" type="external">deemed</a> it "important" that "no matter how dire he thinks things are or what horrible direction things may be going from his perspective that the show maintain a sense of hope." Well, as far as Beck is concerned, events leading to "the perfect storm" are "happening" and "[y]ou have to stop convincing yourself or your friends, too, that oh, it can't happen."</p>
<p>Explained Beck:</p>
<p>BECK: For several years, I talked about the perfect storm. And I have been saying for all those years to look for certain things to happen. I have in my research, in my reading of crazy, evil books like this one, The Coming Insurrection, I could pinpoint the signs and look because I take these people at their words -- I can see the road signs. They're happening. And they are stories that if taken by themselves aren't the most incredibly earth-shattering news and things that may even have happened before. But when you put them into context of everything going on around it, then it can be the Archduke Ferdinand moment.</p>
<p>It's why when I said about Tunisia -- what, January 31th -- when I saw Tunisia fall I said I think this is the Archduke Ferdinand moment. A moment that goes largely unnoticed but ends up triggering something huge. Archduke Ferdinand, the guy who was shot that ended up being World War I. There are a lot of things going on that have happened before: Energy prices going up; food inflation; spontaneous riots; troubles with the unions; violence; political unrest. All of these things have happened before. And all of these things have been happening for a while. But now they're starting to snowball, cascade.</p>
<p>Beck went on to list "signals" that herald "something very, very ugly," which included the shooting of the son of a poet in Mexico, a meeting that George Soros is attending, the situation in Ivory Coast, Hamas, "something very important happen[ing] in France that you need to know about" (he later alluded to protests against bans on religious attire in that country), the crisis in Japan, and the earthquake in New Zealand.</p>
<p>Beck then stated:</p>
<p>BECK: If you look at all of these stories just as one isolated incident, you will of course say it's nuts. Why are you making such a big deal out of it? But if you learn to look at the world like this, what you will see coming is going to sweep the world here, then here, and here. And it's gonna get faster and faster.</p>
<p>I told you about this book I think it was two summers ago -- The Coming Insurrection. ... 2009 -- almost two years ago. Over the next couple of days, you will understand that this book, which I told you to read because it was coming, what is described in here, maybe by September you will say this is a history book. It is happening. We may have to rename this summer, the summer of insurrection or the summer of rage.</p>
<p>If you brush off that possibility, that's cool. It's -- turn the channel. I don't really care.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>BECK: You have to stop convincing yourself or your friends do, that oh, it can't happen. Tonight, I want you to look at the facts on the ground. Tonight, I will begin, tonight and tomorrow, to tie things together and things that are happening that I believe are signs of things to come.</p>
<p>This of course is vintage Beck. In July 2010, Beck similarly <a href="//mediamatters.org/mmtv/201006100052" type="external">warned</a> that the "summer of rage is about to begin," outlining a theory that "the politicians [had] joined with the revolutionaries so they could gain power," and that now was the "time to break apart" that conspiracy. He has also repeatedly alluded to a "perfect storm," saying <a href="//mediamatters.org/blog/201102220045" type="external">over</a> and <a href="//mediamatters.org/blog/201011300034" type="external">over</a> that it is "finally here." And if it's not the "perfect storm" that's coming, it's an " <a href="//mediamatters.org/research/201103070029" type="external">Archduke Ferdinand Moment</a>" -- or something <a href="//mediamatters.org/research/201103070029" type="external">even more dire</a> like a "Reichstag Moment," or "The Weimar Republic." But whatever Beck claims it is, it doesn't evoke even one tiny bit of hope.</p>
<p>At the end of the broadcast, Beck again warned of the "deep and treacherous waters" ahead. Bringing up Paul Revere, Beck <a href="//mediamatters.org/mmtv/201104060035" type="external">stated</a>:</p>
<p>BECK: Paul Revere did not get up on the horse and say, "I'm going to do this for the rest of my life." He didn't do it. He got off the horse at some point and fought in the revolution. And then he went back to silversmithing. If you have watched this program, and you really -- I ask you at times hear me: You know what I believe is coming.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>BECK: I'm developing other content for Fox, through specials and other things, on television and beyond. I will continue to tell the story. And I'm going to be showing you other ways for us to connect. But I have other things to do. And not because it's good or bad for business, but I think you out of all the people will truly get this. Our only business is the business of freedom and country at this time.</p>
| 7,491 |
|
<p>Like male peacocks showing off their magnificent plumage to attract a mate, some men on dating sites post topless mirror gym selfies.</p>
<p>Not such a good idea, according to dating experts. Women, they say, tend to swipe left when they see gym selfies.</p>
<p>Likewise, dating sites are full of women’s selfies taken from an elevated vantage point, highlighting their cleavage.</p>
<p>“Some women think, ‘If I show a sexy picture, he’s going to think I’m sexy.’ If you show a sexy picture, he’s going to want to hook up,” says online dating expert Julie Spira, founder of <a href="http://www.cyberdatingexpert.com" type="external">CyberDatingExpert.com.</a></p>
<p>Her advice instead: “Anything that you wouldn’t want your children, your parents or your boss to see, doesn’t belong on a dating profile.”</p>
<p>So what does make a good photo for dating sites and apps?</p>
<p>The profile photo is the important first impression, and “it should be friendly and approachable” as well as attractive, says Alex Williamson el-Effendi, head of brand for the Austin, Texas-based dating app <a href="https://bumble.com/" type="external">Bumble</a> , where women make the first move by initiating the chat after a match.</p>
<p>Ideally, the profile photo also should say something about your life: “Good photos show what you’re passionate about and show your potential date what life could be like if they were dating you,” says Spira.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean including other people in the picture.</p>
<p>“One of the biggest mistakes you can make is your first photo being you and a friend, or you and a group of friends,” says el-Effendi.</p>
<p>Shruti Shah, 30, who works in public relations, blogs about food in New York and is on dating apps <a href="https://hinge.co/" type="external">Hinge</a> and Bumble, concurs. “It’s a red flag for me if every single photo is a group photo. It kind of makes me think that he’s not comfortable with who he is in being able to stand alone and put himself out there,” she says.</p>
<p>Jamie Madnick, 27, a preschool teacher in Philadelphia who met her boyfriend of over a year on <a href="https://www.okcupid.com/" type="external">OKCupid</a> , says she didn’t like seeing “a guy in a picture with a girl or all girls. It’s intimidating.”</p>
<p>For her own photos, Madnick says she always included “a full body, because I don’t want it to be deceiving,” and she included travel pictures “because that’s a big part of my life. I want to show them if you are going to be with me, expect adventure and expect travel.”</p>
<p>Keeping the photos focused on you is important in “creating that attraction,” says another online dating expert, Laurie Davis Edwards of eFlirtExpert.com, based in Los Angeles. Don’t waste time with images of sunsets or anything else in the brief period of time you have. “If there’s one photo that’s kind of questionable to them as far as attraction is concerned, they’re on to the next person,” she says.</p>
<p>Good photos that show you and your life are conversation starters.</p>
<p>“You’re giving people prompts and tools they can work with to ask you questions,” says Shah.</p>
<p>Oh, and remember to smile.</p>
<p>“I definitely like seeing a guy who’s smiling in most of his photos. It just kind of makes me think he is a little bit more approachable and down to earth,” says Shah.</p>
<p>Some other photos do’s and don’ts from the experts:</p>
<p>Do have images that are well-lit, in focus, and not noisy or grainy.</p>
<p>Do have a close-up of your face as well as a full-length image, so daters can see your body type.</p>
<p>Do use captions to identify family members if they’re in your pictures.</p>
<p>Don’t use filters, which can be distracting and make you hard to see.</p>
<p>Do allow potential matches to see your eyes. No sunglasses.</p>
<p>Don’t be so small in your photos that you can’t be seen easily, and don’t wear clothing that covers you head to toe, such as a ski outfit.</p>
<p>Don’t show yourself drinking in every photo, unless drinking all the time sums up who you are.</p>
<p>Do edit the choice and sequence of your photos; some dating apps auto-load the first handful of images directly from your Facebook account.</p>
<p>Do consider whether you want to have pictures of your children on your dating profile. Yes, you want to let potential matches know if you have kids, but sharing their pictures might be better after you have matched.</p>
<p>Like male peacocks showing off their magnificent plumage to attract a mate, some men on dating sites post topless mirror gym selfies.</p>
<p>Not such a good idea, according to dating experts. Women, they say, tend to swipe left when they see gym selfies.</p>
<p>Likewise, dating sites are full of women’s selfies taken from an elevated vantage point, highlighting their cleavage.</p>
<p>“Some women think, ‘If I show a sexy picture, he’s going to think I’m sexy.’ If you show a sexy picture, he’s going to want to hook up,” says online dating expert Julie Spira, founder of <a href="http://www.cyberdatingexpert.com" type="external">CyberDatingExpert.com.</a></p>
<p>Her advice instead: “Anything that you wouldn’t want your children, your parents or your boss to see, doesn’t belong on a dating profile.”</p>
<p>So what does make a good photo for dating sites and apps?</p>
<p>The profile photo is the important first impression, and “it should be friendly and approachable” as well as attractive, says Alex Williamson el-Effendi, head of brand for the Austin, Texas-based dating app <a href="https://bumble.com/" type="external">Bumble</a> , where women make the first move by initiating the chat after a match.</p>
<p>Ideally, the profile photo also should say something about your life: “Good photos show what you’re passionate about and show your potential date what life could be like if they were dating you,” says Spira.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean including other people in the picture.</p>
<p>“One of the biggest mistakes you can make is your first photo being you and a friend, or you and a group of friends,” says el-Effendi.</p>
<p>Shruti Shah, 30, who works in public relations, blogs about food in New York and is on dating apps <a href="https://hinge.co/" type="external">Hinge</a> and Bumble, concurs. “It’s a red flag for me if every single photo is a group photo. It kind of makes me think that he’s not comfortable with who he is in being able to stand alone and put himself out there,” she says.</p>
<p>Jamie Madnick, 27, a preschool teacher in Philadelphia who met her boyfriend of over a year on <a href="https://www.okcupid.com/" type="external">OKCupid</a> , says she didn’t like seeing “a guy in a picture with a girl or all girls. It’s intimidating.”</p>
<p>For her own photos, Madnick says she always included “a full body, because I don’t want it to be deceiving,” and she included travel pictures “because that’s a big part of my life. I want to show them if you are going to be with me, expect adventure and expect travel.”</p>
<p>Keeping the photos focused on you is important in “creating that attraction,” says another online dating expert, Laurie Davis Edwards of eFlirtExpert.com, based in Los Angeles. Don’t waste time with images of sunsets or anything else in the brief period of time you have. “If there’s one photo that’s kind of questionable to them as far as attraction is concerned, they’re on to the next person,” she says.</p>
<p>Good photos that show you and your life are conversation starters.</p>
<p>“You’re giving people prompts and tools they can work with to ask you questions,” says Shah.</p>
<p>Oh, and remember to smile.</p>
<p>“I definitely like seeing a guy who’s smiling in most of his photos. It just kind of makes me think he is a little bit more approachable and down to earth,” says Shah.</p>
<p>Some other photos do’s and don’ts from the experts:</p>
<p>Do have images that are well-lit, in focus, and not noisy or grainy.</p>
<p>Do have a close-up of your face as well as a full-length image, so daters can see your body type.</p>
<p>Do use captions to identify family members if they’re in your pictures.</p>
<p>Don’t use filters, which can be distracting and make you hard to see.</p>
<p>Do allow potential matches to see your eyes. No sunglasses.</p>
<p>Don’t be so small in your photos that you can’t be seen easily, and don’t wear clothing that covers you head to toe, such as a ski outfit.</p>
<p>Don’t show yourself drinking in every photo, unless drinking all the time sums up who you are.</p>
<p>Do edit the choice and sequence of your photos; some dating apps auto-load the first handful of images directly from your Facebook account.</p>
<p>Do consider whether you want to have pictures of your children on your dating profile. Yes, you want to let potential matches know if you have kids, but sharing their pictures might be better after you have matched.</p>
|
Do’s and don’ts for profile pictures on dating sites
| false |
https://apnews.com/3144e643c3ca4875920fc307ccc33450
|
2018-01-09
| 2least
|
Do’s and don’ts for profile pictures on dating sites
<p>Like male peacocks showing off their magnificent plumage to attract a mate, some men on dating sites post topless mirror gym selfies.</p>
<p>Not such a good idea, according to dating experts. Women, they say, tend to swipe left when they see gym selfies.</p>
<p>Likewise, dating sites are full of women’s selfies taken from an elevated vantage point, highlighting their cleavage.</p>
<p>“Some women think, ‘If I show a sexy picture, he’s going to think I’m sexy.’ If you show a sexy picture, he’s going to want to hook up,” says online dating expert Julie Spira, founder of <a href="http://www.cyberdatingexpert.com" type="external">CyberDatingExpert.com.</a></p>
<p>Her advice instead: “Anything that you wouldn’t want your children, your parents or your boss to see, doesn’t belong on a dating profile.”</p>
<p>So what does make a good photo for dating sites and apps?</p>
<p>The profile photo is the important first impression, and “it should be friendly and approachable” as well as attractive, says Alex Williamson el-Effendi, head of brand for the Austin, Texas-based dating app <a href="https://bumble.com/" type="external">Bumble</a> , where women make the first move by initiating the chat after a match.</p>
<p>Ideally, the profile photo also should say something about your life: “Good photos show what you’re passionate about and show your potential date what life could be like if they were dating you,” says Spira.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean including other people in the picture.</p>
<p>“One of the biggest mistakes you can make is your first photo being you and a friend, or you and a group of friends,” says el-Effendi.</p>
<p>Shruti Shah, 30, who works in public relations, blogs about food in New York and is on dating apps <a href="https://hinge.co/" type="external">Hinge</a> and Bumble, concurs. “It’s a red flag for me if every single photo is a group photo. It kind of makes me think that he’s not comfortable with who he is in being able to stand alone and put himself out there,” she says.</p>
<p>Jamie Madnick, 27, a preschool teacher in Philadelphia who met her boyfriend of over a year on <a href="https://www.okcupid.com/" type="external">OKCupid</a> , says she didn’t like seeing “a guy in a picture with a girl or all girls. It’s intimidating.”</p>
<p>For her own photos, Madnick says she always included “a full body, because I don’t want it to be deceiving,” and she included travel pictures “because that’s a big part of my life. I want to show them if you are going to be with me, expect adventure and expect travel.”</p>
<p>Keeping the photos focused on you is important in “creating that attraction,” says another online dating expert, Laurie Davis Edwards of eFlirtExpert.com, based in Los Angeles. Don’t waste time with images of sunsets or anything else in the brief period of time you have. “If there’s one photo that’s kind of questionable to them as far as attraction is concerned, they’re on to the next person,” she says.</p>
<p>Good photos that show you and your life are conversation starters.</p>
<p>“You’re giving people prompts and tools they can work with to ask you questions,” says Shah.</p>
<p>Oh, and remember to smile.</p>
<p>“I definitely like seeing a guy who’s smiling in most of his photos. It just kind of makes me think he is a little bit more approachable and down to earth,” says Shah.</p>
<p>Some other photos do’s and don’ts from the experts:</p>
<p>Do have images that are well-lit, in focus, and not noisy or grainy.</p>
<p>Do have a close-up of your face as well as a full-length image, so daters can see your body type.</p>
<p>Do use captions to identify family members if they’re in your pictures.</p>
<p>Don’t use filters, which can be distracting and make you hard to see.</p>
<p>Do allow potential matches to see your eyes. No sunglasses.</p>
<p>Don’t be so small in your photos that you can’t be seen easily, and don’t wear clothing that covers you head to toe, such as a ski outfit.</p>
<p>Don’t show yourself drinking in every photo, unless drinking all the time sums up who you are.</p>
<p>Do edit the choice and sequence of your photos; some dating apps auto-load the first handful of images directly from your Facebook account.</p>
<p>Do consider whether you want to have pictures of your children on your dating profile. Yes, you want to let potential matches know if you have kids, but sharing their pictures might be better after you have matched.</p>
<p>Like male peacocks showing off their magnificent plumage to attract a mate, some men on dating sites post topless mirror gym selfies.</p>
<p>Not such a good idea, according to dating experts. Women, they say, tend to swipe left when they see gym selfies.</p>
<p>Likewise, dating sites are full of women’s selfies taken from an elevated vantage point, highlighting their cleavage.</p>
<p>“Some women think, ‘If I show a sexy picture, he’s going to think I’m sexy.’ If you show a sexy picture, he’s going to want to hook up,” says online dating expert Julie Spira, founder of <a href="http://www.cyberdatingexpert.com" type="external">CyberDatingExpert.com.</a></p>
<p>Her advice instead: “Anything that you wouldn’t want your children, your parents or your boss to see, doesn’t belong on a dating profile.”</p>
<p>So what does make a good photo for dating sites and apps?</p>
<p>The profile photo is the important first impression, and “it should be friendly and approachable” as well as attractive, says Alex Williamson el-Effendi, head of brand for the Austin, Texas-based dating app <a href="https://bumble.com/" type="external">Bumble</a> , where women make the first move by initiating the chat after a match.</p>
<p>Ideally, the profile photo also should say something about your life: “Good photos show what you’re passionate about and show your potential date what life could be like if they were dating you,” says Spira.</p>
<p>That doesn’t mean including other people in the picture.</p>
<p>“One of the biggest mistakes you can make is your first photo being you and a friend, or you and a group of friends,” says el-Effendi.</p>
<p>Shruti Shah, 30, who works in public relations, blogs about food in New York and is on dating apps <a href="https://hinge.co/" type="external">Hinge</a> and Bumble, concurs. “It’s a red flag for me if every single photo is a group photo. It kind of makes me think that he’s not comfortable with who he is in being able to stand alone and put himself out there,” she says.</p>
<p>Jamie Madnick, 27, a preschool teacher in Philadelphia who met her boyfriend of over a year on <a href="https://www.okcupid.com/" type="external">OKCupid</a> , says she didn’t like seeing “a guy in a picture with a girl or all girls. It’s intimidating.”</p>
<p>For her own photos, Madnick says she always included “a full body, because I don’t want it to be deceiving,” and she included travel pictures “because that’s a big part of my life. I want to show them if you are going to be with me, expect adventure and expect travel.”</p>
<p>Keeping the photos focused on you is important in “creating that attraction,” says another online dating expert, Laurie Davis Edwards of eFlirtExpert.com, based in Los Angeles. Don’t waste time with images of sunsets or anything else in the brief period of time you have. “If there’s one photo that’s kind of questionable to them as far as attraction is concerned, they’re on to the next person,” she says.</p>
<p>Good photos that show you and your life are conversation starters.</p>
<p>“You’re giving people prompts and tools they can work with to ask you questions,” says Shah.</p>
<p>Oh, and remember to smile.</p>
<p>“I definitely like seeing a guy who’s smiling in most of his photos. It just kind of makes me think he is a little bit more approachable and down to earth,” says Shah.</p>
<p>Some other photos do’s and don’ts from the experts:</p>
<p>Do have images that are well-lit, in focus, and not noisy or grainy.</p>
<p>Do have a close-up of your face as well as a full-length image, so daters can see your body type.</p>
<p>Do use captions to identify family members if they’re in your pictures.</p>
<p>Don’t use filters, which can be distracting and make you hard to see.</p>
<p>Do allow potential matches to see your eyes. No sunglasses.</p>
<p>Don’t be so small in your photos that you can’t be seen easily, and don’t wear clothing that covers you head to toe, such as a ski outfit.</p>
<p>Don’t show yourself drinking in every photo, unless drinking all the time sums up who you are.</p>
<p>Do edit the choice and sequence of your photos; some dating apps auto-load the first handful of images directly from your Facebook account.</p>
<p>Do consider whether you want to have pictures of your children on your dating profile. Yes, you want to let potential matches know if you have kids, but sharing their pictures might be better after you have matched.</p>
| 7,492 |
<p />
<p>Former District Attorney Ken Buck (R-Colo.) hasn’t exactly wooed female voters during his bid for the Senate seat currently held by Democrat Michael Bennet. During the primary, Buck told voters they should pick him over Jane Norton in the Republican primary because he “ <a href="" type="internal">doesn’t wear high heels</a>.” Colorado pro-choicers, regardless of gender, probably know that Buck’s staunchly against abortion, even in <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/08/gop_senate_candidate_no_aborti.html" type="external">cases of rape or incest</a>, and supports personhood, a movement set on protecting pre-born humans. (The <a href="http://www.personhoodcolorado.com/text" type="external">Personhood Amendment</a> in Colorado wants to add language into the state’s Bill of Rights that protects a person’s rights at “the beginning of the biological development of a human being” and makes several kinds of birth control illegal).</p>
<p>Buck’s anti-woman rhetoric isn’t new: In 2006, <a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060301/NEWS/103010095&amp;parentprofile=&amp;template=printart" type="external">he told the Greeley Tribune</a> that a suspected rape was merely a “case of buyer’s remorse.” Yesterday, the release of a taped conversation between Buck and a rape victim <a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/63491/bucks-refusal-to-prosecute-2005-rape-case-reverberates-in-u-s-senate-race" type="external">by The Colorado Independent</a> underscored the former District Attorney’s callous way of dealing with female constituents. Five years ago, the victim invited a former lover over to her house where she alleges he had sex with her while she was passed out drunk (they hadn’t spoken for a year before the incident). She pressed charges, but ultimately, Buck, the District Attorney at the time, refused to prosecute even though the perpetrator admitted that she had said no to having sex with him while he was on top of her.</p>
<p>In a recording of the <a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Ken-Buck-transcript.pdf" type="external">conversation</a>(PDF) the woman had with Buck, the then-District Attorney seems uncomfortable and confused about how to proceed with the case. “This is a case that is troubling to me,” Buck admits. “We have to fulfill our ethical obligation that this case would have an expectation of proof beyond reasonable doubt before a jury.”</p>
<p>At first, Buck claims he doesn’t see enough proof to prosecute the woman’s assailant. But the conversation takes a turn when the woman reads some of the police report: “When he finished, he tried to wake the victim up so he could apologize,” she reads. “How is that not ‘physically helpless, meaning unconscious, asleep, or unable to act?'” Buck then blames the rape on the woman, telling her that her previous relationship with the man and her invitation to host him in her apartment equaled consent for him to have sex with her. “Although you never said the word yes,” Buck admits, “the appearance is of consent.” The victim rebutted that argument, saying, “Even though, he also stated that I told him no.”</p>
<p>Buck later told a reporter that “a jury could very well conclude that this is a case of buyer’s remorse.” Even if the case had its fair share of complications, and even if there wasn’t enough legal proof to convict the guy, the incident reveals Buck’s inability to handle sensitive issues like rape. Using language like “buyer’s remorse” to characterize a rape (what, exactly, was she buying?) comes off as uncaring and falsely reduces a human interaction to an economic exchange. If he were going to use a consumer allusion, robbery might be more appropriate. Life for Colorado women under Buck is looking bleak. Though, since he considers fetuses people and is economically-minded, maybe they’ll be able to claim tax deductions on fertilized embryos.</p>
<p>[Update: Read MoJo assistant editor Nick Baumann‘s <a href="" type="internal">investigation</a> into why the victim’s case should have been prosecuted, and how criminal law and rape law experts agree. Also, a MoJo exclusive <a href="" type="internal">interview with the victim</a>.]</p>
<p />
|
Ken Buck’s Woman Problem Just Got Worse
| true |
https://motherjones.com/politics/2010/10/ken-bucks-woman-problem-just-got-worse/
|
2010-10-12
| 4left
|
Ken Buck’s Woman Problem Just Got Worse
<p />
<p>Former District Attorney Ken Buck (R-Colo.) hasn’t exactly wooed female voters during his bid for the Senate seat currently held by Democrat Michael Bennet. During the primary, Buck told voters they should pick him over Jane Norton in the Republican primary because he “ <a href="" type="internal">doesn’t wear high heels</a>.” Colorado pro-choicers, regardless of gender, probably know that Buck’s staunchly against abortion, even in <a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/08/gop_senate_candidate_no_aborti.html" type="external">cases of rape or incest</a>, and supports personhood, a movement set on protecting pre-born humans. (The <a href="http://www.personhoodcolorado.com/text" type="external">Personhood Amendment</a> in Colorado wants to add language into the state’s Bill of Rights that protects a person’s rights at “the beginning of the biological development of a human being” and makes several kinds of birth control illegal).</p>
<p>Buck’s anti-woman rhetoric isn’t new: In 2006, <a href="http://www.greeleytribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060301/NEWS/103010095&amp;parentprofile=&amp;template=printart" type="external">he told the Greeley Tribune</a> that a suspected rape was merely a “case of buyer’s remorse.” Yesterday, the release of a taped conversation between Buck and a rape victim <a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/63491/bucks-refusal-to-prosecute-2005-rape-case-reverberates-in-u-s-senate-race" type="external">by The Colorado Independent</a> underscored the former District Attorney’s callous way of dealing with female constituents. Five years ago, the victim invited a former lover over to her house where she alleges he had sex with her while she was passed out drunk (they hadn’t spoken for a year before the incident). She pressed charges, but ultimately, Buck, the District Attorney at the time, refused to prosecute even though the perpetrator admitted that she had said no to having sex with him while he was on top of her.</p>
<p>In a recording of the <a href="http://coloradoindependent.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Ken-Buck-transcript.pdf" type="external">conversation</a>(PDF) the woman had with Buck, the then-District Attorney seems uncomfortable and confused about how to proceed with the case. “This is a case that is troubling to me,” Buck admits. “We have to fulfill our ethical obligation that this case would have an expectation of proof beyond reasonable doubt before a jury.”</p>
<p>At first, Buck claims he doesn’t see enough proof to prosecute the woman’s assailant. But the conversation takes a turn when the woman reads some of the police report: “When he finished, he tried to wake the victim up so he could apologize,” she reads. “How is that not ‘physically helpless, meaning unconscious, asleep, or unable to act?'” Buck then blames the rape on the woman, telling her that her previous relationship with the man and her invitation to host him in her apartment equaled consent for him to have sex with her. “Although you never said the word yes,” Buck admits, “the appearance is of consent.” The victim rebutted that argument, saying, “Even though, he also stated that I told him no.”</p>
<p>Buck later told a reporter that “a jury could very well conclude that this is a case of buyer’s remorse.” Even if the case had its fair share of complications, and even if there wasn’t enough legal proof to convict the guy, the incident reveals Buck’s inability to handle sensitive issues like rape. Using language like “buyer’s remorse” to characterize a rape (what, exactly, was she buying?) comes off as uncaring and falsely reduces a human interaction to an economic exchange. If he were going to use a consumer allusion, robbery might be more appropriate. Life for Colorado women under Buck is looking bleak. Though, since he considers fetuses people and is economically-minded, maybe they’ll be able to claim tax deductions on fertilized embryos.</p>
<p>[Update: Read MoJo assistant editor Nick Baumann‘s <a href="" type="internal">investigation</a> into why the victim’s case should have been prosecuted, and how criminal law and rape law experts agree. Also, a MoJo exclusive <a href="" type="internal">interview with the victim</a>.]</p>
<p />
| 7,493 |
<p />
<p>General Electric Co has signed up U.S. energy utility Exelon Corp to use its full software set to analyze and manage power plants in 48 states, the largest GE deployment in the power sector so far, the companies said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Exelon deal, aimed at wringing greater efficiency from the business of generating electricity, marks another advance in GE's effort to lift annual digital technology revenue to $14 billion in 2020 from $5 billion in 2015, across its many industrial products.</p>
<p>It also is one of the three largest sales of GE's Predix industrial operating system so far. Exelon has nuclear, wind and fossil fuel-powered plants. The companies did not disclose the value of Exelon's five-year contract with GE.</p>
<p>In initial uses, GE's technology has increased power plant efficiency by 3 percent and reliability by 5 percent, while cutting operating and maintenance costs 25 percent, said Steve Bolze, chief executive of GE Power.</p>
<p>Exelon's deployment is nearly six times larger than the previous largest GE deal, signed last month with the New York Power Authority and covering 16 power plants in New York state that generate about 5,600 megawatts.</p>
<p>Chicago-based Exelon will use GE's Predix software and applications across its 91 power plants, which produce 32,700 megawatts and supply more than 10 million customers, the companies said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Exelon will also use GE software that analyzes the company's business performance and profitability, something NYPA didn't choose, GE said. GE and Exelon also agreed to work together on new Predix-based software applications.</p>
<p>GE's power business accounts for 40 percent of GE's digital revenue, said Bolze. About $400 million a year is produced by GE Power's software business, and that revenue is growing by 50 percent a year, he added.</p>
<p>Exelon's agreement follows four pilot projects over the past year and is GE's "first and largest IoT (internet of things) enterprise-wide deployment of Predix full-suite offerings anywhere in the world," Bolze said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Bill Rigby)</p>
|
GE signs Exelon in its largest power-plant software deal
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/features/2016/11/15/ge-signs-exelon-in-its-largest-power-plant-software-deal.html
|
2016-11-15
| 0right
|
GE signs Exelon in its largest power-plant software deal
<p />
<p>General Electric Co has signed up U.S. energy utility Exelon Corp to use its full software set to analyze and manage power plants in 48 states, the largest GE deployment in the power sector so far, the companies said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The Exelon deal, aimed at wringing greater efficiency from the business of generating electricity, marks another advance in GE's effort to lift annual digital technology revenue to $14 billion in 2020 from $5 billion in 2015, across its many industrial products.</p>
<p>It also is one of the three largest sales of GE's Predix industrial operating system so far. Exelon has nuclear, wind and fossil fuel-powered plants. The companies did not disclose the value of Exelon's five-year contract with GE.</p>
<p>In initial uses, GE's technology has increased power plant efficiency by 3 percent and reliability by 5 percent, while cutting operating and maintenance costs 25 percent, said Steve Bolze, chief executive of GE Power.</p>
<p>Exelon's deployment is nearly six times larger than the previous largest GE deal, signed last month with the New York Power Authority and covering 16 power plants in New York state that generate about 5,600 megawatts.</p>
<p>Chicago-based Exelon will use GE's Predix software and applications across its 91 power plants, which produce 32,700 megawatts and supply more than 10 million customers, the companies said.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>Exelon will also use GE software that analyzes the company's business performance and profitability, something NYPA didn't choose, GE said. GE and Exelon also agreed to work together on new Predix-based software applications.</p>
<p>GE's power business accounts for 40 percent of GE's digital revenue, said Bolze. About $400 million a year is produced by GE Power's software business, and that revenue is growing by 50 percent a year, he added.</p>
<p>Exelon's agreement follows four pilot projects over the past year and is GE's "first and largest IoT (internet of things) enterprise-wide deployment of Predix full-suite offerings anywhere in the world," Bolze said.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Bill Rigby)</p>
| 7,494 |
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<p />
<p>April’s employment gains in the Albuquerque metropolitan area marked the best performance the city’s economy has seen in four years.</p>
<p>While one month does not a trend make, some local experts are allowing themselves to consider the possibility that the worst might be over for an economy that has been staggering long after the national recession ended in 2009.</p>
<p>The Department of Workforce Solutions said the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area gained 2,700 jobs between April 2012 and April 2013, a 0.7 percent growth rate. The department called the job growth numbers “positive signs for the MSA that was hit hard during the recession.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The MSA includes Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance and Valencia counties.</p>
<p>The MSA lost 1,400 jobs year-over-year in March, according to seasonally adjusted Workforce Solutions data, but it still gained 2,200 jobs over February.</p>
<p>State and national labor statistics for May are to be released today. MSA-level data for May won’t be available until late June.</p>
<p>Workforce Solutions public information officer Joy Forehand said the department isn’t celebrating yet, though the latest numbers are “exciting.”</p>
<p>“We’re starting to see sustained improvement in employment numbers statewide since October,” she said. “Albuquerque has been the last area to show significant improvement.”</p>
<p>She cautioned that April’s good employment numbers will be revised when the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics uses its statistical tools to polish the data.</p>
<p>“We’re cautious,” she said. “We’re watching for a few months to see where the trend is going.”</p>
<p>Lee Reynis of the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research believes “what’s going on is we’re beginning to see the economy turn around.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Among the positive signs: Bureau of Labor Statistics revisions of the December jobs report were in an upward direction; construction employment has been growing; and payroll growth, as measured by the state’s largest workers compensation insurance underwriter, is consistently positive in all areas of the state.</p>
<p>“The construction sector has been negative for a very long time, though less negative as we started this year,” Reynis said. In April, the sector added 1,000 jobs, possibly because residential real estate values have been improving. Historically in Albuquerque, when construction is doing well other sectors of the economy do well, too.</p>
<p>Improvement in construction and rising home prices indicate “there is some underlying strength in the economy that is encouraging people to move here, get houses and take jobs,” Reynis said.</p>
<p>Where that strength is, assuming it’s really there, is not clear yet. The data do show the MSA continues to add jobs in education and health services, leisure and hospitality (which now represents 40,000 jobs in the Albuquerque area), information, wholesale trade, finance, and in state and local government. Area manufacturers and the professional and business services sector continue to shed jobs.</p>
<p>New Mexico Mutual looked at its workers compensation insurance premium data beginning in 2008 to see if they show a trend. Premiums are based on payrolls and can suggest whether New Mexico’s employers are increasing the number of hours employees work and the number of workers employed.</p>
<p>Statewide, the analysis showed payrolls grew quarter over quarter for the last eight quarters in a row, said senior vice president Lou Volk. The most recent quarter grew 2 percent from the previous quarter.</p>
<p>“Over the last two years we’ve seen sporadic growth in different places around the state, with the exception of southeastern New Mexico, which has been consistent because of oil and gas,” said vice president for business development Susan Wilson. “What we’re starting to see now is a more consistent pattern (of growth) across the state” instead of surges of local growth triggered by some strictly local phenomenon.</p>
<p>An improving economy eventually reveals itself in greater demand for energy. So far that hasn’t happened in the Albuquerque area, according to the electric company.</p>
<p>PNM Resources spokesman Pahl Shipley said, “As of the first quarter, our numbers showed economic growth in the Albuquerque metro area still sluggish. PNM’s load forecast is down as much as 1 percent compared to last year.&#160; Some of this can be attributed to the economy. However, it’s also partly due to the fact that our existing customers are becoming more energy efficient and reducing their usage.”</p>
<p>Shipley added, “We have seen the economic data from UNM and other recent statistics regarding increased housing starts and home prices, and we, too, are hopeful the worst is over.”</p>
|
ABQ economy: The worst might be over
| false |
https://abqjournal.com/207855/the-worst-might-be-over-2.html
|
2013-06-07
| 2least
|
ABQ economy: The worst might be over
<p>.......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........</p>
<p />
<p>April’s employment gains in the Albuquerque metropolitan area marked the best performance the city’s economy has seen in four years.</p>
<p>While one month does not a trend make, some local experts are allowing themselves to consider the possibility that the worst might be over for an economy that has been staggering long after the national recession ended in 2009.</p>
<p>The Department of Workforce Solutions said the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area gained 2,700 jobs between April 2012 and April 2013, a 0.7 percent growth rate. The department called the job growth numbers “positive signs for the MSA that was hit hard during the recession.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>The MSA includes Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance and Valencia counties.</p>
<p>The MSA lost 1,400 jobs year-over-year in March, according to seasonally adjusted Workforce Solutions data, but it still gained 2,200 jobs over February.</p>
<p>State and national labor statistics for May are to be released today. MSA-level data for May won’t be available until late June.</p>
<p>Workforce Solutions public information officer Joy Forehand said the department isn’t celebrating yet, though the latest numbers are “exciting.”</p>
<p>“We’re starting to see sustained improvement in employment numbers statewide since October,” she said. “Albuquerque has been the last area to show significant improvement.”</p>
<p>She cautioned that April’s good employment numbers will be revised when the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics uses its statistical tools to polish the data.</p>
<p>“We’re cautious,” she said. “We’re watching for a few months to see where the trend is going.”</p>
<p>Lee Reynis of the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research believes “what’s going on is we’re beginning to see the economy turn around.”</p>
<p>ADVERTISEMENT</p>
<p>Among the positive signs: Bureau of Labor Statistics revisions of the December jobs report were in an upward direction; construction employment has been growing; and payroll growth, as measured by the state’s largest workers compensation insurance underwriter, is consistently positive in all areas of the state.</p>
<p>“The construction sector has been negative for a very long time, though less negative as we started this year,” Reynis said. In April, the sector added 1,000 jobs, possibly because residential real estate values have been improving. Historically in Albuquerque, when construction is doing well other sectors of the economy do well, too.</p>
<p>Improvement in construction and rising home prices indicate “there is some underlying strength in the economy that is encouraging people to move here, get houses and take jobs,” Reynis said.</p>
<p>Where that strength is, assuming it’s really there, is not clear yet. The data do show the MSA continues to add jobs in education and health services, leisure and hospitality (which now represents 40,000 jobs in the Albuquerque area), information, wholesale trade, finance, and in state and local government. Area manufacturers and the professional and business services sector continue to shed jobs.</p>
<p>New Mexico Mutual looked at its workers compensation insurance premium data beginning in 2008 to see if they show a trend. Premiums are based on payrolls and can suggest whether New Mexico’s employers are increasing the number of hours employees work and the number of workers employed.</p>
<p>Statewide, the analysis showed payrolls grew quarter over quarter for the last eight quarters in a row, said senior vice president Lou Volk. The most recent quarter grew 2 percent from the previous quarter.</p>
<p>“Over the last two years we’ve seen sporadic growth in different places around the state, with the exception of southeastern New Mexico, which has been consistent because of oil and gas,” said vice president for business development Susan Wilson. “What we’re starting to see now is a more consistent pattern (of growth) across the state” instead of surges of local growth triggered by some strictly local phenomenon.</p>
<p>An improving economy eventually reveals itself in greater demand for energy. So far that hasn’t happened in the Albuquerque area, according to the electric company.</p>
<p>PNM Resources spokesman Pahl Shipley said, “As of the first quarter, our numbers showed economic growth in the Albuquerque metro area still sluggish. PNM’s load forecast is down as much as 1 percent compared to last year.&#160; Some of this can be attributed to the economy. However, it’s also partly due to the fact that our existing customers are becoming more energy efficient and reducing their usage.”</p>
<p>Shipley added, “We have seen the economic data from UNM and other recent statistics regarding increased housing starts and home prices, and we, too, are hopeful the worst is over.”</p>
| 7,495 |
<p />
<p>Republican front-runner Donald Trump looked to Arizona and Utah on Tuesday to add to his big lead in the party's presidential nominating race in what would be another blow to an anti-Trump movement organized by establishment Republicans.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The contests in Arizona and Utah were overshadowed by attacks in Brussels that left at least 30 people dead, and added to security concerns that American voters have expressed to pollsters.</p>
<p>"I have proven to be far more correct about terrorism than anybody - and it’s not even close. Hopefully AZ and UT will be voting for me today!" Trump, who was monitoring the results from Florida, said in a tweet.</p>
<p>Trump, the New York billionaire and former reality TV star, has ridden an anti-Washington message to become the favorite for the nomination. This has left a flagging anti-Trump effort with faint hopes of stopping him at the Republican national convention in July.</p>
<p>In Arizona, which is one of the U.S. states that borders Mexico, Trump's hardline immigration message is popular and he leads in polls, while in Utah Trump lags in polls behind top rival Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas.</p>
<p>Arizona will award its entire slate of 58 delegates to the winner of Tuesday's primary. In Utah, the state's 40 delegates will be awarded proportionate to the popular vote, unless a single candidate captures at least 50 percent of the vote, in which case that person will be awarded all the delegates.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>On Monday, Trump warned against efforts to deny him the nomination if he falls short of securing the 1,237 delegates needed ahead of the July convention. Trump now has 678 delegates.</p>
<p>"I think it is going to be very hard for them to do," Trump said on CNN of any effort to deny him the nomination if he falls short. "I have millions of votes more than anybody."</p>
<p>Democrats were also voting on Tuesday, in Arizona, Utah and Idaho, with front-runner Hillary Clinton aiming to pile up more delegates in her race against challenger Bernie Sanders.</p>
<p>Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is looking for wins in many of the six Democratic contests this week. Alaska, Hawaii and Washington will vote on Saturday. But because Democratic delegates are awarded proportionally in all states, Clinton will keep adding to her delegate total even if she is not the winner in a given state.</p>
<p>Tuesday's Republican contests are the first since U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida dropped out a week ago after Trump drubbed him in his home state. Ohio Governor John Kasich is the only other candidate still in the race, splitting the anti-Trump vote with Cruz.</p>
<p>"We welcome Marco's supporters with open arms," Cruz said on CNN, saying a Trump candidacy in November would be "a disaster" that would ensure a Clinton win.</p>
<p>In Arizona, Trump had the backing of former Republican Governor Jan Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, two of the most prominent supporters of a crackdown on illegal immigrants.</p>
<p>In Utah, Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, has said he will vote for Cruz.</p>
<p>Romney recorded phone messages on behalf of Cruz, saying, "He is the only Republican candidate who can defeat Donald Trump" and that a vote for Kasich was equivalent to a vote for Trump.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by Leslie Adler)</p>
|
Trump Looks to AZ, UT to Bolster Lead
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/politics/2016/03/22/trump-looks-to-az-ut-to-bolster-lead.html
|
2016-03-22
| 0right
|
Trump Looks to AZ, UT to Bolster Lead
<p />
<p>Republican front-runner Donald Trump looked to Arizona and Utah on Tuesday to add to his big lead in the party's presidential nominating race in what would be another blow to an anti-Trump movement organized by establishment Republicans.</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>The contests in Arizona and Utah were overshadowed by attacks in Brussels that left at least 30 people dead, and added to security concerns that American voters have expressed to pollsters.</p>
<p>"I have proven to be far more correct about terrorism than anybody - and it’s not even close. Hopefully AZ and UT will be voting for me today!" Trump, who was monitoring the results from Florida, said in a tweet.</p>
<p>Trump, the New York billionaire and former reality TV star, has ridden an anti-Washington message to become the favorite for the nomination. This has left a flagging anti-Trump effort with faint hopes of stopping him at the Republican national convention in July.</p>
<p>In Arizona, which is one of the U.S. states that borders Mexico, Trump's hardline immigration message is popular and he leads in polls, while in Utah Trump lags in polls behind top rival Ted Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas.</p>
<p>Arizona will award its entire slate of 58 delegates to the winner of Tuesday's primary. In Utah, the state's 40 delegates will be awarded proportionate to the popular vote, unless a single candidate captures at least 50 percent of the vote, in which case that person will be awarded all the delegates.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>On Monday, Trump warned against efforts to deny him the nomination if he falls short of securing the 1,237 delegates needed ahead of the July convention. Trump now has 678 delegates.</p>
<p>"I think it is going to be very hard for them to do," Trump said on CNN of any effort to deny him the nomination if he falls short. "I have millions of votes more than anybody."</p>
<p>Democrats were also voting on Tuesday, in Arizona, Utah and Idaho, with front-runner Hillary Clinton aiming to pile up more delegates in her race against challenger Bernie Sanders.</p>
<p>Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is looking for wins in many of the six Democratic contests this week. Alaska, Hawaii and Washington will vote on Saturday. But because Democratic delegates are awarded proportionally in all states, Clinton will keep adding to her delegate total even if she is not the winner in a given state.</p>
<p>Tuesday's Republican contests are the first since U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida dropped out a week ago after Trump drubbed him in his home state. Ohio Governor John Kasich is the only other candidate still in the race, splitting the anti-Trump vote with Cruz.</p>
<p>"We welcome Marco's supporters with open arms," Cruz said on CNN, saying a Trump candidacy in November would be "a disaster" that would ensure a Clinton win.</p>
<p>In Arizona, Trump had the backing of former Republican Governor Jan Brewer and Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, two of the most prominent supporters of a crackdown on illegal immigrants.</p>
<p>In Utah, Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, has said he will vote for Cruz.</p>
<p>Romney recorded phone messages on behalf of Cruz, saying, "He is the only Republican candidate who can defeat Donald Trump" and that a vote for Kasich was equivalent to a vote for Trump.</p>
<p>(Additional reporting by John Whitesides; Editing by Leslie Adler)</p>
| 7,496 |
<p>Jackie Robinson’s story has been oddly neglected by Hollywood. There was an excellent low budget film in 1950, “The Jackie Robinson Story,” starring Robinson himself with Ruby Dee. Amazingly, it is still little seen outside of the black audience it was originally intended for. Blair Underwood played him in “Soul of the Game,” a fine 1996 TV movie about Robinson’s year in the Negro Leagues, with Delroy Lindo as pitcher Satchel Paige and Edward Herrmann as Dodger General Manager Branch Rickey. But 65 years after Robinson’s rookie season, his legacy remains largely literary. There are so many books on the subject — most notably “Baseball’s Great Experiment” by Jules Tygiel, Arnold Rampersad’s “Jackie Robinson” and, perhaps the most celebrated of all baseball books, Roger Kahn’s “The Boys of Summer” — they could fill a small library.</p>
<p>Considering that Hollywood has covered virtually every area of baseball, from the Little Leagues to potential for baseball-pitching chimps, it seems odd that it took the major studios so long to tell baseball’s most important story. Luckily, for a film about two men who came together to change not merely a sport but a country, director-screenwriter Brian Helgeland’s “ <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0453562/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" type="external">42</a>” does not take itself too seriously.</p>
<p>The actual baseball in “42” isn’t bad, much of it filmed at my hometown Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., the oldest still-standing ballpark in the country, with period skylines and bleacher shots inserted. Most of the action in baseball movies is home runs and strikeouts — Europeans and others who don’t know the game probably wonder why all those men except for the pitcher and the batter are standing around doing nothing. Although “42” is more than respectful to baseball history, Helgeland has the patience to let the action develop, to give the viewer a chance to see why Robinson was such a great player and how he could unnerve opposing teams. During one sequence, he rattles a pitcher and draws a four-pitch walk, surely the first time in the history of movies a director allowed a batter as many as four pitches. Chadwick Boseman, an actor of superb physical grace, has clearly watched films of Robinson and faithfully emulates his jitterbug lead off first base, fingers fluttering and feet dancing in place. (You can see a bit of it in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UMx47aXjCw" type="external">video</a> of his famous stealing home in the 1956 World Series, even though Robinson was 37 and near the end of his career. Watch Yogi Berra go ballistic for the first and only time in his career.)</p>
<p>Oddly enough, the incident in the film that has been met with the most skepticism over the years is something that probably happened exactly the way it is depicted in “42.” In a game in Cincinnati in 1947, in response to vicious heckling from the crowd, Dodger shortstop Pee Wee Reese, a native Kentuckian, walked over to Robinson, who was playing first base, and put his arm around him. Or that’s how the story goes. That this ever happened was stoutly disputed by a writer named Stuart Miller in an op-ed for The New York Times in 2007 titled “Breaking the Truth Barrier.”</p>
<p />
<p>“It’s a wonderful folk tale,” Miller wrote, “but likely only half-true. Robinson didn’t mention the incident in an autobiography published after his rookie year. And in a 1952 magazine interview and in his 1960 book, ‘Wait Till Next Year,’ he placed it in 1948, in Boston. … (In addition, the pitcher Carl Erksine has said he witnessed the moment, and he didn’t join Brooklyn until 1948.)” Well, Robinson may not have brought it up in an interview because he wasn’t asked about it or in his book because it was 13 years later, and Erksine may well have remembered it happening in 1948 because Reese either did it again or another Dodger player chose to put his arm around Robinson. But it happened.</p>
<p>In his 2007 book, “Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season,” Jonathan Eig writes that there was no account of Reese putting his arm around Jackie in any 1947 newspaper and points out, “No photos of the incident have ever been identified.” But as Kahn told me, it wasn’t likely that any paper would have run a picture or a mention because “American papers have always been notoriously slack about reporting matters of racial significance.” Kahn further noted that white-run newspapers even downplayed the importance of Robinson’s major league debut.</p>
<p>But at least one journalist who was there remembered it. Several years ago, Lester Rodney — “Press Box Red,” a reporter for the Communist paper the Daily Worker — recalled the gesture taking place in 1947. “I could kick myself,” he told me in an interview for The Village Voice, “for not having written about it at the time.” And he was positive that it happened in Cincinnati because “it was the only time all season that the Daily Worker sprang for expenses to send me on a road trip.”</p>
<p>There is a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/207740560/" type="external">statue</a> commemorating the moment outside MCU Park on Coney Island, the home of Brooklyn’s only professional baseball team, the Cyclones.Here are a few things that “42” won’t tell you:</p>
<p>In the film’s final scenes, Robinson wins the pennant for the Brooklyn Dodgers with — you guessed it — a home run. I wish Helgeland had not chosen to rewrite history for dramatic effect, not just because it makes Robinson seem like a slugger whom he really wasn’t, but it’s the one blatantly historically false moment in the movie. Robinson did hit a home run near the end of the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the Dodgers lost. They didn’t actually clinch the pennant until four days later, on Sept. 22, when the Cubs eliminated the St. Louis Cardinals in a game that wasn‘t over until 11:30 p.m. Central time. The Dodgers, famously, woke up to find out they were the National League champions.</p>
<p>Why does Helgeland have it otherwise? Because the Pirates are the bad guys in the movie, the team with the most racist ballplayers. (The guys on the Dodgers who won’t accept a black teammate get traded there.) The pennant-winning home run silliness is both corny and misleading: Every team in the league had players as racist as Pittsburgh did.</p>
<p>For reasons not clear, Helgeland chooses to distort what happened to Robinson’s famous manager, Leo “The Lip” Durocher (smartly played by Christopher Meloni). While in bed with his movie actress soon-to-be wife — it must have been Laraine Day, since that’s whom Durocher married — he tells his boss, Rickey, that “Nice guys finish last.” Durocher never actually said it, but since everyone knew that’s how he felt, that’s OK. In the movie, baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler suspends Durocher for a year because of complaints about his public flaunting of morals; in fact Durocher was suspended because of his association with big time gamblers such as Ben “Bugsy” Siegel.</p>
<p>None of the film’s inaccuracies are offensive except perhaps the two instances where Robinson stands in the batter’s box, a look of awe on his face, watching his home run ball soar into the seats. He never did that. Watching your home run ball sail into the stands is an obnoxious modern habit that would have appalled the real Robinson. (Reggie Jackson may have been the first to do it.)</p>
<p>Regarding Rickey, he was, indeed, a great man, probably the most influential person in baseball history — more so than even Robinson himself. Harrison Ford, doing his most spirited work in nearly half a century in films, gives a portrait of Rickey that is multifaceted, at turns garrulous, shrewd and pious. When he finally centers on Robinson as the first black player he will bring to the major leagues, he tells his assistant with a gleam in his eye, “Robinson’s a Methodist. I’m a Methodist. God’s a Methodist!”</p>
<p>Rickey was all the things Ford plays him as and much more. “The Mahatma,” as he came to be known in the 1940s, would probably have been the key figure in baseball history even if he hadn’t brought Robinson to the big leagues. For one thing, he invented baseball’s farm system, through which minor league players are prepared for the majors. For another, he was responsible for spring training as we know it, converting an old military base in Vero Beach, Fla., into “Dodgertown,” where he implemented the first “Iron Mike” pitching machines and introduced guidelines and drills for players at each position. He was the first baseball executive — the first in any sport — to establish a system of tracking and evaluating players at the minor league level and was a remarkable judge of baseball talent with one notable exception. (In 1941, while with the St. Louis Cardinals, Rickey balked at paying $500 for a stumpy inarticulate young catcher named Lawrence Peter — later “Yogi” — Berra.)</p>
<p>Rickey was also, as team owner Bill Veeck (who would himself sign such black stars as Larry Doby and Paige) put it to me, “a sanctimonious skinflint, a Bible-thumping hypocrite, a shameless cheapskate.” While he blatantly nickel-and-dimed his players in salary negotiations, Rickey had a secret deal with the Dodgers that gave him a 10 percent commission on the sale of every player to another team. Today such a deal would be called a kickback.</p>
<p>Rickey’s life points to an aspect of the Robinson saga that is never really talked about. At the end of the film, Helgeland eulogizes Robinson, Rickey and Reese, among others, through still photos and captions with the dates on which they were enshrined in Baseball’s Hall of Fame, as if that was the end of the story. In fact, though it grieves the historian to point this out, the aftermath of their great triumph was marked by misfortune and loss.</p>
<p>Robinson never recovered from the terrible toll that being the first black player in the major leagues took on him. Old beyond his years at 37, he retired after the 1956 season. In one of the most wretched examples of disloyalty in the history of Major League Baseball, the Dodgers, owned by the same Walter O’Malley who would move them to Los Angeles two years later, was scheming to trade him to their bitter crosstown rival New York Giants.Robinson grew increasingly ill with diabetes and suffered two heart attacks, dying from the second one at his Stamford, Conn., home in 1972. He was only 53 years old. Although Major League Baseball had made much of his legacy, it took the organization until 1997, 50 years after his debut with the Dodgers, to retire his number for every major team. (The Yankees’ Mariano Rivera, the last player to be given the number, is the only one still wearing it.)</p>
<p>Robinson’s oldest son, Jackie Jr., was never able to handle the unfathomable burden of being the child of such a legend. He developed a drug problem and became alienated from his father. The two reconciled after Jackie Jr. entered rehab and began work as a drug counselor, and Robinson became a dedicated anti-drug crusader. Jackie Jr. was killed in an automobile accident in June 1972, four months before his father died.</p>
<p>Like Jackie, Rickey made his son a junior, and, with chilling irony, like Jackie, saw his son die before him. After working with his father for years in the Brooklyn and Pittsburgh organizations, Branch Jr. died in 1961 of complications from diabetes and hepatitis.</p>
<p>Just three years after Robinson joined the Dodgers, Rickey was squeezed out of his job by jealous part owner O’Malley and moved to the perennial cellar-dwellers, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rickey retired in 1955, not staying long enough to see the fruits of his labor in the organization, which resulted in the 1960 Pirates world championship team. One of Rickey’s last acts as the Pirates’ GM was to steal away a young outfielder named Roberto Clemente from the Brooklyn Dodgers. Maybe God was a Methodist after all.</p>
<p>In “42” a terrific young actor, Andre Holland, plays Wendell Smith, the black sportswriter hired by Rickey, as he puts it to Boseman, to “be your Boswell.” In a discrimination as unjust as what Robinson was subject to, the real Smith was never able to write his own biography of Robinson, a book that surely would have told more of Robinson’s story from the inside than any other. Smith died in 1972, just a month after Robinson.</p>
<p>In perhaps the bitterest irony of all, one that Rickey never acknowledged and possibly never even understood, he did not believe — unlike Veeck — that Negro League team owners deserved compensation for the loss of their star players when they were called up. Unfortunately, most other major league owners felt the same way. Within a short time the Negro Leagues were stripped of their biggest box office attractions and withered and died. Just as egregious was that baseball’s gentleman’s agreement toward discrimination in hiring didn’t really change; only a handful of young players — the superstars of the 1950s such as Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson, Elston Howard — were bought up while most of the older Negro League greats like Josh Gibson never played a single game in the majors.</p>
<p>Slowly during the 1950s and ’60s, in fact by the time Rickey died in 1965, baseball had begun to disappear from the inner cities, and a new generation of black youth became more enamored with professional football and basketball. The Brooklyn Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1958, and it took 54 years for another professional team to come to Brooklyn, the NBA’s Nets.</p>
<p>Black and Latino kids, and white ones for that matter, see the statue of Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese on Coney Island’s Surf Avenue without any knowledge of who the two men were and what their connection could possibly be to their own lives. Whatever its shortcomings, let’s hope “42” enlightens them.</p>
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Waiting for '42'
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https://truthdig.com/articles/waiting-for-42/
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2013-04-12
| 4left
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Waiting for '42'
<p>Jackie Robinson’s story has been oddly neglected by Hollywood. There was an excellent low budget film in 1950, “The Jackie Robinson Story,” starring Robinson himself with Ruby Dee. Amazingly, it is still little seen outside of the black audience it was originally intended for. Blair Underwood played him in “Soul of the Game,” a fine 1996 TV movie about Robinson’s year in the Negro Leagues, with Delroy Lindo as pitcher Satchel Paige and Edward Herrmann as Dodger General Manager Branch Rickey. But 65 years after Robinson’s rookie season, his legacy remains largely literary. There are so many books on the subject — most notably “Baseball’s Great Experiment” by Jules Tygiel, Arnold Rampersad’s “Jackie Robinson” and, perhaps the most celebrated of all baseball books, Roger Kahn’s “The Boys of Summer” — they could fill a small library.</p>
<p>Considering that Hollywood has covered virtually every area of baseball, from the Little Leagues to potential for baseball-pitching chimps, it seems odd that it took the major studios so long to tell baseball’s most important story. Luckily, for a film about two men who came together to change not merely a sport but a country, director-screenwriter Brian Helgeland’s “ <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0453562/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1" type="external">42</a>” does not take itself too seriously.</p>
<p>The actual baseball in “42” isn’t bad, much of it filmed at my hometown Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., the oldest still-standing ballpark in the country, with period skylines and bleacher shots inserted. Most of the action in baseball movies is home runs and strikeouts — Europeans and others who don’t know the game probably wonder why all those men except for the pitcher and the batter are standing around doing nothing. Although “42” is more than respectful to baseball history, Helgeland has the patience to let the action develop, to give the viewer a chance to see why Robinson was such a great player and how he could unnerve opposing teams. During one sequence, he rattles a pitcher and draws a four-pitch walk, surely the first time in the history of movies a director allowed a batter as many as four pitches. Chadwick Boseman, an actor of superb physical grace, has clearly watched films of Robinson and faithfully emulates his jitterbug lead off first base, fingers fluttering and feet dancing in place. (You can see a bit of it in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UMx47aXjCw" type="external">video</a> of his famous stealing home in the 1956 World Series, even though Robinson was 37 and near the end of his career. Watch Yogi Berra go ballistic for the first and only time in his career.)</p>
<p>Oddly enough, the incident in the film that has been met with the most skepticism over the years is something that probably happened exactly the way it is depicted in “42.” In a game in Cincinnati in 1947, in response to vicious heckling from the crowd, Dodger shortstop Pee Wee Reese, a native Kentuckian, walked over to Robinson, who was playing first base, and put his arm around him. Or that’s how the story goes. That this ever happened was stoutly disputed by a writer named Stuart Miller in an op-ed for The New York Times in 2007 titled “Breaking the Truth Barrier.”</p>
<p />
<p>“It’s a wonderful folk tale,” Miller wrote, “but likely only half-true. Robinson didn’t mention the incident in an autobiography published after his rookie year. And in a 1952 magazine interview and in his 1960 book, ‘Wait Till Next Year,’ he placed it in 1948, in Boston. … (In addition, the pitcher Carl Erksine has said he witnessed the moment, and he didn’t join Brooklyn until 1948.)” Well, Robinson may not have brought it up in an interview because he wasn’t asked about it or in his book because it was 13 years later, and Erksine may well have remembered it happening in 1948 because Reese either did it again or another Dodger player chose to put his arm around Robinson. But it happened.</p>
<p>In his 2007 book, “Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson’s First Season,” Jonathan Eig writes that there was no account of Reese putting his arm around Jackie in any 1947 newspaper and points out, “No photos of the incident have ever been identified.” But as Kahn told me, it wasn’t likely that any paper would have run a picture or a mention because “American papers have always been notoriously slack about reporting matters of racial significance.” Kahn further noted that white-run newspapers even downplayed the importance of Robinson’s major league debut.</p>
<p>But at least one journalist who was there remembered it. Several years ago, Lester Rodney — “Press Box Red,” a reporter for the Communist paper the Daily Worker — recalled the gesture taking place in 1947. “I could kick myself,” he told me in an interview for The Village Voice, “for not having written about it at the time.” And he was positive that it happened in Cincinnati because “it was the only time all season that the Daily Worker sprang for expenses to send me on a road trip.”</p>
<p>There is a <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/207740560/" type="external">statue</a> commemorating the moment outside MCU Park on Coney Island, the home of Brooklyn’s only professional baseball team, the Cyclones.Here are a few things that “42” won’t tell you:</p>
<p>In the film’s final scenes, Robinson wins the pennant for the Brooklyn Dodgers with — you guessed it — a home run. I wish Helgeland had not chosen to rewrite history for dramatic effect, not just because it makes Robinson seem like a slugger whom he really wasn’t, but it’s the one blatantly historically false moment in the movie. Robinson did hit a home run near the end of the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates, but the Dodgers lost. They didn’t actually clinch the pennant until four days later, on Sept. 22, when the Cubs eliminated the St. Louis Cardinals in a game that wasn‘t over until 11:30 p.m. Central time. The Dodgers, famously, woke up to find out they were the National League champions.</p>
<p>Why does Helgeland have it otherwise? Because the Pirates are the bad guys in the movie, the team with the most racist ballplayers. (The guys on the Dodgers who won’t accept a black teammate get traded there.) The pennant-winning home run silliness is both corny and misleading: Every team in the league had players as racist as Pittsburgh did.</p>
<p>For reasons not clear, Helgeland chooses to distort what happened to Robinson’s famous manager, Leo “The Lip” Durocher (smartly played by Christopher Meloni). While in bed with his movie actress soon-to-be wife — it must have been Laraine Day, since that’s whom Durocher married — he tells his boss, Rickey, that “Nice guys finish last.” Durocher never actually said it, but since everyone knew that’s how he felt, that’s OK. In the movie, baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler suspends Durocher for a year because of complaints about his public flaunting of morals; in fact Durocher was suspended because of his association with big time gamblers such as Ben “Bugsy” Siegel.</p>
<p>None of the film’s inaccuracies are offensive except perhaps the two instances where Robinson stands in the batter’s box, a look of awe on his face, watching his home run ball soar into the seats. He never did that. Watching your home run ball sail into the stands is an obnoxious modern habit that would have appalled the real Robinson. (Reggie Jackson may have been the first to do it.)</p>
<p>Regarding Rickey, he was, indeed, a great man, probably the most influential person in baseball history — more so than even Robinson himself. Harrison Ford, doing his most spirited work in nearly half a century in films, gives a portrait of Rickey that is multifaceted, at turns garrulous, shrewd and pious. When he finally centers on Robinson as the first black player he will bring to the major leagues, he tells his assistant with a gleam in his eye, “Robinson’s a Methodist. I’m a Methodist. God’s a Methodist!”</p>
<p>Rickey was all the things Ford plays him as and much more. “The Mahatma,” as he came to be known in the 1940s, would probably have been the key figure in baseball history even if he hadn’t brought Robinson to the big leagues. For one thing, he invented baseball’s farm system, through which minor league players are prepared for the majors. For another, he was responsible for spring training as we know it, converting an old military base in Vero Beach, Fla., into “Dodgertown,” where he implemented the first “Iron Mike” pitching machines and introduced guidelines and drills for players at each position. He was the first baseball executive — the first in any sport — to establish a system of tracking and evaluating players at the minor league level and was a remarkable judge of baseball talent with one notable exception. (In 1941, while with the St. Louis Cardinals, Rickey balked at paying $500 for a stumpy inarticulate young catcher named Lawrence Peter — later “Yogi” — Berra.)</p>
<p>Rickey was also, as team owner Bill Veeck (who would himself sign such black stars as Larry Doby and Paige) put it to me, “a sanctimonious skinflint, a Bible-thumping hypocrite, a shameless cheapskate.” While he blatantly nickel-and-dimed his players in salary negotiations, Rickey had a secret deal with the Dodgers that gave him a 10 percent commission on the sale of every player to another team. Today such a deal would be called a kickback.</p>
<p>Rickey’s life points to an aspect of the Robinson saga that is never really talked about. At the end of the film, Helgeland eulogizes Robinson, Rickey and Reese, among others, through still photos and captions with the dates on which they were enshrined in Baseball’s Hall of Fame, as if that was the end of the story. In fact, though it grieves the historian to point this out, the aftermath of their great triumph was marked by misfortune and loss.</p>
<p>Robinson never recovered from the terrible toll that being the first black player in the major leagues took on him. Old beyond his years at 37, he retired after the 1956 season. In one of the most wretched examples of disloyalty in the history of Major League Baseball, the Dodgers, owned by the same Walter O’Malley who would move them to Los Angeles two years later, was scheming to trade him to their bitter crosstown rival New York Giants.Robinson grew increasingly ill with diabetes and suffered two heart attacks, dying from the second one at his Stamford, Conn., home in 1972. He was only 53 years old. Although Major League Baseball had made much of his legacy, it took the organization until 1997, 50 years after his debut with the Dodgers, to retire his number for every major team. (The Yankees’ Mariano Rivera, the last player to be given the number, is the only one still wearing it.)</p>
<p>Robinson’s oldest son, Jackie Jr., was never able to handle the unfathomable burden of being the child of such a legend. He developed a drug problem and became alienated from his father. The two reconciled after Jackie Jr. entered rehab and began work as a drug counselor, and Robinson became a dedicated anti-drug crusader. Jackie Jr. was killed in an automobile accident in June 1972, four months before his father died.</p>
<p>Like Jackie, Rickey made his son a junior, and, with chilling irony, like Jackie, saw his son die before him. After working with his father for years in the Brooklyn and Pittsburgh organizations, Branch Jr. died in 1961 of complications from diabetes and hepatitis.</p>
<p>Just three years after Robinson joined the Dodgers, Rickey was squeezed out of his job by jealous part owner O’Malley and moved to the perennial cellar-dwellers, the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rickey retired in 1955, not staying long enough to see the fruits of his labor in the organization, which resulted in the 1960 Pirates world championship team. One of Rickey’s last acts as the Pirates’ GM was to steal away a young outfielder named Roberto Clemente from the Brooklyn Dodgers. Maybe God was a Methodist after all.</p>
<p>In “42” a terrific young actor, Andre Holland, plays Wendell Smith, the black sportswriter hired by Rickey, as he puts it to Boseman, to “be your Boswell.” In a discrimination as unjust as what Robinson was subject to, the real Smith was never able to write his own biography of Robinson, a book that surely would have told more of Robinson’s story from the inside than any other. Smith died in 1972, just a month after Robinson.</p>
<p>In perhaps the bitterest irony of all, one that Rickey never acknowledged and possibly never even understood, he did not believe — unlike Veeck — that Negro League team owners deserved compensation for the loss of their star players when they were called up. Unfortunately, most other major league owners felt the same way. Within a short time the Negro Leagues were stripped of their biggest box office attractions and withered and died. Just as egregious was that baseball’s gentleman’s agreement toward discrimination in hiring didn’t really change; only a handful of young players — the superstars of the 1950s such as Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Ernie Banks, Frank Robinson, Elston Howard — were bought up while most of the older Negro League greats like Josh Gibson never played a single game in the majors.</p>
<p>Slowly during the 1950s and ’60s, in fact by the time Rickey died in 1965, baseball had begun to disappear from the inner cities, and a new generation of black youth became more enamored with professional football and basketball. The Brooklyn Dodgers left for Los Angeles in 1958, and it took 54 years for another professional team to come to Brooklyn, the NBA’s Nets.</p>
<p>Black and Latino kids, and white ones for that matter, see the statue of Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese on Coney Island’s Surf Avenue without any knowledge of who the two men were and what their connection could possibly be to their own lives. Whatever its shortcomings, let’s hope “42” enlightens them.</p>
| 7,497 |
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<p>When John Milligan speaks, people listen -- or at least they should if they want to know what's going on with Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD).</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Milligan, who has been Gilead's CEO since March, spoke on Tuesday at the Piper Jaffray 28th Annual Healthcare Conference, held in New York City. Here are five things he said that investors interested in Gilead's future need to know.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Like many biotechs, Gilead's stock enjoyed a bounce immediately following the surprising outcome of the U.S. elections in early November. Will a Trump administration and Republican majorities in both houses of Congress mean that the New Year will be a happy one for Gilead? Milligan attempted to lower expectations of big changes.</p>
<p>Advertisement</p>
<p>While a Hillary Clinton presidency could have resulted in heavier pricing pressure, John Milligan noted that "some will keep pushing the agenda" about drug pricing. He added that the actual prices paid for Gilead's hepatitis C drugs are much lower than the list prices. Despite this, Milligan said that the "old story" about high prices for Harvoni and Sovaldi gets "rehashed every two months by the same people."</p>
<p>Because of the election results, Milligan thinks that there could be healthcare policy changes in 2017. However, he said that he has "no idea what that will look like." He doesn't think the impact of any changes will be felt next year, since it will take a couple of years to transition to something new.</p>
<p>While Milligan wryly commented that 2016 was "very interesting to watch" with respect to Gilead's hepatitis C franchise, he punted on predicting what next year might hold in store. He said that the challenge is that "each quarter has a different dynamic."</p>
<p>The recent launch of new hep-C drug Epclusa brought in higher volumes of patients with genotypes 2 and 3. More Veterans Administration and Medicaid patients are entering the mix than earlier. Patients who aren't as sick could continue to face barriers as payers require prior authorizations.</p>
<p>Still, though, Milligan said that he doesn't "see anything disruptive" happening in 2017 with Gilead's hepatitis C franchise. Prices have already been negotiated with payers. Gilead has continued to see a slight downward trend in the number of private-sector patients. The big question for the New Year is when, or if, that trend will stabilize.</p>
<p>For many years, Gilead Sciences was nearly synonymous with HIV, thanks to the company's powerful HIV franchise. The launch of blockbuster hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, followed by Harvoni, changed the biotech significantly. Milligan hinted that in some respects there could be a return to the old Gilead.</p>
<p>He said that Gilead will focus more on its HIV business. Milligan noted that the HIV product lineup is "strong and growing," adding that he expects the business to be strong for at least the next decade.</p>
<p>Although Gilead will return to its roots somewhat with the focus on HIV, Milligan was quick to point out the biotech's efforts to expand into new indications. One disease received special attention: nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).</p>
<p>Milligan sang the praises of pipeline candidate GS-4997 (also known as selonsertib), which is in a mid-stage clinical study targeting NASH and another targeting alcoholic hepatitis. Gilead presented positive results from the NASH study earlier in November.</p>
<p>According to Milligan, the biotech has confidence that GS-4997 "could be a game-changing kind of drug." He said that with this pipeline candidate, Gilead could have "the beginning of a very important NASH franchise."</p>
<p>Anyone expecting Gilead to make a mad dash to buy another company will probably be disappointed. John Milligan stated that some people want the biotech to make an acquisition, "prices be damned." That's not his approach.</p>
<p>Milligan reiterated previous comments about Gilead's acquisition strategy, saying that the company "will be disciplined and thoughtful" with any purchases. He said that Gilead wanted to make sure the biotech makes deals only with a high probability of a positive return.</p>
<p>Some deals "might look good on spreadsheets" but would be difficult to manage, according to Milligan. While some investors ( <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/23/when-will-gilead-sciences-unlucky-streak-end.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">including me Opens a New Window.</a>) have clamored for Gilead to move forward quickly with one or more acquisitions, his statements suggested that in the proverbial race, the company will be more like the tortoise than the hare.</p>
<p>10 stocks we like better than Gilead Sciences When investing geniuses David and Tom Gardner have a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for over a decade, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the market.*</p>
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<p><a href="http://infotron.fool.com/infotrack/click?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fool.com%2Fmms%2Fmark%2Fe-foolcom-sa-bbn-dyn%3Faid%3D8867%26source%3Disaeditxt0010449%26ftm_cam%3Dsa-bbn-evergreen%26ftm_pit%3D6312%26ftm_veh%3Dbbn_article_pitch&amp;impression=bda392ec-d17b-462a-b13b-0226d3ca4032&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">Click here Opens a New Window.</a> to learn about these picks!</p>
<p>*Stock Advisor returns as of November 7, 2016</p>
<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFishBiz/info.aspx" type="external">Keith Speights Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Gilead Sciences. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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5 Things Gilead Sciences' CEO Just Said That You Need to Know
| true |
http://foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/11/30/5-things-gilead-sciences-ceo-just-said-that-need-to-know.html
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2016-11-30
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5 Things Gilead Sciences' CEO Just Said That You Need to Know
<p />
<p>When John Milligan speaks, people listen -- or at least they should if they want to know what's going on with Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD).</p>
<p>Continue Reading Below</p>
<p>Milligan, who has been Gilead's CEO since March, spoke on Tuesday at the Piper Jaffray 28th Annual Healthcare Conference, held in New York City. Here are five things he said that investors interested in Gilead's future need to know.</p>
<p>Image source: Getty Images.</p>
<p>Like many biotechs, Gilead's stock enjoyed a bounce immediately following the surprising outcome of the U.S. elections in early November. Will a Trump administration and Republican majorities in both houses of Congress mean that the New Year will be a happy one for Gilead? Milligan attempted to lower expectations of big changes.</p>
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<p>While a Hillary Clinton presidency could have resulted in heavier pricing pressure, John Milligan noted that "some will keep pushing the agenda" about drug pricing. He added that the actual prices paid for Gilead's hepatitis C drugs are much lower than the list prices. Despite this, Milligan said that the "old story" about high prices for Harvoni and Sovaldi gets "rehashed every two months by the same people."</p>
<p>Because of the election results, Milligan thinks that there could be healthcare policy changes in 2017. However, he said that he has "no idea what that will look like." He doesn't think the impact of any changes will be felt next year, since it will take a couple of years to transition to something new.</p>
<p>While Milligan wryly commented that 2016 was "very interesting to watch" with respect to Gilead's hepatitis C franchise, he punted on predicting what next year might hold in store. He said that the challenge is that "each quarter has a different dynamic."</p>
<p>The recent launch of new hep-C drug Epclusa brought in higher volumes of patients with genotypes 2 and 3. More Veterans Administration and Medicaid patients are entering the mix than earlier. Patients who aren't as sick could continue to face barriers as payers require prior authorizations.</p>
<p>Still, though, Milligan said that he doesn't "see anything disruptive" happening in 2017 with Gilead's hepatitis C franchise. Prices have already been negotiated with payers. Gilead has continued to see a slight downward trend in the number of private-sector patients. The big question for the New Year is when, or if, that trend will stabilize.</p>
<p>For many years, Gilead Sciences was nearly synonymous with HIV, thanks to the company's powerful HIV franchise. The launch of blockbuster hepatitis C drug Sovaldi, followed by Harvoni, changed the biotech significantly. Milligan hinted that in some respects there could be a return to the old Gilead.</p>
<p>He said that Gilead will focus more on its HIV business. Milligan noted that the HIV product lineup is "strong and growing," adding that he expects the business to be strong for at least the next decade.</p>
<p>Although Gilead will return to its roots somewhat with the focus on HIV, Milligan was quick to point out the biotech's efforts to expand into new indications. One disease received special attention: nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).</p>
<p>Milligan sang the praises of pipeline candidate GS-4997 (also known as selonsertib), which is in a mid-stage clinical study targeting NASH and another targeting alcoholic hepatitis. Gilead presented positive results from the NASH study earlier in November.</p>
<p>According to Milligan, the biotech has confidence that GS-4997 "could be a game-changing kind of drug." He said that with this pipeline candidate, Gilead could have "the beginning of a very important NASH franchise."</p>
<p>Anyone expecting Gilead to make a mad dash to buy another company will probably be disappointed. John Milligan stated that some people want the biotech to make an acquisition, "prices be damned." That's not his approach.</p>
<p>Milligan reiterated previous comments about Gilead's acquisition strategy, saying that the company "will be disciplined and thoughtful" with any purchases. He said that Gilead wanted to make sure the biotech makes deals only with a high probability of a positive return.</p>
<p>Some deals "might look good on spreadsheets" but would be difficult to manage, according to Milligan. While some investors ( <a href="http://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/23/when-will-gilead-sciences-unlucky-streak-end.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">including me Opens a New Window.</a>) have clamored for Gilead to move forward quickly with one or more acquisitions, his statements suggested that in the proverbial race, the company will be more like the tortoise than the hare.</p>
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<p><a href="http://my.fool.com/profile/TMFFishBiz/info.aspx" type="external">Keith Speights Opens a New Window.</a> owns shares of Gilead Sciences. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Gilead Sciences. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services <a href="http://www.fool.com/shop/newsletters/index.aspx?source=isiedilnk018048&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">free for 30 days Opens a New Window.</a>. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that <a href="http://www.fool.com/knowledge-center/motley.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">considering a diverse range of insights Opens a New Window.</a> makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a <a href="http://www.fool.com/Legal/fool-disclosure-policy.aspx?&amp;utm_campaign=article&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_source=foxbusiness" type="external">disclosure policy Opens a New Window.</a>.</p>
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<p>My friend Hanna is Syrian and also happens to be Christian. The latter fact was rarely of consequence, except whenever he wished to boast about the contributions of Arab Christians to Middle Eastern cultures. Of course, he is right. The modern Arab identity has been formulated through a fascinating mix of religions, sects and races. Christianity, as well as Islam, is deeply-rooted in many aspects of Arab life. Needless to say, the bond between Islam and Christianity is simply unbreakable.</p>
<p>“I am Christian, but, in terms of culture, I am equally a Muslim,” he told me by way of introduction to a daunting realization. “But now, I am very worried.”</p>
<p>Hanna’s list of worries is long. Lead amongst them is the fact that Christian Arabs in some Arab societies are increasingly viewed as ‘foreigners’ or ‘guests’ in their own countries. At times, as was the case in Iraq, they are punished by one extremist group or another for embracing the same religion that US-western zealots claim to represent. Churches were blown up in brutal retribution for a savage war that President George W. Bush and many of his ilk maintained to be between good and evil, using the most brazen religious references as they savaged Iraq, sparing neither Muslims nor Christians.</p>
<p>During the early years of the war, many Arab intellectuals seemed wary of the sinister divide that the US was erecting between religions, sects, and communities. Many in Arab media referenced past historical experiences when other imperial powers – namely Britain and France – resorted to the ‘divide and conquer’ stratagem. Those attempts in the first half of the 20th century resulted in much bloodshed and lasting scars in many communities. Lebanon is the obvious example with Iraq prevailing.</p>
<p>In response to the colonial attempts at busying the Arabs with internal conflicts, Arab nationalists had then wrangled with a discourse that proved of immense value to modern Arab identity. To escape the pitfalls of religious and sectarian divides, and to unleash the untapped energies of Arab societies, there was an urgent need to articulate a new language expressing a unifying pan-Arab political discourse. In post-World War II, the rise of Arab nationalism was the force to be contended with, from Egypt, to Iraq and to Syria. It was a battle of wills involving imperialist powers, later joined by the United States. It was also local, tribal elites fighting for their own survival. The nationalists’ discourse was meant to inspire, from Gamal Abdel Nasser’s thundering speeches in Egypt, to Michel Aflaq’s eloquent thoughts in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. At least then, it seemed to matter little that Nasser was an Egyptian Sunni Muslim, and that Aflaq was a Greek Orthodox Christian.</p>
<p>Aflaq was profound, and his insistence on the vitality of the Muslim character to Arabs was a testament to a generation of nationalists that since then, has all but completely faded. He spoke of Arab unity, not as a distant dream, but a practical mechanism to snatch liberty from many sinister hands. “What liberty could be wider and greater than binding oneself to the renaissance of one’s nation and its revolution?” he said during a speech. “It is a new and strict liberty which stands against pressure and confusion. Dictatorship is a precarious, unsuitable and self-contradictory system which does not allow the consciousness of the people to grow.”</p>
<p>Many voices echoed that sentiment in Arab nations near and far. Poets recited the will of freedom fighters and artists rendered the language of philosophers. While Arab nationalist movements eventually fragmented, were weakened or defeated, an Arab identity survived. Long after Nasser died, and even Anwar Saddat signed the Camp David accords, thus breaking with Arab consensus, school children continued to sing “Arab homelands are my home, from the Levant to Baghdad, from Najd to Yemen and from Egypt to Morocco.”</p>
<p>The war over Arab identify however never ceased, as it continued to manifest itself in actual and figurative ways. Israel and western powers, vying for military dominance, regional influence and ultimately resources, did the best they could to shatter the few semblances that sustained a sense of unity among Arab nations that survived despite numerous and perhaps insurmountable odds.</p>
<p>The Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) left deep wounds that continue to fester. The Iraq war was particularly painful. While Lebanon civil strife involved well-demarcated sects, the alliances were in constant influx. But Iraq’s civil war, encouraged and sustained with direct American involvement to weaken Iraqi resistance to US-British occupation, was well-defined and brutal. Muslim Shia and Sunni engaged in a bitter struggle as US troops wreaked havoc in Baghdad. Members of all sects paid a heavy price for the fighting, which also damaged the national identity of Iraq and made a mockery of its flag and national anthem. The sociopolitical impact of that war was so severe, it resuscitated a reactionary discourse that forced many communities to see themselves as members of one group or another, each fighting for its own being.</p>
<p>Soon after the Egyptian revolution, I walked the streets of Cairo, reminiscing, with much giddiness, about the past and the encouraging future. A ‘new Egypt’ was being born, one with ample room for all of its children. An Egypt where the poor are giving their fair share, and where Muslims and Christians and the rest would march forward, hand in hand, as equals, compelled by the vision of a new generation and the hopes and dreams of many more. It was not a romantic idea, but thoughts inspired by millions of Egyptians, by bearded Muslim men protecting churches in Cairo against government plots to stir religious tensions, by Christian youth guarding the Tahrir square as Muslim youth prayed, before they all resumed their fight for freedom.</p>
<p>Despite my insistence on optimism, I find the current political discourse hateful, polarizing and unprecedentedly defeatist. While Muslim political elites are sharply divided between Shia and Sunni, assigning layers of meaning to the fact that one is born this way or that, this wrangling has been weaved into a power play that has destroyed Syria, awakened past animosities in Lebanon and revitalized existing conflict in Iraq, further devastating the very Arab identity.</p>
<p>Iraq’s historical dilemma, exploited by the US for immediate gains, has now become a pan-Arab dilemma. Arab and Middle Eastern media is fomenting that conflict using terminology loaded with sectarianism and obsessed with erecting the kind of divides that will bring nothing but mistrust, misery and war.</p>
<p>Resurrecting Nasser’s and Aflaq’s Arab nationalism might no longer be possible, but there is a compelling need for an alternative discourse to the type of intellectual extremism that justifies with disturbing lucidity the butchering of the inhabitants of an entire village in Syria because of their sect or religion. My friend Hanna has every reason to worry, as all Arabs should.</p>
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Sectarianism and the Irrational New Discourse: Why Arabs Must Worry
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http://foreignpolicyjournal.com/2013/06/13/sectarianism-and-the-irrational-new-discourse-why-arabs-must-worry/
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2013-06-13
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Sectarianism and the Irrational New Discourse: Why Arabs Must Worry
<p />
<p>My friend Hanna is Syrian and also happens to be Christian. The latter fact was rarely of consequence, except whenever he wished to boast about the contributions of Arab Christians to Middle Eastern cultures. Of course, he is right. The modern Arab identity has been formulated through a fascinating mix of religions, sects and races. Christianity, as well as Islam, is deeply-rooted in many aspects of Arab life. Needless to say, the bond between Islam and Christianity is simply unbreakable.</p>
<p>“I am Christian, but, in terms of culture, I am equally a Muslim,” he told me by way of introduction to a daunting realization. “But now, I am very worried.”</p>
<p>Hanna’s list of worries is long. Lead amongst them is the fact that Christian Arabs in some Arab societies are increasingly viewed as ‘foreigners’ or ‘guests’ in their own countries. At times, as was the case in Iraq, they are punished by one extremist group or another for embracing the same religion that US-western zealots claim to represent. Churches were blown up in brutal retribution for a savage war that President George W. Bush and many of his ilk maintained to be between good and evil, using the most brazen religious references as they savaged Iraq, sparing neither Muslims nor Christians.</p>
<p>During the early years of the war, many Arab intellectuals seemed wary of the sinister divide that the US was erecting between religions, sects, and communities. Many in Arab media referenced past historical experiences when other imperial powers – namely Britain and France – resorted to the ‘divide and conquer’ stratagem. Those attempts in the first half of the 20th century resulted in much bloodshed and lasting scars in many communities. Lebanon is the obvious example with Iraq prevailing.</p>
<p>In response to the colonial attempts at busying the Arabs with internal conflicts, Arab nationalists had then wrangled with a discourse that proved of immense value to modern Arab identity. To escape the pitfalls of religious and sectarian divides, and to unleash the untapped energies of Arab societies, there was an urgent need to articulate a new language expressing a unifying pan-Arab political discourse. In post-World War II, the rise of Arab nationalism was the force to be contended with, from Egypt, to Iraq and to Syria. It was a battle of wills involving imperialist powers, later joined by the United States. It was also local, tribal elites fighting for their own survival. The nationalists’ discourse was meant to inspire, from Gamal Abdel Nasser’s thundering speeches in Egypt, to Michel Aflaq’s eloquent thoughts in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere. At least then, it seemed to matter little that Nasser was an Egyptian Sunni Muslim, and that Aflaq was a Greek Orthodox Christian.</p>
<p>Aflaq was profound, and his insistence on the vitality of the Muslim character to Arabs was a testament to a generation of nationalists that since then, has all but completely faded. He spoke of Arab unity, not as a distant dream, but a practical mechanism to snatch liberty from many sinister hands. “What liberty could be wider and greater than binding oneself to the renaissance of one’s nation and its revolution?” he said during a speech. “It is a new and strict liberty which stands against pressure and confusion. Dictatorship is a precarious, unsuitable and self-contradictory system which does not allow the consciousness of the people to grow.”</p>
<p>Many voices echoed that sentiment in Arab nations near and far. Poets recited the will of freedom fighters and artists rendered the language of philosophers. While Arab nationalist movements eventually fragmented, were weakened or defeated, an Arab identity survived. Long after Nasser died, and even Anwar Saddat signed the Camp David accords, thus breaking with Arab consensus, school children continued to sing “Arab homelands are my home, from the Levant to Baghdad, from Najd to Yemen and from Egypt to Morocco.”</p>
<p>The war over Arab identify however never ceased, as it continued to manifest itself in actual and figurative ways. Israel and western powers, vying for military dominance, regional influence and ultimately resources, did the best they could to shatter the few semblances that sustained a sense of unity among Arab nations that survived despite numerous and perhaps insurmountable odds.</p>
<p>The Lebanese civil war (1975-1990) left deep wounds that continue to fester. The Iraq war was particularly painful. While Lebanon civil strife involved well-demarcated sects, the alliances were in constant influx. But Iraq’s civil war, encouraged and sustained with direct American involvement to weaken Iraqi resistance to US-British occupation, was well-defined and brutal. Muslim Shia and Sunni engaged in a bitter struggle as US troops wreaked havoc in Baghdad. Members of all sects paid a heavy price for the fighting, which also damaged the national identity of Iraq and made a mockery of its flag and national anthem. The sociopolitical impact of that war was so severe, it resuscitated a reactionary discourse that forced many communities to see themselves as members of one group or another, each fighting for its own being.</p>
<p>Soon after the Egyptian revolution, I walked the streets of Cairo, reminiscing, with much giddiness, about the past and the encouraging future. A ‘new Egypt’ was being born, one with ample room for all of its children. An Egypt where the poor are giving their fair share, and where Muslims and Christians and the rest would march forward, hand in hand, as equals, compelled by the vision of a new generation and the hopes and dreams of many more. It was not a romantic idea, but thoughts inspired by millions of Egyptians, by bearded Muslim men protecting churches in Cairo against government plots to stir religious tensions, by Christian youth guarding the Tahrir square as Muslim youth prayed, before they all resumed their fight for freedom.</p>
<p>Despite my insistence on optimism, I find the current political discourse hateful, polarizing and unprecedentedly defeatist. While Muslim political elites are sharply divided between Shia and Sunni, assigning layers of meaning to the fact that one is born this way or that, this wrangling has been weaved into a power play that has destroyed Syria, awakened past animosities in Lebanon and revitalized existing conflict in Iraq, further devastating the very Arab identity.</p>
<p>Iraq’s historical dilemma, exploited by the US for immediate gains, has now become a pan-Arab dilemma. Arab and Middle Eastern media is fomenting that conflict using terminology loaded with sectarianism and obsessed with erecting the kind of divides that will bring nothing but mistrust, misery and war.</p>
<p>Resurrecting Nasser’s and Aflaq’s Arab nationalism might no longer be possible, but there is a compelling need for an alternative discourse to the type of intellectual extremism that justifies with disturbing lucidity the butchering of the inhabitants of an entire village in Syria because of their sect or religion. My friend Hanna has every reason to worry, as all Arabs should.</p>
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